(Crucifixion..Page 4)

   Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber; then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. Let us remember again the 22nd Psalm (the 14th verse). "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." It is now almost over-the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level-the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick sluggish blood into the tissues-the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps His fifth cry; "I thirst." A sponge soaked in Posca, the cheap, sour wine that is the staple drink of the Roman-Legionnaires, is lifted to His lips.

   The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words-possibly little more than a tortured whisper. "It is finished." His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally, He can allow His body to die. With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." The rest you know.

   In order that the Sabbath be not profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurufracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward, the tension could not be relieved from the muscle of the chest, and rapid suffocation occurred.

   The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when they came to Jesus, they saw that this was unnecessary. Apparently, to make sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel of John; "and immediately there came out blood and water." Thus, there was an escape of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart and blood from the interior of the heart. We, therefore, have rather conclusive post-mortem evidence that our Lord died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

   Thus, we have seen a glimpse of the epitome of evil which man can exhibit toward man-and toward God. This is not a pretty sight and is apt to leave us despondent and depressed. How grateful we can be that we have a sequel, a glimpse of the infinite mercy of God toward man-the miracle of the atonement and the expectation of eternal life.

It is Finished

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