Kind of hard to read…very graphic and certainly makes you

think about the sacrifice Jesus made for us…  Very

powerful description of what Christ went through for us…

What is Crucifixion?

A medical doctor provides a physical description:

The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is

quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the

wood.  The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front

of the wrist.  He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail

through the wrist deep into the wood.  Quickly he moves to

the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to

pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and

movement.

The cross is then lifted into place.  The left foot is pressed

backward against the right foot, and with both feet

extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of

each, leaving the knees flexed.  The victim is now crucified.

As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the

wrists, excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and

up the arms to explode in the brain—the nails in the wrists

are putting pressure on the median nerves.  As he pushes

himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places

the full weight on the nail through his feet.

Again, he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through

the nerves between the bones of his feet.  As the arms

fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them in

deep relentless and throbbing pain.  With these cramps

comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe.  Air

can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled.  He fights to

raise himself in order to get even one small breath.

Finally,  carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the

blood stream, and the cramps partially subside.

Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale

and bring in life-giving oxygen.  Hours of limitless pain,

cycles of twisting, joint-renting cramps intermittent partial

asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his

lacerated back as he moves up and down against 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.  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.  He can feel the chill of death

creeping through his tissues.  Finally, he allows his body to

die.

All this the bible records with the simple words, “and they

crucified Him” (Mark 15:24)