DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD/ - PART THREE

                                             DID JESUS RISE             FROM THE DEAD

  PART THREE

  (copied from
   Y-Jesus.com)


A Horrific Death and Then ....?

You know what the last hours of Jesus' life was like if you watched the movie by road warrior/braveheart Mel Gibson. If you missed parts of The Passion of The Christ it was because you were shielding your eyes. (It would have been easier to simply shoot the movie with a red filter on the camera). Just flip back to the last pages of any Gospel in your New Testament to find out what you missed.

As Jesus predicted, He was betrayed by one of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot, and was arrested. In a mock trial, under the rule of Pontius Pilate, He was convicted of treason, and condemned to die on a wooden cross. Prior to being nailed to the cross, Jesus was brutally beaten with a Roman cat-o-nine-tails, a whip with bits of bits of bone and metal that would rip the flesh. He was punched repeatedly, kicked and spat upon. 

Then using mallets the Roman executioners pounded the heavy wrought-iron nails into Jesus' wrists and feet. Finally they dropped the cross in a hole in the ground, between two other  crosses bearing convicted thieves.

Jesus hung there for approximately six hours. Then at 3.00 in the afternoon - that is at exactly the time the Pass over lamb was being sacrificed  as a sin offering, ( a little symbolism there you think?) - Jesus cried out  "It Is Finished," (in Aramaic). and died. Suddenly the sky went dark and an earthquake shook the land. 

An even greater darkness of depression annihilated the dreams of those who had become infatuated with His charisma and joyful vitality. 
Former Lord High Chancellor of Britain, Lord Hailsham notes: "The tragedy of the Cross was not that they crucified a melancholy figure, full of moral precepts ascetic and gloomy .. what they crucified was a young man, vital,  full of life and the joy of it. The Lord of life itself....  Someone so utterly attractive that people followed Him for the sheer fun of it.  

Pilot wanted verification that Jesus was dead before allowing His crucified body to be buried. So a Roman guard thrust a spear into Jesus' side. The mixture of blood and water that flowed out was a clear indication that Jesus was dead. "The dead do not bleed, ordinarily, but the right auricle of the human heart holds liquid blood after death, and the outer sac holds a serum called  hydropericardium. Once His body was certified by the guards, Jesus' body was then taken down from the cross, and buried in Joseph of Aramathea's tomb. Roman guards next sealed the tomb and sealed it with a 24 hour watch. 

Meanwhile Jesus's disciples were in shock.  
Dr J.P. Moreland  explains how devastated and confused they were after Jesus' death on the cross. "They no longer had confidence that Jesus had been sent by God. They also had been taught that God would not let His Messiah suffer death. So they dispersed. The Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks. 

All hope was vanquished. Rome and the Jewish leaders had prevailed - or so it seemed.


next post 20th June