Jesus Foretold: Crucified (MP 65)

Three six-inch nails pinioned Him to the cross;
When lifted up, Jesus could barely breathe;
Pushing up on torn ankles at horrid cost,
He inhaled, His air-starved lungs to relieve!
“Forgive them, for they know not what they do,”
Jesus spoke, a gracious, forgiving plea,
For the Romans who’d driven the nails through
His hands and feet into the wooden tree!
The agony which possessed His Being,
Did not compare with that flooding His mind—
That men He’d created enjoyed seeing
Their Maker unmade by mere humankind!
Seven times He spoke, dying on the tree;
Not one curse was uttered for you or me!

Scripture Quoted (NIV) [Brackets added]
Prophecy Made: Psalm 22:1, 16—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? … Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.” (Written by David in the 10th century B.C.)

Prophecy Fulfilled: Luke 23:33-34—“When they [Roman soldiers, those to be executed, and onlookers] came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ “ (Written in the 1st century A.D., also Matt. 27:35, Mark 15:14, and John 19:16-18)

Commentary On: “Jesus Foretold: Crucified”
When David wrote Psalm 22, crucifixion had not been invented, so his use of “they have pierced my hands and feet” is truly prophetical. The ingenious but diabolical mind that invented this cruel way of execution should win the blue ribbon for fiendishness. It is horrible to consider the victim’s pain of having six-inch nails driven through the palms of his hand and his ankles into the cross of wood, so that, spread-eagled, he can be lifted upright to a standing position, but that is nothing compared to the pain of drawing breath. The weight of his upper torso presses his lungs closed, so that to draw fresh air he must push upward to raise his full weight on broken and bloody ankles several inches to open the lungs and air can be inhaled. The person crucified usually dies in three hours or less, not from blood loss but from suffocation. Since more air must be inhaled in order for him to speak, the seven times Jesus spoke was remarkable.

The custom in Israel at that time was when a person died, he was buried the same day. The friends of Jesus there faced a special problem, for this was on a Friday—at 6 pm the Sabbath day began, and if they could not complete the burial before that time, the penalty was stoning to death. At about 3 pm, the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves crucified with Jesus; this was customary, for it brought immediate death, and allowed sufficient time to bury them. However, when they investigated Jesus, they found that He was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs. This was of particular importance, for another Old Testament prophecy foretold that Jesus would die with no broken bones.

One of the spoken lines that Jesus voiced on the cross was identical to the first line of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some modern scholars have surmised that He spoke these exact words as a reminder to the Jews present, friends and enemies, to make sure they recognized that David had written the psalm 1000 years before, and that God intended that it be a prophecy of His death. However, most theologians believe that His saying these words was a demonstration of His great mercy, that He literally desired them to be forgiven for the sinful thing they were doing. Regardless of what Jesus meant when He spoke the words, they represent a great witness to non-believers. You may wonder, “How could His Father forsake His own Son?” Remember, Jesus Christ died in atonement for all the sins of the world; at some point in His execution, God did “forsake” Him, by turning His face from His suffering Son. The Bible makes it crystal clear, that God despises sin, even if His own Son is bearing on His back all sin, and He will not look at it; therefore, He turned His face from Jesus at some point, and for that awful moment, God did forsake Jesus. That moment was the crux of what God did for you and for me. Won’t you acknowledge Him by believing in His Son, Jesus?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in you heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)