A Daily Purpose

Bible Study & Devotional Day 70

Guiding Scripture: Mark 15:22-41

🔴 The Crucifixion

The following is a portion of an article from The Christian Post by Kevin Porter

“When Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was captured, he sweated blood out of distress about the crucifixion. “This is a known medical condition called hematidrosis. It’s not very common, but it is associated with a high degree of psychological stress,” Metherell adds.

“What this did was set up the skin to be extremely fragile so that when Jesus was flogged by the Roman soldier the next day, his skin would be very, very sensitive. Roman floggings were known to be terribly brutal. They usually consisted of 39 lashes but frequently were a lot more than that …

“The soldier would use a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them,” he continued. “When the whip would strike the flesh, these balls would cause deep bruises or contusions, which would break open with further blows. And the whip had pieces of sharp bone as well which would cut the flesh severely.

“The back would be so shredded that part of the spine was sometimes exposed by the deep, deep cuts. The whipping would have gone all the way from the shoulders down to the back, the buttocks, and the back of the legs. It was just terrible.

“A third century historian by the name of Eusebius described a flogging by saying, ‘The sufferer’s veins were laid bare and the very muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.'”
Metherell adds, “We know that many people would die from this kind of beating even before they could be crucified.”
But Christ survived, only to face more suffering on the Cross.”

–Kevin Porter

If we think on the incredible sacrifice, pain, and suffering our Lord endured for us, I believe we will make wiser choices. He blessed us with new life as the Mediator between us and God. May we purpose forward learning from our trials and standing in His truth.

~Torrie Slaughter

This devotional was submitted with proper links to the original author Kevin Porter of The Christian Post, by Torrie Slaughter, the founder of Our Given Purpose® in the Commonwealth of Virginia.