Jesus Christ
The Passion
The Death of Jesus
by Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.
Jesus, upon taking a sip of "vinegar" gave up the ghost, and to all appearance, he was dead.
Or was he?
"Our friend sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep."-John 11.
Usually men who are crucified take several days to die. Pilate was quite surprised, when told by Joseph of Arimathaea, that Jesus had died that same day, and after being on the cross for less than 9 hours. In fact, he didn't believe it. Before consenting to Joseph's request, Pilate asked one of his soldiers to make sure that Jesus was truly dead.
"And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead." -Mark 15.
If Jesus was in fact dead, his body could be taken down and given to Joseph whose plan it was to quickly transport the body to his private estates.
And then the unexpected occurred.
The other two men who had been crucified along with Jesus, still lived. Because of the Sabbath, they too must be taken down from the cross. But they would have to be killed first. Their legs would be broken.
"The Jews, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs." -John 19.
The two thieves, their legs broken, would have immediately gone into shock and died. By contrast, and as planned, and according to prophecy, the body of Jesus would be taken down from the cross, intact, and then quickly transported to the home and private estate of his disciple, Joseph.
According to prophecy, in three days, Jesus would rise from the dead, and the Era of Righteousness would begin. Love and peace would prevail. It was to be the Brotherhood of Man. The world would war no more.
And then the unexpected.
"But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." -John 19.
Although men can bleed to death, dead men don't bleed.
If he was not dead already, if, instead, he was in a deep coma-like sleep, he would now go into shock and bleed his life away.
Jesus had been mortally wounded. If he had not been stabbed, all might have gone according to plan, and he would have awakened and risen from the "dead" on the third day, becoming the King of Israel, and ushering in a new convenant and the brotherhood of man.
If he was not dead already, he soon would be--and this too was according to prophecy.
As prophecied, Jesus had been betrayed, crucified, and now he was dead.
They had killed him.
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