WITNESS FROM THE CROSS NEXT TO JESUS

LUKE 23:

LUKE 23:37-44   JESUS ON THE CROSS

An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!" But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Don`t you even fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." He said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He said to him, "Most assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

LUKE 23:42 He said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." kai    elegen ihsou        mnhsqhti       mou     otan elqhV      eiV thn basileian sou

43  He (Jesus Christ) said                       kai        eipen                  to him,                                                                                                    ..                                                                  autw (the criminal never baptised, a law-breaker rightly on the                                                                                 cross,  by his own admission    "Most assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."       amhn           soi legw       shmeron met emou esh en tw paradeisw

Verse 42 In thy kingdom            (eiß thn basileian sou, text of Westcott and Hort or en tei basileiai sou, margin). Probably no difference in sense is to be found, for eiß and en are essentially the same preposition. He refers to the Messianic rule of Jesus and begs that Jesus will remember him. Why does Jesus use time reference word like "today"? Does  the criminal on the cross hope for an immediate blessing or is he begging  only  for some discussion  of a distant future judgment.?   And what does "Paradise" mean? It would certainly mean a great blessing if it happened immediate as the word "today" implies.           One thing that is obvious.  For these three men, at this moment, they would be in a world of intense pain to the extreme,  At least the two criminals, would have little on their mind except relief  from their pain.  Jesus had just under-gone a whipping that stripped off the skin on His back and legs.         A medical doctor described this dying on the cross as one of the most extreme painful deaths, that the cruel Romans could devise.         This Doctor described how the victim would be stretched out on the cross members and then have rough forged iron spikes driven through the wrist at just the right point on the wrist. There is a large nerve running through the wrist at this point.  (Spikes through the palms of the hand would tear out from the body weight. The Greek word used here could also mean the wrist, and the wrist would hold the body weight)      A spike through the wrist would not only hold that weight, it would also bring much more pain and it would be a continuous pain.  Personally I'm not an MD, but I assume this large nerve, obviously running through the elbow, is the nerve that gives one so much pain in striking the elbow.        These rough spikes, driven through both wrist joints, would force the wrist bones apart, and penetrate into or by this large nerve, either cutting or fraying that nerve as it is forced through,  The spike's penetration and presence would inflict a continuous  excruciating torturous pain by itself, but, ccompounding that pain, this is the joint holding the weight of the victim's body. With the weight of the victim's body bearing on these spikes, every shift or move of weight would mean a grinding motion on these large open nerves, and sending an extreme jangling shock to the victim, hard to imagine.  The Romans would then drive a single rough forged iron  spike through both feet.   (Normally these victim's bodies were cremated, but, tellingly, archaeologists have uncovered the single relic of a  crucified person, which was the victim's ankles and feet locked together by a single rough Roman spike,)         Positioning the cross from the horizontal, on the ground, for nailing the victim in place, to the upright vertical position,  meaning the victim would have to undergo another additional--major trauma       Laying on his back, the victim would stretch out both arms , and obviously have to endure the pain inflicted from the nailing of his wrists. But laying on his back, the weight of the victim's body was not yet on his arms or wrists. Rising the cross up with the victim nailed to it,  and then dropping the vertical timber of the cross into the ground hole would bring the jar of the full weight of the victim's body coming down on the out-stretched arms and wrists.  That initial jerk coming from dropping weight hitting the bottom of the hole probably would have pulled many socket joints apart.      But now the real suffering began. Hanging by the wrists, the victim's body weight pulling from 45 to 60 degree angle, would produce a painful crushing pressure on the victim's rib cage and lungs.  This exerts enough pressure so the victim can not draw air in and they can't breathe. So the victim must relieve the pressure on the rib cage and lungs by raising his body up, by standing. Or he would die from suffocation.         The victims could stand but it would mean his weight was put on the spike driven through his tortured feet. That would mean a very short time to breathe--probably in gasps, and no doubt that time would grow shorter and shorter as the victim lost strength.         So the victim could push down with their feet to lift his body to breath and  relieve the pain in the wrists. But, obviously, the pain of the victim's pushing down on his feet would produce an excruciating enough pain in his feet, that finally that pain would cause him to slump down again and bringing this pain again in his wrists and grasping for air and more suffocating,             This alternating cycle of this extreme pain in one body part to another would be continuous--continuously accompanied with the spike's rough edges grinding on open nerves.         So the crucified would be occupied at all times with intense pain, with this cycle of the more extreme pain and intense struggle of breathing. This usually would.  last for hours, having no hope, lasting as long as the strength in his legs.           Breaking the victims legs brought all this to an end, putting the victim in a position  where  he couldn't raise up anymore and the victim would then quickly suffocate to death. This is what the soldiers did to the criminals with Jesus.               The Bible tells us the soldiers didn't break Jeseus' legs and Jesus didn't die from suffocation. As Scripture tells us in Mark 15:33 – 34: "when the sixth hour had come, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice,' my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"   Jesus suffered a far greater suffering in His "soul." Isaiah 53:10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities.            So when this repentant criminal spoke to Jesus, being in extreme pain, with rough forged nails driven through his wrists and feet must have been  looking for an immediate relief of his suffering.  Obviously the criminal on the cross  begged  for immediate blessing    Jesus gave the appropriate reply, immediate as far as time was concerned--     Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise obviously that would be immediate relief or as soon as possible. And Jesus did precisely that:

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