The Death of Jesus
1. Matthew
Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, Killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark
Died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by Horses through
the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke
Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the
lost.
4. John
Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil
during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered
from death.
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos
where he wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation. The apostle John was later
freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in what is now modern day
Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
5. Peter
He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross.
According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors
that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6. James
The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred
feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the temple when he refused to deny his
faith in Christ. When they discovered that he had survived the fall, his
enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club.
* This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the
Temptation.
7. James the Greater
Son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a
lifetime of ministry.
As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at
Jerusalem.
The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended
his faith at his trial.
Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution.
Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside
James to accept his own beheading as a Christian.
8. Bartholomew
Also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for
our Lord in what is now present day Turkey.
Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was
flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew
He was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After
being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony.
His followers reported that when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: 'I have
long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by
the body of Christ hanging on it.'
He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he
expired.
10. Thomas
Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary
trips to establish the church in the sub-continent.
11. Jude
Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Matthias
The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was
stoned and then beheaded.
13. Paul
Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in
A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his
many Epistles to the churches he had founded throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught
many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the
New Testament.
Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are
indeed minor compared to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the
apostles and disciples during their times for the sake of their faith. 'And ye
shall be hated of all men for my
name's sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.' Matthew said; "Faith
is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God WILL!"
The Death of Jesus
For the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever You are doing and take
this opportunity! Let's see if Satan can stop this!
THE (SCIENTIFIC) DEATH OF JESUS
At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to death. At that time
Crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were
condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike
other criminals condemned to death by Crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to
the Cross by his hands and feet.
Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into his
wrist, not into his palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the
wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails
were being hammered into the wrist that the tendon would tear and break,
forcing Jesus to use his back muscles to support himself so that he could breathe.
Both of his feet were nailed together thus he was forced to support himself on
the single nail that impaled his feet to the cross. Jesus could not support
himself with his legs because of the pain, so he was forced to alternate
between arching his back, then using his legs just to continue to breathe.
Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.
Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours! Can
you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before he died, Jesus stopped
bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds. From common images we see wounds to his hands and
feet and even the spear wound to his side... But do we realize his wounds were
actually made in his body? A hammer driving large nails through each wrist, the
feet overlapped and an even larger nail hammered through
the arches, then a Roman guard piercing his side with a spear. But
before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was
so severe that it tore the flesh from his body. The beating so horrific that his face was torn and his beard ripped from his face. The Crown of thorns cut
deeply into his scalp. Most men would not have survived even this torture.
"He had no more blood to bleed out. Only water poured from his wounds."
The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of
blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 Liters of his blood out; He had three nails
hammered into his members; a crown of thorns on his head and, beyond that, a
Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into his
side...All this without mentioning the humiliation he suffered
after carrying his own Cross for almost 2 kilometers while the crowd spat in
his face and threw stones (the cross was probably almost 30 kg of weight, only
for its higher part, where his hands were nailed). Jesus had to endure this
experience in order to open the Gates of Heaven, So you can have free access to
God. So that your sins could be "washed" away.
All of them, with no exception!
