John
19:1-6 (ESV)
1
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a
crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They
came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their
hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to
you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold
the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out,
“Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and
crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
The
significance of the cross cannot be overstated for a person who believes the
collective sin of the world was nailed to a single cross in Jerusalem during
the first century AD. The Son of God, Jesus, experienced execution by
crucifixion.
An
artifact discovered in 1968 brought the first century form of crucifixion to
our present-day lives.
Construction
workers were working on a project in a suburb north of Jerusalem. To their
surprise they accidentally uncovered a Jewish tomb dating to the first century.
Inside the tomb was a stone ossuary (bone box) bearing the Hebrew name John.
Inside the ossuary were found the skeletal remains of a man in his twenties who
had been crucified. How did they know the young man had been crucified?
The
man, stunningly, still had a nail driven through his right heel. The iron nail
measured 11.5 centimeters (4.53 inches) in length. Why was the nail still in
his heel? The end of the nail was bent. It looks like what happened is while
the nail was being driven into the cross the nail hit a knot in the wood and
bent. The people burying the man left the nail in place.
Remains
of olive wood, additionally, were found between the head of the nail and the
heel bone.
These
bones found outside Jerusalem, amazingly, can be dated to a time very close to
the time of Jesus. This young man was crucified in a way slightly different
from Jesus. His feet were nailed individually to the outside of the cross. His
arms appear to have been tied by ropes. His arms wouldn’t have experienced the
same pain Jesus experienced, yet it probably took him much longer to die.
Significance
of the Discovery
This
artifact proves that death by crucifixion was happening in the exact city and
at the exact time mentioned in the New Testament. As we look at the nail driven
into this foot we can only imagine if the same man swung the hammer placing
nails in the arms and feet of Jesus. Were the nails forged by the same
blacksmith? We will never know.
This
artifact gives us more confidence toward the historical reliability of Jesus’
death on the cross which has bought us life.
Dear Lord,
we thank You that artifacts are found they keep showing the truth of the Bible.
Help us to share the confidence that we have what You did for us to those
around us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment