Did Jesus Actually "Die" On The Cross?

Each year, as we approach the day of commemoration of Jesus' Crucifixion---Good Friday--- there are those who claim He didn't really die on the cross.

Uninformed professors and rebellious atheists put out their rebuttals to uninformed people every year. 

While some are misled, others are disappointed because they had hoped it was true.

It is true. He did die on the cross.

There is an abundance of evidence that Jesus was not merely in shock from the beating he had received.

He was dead.

Let's look at the evidence. And the purpose.

Be informed, not misled.

Josh McDowell writes, "Let’s look at the crucifixion details of Jesus’ torture and death. Is it possible, as some assert, that Jesus wasn’t really dead when His body was removed from the cross?"

He answers his question: "No, and we can know this with certainty for several reasons."

• First: The Romans were experts at crucifixion. Though they didn’t invent it, the Romans used crucifixion extensively because it worked so well as a deterrent. All who came upon a Roman crucifixion quaked at suffering a similar fate because this form of torture was gruesome, degrading, and led to an intensely painful death. The Roman statesman Cicero called crucifixion “the most cruel and hideous of tortures.”
• Second: The Jewish leaders were well aware that Jesus had predicted His own resurrection. Fearing that His followers might take extraordinary measures to make it appear that Jesus’ claims proved true, they took equally extraordinary precautions to ensure that Jesus died. They then had His body sealed in a tomb under heavy Roman guard.
• Third: Even without the guards, it would have been difficult for Jesus’ followers to remove the massive stone sealing the tomb’s entrance. Typically, to close the tomb, a heavy stone of perhaps several thousand pounds would be rolled down a groove, at a decline, to settle in front of the entrance. To remove the stone, many men would have had to roll the stone backward at an incline. Yes, the stone was rolled away, but not by human effort.
• Fourth: Researchers have uncovered that twelve reliable, non-Christian sources, dated approximately 20 to 150 years after Jesus’s crucifixion, record that Jesus died. One of the sources, Cornelius Tacitus (AD 55-120), is considered by many to be the greatest ancient Roman historian.

Yes, Jesus died. He was not in a coma from the shock of His beatings.

Today on the radio, I'll discuss more of the fact that He died on the cross, just as the prophets had predicted.

We'll talk about the implications of His death.

And then there was Sunday.

You may join me on the radio from anywhere in the world. Here's how. 

Be Informed. Be Blessed.