Reasons for the Crucifixion

In our gospel doctrine class on Sunday we discussed why it was the Jesus had to die the death of crucifixion.  We know of course that the plan of salvation required that He suffer death for the sins of all mankind; for example, Jacob testified, “It behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him” (2 Nephi 9:5).  So He had to die for us, but why was crucifixion the manner of death?  Why did it have to be such a cruel method that He suffered death by?  As I wrote yesterday, this specific manner of death was foretold by many ancient prophets, dating back to the days of Enoch, and so clearly it was part of the plan from the beginning.  I don’t know why it had to be crucifixion, but there are many purposes it served.  For one, it was a very public form of death so that all the city knew that He had died.  There was no question that He had truly been put to death on the cross.  This made the resurrection all the more powerful, for none could doubt that He hadn’t actually been dead.  This was perhaps symbolic as well—just as He died in front of all men, He also died for all men.

               There are other significant aspects of the crucifixion that perhaps help us understand why this was the manner of death the Savior.  When Jesus visited the Nephites after His resurrection, He said this, “And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works” (3 Nephi 27:14-15).  The Savior was lifted up so we could see Him and come unto Him.  Just as He was literally raised up on the cross, so too will all of us be raised up in the resurrection to appear before the Father and be judged.  He was raised up by men unto death; we are raised up by Him from death unto life. 

The awful torture of the crucifixion also provided a way for Him to preserve the evidence of His death to help others recognize the reality of the resurrection.  Other forms of death in the Bible—such as stoning or beheading—would not have allowed this.  When He visited the apostles “he shewed unto them is hands,” and Thomas subsequently declared, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails… I will not believe” (John 20:25).  He did see those prints and he did believe that Christ was resurrected.  When the Savior visited the Nephites He announced Himself in these words: “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth” (3 Nephi 11:14).  He used the marks of crucifixion to show them who He was, likely relying on the fact that they knew (or should have known) the prophecies of their own Nephite prophets that this would be the Messiah’s manner of death.  In a future day these marks will again take on significance when the Savior presents Himself to many of the Jews: “And then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet?  Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:51-52).  They will recognize Him by the emblems of the crucifixion, and some day we will all have that experience to feel those prints and know that He is truly the Savior who hung on the cross for us.