Bible Questions and Answers

Thanks for your question.

Jesus' heavenly Father was anguished by His son's suffering. However, Jesus had to suffer so that we could appreciate how antagonistic the world is to the things of God. God needed to make an impression on us. Jesus said in John 12:32 said that he needed to be "lifted up" (a euphemism for crucified) in order to draw all men unto him. In that he succeeded But it was an agonizing death. There is some evidence to indicate that our Lord's suffering was shortened. In Mark 15:44 Pilate was amazed that Jesus was "already dead." A person can survive for more than a day being crucified before they die. I believe that once the point had been made and the earthquake came and the veil of the temple was ripped open from the top to the bottom that Jesus was allowed to die. I think the same thing happened to Stephen in Acts 7 and that he was spared the full horror of death by stoning.

God bless,
Mike