A Violent Grace by Michael Card

by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2.14)

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1.19-20)

From Chapter 10 "He Was Nailed to the Cross So I Might Escape Judgment"

The mock trials are over.  The little that Pilate was willing to do to release Jesus, he has done. Now, for the record, he publicly washes his hands of the matter, as if the water could cleanse him of his responsibility. And then he utters the formal sentence: "Ab in crucem." You shall mount the cross. 

Four soldiers carry out Jesus' execution. Although as many as six hundred men were sent to arrest Jesus, Pilate now sees little chance of a riot. Of all Jesus' supporters, only weeping women are left.

Two soldiers lift the forty-pound crossbeam onto Jesus' shoulders. He is going to carry His own cross to the place of execution.  

...

Step by excruciating step, Jesus stumbles out of the Praetorium and down the twisted streets of the city, a great throng following.  How far does He stagger before He falls face down and lies skinned and bruised beneath the beam?

Some onlookers turn their eyes from His agony. Others watch disinterestedly while they hawk their wares, waiting for the mob to thin so they can carry on the real business of the day. Most cheer or curse as Jesus struggles to rise, takes another step, and stumbles past.

Soon he falls again. What makes Him crumple? Is it the weight of the crossbeam added to His wounds and loss of blood from the scourging? Is it the incalculable burden of the whole world's rebellion? Is it the weight of all our sorrows that presses Him down? It is all those things, and at last the weight grinds God's Son into the stones and stops the procession.

...

The crowd forms a tight, expectant circle around the site of the execution. Some spectators suddenly fall silent, and perhaps for the first time the wailing of the women can be heard.

...

Now three soldiers stretch out Jesus out upon the crossbeam while the other picks up an iron spike. The nail is a tapered shaft from five to seven inches long and about three-eights of an inch across.

The fourth soldier swings his mallet high. The women turn away. The mallet falls, pounding the spike through Jesus' flesh and deep into the wound. Seconds later, the second spike is pounded home. Now Jesus is impaled on the crossbeam.

The soldiers hoist up the beam on which Jesus hangs bleeding and fasten it to the upright timber. With the crossbeam in place, the soldiers grasp Jesus' feet and place them one on top of the other. Next they hold a piece of wood over His crossed feet and drive a single spike through it through His heel bones, and into the wood of the cross.

The sentence for Jesus has been carried out...All that lies ahead for Jesus is agony and waiting.

Crucifixion was death by exhaustion - every minute consumed with the painful necessity of struggling to suck another breath. In fact, medical experts tell us that David's cry in Psalm 69 is a physiologically accurate description of Jesus' experience of dying. "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold" (vv. 1-2).

The legacy of death by crucifixion is still with us in the word "excruciating," which literally means "out of the cross." To extend the life-and thus the torment-of the victim, the executioners took care not to damage his vital organs. If they performed everything properly, he could hang for as long as nine days before death came.

If they had flogged the victim repeatedly beforehand, however, he could die sooner from loss of blood. This could help explain the unusual fact that Jesus died on the same day as He was crucified.