Golgotha. The place of the Skull. Calvary. These terms all refer to one place, the place where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. No other place in all the world bears so much meaning, has so great an importance to so many people worldwide as this one, small, “low, rounded, bore hill.” It is celebrated in song, painted by artists, studied by historians and geologists, and it marks a changing point in the history of man. It bore on its summit the symbol of the greatest contrasts in life, love and hate. It demonstrates the vast chasm between God and man, and also bridges that chasm. It symbolizes the greatest love ever known, God’s love, and it points to the best and the worst in man.

The hill of calvary, and on it, the old, rugged cross, marks the cruellest kind of cruelty of man to man. The cross was one of the most ruthless inventions of death that man ever devised. It was an agonizing, humiliating and slow sort of death, meant to exact the greatest amount of suffering. “Death ultimately occurred through a combination of constrained blood circulation, organ failure, and asphyxiation as the body strained under its own weight. It could be hastened by shattering the legs (crurifragium) with an iron club, which prevented them from supporting the body’s weight and made inhalation more difficult, accelerating both asphyxiation and shock.” (here). Under the Romans, the crucifixion itself was often preceded by a severe scourging, leaving the flesh hanging from the body in bloody clumps.

The victims were attached to the cross by both ropes and nails. “We have evidence of the use of nails from several sources. These were 13-18 cm (5-7 in) long tapered iron spikes. The application of the nails varied. Seneca reported that some were hung upside down, or with arms stretched out on either side. Josephus reported seeing crucifixion victims at the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE) where the soldiers positioned them in various poses to amuse themselves out of anger and hatred. Some people collected the nails as magical amulets.” (here) When you play with the death of others for your own amusement, you have surely sunk to the lowest moral depths of depravity possible.

The Romans who administered this horror were well practiced. They were experts in the field of torture and death. They and the Jews who delivered Jesus to be crucified were the worst that humanity had to offer. As cruel, and sometimes as barbaric, as the Romans were, it was the Jewish leaders who demonstrated the greater depravity. Jesus said they had the greater sin because they delivered Jesus to the Romans (John 19:11). Envy, hatred, pride, money and power were their motivations. Jesus had many confrontations with the Jewish priests, lawyers and scribes all of His ministry and they constantly sought to discredit or destroy Him. While Jesus had confronted sinners of all types, His especial condemnation was kept for the lawyers, priests and scribes who knew the law and should have been the first to acclaim Him as Saviour.

The cross is one of the ugliest ideas in human history. It peels back the thin veneer of civility and exposes the dark state of some men’s souls. That one cross that was situated atop the little hill called Golgotha, the place of the Skull and, there, upon its peak, was also a man of sublime purity. Not a single foul word proceeded from His lips. His actions were ever selfless and kind. He did no evil to any man. The kindest words of love ever spoken were uttered by this man who hung mercilessly from that rough hewn cross on its summit: “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). These simple, beautiful words were spoken with a face and body dripping with blood drawn by the hateful blows of His enemies. His hair was matted with sweat and blood and His head was crowned with thorns that pierced his scalp. His flesh was shredded from a fierce whipping. His hands and feet were secured to the hardened wood by spikes that punctured his throbbing body. And yet in His agony, in all His misery, He prayed for His persecutors’ forgiveness. What a contrast between love and hate, between God and man.

God’s love versus man’s hate atop the place of the skull. It was not really a competition, at all. There is no comparison to the everlasting love of God (Jer. 31:3). God’s love sought, and still seeks, the reconciliation of all mankind back to Himself. Many battles have been fought over such small pieces of ground to gain the advantage over the enemy, to gain the higher ground. God always possesses the higher ground but He gave His Son to die that we might gain the victory. And great victories were won on that hill.

It was on this hill that the church was purchased with Jesus’ blood (Acts 20:28). It was on this hill that those under the law were redeemed from the law (Gal 4:5). It was on this hill that the Old Law was taken out of the way (Col. 2:14). It was on this hill that the Saviour laid down His life to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). It was on this hill that transgression was finished (Dan. 9:24). It was on this hill that an end of sin was made (Dan. 9:24). It was on this hill that reconciliation for iniquity was made (Dan. 9:24). It was on this hill that everlasting righteousness was brought in (Dan. 9:24). It was on this hill the ransom was paid (I Tim. 2:6). It was on this hill that redemption through His blood was obtained (Eph. 1:7). It was on this hill that both Jew and Gentile were reconciled back to God (Eph. 2:16).

All on that one, little hill.

Eric L. Padgett