Survival of the Jesus on the cross

The Greatest Miracle of Jesus

Jesus prophecied that his fate would be like that of prophet Jonah.
Jesus said:

"A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39,40)

Survival — Not Revival

The sign of Jonah is related in the Bible:

The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. (Jonah 1:17, 2:1,2)

The sign given to the Ninevites by Jonah was he was saved from certain death. He stayed for a period of time in danger, but ultimately recovered. He went alive into the belly of the fish, stayed alive for days, and came out alive.
The same fate was prophecied for Jesus. He would enter the tomb alive, stay alive for days, and come out alive. If Jesus had died, there would be little resemblance to Jonah.
The story of Jonah is one of survival — not revival.

Prayer in the Garden

When it appeared that there was no way to avoid the devious plans of the Jews to have him crucified, Jesus prayed fervently 'to remove the cup' of death upon the cross (Mark 14:36).
Jesus had full confidence that his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane would be accepted as he himself told his disciples:

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22).

"Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. You parents- if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Of if they ask for fish, do you give them a snake?" (Matthew 7:7-9)

God Accepted His Prayer

The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was the most important and grand prayer offered by Jesus and portrayed quite vividly in the Gospels. It is inconceivable that the prayer did not reach the Divine Throne, especially as Jesus taught his disciples the power of prayer.
Indeed we need not guess. The Gospels furnish evidence that his prayer was accepted.
The Gospel of Luke states an angel came from Heaven "strengthening him" (Luke 22:43). This indicates God had heard his heart-felt prayer.
After his supplication in the garden, when Jesus was apprehended, one of his followers drew a sword, struck a servant of a high priest and cut off his ear. Jesus sternly rebuked him and said:

"Those who use the sword will be killed by the sword. Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?"(Matthew 26:52-53).

This shows Jesus was now in perfect contentment that his prayer was accepted and all could be left now in the hands of God, with no need for active self-defence.
Finally, when death looked imminent and he was in agony on the cross he cried "Eli Eli lama sabachthani"* (Matthew 27:45-46) because he did not expect that it would come to this. He fully believed the prayer would be accepted.

* Translation: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!

Convinced of His Innocence

It is notable in the New Testament testimony that Pontius Pilate believed Jesus to be innocent and did not want him executed. One of the influences was a dream Pilate's wife convincing her of Jesus' innocence, and the message she passed on to Pilate was "leave that innocent man alone" (Matthew 27:19).
Pilate eventually acquiesced to the demand of the Jews that Jesus be crucified, as a riot was developing. However he then asked for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd and exclaimed "I am innocent of the blood of this man. The responsibility is yours!" (Matthew 27:24) .

The Plan to Save Jesus

An analysis of the Gospels clearly reveals Pilate had an interest in saving Jesus' life to the best of this ability while trying to maintain official execution procedure as mandated by Roman law. Three key points may be noted:

• He set the crucifixion day just before the Sabbath, as Jewish law specifically prohibits bodies to hang on the cross by the start of Sabbath. Death would be unlikely to ensue within 6 hours (see "Short Duration")
• When the time came to remove Jesus and the two others on the cross, the Jews asked Pilate to break the legs of Jesus (John 19:31). However the centurions acting on Pilate's command did not break the legs of Jesus (John 19:33). It was because he had taken these precautionary measures that Pilate was surprised when he was told that Jesus was "already dead" (Mark 15:44).
• Roman protocol was that body would lie on the crucifixion grounds and be subjected to the elements and animals. However Pilate allowed something quite interesting to take place by deviating from standard practice. He allowed Jesus to be given to Jesus' friends not his enemies.

Saved from a Fatal Blow

After Jesus supposedly 'died' on the cross a Roman soldier made a decision not to break the legs of Jesus while on the cross. The episode fulfilled a prophecy and was not without meaning.
The Gospel of John (19:36) tells us that the Scripture was fulfilled (based on Psalms 34:20) - a bone of his shall not be broken. The Roman soldier did not bother to break the legs of Jesus to hasten death since he thought he was already dead. Breaking the legs would have been devastating due to the severe trauma of blood loss and consequential hypovolemic shock by breaking one of the larger bones in the body, the tibia, in each leg.
The Scriptural attention to not breaking the legs can only be meaningful if the body was alive - it is a meaningless issue for a corpse. A fuller reading of Psalm 34, verses 19 and 20 underscores it:
"The righteous face many troubles but the Lord rescues them from each and every one. For the Lord protects them from harm - not one of their bones will be broken."

Corpses Do Not Bleed

An important piece of information is mentioned in the Gospel of John which supports the view that Jesus did not die on the cross:
"One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water" (John 19:34).
Blood pouring out is a sign of intact circulation, with the spear injuring an arteriole. Note the words 'sudden flow' which implies blood pressure. The 'water' was perhaps pleural fluid, present between the rib cage and lungs.
As blood does not rush out of corpses, the quoted verse did present a problem to at least one Church Father, Origen. In his exegesis of John 19:34, he admitted that blood coagulates after death, but the flow of blood in this case constituted a miracle and thus needed no explanation. (Contra Celsus, by Origen, translated by H. Chadwick, Cambridge U).
The spear thrust into the side of Jesus was not meant as a kind of definitive blow, but as a rough (and actually inaccurate) indicator if death had occurred. If the intent were to kill, the soldier would have stabbed into the front of the chest to injure the heart. However, in the event the person was not on the cross for sufficient length of time, death was usually caused by breaking the legs, as was done with the individuals hanging along side Jesus.

Breaking with Protocol

The Gospel testimony it should be pointed out is inconsistent on the point of the centurion wanting to ensure the death of Jesus. On the one hand, the centurion saw that Jesus was 'already dead' so he did not bother to break his legs (see "Legs not Broken") as against the demand of the Jews to hasten death by breaking his bones on account of the Sabbath (John 19:31) which was the standard protocol. On the other hand the centurion pierced Jesus' side. Was this done to cause death if he was uncertain about it? If so, why were the bones not broken also which was the standard, brutal method? How can we not assume there were some elements of sympathy from at least some of the Romans, starting from Pilate on top (see "Pilate's Plot") and going down the chain of command?
It is alleged the Romans executioners were cold, brutal and blood thirsty experts in the art of putting people to death. Not only do we have some inconsistency in actions documented on the part of the centurion, we also have what appears to a be a very sympathetic Roman officer and even a closet follower of Jesus, as marked by his words when he was looking on at the cross when Jesus supposedly died: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39).

Death by Crucifixion Takes Days

When the news of the supposed death of Jesus reached Pilate, he was surprised to learn that Jesus had passed away so soon (Mark 15:44). His testimony is extremely important and revealing. Here was the man who probably had the most knowledge in his time of the nature of the punishment of crucifixion and likely officiated over many such crucifixions.
Though many details of the crucifixion have been lost with the end of the Roman Empire, there are ample records to show this particular punishment took at least two to three days to kill a person. For example, good testimony comes from historian Flavius Josephus in the first century A.D who described survivors of crucifixions. The writer Plutarch (c 75 A.D) mentions some individuals surviving some ten days on the cross.
The New Bible Dictionary also concluded based on the historical facts of crucifixion that "death by this method was usually quite protracted, rarely supervening before thirty-six hours, and on occasion taking as long as nine days" (1962 ed, Intervarsity Press, Page 282).

Aloe and Myrrh

After the crucifixion, the body of Jesus came into the hands of his disciples Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
The Gospel of John records that Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes 'about a seventy-five pounds in weight' (John 19:39). These plants, particularly aloe plants, are considered medicinal and applied to wounds. It was used extensively in many ancient cultures is used even today to soothe open wounds. The Roman physician Pedanius Dioscrorides (c 75 B.C) recommended aloe for wounds and skin conditions. Alexander the Great's mentor, Aristotle, persuaded him to capture the island of Socotra to harvest the aloe plants for treating wounded soldiers.
Interestingly, the medieval near eastern classic textbook of medicine entitled Canon of Medicine by Avicenna mentioned an ointment termed Marhami Isa (Ointment of Jesus).

Wounded, but Alive

After the crucifixion, Jesus came under the care of his devoted followers who brought him into a spacious tomb.
If a man survived the death punishment, we would expect such a person to show clear evidence of the wounds. We would expect him to keep a low profile and move away from the place of crucifixion, as there may be the chance of re-arrest. Fear would be exhibited by his followers out of concern for their master.
The Gospel testimony leads precisely to that conclusion.
Jesus shows his wounds to Thomas (John 20:25-7), showing he did not have a supernatural, resurrected body, but a patient's body.
He hurriedly travelled away from the locality of the crucifixion and chose to meet only his closest followers:
"Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there" (Matthew 28:10).
The followers of Jesus were frightened to the extent that they decided not to tell anyone about his emergence from the tomb (Mark 16:8).
Not once did Jesus appear before his persecutors or wandered through the center of Jerusalem asking people now to accept him as the resurrected Messiah who had atoned for their sins.
All we have is a man in his earthly body of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39) who suffered pangs of hunger (Luke 24:41) and staying out of the lime-light. In convincing his disciples that he had the same wounded body, he in effect was showing he never died as God saved him from the ordeal just as Jonah emerged alive from the fish (see "Sign of Jonah").