Introduction: WHO KILLED JESUS? Through the centuries following the crucifixion of Christ, the Jewish people have usually borne the brunt of the blame. The expression “Christ Killers” has often been employed by misguided zealots, rascists and hate-mongers. Sadly, this charge of killing Jesus has been used to justify everything from hate crimes to holocausts against the Jewish people. (adapted from John MacArthur’s book “The Murder of Jesus”)
I ask you again, Who killed Jesus? Upon whom can we cast blame, and amend this affront against the God of the Universe?
I. The Jews Reject Him-there is a sense in which both Old and New Testaments hold Israel culpable for the murder of her Messiah.
a. THE FICKLE: The Jews as a Nation Reject Him
i. Isaiah 49:10 – “…his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth…”
ii. Psalm 22:6-8 – “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
iii. Isaiah 53: 2b-3 – “…he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
iv. The Final Cry of Rejection: It’s possible that the very ones that hail him with cries of “Hosanna, Hosanna” just a few days later cry out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
b. THE FLESHLY: The Leaders of the Jews Reject Him – The ruling counsel of the Jews conspired to kill Him.
i. Plot was hatched by Caiaphas, the high priest – “And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not…Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.” (John 11:49-50,53)
II. Others Reject Him-Were the Jews more guilty than others in His death?
a. THE FEEBLE-HEARTED: The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, Rejects Him – Most vivid account, given by the Apostle John, shows Pilate as caving in to Jewish pressures to put Jesus to death, because he alone had authority to do this.
b. THE FROWARD: King Herod Antipas Rejects Him –
i. The Son of Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus as a baby
ii. The man who killed John the Baptist
iii. Mocks Jesus, stripping him, and clothes him in a royal robe, sends him again to Pilate.
***The murder of Jesus was a vast conspiracy involving Rome, Herod, the Sanhedrin, and the Jewish people. Christ’s crucifixion is the ONLY historical event where all those factions worked together to achieve a common goal.***
Acts 4:27, “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.”
III. The Guilty Parties
a. THE FICKLE: Jewish People: Were the Jews culpable of the crucifixion of Jesus?
i. Comments of Jesus upon entering Jerusalem: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” (Luke 19:42-44)
ii. AD 70 – Rome attacked and besieged Jerusalem and left it desolate
b. THE FLESHLY: Caiaphas – Did God hold him responsible for rejecting the Son of God?
i. Josephus recounts that Caiaphas was unable to maintain control after Jesus’ death, until he was removed from office in AD36
c. THE FEEBLE-HEARTED: Pontius Pilate
i. The historian Eusebius wrote that in AD36, Pilate was exiled to Gaul (France) and committed suicide there, in Vienne.
d. THE FROWARD: Herod Antipas
i. Herod’s own subjects were convinced that the judgments of God had fallen on Herod as in AD36 Herod’s armies were assaulted in numerous battles by Aretas and Arabian armies.
ii. He was exiled in AD39 to Lyons, in Gaul where he remained stripped of power and dignity.
***The worst crime that can be committed by a sinner against God
is the rejection of His Son, Jesus Christ***
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)
IV. The MASTER DESIGNER AND EXECUTOR OF THE PLOT: God the Father
a. The death of Jesus was the WILL of the Father: Scripture emphasizes from cover to cover that the death of Christ was ordained and appointed by God Himself.
i. Isaiah 53:10a “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…”
b. The death of Jesus was ORDAINED by the Father: While the designs of those who killed Christ were entirely murderous, and God did not exonerate them from their evil, God was working a greater good.
i. Prayer of the early church: “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, FOR TO DO WHATSOEVER THY HAND AND THY COUNSEL DETERMINED BEFORE TO BE DONE.” (Acts 4:26-28)
ii. Preaching of Peter to the Jews: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, BEING DELIVERED BY THE DETERMINATE COUNSEL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” (Acts 2:22-23)
c. Why was God pleased by the death of His Son?
i. He was pleased by the redemption (reconciliation) that was accomplished.
1. Ephesians 2:13-14 – “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us (between us and God).”
ii. He was pleased with the sacrifice His Son made to bring us eternal salvation.
1. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
iii. He was pleased to display His righteous anger against sin in such a graphic way—His justice was satisfied.
iv. He was pleased to demonstrate His love for sinners through such a majestic sacrifice:
1. John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
