WHO REALLY KILLED JESUS? ACTS 2:22-23 3-7-09
Today I want to talk for a little while on the subject of, “who really killed Jesus”, I suppose that many of us will say that it was Pilate and the Roman Government of that day, and others might say that it was the Jews at that time, some might say that it was Satan, others will say that it was our sins, but
the real reason was, because of the love of God.
There are scriptures that say the Romans crucified Him and put Him to death, and there is scripture that say that the Jews was responsible, and then there is scripture that says that God the Father was responsible, and then we can read that it was all of man kinds sins that killed Jesus.
And so today I want to bring a few thoughts on “who really killed Jesus”.
Listen as I read today’s text from ACTS 2: 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: and then Peter goes on to say in verses 22-23
22 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: 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
The Jewish leaders hated Jesus for exposing the hypocrisy of their self-styled religious system.
Caiaphas was a Sadducee who had been appointed High Priest a few years earlier.
The Sanhedrin was the governing body of the Jews but they didn’t have the authority to put people to death.
All down through the centuries, the Jews have been blamed as being the ones who were responsible for Christ’s crucifixion.
Ø So I ask the question, did the Jews really kill Jesus?
It’s true that the accusers of Christ were Jews, but not all the Jews hated Jesus. Let’s not forget that
“ Multitudes,” had followed Him and had seen His miracles over his 3 ½ years of preaching.
A great many had been healed from incurable diseases. Some had even been brought back from the dead.
So there was a great number of Jews that felt nothing but gratitude toward Jesus.
But there were many of the religious leaders, which were filled with envy and bitterness, because of His accusations and condemnations and wanted to get rid of Him in any way they could.
On several occasions Jesus called the Pharisees “hypocrites,” “serpents,” and “brood of vipers,” and He described them as untrustworthy leaders in front of huge crowds (Matthew 23).
And this greatly humiliated the Pharisees so they were always on the lookout for opportunities that would allow them to accuse and have Jesus killed.
Matthew 12:14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
They were afraid that He would take over as leader of the people, so they plotted to find fault in Him, so as to have Him killed: they were aware of the fact that the majority of the people liked Jesus, so they didn’t want to kill Him during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people”
Matthew 26: 3-5
Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. 5But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. This only shows us that, just like Jesus said, they were a bunch of hypocrites.
So these hypocrites had people to falsely testify against Jesus to put Him to death, trying to convince the people that Jesus was worthy of death.
Matt. 26: 59-68
Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; 60 But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 61And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.
62And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? 63But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
64Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven
65Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
66What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. 67Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, 68Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
They falsely accused Jesus of blasphemy and now they had their excuse to have Him put to death.
Remember we’re asking the age-old question,” Who really killed Jesus?”.
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DID PONTIUS PILATE KILL JESUS CHRIST?
Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. He was Caesar’s representative and, as such, was the greatest authority in the land. He had power over life and death, so we’re told in John 18: that early in the morning; Christ was brought to him for the final verdict.
John 19: 4- 16 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
5Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
7The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
8When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
11Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
12And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
Lets notice that Pilot didn’t want to get in trouble with Caesar.
13When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour:**[noon] and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
15But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
16Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away,
17And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18Where they crucified him—
Pilate’s decision was motivated by the fear of a potential rebellion. So in order to keep the Jewish leaders happy, and to prevent a dangerous rebellion, he granted their request.
Although Pilate had the power to prevent Christ’s death, he chose to sacrifice an innocent man to keep the peace. Pilate, therefore, was a willing participant and contributed to Christ’s death.
---------------- Remember we’re asking the age-old question, “Who really killed Jesus?”.-------------
Ø DID SATAN KILL JESUS?
Lets remember the Devil had been looking for the Promised Seed ever since God told him in the Garden of Eden that He would come.
Genesis 3: 1-15 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it** shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
So Satan was certainly the major force behind the whole gruesome ordeal.
Satan had attempted to destroy Christ from the very start.
Satan had all the babies killed in
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men-
Herod was used of Satan stabbing at the Baby Jesus, trying to destroy the Promised Seed. Satan knows exactly who Jesus is, even the demons know who Jesus is.
Matthew 8:28-32
28And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Ger-ges-enes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer **us to go away into the herd of swine. 32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. Brother Billy Kelly said that they committed “hog- a -side”.
And certainly Satan was involved to do with the envy and bitterness in the religious leaders; and Satan no doubt influenced Pilate’s decision to have Him scourged mercilessly.
Without any doubt, Satan moved the howling mob to call for the death penalty by a gruesome crucifixion. He wanted Christ to be traumatized beyond endurance, hoping that He would finally give up and surrender.
Satan was there and he was heavily involved in Jesus death.
----------- Remember we’re asking the age-old question, “Who really killed Jesus?”.-------------
DID THE SINS OF THE WORLD KILL JESUS CHRIST?
Many people would say that the Christ’s death was because of the sins of humanity and man’s need for redemption. Humans have sinned from the fall of Adam and Eve and have needed a Saviour ever since.
During the time of ancient of Israel, God instituted a sacrificial system meant to emphasize the seriousness of sin and its demand for payment.
We read from Gods Word that the penalty of sin is death with or without the Law (Romans 6:23).
So in order to prevent the end for all of humanity, there was a need for a sacrifice that would suffice as payment for all our sins. And only a Divine Being could be such a sacrifice, and we can raed in many places in the N.T. that Jesus was sinless and perfect and He was the Only Sacrifice that God the Father would accept, and we all know that God sent His Only Begotten Son.
John 3: 16-18
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1 Peter 2: 22-25 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
The Son of God was the only sufficient payment for the sins of the world. Therefore, it is justified to say that our sins killed Christ.
-------- So we have seen that there are several contributors to the death of Christ. Pilate, the religious leaders, Satan, the sins of the world. All can be listed as contributors to His death.
-----------BUT THE REAL REASON HE WAS KILLED IS----------
IT WAS GOD THE FATHERS LOVE AND ALSO CHRIST’S LOVE FOR MAN THAT LED TO THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST.
God the Father loves mankind so much that He was willing to go through untold anguish for us, by offering His only Begotten Son to be scourged and then to be nailed to a cross.
Jesus Christ agreed to do God’s will, fully aware of the horrible pain and suffering that lay in store for Him.
Yet, He knew that his suffering would bring about salvation for all of humanity:
John 6: 51
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
