1. Tonight we remember the death of our Lord and Saviour. Death is often a horrible experience. What makes our Lord’s death even more horrible is that He was killed, murder by the brutal act of crucufixion.
2. This evening, we ask - who could have done such a thing? Who killed Jesus? There are many we might blame.
3. Perhaps we would blame the Pharisees and the religious leaders. Jesus had denounced their false worship and religion and had become a threat to them
Mat 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
After Jesus was arrested:
Mark 14:53 They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together.
He was brought before the Sanhedrin.
Mark 14:55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death,
And they tried Him.
Mark 15:1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
Surely it was these people who killed Him.
4. Or was it Pilate? He was afraid to stand up to the people and He finally handed Jesus over to be hung. It was only Pilate that had the authority to condemn His life.
5. Or was it the crowd? How quickly they turned from following Jesus to being stirred up by the Pharisees. It was they who cried out "crucify Him, crucify Him." It was they who put the pressure on Pilate. He could not survive his position if they would rise up against him.
6. Was it the soldiers? They not only placed Him on the cross, but drove in the nails and mocked Him. They were the ones who took the physical action against Him.
7. Or was it you or me? After all, was it not for our sins that He died? If we had not sinned, His death would not have been necessary.
8. Who killed Jesus? The real answer is none of the above.
9. His Father killed Him! Perhaps this statement sounds too strong and even blasphemous? And yet God Himself says the same thing in His word:
Rom 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--
Isa 53:10 Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
10. It was God’s will that His Son should suffer and die on the cross. That is why He sent Jesus to earth in the first place.
11. How can a Father kill His own Son? God asked Abraham to do this very thing with his son Isaac. But just as Abraham lifted the knife over the chest of his son, God spared his son and replaced the sacrifice with a lamb caught in the thicket. But God lifted the knife of death over the chest of His son, but did not spare Him, because Jesus was the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain.
12. Why? Why did God kill His own Son? He did this for you and me.
2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Isa 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
13. God did not spare His own Son because it was by His death alone that God could spare us. Out of His great love for us, God let His Son bear the penalty of all of our sins.
14. And that, my friends, is hard for us to understand. But although we cannot understand such love, we can respond to it. We can say "Thank you, God." . We can hate our sin as we see how it cost the life of our Lord and Saviour. We can make His death effective for us. We can place our trust in Him
15. For if God did this for you and me, is there anything greater that He could do? No, and since He did this, there is nothing lese that He will do for you and me. Paul says it so well in Romans 8:
Rom 8:31-39 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
16. This is the hope that we have in the darkness of Good Friday. That is the light which shines in the darkness. Come to the light, He’s waiting for you. And walk in the light.
17. Thank you, God, for your indescribable gift!
