Who Killed the Lamb?
Isaiah 53:1-6
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 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.
The question of who was responsible for the death of Christ is an age-old one. The Jews have been held responsible for centuries. Even today, this is the “super-weapon” used by those who are prejudiced against Jews, such as the Arian Nation, a white supremacist group.
One day a pastor and his wife were out shopping and they stopped at a Jewish shoe store. The pastor had had many conversations with the owner before, so he knew his religious convictions. Almost immediately the owner began the conversation with, “Why don’t you preachers inform your people correctly about the crucifixion?”
Then he proceeded to tell a sad story about his little 8-year-old daughter who came home from school crying one day. Her mother said, “What’s the matter, honey?” The little girl answered, “Judy won’t play with me anymore.” “Why not” asked her mom. “Because her mom says we are Christ-killers.”
This is a sad story that’s been repeated countless times through the centuries. This leads naturally to the question, “Who really did kill Jesus?”
There’s only one place to look for the answer—the Word of God! A close examination will reveal that there were several parties involved in the crucifixion of the Son of God.
1. The Jewish Leaders of Jesus’ Time
Matt 26:59: The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.
Matt 27:25: All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
Acts 2:22, 23: "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”
Many other scriptures could be cited but surely these ought to convince anyone that the Jews of Jesus’ time had a hand in His death. But they were not alone.
2. Gentile Leaders
The means by which Jesus was executed is distinctly Roman. The Jews stoned those convicted of capital crimes. The Romans who borrowed the method form Babylon, always crucified.
Mark 15:15 says, “And so Pilate, willing to please the people…delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.”
Therefore, we must realize that Gentiles also had a part in putting Jesus to death. But again, these two groups were not alone.
3. A Disciple: Judas Iscariot
Think of it! One of a small, select, trusted band of men who were picked by Jesus Himself—men who ate and slept and walked with Jesus for three years. They watch Him heal and love and forgive. They listened to His sermons. They saw the great compassion in His eyes. They saw Him demonstrate great power over even death itself.
But one of them, having witnessed all of this, turned his back on Jesus. We read about it in Matthew 14:10: “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him.”
How could it happen? I don’t have the answer. But then I don’t know why people backslide away from God either.
Illus.: “de Vinchy’s Painting of Judas”
In Leonardo de Vichy’s famous painting, "The Last Supper" he first drew Judas with the face of his worst enemy and critic; but then unable to sleep and feeling guilty, he redrew it to portray some of his own features. An interesting insight, recognizing that the capacity to betray lies within us all Judas did it for the money, and that ought to awaken us and frighten us; because we too share that same motivation, we too struggle with greed & the love of money in our lives.
4. Satan
Luke 22:3 says, “Then entered Satan into Judas…”The devil still inspires hatred in the hearts of men as demonstrated in the recent bombings of the World Trade Center.
These things don’t happen over night. Judas must have allowed the devil a chance to enter him—a little at a time.
5. God the Father
Yes, that’s right. You heard me correctly. Is this blasphemy? you may ask. No, because in a sense, God the Father was involved in the death of the Lamb.
Isaiah 53:4: Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
Rom 8:32: 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?
It was love that caused the Father to let go on His Son (John 3:16). God the Father afflicted Him because He bore the sins of the world.
6. Jesus Himself
The Lamb of God was involved in His own death—not as a suicide, but as an offering for sin. In John, chapter 10, Jesus utters some startling words:”The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-- only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
He could have called 12 legions of angels of angels and wiped out the entire Roman army, but He didn’t!
Long before this present world was put in order, it was decided that One must die for the sins of humanity. Jesus volunteered to be that One. So we conclude that Jesus was very much involved in His own crucifixion.
Illus.: “Jesus Rescued Us”
If you were standing on the edge of a pier at the beach, and some guy came running up to you and said, “This is how much I love you” and then dove into the water and drowned, you’d think he was crazy—a waste of a perfectly good life, for no reason. But if you fell off that pier and were drowning and that same guy dove in to rescue you, dragged you to safety but died in the process and his dying words were, “This is how much I love you” then you’d truly understand this kind of love. That’s what Jesus did when he went to the cross. He didn’t just show us love; He brought God’s love to us by rescuing us from our sin.
7. You and I
The old Gospel song asks the question, “Where You There When They Crucified My Lord?” And the answer has to be, “Of course we were!”
But someone might say, “I wasn’t even born when Jesus died.”
True! But when Jesus died, He died for our sins.
Isaiah 53:5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities…”
Rom. 5:8: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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.
John M. Moore, the hymn writer captured this truth when he wrote…
Why did they nail Him to Calvary’s tree?
Why, tell me, why was He there?
Jesus the Helper, the Healer, the Friend—
Why, tell me, why was He there?
Then the songwriter answers the rhetorical question by saying…
All my iniquities on Him were laid—
He nailed them all to the tree.
Jesus the debt of my sin fully paid—
He paid the ransom for me.
When Jesus was on the cross, I was in the crowd.
Illus.: “Rembrandt’s Painting”
In his painting of the crucifixion, you see the crowd there and their attitudes reflected in their faces and body language. But, almost hidden from view is a figure, back in the shadows. It is Rembrandt himself. He saw himself there.
