Who Killed
Jesus?
By Dr.Samuel
Kumar(CA)
In the wake of the release of Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of
the Christ," the question being asked is, "Who killed Jesus?" First,
a word about the death of Jesus Christ. The best of movies, the greatest of
books and the richest of human imagination cannot adequately describe the
physical agony that the Lord Jesus suffered. Beside physical
suffering who can describe the emotional and mental agony of the One
Who said that His soul was weighed down with extreme sorrow even to the
point of death? (Mark 14:34) Returning to the question, "Who killed
Jesus?", let us examine the Scripture.
THE
JEWS: It would be naive to say that the Jews had little to do
with the death of Christ. It was a Jew (Judas) who betrayed the Lord Jesus
for the price of thirty pieces of silver. It was the Jewish guards that
came to Gethsemane and arrested Him. (Mark 14:43) It was the chief priests and
the scribes that held a hasty meeting and it was the high priest who concluded
that Jesus was guilty of death. The Jewish guards physically abused the
Lord Jesus. The Jewish leaders handed the Lord over to Pilate and demanded
His death, instigating the crowds to clamor for His crucifixion. They said, "His
blood be on us and on our children." (Matt. 27:25) Peter addressed the Jews
and said, "Ye by wicked hands have crucified and slain (Jesus)" He
reiterated the charge in Acts 5:30 and said, "Jesus, Whom ye slew
and hanged on a tree." The apostle Paul said about the Jews that they "both
killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets." (1 Thess. 2:14,15) It is not
anti-Semitic to say that the Jews were instrumental in the crucifixion of
the Lord Jesus. The Scripture, however, prophesies that one day the Jews
will look upon Him Whom they had pierced and "they shall mourn for Him as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn." (Zech. 12:10)
HEROD: When Pilate heard that the Lord Jesus was from
Galilee, he sent Him to Herod deferring to Herod's jurisdiction.
Herod could have released the Lord Jesus but instead he mocked Him and sent Him
back to Pilate. (Luke 23:6-12) The disciples prayed, "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." (Acts
4:27)
THE
ROMANS: Pilate the Roman governor found no fault in the Lord
Jesus and he tried hard to get Him released. His wife also cautioned him not
to act against the Lord. Yet he buckled under pressure from the Jewish
leaders and the insistent demands of the mob to crucify Jesus. The Roman
soldiers physically and mentally abused Him. They crucified Him and divided His
garments among themselves, unwittingly fulfilling
prophesy.
YOU and
ME: Our sins left us with no option but hell unless there
was a substitutionary sacrifice of a sinless One, to satisfy the
just demands of a holy God. In Isaiah 53:5 it is written, "But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed." Our
sins were responsible for the Lord's suffering and sacrifice. We are told that
the Lord Jesus was "delivered for our offences and was raised again for our
justification." (Rom. 4:25)
DIVINE
PLAN: The plan to save sinners was conceived in the eternal counsels of God even before man was created! The Lord Jesus is spoken of as a
Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev. 13:8) The apostle Peter
says that this Lamb was "foreordained before the foundation of the world." (1
Peter 1:20) The Lord Jesus could have escaped from the scene. He could have
summoned more than twelve legions of angels. (Matt. 26:53) But He asked, "How
then can the Scriptures be fulfilled?" (Matt. 26:54) Jesus Himself said, "I lay
down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I
lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it
again." (John 10: 17,18) "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross." (Phil. 2:8)
Who killed Jesus?
While many were involved, it was the love of the Lord Jesus that made the
ultimate sacrifice possible. He said, "Greater love hath no man than this that a
man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) He accomplished His mission
on the cross and cried victoriously, "It is finished!" (John 19:30) The
gospel is summarized in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4, where we read, "Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures."
Dear
reader, do you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord? Is He
at the helm of your life? If not, confess your sin and accept the enormous price
He paid for you and receive the gift of eternal life. You will never be the same
again in time and in eternity. Millions took this step and they passed from
"death unto life" (John 5:24) and from "darkness into His marvelous light" (1
Peter 2:9) Come to the Lord Jesus. The horrors of the cross and the love
of the Lord Jesus demand it. Your own life here and in the hereafter
demands it. Your family and the succeeding generations demand it. The Word of
God demands it when it says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved
and thy house." (Acts 16:31) Take this step and take it
now!
