Who Really Killed Jesus

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Sat, February 18, 2012

Who Really Killed Jesus!

If you have viewed The Passion of the Christ youhave had a wonderful glimpse into just how muchGod really loves you and how much He suffered tosave you. The truth of the matter is that what youhave witnessed is only the tip of the iceberg inregard to how much Jesus really suffered. If youassumed that the movie may have over dramatizedhow much Christ actually suffered for your sins,think again! There were many terrible things that Jesus suffered that The Passion ofthe Christ did not show you.

While almost every other movie from Hollywood over dramatizes reality with specialeffects and embellishes story lines to keep an audiences attention, The Passion ofthe Christ, as incredible as it was, actually down played the extent of Christ'ssuffering. Mel Gibson acknowledged that, "it was actually more violent than whatyour going to see in this film[His suffering was so intense] you couldn't evenrecognize him as a human being. That's how bad it was." Gibson stated that if hewere to show the sheer violence of what Christ experienced the movie would havehad to be rated X. The bible tells us that Jesus was brutally beaten far beyond thatof any man. God's Word tells us that, "they blindfolded him and beat Him in the facewith their fists. 'Who hit you that time, you prophet?' they jeered. And even theguards were hitting him as they led him away" (Mark 14:65). Sadly, Jesus' beardwas viciously ripped from his face. Jesus stated, "I offered my back to those who

beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my facefrom mocking and spitting" (Isaiah 50:6). Jesus' face was a mangled mess and hisbody far more deformed from his beatings than The Passion of the Christ was ableto portray. In fact God's Word tells us through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah thatwhen Jesus was put to death,

"Many were horrified when they saw him--beaten and bloodied, his face wasdisfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond humanlikeness" (Isaiah 52:14). Crucifixion was designed to inflict the severest of tortureupon the victim. Christ's raw lacerations were exposed to the elements and theburning sun. If you are wondering how much God loves you or if God loves you atall, you need not look any farther than the cross. Though He was innocent andwithout sin He went to the cross to pay the price of your sins out of a love that istruly out of this world. Even though you have ignored God in your life and thumbed

your nose at His Word, you should know that in spite of your sin God radically lovesyou. God's Word tells us, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid downHis life for us" (1 John 3:16).

Many have sought to divert us from the question "Why did Jesus die?" and areasking instead, "Who killed Jesus?" Yet when we truly consider the question, "whoreally killed Jesus?" we end up finding the answer as to why Jesus died. You seethe truth of the matter is that you and I killed Jesus. The reason Jesus died on thecross is due to the severity of our sins. Our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. You seeGod is a righteous God. Since God is righteous He must deal justly with humanityfor their criminal acts against His holy law. God's justice demanded that we pay the

just penalty for our sinful acts in hell for eternity. Yet the one true God is not only

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holy and just but we are also told in God's word "God is love" (1John 4:16).Although God would be perfectly justified in sending each and every one of us tohell forever, in His great love He "desires all men to be saved and to come to theknowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 2:4). God in His unfathomable love chose to pay thepenalty of our sins on the cross. It was your sins and mine that nailed Jesus to thecross. Isaiah the Jewish prophet wrote:

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; thepunishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we arehealed. 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" (Isaiah 53:5-6).

One of the many indisputable reasons that we know the bible is the Word of God isbecause of the hundreds of fulfilled prophecies like the one quoted above. Jesusfulfilled more than 300 Old Testament prophecies in His first coming alone! Noticethat according to Isaiah more than mere men were involved in killing Jesus. Isaiahstated, "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). You may nothave known this but even though we are all responsible for Christ's death, the bibleactually teaches that God killed Jesus.

God Killed Jesus!The accurate answer to the question "Who killed Jesus?" is comprehensive. In fact

the bible states that even though wicked men crucified Jesus, it was God's plan allalong. God through His foreknowledge used the hate and ignorance of rebellioushuman beings to sacrifice His Son to save those same wicked human beings whocrucified Him. It was God's plan before the creation of the world that He would diefor the sins of the world. He knew humanity would fall into sin and by His"predetermined plan and foreknowledge" decided to send Jesus to die for you andme. God's Word declares:

"[Jesus who was] delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge ofGod, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to deathFortruly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus,whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and thepeoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined tooccur" (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28).

Christ's death was a great blunder for mankind but from God's perspective it was inaccordance with the divine blueprint. Because God became a man He was able topay the huge penalty that it would have taken us all of eternity to compensate inhell. God's Word actually tells us that God killed His Son because the penalty of sinis death. Isaiah spoke of how God Himself would crush His son:

"But THE LORD WAS PLEASED TO CRUSH HIM, putting Him to griefMyServant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Because He pouredout Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himselfbore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:10-12).

This brings us back to the fact that God's love is so much more amazing than evensuch an incredible movie as The Passion of the Christ could dramatize. This is

because what you witnessed in The Passion of the Christ only really captured someof Jesus' sufferings at the hands of men. Far beyond the horrible pain that Jesusexperienced at the hands of wicked men, Jesus experienced the unfathomable andunbearable pain of the collective wrath that the whole world deserves. God's holylaw stated that every single sin had to be atoned for. When God crushed His SonHe poured out upon Him all of the wrath that every single human being deserves tosuffer in hell for eternity. You say how is that possible? Jesus said, "all things arepossible with God" (Matt. 19:26). Only God could suffer such a penalty and that iswhy God in the person of Jesus Christ became a man. God's Word tells us that "noone in heaven or on earth or under the earth" was "found who was worthy" toaccomplish the great feat of human redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ alone wasable to "purchase men for God from every tribe and language and people and




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nation" by His "blood" (Revelation 5:3-9). No man or angel could pay our sin debt.Even if there was a perfect man (and there is not) he could only pay for the sins ofone other person and would have to spend eternity in the lake of fire to do it. OnlyGod Himself by becoming a man could pay the penalty of all our sins. Since JesusChrist is God in the flesh, He alone could pay the infinite penalty we deserve to payin hell forever. You see even though Christ suffered in a finite amount of time, Hissuffering was infinite in the sense that His nature is infinite. The infinite sufferingthat we deserve as finite beings could be paid in a finite amount of time by Godbecause He is an infinite being. Since Christ's suffering for sin was infinite in itsnature it was not only sufficient suffering for all time but for all people. The Fatherconfirmed to Jesus that the only way we could be saved is if He drank the cup of

just compensation that we deserve and died for our sins. No one else could pay theprice. Not Muhammad; not Buddha; not Mahatma Gandhi nor any other religiousleader could pay the high price for our salvation. When asked how one gets toheaven, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comesto the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

When Jesus pleaded with the Father in the garden of Gethsemane "My Father, if itis possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew26:39). Jesus did not fear the physical torment and brutality that He would suffer atthe hands of men so much as He was overwhelmed at the thought of drinking thecup of His Father's wrath. He was speaking of the cup of the Father's cumulative

wrath that the whole world deserved to suffer in hell. Jesus would have toexperience the wrath deserved by the collective guilt of the entire human raceincluding the sins of Adolph Hitler, Mao, Stalin, etc. God's Word states emphaticallythat Jesus, "tasted death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9). Christ's suffering far exceedsanything we can truly comprehend. When you read the terrifying descriptions ofGod's cup of wrath that you and I deserve, you begin to appreciate just how muchChrist suffered in your place. We read in the book of revelation of:

"God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. He will betormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day ornight...." (Revelation 14:9-12).

Jesus Killed Jesus!

Even before Jesus went to the cross we are told that He pleaded with the Father"with strong crying and tears" (Heb. 5:7). In the gospel of Luke (who was aphysician) we are told that in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus underwenthematidrosis. We are told that He was so overwhelmed with despair at the thoughtof drinking the cup of wrath that the capillaries underneath the surface of His skinburst and blood oozed out of His sweat glands and fell to the ground. Forensicscientists have only been able to confirm just over a hundred cases of hematidrosisin human history. When Jesus suffered on the cross He drank God's cup of wrath tothe very last dreg. While Jesus was on the cross the sky turned black and the earthshook as God the Father poured out His wrath upon His Son to save your soul!When the black darkness of hell that we deserve covered God's Son somethingextraordinarily sad took place. God poured out His wrath on Jesus and in somemysterious way He turned His back on His Son:

"From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About theninth hour Jesus cried out'My God, my God, why have You forsakenMe?" (Matthew 27:45-46).

As a result of suffering the penalty that billions of people deserve, He cried out witha sense of alienation that only those lost souls writhing in hell could begin tocomprehend. Simply multiply the torment of one soul in hell by billions and youbegin to see the picture of what Jesus went through to save you. He was forsakenso that you could be accepted!

The cross of Christ tells us two very important things about God's justice and love.First it tells us how much God hates sin. God is just and must punish sin and it was




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on the cross that we see the severity and consequences of breaking God's holy law.The second thing it tells us is how incredibly much God loves us! Rather thansending us to hell forever, which God would have been perfectly justified in doing, inHis great love God desired to save us and thus became a man and bore the penaltywe all deserve! There is not a greater love story in the history of the universe!

While it is true that men killed Jesus with their hands and their sins, and that Godkilled Jesus with His wrath, it is also true that in a very real sense Jesus killedJesus. Jesus said:

"I lay down my life for the sheepThe reason my Father loves me is that I lay downmy life-only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my ownaccord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. Thiscommand I received from my Father" (John 10:15, 17-18).

Jesus declared that He could have called 72 thousand angels to rescue Him but inHis great love He chose to bear the penalty of your sins instead. Some may wronglyconclude that Jesus committed suicide. The truth of the matter is that Jesus nomore committed suicide than a man who jumps in front of a gun to save his wifefrom being killed commits suicide. Jesus stepped in front of the just and holy wrathof God to keep you out of hell!

Now that you have witnessed God's truth Satan will seek to keep you from the giftof eternal life that Jesus Christ purchased for you through His sufferings on thecross. Even as Satan tried to keep Jesus from completing His mission, Satan willseek to keep you from acting upon the good news of eternal life through faith inChrist. Jesus warned that there are those "who hear, and then the devil comes andtakes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved"and that there are those who "believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fallaway" (Luke 8:12-14).

Dear friend, make sure that you do not allow the incredibly Good News you justwitnessed in The Passion of the Christ to be snatched from your heart as you returnto your daily life. Without Jesus Christ in your life you are a lost soul. You are on agreased pole to hell. Jesus warned that you are either for Christ or an antichrist; Heleaves you no middle ground. Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and

he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Matthew 12:30). If you do not respond toGod's call on your life and turn to Christ the bible states that you will miss out onheaven and end up going to hell where you will experience the terrifying torment ofweeping and gnashing of teeth in unquenchable fire without rest day and nightforever and ever. However, because of Christ's death you don't have to pay for yoursins in hell. Jesus promised:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoeverbelieves in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Soninto the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoeverbelieves in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe standscondemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one andonly Son" (John 3:16-8).

Jesus experienced the horrible death on the cross that you deserve so you canexperience the abundant life in eternity that only He deserves. Salvation is a freegift that Jesus purchased for you on the cross, but you must accept the gift byreceiving Him into your life. The bible says that "as many as received Him, to themHe gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in Hisname" (John 1:12). God's Word states that He has "no pleasure in the death of thewicked" and that God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should cometo repentance" and that He "desires all men to be saved and to come to theknowledge of the truth" (Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9 and 2 Tim. 2:4-6). If you end uprejecting Christ and going to hell the bible says that you will be "withoutexcuse" (Romans 1:18-26).




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Jesus only asks that you turn to Him in repentant faith and receive the free gift. Thatmeans that you do a 180 and turn from the broad road which leads to hell and turnto the narrow road that leads to life. Jesus warned:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road thatleads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow theroad that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

God's Word states, "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall besaved" (Romans 10:13). The Lord is waiting for you to answer His call upon yourlife. Simply ask Him to forgive you of your sins and begin following Him in faith now.He will save you and give you the power to live a life that glorifies Him. Beginreading God's love letter to you, the Bible. Find a good Bible based church thatteaches God's truth without compromise. If you have turned to the Lord wewelcome you into God's family. You can choose to accept Christ's punishment foryour sin on the cross or you can choose to pay the penalty yourself in hell forever. Ileave you with a poem that I was inspired to write when contemplating the question"who killed Jesus?"

Who killed Jesus?"Who killed Jesus?" is the profound question asked of late Many say it was the

Jews, who sealed his fate

Others say, "No, it was the Romans, don't you understand? It was Pilate whosought to wash his blood stained hands"

Others say, "No, it was to bear our sin that He bled So it is your hands and mine,that drip blood red"

While all these answers some truth contain There is another answer that is just soplain

He said, "I lay my life down of my own accord" The dying world His blood alonecould afford

In God's foreknowledge it was preordained That the Lamb of God would for us be

slain

Next time you point your finger and you place the blame Consider that God's love isthe reason that Christ came

When all is said and when all is done It was God in His love who crushed His Son(Isaiah 53:10)

Pastor Joe SchimmelBlessed Hope Chapel

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Who Really Killed Jesus