OceanSide church of Christ

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WHO KILLED JESUS?

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.     Who killed Jesus?

1.       One would think that the answer to this question could be obtained simply by reading the gospels of the New Testament.

2.       Many, however, deny the simple truths revealed by those four inspired men.

3.       One surprising fact is that the Jews deny they were responsible.  Those who put any blame on the Jews are often referred to as anti-Semites.

 

B.      In this lesson, we want to answer the question:  “Who killed Jesus?” 

1.       Did you know there was more than one or two who were responsible? 

2.       In fact, we are going to mention nine individuals or groups of individuals who killed the Christ.

 

I.                    THE ROMAN SOLDIERS

 

A.     As far as being the ones who delivered the deadly wounds to Jesus, it would have been the Romans soldiers.

 

B.      After the trial before Pilate was finished, the Bible says:  “…he delivered him to be crucified” (Matt. 27:26).  The next verse reads:  “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus…” (Matt. 27:27).

1.       They led Him away to be crucified (Matt. 27:31).

2.       They came to Golgotha, that is to say, The place of a skull” (Matt. 27:33).

3.       “And they crucified him…” (Matt. 27:35).

a.       It was the crucifixion of Jesus that brought about His death.

b.      Six hours after hanging on the cross, Jesus died (Matt. 27:50).

 

Jesus, when he had cried with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

 

C.     Thus, in the strictest sense, the soldiers killed Jesus Christ.

 

II.                 PONTIUS PILATE

 

A.     The Romans soldiers, however, could not have carried out the crucifixion unless they had orders to do so. 

 

B.      Pilate found himself in a quandary during this trial.

1.       Jesus was innocent.

2.       Every plan he designed to free Jesus failed.

3.       The Jews could not put Jesus to death without Pilate’s consent.

4.       The Jews were unrelenting demanding Jesus be crucified.

 

C.     John 19:16

 

Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified.  And they took Jesus, and led him away.

 

D.     During the course of the trail, Pilate admitted that he had the power to crucify Jesus (John 19:10).

Then 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?

 

III.              THE JEWS, ESPECIALLY THE JEWISH LEADERS

 

A.     The Jews did many, many things to finally condemn Jesus to death.

1.       They watched Jesus constantly and tried to entrap Him with His words (Luke 20:20).

2.       They covenanted together with one of Jesus’ apostles in order to arrest Him (Matt. 26:14-16).

3.       They arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:47-50).

4.       They tried Him in their courts and found Him guilty (Matt. 26:65-66).

 

…What think ye?  They answered and said, He is guilty of death.

 

5.       They took Him to Pilate and demanded that He be crucified (Matt. 27:2).

 

And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

 

B.      We noted in our introduction that the Jews try to deny their culpability in Jesus’ death.  In an article on the Anti-defamation League’s website is an article entitled, “Jews Killed Jesus.”  The articleit denies the Jews killed Jesus.

1.       “The myth that Jews collectively murdered Jesus, also referred to as ‘deicide,” has been used to justify violence against Jews for centuries.”

2.       “When Pontius Pilate second-guesses his decision to have Jesus crucified, Jews are caricatured as a bloodthirsty lynch mob.  This narrative is patently false.  While certain leaders in the local Jewish community felt that Jesus’ teachings were politically subversive, experts have gathered that Jesus was not perceived as particularly threatening or enraging to the Jews around him.”

3.       “In any case, historians and theologians agree:  Jews are not responsible for the death of Jesus – not then not now.”

 

C.     It is interesting that the apostles were Jews.  They did not hesitate to accuse the Jews of killing the Christ when they began to preach the gospel.

1.       On the day of Pentecost, Peter affirmed the Jews had killed Jesus (Acts 2:22-23).

 

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 know:  him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

 

2.       When Peter stood before the counsel of the Jews, he told them that they had killed the Prince of life (Acts 3:14-15a).

 

But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life…

 

D.     A person does not have to do the actual killing to be guilty of murder.

1.       Had it not been for the Jews, Jesus would not have been in the presence of Pilate.

2.       Had it not been for the Jews, Jesus would not have heard the sentence of crucifixion.

a.       Pilate wanted to let Jesus go.

b.      It was the Jews who continued to cry:  “Crucify him.” (Mark 15:13).

c.       Pilate washed his hands and told the Jews he was free from the blood of this innocent man.  Do you remember how the Jews responded?  (Matt. 27:25).

 

Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us and on our children.

 

IV.              JUDAS ISCARIOT

 

A.     In our previous point, we pointed out that one of the things that the Jews did was to covenant with one of the apostles who agreed to betray the Christ.

 

B.      This apostle was Judas Iscariot (Matt. 26:14-16).

 

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?  And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.  And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

 

1.       Judas had a greedy heart that loved money.

2.       Too, I personally believe that Judas never thought Jesus would be condemned to death after being taken into custody by the Jews (See Matt. 27:3-4).

 

C.     This betrayal put Judas on the list of those who killed Jesus.

1.       Judas knew when Jesus would be away from the masses.

2.       Judas knew where Jesus’ retreat was.

3.       Judas could lead individuals to Jesus when it was time to arrest Him.

4.       He did this and crowned his act with a kiss (Matt. 26:49).

 

And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him.

 

D.     Is there anyone who would defend Judas?  Is there anyone who would say that Judas was not culpable in Jesus’ death?  When a person plots with an individual’s enemies in order to benefit the cause of the enemy, he colludes with them and is partly responsible for the evil that comes because of his actions.

 

V.                 SATAN

 

A.     The death of Jesus was an event that was filled with evil.  The source of evil is none other than the evil one, Satan.

 

B.      Satan is only mentioned two times in the narratives regarding the crucifixion.

1.       In John 13:2, we learn that the devil was involved in putting into Judas’ heart the betrayal of Jesus.

2.       In that same chapter, verse 27, we read:  “And after the sop Satan entered into him.”

 

C.     However, in the long ago, it was foretold that Satan would be involved in Jesus’ death (Gen. 3:15).

 

And 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.

 

1.       Bruising the heel of Jesus referred to the crucifixion.

2.       The heel is referenced because Satan was not going to be able to give a death blow to the Christ, that is, a lasting death blow.

D.     There are other things that let us know that Satan was there as well.

1.       Lies were told about Jesus by false witnesses (Matt. 26:60).  Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44).

2.       The Bible tells us that the Jews delivered Jesus to the Pilate because of envy (Mark 15:10).  James tells us that envy is not from above.  Instead, it is “earthly, sensual, and devilish” (James 3:15).

3.       The Jews were deceived into believing that Jesus was an imposter and a danger to them (John 11:50-51).  Satan is the great deceiver (Rev. 20:10).

4.       Death was going to be part of the crucifixion (John 19:30, 33).  It was the devil that had the power of death (Heb. 2:14).

5.       All of the evil that was committed on that Friday of the crucifixion was committed against Jesus Christ the Son of God.  His archenemy is none other than Satan.  Satan merely used human pawns to carry out the execution.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.     Thus far, we have seen five major players in the death of Jesus Christ. 

1.       The Romans soldiers.

2.       Pontius Pilate

3.       The Jews

4.       Judas

5.       Satan

 

B.       There are still others who were responsible. 

1.       We will examine them in our next lesson. 

2.       Some we will mention might shock you.

 

C.     Jesus’ death was absolutely essential for our salvation after the sin of Adam and Eve. 

1.       The penalty for sin had to be paid. 

2.       As the old hymn goes:  “Jesus paid it all.” 

3.       Have you let Jesus pay for your sins?  If not, want you take advantage of this wonderful blessing this morning?