Killing Jesus

Dearest hijas and hijo,

Perhaps you remember the movie The Passion of the Christ. Released in 2004 and produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson, you probably have vivid memories of the emotional roller-coaster it took you on as you watched it. You had probably never understood the utter brutality of those final hours leading up to Christ’s crucifixion and it most likely seized your heart in ways that it had never been seized before. How could one man endure such evil perpetrated against Him and why? It was that kind of movie.

As we approach Good Friday and Easter again this year, it is good to remind ourselves of the ‘why,’ and/or seek those answers for the very first time. Jesus’ life was the most pivotal life in all of history and His death the most pivotal event. Everything in human history either pointed forward to Him or pointed back to Him and He would be the sine qua non of God’s relationship to mankind.

Pastor John MacArthur, in his book The Murder of Jesus, describes it this way:

“Many wrongly think of Christ as merely a victim of human injustice, a martyr who suffered tragically and unnecessarily. But the truth is that His death was God’s plan. In fact, it was the key to God’s eternal plan of redemption. Far from being an unnecessary tragedy, the death of Christ was a glorious victory—the most gracious and wonderful act of divine benevolence ever rendered on behalf of sinners. It is the consummate expression of God’s love for them.

Yet here also we see the wrath of God against sin. What is too often missed in all our songs and sermons about Christ is that it was the outpouring of divine judgment against the person of Christ—not because He deserved that judgment, but because He bore it on behalf of those whom He would redeem.”

John F. MacArthur Jr., The Murder of Jesus, Nelson Books, Nashville, TN, 2000, 2004.

The culpability for the killing of Jesus, MacArthur says, was a “vast conspiracy involving Rome, Herod, the Gentiles, the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the people of Israel—diverse groups who apart from this event were seldom fully in accord with one another. In fact, it is significant that the crucifixion of Christ is the only (italics original) historical event where all those factions worked together to achieve a common goal. All were culpable. All bear the guilt together. The Jews as a race were no more or less blameworthy than the Gentiles.”

He notes further, “This was, in essence, a corporate act of sinful humanity against God. All are guilty together. And yet even that does not exhaust the full truth about who killed Jesus. Scripture emphasizes from cover to cover that the death of Christ was ordained and appointed by God Himself.”

Does knowing that exonerate those of us today from killing Jesus? Are we responsible as well for His murder? If it was God’s plan all along and it was a conspiracy of Rome, Herod, the Gentiles, the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the Jewish people of AD 30, I’m not responsible, am I?

How one answers that question is the ultimate pivot point, the decisive dividing line, the sharp razor’s edge between heaven or hell, between eternal life or eternal destruction, between joy in the presence of God or anguish and the gnashing of teeth in the Lake of Fire. It is how you answer this question that determines your eternal destiny. If with pride you answer, “I’m not responsible,” “This is nothing on me,” “I have no need of a Savior,” “I have no need of bending the knee to Jesus as Lord,” or “I’m actually quite good, have done nothing heinous, and therefore have no need to repent,” only judgment awaits you at the bar of a holy God.

But if with humility you answer, “Father, forgive me for I have sinned in your sight,” “Grant me forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice for me,” “Have mercy on me O Lord, and may you not count my sins against me,” “Wash me clean and cleanse me from my iniquity,” “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” judgment does not await you at God’s holy bar.

I am reminded of the line in the 2nd stanza of the hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love For Us¹” which says:

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished. 

So yes, we are culpable. It is that culpability that is the pivot point, the central nub around which everything revolves. It is the recognition that Christ’s death and crucifixion was the horrible consequence and result of my sins and failure to keep God’s moral law. Yet Isaiah 53:10 says “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief…” 

MacArthur explains:

“In what sense was God pleased by the death of His Son? He was pleased by the redemption that was accomplished. He was pleased that His eternal plan of salvation was thus fulfilled. He was pleased with the sacrifice of His Son, who died so that others might have eternal life. He was pleased to display His righteous anger against sin in such a graphic way. He was pleased to demonstrate His love for sinners through such a majestic sacrifice.”

He continues:

“For all the evil in the crucifixion, it brought about an infinite good. In fact, here was the most evil act ever perpetrated by sinful hearts: The sinless Son of God—holy God Himself in human flesh—was unjustly killed after being subjected to the most horrific tortures that could be devised by wicked minds. It was the evil of all evils, the worst deed human depravity could ever devise, and the most vile evil that has ever been committed. And yet from it came the greatest good of all time—the redemption of unnumbered souls, and the glory of God as Savior. Though the murderers meant evil against Christ, God meant it for good, in order to save many (cf. Genesis 50:20).”

One of the last things Jesus said before dying and yielding up His spirit was, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). It was a triumphant victory shout of exclamation from our Lord in the last few minutes of life. His mission was achieved. God come down had finished His work. God come down had paid the required blood price. The sacrifice for my sin, your sin, was completely and efficaciously accomplished for those He would redeem. God come down satisfied the demands of holiness for us so that simply by trusting by faith in His sacrifice on our behalf we would forever be counted righteous.

Why then, if so simple, is it so hard for people to do? Why so much resistance? If the free gift of God is a simple act of faith in Jesus as Lord and a recognition that I am culpable before God for my sins and need to repent before Him, then why don’t more people do it? Jesus’ answer for why they don’t is that “men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). It’s hard when you love the darkness of your own sin; when you’d rather stay in the dark than come into the light.

The account of Christ’s crucifixion and death would be incomplete without the account of His resurrection. As God come down, the grave could not keep Him. Death was vanquished in His resurrection. He conquered death, rendering its power null and void. Death no longer holds any power over those who walk not in darkness, but have come into the light of Jesus.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26) 

All my love,

Dad

Vaya con Dios!

1. Hymns of Grace: The Master’s Seminary Press; 2015; #80; Words and Music: Stuart Townend; 1995 Thankyou Music (PRS)