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Matthew 26:66-68 … {The Rulers of Israel – the Sanhedrin ruled}{Jesus} is GUILTY OF DEATH. [67] Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, [68] Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?

Matthew 27:22-24 (KJV) Pilate saith unto {the rulers pf Israel – the Sanhedrin}, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They ALL say unto him, LET HIM BE CRUCIFIED. [23] And the governor said, Why, what evil hath He done? But they cried out the more, saying, LET HIM BE CRUCIFIED. [24] When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I AM INNOCENT OF THE BLOOD OF THIS JUST PERSON: see ye to it. [25] Then answered ALL THE PEOPLE {the Sanhedrin and the crowd that stood thereby}, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Matthew 27:33-35 (KJV) And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha (also called Calvary), that is to say, a place of a skull, 34 They gave Him VINEGAR TO DRINK WITH GALL {to lessen the pain}: and when He had tasted [thereof], HE WOULD NOT DRINK. 35 And THEY CRUCIFIED HIM, and PARTED HIS GARMENTS, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (prophesied in Psalm 22:16, 18), They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

John 19:33-37 (KJV) But when they came to Jesus, and saw that HE WAS DEAD ALREADY, they brake not his legs: 34 But ONE OF THE SOLDIERS WITH A SPEAR PIERCED HIS SIDE, and FORTHWITH CAME OUT BLOOD AND WATER. 35 And he that saw [it] bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, THAT YE MIGHT BELIEVE. 36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A BONE OF HIM SHALL NOT BE BROKEN. (quoted from Psalm 34:20) 37 And again another scripture saith, THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED. (quoted from Psalm 22:16-17)

John 19:40-42 (KJV) Then took they {His disciples} the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews IS TO BURY. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden A NEW SEPULCHRE (like a mausoleum), wherein was never man yet laid. 42 There laid they Jesus therefore BECAUSE OF THE JEWS PREPARATION DAY (following Passover begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first day of that Feast is a Special or a HighSabbath [John 19:31], 15th of Nisan or Abib – See Leviticus 23:6-7. The day before a Sabbath is a “Preparation Day”, doing whatever is necessary so you will not work on the Sabbath); for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

Who Crucified Jesus?

The Jews crucified Jesus. We just read it. Jesus came according to Bible prophecy. He came “for the Jews first” (Matthew 15:24; 10:5-6; Romans 1:16). Jesus came to fulfill the promise that He made to Abraham so many years before:

Genesis 12:1-2 (KJV) Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: [2] And I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION, and I WILL BLESS THEE, and make thy name great; and THOU SHALT BE A BLESSING:

and again in Genesis 21:12, “IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED be called”. The nation God would make of Abraham was Israel, and Jesus Christ became incarnate in order to save Israel, to be their Messiah. The Scripture says:

John 1:11 (KJV) {Jesus} CAME UNTO HIS OWN, and HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT.

Eternal God became mortal but perfect Man in order to save Jews everywhere. And the Jews killed Him. But was it only the Jews? No, Gentiles crucified Jesus.

We read that earlier. Pilate ordered Jesus’ death. Pilate’s soldiers mocked Him, and beat Him, and thrust a crown of thorns on His head, and nailing Him to the Cross carried out the crucifixion. But Jesus did not just come for the Jews. He came for the Gentiles as well. God promised Abraham:

Genesis 12:3 (KJV) … IN THEE SHALL ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED.

“In thee shall ALL the families of the earth be blessed.” God sent His Son not just to die for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well. Long before there was an Israel God told that Old Serpent Satan that “the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent” (Genesis 3:15). The promises God made to Abraham is that he would have a SEED FROM HIS NATION – ONE SEED – WHO WOULD BLESS ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH (Galatians 3:16). God became flesh through the line of David. God became flesh through a “virgin who would conceive, and bear a Son, and call His Name Emmanuel meaning ‘God with us’” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23).

So who crucified Jesus? Both Jews and Gentiles were involved.

Isaiah 53:3 (KJV) HE IS DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and WE HID AS IT WERE OUR FACES FROM HIM; He was despised, and WE ESTEEMED HIM NOT.

“We esteemed Him not”. The Messiah came to bring salvation to us. Yet we all would reject Him. He would be rejected by the Jews, but He would also be rejected by the Gentiles. The Jews cried out for His crucifixion. But the Gentiles condemned Him and drove the nails.

But Man Did Not Engineer The Cross. God Did.

Though both Jew and Gentile played a part in Jesus’ death, neither Jew nor Gentile created the Cross, nor were the first cause of Jesus’ death. We all have a problem. We love sin. We are born broken, self willed, wanting things our way. God looks at the world and says “My creation has CONDEMNED itself”. How have we condemned ourselves? By sin. The Scripture says:

John 3:19-20 (KJV) And THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION, that LIGHT IS COME INTO THE WORLD, and MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT, because their DEEDS WERE EVIL. [20] For EVERY ONE THAT DOETH EVIL HATETH THE LIGHT, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

When Light came into the world, when God became Man, Perfect Man, darkness immediately sought to kill Him. While a baby Herod sought to kill Jesus, for he feared that baby was the prophesied King of Glory. When Jesus started His earthly ministry, were His supporters the rulers of religion, the priests of the Temple? Absolutely not! Jesus was hated by religious people, for these people did not love God. Jesus went about all Judea healing the sick, the diseased, both Jew and Gentile.

At no point did anyone find sin in Christ. Here is the Perfect Man. And we found fault with the Perfect, and conspired both Jew and Gentile to kill Him because He was perfect.

We are born into this world with something worst than any cancer that Saint Jude has had to deal with. We are born into this world – loved by God and yet haters of God. We are born into this world spiritually dead but physically alive. We do not want God – we want sin. “ALL have sinned, and COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD” (Romans 3:23). We are born corrupt, broken in our first birth. We all need a SECOND BIRTH. We need a spiritual change.

So God engineered the Cross.

Jews and Gentiles killed Jesus, but it was God Who sacrificed His Son. “The FATHER SENT THE SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD” (John 4:14). God loved us all, and sent Jesus to be punished in our place for sin (John 3:16-17). The Bible says that:

Romans 5:8 God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The death of Jesus was not a travesty of justice, a cruel and unexpected martyrdom. No, the Father sent the Son to die for us. And Jesus Christ willingly came, tell any who would listen that He was going to die for our sins. He said:

Matthew 12:40 (KJV) For as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the WHALE’S {kētos, sea monster, huge fish} belly (referencing Jonah 1:17, not Esther, Jewish tradition, or a Talmud); so shall the Son of man be THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the heart of the earth.

Jesus knew He was going to die for our sins. Just as Jonah was in the belly of a great fish three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17) Jesus’ body would lie in a grave three days and three nights.

The Jews pushed for His death. The soldiers crucified Him. As Jesus hung bleeding between two thieves the crowd mocked Him. The crowd mocks Christ today. They use His name in curses. They misunderstand Him. When He cried out:

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
(Matthew 27:46)

The crowd said “He cries out for Elijah. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save Him”. But none come to save Him. None help Him. But Jesus blamed no one for His death. He cursed no one as He suffered and died. Instead, Jesus said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). As Jesus died, He said “It is finished” (John 19:30), and then “Father, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT” (Luke 23:46). Jesus “YIELDED UP THE GHOST” (Matthew 27:50).

Jesus died. Three days and nights ago Jesus died. How do we know He died? Because the Centurion in charge of His crucifixion drove a spear in His side piercing both the lungs and His heart. Blood and water came from the wound. In medical terms Hypovolemic Shock caused fluid to gather in the sack around the heart and around the lungs. This gathering of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called Pericardial Effusion, and the fluid gathering around the lungs is called Pleural Effusion. The blood and water pouring out told the Centurion Jesus was dead (John 19:33).

At The End Of The Weekly Sabbath Jesus Rose

Three days and nights ago Jesus was taken from the Cross. The body was hastily buried, because the 15 of Nisan (Abib), the Day after the Feast of the Passover, was the First Day of Unleavened Bread, a High Sabbath (Leviticus 23:6-7). The Bible is specific that:

Matthew 28:1 (KJV) In the END OF THE SABBATH {the weekly Sabbath, Saturday}, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

It was early Sunday morning (Mark 16:1; John 20:1; Luke 23:56; Luke 24:1), and the women were returning to Jesus’ tomb to better anoint His body. But they discovered something.

The Tomb was empty. An Angel of God met the women, and told them

Matthew 28:5-7 (KJV) … Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. [6] HE IS NOT HERE: for HE IS RISEN, AS HE SAID. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. [7] And GO QUICKLY, and TELL HIS DISCIPLES THAT HE IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD; and, behold, HE GOETH BEFORE YOU INTO GALILEE; THERE YOU SHALL SEE HIM: lo, I have told you.

The Gospel of salvation is not just that Jesus died on the Cross, but it is also that He rose from the Grave after that death. Our timing may differ (and that’s up to you), but you are not saved if you only believe a half Gospel. He died AND rose again, and sits at the right hand of the Father even now making intercession for His people.

If you do not believe this then you cannot be saved. The “word of faith” is this:

Romans 10:9 (KJV) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt BELIEVE IN THINE HEART THAT GOD HATH RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, thou SHALT BE SAVED.

The resurrection of Christ is non-negotiable. We cannot compromise on it. Jesus literally died on Calvary, and literally rose from the Grave. This is the Gospel that saves. This is the Gospel we stand in. The Apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 15:1 (KJV) Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL WHICH I PREACHED UNTO YOU, which also ye have RECEIVED, and WHEREIN YE STAND;

Word Study: The Gospel must be “RECEIVED” (Greek paralambanō), literally “to take to oneself, to join yourself to, to make it a part of your very life”. It is something that is not negotiable. The Gospel is what you “STAND” (Greek histēmi) or “uphold as absolute, the place where you find surety in”. What is this full Gospel?

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (KJV) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the scriptures; 4 And that HE WAS BURIED, and that HE ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY (the first day of the week, Sunday) according to the scriptures

That’s the full Gospel. Jesus didn’t just DIE, but HE ROSE AGAIN on the third day, on Sunday. Saving faith believes what God has said. Faith trusts God for the impossible.

I believe that there are a lot of professing Christians who believe Jesus DIED on the Cross, but are shaky on the resurrection. The Apostle Paul went on to say:

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 (KJV) {Jesus} WAS SEEN OF PETER, then of the twelve: 6 After that, HE WAS SEEN OF ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED BRETHREN AT ONCE; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, HE WAS SEEN OF JAMES; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all HE WAS SEEN OF ME ALSO, as of one born out of due time.

How important is the resurrection of Jesus? Everything we believe is based on this grand truth. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 15:14-15, 17-19 (KJV) if Christ be not risen, THEN IS OUR PREACHING VAIN, and YOUR FAITH IS ALSO VAIN. 15 Yea, and WE ARE FOUND FALSE WITNESSES OF GOD; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. … 17 And IF CHRIST BE NOT RAISED, YOUR FAITH IS VAIN; YOU ARE YET IN YOUR SINS. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 IF IN THIS LIFE ONLY WE HAVE HOPE IN CHRIST, we are of all men most miserable.

If Jesus did not die and rise again, “YOU ARE YET IN YOUR SINS”. Calvary is half of the Gospel. Jesus died for your sins. But in that three day and three night period, the Bible says:

Hebrews 9:11-15, 24, 27-28 (NKJV) Christ came [as] High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 NOT WITH THE BLOOD OF GOATS AND CALVES, but WITH HIS OWN BLOOD HE ENTERED THE MOST HOLY PLACE ONCE FOR ALL, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 HOW MUCH MORE SHALL THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, who THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT OFFERED HIMSELF WITHOUT SPOT TO GOD, cleanse your conscience from dead works TO SERVE THE LIVING GOD? 15 And for this reason HE IS THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. … 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, [which are] copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; … 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so CHRIST WAS OFFERED ONCE TO BEAR THE SINS OF MANY. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Praise God. He is not here. He is RISEN, JUST AS HE SAID! Amen.