Re examining the Death of Jesus

Psalms 22 (King David wrote)

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.  10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God. 

14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. "


God so loved the World that He sent Jesus, His ONLY begotten son to pay the price for sins to such an extent that Satan will no longer have the rights to go on accusing anyone who have received Jesus as Savior.

Here, I am going to show what went wrong and what went according to plan and prophecies at the time of Jesus. As far as God's responsibility or Jesus' responsibility is concern, we can be sure that nothing went wrong. However, when we examine the responsibility of the Jews, we cannot say that they have acted according to God's will for them. Satan was working strongly to prevent the Jews from opening their minds and accepting Jesus.

Also, as far as God's plans to provide mankind a chance to finally break free from Satan and to receive special forgiveness through Jesus is concern, we can be sure that nothing frustrated that plan. But, when we examine God's plan for the Jews to accept Jesus as the prophesied Messiah, something happened and it resulted in many Jews losing their chance to become among the first followers of Jesus.

God gave prophecies to the Jews and not the Romans about the Messiah's coming. God even sent John the Baptist with the power and spirit of Elijah to help the people of Israel to accept Jesus.  If it wasn't God's plan that many Jews could receive Jesus, God wouldn't have taken the trouble to send so many prophets to the Jews to prepare them. It was God's plan that a great number of Jews would accept Jesus and invite him to be their Savior or King. Of course, at one time, we read how some Jews wanted to make Jesus their King and how Jesus did not accept the position at that point in time. But this is only because the conditions was not yet established and the timing was wrong. When the time was right, Jesus did not object. Jesus clearly told the Jews that it was God's will that they should accept the one whom God has sent and that by seeking to kill him, they were not doing God's will but instead they were doing the will of the Devil.

John 6:28

28 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

John 8:39 - 44

 39 They answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? [Even] because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.

What I want to show is that if things went according to God's plan, a great majority of Jews would have united with Jesus and they would not have become the ones who betrayed Jesus to his death. Does this mean that if the Jews had united with Jesus then God's plan of sacrificing His only begotten Son, Jesus to provide a way for sinful man to receive Forgiveness and breakaway from Satan would not have happened?

No, even if the majority of Jews had united with Jesus at that time, it would not be long before the Roman rulers would demand that Jesus should bow down to Rome. Would the Jews be powerful enough to protect Jesus from the Romans if Jesus refused to bow down to Rome? Jesus knew that if the Jews tried to do that they would surely have been crushed by the Romans in no time. Most likely, in order to stop that bloodshed from happening, Jesus would have offered his life as a sacrifice to protect the Jews as well as to fulfill His mission as God's Lamb offering. The prophecy of his coming as a sacrificial Lamb would have thus been fulfilled and Jesus would have been executed according to how it was prophesied in Psalms 22. (Some people said that the reason Jesus was handed to the Romans was because the Jews had no rights to execute people at that time. This is not true. The Jews had the right to carry out execution. What is interesting is that if they had executed Jesus by themselves then it would have contradicted Psalms 22 because the Jewish way of execution at that time was to stone the person found guilty to death. Psalms 22 prophesied that the Messiah would be nailed to a cross.)  Of course, as sinners we, including the Jews are responsible for Jesus death. But when it comes to actually murdering Jesus, if the Jews had humbled themselves to God's plan for them, the majority of Jews would have had nothing do with the betraying of Jesus to his death.

John 11:48 - 51 (New King James Version)

48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."  49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,  50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."  51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,


Now, I want to show how Satan blocked the way for Jews to come to Jesus by using King Herod to kill John the Baptist.

One most important factor why it ended up that many of the Jewish Leaders became the ones who betrayed Jesus and caused his death was because King Herod was used by Satan to kill a prophet by the name of John the Baptist. In fact, if John the Baptist was not killed, the Pharisees would not have dared to arrest Jesus and put him on trial.

Yes, the Jewish leaders were afraid of John the Baptist at that time.  We read about how at one time the Pharisees were asking Jesus with what authority Jesus did the miracles. Jesus replied and said that he would answer their question if they could tell him with what authority John the Baptist went around preaching and baptizing. What we read next is very telling about how much John had succeeded in his mission of preparing the way for Jesus. The Pharisees were discussing among themselves and were afraid to say that John the Baptist's work was from the Devil because they were afraid of John's supporters. They knew they could not say that John's work was from God because they were afraid that Jesus would then ask why they did not believe John when John testified that Jesus was the one sent by God.

Matthew 21:23-27

Jesus went into the temple area. While Jesus was teaching there, the leading priests and the older leaders of the people came to Jesus. They said to Jesus, "Tell us! What authority (power) do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?" Jesus answered, "I will ask you a question too. If you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. Tell me: When John baptized people, did that come from God or was it only from other people?" The priests and the Jewish leaders talked about Jesus' question. They said to each other, "If we answer, 'John's baptism was from God,' then Jesus will say, 'Then why didn't you believe John?' But we can't say John's baptism was from someone else. We are afraid of the people, because they all believe that John was a prophet." So they answered Jesus, "We don't know {where John's authority came from}." Then Jesus said, "Then I won't tell you what authority I have to do these things!"


Why did Satan target John the Baptist?
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To understand this, we have to understand why God raised up John the Baptist to preach repentance and baptize people at that time? What was his mission?

John the baptist was the son of Elizabeth and Zachariah. Zachariah was serving as priest in the temple at that time (read Luke 1:5). Both Elizabeth and Zachariah were in their old age and according to normal situation, they had past their child bearing age. One day, while making offering in the temple, an Angel appeared to Zachariah and told him that he and his wife, Elizabeth was going to have a child and that the child would go before the Lord with the spirit and power of Elijah.

Luke 1:17 NKJV

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Knowing how he and his wife had aged, Zachariah laughed when he heard that announcement from the angel.

The Angel then told Zachariah that because he laughed with disbelief, he would be struck dumb and would not be able to speak until the day the child was born.


Move forward

One day, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Jesus about why the Pharisees and Scribes kept telling them that Elijah must come before the appearance of the Messiah. Jesus explained to them that the Elijah has indeed had come and that John the Baptist, who went around baptizing people was in fact, that "Elijah."

Matthew 17:10 (New King James Version)

"10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
11 Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.  12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."  13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist."

As we can see here, the Jewish leaders were well versed with the scriptures unlike Jesus disciples who didn't know that God had promised to send Elijah shortly before sending the Messiah.

The Jewish Leaders knew that the prophet Malachi, the last prophet in the old testament, had clearly prophesied that before the Messiah come, God would sent Elijah.

Malachi 4:5

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

But why did Jesus indicate that John the Baptist was the Elijah that Malachi spoke about? Who was Elijah?

Now, if we read the Bible, we know that around 900 years before Jesus time, God's chosen people, the Israelites were ruled by Kings who fell into faithlessness and corruption. At that time, many prophets themselves started to give false prophecies because they wanted to please the Kings. It was under such oppression, that God raised up a faithful and courageous prophet by the name of Elijah. Elijah spoke against all the evil things the King and his wife, Jezebel did. At the risk of his life, he challenged all the other so called prophets. Because of his faith, God anointing upon Elijah was so powerful that not only was his life protected but he was also able to do many wonderful things such as raising a dead child and defeating all the false prophets on Mount Carmel. Later, when it was time for him to leave this Earthly realm, his disciple, Elisha witnessed a powerful whirl wind and what looked like a glorious chariots of fire coming down and taking Elijah away.

Several hundreds of years later, just before the time of Jesus, God raised up a prophet by the name of Malachi. In Malachi 4:5, prophet Malachi prophesied about the return of Elijah to prepare the way for the messiah.



If we could go back in history, and check the general atmosphere of the Jewish community, it would not be uncommon to find that many Jews were looking out for the return of the prophet Elijah. In their minds, it was like if there is no Elijah, then the time of the Messiah is not yet. The appearance of Elijah would signal that Messiah was coming soon.

In fact, we can say that some of them were expecting a glorious chariot of fire to appear from the sky bringing back their prophet Elijah.

(Back to the incident at the temple when the angel appeared to Zachariah.)

While they were waiting for the return of Elijah, God prepared Zachariah and Elizabeth to give birth to a child who will go before the Lord with the power and spirit of Elijah.

John the Baptist grew up and became a strong prophet. He boldly spoke out against the corrupted Pharisees. He proclaimed that the people must repent and be baptized because the Kingdom was at hand. He announced that soon, there will come someone who is greater than him and who will be able to baptize people not with water but with Fire and the Holy Spirit. Finally, at river Jordan, John met Jesus and declared that Jesus was the one they were waiting for.

John 1:29 NKJV

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Almost right after meeting John at the River Jordan, Jesus went into the wilderness by himself to pray and prepare himself for his mission as the Messiah.  We then read about how John the Baptist was imprisoned by King Herod because John dared to point out to the King that his affairs with his brother's wife was sinful.  When the daughter of the woman King Herod was having affair with performed a dance on King Herod's birthday, King Herod made a promise to her in front of many important guests. King Herod promised her that was he was willing to give her anything she ask for. She then requested for the head of John the Baptist. On that day, Satan succeeded in using King Herod to kill John the Baptist.

It is not hard to understand why Satan wanted to kill John the Baptist. By killing the Elijah figure, Satan blocked the way for the Jewish people to come to Jesus.  Why is this so? Satan knew that in the minds of many Jews who were waiting for the Messiah, if there is no Elijah, then there is no Messiah.

Satan had tried to kill Jesus at the time of birth by using another King Herod. Satan also tried to stop Jesus from taking up the position as the Messiah at the end of Jesus' 40 days fasting. By now, Satan knew that he will never be able to stop Jesus from carrying out the purpose of His coming.

The only thing Satan could do was to stop as many Jews as possible from accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

Matthew 11:14 NKJV

(Jesus) And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.





Jesus shared about this unfortunate attack against the chances for the Jews to receive him.

Jesus told his disciples that men of violence (People like King Herod who would be quick to use violence in order to get things to go their way) from the time of John's murder would continue to use violence and cause sufferings to heaven. In Matthew 17, when Jesus announced for the first time to his disciples about his own mission which was to die and set man free, He used the sad incident of John's murder and to compared it with what the unfaithful was preparing to do to him. (ie: They killed John unjustly and they would also kill Jesus unjustly).

Someone might ask, if John was the Elijah then why did John say that he was not the Elijah in John 1:21?

John 1:21 NKJV

And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."


The reason why John replied that he was not the Elijah when he was questioned by some Jewish leaders was because John knew what they were thinking about when they asked him the question. In their mind, they were wondering if John was the actual Elijah who lived 900 years ago. Therefore, he tried to explain to them that he was not the Elijah they were thinking about and yet it doesn't mean that his mission was different from the Elijah who came 900 years ago. Immediately, John went on to proclaim his important mission which was to be a voice crying out in wilderness in hope of making straight the way for the Messiah. At that point in time, Jesus had not began his public mission yet. It was only later on that John met Jesus while baptizing his followers at Jordan River. It is not like John had heard that Jesus declared John was the Elijah and then John purposely say that he was not Elijah in order to make it look as if Jesus was lying.

John was a great prophet who ever lived. Many prophets came before John but they could only prophecy about the Messiah from a distance in time. John was a prophet  who testified to Jesus in his own life's time. Unfortunately, because he was murdered by King Herod, John never made it to the time when the Holy Spirit was poured out powerfully to followers in the upper room shortly after Jesus' died and resurrected. This is why Jesus lamented about how although John was the greatest of prophets but the least in the Kingdom was going to be greater than him.

Matthew 11:11
 11"Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Jesus followers like Peter, James, John or Matthew were in no way prophets before they met Jesus but later on when the followers received the powerful anointing of Holy Spirit, they went on to become great prophets almost overnight. Jesus was encouraging the people to move on and not to be so discouraged by the news of John's death. Andrew and Peter were in fact from John the baptist group before they met Jesus. Yet, instead of John, they were the ones who had the good fortune of being there at the last supper when Jesus was making a new covenant with his followers for the first time. They were the ones who could receive the power of the Holy Spirit transforming them into mighty prophets.

God's main plan for sending Jesus was a great success. The unfortunate thing is that Satan used King Herod to kill John the baptist. By doing so, Satan could effectively block the way for many good Jews to come to Jesus. If John the Baptist was not killed, many Jews would have been Christians today.

I will not say that there would not be any division between Jews and Christians today had the Jews in Jesus' time accepted Jesus according to God's will. I will only say that with many Jews in the Christian movement testifying to Jesus as the Messiah, there might not be as many divisions among Christians today. Jesus, himself made it clear that he first came for the Jews before the gentiles. Jesus knew that even before his coming, the Jewish people went through much sufferings as God's chosen people.

Although the stubborn Jewish Leaders at the time of Jesus hated Jesus, they would not have dared to touch Jesus if John the Baptist was still alive.

The Romans who were deep into idol worshiping would have been the ones used by Satan to kill Jesus. The seed of Satan would have wounded the seed of the woman (Israel) by striking the heel (Jesus hands and feet were pierced). With the power of God and the Holy Spirit, Jesus, after the resurrection would then set the stage for the seed of the woman to cause a fatal strike upon the seed of Satan and removing forever, Satan's ability to control the leaders (heads) of this World.

Genesis 3:15

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."


After the death of John the Baptist, it became more and more difficult for the righteous Jews who chose to follow Jesus. They could not overcome  the argument thrown to them by the Pharisees and the Scribes about how before the Messiah come, the Elijah should appear. They could not say that "Elijah was John the Baptist and he was murdered by King Herod.

Although Jesus was sorrowful because it looks like the chosen people are going to miss the time of his visitation, Jesus knew that when his time came, whether the Jews were with him or without him, He must fulfill his main mission as God's sacrificial Lamb who will take away the sins of the World.

Perhaps, one of the most sorrowful moment for Jesus when he thought about all the tearful efforts His Father has made to prepare the chosen people to receive him as the Messiah.

Matthew 23:37 NKJV
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;  39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' "

Matthew 24:1
1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."




Even after John's death, Jesus had powerful supporters. When Jesus acted strongly against the traders in the Temple, the traders could have easily fought back but they didn't. The Pharisees were also angry but they hesitated to do anything against Jesus at that time. The Bible tells us that they were afraid of Jesus supporters.

Today, there are some atheist who use this incident to make accusations against Jesus. But to me, Jesus was not expressing anger in an uncontrollable manner that these atheists like to think. The whip that Jesus made on the spot could get a message through but it was not the type of weapon that would cause permanent damage to someone's skin or bones. Jesus did not pick up an iron bar or sword and start swinging around.

At the Garden of Gethsemane, we read about how Jesus prayed  and asked God to take the cup of suffering away from him. He prayed this pray not one time but 3 times.

Some atheist use this and make accusation against Jesus. They argue that if Jesus knew his death would take away the sins of the World, he would not be so sorrowful about his death. After all, in history, we have seen how many people have courageously offered to die for the sake of their country or family.

Jesus was not sorrowful because he was about to die. Jesus was sorrowful because of how the chosen people were prevented from coming to him even at the last hour. If there was any chance at all, he would be willing to continue to wait a bit longer until more Jewish people could come to him and the their salvation of Jews would not have to be postponed to the distant future. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus knew how God's chosen people had already suffered much persecution even before he came into the World. He also knew that as a result of having played a role in betraying God's Son, the Jewish Nation would have to go through hardship again before being raised up again. God looks at Jesus as a representative of all mankind. God looks at the Jewish nation as a representative of all Nations. Instead of punishing all mankind, God would punish the chosen people. Eventually, God will also bring punishment on all nations but before that, God will give a chance to all nations and deal with them according to their attitude towards the chosen nation while the chosen nation is being punished. Nevertheless, as sorrowful as he was over the fact about how the Jews could not fulfill their part, we read about how Jesus willingly submitted to God's will and not his own will.


Jesus was the Lamb of God
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God did not suddenly decide on the strategy of sending His son, Jesus to die in the hands of the Romans. God already knew long ago what was the probability of Jesus dying in the hands of the Romans. God knew how Satan work. From the beginning, God knew that the most powerful way to silence Satan was to provide a sacrificial Lamb who can take away the sins of the World.

Jesus came as the Lamb of God. This is why when John the Baptist first saw Jesus coming towards him to be baptize in River Jordan, John excitedly proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

For long time in the old testament history God was preparing the Jewish people for the Messiah.

The first incident about lamb that could be related to Jesus was in the time when Abraham took his son, Isaac up that mountain in order to offer his only son as a burnt offering to God. As they walked up that mountain together, Isaac noticed that they didn't bring any animals with them to be used as offering to God. Abraham then told his son that God will provide the Lamb. According to some research, many years later Jesus carried the wood up the hill around the exact same location. (This is an interesting research and I hope that the story is confirmed to be correct.)

During the time when the Pharaoh of Egypt refused to let the Jews go free from being slaves in Egypt, God instructed Moses to tell the Jews to use unblemished lamb's blood on the entrance door of their houses. When God sent the angel of death went around and caused death in the land of Egypt, the angel of death passed over houses that had lamb's blood on the entrance of their houses..

The impure blood of man blemished by sins can never be acceptable offering to God. Only a sinless man can pay the price of sins by offering his blood. When Jesus shed his blood to pay the price of sins, God could accept that offering. Yes, when Jesus died on the cross, he was expressing the greatest act of love the World has ever seen. As a sinless man, there is no reason for Jesus to die at all. But Jesus accepted to offer his life for man who were yet sinful.

(the following touching descriptions was inspired by Hal Lindsey. Thanks to him)

Then I would like to bring your attention to how God guided and trained the Jewish people to make the sin offerings once a year during the passover festival. Every year the Jewish people had to prepare an unblemished lamb to be offered to God so that through that little lamb, they could pay the price for the sins they committed that whole year. This is in fact, quite a painful experience especially for the children. This is because in order for the lamb to be unblemished, they had to take good care of the lamb and keep the lamb inside their homes. Their children would have played with the lamb and became fond of the lamb as a kind of pet. Then, when the time came, and the lamb had to be brought out and be killed. An innocent lamb should die so that the curse of the sins for that year could be lessened. Certainly, watching the lamb die was a painful moment for the whole family.

Finally, Jesus was to be that unblemished Lamb of God. Believers in a sense died with Jesus and when Jesus was resurrected from the dead, believers received new life through him. In this sense, the offering of lambs was no longer necessary after Jesus time.

Yes, to the Jews that Jesus said that the will of God was to accept him. To the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said salvation is from the Jews. Jesus said that his miracles and healing works were first for the Jews.

The Jews would have considered Jesus as their Hero
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So, what went wrong? Ironically, Pilate, the Roman could wash his hands when it was the Romans hands that should have been dirty?

A note on free will
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God created mankind with free will and God cannot decide for the people living in the time of Jesus whether they would accept Jesus or reject Him.

But we must also remember that as far as human responsibility is concern, in situations where cause and result is already set in motion, the effect of that law will take over. When a sinless Adam committed sin which resulted in death, someone who is sinless has to pay the price for that sin by giving his life. Before walking off the edge of a cliff, we have free will to move around but once we walk off the edge of the cliff, the forces of gravity takes over and as much as we have free will, we will have to fall to the bottom of that cliff first unless while falling, we grab hold of a rope the rescue party throws down for us. Jesus Christ is our rope of salvation. Hold on to Jesus!




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