SABBATH THOUGHT 2023-03-11—WHO KILLED CHRIST?

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

When we think of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it is generally the idea that He died for the sins of all humanity. Paul said, “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23) and “that Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). Why did He die for our sins? The obvious answer is so that “we have redemption through [Jesus Christ’s] own blood, even the remission of sins” (Col. 1:14). It is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that our sins are covered so that they can be forgiven by God and we can have eternal life as His children.

However, have you ever thought that because our sins were laid upon Jesus Christ that WE had something to do with killing Him? Could that be true? Only in the sense that God had to have a way to forgive our sins. In other words, if it was not for sin, then Jesus Christ would not have had to die. However, NO man or woman killed Him.

Start with the question: WHO put the sins of the world upon Jesus Christ? Notice the prophecy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins:

ISAIAH 53:4-6 Surely He [Jesus Christ] hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD [God the Father] hath laid on Him [Jesus Christ] the iniquity of us all.

It was GOD THE FATHER who laid the sins of humanity upon His own Son. But God the Father would not have done that had not Jesus Christ willingly taken them upon Himself and willingly became the vessel of flesh and blood that God the Father used to take our sins to the grave. This is plain in the Scripture:

JOHN 10:17-18 On account of this, the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life, that I may receive it back again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I [Jesus Christ] lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down and authority to receive it back again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

1 PETER 2:24 Who [Jesus Christ] Himself bore our sins within His own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, may live unto righteousness; by Whose stripes you were healed.

This is a vital/essential/fundamental/central understanding of the Passover: NO sinner lays their sins upon Jesus Christ and NO sinner has the authority or power to cause Jesus Christ to bear their sins. This is why salvation is a FREE GIFT—we had nothing to do with putting our sins upon our Savior. God the Father did that solely of His own volition.

All have sinned but none of us had the means to cause, direct, beg, pray, or plead that our sins be placed upon Jesus Christ. Only God the Father could do that and only Jesus Christ could bear them because only THEY are sinless. This was a completely SELFLESS act of agape love by God the Father and Jesus Christ. Because the sins of the world were laid upon Jesus Christ, God the Father literally made His Son into SIN—Jesus Christ BECAME sin. Notice:

1 CORINTHIANS 5:21 For He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus Christ] Who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Once the sins of the world were placed upon Jesus Christ, He had to die because “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23). The death penalty applies to all who are flesh and blood, including the very Son of God! This is what is meant by “stricken” (Isa. 53:4, 8)—He had to die BECAUSE the sins of the world were upon Him:

ISAIAH 53:7-9 He [Jesus Christ] was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My [God the Father’s] people was He [Jesus Christ] stricken. 9 And He [Jesus Christ] made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.

At the moment that Jesus Christ became sin for us, God the Father was obligated to kill His own Son by Law! Do not be surprised because this is similar to the statutes that require men (fathers) to stone a rebellious son[1]. It is also portrayed in the sacrifices—the one who sinned, not the priest, had to kill the animal used for the blood sacrifice.

This is also why no human being had the right, even according to the Law, to kill Jesus Christ—it was God the Father who laid the sins of the world upon Jesus Christ and God the Father who had to Judge Him. This might explain why Jesus Christ told the scribes and Pharisees when they brought the woman caught in adultery to Him, “he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7). Now notice WHO killed Jesus Christ:

ISAIAH 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD [God the Father] to bruise Him [Jesus Christ]; He [God the Father] hath put Him [Jesus Christ] to grief: when Thou [God the Father] shalt make His [Jesus Christ’s] soul an offering for sin, He [God the Father] shall see His [Jesus Christ’s] seed, He [God the Father] shall prolong His [Jesus Christ’s] days, and the pleasure of the LORD [God the Father] shall prosper in His [Jesus Christ’s] hand. 11 He [God the Father] shall see of the travail of His [Jesus Christ’s] soul, and shall be satisfied: by His [God the Father’s] knowledge shall my righteous Servant [Jesus Christ] justify many; for He [Jesus Christ] shall bear their iniquities.

God the Father made Jesus Christ into an offering for sin. The root of the word for sin-offering means to perish. Is that not what the Law of God requires for sin? Yes! (It is interesting that the root word for sin-offering is ‘ashem and it is pronounced just as the English word ashame[d].) Being made into sin meant that Jesus Christ was appointed to die just like all who transgress the Law of God:

ISAIAH 53:12 Therefore will I [God the Father] divide Him [Jesus Christ] a portion with the great, and He [God the Father] shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He [God the Father] hath poured out His [Jesus Christ’s] soul unto death: and He [Jesus Christ] was numbered [appointed; counted] with the transgressors; and He [Jesus Christ] bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Many people assume that “He” and “His” in the phrase “He hath poured out His soul unto death” both refer to Jesus Christ. However; both cannot refer to Him because verse 11 says, “when thou [God the Father] shalt make his [Jesus Christ] soul an offering for sin.” Therefore, the phrase should read: “He [God the Father] hath poured out His [Jesus Christ’s] soul unto death” Because Jesus Christ had become sin, God the Father Himself was required to put Him to death. But all of this was portrayed and prophesied in the story of Abraham and his son Isaac:

GENESIS 22:1-2, 10-12 And it came to pass after these things, that God did [test] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. … 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

It was Abraham, the father of Isaac, who was asked to kill him. This very act of obedience to God portrayed EXACTLY what God the Father would be required to do to His Son. After God intervened and stopped the killing of Isaac, notice what Abraham called the place where God had taken him:

GENESIS 22:13-14 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Abraham named the place he was to sacrifice Isaac “Jehovah jireh,” meaning “the Lord will see to it” or “the Lord will provide.” Provide what? The BURNT OFFERING for sin! Abraham must have been inspired when Isaac asked where the animal was for the burnt offering. He said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” (Gen. 22:8). This is a profound prophecy of God the Father giving Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sin! Because the test of Abraham portrayed the sacrifice of God the Father’s role, GOD had to provide the ram for that sacrifice to Abraham. Is that not exactly what God the Father did? God the Father PROVIDED the world THE Lamb for our sins. This was witnessed, testified to, and recorded by the apostles. (In fact, witnessing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the primary qualification of an apostle. So, the next time you use the title apostle, recall that you are referring to “a witness—from the Greek word for martyr—of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”)

Have you ever noticed that only John the Baptist and John the apostle call Jesus Christ “The Lamb of God?” John the Baptist used it because he “prepared the way of the Lord;” that is, for God the Father to sacrifice His Son Jesus Christ. John also uses this name in Revelation many times. Given that much of Revelation is devoted to events of the Tribulation and Day of the Lord, it is not surprising. Those events are the result of mankind’s sins. The title Lamb of God is fitting because the book of Revelation describes the final victory over sin. It is very appropriate that John the Baptist calls Him “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). As The Lamb, He was The Sacrifice for our sins and as The Lamb of God, He was God the Father’s sacrifice for sin. They did this because They “so loved the world that God the Father gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

Brethren, this Passover is a remembrance[2] of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who had to die at the hands of His Father in order to take away our sins so that we are the Children of God! I pray that you contemplate the depths of the love, mercy, and compassion that God the Father and Jesus Christ have for you, me, and the world during this Passover.

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com