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There was a division among
the people who listened to Jesus' teachings. Some said He MUST be 'the
Christ', while others denied the possibility because the scriptures
said Messiah would come from the seed of David and be born in
Bethlehem, the city of David ... Jesus grew up in Nazareth. (John
7:40-43)
One day, the Pharisees sent
men to ask John who he was and why he was baptizing (identifying)
people with the future kingdom on earth. Of course, John denied that
he was the Christ, and the very next day he identified Jesus as "THE
LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD. (John 1:29)
If those Scribes and
Pharisees really knew and understood what Moses and the Prophets had
written about the Messiah who was to come, they would have realized
who Jesus was! Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a theologian, at
least recognized that Jesus had to be a teacher sent from God. (John
3:1-3)
After Jesus raised His friend
Lazarus from the dead, more and more people believed in Him, so the
religious rulers increased their attempts to destroy both Him and
Lazarus. (John 11:1-53) The Jewish Council held a meeting in which
they decided that Jesus definitely had to be stopped before all men
would believe in Him. Then Caiaphas, the high priest, suggested it
would be expedient to use Jesus as a scapegoat rather than have the
whole nation destroyed by the Romans, and from that day forth, they
consulted together to see how they might find a way to arrest Jesus
and put Him to death. (John 11 :45-53)
An opportunity to betray the
Lord Jesus Christ to those religious leaders who hated Him came six
days before the Passover Feast when Jesus and the twelve were invited
to a dinner party at the home of a Pharisee in the town of Bethany.
During that celebration, a woman named Mary came in with a box of very
precious ointment and anointed Jesus' head and His feet with it. (Mark
14:3; Luke 7:36-38; John 12:1-3) When Judas Iscariot, one of the
twelve, objected to what he thought was a misuse of the expensive
ointment, Jesus scolded him, and Judas went to the chief priests to
betray the Lord. Those religious leaders were happy and promised to
give Judas thirty pieces of silver if he could deliver Jesus into
their hands, and from that moment on, Judas looked for a way to
conveniently betray Him. (Mark 14:10; Matthew 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6)
A perfect opportunity for
Judas to betray the Lord came during the Last Supper when the twelve
were with Jesus enjoying the Passover meal. While they were eating,
Jesus said that one of those sitting at the table would betray Him
that very night, but identified the betrayer only by giving him the
choicest morsel of food, which was called 'the sop'. When Judas
accepted the morsel, Satan entered into him, and Jesus commanded,
"What you are about to do, do quickly!" (John 13:26,27)
Judas knew it was customary
for them to go into the Garden of Gethsemene, and that night he
brought a great multitude of men carrying swords and staves from the
chief priests, scribes and elders into the garden. Judas stepped up to
Jesus and kissed Him, showing the soldiers which one to arrest. Then
they bound Jesus and took Him first to Annas, who was father-in-law to
Caiaphas the high priest and afterward to the house of Caiaphas where
the Council was holding a meeting. (Luke 22:54) As Jesus stood outside
the Council room, the soldiers ridiculed Him, and then they
blindfolded Him and slapped Him in the face and said, "Prophesy ...
which one of us slapped you?"
At daybreak the next morning,
the chief priests and scribes came together and led Jesus into their
Council for questioning. They said, "Tell us ... are you the Christ?"
Jesus replied, "If I tell you, you will not believe. Neither will you
answer Me if I question you, nor will you let Me go. Hereafter, you
shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power of
God." Then they asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" Jesus replied,
"You are right in saying that I am." They responded, "We have heard
his blasphemy from his own lips! We need no further witnesses!" (Luke
22:66-71)
When the religious rulers had
finished questioning Jesus, the whole multitude led Him to Pilate, the
Roman governor, and began to accuse Him saying, "We found this fellow
perverting the nation and forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar
and saying that he himself is Christ, a king!"
Pilate privately asked Jesus,
"Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "You're right in saying
that I am." Then Pilate went out and said to the chief priests and the
people, "I find no fault in this man." The governor's report
infuriated Jesus' accusers, and they shouted, "He stirs up the people
with his teaching throughout all Jewry, from Galilee to this place!"
When Pilate found out that
Jesus was a Galilaean, he sent him to king Herod who just happened to
be in Jerusalem. For some time, Herod had been desiring to see Jesus,
and hoped to see Him perform one of the miracles he had heard about.
He asked many questions of Jesus, but Jesus gave no answer at all to
Herod. Of course the chief priests and scribes viciously accused
Jesus, and after Herod's soldiers ridiculed Him and dressed Him in a
gorgeous robe, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.
Pilate wanted to release
Jesus, so he sent for the chief priests and the others who had accused
Him and set Him before them saying, “you have brought this man to me
whom you accuse of perverting the people, but neither I nor Herod have
found these accusations to be true. Now you Jews have a custom that
during your feast days, a criminal of your choosing should be set
free." They all cried out together, "A way with this man, and release
Barabbas to us!" (Barabbas was a hardened criminal who had been cast
into prison for rebelling against legal authorities. and he was also a
murderer)
Pilate tried again to reason
with the Jewish religious leaders on behalf of Jesus, but they cried
out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
Pilate answered them the
third time, saying, "Why? What evil has he done? I find no reason to
crucify him; therefore, I will have him beaten and release him." But
the people shouted even louder than before, and their voices prevailed
against the governor's words, so Pilate released Barabbas and said to
Jesus' accusers, "Take your king and crucify him yourselves!" The Jews
responded, "We have a law by which this man should die, because he
claims to be the Son of God! If you let him go, you are not the friend
of Caesar ... whoever calls himself a king speaks against Caesar!"
Pilate brought Jesus out
again and said to the Jews, "Behold your king!" They cried out, "Away
with him ... crucify him!" Pilate said, "Shall I crucify your king?"
The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"
When Pilate saw that he could
not prevail against them, he called for a basin of water and washed
his hands in their sight saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this
just person ... do as you wish with him."
They took Jesus and led Him
to a place called Golgotha in the Hebrew language and Calvary in the
Greek, and there they crucified Him. Those who hated Jesus got their
way at last, but three days later, Jesus arose from the dead, ascended
into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Power on High.
At the end of man's history, the Lord Jesus Christ will judge those
who accused Him along with unbelievers of all the ages at the Great
White Throne Judgment. Every person who had trusted in their human
good works for salvation rather than put their faith in the work of
Jesus Christ on the cross will be cast into the Lake of Fire with the
devil and his angels and will be tormented day and night throughout
eternity. .
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