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Jesus Christ died in fulfillment of the Passover and other Old Testament sacrifices. But who actually bears blame in His being killed?
Imagine yourself carried back in time almost 2,000 years. You stand outside Jerusalem, gazing up to where Jesus of Nazareth hangs crucified. He has nails driven through His hands and feet and a crown of thorns jammed down upon His head. Roman soldiers squat in the dust
gambling for His clothing. Suddenly, one of the soldiers picks up a spear and thrusts it into Jesus' side. With a gasp His suffering ends. (To understand why this spear thrust is what killed Jesus, see our Bible study aid Jesus Christ: The Real Story .)
Earlier that day Jewish leaders accused Jesus of sedition before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Pilate's wife had a troubling dream about the Jewish rabbi and begged her husband to spare Him. The governor did have a way out of condemning Jesus. Roman custom dictated that a Jewish prisoner be released at the Passover season. Pilate offered the crowd the choice of the criminal Barabbas or Jesus. The crowd chose Barabbas.
Reporting what happened next, Matthew 27:22 states: "Pilate said to them, 'What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' They all said to him, 'Let Him be crucified.'" The governor asked the crowd, "What evil has He done?" The crowd "cried out all the more saying, 'Let Him be crucified'" (Matthew 27:23).
Matthew then writes: "When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.' And all the people answered and said, 'His blood be on us and on our children'" (Matthew 27:24-25). Pilate gave in, and Jesus was led away to be beaten, scourged and crucified.
Who really killed Jesus? Should the Jewish people be held responsible throughout their generations? Does the responsibility rest upon the Roman soldiers who scourged and crucified Him? Should Pilate take the blame?
The answer can be found in the great meaning behind the sacrifices God required in the Old Testament, commencing with that of a lamb at the biblical observance of Passover.
The Passover is traced back to the time of Moses when God led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. Moses told the Egyptian ruler, the pharaoh, that God wanted him to let the Israelites go free. When Pharaoh refused, God brought nine terrible plagues on the people and the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh again refused, God said that He would kill all the firstborn of Egypt.
The Israelites were told to smear the blood of a slain lamb on the doorposts of their houses so that this last plague would pass over them and they would be spared. For generations Israelites have celebrated that night when their ancestors were spared as God passed over their homes and they heard the horrible cries of Egyptians mourning their dead.
At the time of Jesus, nearly 1,500 years after that first Passover, Jewish families selected lambs to be sacrificed as their ancestors had done. On the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan they would kill the lamb and eat a special meal of lamb, herbs and unleavened bread to commemorate God's mercy and deliverance shown to their ancestors.
It was on that same day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar that Jesus was crucified. The night before His death, He ate a Passover meal with His closest followers (Matthew 26:17-20). Matthew tells us: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat, this is my body.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sin" (Matthew 26:26-28).
The suffering and death that mark the human condition is the direct result of sin, which is disobedience to God's ways of life (Genesis 3:17-19). The problem we all have to face is how sinful human beings can come into the presence of the righteous God. Many people are shocked to find out that God has requirements they must meet to interact with Him.
Throughout the Old Testament period people were required to approach God with an offering of blood. Only certain animals were acceptable to God for these blood sacrifices.
In Leviticus 17:10-11 God explains why a blood sacrifice is required: "And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
Animal sacrifices may to us today seem strange, even barbaric. But it's important to remember that these sacrifices were commanded by God and communicate something vital. Human beings have sinned, violated God's law, and have brought on themselves the ultimate penalty of sin-death.
The animal sacrifices were a substitute for the blood of the sinner. However, the life of a human being, made in the image of God, is worth more than any number of lambs and bulls. So these substitutes were temporary symbols of a reality that was to be fulfilled in a wondrous way.
What did Jesus mean when He said that His followers must eat bread and drink wine as symbols of His body and blood? How were these symbols involved in the forgiveness of sins? Why did He choose a Passover meal to give them these instructions?
The answers are found in the ancient messages of God's prophets. They told of a coming Messiah, or Christ, who would conquer the nations and establish God's Kingdom on the earth. Other prophecies foretold a great Servant of God who would suffer for the nations.
One prophecy about this "suffering Servant" is found in Isaiah 52-53. In this prophecy, the Servant of God is beaten and "His appearance was marred more than any man" (New American Standard Bible). He is "wounded for our transgressions," "bruised for our iniquities," and is made an "offering for sin." In his death He "bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 52:13-53:12).
Jesus wasn't just a good teacher. Either He is the prophesied Messiah, and the Suffering Servant who came from God's throne to earth as the "Lamb of God" (as proclaimed by John the Baptist in John 1:29, John 1:36), or the entire New Testament is fraudulent, founded on a self-appointed Messiah, and Jesus and His followers were deluded fanatics at best.
Yet there is overwhelming evidence that Jesus is who He claimed to be. And as the Lamb of God, His life has more value than all human beings who ever lived or will ever live. The animal sacrifices were mere symbols of the reality of God's plan for salvation-in which Jesus would die for all.
The book of Hebrews tells us: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins . . . we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
"But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:4-14).
After Jesus was resurrected, His followers continued to observe the Passover, but with new understanding. For Christians, the Passover was no longer just a celebration of how God saved ancient Israel from slavery and how their firstborn were spared.
More than 20 years after Christ's resurrection, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in the Greek city of Corinth, "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). For the earliest Christians, Jesus was celebrated as the perfect Passover Lamb who delivers us from death and slavery to sin.
The importance of Jesus as the Passover lamb is lost in the common message that "Jesus accepts you just as you are." To really understand the need you have for Jesus as your Passover, you must accept that hostility against God's law (Romans 8:7) is at the core of many of your thoughts and actions. God doesn't accept you just the way you are. To have a relationship with Him you must repent, be converted and allow Him to change you.
At this point you may be thinking, "But I'm basically a good person." Yet "basically good" isn't enough. Unless God supplies a substitute, each one of us faces the death penalty under God's holy law. Only by accepting the shed blood of Jesus, the Son of God who committed no evil, whose life is more valuable than all humanity, can you be passed over and not be subject to ultimate destruction.
Christians are to celebrate the Passover by partaking of the symbols of Christ's body and blood as the true Passover Lamb. Like the ancient Israelites, you have no way to save yourself from the slavery of sin or eternal death except through the blood of the Lamb of God. We simply cannot resurrect ourselves.
We return to 1 Corinthians where Paul wrote, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). Once a year, on the anniversary of the Passover Jesus kept with His disciples, Christians should gather to proclaim the Lord's death.
Which brings us back to our original question: Who really killed Jesus?
Let's transport ourselves back to the scene at the feet of where Jesus has been crucified. The Roman soldier who had just thrust his spear into the side of Jesus slowly turns towards you. You have an opportunity to look into the face of the killer of the Son of God. He turns, takes off his helmet, and you find yourself staring into your own reflection.
Of course, the face would be that of others as well. But, personally speaking, you must recognize and acknowledge your own part in Jesus' death. This isn't a cheap attempt to try and make you feel guilty. Christianity is a worthless religion unless Jesus, the Son of God, indeed came from heaven to live as a man, to die for our sins and to be resurrected three days and three nights later. To become a Christian, you must accept that His death was a substitute for what you deserve. This is a foundational truth of what it is to be a Christian. "He died to sin once for all" (Romans 6:10) that you may live.
Less than two months after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the apostle Peter was speaking to a large crowd in Jerusalem. The people were shocked when he revealed their personal blame in the death of Jesus-"Whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate." He further told them, "You denied the Holy One . . . and killed the Prince of life" (Acts 3:13-15, emphasis added).
The responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ isn't just a matter of accusing the Jews who betrayed Him, nor the Roman soldiers who crucified Him, nor Pilate who condemned Him, nor the devil who led them, nor God whose plan it was all along (see "All Bear Responsibility in Jesus' Death ").
The fact of the matter is, you must accept that Jesus' death was a substitute for what you deserve. As Paul tells us, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) and "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23). That includes you and me. Jesus died for us so that you can have access to God our Father and be freed from sin and death. If you were the only person on earth, the Lamb of God would have been sacrificed as your substitute.
Our responsibility now is to obey and accept those same words from Peter-to turn from our sins in repentance and gratefully accept Jesus' sacrifice. When we do that, God forgives us and gives us His Spirit to help us obey Him (Acts 2:38). How wonderful is God's mercy!
For Christians today, the Passover remains a time to reflect on the awesome sacrifice of Jesus Christ-when He laid down His life for all of us. It isn't just a Jewish celebration. There can be no greater recognition of Jesus as our Redeemer than for Christians to gather on the night that He did with His disciples and partake of the symbols of unleavened bread and wine as an annual memorial of His body and blood given in sacrifice for all of us!
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Keywords: Jesus' death Jesus as passover Jesus as sacrifice suffering servant substitutionary sacrifice
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