It was planned. Just take a quick scan of the news on any given day…racism, murders, sexual abuse, lies, greed, corruption, terrorism, wars, etc. As people we have a great way of messing up our lives and the lives of others. God sees us as lost, blind and under his judgment for our ways. Think how sickened and grieved we are to hear that an 6-year-old girl is kidnapped from her family for sexual abuse.
Well, all of our sin is an affront to a holy God. All of our sin grieves him. When honest, we even disgust ourselves at times. So what would a perfectly holy God see? God says that the penalty for sin is death. The lamb died in their place. But that was a temporary forgiveness. They had to do this each year. Rather than us die and be permanently, eternally separated from God, Jesus paid for our sin on the cross, in order that we could be forever forgiven and have eternal life.
Any sin you have ever committed, or will do, Jesus was aware of while hanging on the cross. Jesus took the punishment for our sins for us. Da Vinci was depicting the dinner that Jesus had with his disciples the night before he was arrested and crucified.
Jesus, who committed no sin, paid for our sin on the cross. Why would he do it? What does he ask of us? To pay him back and earn our forgiveness? We could never be worthy of what Jesus did for us. What he asks of us is simple He asks us to accept his death on our behalf, to accept his complete forgiveness as a free gift. They want to try to earn their own salvation.
Earn their own way into heaven. They want to show by their efforts that they are worthy of a relationship with God. But not only forgiveness, also eternal life and a close, personal relationship with God now, in this life. It is all ours, because Jesus died on the cross for us.
Jesus was not merely taking punishment for our sin. He was eliminating the wall that stood between us and God. He was offering far more than forgiveness. He was offering reconciliation, full acceptance, a full relationship with him, so we could know his love for us. Jesus came into the world to die for us, to provide a way for us to know him intimately. It is our decision to receive the gift of a relationship with him that he is offering us. Anyone who will invite Jesus into their lives and accept his free gift of forgiveness and eternal life, begins a never-ending relationship with him.
After his crucifixion, they buried Jesus in a tomb and stationed a trained Roman guard of soldiers at his tomb. Jesus had repeatedly said that three days after his burial, he would rise from the dead. It would prove everything he said about himself. Three days later, the tomb was empty. Jesus then physically appeared to the disciples many times, to a crowd of , to individuals.
It is our decision whether to accept the forgiveness he offers, by moving toward him, asking him to forgive us and enter our lives. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Forgive my sin. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Lead my life as you want. Thank you for coming into my life right now and giving me a relationship with you. This time when protesters amassed, Pilate dispatched plain-clothed soldiers to infiltrate the crowd.
On his signal, they removed clubs hidden in their garments and beat many of the protesters to death. According to the Gospels, the Sanhedrin, an elite council of priestly and lay elders, arrested Jesus during the Jewish festival of Passover , deeply threatened by his teachings. They dragged him before Pilate to be tried for blasphemy—for claiming, they said, to be King of the Jews. And they pressured Pilate, the only one with power to impose a death sentence, to call for his crucifixion.
Contrary to the depiction of Pilate as a merciless ruler by Philo and Josephus, all four Gospels portray him as a vacillating judge. According to the Gospel of Mark, Pilate came to the defense of Jesus before yielding to the desire of the crowd.
But Mark had an ulterior agenda, notes Patterson, since he wrote the Gospel in the midst of the failed Jewish Revolt against Roman rule between 66 and 70 A. Mark blamed the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem for its destruction [during the rebellion] because the high priests and officials rejected Jesus when he had come to the city.
Pilate washing his hands, claiming Jesus' ultimate death would not be from his doing. It was entirely up to the governor as to how he dealt with the case, and after hearing the evidence he no doubt thought that getting rid of Jesus was the best course of action.
In the Gospels, the crowd chose the criminal Barabbas over Jesus. According to Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus, Pilate was removed from office and sent back to Rome after using excessive force to disperse a suspected Samaritan insurrection. Once in Rome, Pilate vanished from the historical record. According to some traditions, he was executed by the Emperor Caligula or committed suicide, with his body thrown into the Tiber River.
The early Christian author Tertullian even claimed that Pilate became a follower of Jesus and tried to convert the emperor to Christianity. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you.
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