Resources > Adventure Link CSI Jerusalem...The Investigation begins...Who Killed Jesus? Posted by Rev. Jeff Dixon, Senior Equipping Minister, Covenant Community Church on Feb 28, 2005, 11:58

The Adventure Link

Crime Scene Investigation...CSI Jerusalem

The Investigation begins...Who Killed Jesus?

A new series begins as we approach Easter here on the Adventure Link.

The place is Jerusalem and the death of the Jesus Christ is going to be examined as we approach Easter. Our approach will be to examine the biblical chronicle of crucifixion events as a historical narrative. The scriptural account gives the reader a front-row seat as the drama unfolds around Christ and His disciples. We are placed virtually on the scene, confronted up close with the dreadful horror of the cross as well as its majestic glory. The scene set before us is both disturbing and inspiring. My prayer is that as you read you will be gripped not only by the gross miscarriage of human justice, but also by the remarkable wonder of divine justice, which provided salvation for sinners who could never have rescued themselves.

Then the chief priest, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.

—Matthew 26:3–4

The question we begin with is who killed Jesus?

Over the years the Jewish people have usually borne the brunt of the blame. The expression “Christ killers” has often been employed as a racial epithet by misguided zealots and hate-mongers. And sadly, the charge of killing Jesus has frequently been employed to justify everything from hate crimes to holocausts against the Jewish people. Even though these atrocities have sometimes been carried out in the name of Jesus, such bigotry stems from satanic and anti-Christian motives, certainly not from any genuine love of Christ.

In the New Testament, we read that the plot to kill Jesus was hatched in a secret council led by none other than Caiaphas, the high priest:

The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 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.” And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 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.” … Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. (John 11:47–50, 53)

That council, which clearly involved the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Israel during the time of Christ, was certainly culpable. And there is a legitimate sense in which the guilt of the crime was shared not only by the chief priests and rulers, but also by the people of Israel (Luke 23:13). They were the ones who shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” as He stood on trial before Pilate (v. 21). That is why Peter, speaking in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, addressed the “men of Israel” and said, “You have taken [Christ] by lawless hands, have crucified [Him], and put [Him] to death” (Acts 2:22–23).

But were the Jews any more culpable than others for Christ’s death?

Certainly not. It was, after all, Pontius Pilate, a Gentile Roman governor, who sentenced Him to death. And he did so in collusion with Herod Antipas, who (although he bore the title “King of the Jews”) was no Jew, but rather an Idumean—a foreign ruler, hated by the Jews, whose throne was granted by Caesar.

Furthermore, crucifixion was a Roman method of execution, authorized and carried out by Roman, not Jewish, authorities. Roman soldiers drove the nails through Christ’s hands and feet. Roman troops erected the cross (Matthew 27:27–35). A Roman spear pierced His side (John 19:34). Gentile hands therefore played an even more prominent role in the actual murder of Jesus than the Jews did.

In fact, the murder of Jesus was a vast conspiracy involving Rome, Herod, the Gentiles, the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the people of Israel—diverse groups who apart from this event were seldom fully in accord with one another. In fact, it is significant that the crucifixion of Christ is the only historical event where all those factions worked together to achieve a common goal. All were culpable. All bear the guilt together. The Jews as a race were no more or less blameworthy than the Gentiles. This was, in essence, a corporate act of sinful humanity against God. The facts are clear...all are guilty together.

And yet even that does not exhaust the full truth about who killed Jesus.

Scripture emphasizes from cover to cover that the death of Christ was ordained and appointed by God Himself. One of the key Old Testament prophecies about the crucifixion is Isaiah 53. Isaiah prophetically describes the torture of the Messiah at the hands of a scoffing mob, and then adds, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10). God put his own Son to death? That is precisely what Scripture teaches. Why? According to Isaiah 53:10, it was to “make His soul an offering for sin.” God had a redemptive purpose.

The designs of those who killed Christ were entirely murderous.

They are by no means exonerated from their evil, just because God’s purposes are good. It was still the act of “lawless hands” (Acts 2:23). It was, as far as the human perpetrators were concerned, the ultimate act of pure evil. The wickedness of the crucifixion is in no sense lessened by the fact that God ultimately it for good. The truth that it was His sovereign plan makes the deed itself no less a diabolical act of murder.