“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” (Acts 2:22,23)
It is surely true that Jesus was “murdered” by wicked men (Acts 2:23 says exactly that). But it is also true that he was “delivered” or “turned over” to their hands by God, and that this was no whim, no passing fancy: it was, rather, the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” — or, as the NIV, “His set purpose and foreknowledge” — that led to this death. All the sacrifices of the Law of Moses, and many of the events of the Old Testament, were enacted parables, and prophecies, of the One who — when he came — would be the perfect sacrifice for sins. It was in God’s purpose from the very beginning that His only-begotten Son, whom He loved more than anything, must die in a certain way.
All of Jesus’ life was a “sacrifice”, an ongoing “crucifixion” of the flesh with its lusts, a putting to death of the “old man” (which was in him, as it is in us), and a doing of his Father’s will rather than his own.
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Author: George Booker
Keywords: Who killed Jesus, Was Jesus killed, Death of Jesus, Jesus' death, Jesus's death, Are the Jews guilty of Jesus's death, Are the Jews guilty, Were the Jews guilty, Jews' guilt, Guild of the Jews, Were the Jews guilty of killing Jesus, Jewish guilt, Killing Jesus, Killing Christ, Was Christ killed, Who killed Christ, Death of Christ, Christ's death, Christ's murder, Jesus's murder, Jesus' murder
Bible reference(s): Isaiah 53:4-5, Isaiah 53:8, Matthew 27:22-24, John 10:17-18, John 19:10-15, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, Acts 4:26-28, Acts 2:23
Source: “Was Jesus ‘Killed’?”, The Agora.
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