The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Death of the Messiah (Continued)

The Significance of the Death of the Messiah

Going back to the principles laid down in Genesis, spilt blood implies:

(1) A substitutionary sacrifice, (like the lambs of Abel’s flock , or the ram replacing Isaac on the altar).

(2) A life taken unjustly, (like Abel, the first martyr).

(3) A life taken justly, (in payment for a crime).

It could be argued that the blood of the Messiah was shed in compliance with these three principles.

(1) As a substitutionary sacrifice.

(2) Was a life taken unjustly.

(3) Was payment for a capital crime.

That the death of the Messiah falls into the category of (2) ‘a life taken unjustly’ is self-evident. The judicial killing of Jesus of Nazareth was the murder of the only innocent man that ever lived. He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. Pilate, the only judge that mattered, said, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23.4; John 19.6).

It was also the payment for (3) capital crime, though not His own. This points to the idea of (1) substitution (one life given instead of another). It is evident that the New Testament emphasis is on this substitutionary aspect of the death of the Messiah. Peter wrote, “… who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet.2:24).  Again, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet.3:18) Paul wrote, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.5:21). These echo the prophecy of Isaiah, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa.53:5). “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa.53:6).

With Moses, the sacrifice of the Passover lambs, evidenced by the blood applied to the doorways of the homes of the Israelite slaves, was the best illustration of this spiritual principle. Meditation on this momentous event was also the best educator of the nation and Moses commanded them, and future generations, to remember and celebrate it annually.

Notwithstanding the spiritual principle established at the exodus, the substitutionary nature of the death of the Messiah was not just one life for another but one life instead of all others. This truth is at the heart of the great Adam passage in Romans 5, where Paul wrote that as one man’s act of disobedience brought judgement and death to all men, so the act of obedience by One Man brought justification, and removed the death sentence. “Therefore, as through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:18,19) In his other great Adam passage, he says it even more clearly. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor.15:22).

The theological implications of the death of Christ in this manner, is normally expressed by such words as ‘propitiation’, ‘expiation’ and ‘purification’,

Historically, there are three stages in the provision of ‘propitiation’.

(i) Because God is holy, His wrath is directed toward sin and must be appeased to spare man from eternal destruction. His wrath was awakened by Adam’s transgression.

(ii) God provided the remedy by sending Christ as a sin offering.

(iii) Christ’s death assuaged the wrath of God, satisfied His holiness and averted His wrath.

Propitiation is Godward; God is propitiated—His holiness is vindicated and satisfied by the death of Christ. The Greek verb ἱλάσκομαι (propitiation) occurs twice in the New Testament, in Luke 18.13 and significantly in Hebrews, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb.2:17) As a noun it appears in John’s letters, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world,” (1 John 2:2) and “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). It appears once again in Paul’s writing. “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Rom.3:25).

Expiation is not a word that is found in the New Testament but some translations use it to replace ‘propitiation’. While the primary meaning of ἱλασμός means ‘propitiation’, it surely contains something of the sense of expiation. While propitiation is Godward, expiation is manward or rather sinward. It is sin that needs to be expiated. The death of Christ not only propitiated God but also expiated sin, allowing God to “demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom.3:26) The death of Jesus Christ is presented as the ground on which a righteous God can pardon a guilty and sinful race without in any way compromising His righteousness.

Next Time: Purification

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The execution of the Messiah – But why crucifixion?

Prior to these events and in the will of God, authority to inflict the death sentence had been removed from the Jewish courts. So it was the Roman justice system that pronounced the guilty verdict and called for the execution of Jesus, “that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die” (John 18:32) He had prophesied His death on several occasions. First after Peter properly identified and confessed Him as Messiah: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt.16:16). “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matt.16:21 cf.Luke 9:19). Then again, when they were in Galilee: “Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up” (Matt.17.22,23; cf. Luke 18.33). And then again: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again” (Matt.20.18,19; cf. Luke 24.7).

The train of events that had begun in the Garden of Gethsemane moved towards its inevitable conclusion, execution by crucifixion. In fact, Jesus had said God would allow no other way for Him to die as the Saviour of the world. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14), and again: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (John 8:28), and again: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32).

Jesus would fulfil the prophecy from the Garden of Eden at His execution. As the promised Messiah, He would bruise Satan’s head, and the physical manner of His death would demonstrate and symbolise the spiritual defeat of the Adversary. The head of the serpent had to be below the foot of the seed of the woman. Since the serpent was the one ‘cast down’, Jesus, of necessity, had to be the One ‘lifted up’. Therefore, the key phrase is ‘lifted up’. If the execution had remained with the Jews, it would have been one of the four prescribed ways of judicial killing. They were (1) stoning, (2) burning, (3) decapitation, and (4) strangulation. Although those that were stoned to death would be hanged on a tree afterwards, in none of them is the victim ‘lifted up’. In the case of Jesus, under the Jewish judicial system He would have been stoned. Those that are stoned are ‘cast down’. Often, the place of execution was a form of pit. The Mishnah declares the place of stoning has to be twice the height of a man. The individual would be stoned from above. To maintain the proper positions of the Messiah and Satan, the Son of man had to be lifted up, and crucifixion, as prophesied in Psalm 22, was the mode of execution that maintained the physical demonstration of the spiritual act.

Roman/Gentile complicity

The events of the historic night demand further scrutiny. The larger Sanhedrin, having condemned to death their Messiah, then sent a delegation to fulfil the previously arranged appointment with Pilate. However, aiming to obtain a guilty verdict from the Procurator had become much more difficult because their main political witness, Judas, was no longer available. Nevertheless, they pursued the accusation of sedition, but Pilate would have none of it and pronounced Christ innocent of the charge. Nevertheless, the Jews continued to clammer for the death penalty.

Pilate, the personal representative of the Roman Emperor proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth innocent of all charges on six separate occasions, the last time officially from the judgement seat, but the Jewish leadership showed bulldog tenacity in holding firm to their demand for the execution of Jesus. At any stage, the Sanhedrists could have drawn back from their course of action, but they were stubborn and obstinate. They had one more weapon in their armoury. A piece of intelligence that could be used as political blackmail, which they hoped would secure Pilate’s compliance. Knowing that the governor was concerned about his position under Caesar, they felt he would be vulnerable to a cleverly worded threat, so they warned him that failure to comply with their demands would result in a report to Rome - a report that would confirm previous rumours of Pilate’s complicity in activities to undermine the authority of Caesar. When the threats were voiced, Pilate capitulated and handed the Messiah over for crucifixion, at the same time giving the order to release Yeshua Barabbas, a man bearing the name ‘Jesus, Son of the father’, who was himself awaiting execution for sedition and murder.

From the Antonia fortress, where He had been scourged in the parade square, Jesus was brought through the Herodian extensions on the north side of the Temple. Then, just like the lambs for the morning offerings, He was taken through the gate of the lambs, the Tadi gate, before leaving the Temple through the only exit gate on the Eastern wall, the Shushan gate. The red heifer was taken to slaughter through this gate. It was also the gate through which the scapegoat was led. Like the red heifer, Jesus was taken through the Shushan gate to slaughter. Like the scapegoat, Jesus was taken through the Shushan gate, to bear away the sins of the people. They took Him to the place of execution, an ancient holy site named Calvary or Golgotha, the place of a skull. There He was lifted up and crucified. During His hours on the cross, the Messiah fulfilled His own personal responsibility under the Mosaic Law and made provision for His mother by placing her in the care of John.

Other signs that attended the crucifixion included three hours of darkness over the earth, an earthquake, and the rending of the sixty-foot long, four-inch thick, Temple veil from top to bottom.

Next Time: The Significance of the Death of the Messiah

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The Trials of Jesus

The defection of Judas had greatly helped the scheming Sanhedrists. With a disciple from the inner circle on board, it would be possible to frame an accusation before Pilate and have Jesus executed as an insurrectionist. They presented Judas to Pilate as a political witness, using his testimony to support a political charge. On the testimony of Judas, the procurator signed the order for the use of force to arrest Jesus, and he allocated a unit of Roman soldiers for this purpose. Understanding the need for haste during the festival, Pilate also committed himself to be ready early in the morning, to deal with the case.

So the long night, prosecuted by the power of darkness, began with a betrayal. Judas went to the garden of Gethsemane, with Roman and Temple guards, to arrest the Messiah. In the garden of Gethsemane, demon-possessed Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Kissing a Rabbi was a sign of discipleship and a sign of homage. Even the mode of betrayal was itself a betrayal, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48)

The arresting party first took Jesus to Annas. Annas had continued to exert the power of the High Priest even though Rome had deposed him in AD 14. It was in his residence that the first interrogation began. This hearing before Annas, the second hearing before Caiaphas, and the later third hearing before the Sanhedrin, all had the appearance of trials under Jewish law, but were without any of the safeguards of the Mosaic and Mishnaic codes. The first two were held at night, (against the law), and in secret, (against the law) and during the night, the accused was physically humiliated (against the law).

In these hearings, special attention was paid to the law of blasphemy.

From the home of Annas, they took Jesus to the palace of Caiaphas, who was son in law to Annas and the current holder of the office of High Priest. At this examination, the testimony of the witnesses did not agree, a situation that in normal circumstances should have ended the trial. Because the witnesses failed to bring convincing evidence, Caiaphas was compelled to use his high office and unlawfully question Jesus directly, using a formula that compelled a response. The oath, and the question that Caiaphas put to the Messiah, and which demanded an answer was, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God!” (Matt.26:63). Here Caiaphas put his finger on the significant elements in the matter. Here is a moment in time, when the decision by the nation would gain its final official status. Jesus answered clearly and responded in the affirmative, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt.26:64). The whole counsel acted unanimously (and illegally), and proclaimed Him guilty of blasphemy and called for the death sentence. Here, the law-breaking leaders of the nation judicially rejected their Messiah. That all these activities took place at night made them unlawful, and served to demonstrate that these were the servants of the Prince of darkness, and enemies of the Light of the world.

Others in attendance that night, who claimed to be committed to the regulations of the Sanhedrists, ignored the instructions in the law that required them to act humanely, and perpetrated against the prisoner, actions that were high indignities. They abused the Lord of glory with fists, (which under other circumstances would carry a fine of several days’ wages); slapped Him across the face, (which could carry a fine of more than six months’ wages); and worst of all, in Jewish eyes, spat upon Him, (which could carry a fine of more than a year’s wages).

Those that rejected His Messianic claims because He broke the oral law, had no compunction about breaking the same law in at least twenty different instances. The law’s requirements regarding the conduct of capital cases were completely ignored, thus proving, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer.17:9).

During the humiliation of Jesus, Judas returned the blood money to the Chief Priests, recanted his actions, and then hanged himself. In the morning, as many of the Sanhedrin as could be mustered were gathered together to confirm the verdict and give the proceedings a look of legality.

Next Time: The execution of the Messiah – But why crucifixion?

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The Death of the Messiah

The first element in the sign of the prophet Jonah is the death of the Messiah. The Sanhedrists, politically manipulating the Roman justice system, terminated the life of the Messiah at a bloody execution outside Jerusalem. The opponents of Jesus of Nazareth finally silenced the One who had weighed their lives, their work, and their culture, and found them wanting. Using a charge of insurrection, the Chief Priests in their capacity as the main mediators between Israel and Rome, finally obtained the execution order they had been seeking for more than a year. Anticipating the actions of the Sanhedrin and Pilate, Jesus knew that everything was to culminate in the sign of Jonah. Therefore, He began His final journey in the knowledge that His life would soon end. But His eyes were not so much on the cross, as on the ascension: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). The writer to the Hebrews also says He looked for heaven and home: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb.12:2). Jesus tried to prepare the disciples by giving them additional detail of how He would be despatched. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (Matt.20:18,19) It was less than a week before His death that He spoke for the first time of the mode of His execution, crucifixion!

The Trials of Jesus

The Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah was mainly the result of His rejection of the oral law. They felt they were fighting a battle, as did the Hasidim before them, against someone who was intent on bringing down the traditions they had sworn to uphold. However, to facilitate their aim and defeat their enemy, they were prepared to break many of the laws they were committed to defend. These events served to demonstrate that the Pharisaic Sanhedrists were unprincipled hypocrites. When it served their purpose, these so-called defenders and upholders of the oral law trampled over it with impunity. In their ambition to kill the One who branded them as “blind guides”, “whitewashed tombs”, “sons of hell”, “fools”, “serpents”, “lawless hypocrites” and “brood of vipers”, they threw aside any and all respect for the oral law, and rushed to judgement.

The section of the Mishnah called ‘Sanhedrin’ gives the rules for trying capital cases. These were the regulations that governed trials at the time of Christ. Some examples are as follows:

No arrest was allowed that was effected by a bribe.

Charges could not originate with the judges.

Judges were to be humane and kind.

Judges were not allowed to participate in an arrest.

There should be no arrests or trials after sunset.

There were to be no secret trials only public trials.

All trials should be in the Temple compound - normally in the chamber of hewn stones.

No prisoner should be scourged or beaten beforehand.

There should be no trials before the morning sacrifice.

All Sanhedrists may argue for acquittal but not all may argue for conviction – at least one must argue for acquittal.

Witnesses (2 or 3) must agree.

The accused is not allowed to testify against himself, and cannot be condemned on the basis of his own words alone.

An accusation of blasphemy is only valid if God’s name, YHWH, is pronounced.

The verdict could not be pronounced at night only during the day time.

Voting for the death penalty had to be done by individual count, beginning with the youngest, so that older members could not influence the younger.

The trial and guilty verdict could not occur the same time but had to be separated by at least 24 hours.

There had to be a gap of 3 days from the guilty verdict to the declaration of the sentence.

To summarise, the laws, formulated to govern the trial of those accused of capital crime, were humane and considerate. Every precaution was included to ensure a fair and proper trial. Where, when and how a trial was to take place was included in the law. It had to be during the daytime and open to scrutiny, and in a place where the public could observe. Justice had to be done, and had to be seen to be done. A member of the Sanhedrin was required to take up the defence of the accused. Witnesses, whose testimony agreed, were required. The accused would be forbidden to testify against himself – no forced confessions here! There had to be a break between the trial and the verdict, to give time for the proper consideration of the facts of the case. The law timetabled the sentence even further ahead – they built in the delays to allow time for the discovery of new evidence that might aid the case for the defence.

In the trial of Jesus of Nazareth, in their ambition to silence the one authoritative voice that opposed them, they ignored all these regulations.

To be continued