Now it's late in the ministry
of our Lord. He's nearing the end of his ministry
and going towards Jerusalem, which will culminate in his death
and crucifixion. And as they go, verse 32, and
they were in the way going up to Jerusalem, Jesus went before
them and they were amazed. And as they followed, They were
afraid, something that they anticipated about this. And he took again
the twelve and began to tell them what things should happen
unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, And the Son
of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the
scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver
Him up to the Gentiles. And they shall mock Him, and
shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill
Him, and the third day He shall rise again." Now in Acts chapter
2, Verse 22 and 23, 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 determinant
counsel and for knowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. Then in the fourth chapter of
the book of Acts, verse 25 to verse 38, who by the mouth of
thy servant David has said, why do the heathen rage and the people
imagine vain things. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus
whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel were gathered together. Now listen
to this. for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before. should be done. Now our subject
is the crucifixion of Christ as a fulfillment of the scripture. I begin by saying that the most
important and the most significant event to ever occur in the history
of the world is the death of our Lord upon the cross of Calvary
in Jerusalem. Not just the fact that he died
only, but that 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 3 that our
Lord died according to the scripture. Everything about the death of
our Lord was in accordance and in harmony with the scripture.
And in that passage in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, there's something
there that I had never noticed before. And it's found in the
third verse, and it's in the words, first of all, that which
I delivered unto you, first of all, I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I received, which was this, that Christ died,
that he was buried, and that he raised again according to
the scripture, so that everything that fell out, during that time
was according to the scripture, the word of God, it had been
written up in the Old Testament, it had been foretold by the prophet,
and it had been foretold by our Lord himself in the earlier part
of his ministry. Now those words, first of all,
let's see if we can see some significance. I was reading in
Linsky this week, and he called the phrase, quote, practically
an adverb, end of quote. Firstly, that is, in the first
place, of first importance, of first importance, that which
I delivered unto you, not limited by time or by order, but to importance
among the leading principle and subject that Paul preached unto
them as he preached the gospel. Now we know from 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 that it concerns the resurrection of the dead. The entire chapter is devoted
to the resurrection of the dead because there were some there
that denied the resurrection of the dead. Paul leads up to
the resurrection of the dead by the death and the burial of
our blessed Lord and his resurrection out of the grave. Now our point
is this, that all three, the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of our Lord, they all took place in in accordance with the Scripture. Not one thing about them flew
out of the bound of the purpose or the providence of our great
and mighty God. And we ought to remember, I think,
that the New Testament Scripture, as we read them, how they emphasize
that the death of our Lord The death that he died was in perfect
harmony with the prophecy of the Old Testament scripture.
The Lord himself declaring the same. We read it in Mark chapter
10. Our Lord told what would happen
to him before it ever happened, and it happened exactly as he
described it unto them. Take, for example, again, that
passage in Mark chapter 10 Verse 32 through verse 34. The Lord
was journeying to Jerusalem in the company of his disciples. And as they traveled, he said
unto them, essentially, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. and the son of man shall be taken
by the scribe and by the high priest, shall be delivered over
into the hands of the Gentile, and they shall severely mistreat
him, spitting upon him, one of the greatest insults that could
be heaped upon another. They will mock him, they will
scourge him, and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall
rise again. Now, if any of that fails, then
our Lord is not that one that is described in the scripture. But there's more. In Luke chapter
18 and 31, he says to them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all
things that are written in the prophet concerning the Son of
Man shall be accomplished. In John chapter 18 and verse
28 and following, the Jews took the Lord from their high priest,
carried him over to Pilate's judgment hall, who knew that
it was a religious dispute that was going on among the Jew and
the prisoner that was before him. So in verse 31, that chapter,
Pilate tells the Lord's accuser, the Jew, take him and judge him
according unto your law. You have that thought again in
Acts 18 and verse 15. If this is a controversy about
your religion, then take it and judge it yourself." And so the
Jews reply under Pilate, we do not have the authority to put
one to death. We want him dead and we do not
have the authority to execute him. He's worthy of death but
we don't have that authority. And in John 18, 32, is one of
the many parenthetical explanatory statements in John in his gospel. Quote, that the saying of Jesus
might be fulfilled which he spoke signifying which death he would
die. The Romans had to kill him, not
the Jew, in order that the death of our Lord might be according
unto the scripture. That is, what kind or what manner
of death that the Lord would die. By what death he was about
to die is how we might say it, which was crucifixion on the
cross. Crucifixion on a Roman cross. at the hand of the Gentile, for
that is what was prophesied." Now, this is what the Lord had
spoken. He had predicted it. He had taught
it. He had said it recently unto
his disciple that he would be put to death at the hand of the
Gentile. He would be given over to them
by the Jew, by the priest, and the scribes, and such like. Now,
this was actually very profitential. Why? Because the Jewish method
of capital punishment was of a long time by stoning. The practice of Israel to put
one to death was by stoning, by the congregation would stone
them for any death offense until they were dead. In fact, We read
of a few times when they attempted to stone the Lord during His
ministry. Here are a couple, John 8 and
59, and John 10 and 31. And in fact, they had the stones
in their hand and about to stone the Lord when He disappeared
from out among them. And let's take the case of the
woman. presented before the Lord as having been taken in adultery
in John chapter 8 and a candidate for stoning according unto the
law of Moses, Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10, that an adulterer
was to be stoned unto death. Now, what's more, the Jews did
stone Stephen to death in the seventh chapter of Acts, and
they had stoned many of the prophets to death. Their method of death
was by stoning. So, they have the Lord in their
custody. They have condemned him as a
blasphemer and worthy of death. So the question is, why not stone
the Lord to death while they had Him in their custody and
had condemned Him as a blasphemer? Why give Him over to the Romans
and put Him in their hand? And the answer is that the secret
providence of God guided the entire matter of the Lord to
death because the eternal purpose of God was fulfilled in it, being
turned over to the Romans and dying upon a cross. Howbeit the Jew had no regard
to that. They had not the Scripture. They
did not desire to fulfill the Word of God. But divine providence
carried the day and worked it all out. Neither the Jew nor
the Gentile cared a whit about the fulfillment of the Scripture
or the Word of God. Now why did they do that? Well,
perhaps they're right, who suggest that there is an element of truth
with regard to the Lord dying at the hands of the Romans, and
that by the Jewish petition or request. Number one, why did
the Jew turn them over in addition to the fact they did not have
the authority to do so themselves. Well, let's remember that the
death by crucifixion was one of the most shameful, one of
the most painful, one of the most degrading deaths that one
could imagine. It was one of the very worst
inhumane, shameful way to put one to death. And the Jews would
be glad to shame and to degrade this one as much as possible,
even by crucifixion. This manner of death was reserved
for the very worst dregs of society. When you saw one up on the cross,
You knew that they were a great transgressor, a violent person,
and a criminal. And the Jews knew, the Jews knew
that he that hangs upon a tree is accursed of God, for it is
written in their scripture in Deuteronomy. So though they did
not have the authority to inflict that, that he die as a male factor
pleased them, that he die at the hands of the uncircumcised
Gentile pleased them more, Their animosity, therefore, brought
their viciousness to light, and they delivered him up to the
death of the cross. But secondly, they wanted him
dead, that's for sure. They wanted him taken down, and
they wanted him out of the way that day because of the Passover
that was coming, John 19, 31. that the bodies might not remain
on the tree overnight. Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23. So they request that Pilate have
their legs broken, that it might hasten their death, that they
might be taken down that day and buried because of their holiday
coming. Now I can only say what hypocrisy
was that in them. First, in John 18 and verse 28,
they themselves, the Jew, self-righteous and law-abiding, would not enter
into the judgment hall of Pilate. They waited outside. They did
not go inside the judgment hall lest they be defiled in entering
a Gentile building with a Passover coming up. So they would not
enter into a Gentile domain. They handed Christ over to him. Pilate took him before the judgment
seat. And therefore, they would avoid
that ceremonial pollution that they imagined if they would go
into a Gentile building. But it bothered them not at all
in conspiring to shed the blood of an innocent man, though they
would not go into a Gentile building. Is this not to strain at a gnat
and swallow a camel? Then in John 19 and verse 31,
they scruple, that is, they make it a matter of conscience that
if a body hang upon the tree overnight, but here no conscience
at shedding the blood of the Holy One of God, of rejecting
Him as an imposter and a blasphemer. of calling for him to be crucified,
crying out before Pilate, let his blood be upon us and upon
our children. In John 19 and verse 7, we have
a law, they said, and by our law he ought to die because he
made himself to be the son of God. He claimed to be the Son
of God. He did indeed claim that. John 5, 17, John 10, and verse
30. And the Jews had a hizzy fit
when they heard him say it. Though the Jews considered that
blasphemy. By their law, it was punishable
by death. No doubt they had Leviticus chapter
24 and verse 16 in mind. that a blasphemer who blasphemed
the name of the Holy God of Israel was to be stoned to death by
the congregation. And they wanted to put Jesus
of Nazareth to death. The charge? Blasphemy. before the Sanhedrin. Now there's
a glaring example here of the hypocrisy and the deceitfulness
of these Jews in our Lord's generation to be seen in this manner, and
that is in this, before the high priests. the Jewish Sanhedrin
when they brought him there before the priests to be judged there
they charged him what not with insurrection not with opposing
Caesar they charged him with blasphemy they charged him with
blasphemy before the Jewish Council and He made himself to be God. And they counted that a death
offense, and they condemned him unto death. When they got over
to Pilate, they changed the charge. They did not tell Pilate, he
made himself God, he made himself the son of God. They tell Pilate
that they found this man exciting the citizen against the Roman
government and against Caesar. In Luke 23 and 2, they began
to accuse him, saying, We found this one, this fellow, this man,
perverting the nation, forbidding to give tribute unto the Caesar,
a flat-out lie, because our Lord had told them to give tribute
to Caesar and saying that he himself is a king. They thought that would really
resonate with Pilate. They thought this would prejudice
Pilate against the Lord, that he was an insurrectionist, that
he wanted to overthrow the government, that he wanted to steal the throne
and the crown of Caesar. and that he wanted to steal away
the hearts of the people much like David's son Absalom did
for him in 2 Samuel chapter 15. Here we've looked so far at the
behavior of the Jew. They have fulfilled the word
of the Lord that the Jewish leaders would deliver him up to the Gentile,
they would mistreat him severely, and then they would kill him,
and that by crucifixion on a Roman cross. Because our Lord was ordained
to be crucified. Our Lord was ordained to death
and the manner of his death was to hang upon a tree. And the Gentiles were first represented
by Pilate. Now Pilate was the governor of
that particular providence of the Roman Empire. And who told
Christ, I have the power to condemn you and I have the power to set
you free. I have the authority to either
kill you or set you free. In other words, he said, I hold
the power as a civil magistrate over life or over death. John 19 and verse 10, which in
a civil sense was true. though Christ rebukes and Christ
corrects Pilate, that he could have no power, no authority,
that he could do nothing apart from the determinant counsel
and will of God. He could do nothing except it
be granted unto him by God, which were not only to be operative
in the action of the Jew, but also in the decision of Pilate. God will guide the decision of
Pilate with regard to the death and crucifixion of our Lord. Remember, the king's heart is
in the Lord's hand like the rivers or the channels of water. He
turneth it whether so ever he will. Proverbs 21 and verse 1. So let's consider for a while
the role of Pilate in the crucifixion of our blessed Lord. Pontius
Pilate was his name, and this man, though in authority in the
governor, this man probably had the worst day of his life as
a magistrate, and this is the worst case that has ever come
before him that he must decide. Pilate is a man much conflicted
over the issue in that the purpose and the providence of God would
have him to do two contrary things on this day. Number one, to declare
the Lord unworthy of being put to death, to declare Him to be
an innocent man and guilty of no death offense. He said in
Luke 23 and 4, I find no fault in this man. He said it again
in John 18, 38 and 19 and 14. He continually speaks before
the Jew, I find no fault. this man. In other words, I find
nothing worthy of death in him. Luke 23 14, you have brought
this man unto me as one that perverts the people and behold
I have examined him before you and have found no fault. I found no guilt in And I found
no crime touching those things that you accuse him of. By the way, Herod came to the
very same conclusion concerning the Lord, Luke 23 and 15. When
he was sent over to Herod, Herod found nothing worthy of death
in him. And these were not upright men. These were corrupt men, and yet
they find nothing worthy of death. Consider if we go to the cross.
Remember the centurion? who directed the crucifixion,
the centurion soldier who oversaw the crucifixion, when he saw
what happened when the Lord died and those great manifestations
in nature, he cried out, certainly this was a righteous man, the
man who crucified him. Certainly, this man was a righteous
man. He never saw it on this wife. How many times he'd been with
a prisoner to crucify them, he'd never seen anything like it. Never saw it on this wife. There
is even the confession of Judas who betrayed him. I have betrayed
innocent blood. And he cast down the pieces of
silver in the temple. notwithstanding the lack of guilt. Now here he is, secondly. Pilate
delivered Jesus to be crucified. Mark 15, 15, John 19 and 6. Pilate said unto them, take him
and crucify him. I find no fault in him. This he did to content the people. Mark 15 and 15, to content the
people, to make the Jews happy, he would commit this awful injustice. For they were at that point of
mutiny and rioting in Jerusalem. The Jews were stirred up as never
before. So Pilate gave sentence, Luke
23 and verse 24. So let me follow up, if I might,
on a point made earlier, that Pilate was a man much conflicted
with this case that was before him. And that confliction greatly
increased. in two things. When he heard
them mention that Christ had claimed to be the Son of God,
and then something that I will mention in a moment. Now he knew
that the Jews had delivered Christ out of envy. Matthew 27, verse
18, Mark 15 and 10. They delivered him for envy. Remember, that's what Joseph's
brothers did unto him. And yet they called the Lord
an insurrectionist, and they taunted Pilate, if you free this
man, you are not Caesar's friend, they said unto him, John 19 and
12. Add to that Pilate's wife, Right
in the middle of the proceeding, he receives either a courier
or a note from his wife, right in the middle of the trial of
our blessed Lord. And the note or the word said,
have nothing to do with this just man. for I have suffered
many things of him this night in a dream." She implores her
husband, have nothing to do with this just man, Matthew 27, 19,
which added to his confliction. And so he goes out before them
and he washes his hands, as you might remember, And he proclaims
to that frenzied mob that awaits outside, I'm innocent of the
blood of this just man, see you to it. Matthew 27 and verse 24. Hear the words from the Apostle
Peter after Pentecost. They're found in Acts chapter
3, verse 12 through verse 15. As he reminds them of their behavior
before Pilate, when they delivered Jesus up to Pilate that he might
be crucified, they denied the Lord, and Peter said, you desired
a murderer to be set free, that would be Barabbas. Now these
words are our focus at the time from Acts 3 in those verses. It says this, quote, when Pilate
was determined to let Jesus go, unquote. Pilate was determined
to let Jesus go. He found nothing worthy of death
in him. He had decided to set the Lord
free. His mind had been made up. He
had made a verdict. He had his decision, and that
was to let the Lord go, to release him. Luke 23, 16, he said to
them, I will release him. In Luke, or rather in John 19
and verse 12, from thenceforth Pilate sought to releasing, but
the Jews screamed crucifying. In Luke 23 and 20, Pilate therefore
willing to release Jesus. And so we have these. When Pilate
was determined to let him go. Now, I'd like to do something.
Maybe you've heard this done before or not. But let's trace
out Pilate's attempts to release the Lord. All of them ended in
failure. And let's count them down. Well,
there are several attempts that Pilate made to release the Lord
and yet appease the Jew at the same time. 1. John 18.31 He tells them when he hears the
case and the charges, he tells them to judge Jesus according
to their law. Take him. This is a religious
matter. Take him and judge him before
your law. This they rejected, for they
wanted a more severe penalty. They wanted death. No less than
death would satisfy them in the case of this man. Now, the second
attempt. And I'm not saying I have them
in the right order of their occurrence, but the second one I mentioned
is Luke 23 and verse 16. Though Pilate found nothing worthy
of death, he offered to chastise him and let him go, hoping that
would satisfy their bloodlust if he gave Jesus a good scourging
before releasing him. Thirdly, he declared the Lord
innocent, not deserving of death in Luke 23, 14, John 19, and
verse 4, that he should and ought to go free. Number four, he prayed
the religious card. with them concerning Jesus. He
said to them, shall I crucify your king? John 19, 15. He had in verse 14, brought the
Lord forth in their sight and proclaimed unto them, behold
your king. They strongly resent that, and
they insist that Christ is not their king. We have no king but
Caesar. Hypocrites that they were. Pilate
stings them. when he writes over the cross
of our Lord. In John 19, 19-22, a sign over
the Lord's cross, and it said, Jesus of Nazareth, the King,
the Jew I think Pilate was stinging them intentionally for their
troubling of the Society and the peace now this writing is
called his accusation in Matthew or in Mark 15 26 What he was
accused of this is the king of the Jew in three languages It
was written Hebrew Latin Greek and in Greek, Luke 23, 38. And
it is called a superscription. And the Jews insisted that Pilate
change it. Don't write the king of the Jew,
but that he said that he was king of the Jew. Pilate refused
and let his order stand. Number five, Pilate made use
of a custom at Passover time. Now the best account of this
is from summing it up from all of the gospel records of this
account. And that was this, that on the
Passover, Pilate would release a particular prisoner unto them
as a favor toward them. And so he asked them, Pilate
did, Whom shall I release? And watch how he words it and
frames it. Whom shall I release? The king of the Jews or Barabbas? Now Barabbas, as we know, was
a murderer. a violent man and a lifetime
criminal. He was a murderer, Acts chapter
13, 14. And Luke chapter 23 and 19 said,
who for certain sedition in the city and for murder was cast
the prison. Mark 15 7 said he had committed
murder in the insurrection. Matthew 27 16 calls him a notable
prisoner, one of notoriety, a notorious criminal. John 18 40 calls him
a robber. To sum it all up, Barabbas was
as sorry a piece of human garbage as Pilate could find to bring
out before them on that day for his notoriety, the worst that
he had in his custody. And he gave them the choice.
between the king of the Jews and a notorious wicked criminal
man. And the one that Pilate would
ask them about, what evil has he done? So what is Pilate's
strategy here in seeking to release the Lord? Now, we know that he
desired to set the Lord free, would have. It was his decision. It was his verdict. Did he think
or did he hope that when the choices were polar opposites,
complete opposite, when the candidates for freedom had such different
characters, one living a life of crime and of violence and
deceit and of murder, and the other going about doing good,
healing all manner of diseases, teaching amazing things into
their ears, and even speaking with an air of authority that
they'd never heard from any of their teacher. Did Pilate perceive
the choice to be very clear? Probably, but he was mistaken. Probably he thought, yes, such
a character, they will not choose him to be free. but they will
release the Lord. Their hatred for Christ, however,
was stronger than Pilate imagined and was stronger than any moral
consideration that might be in their mind. And it was stronger
and it did override the testimony of the Scripture and the personality
of our blessed Lord. So, I'd like to turn back to
Matthew chapter 27 and read three verses here for our consideration
on this matter. Matthew 27, 20 and following. But the chief priests and the
elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas
and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said
unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate
said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called
Christ? They all say unto him, Let him
be crucified. Mark 15 and 15. And so Pilate, willing to content
the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus
after scourging him to be crucified. Scourging wrote of this attitude
and this action of the Jew, quote, that a robber, a murderer, and
leader in sedition is a greater favorite among the people than
the prince of life." And so it would be today, I think, if there
came this rubble and this judgment. But we hasten to say, nothing
about Christ's life or suffering or death, nothing, flew out of
the bounds of the appointed sovereignty and purpose of God. Nothing violated
the prophecies the prophet. His death fit the prophecies
exactly as they were written. So that, as we read in Acts 4
and 28, what was done to the Lord was what God's hand and
counsel determined before should be done. Now that's taken from
Psalm chapter 2 verse 1 and 2 and They're in Acts 4, 25 through
verse 28. And I'm going to read you a passage
now from the 13th chapter of the book of Acts. This time,
it is Paul, the apostle, that is the speaker. And the verses
are verse 27 through verse 29, as Paul sums up to them some
things concerning Israel's history. He says, verse 27, They that dwell at Jerusalem,
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets, which were read every sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no
cause of death in him, yet they desired Pilate that he should
be slain. And watch this, when they had
fulfilled All that was written of him, they took him down from
the tree and they laid him in a supplicar. Now twice in these
verses we read this, that his action fulfilled the scripture. What they did fulfilled the word
of God. For he was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Acts 2.23. Yes, Romans chapter 8, verse
32. God spared not his son, but delivered
him up for us all. And in Luke 24.44, in a post-resurrection
appearance to his disciples, which put them in a fright. The Lord said unto them, These
are the words that I told you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses, in the prophet, and
in the psalm concerning me, and especially the death and the
resurrection of our Lord. Now, some of my favorites the
scripture were fulfilled, are found in the 19th chapter of
the Gospel of John. I should like to bring forth
some of them very quickly. Examples where what was done,
though it was horrible, shameful, painful, and illegal, nevertheless,
fulfilled the scripture, such as verse 23 and verse 24, that
scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 24, when the soldiers cast
lots for the garment of our Lord, that unusual garment, you remember? And the soldiers said, let's
don't tear it. Let's don't rend it. Let's cast
lots to see whose it shall be. Well, when they did that, it
fulfilled Psalms 22 and verse 18 they cast lots for my vesture
then look at verse 28 through 30 the Lord saying on the cross
in his agony I Thirst and the soldiers run and they take vinegar
and put it to the lips of our Lord bitter as it could be and
that fulfilled Psalm 69 and verse 21 they gave me a vinegar or
gall for my drink. Again, in John 19, 32-37, when
the soldiers went out to break the legs of the three on the
cross, when the Lord was dead already, They did not break his
legs. They broke the legs of the other
two, but they did not break the legs of the Lord because he was
dead. But one of them thrust a spear
into the side of our Lord, and out came blood and water. Both of these fulfilled the scripture. Verse 36, a bone of him shall
not be broken. That comes from Exodus chapter
12 and verse 46. Not a bone of the Passover lamb
was to be broken as they killed it and as they prepared it. Verse
37 of John 19, that spear in the side of our Lord fulfilled
Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10, they shall look on him whom
they have pierced. And two things are emphasized
here. One, the part and the guilt of the Jew in the death of Christ,
Acts 2, 22 and 23. Peter, multiple times in his
preaching, charges the Jews with Messiah-side. with killing the
Messiah. He did that in chapter 3 and
15 of Acts, chapter 5 and 30, chapter 4 and 10. Stephen did
the same thing in Acts chapter 7 and verse 52. And Paul did
the same thing Acts 13 27 and verse 28 most of the time especially
Peter would declare that God had reversed their act you killed
him you put him to death you murdered him you crucified him
but God raised him up again the Lord had reversed their act and
brought him to life again and not just to life to continue
upon earth but to be exalted to heaven, to sit down on the
right hand of God, to be given a sovereign meditatorial ship
over all of the world, to enter into His glory, Luke 24, 26,
to be glorified with the glory that He had with the Father before
the world, John 17 and verse 5, to be highly exalted and given
a name above every name, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9. So, not
just to live again, but to be exalted. Now the second thing,
that their evil action fulfill the will of God, in no way lessens
their guilt. in what they did and what they
said. Luke 22, 22, the Son of Man goeth
as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. So that they did it in ignorance. does not lessen their guilt.
Acts 3 17, 13 27, 1 Corinthians 2, and verse 8. Even their ignorance
did not excuse them. And even though God ordained
their deeds, yet he findeth fault. with them. They stand guilty
of those deeds that God had ordained to be done, though they were
the instruments of it. This filled their cup of iniquity
when they took the Messiah and brought him to judgment and condemned
him to death and, may I quickly say, brought judgment upon their
nation. This filled their cup of iniquity.
They had killed the prophet. They had slain the men of God
for centuries. Now they have taken and committed
Messiah side in putting to death God's holy one. They even cried,
let his blood be upon us and upon our children, washing his
hands. By the way, I don't want to say
much about that. Kind of thinking about preaching
on that next Sunday morning, if God be willing. But it brought
judgment upon their nation, exactly as had been predicted. Spurgeon called this a self-imposed
curse. Let his blood be upon us. We
want him dead. Let the consequences be with
us. Let us bear the blame. Let it be to our account. What an awful thing came upon
them. What an awful thing they had
done. every bit of it fulfilled the will of God in regard to
the death of our blessed Lord. So you can see what a strong
testimony the scriptures bear that what happened to Jesus was
what God ordained, what God willed. It was the way of redemption,
the way of his being the great sacrifice. Thank God for the
wisdom of God, the power of God, the purpose of and the providence
of our God.