Did the Jews Kill Yeshua?-Part 1
The Old Testament Passover Lamb, a type of Christ, was examined for 72 defects. The true Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was absolutely without fault. No wonder Pilate said to the chief priests and the people, “I find no fault in this Man.” In Genesis 22, the Bible tells us when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, God provided Himself with a Lamb, Who in the fullness of time would take away the sin of the world.
It was this Lamb that was slain to redeem us back to God again. Jesus said, “Your forefather Abraham was extremely happy at the hope and prospect of seeing my day (My incarnation), and he did see it and was delighted.” (John 8:56 AMP)
I heard a preacher saying that on one of his last visits to Israel, a taxi driver who took him to the airport turned to him and said, Why did we kill Him-Yeshua? The whole of Israel is talking about Him. He was a good man, He worked miracles, and He did nothing bad. Why did we kill Him? Was He the Messiah? This is exactly what Scripture says, there will come a time when they will recognize He is the Messiah and will cry out for forgiveness—and the Lord will hear them! (See Zechariah 13:9)
It should be noted that they are well-produced documentaries that contain extreme views that may have provoked cynicism in some Christians who have watched them. For instance, some have called the New Testament the most dangerous anti-Semitic tract in history.
A growing number of Christian theologians are declaring the Scriptures in the Gospels (particularly John’s gospel) that claim the Jews conspired with the Romans to crucify Jesus are not accurate and should therefore be removed from the New Testament. We don’t intend to argue about these extreme cases, but we are setting out to explore what the Bible teaches concerning this subject.
Firsthand accounts from the New Testament writers John and Matthew indicate that the Jewish religious leaders conspired with the Roman leaders to crucify Jesus Christ. These two gospel accounts were written by two writers who were one of the twelve apostles and therefore had enough time to reflect on the three years they had spent living close to the Lord.
The gospel according to Matthew records that at the Feast of Passover, the governor was in the habit of releasing one prisoner for the people. And that time they had a notorious prisoner whose name was Barabbas. So when they had gathered for this one purpose, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want to set free for you Barabbas or Jesus Who is called the Christ? (See Mathew 27:17-18)
At first, Pilate hesitated to permit the religious leaders to crucify Jesus. He perceived that it was because of envy and jealousy that they had handed Him over to him and his conscience also bothered him that Jesus was an innocent Man. According to Roman law, an innocent man could not be put to death.
We should also remember that while Pilate was seated on the judgment bench, his wife sent him a message, saying, Have nothing to do with that just and upright Man, for I have had a painful experience today in a dream because of Him (See Matthew 27:19). John records that:
Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.
If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all (John 18:33-38).
Pilate kept on insisting that he found Jesus not guilty of any offense but the Jewish leaders insisted that He should be crucified. The religious leaders had arrested Jesus of blasphemy which according to their law He ought to die because He called Himself the Son of God, but that charge was meaningless to the Romans. So the religious leaders had to accuse Jesus of crimes that would convince the Roman government that He deserved to die, crimes such as claiming to be a King, which was treason, causing riots, and encouraging non-payment of taxes.
All these charges were not true but the religious leaders were determined to kill Jesus. The Bible tells us that Pilate had told the religious leaders to take Jesus away and judge Him by their law (John 18:31-32). The Jewish leaders replied that only the Romans were permitted to execute someone. This fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way He would die (See Luke 18:31-33).
Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus Who is called the Christ? They all replied, let Him be crucified! And he said, Why? What has He done that is evil? But they shouted all the louder, Let Him be crucified! (Matthew 27:20-22)
John records that when Pilate heard all these shouts of crucify Him…crucify Him… he was more frightened than before. He took Jesus back into the judgment hall again and said to Jesus that he had the power to release Him or crucify Him. Jesus answered,
You would not have any power or authority whatsoever against (over) Me if it were not given you from above. For this reason the sin and guilt of the one who delivered Me over to you is greater. Upon this, Pilate wanted (sought, was anxious) to release Him, but the Jews kept shrieking, If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar! (See John 19:8-13 AMP)
When the Jews threatened to report Pilate to Caesar, Pilate became afraid. History indicates that the Jews had already threatened to lodge a formal complaint against Pilate for his stubborn flouting of their traditions. This complaint would have led to Pilate losing his job, and the Roman government couldn’t afford to have a large number of troops in all the regions under their control, therefore Pilate had to do whatever he could to maintain peace and order.
But the chief priests and the elders prevailed on the people to ask for Barabbas and put Jesus to death. Pilate the Roman governor agreed to release to the crowd a murderer named Barabbas and to impose the death sentence on Jesus instead.
So when Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but rather that a riot was about to break out, he took water and washed his hands in the presence of the crowd, saying, I am not guilty of nor responsible for this righteous Man’s blood; see to it yourselves. And all the people answered, Let His blood be on us and on our children! So he set free for them Barabbas; and he had Jesus whipped, and delivered Him up to be crucified. (Mathew 27:20-26)
In his book Blessing or Curse You can Choose, Derek Prince writes,
These words, His blood be on us and on our children… combined two forms of curse: a self-imposed curse on themselves; a relational curse on their descendants. The objective record of history confirms the outworking of both. Within one generation the Roman armies had destroyed Jerusalem, and either killed or sold into slavery the entire population.
Since that time, for nineteen centuries, a dark strand of bloodshed and tragedy has been interwoven in the destiny of the Jewish people. Time after time, in pogrom after pogrom, Gentile rulers have turned loose against defenseless Jews violent, depraved men of the caliber of Barabbas—the one whom they had chosen.
Luke also records that when Jesus was about to be crucified, a large crowd followed Him, including grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them:
Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.” For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? (Luke 23:27-31)
Jesus knew that in only about 40 years, Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed by the Romans.
Again, when we read in John’s Gospel that the ‘Jews’ hated Jesus, that Jesus was always arguing with the Jews and that the Jews crucified him, we make a very big mistake if we apply the name ‘Jews’ to the whole nation.
Indeed, this misunderstanding has stimulated anti-Semitism for 2,000 years. When John refers to ‘the Jews’ he means the southerners, the Judaeans, as distinct from the Galileans in the north, whose attitude (with a few exceptions) was altogether different and more positive towards Jesus.
Luke, who was a doctor by profession, and the only Gentile writer in the Bible, was a companion of Paul and they often travelled together. He had a keen interest in researching the events surrounding the life of Jesus and the growth of the church. In the book of Acts, he offers a coordinated account of Christian origins and how God had revealed Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ and through the Church.
Precipitated by bewilderment and amazement from the Jews after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 2, the apostle Peter further explained to them that Jesus was delivered up according to the definite and fixed purpose and foreknowledge of God, and “you crucified and put out of the way by the hands of lawless and wicked men” (Acts 2:23).
In Part 2 we will take another look at what Luke informs the reader about what happened.