Who Killed Jesus?

Who Killed Jesus? This is not a rhetorical question! Let me rephrase it: Who demanded the death of Jesus? Was it Pilate? Was it the Jesus? Was it the Sanhedrin? Was it God? Was it Satan?

How about this one: I’ve been told that Jesus died for me. The Bible states that “the wages of sin is death”! It also says that Jesus died suffered death “for us”. Was it me who demanded the death of Christ? Who demanded the death of Christ?

I’ve asked this question many times and I’ve gotten back only three answers. Today I’d like to share all three answers to this question, that I’ve heard, and let you decide for yourself which one makes the most sense.

The First Answer is Satan did. Satan demanded the death of Jesus.

The scenario goes like this:

God created Adam and Eve to live in the beautiful world He had made for them. At the end of creation God gave the whole world, in all of its splendor, to Adam. Adam became the king under His Creator.

He was the ruler of this world and only had to answer to God. Adam and his wife were the stewards of this world with all of its wonderful plants and animals.

God built a beautiful garden for them and met them there in the evenings for fellowship. God had given this world to Adam, but along came the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. She, in turn, tempted her husband and Adam fell.

This first scenario goes like this: In disobeying God and obeying the lies of Satan Adam literally gave his prize possession, this earth, to Satan. All of Adam’s children became slaves to Satan to do what he would with them. Satan captured the human race and became the new “prince of this world”. Satan owned our souls!

In order to get this world back God had to negotiate with Satan. Satan repeated God’s word that said, “If you eat of the fruit you will surely die”, and claimed that if God didn’t kill the sinner He was a liar.

Satan claimed us, as his possession, and threatened to kill us all, if God didn’t act soon. He reasoned that our death, for breaking God’s law, would be the only just thing to do . . . unless, of course, God would be willing to pay a ransom to get us back.

I can hear Satan demand, “Give me your Son to kill and I’ll give you back these miserable humans!”

So, in this ransom scenario, God submitted to Satan’s request, but with a trick in mind. God would allow Satan to kill His Son, He would win back the captured human race, and then resurrect the Son into eternal life.

Satan would get his demand, but God would win the game through sheer cunning.

This is called the “Ransom Theory” although very simplified.

The bottom line is that Satan demanded the death of Jesus.

I’m sure you’ve heard the texts to support it:

The first time I find the word ransom in the bible is in Exodus 30 where Moses demanded a ransom of ½ a shekel from each man that was counted in the census. If they did not pay the ransom they were threatened with the plague.

Ransom, here, is used to buy off a potential disaster.

The second time I find “ransom” used in the bible is in Numbers 35 where Israel is being instructed to have cities of refuge where people could flee from vigilante-type law.

If you accidentally killed someone you could flee to the city of refuge for a fair trial. For some crimes a ransom could be paid if the person was convicted of a crime, but murder was not one of them.

If found innocent of premeditated murder you could only return home after the death of the priest that acquitted you. If found guilty of murder 1, you were turned over to the avengers of blood and your death was imminent.

Ransom, here, was used to pay restitution for a crime committed.

In Hosea it is prophesied of Christ: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.

Ransom, here, is used to describe the price that Jesus would pay to destroy death and the grave.

We are told that when Jesus died, death died, and the grave was robbed from decaying His body.

Mathew 20: 27, 28 “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

And again in 1 Timothy 2: 5,6 Paul says, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

Ransom?

Jesus paid a ransom for us! Salvation cost something and that something was the death of Jesus.

But my question still remains:

Who demanded the death of Jesus? Who got paid the ransom?

Although the Ransom Theory claims that Satan demanded the death of Christ, if you look back through all of these texts that are used to prove the Ransom Theory, you will never find that the ransom was paid to the devil.

That doesn’t mean that there was no ransom paid, but it does demand that we ask the question again: Who demanded the death of Jesus?

The Second Scenario in this search for truth is that God demanded the death of Christ.

This theory is called “forensic justification” or “legal atonement.” I’m sure some of you are lost with these words so I’ll explain.

Legal atonement teaches that when Adam and Eve disobeyed God they broke an unwritten law of righteousness. The whole universe ran on the principles of this law and if left unchecked wickedness would grow like wildfire and eventually take over the whole universe.

Justice, for breaking this law, demands the death sentence. The wages of sin is death. In this view God pays the wages (death) to those that earn it.

So, according to this scenario, when God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would surely die it meant that God would never tolerate insubordination from His creatures and that He would kill anyone that disobeyed Him.

This death sentence was irrevocable and unforgivable and therefore had to be carried out.

Remember, in Daniel chapter 6, the story of how the king Darius, the Mede, was tricked into making a law that proclaimed that anyone who worshiped a god other than himself would be cast into the lion’s pit.

The men that hated Daniel used the law against the law maker. According to the law of the Medes not even the king can go back on his laws.

This didn’t stop Daniel. As was Daniel’s custom he prays in front of an open window facing Jerusalem in spite of the law.

Daniel 6: 14-16 “And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.” So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions.”

This is the principle behind the idea of legal atonement. So since God can’t change His perfect law, to save fallen mankind, Jesus finds a loop hole in the law.

Instead of killing Adam along with all of his descendants Jesus would come into humanity and represent humanity to God and God could kill Him instead. Jesus would take our punishment. God would kill His son in our place.

This way the just demand of death, for the broken law, would stay intact. God could be just and merciful at the same time.

In other words, as we look at this scenario, God in His holiness is angry with humanity for daring to transgress His law and challenge His authority. He demands the death of any who break His law. Jesus steps in and agrees to take our punishment in our place so we could live and the rest is history.

In this theory every lash of the whip that Jesus felt, every bruise, every time He was spat on, each time they drove the thorns into His brow, and every hammer blow to the nails driven in His hands and feet He was suffering what we deserve.

Jesus, in the theory of “legal atonement,” became us and suffered in our stead the wrath of God that was intended for the disobedient.

The scriptural support for this seems to be great on the surface.

In one of the most powerful prophecies of the Messiah in Isaiah 53 we have convincing evidence that legal atonement is true:

4Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

6All 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.

9And they made His grave with the wicked—

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;

He has put Him to grief.

When You make His soul an offering for sin,

He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

11He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

For He shall bear their iniquities.

Peter seems to interpret Isaiah the same way in 1 Peter 2:

21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

22“Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

23who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

24who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

Paul seems to agree with this in 2 Corinthians 5: 21 when he says about Christ, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

In the legal atonement scenario the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth was to die so that God could forgive us.

So who demanded the death of Jesus?

Was it the devil?

Was it God?

This brings me to the third and last scenario, or at least the last that I’ve heard anyway.

Who demanded the death of Jesus?

We did.

Now I preached this scenario to you in my last sermon, so you might have heard parts of it before. Today I’m comparing it to two other theories of atonement. Here is how it goes:

The third scenario is called the “Great Controversy” and here is how this scenario goes: When Adam was told that there was a tree the center of the garden whose fruit was forbidden he passed that information on to his bride. Working in the garden one day Eve was mesmerized by “the tree”.

The tree was beautiful and as she stood admiring it she must have thought, “I wonder why God has forbidden us to eat the fruit of this tree.” She noticed a colorful serpent resting on a huge limb of the tree enjoying the fruit. Suddenly the serpent spoke,

Serpent: Did God tell you that you can’t eat from every tree in the garden?

Woman: “Every tree except for the one you are sitting in and He even told us we can’t even touch it or we will die.”

Serpent: (laughing) “That is ridiculous, you aren’t going to die. This tree won’t kill anyone. Look at me. I landed here, began to eat this fruit, and now I can talk.”

“This tree doesn’t kill people, but makes those that eat from it wise. God knows this because this is His tree. He eats from it and it makes Him who He is.”

“He just doesn’t want you to be like Him and He knows that the minute you eat from this tree you will be like Him.”

I’m sure as Adam and Eve were finishing eating the fruit of the forbidden tree the devil whispered a little logic into their ears, “God said if we eat the fruit of the tree we will die. If the tree isn’t going to kill us then who is?”

Suddenly, for the first time in their lives, they experience self awareness. Up until this time the couple were totally absorbed in each other, their work, and God, but now they become self conscious.

Although they never had any clothes on they suddenly notice they are naked. God must not find out. We have to hide. And the first cover up is born.

I remember hearing a story of a little boy that was told not to get into the cookie jar. With his mom in the bathroom he drags a chair up to the kitchen cabinets, climbs on the counter and just as he lifts off the lid to the cookie jar the phone rings. Startled, he drops the lid to the class cookie jar and it cracks.

He grabs a handful of cookies, replaces the cracked lid onto the cookie jar, off the counter, slides the chair back in place and runs off to his bedroom to enjoy his cookies.

For some unknown reason the impending doom of the cracked lid took away most of the sweetness of the cookies.

“Scotty, did you get into the cookies?”

“No mom, the cat knocked off the lid and I put it back on.”

Come here, Scotty!

Although justice was inflicted to the seat of Scotty’s pants it was the waiting to be ”found out” that sticks in his memory.

As Adam and Eve frantically try to sew fig leaves together they hear God walking in the garden and they hide from His presence.

Here we have our first story of sin. The first broken cookie jar and then the first lie to cover up the truth.

Temptation, fall, fear, lie, cover up.

Have you ever asked yourself why they were afraid of God? How, in one short conversation, had the serpent convinced them that the fruit was harmless, but it was God they had to fear?

Trust is the issue in the Great Controversy scenario. Satan succeeded in causing mistrust in Adam and Eve and the mistrust caused doubt in God’s motives, which in turn caused disobedience, which in turn caused fear, which in turn caused them to hide from God’s presence in fear of God’s retribution, which in turn caused them to lie, when they were caught, to cover up what they had done.

In this view only a restored trust in God can save humanity. The wages of sin is death means that sin is lethal because we run and hide from a God we do not trust “the ONE” who is the source of life.

A restored relationship of trust (faith) between God and man is the only remedy for sin. What could restore a relationship of trust with God? Only by knowing that God loves us unconditionally.

In the Book of Romans, chapter 5, Paul presents this view very clearly. What is the greatest demonstration of love that exists between humans?

Think back in all of the stories you’ve heard since you were a kid and tell me what is the greatest demonstration of human love?

Look what Paul says in verse 7, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.”

Most of us here would gladly give our lives for our children. Literature is full of stories of people sacrificing their lives for their children.

Fewer are the stories where people gave their lives for their family, their country, or their friends. These are love stories that make us cry. This is the pride of humanity, to give ones life for those he loves. The fireman, the policeman, and the soldier fighting for freedom are our heroes.

But look what Paul says about God’s love in verse 8,10: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us . . . For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Do you see what Paul is saying? God’s love is not human love. Human love reaches out to those who love us, but God’s love is so much higher that it reaches out and demonstrates His love to those that are His enemies and hate him.

So God, in the person of Jesus, on the cross of Calvary, gave to the universe the ultimate expression of love. Did He have to go so far? Did He have to die?

My answer is yes.

What if Jesus would have given humanity a lesser demonstration of love that didn’t include His death? What if He would have sent an angel here to die instead of Himself?

Would it be the same? For me it wouldn’t have been enough.

You see, I demanded the death of Jesus. Had He not died I doubt the story of Jesus would have even touched my life. Many good men have been tortured and died, but never to convince men of their love for those that are murdering them.

Could God, being who He is, not demonstrate love to its fullest extent?

It took the death of God to convince me of His love and when I look at the cross I realize that He did that for me.

He stepped down from the throne of glory into my predicament after 4000 years of the degeneration of the human race. His birth, as a human, was a death sentence, but He didn’t consider staying in heaven a thing to hold onto while his lost children muddled around in the disease and pain and not knowing the Father’s love for them.

And it is that demonstration of love that has changed my life. The bible says that “it is the love of God that constrains us”.

Romans 5:1-6 1Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Why did Jesus come down here to die?

To appease the demands of Satan?

To appease the demands of God?

Or to demonstrate to His lost children true love?

God is love . . . and Christ’s death on the cross for sinners that hate Him, spit on Him, curse Him, and walk away from Him while He willingly hangs with His arms outstretched crying, “Father forgive them, because they have no idea what they are doing!”

Many people think that the thing that is unique about the Seventh-Day Adventists is our Sabbath message, but that isn’t true. There are many Christians that keep the Sabbath for many reasons.

Some teach that it is our Sanctuary truth that makes us unique even though few Adventists can explain it.

I believe that it is our view of what is called the Great Controversy that creates our uniqueness. Until Adventists rolled around the only two views of the atonement were the ransom theory and the legal atonement theory.

Most believed that the only reason that Jesus came to this earth was to save humanity from the wrath of God.

In the book “The Great Controversy” we are presented a new perspective of the atonement. We are told that Jesus came down to this earth to vindicate the character of God, not just to humanity, but to the whole of intelligent beings that inhabit the universe.

You see, sin started in heaven, right under God’s nose, in the very presence of perfection, and swept away 1/3 of God’s closest friends through distrust.

Lucifer had spent years lobbying his lies against God and His government and had planted the seeds of doubt into all of the minds of God’s intelligent creatures. How could God win back total trust in His creatures? Jesus?

God would become a human and allow the forces of good and evil to play out in the view of the on looking cosmos. He would come down as a creature and live out the principles of love in the form of a human.

He would do only good, teach only truth, live only a life of unselfish service, and would then turn Himself over to His enemies to do with Him as they would so choose. Jesus would love Humanity to death to prove what selfless love is.

The on looking universe would see not only what true love is, but it would see that the purpose of Satan’s rebellion is to dethrone God and kill Him. Satan would loose all respect and all empathy from the “Sons of God” and all of his attempts to gain their trust would be of no avail.

“And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; had was cast to the earth , and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,

‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’” Revelation 12” 7-10

We have been told by that same voice that wrote the “Great Controversy” that the last message to a dying world is the message of God’s love.

In the legal atonement theory God can’t forgive without blood, but in the Great Controversy theory God freely gives His own blood to prove His love.

I’ve said this before and I plan on saying it 1000 more times. If God saved everyone whom He loved everyone that has ever been born would be save including Satan Himself. God doesn’t ever promise to save everyone He loves.

God promises to save those who love Him. So in order to prompt our love God gave us the ultimate demonstration of love every heard. The question is will we respond to the love that Jesus showed us on the cross or will we turn away.

Will the cross of Jesus Christ penetrate our hard hearts, break us, and will His love bend our selfish wills? Will we be broken by His love?

Our Beloved Apostle John wrote in one place: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever would put their trust in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.”

And in another place he wrote: “To know God is eternal life and Jesus whom He sent”.

Do you know God through the live and death of Jesus Christ? Do you know He loves you and would do anything, suffer any humiliation, be spat on, kicked, beaten, whipped, and nailed to a cross to prove His love for you?

Will you respond to His love and accept Jesus’ revelation of God?

In that context I ask one more time:

Who demanded the death of Jesus?

Did Jesus ransom us from Satan who demanded our death?

Did Jesus ransom us from God who demanded our death?

Or did Jesus ransom us from our distrust of God that would eventually cause our separation from the only source of love and life by showing us who God really is and what God is really like?

Who demanded the death of Jesus?

Satan?

God?

Or me?