Who Killed Jesus?

A tweet I read today stated, “There once was a man named Pilate who caved to prevent a riot He had Jesus killed.” We sang a song in worship yesterday, a verse of which states, “Light of the world by darkness slain.” Did Pilate kill Jesus? Did the darkness? Maybe we all did.

Let’s clear this up. Pilate did not have Jesus killed; he released him to the Jews and allowed them to crucify Jesus. The Jews did not do the actual crucifying. Roman soldiers took care of that for them. (Matt. 27:27-37) But, the Roman soldiers did nothing more than nail Jesus to the Cross. They didn’t kill him. Not them, not the Jews, not Pilate.

Did we humans collectively kill Jesus? He died in our place, so, one might reason, we killed him. But, did we? No, Jesus went to the cross because of our sin, but we didn’t kill him. We, like the Romans and Jews, sent Jesus to the cross to be crucified, but, we didn’t kill him.

What about the darkness, did it slay the Light of the world? Was darkness and the power of darkness so great they could kill the Lord of all creation? While one might argue the Devil orchestrated the crucifixion, or the events leading up to it (he didn’t, God did), he didn’t kill Jesus.

So, who killed Jesus? No one. He was not slain, killed, or murdered. If someone or some power had killed him, that person/power would have been greater than Jesus. Jesus, then, would not be Lord. The Son, on the cross, in death, and in the resurrection never lost control; he was always Lord, always in charge.

You see, Jesus decided when he would die. Matthew stated, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.” (Matt. 27:50) John declared, “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30; see vvs. 31-33)

Jesus wasn’t killed, slain, or murdered. He chose to stop living, because he had accomplished what he came to do: he satisfied the just demand of God for a perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

The Exalted Jesus said to John, “Do not be afraid; . . . I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Rev. 1:17-18) He willingly chose to die, enter the abode of the dead, and, by the power of the Father (Rom. 8:11), he was resurrected. The keys he holds means he has power over Hades and death. They never had power over him.

No one killed Jesus; no one could. (Matt. 17:23; mark 9:31; 10:34; and Luke 18:33 all say similarly, "they will kill Him." "They" were the Jews, who were the ones who chose to crucify Jesus. These verses, though, must be understood in light of Matt. 27:50, and John 19:30.)