Acts 4:27 says this, "For truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant, Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur." They all did it. They all did it, but did you catch that last line? "To do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur." Wow. In the end, the question then is who really killed Jesus? Back to Acts 2 again in verse 23, "This man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you nailed to a cross." "This man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God."
The secondary cause, sinful people. They all got together, they were all in on it, they all did it. That's the secondary cause. The primary cause, God, God. So the ultimate answer who killed Jesus?God, God killed Jesus. Isaiah 53:10, which I read earlier, "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him." "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him." Why? To make Him an offering for sin. "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him." Yes, you did it. Herod did it. Pilate did it. The Gentiles did it. People of Israel did it. But they did whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. So Jesus really goes to Jerusalem to die as a sacrifice to God who has chosen Him as an offering for sin.
The great irony of this is found in the familiar words of the apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 2. He says, verse 8, "The wisdom," that is the wisdom of God, the wisdom of the gospel, the wisdom of the cross that he's been talking about, "The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood." Pilate didn't understand it. Herod didn't understand it. The Jewish leaders didn't understand it. Verse 8, "for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
Wow, is that a providential irony? If they had accepted Him, they wouldn't have killed Him. And if they hadn't killed Him, there would be no salvation. Are they less guilty? No. They bear eternal guilt for what they did, but the great providential irony is that if they had accepted Him, they would not have killed Him. If they had not killed Him, there would be no salvation. They killed Him out of their own will and their own hatred. And in so doing, they fulfilled the will of God. It isn't that what they did was right. It was wrong. It is that our great God overruled it for salvation. In the end it was God who put Jesus on the cross for us.
Quote by John Macarthur
