Session 14

During this session we will discuss the Jews request to release Barabas and to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Nagy, how could the crowds claim the release of a criminal a murderer and demand the crucifixion of Jesus? 
This is man always unstable in his relationships with his creator. These people were the same who wanted to crown Jesus as king as we mentioned in the previous session but He refused. And they cried before when He was coming to Jerusalem " Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Today they were the same people crying out "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" When people are blinded by fanaticism and stirred up by false teachers and when their hearts and minds are filled with hatred, they can do all things. Some are crying, "Crucify Him!" And other denies He was crucified at all. Some see Him as a criminal and others see Him as a prophet. Therefore, we cannot be in a position of weakness. We should never say that He was crucified but the truth is that He blessed be His name, made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2: 7)
Dr. Nagy, did Pilate know that Jesus was innocent?
It is obvious from the story that Pilate was sure of His innocence. We can sense that in different places. We read in chapter 15 verse10, about Pilate for he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. He tried to release Him and when he asked them, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" So they cried out again, Crucify Him!" They went even more when Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?" In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 27 and verse 24, the Bible says that when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, " I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to It." This clear public confession, given by Pilate, shows that he knew that Jesus was innocent.
Dr. Nagy, why did Pilate sentence Him to death while knowing that He was innocent?
The Bible mentions many reasons for this. In the gospel of Matthew, Pilate saw that it is not beneficial for him to set the Lord Jesus free, instead, it would stir up the people more. He was afraid as they threatened him by saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend." (John 19: 12) The Bible mentions according to the book of Mark, chapter 15 and verse 15, so Pilate wanting to gratify the crowds, he released Barabas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified. But the strongest reason is that, He as Christ, had to be crucified for this is why He came to the world and by this cross we had salvation from our sins and our transgressions and from the punishment we deserve. This is obviously seen in his reply, all glory belongs to Him, when Pilate asked Him, "Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Jesus answered, "You could not have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above." (John 19:10, 11) As Jesus was saying, "I have to go to the cross and you cannot even set me free."
Dr. Nagy, we have a question here. Why do you picture your prophet "Eissa son of Mary" as humiliated and full of weakness in spite of the fact that He was the same one who spoke things into existence? Why do you offend God by saying that He was crucified to redeem us? If Christ was God showing in the flesh, can any sensible man figure out God walking among men and people spitting on Him and beating Him and then crucifying Him, God forbid?
To answer this great and important question, I say we do not picture our Lord and Master Jesus as weak and humiliated, but He had it predestined. It was not born of the moment but it was already mentioned in the Torah of the Jews hundred of years before the Lord Jesus came. In the book of Isaiah the Mighty Creator says about Jesus, for He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Yet He opened not His mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. We did not create this picture but God himself did, blessed be His name. He fulfilled the prophecies in the person of Jesus Christ deliberately according to His purpose and will because He revealed that He came to redeem men. So we do not blaspheme when we say that He was crucified to redeem us but we should understand the core of the matter which we covered in detail in the audiotape "Greater Than a Man ". We never said that the essence of God, the one who has no partner, was the one who was crucified to redeem us. But the one who did was the flesh that He took. The spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed is His name, which is the spirit of God Himself. He came among us and died for us. This flesh as any other flesh drinks, eats and sleeps and gets tired and can be crucified and die and was resurrected, but the essence of God that is in Christ, God Forbid, can never die and no human hand can touch. That is why we would never crucify the essence of God almighty but if Christ took human flesh, blessed be His name, human body like anyone else as a normal person, can understand how the body of Christ went through all this.
Dr. Nagy, the Bible says according to the book of Mark, chapter 15 and verse 22, about Jesus that the Jews took Him to Calvary. A name that meant the place of the scull and they gave Him wine vinegar to drink. Why was this particular detail mentioned in the scene of the cross? 
The wine vinegar was to help relief the pain and to help the convicted one bear the pain of the cross. So horrible and unbearable it was that the custom of the Romans was to give the convicted ones this drink to reduce their pain but Jesus refused to drink it.
Why did he refuse to take it while this could have helped him to endure the pain? 
The Lord Jesus did not seek to escape the pain of the cross because it was the will of God Almighty and His judgment on the sinner or the one who takes his place to endure the pain without relief or painkillers. As we already mentioned in previous sessions that the cross was not a drama or a play having Jesus as the actor, but the pain of the cross was so intense affecting the soul and the body. And Jesus took it all without alleviations to be qualified to redeem mankind from hell.
Dr. Nagy, verse 25 says that at three o'clock they crucified Him and they crucified two other ones, one to His left and another to His right. Why was it important to mention the hour when the crucifixion took place? 

The fact that the Bible mentioned the exact hour portrays the accuracy of the scriptures as if the Bible says He was crucified in fool noon, when the sun was bright. We hear some people claim, that the one who was crucified was not the Lord Jesus but someone else. They say that the trial took place during the nighttime as He was arrested during the nighttime. But here I must say that the trial of Pilate was during the day time and the crucifixion took place at three o'clock after noon time, which is 12 o'clock noon time according to the Jews timing. At that time, it is obvious that the sun was high in the sky because Matthew says by the Holy Spirit, that there was great darkness on earth from six to nine o'clock i.e. from 3 to 6 o'clock Mid East time today. As if the nature wanted to share the sorrow of heaven and the believers over the creator of the universe and the sun could not see the creator hanging on the cross without turning dark.

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