I watched a recent documentary called American gospel: Jesus Crucified. In the documentary one of the questions they were discussing was “who killed Jesus?” Many believe as the Bible clearly states in several places that the Pharisees were responsible for His death. In Acts 2:23 and Acts 7:52 this is clearly communicated. In John 19:6-11 we see Pilate sealing the fate of Jesus by refusing to let Him go free, so he too played a role. We also see in Luke 23:13-24 the Jewish crowd consisting of the Chief Priests and Officers refusing to let Jesus go free but rather freed a known troublemaker named Barabbas instead of the innocent man Jesus whom Pilate could find no fault with.
In 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, it says that the rulers of this age, that is spiritual principalities also known as Satan and his demons had a hand in the crucifixion of Christ. All of these mentioned above had a part in the death of Christ. There is also one rather large group that we can’t leave out: all of mankind including you and I. How are we implicated in this you might ask?
1 John 3:5 (NKJV) And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. So anyone who has ever committed sin is also complicit in the death of Christ since His primary reason for coming into the world was to be our sin bearer. And in so doing He opens the door for us to have a personal relationship with the Father. This is the primary inditement against every person who rejects the good news of the gospel. That Jesus purchased our guilty souls with His innocent blood and we then stole them back for our own purpose and pleasure. Yes, rejecting God’s Son and then rejecting the Holy Spirit of God telling us about Him is is the greatest of our sins against God.
So what is sin anyway? Sin simply means to miss the mark. Sin is manifested in our lives when we disobey God’s commandments, both the written commandments and also when we violate our God-given consciences whether by commission or omission, it can be in thought and also in deed. Remember that the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind and strength. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. I know personally I haven’t kept the 2nd commandment and certainly not the first. The fact is that our very natures are sinful, we are self-centered and primarily concerned and taken up with ourselves. David said in Psalm 51 that we were conceived in iniquity (sin). Romans 3:23 says all of us have fallen short of the glory of God (we have missed the mark).
Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NKJV) says, for there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Based on the Word of God, we are doubly guilty. We are guilty because of our actions and if that weren’t enough we are guilty because of our inherit sinful nature. The good news is that though you nor I cannot make ourselves clean or sinless there is One who can cleanse us from all unrighteousness: Jesus Christ. By His atoning sacrifice on the cross we have access through faith in Him to be pronounced and declared right with God! The Bible says if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things pass away behold all things are new. The key question then is, are we actually in Christ?
In the old testament they dealt with an awful skin eating disease called leprosy. It could get so bad in some cases that a person could lose an entire limb and in some cases their very lives. It was highly contagious and could contaminate humans as well as objects that it came in contact with. Once a person was to be known to have it, they would be required to quarantine themselves and if anyone came near them they would have to shout “unclean” to warn others of their state. There is a very interesting passage regarding the judgement of the priests regarding such persons, it says in Leviticus 13:13 that if the leper is completely covered with leprosy he can be pronounced clean!
This is also true of us and our condition of sin. As long as I only partially admit to being a sinner I am unclean, unrighteous and separated from God. However the moment I fully admit and repent of being an absolute sinner inside (my soul) and out (by actions of committing sin) I can be pronounced clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. Since Jesus was fully God and man He is the only One qualified to take away my sins. He represented all of mankind on the cross and took our punishment so that we through faith in Him might take upon us His righteousness! This is called the great exchange, an exchange that mankind definitely makes out the better for. What great mercy and kindness shown to us by God that He would willing give up His only Son that He might bring those that trust Him to a right relationship with Himself!
Again, I would encourage you to give these things much thought and prayer as we will certainly give an account to God for how we responded to this generous offer of forgiveness by the blood of Jesus Christ; and if we blow it off it will be the greatest charge brought against us on judgement day. It would be better to repent and turn to God now then to face the judgement and subsequent wrath of God for neglecting such a great and costly salvation provided by the blood of Christ. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.