Millions around the world are celebrating Holy Week, the Passion of the Christ, leading up to the celebration of His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Even so, I wonder how many go through the motions, and don't realize the significance of what went on during that night and day leading up to His crucifixion.
I saw a dramatic presentation at my church this past Sunday, called "In the Shadow of the Cross". It was well-done, and very moving--it brought tears to my eyes. But one thing I took exception to: the character playing Satan had a monologue in which he said that he killed Jesus, and that the death of Jesus was his crowning achievement. This might be a common misconception, but I think it is theologically wrong. Everything Satan did back then was designed to thwart the Will of God. And I believe that it was the Will of God for His Son to die, so that he could be the sacrifice for our sins, and so that He could be resurrected to the Glory of God. As Paul later said, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." (I Corinthians 15.17)
Every move that God made was to ensure that Christ would die. It was as if the Father Himself was sacrificing the Son, much like He had asked Abraham to do with Isaac. So every event, from the centurion who nailed His hands to the cross, to Pilate sentencing Him to death, to the Sanhedrin arresting him--even Judas betraying Him--all of it was designed to bring about the greatest sacrifice ever made. And at each juncture, Satan was there to oppose Him. It was like a Cosmic chess match, and the stakes were high: the souls of all of us lay in the balance.
Let's look at Christ's preparation. He took Peter, James and John and went to the garden called Gethsemane at the Mount of Olives. The disciples hung back, while Jesus went a stone's throw further into the garden. He prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." He prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood. How many of us have ever broken a sweat while praying? Yet he agonized so much that perspiration mixed with blood seeped from His pores. Three times He came back to the disciples and warned them about temptation; but they were asleep. Was He equating sleeping with temptation? I don't think so. I think he might have been wrestling with Satan himself during this agonizing time. The Bible doesn't explicitly say so, but Luke 22.43 says, "An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him." The only other time in the Bible where it says an angel came to minister to Jesus was early in His ministry, after He had fasted 40 days, and Satan had tempted him three times. (See Matthew 4.11 and Mark 1.13).
I know I could not have withstood such temptation on my own. If I knew I had less than 24 hours to live, and if Satan came to me and said I could avoid death if I would only reject God's plan and follow Satan--well, it would take more strength that I humanly had to resist that temptation. And His friends, whom He had chosen and taken with Him to the garden were no help; they were sleeping.
See, Satan had already made the first move. He had entered into Judas, one of the disciples, so that Judas would go to the Sanhedrin and sell Jesus out. Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. This move was designed to call out God's hand, to make Him make His move. Then Satan probably went to Jesus while He was praying, and tried to talk Him out of dying. God strengthened Jesus' resolve, and He countered Satan's move by controlling the Sanhedrin.
I think that Satan intended for the Sanhedrin to try Jesus and to execute Him themselves. That way the prophecies about Him being "hung on a tree", and His being "pierced for our transgressions" would not have come true. And the Jewish form of execution was by stoning; if Jesus had been stoned, like Stephen was in Acts, then his body would have been mutilated, and not fit for a bodily resurrection. Remember the instructions to the Israelites, when Moses instituted the first Passover? The sacrificial lamb was to be spotless, without blemish, and its bones were not to be broken. If the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, had been stoned to death, His skull would have been crushed, and other bones might have been broken as well.
Instead, God made the Sanhedrin take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of the land. Pilate questioned Jesus, and could find no fault in Him. Pilate offered three alternatives:
Released or Deceased
Pilate could not even find enough evidence to throw Jesus into prison. So he told the people that he would have Jesus flogged and released. But God did not want His Son released. It would not have been part of His plan. So He made the Jews cry out, "Crucify Him!"
Pacify or Crucify
Pilate again wanted to mollify the crowd. He tried to strike a deal with the Jews. During Passover, it was the custom to release a prisoner to appease the people. He asked the Jews if they would allow him to release Jesus as a part of this custom. The Jews cried louder, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!!
Insurrection or Resurrection
Pilate tried one more time. He called up Barabbas, a political prisoner who had been arrested for rabble rousing and leading an insurrection. He then offered them a choice; a no-brainer, really. He could either release Barabbas (whose name means "son of his father" or "his daddy's son"), who was a riotous murderer, or he could release Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the Only Son of The Father. He knew that by releasing Barabbas the Jews would have been putting themselves in danger--they could be victims of more murders and riots started by this man. But no; the Jews said they would rather see Barabbas released, because Jesus had said he was their king. "From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, 'If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar'....'Shall I crucify your king?' Pilate asked. 'We have no king but Caesar', the chief priests answered." (John 19.12,15).
This was the ultimate irony. The chief priests of Israel had long chafed under Roman rule, and were commanded by God to keep themselves and their people separate from the world. Israel had no king but God. And yet here in this situation, God gave them over to their sinful desires, and their true allegiances were revealed--they were not spiritual, they were political; they did not obey God, they were obedient to government. The same government that had oppressed them for hundreds of years. This is why I think that God put an evil spirit in their hearts, like He had done with King Saul (see I Samuel 16.14 and 18.10). God wanted there to be a Resurrection; but without the Crucifixion, there could be no Resurrection. Crucifixion: CHECK. Resurrection: CHECK-MATE.
Do you see the lengths that God went to in order to offer us Salvation? Oh, how He must love us, because we know how much He loved His son. Oh, how He must hate sin, because He battled Satan every step of the way to make sure that the sacrifice was made for us, so that we could stand spotless before Him, washed in the Blood of Christ. However, day by day Satan tries to lure us into a new game. With unbelievers, he plays keep-away: the less one hears the Gospel of Christ, the less opportunities he might have to believe and put his Trust in Him. With believers, he plays tag--Satan tags us as losers or sinners or backsliders, anything that will keep us from being productive Christians.
People, don't play Satan's game. He is a defeated foe, the ultimate Loser. Don't let him make you believe you must stay lost; don't believe him when he tags you a loser, too.
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