Jesus Christ
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28. I have my doubts about the death of Jesus because according to a
movie I watched on TV it seems that He was killed and that He did not want to
die; could you tell me what the Bible says about this matter? |
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Well,
brother, the Bible says that Jesus Christ was killed by the Jews and that He
wanted to die in accordance with the commandment of His Father. For one day
Jesus Christ said: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my
life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father” (John |
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Jesus might
have been delivered from the hands of the Jews, and as a result he wouldn’t
have died, for when He was arrested in the Gethsemane and Peter intervened in
defence of Jesus by drawing his sword and cutting off the ear of the servant
of the high priest, Jesus first told him to put his sword in its place, and
then he said: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53)
That’s how Jesus might have been delivered by God. However, if He had
accepted that deliverance, how then could the prophetic Scriptures have been
fulfilled, that He had to be arrested and put to death like an evildoer?
Obviously, in order that Jesus might die, it was necessary for Him to be
killed (for He could not commit suicide) and thus it was necessary for Him to
be hated. And God used the Jews to fulfil His Word, for they hated Him
without reason, condemned Him to death and handed Him over to the Gentiles so
that they might crucify Him. However, His death was, and will be forever, a
substitutionary death to which He became obedient for our sake, in order to
save us. |
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To Him be
the glory now and forevermore. Amen. |