HIS MOST UNUSUAL DEATH (Part One)

By Bill Walton

n a Thursday evening almost 2,000 years ago Jesus of Naza­reth was arrested. And that same night, in violation of the law, He was put on trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin to face the charge of blasphemy. Witnesses were suborned to give testimony to sub­stantiate the charges, and the next morn­ing Jesus was taken to Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. But, before Pilate, He was charged, not with blasphemy, but with treason.

ecause there was no evidence to sup-port the charge, Pilate would have released Him. But Pilate allowed himself to be pres­sured by the Jewish leaders and ultimately he succumbed to their demands that Jesus be crucified. And so, that same day, Pilate had Jesus scourged and then taken outside the city of Jerusalem to the place of execu­tion. And there He was crucified.

f His crucifixion and death there can be no reasonable doubt. Jesus really did die a death by crucifixion in the city of Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago -- it really did happen.

is closest friends say it happened. Luke says, "And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (Luke 23:33). And Luke's testimony is cor­roborated by Peter (1 Peter 2:24), by John (John 19:17-18), by Matthew (27:26) and by Mark (15:27). Saul of Tarsus also says it happened. Saul was at one time a persecutor of Christians, but the resur­rected Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus and made a believer of him. In a letter to the Christians at Philippi he spoke of the Lord's death by crucifixion and said, "He humbled Himself and be­came obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8).

is enemies say it happened. Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian of the first century, tells us that Jesus "was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius.” Flavius Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, says simply, "Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die." And Lucian, a satirist of the second century, speaks of Jesus as "the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world."

ut the purpose of this article is to get you to think about how unusual His death was. His death by crucifixion was the most unusual in the history of the world.

any thousands have suffered death by crucifixion since it was introduced into the world by the Phoenicians. There is evidence of its use by the Persians in the sixth and fifth centuries BC and by the Egyptians in the fifth century BC. The Greeks and Romans adopted it from the Phoenicians. The Maccabean king Al­exander Jannaeus crucified 800 leading Pharisees after an insurrection in 88 BC. In 4 BC the Roman general Varus is re­ported to have crucified 2,000 insurgents. And it was the crucifixion of 3,600 Jews by Florus in AD 66 that precipitated the Jewish rebellion against Rome. During the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus (AD 70) so many were crucified that there was a shortage both of wood and of room for the crosses.

ut of all the many thousands who have suffered that terrible fate, Jesus' death by crucifixion is the most unusual in the history of the world. And I say that for several reasons.

IT WAS PROPHESIED

esus' death by crucifixion is the most unusual in the history of the world because it was foretold by prophets of God hun­dreds of years before it happened. Isaiah prophesied that he would be "stricken" and "cut off from the land of the living" (Isa. 53:8). And David prophesied that in His death His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:12-18).

HE WAS INNOCENT

esus' death by crucifixion was the most unusual in the history of the world also because He suffered that terrible fate as a completely innocent man. Oh, I’m sure there were times when a man was crucified who was innocent of the crime he was condemned for. But, in the case of Jesus, not only was He innocent of the blasphemy He was charged with before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and innocent of the charge of treason that was brought against Him when He was on trial before Pontius Pilate, but He was innocent of all crimes and all sins! Jesus never once committed a crime. And He never once committed a sin! Never! Not once!! He was innocent from the day of His birth until the day of His death (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22). &

[To be continued next week]

A GOOD CONSCIENCE (Part Two)

By Bob Myhan

ecause the heart is intellectual, as well as ethical, in nature, it must be properly educated with regard to the truth if it is to make proper ethical judgments of one’s actions.

s stated last week, when one knows the truth, but continues to act contrary to it, he will sear his “conscience with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:1-2). This is the most dangerous state in which one could be, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted” (2 Cor. 7:10). Thus, without the ethical judgments of the conscience there is no possibility of godly sorrow without which there can be no repentance without which there can be no salvation. In short, the individual with a seared conscience cannot be pricked in the heart (Eph. 4:17-19). Consider the contrast between the audience reactions in Acts 2:37-41 & Acts 7: 54-58. Notice, also, the difference between the Jews and Gentiles in Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:13-52).

aul's life serves as a case study in having a good conscience. He had lived his life "in all good conscience" (Acts 23:1). Even as persecutor of the church (Acts 8:1-4), he had not gone against his conscience (Acts 26:1-11).

ut when he came face to face with Jesus, on the road to Damascus, he realized that he was guilty of blasphemy, not the Christians that he was persecuting. Becoming a Christian, he continued "to serve [God] with a pure conscience" (2 Tim. 1:3) and encouraged others to maintain "a good conscience" (1 Tim. 1:18-19).

ater baptism, properly understood and submitted to, is “an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21, NAS). As the final condition of salvation for the alien sinner (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16), it “now saves us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him” (1 Peter 3:21-22, NKJV).

o you have “a good conscience,” today, or is your conscience convicting you of sin? If the latter is the case, you have two alternatives: obey the truth or sear your conscience. &