Setting the Scene

To answer the question as it deserves, I must set the scene. The answer requires more than identifying a person or persons. To understand its meaning and importance I must do more. Let me set the scene.

God, the Beginning

As with everything this topic begins with Yahweh (the OT Jewish name for God), the one true God. This story is no different.

“In the beginning, God… (Gen 1:1)

Given that the Bible is God’s message to mankind, this is an amazing and unique introduction; It is a mike drop, if ever I heard one.

The Godhead

I was going to describe God in this section before I concluded God is a topic that deserved a stand-alone post. I moved it to:

God – One Being, Three Persons

It allows me to give the topic of God its proper attention and it focuses this post and keeps it shorter. Please feel free to use the link if it interests you and return here to finish this line of thought.

Creation

Creation has three subject areas. The first area is the physical cosmos, The next area is the supernatural heavenly beings. The highest area is humankind.

The Physical Cosmos

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Gen 1: 1-2)

The point of Genesis 1 and 2 is that God created everything. The point is NOT how long it took or how long ago it started. And that is not the point of this post. Personal, intelligent creation was the method God used to make it all. There is a purpose to why we are here. These facts bear a great deal on our topic.

The Supernatural Heavenly Beings

The supernatural requires that we look beyond Genesis for support. We know they are created beings.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Col 1:16-17)

We know they were around when the cosmos was created.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7 – 4)

God chided Job from the whirlwind. The morning stars who sang together were there from the beginning. They were all the sons of God who shouted for joy as God initiated the creation of the cosmos.

“Morning stars are the stars one sees over the horizon just before the sun appears in the morning. They signal new life— a new day. The label works. It conveys the right thought. The original morning stars, the sons of God, saw the beginning of life as we know it— the creation of earth.

Right from the start, then, God has company— other divine beings, the sons of God. Most discussions of what is around before creation omit the members of the heavenly host. That is unfortunate, because God and the sons of God, the divine family, are the first pieces of the mosaic.” [i]

Now, we deduce from this that they are supernatural beings. We call them angels. God created them before the beginning of the creation of the natural cosmos. Heiser is not the only source for this assertion. See the article on the “Sons of God” from the Lexham Bible Dictionary for more confirmation. I am placing it in the endnotes to keep it out of the main flow. It’s too long. [ii]

In 2 Chron 18:18-22, we see an example of how Yahweh allows the sons of God to take part in the governing process. This is the biblical report of how the elimination of Ahab came about.

The Apostle Paul tells us that at least some of them work against God and us.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12)

It is part of the message to the Church. And, keeping it in balance lends texture, richness, and sensibility to the message, providing explanatory power for some of the more difficult-to-understand portions of the Bible. The scope is broader than just God and man.

The Human Component

The creation of man is the epitome of God’s natural creation. When God separated the waters from the land, when he created the plant life and the animal life, he looked at his creation and saw that it was good (Gen 1:10, 12, 21).

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Gen 1:26)

This should establish the three broad areas of God’s creation, the material cosmos and animal, the supernatural, and the human.

God’s Plan

All this bears on why Jesus died at Calvary. This background is important to understanding the real significance his death. The Cross of Christ is most important event in the history of the cosmos. Now that I have presented the creation narrative, I want to give a summary of the plan for creation.

A Family of Co-Regents

Have you ever wondered why God created – anything? It was not out of need or deficiency. God is eternal, self-existent, all-encompassing. God is further described by a long string of superlatives. God even has fellowship within an environment of love, among the three persons of the trinity. For the sake of brevity, I will leave it at that; God needs nothing to complete him.

Without belaboring the point, I am going to suggest the motivation of love for creation. He wants his image bearers to govern as viceroys, steward the creation, and tend the garden.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:15-17)

This is the original plan of God and home for man. This is the way it was meant by God to be. God placed man there. He gave man dominion to work it and keep it. So, he had purpose and liberty. Now we pay big bucks gets get on an airplane and go to Hawaii or Tahiti. We stay for a couple of weeks to enjoy something that God intended for us to spend our lives enjoying. And, it is a poor imitation of the original.

Rebellion

God took the big risk of creating persons with will. He allowed them to have the liberty of strong will so they could love well. Instead of loving well, they rebelled as God knew they would.

Supernatural Rebellion

We deduce from prophetic passages that some angels fell (rebelled against God). They were thrown out of the heavenly places. We find these messages in Isa 14:12-15 and Ezk 28:12-18).

These are prophecies against the King of Babylon and the King of Tyre. Each was fulfilled in history. Scholars conclude they both have a secondary fulfillment. They represent the fall of an angel who became corrupted and is now known as Satan, the Devil.

Further credence accrues to this association because of the quote of Jesus in Luke’s gospel. After the return of the seventy-two disciples, he said:

“And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luk 10:18-20)

The language is so like that of Isaiah and Ezekiel in the mention of the fall and the loss of authority and power. A reasonable association connects the references. There are also other references to Satan’s work as a destroyer and a deceiver, such as Job 1:12-19 and 2 Cor 11:13-14.

Human Rebellion

Isaiah 14 tells us that pride was at the root of the rebellion of Satan. He wanted to usurp the throne of God. We know that because Satan appears in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, Satan’s fall had to happen before God placed Man in the Garden. The fall of the angels happened before the creation of the cosmos. The Bible does not say more than that. In the garden, Satan uses his skills as a deceiver to tempt Eve.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:1-5)

Eve took the bait, ate the fruit, gave it to Adam and he ate. Immediately their eyes were opened, but they did not become like God. They became aware of their rebellion and guilt and tried to hide it.

So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen 3:6-7)

The rebellion happened, both at the supernatural and the natural level. The heavenly beings became demons. The human beings became depraved.

This was symptomatic of an attitude of general disregard for the boundaries of God by the entire human race.

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  (Gen 6:5)

History is a Chronicle of Rebellion

I can’t go into this in detail. It covers all human history. It has too many events to report. I will show certain key points of rebellion. You can get the details in myriads of other works.

Key Points of Rebellion/Failure

• Gen 3 – Original fall of mankind
• Gen 4 – Cain and Abel, first murder
• Gen 6 – Cohabitation, Sons of God with Daughters of Men
• Gen 7&8 Noah and The Flood, God starts over
• Gen 9 – Covenant with Noah, the curse of Canaan
• Gen 10 – Table of Nations
• Gen 11 – Tower of Babel, Nations scattered & disowned
• Gen 12 Abraham Called, God starts over

We are only into history to the time of the calling of Abram. That was over 4000 years ago. We have already seen the following:

• One original creation
• The annihilation of the entire race (save 1 family)
• A restart of mankind
• the scattering/disowning of mankind
• God starting over to build a people

We are not doing well.

But here is the interesting part. Judging from Deuteronomy 32, this is all the unfolding of God’s sovereign plan. In the face of the rebellion of both members of the divine council and mankind, God is crafting his plan. Let us take a look.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. (Deu 32:8-9)

The reference “… gave to the nations… when he divided mankind…” is a reference back to Gen 11:8, the scattering of the nations at Babel. He divided the nations, set their boundaries, and left them to the sons of God they chased after to be ruled by them for a while since mankind had made it clear they were not interested in following Yahweh. God picked a man and his wife to swing the family plan back into action.

The result of history so far is;

1. God disinherited the nations.
2. God established geographical borders for the nations and confused their language.
3. God gave them over to the fallen sons of God for worship and to be ruled by them.

These groups are henceforth known in the Bible as the nations, foreigners, or Gentiles. They served the fallen sons of God. They called them Molech, Marduk, Baal, etc.

I do not want to get sidetracked into demonology and evil spirits. I will only say that when the Bible declares that idols are not real, it is not declaring that they are non-existent, it is declaring that they are not Yahweh and not praiseworthy, in fact they intend evil and are enemies of Yahweh.

I have left you references (at the end of the post) for further study, but that topic is not for this post.

I want to give you one more look at the failure of the supernatural sons of God in their rule of the nations, because of the hint it gives to God’s ongoing commitment to his family.

God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah …I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (Psa 82:1-2, 6-8) Emphasis mine.

In verses 1-2 above we see the formal accusation against the evil rulership by the divine counsel (sons of God). In verses 6-8 we see the consequence of that evil rulership – death. And God takes back the nations. God remains committed to his family, to holiness, and the eradication of evil.

Repeated Human Failure

I am not going to go into the details of how God built, protected, and grew those people. He started with the two of them, He changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. Yahweh gave Sarah a son named Isaac. Isaac expanded the lineage through Jacob, later renamed Israel. Israel’s twelve sons became the patriarchal heads of the twelve tribes. God protected and grew the family in Egypt for about 430 years. About two million Jews left Egypt in the Exodus.

And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. (Exo 12:37)

From this point forward the history of Israel is a rollercoaster of successes, and primarily setbacks. These failures, and rebellions are adequately documented in the Bible, so I am not going to chronicle them here. Suffice it to say that in the approximately 1060 years from the exodus from Egypt, about 1566 BC, until Malachi was written (the final OT book), about 432 BC, there was more failure than success. And then God seems to have gone quiet for about 430 years.

That period did not accomplish the family-building and blessing of the nations that God intended when he called Abram. The nation of Israel ended up exiled and scattered abroad as the nations had been before them. It would be a mistake to say that those years are a testament to God’s failure to accomplish his purposes.

A more accurate characterization of the period would be that Yahweh provided adequate testing and proving time to demonstrate that his creation was not able on their own to accomplish the purposes that God intended. He would have to intervene directly.

God Incarnate

Have you ever given much thought to why God showed up on the earth as a man? We talk a lot about forgiving sin and saving mankind. Why did that entail God taking on flesh? Remember the plan! The purpose of the Garden of Eden was that it was the location in which God walked with his people on earth. He wants a family of co-regents, a royal family.

Jesus came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God by succession to the Throne of David. Calvary was his coronation. I discuss this assertion in my post:

Succession to David’s Throne By Jesus

The State of War

The incarnation of God as the man Jesus of Nazareth was an outright declaration of war on the fallen Sons of God. Jesus was not a pious man full of ethical and moral aphorisms. He was the new Cosmic Sheriff in town. The King had shown up to begin the process of redeeming the nations and building that eternal family.

Correcting a Misconception

Here is an aspect of Christ’s ministry challenge that I find interesting. It is a generally misunderstood and misinterpreted passage. It has to do with the revelation to his disciples of who he is.

“But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:15-18)

If you are a Roman Catholic, you might take the bait on the wordplay. Jesus uses a wordplay between:

• “… you are Peter” (Greek petros = stone),
• and “… on this rock …” (Greek petra = bedrock or massive rock formations).

Roman Catholic tradition misuses this passage. They use it to elevate Peter to the office of the first-ever Pope. It is a misguided power grab for spiritual authority for three reasons, at least.

1. The Bible makes no mention of Peter ever making it to Rome – at all.
2. The Roman Catholic Church did not even form as an entity until at least 325 BCE. It was after Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea.
3. It misses the point of Christ’s ministry on earth.

The use of this passage to justify the primacy of the papacy is absurd.

But the Protestants don’t do any better. Protestant Christians believe the “rock” is the epiphany of Peter, itself. There is a far better interpretation of this passage.

Dropping the Gauntlet

Catholics use the word play on “Peter” to confirm their claim. His name, “petros“, means “stone.” For sure there is wordplay going on in Peter’s confession. Jesus uses “petra“, bedrock in his reply. The “rock” refers to the mountain location where Jesus makes the statement. Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, at “this rock”. The rock is Mount Hermon. Why there? Mount Hermon, in the mind of a 1st Century Jew, was the “gates of hell.” It was the gateway to the realm of the dead, in Old Testament times.

The theological messaging could not be more dramatic. Jesus says he will build his church— and the “gates of hell” will not prevail against it. We often think of this phrase as though God’s people are in a posture of having to bravely fend off Satan and his demons. This simply is not correct. Gates are defensive structures, not offensive weapons. The kingdom of God is the aggressor. Jesus begins at ground zero in the cosmic geography of both testaments to announce the great reversal. It is the gates of hell that are under assault— and they will not hold up against the Church. Hell will one day be Satan’s tomb. [iv]

There may have been multiple gates to the underworld just as there are multiple gates to a city. Nevertheless, the cave of Pan (on Mt. Hermon) was one of those locations and Jesus made that clear to his disciples.

There is another, though similar way to look at the “gates of hell”. Gates are not merely defensive, keeping people out. Gates open, letting marauders out and, in that sense, may be seen as offensive tools.

In what sense, then, can we make of attacking gates? First, in the OT gates (se’arim) can be a pars pro toto term for the city itself; indeed, the English translations occasionally render se’arim ‘town’ or ‘city’ and therefore “gates of Hades “seems to stand for the entire underworld city of the dead.

As the phrase “gates of hades” is used in Matt 16:18, it seems to include not just the city of the dead itself but also its inhabitants, especially its demonic rulers. Such a connotation for gates is in line with what we see in the LXX [Septuagint] version of Psa 24:7, Which has altered the MT [Masoretic Text] apostrophe of the gates of the city to an apostrophe of the rulers of the city. Gates, therefore, can stand for rulers; and Matt 16:18 may point to a military origin for this linkage, which was already present in the OT. The image in Matthew is of the rulers of the underworld bursting forward from the gates of their heavily guarded walled city to attack God’s people on earth. [v]

Jesus is not merely speaking about gates, but he is speaking of the entire realm of the dead. He is speaking of all of the underworld references we have already considered, many represented by the logogram BAD / BAT, such as Enlil, Ninurta, Og, MLK (Milcom / Molech), Nergal, etc. He is declaring to the great bull god Batios, king of the snake-dragons, stationed in Bashan, that he and his forces will not prevail against God’s kingdom. Jesus’ statement was a declaration of outright war against the rulers of the realm of the dead. [vi]

Heiser sees the “gates of hell” functioning in a defensive mode. Marcus and Hamp see an offensive object. In either view, they are representative of the forces of Hades.

The point is this. Jesus has trekked up from Galilee with his disciples (a 2-day walk) to make a point. He is making a declaration of war with the supernatural powers of Hades (evil) – on their turf. We can think of it as Pearl Harbor from the other side, sort of. Combine this with the Transfiguration on Mt. Hermon six days later, and we see that the gloves are off.

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. (Matt 17: 1-2)

The Bible itself does not tell us Mt. Hermon is the site of the Transfiguration. Some think it may be Mt Tabor. I like Mt Hermon for a few reasons.

• It is closer to Caesarea Philippi and the cave of Pan (the devil’s home field).
• It is more than 9,000 ft high, and Tabor is a bit over 1,800 ft and scripture tells us it was a “high mountain.”
• It fits the “rock/gates of hell” paradigm.
• Scholars I have come to trust pick Mt. Hermon over Mt. Tabor.

The important takeaway is that Jesus has declared war on the underworld. The purpose is to reclaim the nations for Yahweh. It is not easy or certain to set the timing for some of it. Some hold that the Transfiguration happened at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is because of Peter’s comment at the Transfiguration:

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (Matt 17:4)

That is a valid inference, but I am not convinced for the following reasons:

1. The entire sequence of events seems to be a tactical move on the part of Jesus.
2. He has gone to the belly of the beast, the home turf of Satan, and laid (slammed) down the gauntlet.
3. The gloves are off, and the war has started in earnest.
4. We know that the crucifixion of Jesus was in the Spring (March / April), likely in 33 BCE.
5. The feast of Tabernacles was in late September or early October of 32 BCE.
6. That is a full 6 – 7 months ahead of the Crucifixion.
7. Both Yahweh and Jesus are brilliant in both strategy and tactics.
8. They are wiser than to leave that much time between the challenge and the coronation.
9. Jesus told Peter, James, and John not to disclose the transfiguration.
10. He knew they could not keep their mouths shut for six or seven months.
11. It would be a tactical error to have confronted Satan with that much time until the crucifixion.
12. The sequence more likely happened within weeks of the crucifixion.
13. The Transfiguration followed six days after the “rock/gates of hell” revelation.
14. The journey back to Jerusalem, described in Matt 17:9 through Matt 21, is a seven-day walk.
15. They made it at a slow pace, taking an estimated (my estimation) two weeks because of ministry and teaching breaks.

Jesus arrives in Jerusalem about a week ahead of the kangaroo court and sentence. Let us call it four weeks elapsed time from Peter’s revelation to the crucifixion. That seems to me to be a much better tactical decision than 6-7 months.

That is my speculation, based on what I know about the wisdom of God. It is not factual. It is plausible though.

In myriads of ways, the ministry of Jesus has met the succession challenge. He is ready for the coronation. It comes at Calvary.

So, Who Killed Jesus?

To answer the question is really to determine who the cause of the death of Jesus was. In the discovery of causation, we discuss two levels of causation. First, there is a proximate cause. That is an event that is closest to, or immediately responsible for causing some result.

This is in contrast to a higher-level ultimate cause (or distal cause). That is usually thought of as the “real” reason something occurred. Let’s take a look at both types of causes.

The Proximate Cause

It is fair to say that the proximate cause for the death of Jesus Christ is the fallen (evil) nature of man. Our fallen nature was working through tandem religio-governmental bodies. One plotted the murder. The other provided the civil authority to carry out that murder.

The force at work is the evil of a natural man’s heart. Since the rebellion in the Garden of Eden, the drive of natural man has is the evil in his heart (soul).

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)

The agencies at work were two-fold. The motivation for the murder came from the Jews, especially the religious leaders. Jesus summed it up in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Luk 20:9-18).

The authority for the murder came from the Roman magistrates. They ruled the Palestinian territory at the time. The Jews wanted him dead, but they had to get permission and an actual decree of execution from the Romans. They didn’t have the civil authority on their own. It was not an easy sell because Pilate found no guilt in him. But, with the threat of riot hanging over his head he acceded to the demands of the Jews. We see this in (Luk 23:13-25).

Ultimate Cause – The Will of God

The Jews had the motivation to kill Jesus. The Roman magistrate Pilate acceded to their pleas to avoid a riot. The ultimate or real cause of the murder of Jesus was Yahweh. It was his preordained plan from the beginning of time. He would coronate Jesus as King and would do it through crucifixion. It was the most improbable feint ever recorded in history. Here is the biblical verdict.

When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:23-28 emphasis mine)

He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above …” (John 19:9-11a emphasis mine)

The Ultimate Reality – Jesus is Not Dead

On the third day after the crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection may be the most attested event in history. This is true, both within scripture and from extrabiblical sources.

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. … But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” (Matt 28:1-7)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Cor 15:3-8)

Christ is alive and well and ruling from heaven. He sits at the right hand of God.  He awaits the subjugation and mop-up of all evil, on earth and in the heavenly places.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. … And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?  (Heb 1:3-4, 13)