I have to wonder "was Jesus really killed or not". Did anyone take his life? It is commonly taught that the Romans and Jews killed Jesus but is that really what happened?
I think there is good evidence to say that he was not killed but rather he gave up or laid down his own life on his own free will and nobody took it from him. We see in John 10:18..."The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father". So we see that he never actually was killed. He gave up his life by his own free will.
I'm reminded of the humility required not to come down from the cross at any time and crush them when he had the power to do so.
What are your thoughts?
Hi RevelationMan!
Since the scripture states that "The wages of sin is death," then Jesus died a literal death. He would have had to in order to satisfy death on behalf of all believers. When Jesus said "No one takes my life from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord," it means that He allowed them to take His life for the sake of those who would believe in Him. He could have kept from being crucified if He wanted to, but then we would still be in our sins because we would have no blood covering us. For the scripture says, "unless there is a shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness for sins." We would have no blood sacrifice. His body functions were failing from His beatings and His being crucified and since He had fulfilled the scriptures, He released His spirit from His body. It was also necessary for Jesus to die prior to the order given to break their legs in fulfillment of the scripture regarding Him which says, "He protects all His bones; not one of them will be broken." If Jesus had not released His spirit He would have still been alive and His legs would have also been broken along with the other two.
The Passover Lamb was pointing to Christ. For regarding the preparation of the Passover Lamb, God said "you are not break any of its bones." The Jewish leaders didn't realize that they were sacrificing the actual Passover Lamb. To be sure, Jesus died from His injuries which He willfully allowed them to inflict. He suffered a real death.