Who killed Jesus?

It's a question that has fueled hatred and controversy since that first "Good Friday". Who is tho blame for the crucifixion of the Son of God?

Some have put it on the Romans. Crucifixion was the Roman form of execution, Pilate could have released Jesus, Roman guards nailed him to that cross. But ultimately, it wasn't the Romans who killed Jesus. 

Others blame the religious leaders. They were always after Him. Caiaphas and company made it their life's ambition to find a way to kill Him (Matthew 26:4, John 11:53), so surely they could be credited as the ones who killed Jesus. 

It has to be Judas Iscariot, right? Luke 22:3-6 even says that Satan entered Judas, who went to the aforementioned religious leaders to cash in on selling Jesus out. Wait, maybe Satan is to blame, then. No and no, ultimately it is neither Judas nor Satan who killed Jesus. 

Constantine and Martin Luther are among those who had a disdain for the Jews, because they have to be credited for killing Jesus. John 7:1 says the Jews were seeking to kill him. It was the Jews who demanded his death in John 19:7. Can we blame an entire nation of people, even those alive today, for killing Jesus? No. Repent from the anti-Semitism, God has not forsaken His chosen nation, read Romans 9-11. It was not the Jews who killed Jesus. 

The answer is astounding. According to the Bible... God killed Jesus!

Isaiah 53, written long before Jesus Christ walked the earth, is prophecy all about Him and His ministry. Verse 10 says, "Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him, he has put him to grief..." Let that sink in for a while. Who killed Jesus? It was the will of the Lord to crush Him. Some translations say it PLEASED the LORD to crush Him!

Wha...? So the next question is easy: WHY?! Well, the answer is right there in the next line: "when his soul makes an offering for sin." God the Father was the one who killed God the Son, it was the Father's will! Jesus knew this, of course. In John chapter 10, Jesus was talking about laying down His life. John 10:18 says, "No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (emphasis mine) 

Jesus knew that His death on the cross was the will of His Father, so in His perfect obedience, He was nailed to the cross. 

The result of this sacrifice is also in Isaiah 53. Verse 11 says that His death was to make many to be accounted righteous, bearing their iniquities. To those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, this is why we look back to the cross on Good Friday. My sin and your sin, our rebellion, is spitting in the face of our Holy Creator. We deserve to be punished, but on the cross, God the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus Christ. Upon receiving Him, God pronounces us not guilty! We can be perfectly righteous in God's eyes, not by anything we can do, but because of what Jesus Christ accomplished. 

So God killed Jesus. And He did it so you and I could be forgiven. 

p.s. - "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthians 5:21