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Aug. 29, 2024 - Health Ranger - Mike Adams
56:32
Sermon #032 - Mark 14-16 - Jealous, arrogant Jewish leaders unleash HATRED and VIOLENCE...
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Okay, welcome to today's sermon.
I'm Mike Adams, and today we're not talking about nutrition, per se.
We're covering Mark 14, 15, and 16, which is, of course, the murder of Jesus Christ.
And we're also going to bring in John chapter 18 and 19, which is a different account of the same events.
And also something special for you today.
I'm going to use a clip from an online history network called History Hit, and they are found at historyhit.com.
I'm just going to use a short clip from one of their documentaries, which depicts this Roman leader Pilate is his name, P-I-L-A-T-E, Pontius Pilate, and his interaction with Jesus.
And what you're going to find here, and I understand this is controversial, so I'll just keep it simple.
Romans killed Jesus, but the Jews demanded it.
So it was the Jewish priests and religious leaders that demanded that Rome kill him, but the Jews themselves did not have the authority to order his execution.
The Romans did.
And together, then, of course, they nailed Jesus to a cross, and they...
Murdered him. And, well, you know what happened after that with the resurrection.
We'll get to that.
But it's very important to understand this dynamic between Christ and his followers versus Rome and government corruption and the Jewish religious leaders at the time who saw Christ as the An intruder, an imposter, someone who is competing against their power, their established authority over their local society.
And the Jewish priests are, of course, tolerated or allowed by Rome.
So the Empire of Rome chooses the priests.
The Empire of Rome, in effect, licenses the church, something that is forbidden in the United States of America, For reasons going back to this very history, there's a separation of church and state because we don't want to live in a nation where the government determines what religions are allowed to be taught or how they're allowed to be taught or which books of the Bible are allowed to be taught.
And so we have a First Amendment.
And it is thanks to this First Amendment that I'm able to bring this information to you today.
And remember that the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution is The First Amendment protects freedom of religious expression as well as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the freedom to peaceably assemble as well as the freedom to address the government for its transgressions, let's say, against the people.
So there are multiple rights that are elucidated or enumerated in the First Amendment, but freedom of religion, arguably, may be the most important of those.
So, like I said, we're going to go through, well, we'll start with Mark chapter 14.
But first, I want to play for you a minute or so of this extraordinary documentary.
I think this is just so well done.
And again, I'm going to just give credit to historyhit.com.
And this isn't a paid promotion or anything of that kind.
I'm just giving them credit.
We're going to use a short clip from their documentary, and it's the appropriate thing to do to give them credit.
But as I understand it, I'm not a subscriber, but if you go to historyhit.com, you can subscribe and you can watch these amazing history documentaries.
But let this following clip be a little introduction for you about...
Some of the documentaries that historyhit.com has available, and this is really well done.
Check this out. When Pilate calls Jesus to him, you have the extraordinary moment of a Roman governor and Jesus, face to face.
You have the ultimate representative of Roman power, and you have this brigand, a common criminal as far as he knew.
And you have this extraordinary dialogue between them, which I think is pinteresque, in that Pilate keeps asking questions, and Jesus doesn't answer his questions.
He answers something else.
You have the two worlds meeting, but they're not meeting.
They're not meshing with each other.
They don't understand. Do you know what they're saying about you?
That you're the king of the Jews?
Is it true? If I were an earthly king, my followers would afford to prevent my arrest.
My kingdom is not of this world.
So you are a king?
This is why I was born.
This is why I came into the world.
To testify to the truth.
What is truth? I think Pilate probably realised that Jesus was in a category apart, that he was different.
He'd never met anybody like him.
He may well have thought that Jesus was a deluded fanatic, that he was just mad.
There were other mad people around who did silly things.
Maybe Jesus was another one.
And yet the sources imply, and of course they've been written up by Christians, that Pilate was also haunted by the clarity and the serenity and, in a measure, the silence of Jesus.
We have to remind ourselves that the Roman imperial ideology was sweeping the Mediterranean world at the time, so when you find somebody who appears as a rival to Caesar, this is not just a political issue, this is also a religious issue.
Jesus had emerged as a threat to the empire, a man Pilate needed to destroy.
Alright, very well done there, and I want to thank HistoryHit.com for that short clip there.
And this really explains this triangle of power, where the Empire of Rome Needs to, of course, control everything.
They need to control speech.
They need to control resources.
They need to control the church and religious expression.
Now, all empires desire to do this.
Oh, and also, Rome had to control the money supply, the currency.
Now, like I said, all empires desire to do this.
And this is true today with the U.S. empire very much acting like Rome.
And back in Rome's day, when Jesus emerged and he began to teach people to, yes, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, but render unto God that which is God's, Jesus is placing God in a category outside the authority domain of the Roman emperor.
And this is intolerable from the point of view of a tyrannical, Kabbalistic, Roman power regime.
Now, the Jewish priests were under the subjugation of the Roman Empire.
So, like I said earlier, Rome would license the priests or would eliminate the ones that it did not like and would bring in new priests and would allow the church to teach things that are pro-Rome.
Now, this is happening today in the church in America, where the government through the IRS is, in essence, forcing churches to preach pro-government doctrines, such as pushing vaccine jabs,
pushing obedience, pushing paying taxes to the current empire, the U.S. empire, and There are many, many churches across America today that they answer more to Rome than they do God.
They answer to Caesar, i.e., the United States government.
And Jesus represented a threat to all of these corrupt institutions, bad government, bad churches, corrupt priests, and so on.
And so, of course, they conspired to destroy Jesus, to murder him, thinking that that would put an end to it.
Boy, were they wrong, huh?
So let's go through some of the plot to kill Jesus so that we can understand the dynamics here.
And we'll begin with the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 14.
First verse, after two days it was the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by trickery and put him to death.
So already here we have the Jewish priests plotting to murder Christ.
And in verse 2, but they said not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.
In other words, they were saying, you know, let's wait to murder Christ after the feast, the Passover feast.
And skipping ahead to verse 10, then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray him, that is to betray Jesus, to the priests.
And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money, so he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
So here we have Judas getting paid off to betray Jesus Christ.
If there were any bad decision that anybody ever made in history, it was getting paid to betray Christ, right?
Verse 12, Now on the first day of the unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, and these are the disciples of Christ, saying, Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?
And he sends out his disciples to go into the city and get things ready.
And then when they come back in verse 17, it says, Because Jesus knows this is coming.
He knows he's going to die. He had already described the premonition of this.
I think three times earlier.
And of course, he's the Son of God.
And of course, he has the knowledge of God spanning all times, so he knows exactly what's going to happen.
He continues in verse 19.
And they began to be sorrowful and to say to him one by one, Is it I? And another said, Is it I? And he answered and said to them, It is one of the twelve who dips with me in the dish.
The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!
It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.
And it is notable here, by the way, that he refers to himself, Jesus does, as the Son of Man rather than the Son of God.
I'm not going to go into the analysis here perhaps another time, but This is a transcendent understanding of the role of Jesus and God, the Creator, and all men and women being children of God.
But perhaps we'll cover that later.
And then Jesus breaks bread, gives them the bread, and says, Eat this.
This is my body. You know, metaphor.
This represents the physical matter of my body.
And then he gives them his cup, and in verse 24, and he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many as they're drinking from the cup.
He says, assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
He's saying that this is my last drink to share with you in this material world of the 3D simulation that God created that Jesus now inhabits as the Son of God slash the Son of Man.
So he's saying, basically he's saying, eat this bread, drink this beverage, this is the representation of my body of matter, this is the representation of my blood, which is the new covenant of the agreement between man and God, and I shall be leaving this simulation shortly, is essentially what he's saying.
Although, of course, He's not using the word simulation.
I'm adding that. That's my interpretation.
That's one way I describe it.
But if God created the universe, you could call it a construct of the mind of God.
You could call it a simulation from the mind of God.
Or you could call it a dimension from God.
And those can all be used synonymously, frankly.
I just call it a simulation.
But I don't mean to insist that you need to think of it in that way.
And then, of course, following that, Jesus says to Peter that you're going to betray me three times, and Peter is a little bit freaked out, like, what do you mean?
Why would I betray you three times?
But, of course, later on, he does.
And then comes the arrest of Jesus by the, well, this combination of Jewish priests and Roman soldiers.
So this is verse 43.
We're still in chapter 14.
And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
So those are the religious leaders.
Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one.
Seize him and lead him away safely.
Now, this indicates that the Roman soldiers did not know who Christ was.
I mean, they could not pick him out of the lineup, right?
If you were to just put Christ alongside many of his disciples or many of the other people there, they could not tell who's Christ.
And so Judas has to have this special secret signal.
So in verse 45, as soon as he had come, immediately he went up to him and said to him, to Christ, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him.
So he's calling him a rabbi.
He's calling him a Jewish rabbi.
A Jewish religious leader here.
This is very notable because this is part of the betrayal of Judas, turning Christ over to the Roman soldiers, but falsely calling him rabbi.
And note that later he is asked by Pilate, are you the leader of the Jews?
This is the understanding that Rome has, that Christ is only here to cause trouble and pretend to be a leader of the Jews.
Verse 46, Now, many people reading this might think about the Trump assassination attempt.
Blood was drawn.
Trump was shot in the ear.
And then Trump fell to his knees.
And then many people might say, I've heard this from other religious leaders, that Trump was reborn and that he was imbued with the spirit of Christ when he then rose from his knees and shouted, fight, fight, fight.
But For some people, all of that might be a stretch, but it is very interesting that this cutting off of the ear with the sword, which is the instrument of war of the day of Rome in that era,
To cut off this man's ear, this seems to be eerily similar to the modern day world where Trump's ear was shot with the modern weapon of war, which is the AR-15 rifle.
So the AR-15 is the sword of our modern world.
And when soldiers are sent out today, they don't carry swords, do they?
They carry AR-15s.
So rifles are the swords of our modern world.
And a rifle was used to cut and puncture or tear the ear of Trump.
Now, I'm not saying Trump is Christ.
I'm saying that There are many metaphors and reminders throughout the Bible that seem to be beyond just mere coincidence.
You know, history unfolds in cycles and patterns, and God sees all of those patterns.
And many of those patterns are laid down here in Scripture.
And they speak to different generations spanning different time periods.
And that's why I say sometimes people will claim that, well, this passage only applies to this one time.
And usually my answer to that, you know, my analysis is that, hey, could it apply to many different times and many different people?
Now, there is the tribulation, which Jesus says only covers one specific time.
It only happens once.
So that may be the great exception to this.
There aren't repeated cycles of the great tribulation.
There's only one. I don't know when that one is.
None of us absolutely know for sure.
But for other events in the Bible, they repeat.
And we will see them again and again.
So, verse 48, Jesus answered and said to them, talking to the soldiers, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me?
I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.
He's saying, hey, I taught Scripture with you and you didn't have a problem with me then, but then he resigns to the fact that he knows he's going to be killed.
He knows he's going to be arrested, taken, and killed because that is what has been foretold.
That is what the mind of God has already seen.
So in verse 50, they all forsook him and fled.
Now, what's interesting is if we go to John chapter 18, in this chapter, which is just a different point of view of the same account of essentially the arrest of Jesus, it says that Simon Peter is the one who drew his sword and struck the high priest's servant to cut off his right ear.
And that right ear is the same ear that Trump You know, Trump's ear was his right ear that was hit with the gunfire.
But let's go to this chapter 18 of John.
John 1.
Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, he could see the signs like, what are they doing with the torches and swords?
Well, I mean, hey, he's the Son of God.
He knew all this was coming. Anyway, he went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking?
And they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.
Now, again, understand that the Roman soldiers did not recognize Jesus.
Jesus said to them, I am he.
And Judas, who betrayed him, also stood with them.
Now, when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground.
That's interesting because that's not in the rendition of this scene in Mark, right?
In fact, where is Judas kissing the hand of Jesus?
It's not found in John.
Jesus answered, this is verse 8, I have told you that I am he, therefore if you seek me, let these go their way, talking about the other people there, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spoke, quote, of those whom you gave me I have lost none.
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus, or Malchus, M-A-L-C-H-U-S. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into the sheath.
Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me?
He's like, put your weapons down.
And then verse 12, this is in John, then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
So this is talking about, well, the priests and the elders, as it's said.
So again, this is a combination of the high religious Jews calling for Jesus to be arrested, calling for him to be killed, which you'll hear about.
But the Roman troops actually carrying out the executive side of this murder of Christ.
Verse 13, and they led him away to Annas first, where he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
So right here, anybody who argues that, well, the Jews didn't want to kill Christ.
Come on.
The Jews demanded it.
And here's the example of Caiaphas who said that, yeah, this man should die for the people.
And little did he know that Jesus did die for the people in a different way than what Caiaphas was thinking.
And then, of course, Peter denies being someone who even knew Jesus, and that's where Peter betrays Jesus three times.
And then if we go back to Mark chapter 14, and I'm sorry about jumping around, but hey, it's the Bible.
The whole Bible jumps around.
You have to kind of piece it together.
And in verse 53, it talks about Jesus being led away to the high priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.
So these are the high Jews of the religious sector, and they're basically interrogating him.
And then Peter followed him at a distance, it says.
And then verse 55, the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.
For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree.
And then it goes through some examples of the false testimony, and they're claiming that Jesus sold cocaine.
No, I'm sorry. That's modern-day politics.
They're claiming that Jesus worked for the Russians.
Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a minute.
That's also modern-day politics.
They claimed all kinds of crazy stuff about Jesus, and it was all made up.
So at one point, this is in verse 60, because Jesus wasn't answering all these accusations.
And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Do you answer nothing?
What is it these men testify against you?
But he kept silent and answered nothing.
Again, the high priest asked him, saying to him, Are you Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
And this, depending on the translation, this could be interpreted as saying, do you call yourself Christ the Son of God?
Okay, that's really what this question means.
Jesus replies in verse 62 here in Mark, Jesus said, I am.
And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven.
And the Roman leader and the Jewish priests are like, what do we make of that?
I mean, no one ever answers us that way.
Verse 63, then the high priest tore his clothes and said, what further need do we have of witnesses?
This means he tore the clothes of Christ.
You have heard the blasphemy.
What do you think? He's saying...
We don't need any more witnesses because this man admits, he admits that he claims to be the Son of God, which is obviously, you know, from the point of view of the Jewish priests and the Roman leader, forgot the title, they say that's crazy.
You could not be the Son of God, right?
So then, in verse 64, it continues on, quote, and they all condemned him to be deserving of death.
So this is, they all condemned him.
These are the Jews, the religious leaders of the Jews, and these are the Roman political leaders condemning Jesus to die.
Verse 65, then some began to spit on him and to blindfold him and to beat him and to say to him, prophecy, and the officers struck him with the palms of their hands.
And then there's a section in this chapter about Peter denying to know Jesus and betraying Jesus three times, right?
And Peter's like, oh, I didn't know that guy.
I have no idea who that guy was.
That guy's crazy, you know?
Like, Peter just totally betraying him.
He could have taken a stand and said, that man is the Son of God, and I stand with him.
Instead, Peter's like, I don't know that guy.
So, pretty lame, right?
Yeah. Now, if we go back to the book of John, chapter 18, I'd like to play this scene for you again from the point of view of the book of John.
Chapter 18, verse 19, the high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine.
Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world.
In other words, I told the truth.
Well, that's a sin against the priests of the Jews and the Roman political leaders, right?
I spoke openly to the world.
I always taught in synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing.
He's basically saying, I've been transparent.
I've taught openly. I've taught the Word of God.
Why do you ask me, he says, and those who have heard me what I said to them, indeed, they know what I said.
Verse 22, And when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest like that?
Basically, they slapped Jesus.
Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike me?
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.
and this was so that another religious leader could interrogate him and so that the political leaders of Rome could defer, try to share some or delegate some of the power of the decision to execute Christ.
They could make sure that the Jewish priests were involved in that decision.
That's really what this was, to kind of get consensus on murdering Christ.
And then we go to a pilot.
So this is the court of Pilate.
This is the Roman political leader.
Verse 28 says, This is in the book of John.
You know, they were still adhering to their own religious practices.
They didn't want to go into the court and be part of this.
So Pilate then went out to them and said, What accusations do you bring against this man?
And they answered and said to him, If he were not an evildoer, would we not have delivered him up to you?
Which is a way of saying, Just the fact that he's here means you should punish him.
You should probably kill him because, you know, we're the Jewish priests.
Then Pilate said to them, you take him and judge him according to your law.
Pilate's like, I'm busy.
Why don't you deal with him?
And he's also, by the way, he's also asserting the fact that he alone has the power to execute someone because the power of the Empire of Rome is...
Larger in this historical context, it's larger than the power of the Jewish church at that time.
So he's saying, you know, I dare you.
I double dare you. Why don't you deal with this man?
And, of course, they reject that.
So, therefore, the Jews said to him, it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death, which indicates they had already planned to kill him.
They wanted to kill him. The Jews wanted to kill Christ.
They demanded it. That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what death he would die.
That's verse 32. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, calling Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews?
Trick question, right?
Because if you answer yes, well, then they put you to death for impersonating the king of the Jews.
You're not the king. Caesar is the king, right?
But if you answer no...
Then they accuse you of pretending to be the king, and they put you to death anyway.
So this is kind of like the Salem witch trials.
Do witches float? You know, that kind of question.
So verse 34, Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me?
And Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?
Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me.
What have you done? So he's saying this is a complaint of the Jewish priests, not a complaint originating with the empire of Rome.
So again, anybody out there saying that, well, Rome alone killed Jesus, that's not true.
The Jewish high priests, they are the ones who brought and delivered Jesus to the court of Pilate.
So Jesus, of course, transcending all of this.
Remember his previous answer about, you know, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, but render unto God that which is God's, right?
Verse 36 here, Jesus says to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews.
He's like, If I were the king of a kingdom with an army, I wouldn't even be here.
And he continues, but now my kingdom is not from here, because his kingdom is with the Lord, right?
Again, transcendent.
So Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then?
Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king for this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world.
Because he is the Son of God.
That I should bear witness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.
Answering in a way that befuddles Pilate.
Christ isn't going to just answer them in man's kingdom's empire terms.
He's going to answer from the point of view of God.
So verse 38, Pilate said to him, What is truth?
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him at all.
So Pilate is saying, okay, this guy doesn't claim to be the king of the Jews.
He's just speaking in riddles, basically.
Verse 39, but you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover.
Do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews?
Then they all cried again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas.
Now, Barabbas was a robber.
They wanted Barabbas, whoever that guy was.
So this is the Jews saying, we want you to deal with Jesus.
We want you to kill Jesus.
You can give us Barabbas, the robber, but we want you to kill Jesus.
They were insistent.
So chapter 19 of John, so then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and they said, Hail, King of the Jews!
They're mocking him.
They're mocking him. So the crown of thorns is, of course, mocking the crown of a king.
But with thorns, it was drawing blood and puncturing the skin of the skull of Christ, right?
And then they struck him with their hands, so they beat him.
They slapped him. They mocked him.
Verse 4, Pilate then went out again and said to them, Behold, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him.
So the Roman Empire, through Pilate, actually said, We don't want to kill Jesus.
We don't find any fault with him at all.
So far. Verse 5, Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, Behold the man!
Here he is. Here's Christ.
We beat him up a little bit.
We put crown of thorns on him, and we mocked him.
Verse 6, Therefore when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him!
Crucify him! Again, these are the Jews saying, Crucify Christ.
Pilate said to them, you take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.
Again, Pilate saying, this is not my business.
We don't want to execute this guy.
Again, Pilate doesn't realize he's Christ.
Pilate's just like, this is just another, you know, another day in another Roman court, another person to deal with who probably Pilate thought was crazy because he speaks in riddles.
Verse 7, the Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
See? So they're denying that Christ is the Son of God, and they're condemning him to death, and they're begging Rome to murder Christ.
But they're saying that Jewish law requires it, you see.
Verse 8, therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid and went again into the praetorium and said to Jesus, where are you from?
But Jesus gave him no answer.
Pilate's trying to sort this out.
He's like Judge Judy right here.
It's like, okay, wait a minute.
Why do the Jews want to murder you?
Who are you? What's your background?
How did you wind up in my court?
Basically. Verse 10, then Pilate said to him, Are you not speaking to me?
Do you not know that I have power to crucify you and power to release you?
He's saying, hey, I speak for Rome.
I speak for the emperor.
You better answer me.
And I'm trying to help you, in essence, which is unusual for Rome.
Verse 11, Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above.
Wow, this is bold.
Jesus is saying that I don't even recognize the power of your court, nor the power of your authority, nor the power of the emperor of Rome.
I don't recognize Caesar.
And he continues, therefore the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin.
He's saying that the Jewish priests are the ones who Who probably deserve to die.
Those are the ones who committed the sin.
Those are the ones who are guilty of crimes and also guilty of wasting your time here, Pilate, in your court.
Don't you have something else to do?
Don't you have, like, grape vines to tend to or other people to execute?
Verse 12, from then on, Pilate sought to release him.
Again, Pilate shows mercy.
And this isn't taught In many churches, this official of Rome wanted to release Jesus Christ.
He's done no harm.
He doesn't claim to be the king of Rome.
He's like, this is a Jewish religious kerfuffle.
You deal with him again.
But from verse 12, but the Jews cried out saying, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend.
This is the Jews saying that if you don't murder Christ, then you're betraying Caesar.
Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar, they said.
Now, you notice the trickery of the Jews here.
They're saying that, in effect, Christ called himself a king of the Jews and And they use Jewish law to bring him before the court of Pilate.
But then when Pilate wants to let him go, they say, yeah, and but, but Jesus said he's the king of everything and he speaks against Caesar.
He's violating Caesar.
So, Pilate, you have to put him to death because otherwise you're against Caesar.
So, verse 13, when Pilate therefore heard that saying...
He brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Now, it was the preparation day of the Passover and about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, Behold your king!
Behold your king!
Again, this is Pilate, in essence, now mocking the Jewish priests for being Such horrible people and wanting Rome to murder this man who apparently showed no harm to anyone.
He was just teaching or maybe from the point of view of Pilate, he was babbling.
Verse 15, but they cried out, away with him!
Away with him! Crucify him!
Again, now the Jewish priest mob of the Jewish elders and the Jewish teachers, crucify him!
Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king?
Because he just said, This is your king.
Behold your king. Kind of mockingly.
And the chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.
We have no king but Caesar.
So the Jews are now bowing down before the evil empire of Rome.
This is their pleading to try to get Pilate to order the crucifixion of Christ.
And it works. So in verse 16, Pilate relents, quote, then he delivered him to them to be crucified.
Then they took Jesus and led him away.
And that's when they made him bear the cross and so on.
We can go into some of those details.
But understand the dynamic here.
This is really critical to understand.
The official of Rome wanted to let Jesus go.
It was the Jews, the religious leaders of the Jews, that demanded repeatedly the extermination of Christ.
Now, if we go to Mark, chapter 15, and we read about this same event now from a different perspective compiled in the Gospel according to Mark, verse 6, Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, talking about Pilate, Whomever they requested, he would release a prisoner to the Jewish priest.
And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels.
They had committed murder in the rebellion.
Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.
But Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?
Referring to Christ.
For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.
That's right. The Jewish priests were jealous of Christ because Christ was gathering a following.
His words were very compelling.
He was gaining popularity among many people who were becoming the new Christians, let's say.
That is, they were no longer tied to many of the old rituals of the Old Testament and The Torah, the ways of the Jews, the rituals, and all the things, even the kosher eating and so on, that we've talked about.
There are many, many followers of Christ that in the New Testament taught that you don't have to eat kosher foods.
Remember? All of God's foods are blessings to humanity.
As long as you eat with blessing to God, you don't have to follow the kosher rules of the old world.
So that's the context for this.
Verse 11, In other words, Pilate has a card to play, and the card is to release one criminal to the Jews.
And the Jewish priests, they want Barabbas to be that person, and then they want Rome to murder Christ.
Verse 12, Pilate answered and said to them again, What then do you want me to do with him who you call the king of the Jews?
Referring to Christ. Verse 13, So they cried out again, Crucify him!
Crucify him! This is the crowd now.
This is the Jewish leaders riling up the crowd saying, Crucify him!
Then Pilate says to them, Why?
What evil has he done?
But they cried out all the more, Crucify him!
It's like it doesn't matter.
This is kind of like the... Today, all the Trump haters out there, they're like, just kill the orange man!
We don't even know why.
We don't care why.
It doesn't have to be logical or reasonable or doesn't have to follow the rule.
Just destroy him, jail him, kill him.
This was the madness of the crowds led by the Jewish priests.
They cried out all the more, crucify him.
So Pilate, verse 15, wanting to gratify the crowd, releases Barabbas to them, Sorry if I change the pronunciation of that guy's name.
And he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified.
Now, what's interesting about this is in Mark, it's summarized.
But in the book of John, there's a lot more detail that we have gone through showing that Pilate tried several times to say, hey, Christ has done no harm to us.
He's not a threat to Rome anymore.
He hasn't claimed to be the king of Rome, nor the king of the Jews.
But, you know, Pilate is mocking basically the insane Jewish high priest.
Totally insane, saying, oh, this is your king now.
You said that he claims to be king, so we're going to call him your king.
Oh, you want to crucify your own king?
Okay. Eventually, you know, he throws in the towel and lets the Jews crucify Christ.
And then in the book of Mark, it also summarizes Simon, a Cyrenian, was basically just volunteered by force.
Like, hey, you're a volunteer now to carry the cross or to bear the cross that Jesus was nailed to.
And then they put Jesus to death and they divided his garments, it says, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.
So they even took his clothes, what little there were.
Verse 25, Now it was the third hour and they crucified him.
And the inscription of his accusation was written as the king of the Jews.
Understand, he was never the king of the Jews.
This is a mockery.
To say he's the king of the Jews.
This is Rome mocking the Jews, but the Jewish high priests are the ones who demanded the murder of Christ.
And ultimately, it's because of the insistence of the Jews that Christ was allowed to be crucified.
Think about how many times this proxy for Rome had tried to say, no, just let the man go.
He's doing no harm in essence.
But the Jews insisted that he be murdered again.
And then, as he was being murdered in verse 31 here in Mark, likewise, the chief priests also, these are the high Jewish priests, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, he saved others, himself he cannot save.
Like, you know, how could this be the Son of God?
He claims to have saved others, and he can't even save himself.
Look, he's dead, right? Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.
They're saying, They're daring God show up because we murdered.
We murdered the Son of God, and they're basically looking to the heavens and saying, we dare you, God, come out of the heavens now so that we may see if you're even real.
And, of course, that did not happen.
And verse 31 says, even those who were crucified with him reviled him.
Verse 33, Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, translated into, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Some of those who stood by when they heard that said, look, he is calling for Elijah.
Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone.
Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down.
And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last.
Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
So when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the son of God.
Do you understand?
It was a Roman soldier who realized that this was the Son of God while the Jewish high priest murdered him.
Understand this.
Because most of what we have been taught about this, even by our modern-day church, has been a deception.
Rome did not want to kill Christ.
The Jews did. A Roman soldier saw him as Christ, the Son of God.
The Jews saw him as nothing but a blasphemous imposter, and they ordered him to be murdered again and again.
Verse 42, now when evening had come because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, is that how you pronounce that?
A prominent council member who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Pilate marveled that he was already dead and summoned the centurion and asked him if he had been dead for some time.
So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
Then he bought fine linen, took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and he laid him in a tomb, which had been hewn out of a rock and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
And Mary Magdalene and the mother of Mary of Joseph observed where he was laid.
Now, if we go back to John, the death of Christ, this is, I think, very important.
This is, of course, chapter 19 and verse 28, I believe.
Yes. Verse 28.
This is when he's being crucified.
That the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst.
Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, you know, a reed of hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished.
And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
He left his body.
He gave up his spirit.
So he made the decision for his spirit to leave his physical body, saying it is finished.
What is finished?
That the Scripture might be fulfilled.
in essence, the prophecy that he knew, the prophecy handed to him from God, that his life, his presence here on earth was going to involve all these things, the teachings, the disciples, and the betrayal of him by his disciples, and his death, which and the betrayal of him by his disciples, and his death, which he foresaw and warned about, I believe, He saw all of this, and then he saw beyond.
He saw that he would die on the cross for the sins of man, and he saw that this was a necessary sacrifice in order for him to defeat, ultimately, to defeat evil and Satanism in our world.
That's what's so amazing about this.
He knew that he would have to go through this.
And then it even says the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other.
These are the people who were crucified alongside Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe, for these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled.
Not one of his bones shall be broken.
And again, another Scripture says, they shall look on him who they pierced.
See, this is prophecy, cosmic, God's prophecy being fulfilled through the persecution of Christ.
And then from the book of John, it tells the story of Joseph of Arimathea, which sounds suspiciously similar to arithmetic.
Maybe he has a brother named Integer.
I don't know. I'm sorry.
I can't resist adding in a little bit of comedy from time to time, even on such a serious subject.
But being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly...
So Joseph was secretly a follower of Jesus, right?
Secretly for fear of the Jews, because the Jews murdered, well, ordered the murder of Jesus.
They cried for the murder of Jesus.
So this guy, Joseph, is like, I don't want them to know I'm a Jesus follower.
The Jews might kill me too.
So they asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission.
Again, this is the Roman officials like, okay, you can take the body.
This guy from Rome, Pilate, he seems rather reasonable in all of this, doesn't he?
He seems pretty reasonable.
It's the Jews that seem insane and filled with hatred.
Vile. Murdering Christ.
Their minds and their hearts filled with hatred.
Yeah, think about that.
Think about that also in view of modern times as well.
Very disturbing kind of stance to have hatred toward Christians, hatred toward Christ, hatred toward God.
Verse 39, Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes.
See? More spices and herbs.
About a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
So there they laid Jesus because of the Jews' preparation day, for the tomb was nearby." So that's where we will end today's sermon, and of course, we'll follow this up with what happens next.
Why is the tomb empty?
What has happened here?
And of course, all of history was changed from that point forward.
So the summary of today's sermon is Jesus knew he was going to be murdered.
The demand to murder him came from the Jews, the corrupt religious high priests of the Jews, and The official from Rome tried not to murder Christ multiple times, tried to set him free, but the Jews insisted that Rome order the death of Christ, which eventually Pilate relented and then allowed the Jews to have their way and to order the death of Christ.
So yes, it is true, and it states in the Bible, I've just read the passages for you, that the Jews are responsible for the murder of Christ.
Not Rome. It's right there in Scripture.
I encourage you to read those chapters yourself.
And that the Jews were infested with demonic hatred for Christ.
The religious leaders of the Jews infested with demonic hatred for Christ.
Makes you wonder why.
Makes you wonder about a lot of things.
The past, the present, and the future, doesn't it?
But thank you for listening. I'm Mike Adams.
More sermons yet to come, and the next one will be incredibly interesting.
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