Proof Positive
Notice in Acts the second chapter, verses five through thirty-six.
Jews and devout men out of every nation on earth were gathered in Jerusalem. There were Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Judeans, Turks, Egyptians, Libyans, Cyrenians, Arabians, strangers and Jews alike gathered in Jerusalem (verses 9-11).
The men from every nation dwelling in Jerusalem were there to witness a great event. Yet none had been told that such an event was about to occur. Even so there was a feeling that something big was about to happen.
Everyone was talking about that man called Jesus of Nazareth. The events surrounding His death and crucifixion were strange indeed. Evidence of the great earthquake which had split huge rocks wide open were everywhere to be seen. The quake happened at the precise moment of His death! Then there was the rent in the great veil of the Temple — strange signs indeed! Some even said they had seen dead men, risen from their graves, walking the streets of Jerusalem.
Rumors were that the eleven, who had been with Him, were hiding out in the city. They had been heard to say that Jesus of Nazareth had instructed them to wait for some sort of power from on high.
Some said this was to be "the Day of the Lord," the day that Joel the prophet had written about! Others laughed and said the men were fanatics and that nothing would be altered, that all things would continue as from the beginning of the creation!
Then on Monday morning, June 18, 31 A.D., it happened! It shook the city with its power. There was a great rushing of wind that caused the populace to shrink in fear. Everyone living in Jerusalem heard it. As they regained their composure, their courage, they began to walk, then run toward the spot from which this sound seemed to emanate.
A crowd began forming around a house that had an upper room. The multitude stood outside bewildered, not knowing what to make of this strange phenomenon. Then the door opened and the eleven plus one stepped forth — and others with them. There was a hush as they began to speak.
Then an amazing thing happened — every person, regardless of his nation or language, heard them speak in his native tongue.
They were amazed and dumbfounded. What did all this mean? In an attempt to explain, some began to accuse the apostles of drinking too much wine — of being drunk!
The man called Peter held up his hands, stilling the crowd. He began to speak in a powerful voice, delivering the first recorded sermon of the New Testament. He denied their mocking. He preached the Word of God, especially inspired, by Divine Power for this SPECIAL OCCASION!
He brought an electrifying message that you and I are to UNDERSTAND!
Peter addressed the men of Israel, and the men of every nation on earth and said, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (verses 22 and 23).
How could Peter say such a thing? How could he accuse such a large group of crucifying Jesus Christ? These men, the men from all over the earth had not participated physically in the crucifixion! Yet Peter said under inspiration, "You have taken, and [You] by [your] wicked hands have crucified and slain."
To make doubly sure they got it, to make doubly sure YOU get it, Peter said in verse 36, "Therefore let ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Nationally speaking, the United States and Great Britain are the descendants of two of the ten tribes of the House of Israel. (Write immediately for the proof of this amazing historical fact — it's made plain in our free book The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy) Therefore, I repeat, by the authority of Jesus Christ — YOU KILLED JESUS CHRIST! Your wicked hands crucified the Savior just as surely as if you had been there thrusting the spear in His side!! You killed Christ just as surely as I killed that old, white-haired Burmese so many years ago!
We have all read Mark 14:63-65 and been horrified at the conduct of the High Priest who blasphemed and condemned Jesus Christ to death. We have been appalled that they "spit on Him," and that they struck Him with rods, sticks and their fists!
Many of us have read and never understood that we, that You and I are personally guilty of condemning Christ to death, of spitting in His face, of striking Him with our fists until we bludgeoned His face, turning it purple and red. You haven't realized that you didn't stop until His face was raw and swollen, until His skin parted, ruptured and bled!
Most of us have never understood that we literally cursed Jesus Christ every day of the year that we wiped our dirty feet on God's Holy Days. Truly you spit in your Savior's face every day that you mocked Jesus Christ by keeping another day than the true Sabbath! Jesus Christ created and made the seventh day of the week HOLY! He said to sanctify the seventh day and to keep it Holy! We have despised Jesus Christ in our disobedience to this command.
They cried out again, crucify Him" (Mark 15:13).
You are part of those from every nation on the earth! Most of you reading this article are the direct descendants of the House of Israel! You — with those that stood before Peter and those who stood with the Roman mobs — cried out, "Crucify Him," just as surely as if you had been there in person! Your actions, your words have crucified Jesus Christ in a THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS! "For when we were yet without strength," Jesus Christ died for us, the ungodly sinners of the earth!
While we were still cursing God, crucifying and condemning God our Savior by our evil behavior and deeds, Jesus Christ was commending His love toward us. He died for us (Rom. 5:8).
Jesus Christ was beaten more than any man. He was punched, jabbed, kicked and then beaten with a cat-o'-nine-tails until he was marred beyond recognition. In the scourging of Matthew 27:26, Jesus Christ was delivered just short of death! The beating tore open the flesh on his body until his bones were exposed (Ps. 22:17).
The scourging was preparatory to the most vicious crucifixion yet devised by man. It was a crucifixion in which Christ was nailed face up to a pole.
You were there when a grizzled, uncouth Roman soldier knelt — one knee on the ground, another in Christ's chest! Then slowly, methodically, you began the hammer blows that drove the square-cut nails deep into the red, raw flesh of your Savior and mine, pinning His hands and feet to that stake.
The blood that spurted out of those nail holes at Golgotha did not all run down the stake onto the ground — some of it spurted in your face, on your clothing and on your hands!
You were there — driving the nails just as surely as I killed the little old Burmese twenty some years ago in a place called Indo China!
When they raised the pole and dropped it in the hole, when his flesh tore on the nails as the pole hit bottom, you were there cheering. You WERE THERE PUTTING TO DEATH THE ONLY SAVIOR THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!
You despised and rejected your Savior, ". . . a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and WE [you] hid as it were OUR [your] faces from Him; He was despised, and WE [you] esteemed Him not. Surely he hath borne OUR [your] grief and carried OUR [your] sorrows yet WE [you] did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for OUR [your] transgressions, He was bruised for OUR [your] iniquities: the chastisement of OUR [your] peace was upon Him: and with His stripes WE [you] are healed. All WE [of us] like sheep have gone astray; WE [you] have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of US ALL" (Isa. 53:3-6).
That's what you did to Christ, however innocent you feel your rebellion has been to His laws and His commandments. Your disobedience to God's laws caused His death — every last agonizing minute of it!