The Murder of Jesus: A Study of How Jesus Died

by John F. MacArthur Jr.

Book Overview

The pieces are in place. The curtain rises for the final act. God is about to die.

An unprecedented conspiracy of injustice, cruelty, and religious and political interests sentenced a man guilty of no crimes to the most barbaric method of execution ever devised. The victim was no mere man. Jesus was God in the flesh. The Creator of life died.

How did such a thing come to be? Who were the onlookers, the players, the fakes, frauds, and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785260188
• ISBN13: 9780785260189
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Best book I’ve read in a long time

John is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He writes so plainly. Makes it easy to understand the Bible. So many details and explanations of events before and during Jesus moments on the cross. It was hard to put this book down. Can’t say enough good things about this book.

Almost as riveting as Scripture!

I read MacArthur's book in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the physical torture that crucifixion brings. I finished the book with a deeper and keener awareness of what Jesus Christ endured for me and EVERY other mortal human being who has lived, is living and will live on this earth.When reading Scripture, I've found that unless you know the contextual background, you won't realize the Word's full impact. Study aids help to understand cultural, grammatical and traditional customs of biblical times. MacArthur provides that and much, much more. In reference to the Passion Week, he smoothly blends top-notch research with the holy narrative to illuminate the goings-on in Jerusalem, detailing the mechanisms of Jewish law, Roman law and how the two should work together. He unveils the Jews' blatant disregard of the government in conspiring to kill the Son of God and the reckless, desperate abandon and hypocrisy they used to do so.MacArthur makes you feel like an eyewitness to the events, offering emotional insights that will pull on your heart, water your eyes and drop a lump into your throat. The disappointment in the apostles, the Lord's physical fatigue and the bloodthirst of the Jewish leaders smacks you in the face!You can't help but notice a difference when you read the crucifixion accounts after reading this book. Besides reintroducing you to your need for God's salvation through Christ, MacArthur gives you a moment-by-moment description of every slap, whip, spit, thorn, nail and spear that should have been borne by ALL of us. He spurs you to meditate why Jesus, being perfect, holy and righteous in all things, volunteered to receive the treatment, punishment and fate of common criminals and miscreants.MacArthur allows you to feel the humiliation, disgust and agony in your spirit. Therefore, he helps you to appreciate even greater how much God loves us. This book will revolutionize your spiritual thinking and humble you at His feet with awe, submission and gratitude.

Jesus did not "Just" die on the cross

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants a clearer understanding to what the cruxifiction was about. This book opened my eyes to the reality of the sufferings he bore for us on the road to Calvery. This book has gifted me with a much deeper appreciation of what Jesus did for me, especially during this Easter season. The cruxifiction was not just a man hanging on a cross. Jesus did not "Just" die on the cross. This book helps the reader understand, and emotionally feel, the undescribable pain and suffering Christ bore for our sins and for the salvation of the world. A must read for all!

Separation of the Son from the Father

I was never made so aware of the absolute feeling of isolation that Jesus went through when He, for the first time EVER, was separated from the Father. ("I and the Father are one.") And it suddenly made sense...the anguish in the garden and Jesus' prayer about having the cup pass from him. It was never the crucifixion he was praying about...(He was made for that moment...) but rather the cup of the wrath of God that He took all to Himself so that we would not have to experience that. And the awful anguish at the reality that He, for the first time, would be totally separated from the love of His Father. It is no wonder that JESUS is the only way. Once He had endured all of that for our sakes, it's the least we could do to step forward and acknowledge Him.Our God is an awesome God! Truly. JESUS IS LORD.This book should be required reading at every seminary, in every Sunday School Class, and in sermons from the pulpit. I felt that emotion pouring from page to page and found myself in tears over His physical and spiritual death. He died in my place. This book made that fact profoundly evident.

Finally, the REAL murderer of Christ is exposed -God Himself

Many Christians blame the Jews for killing Christ, but what few really know is that Christ was slain by God. This book corrects wrong theories of the Crucifixtion and examines the passion that Christ had for us. Through His shedding His blood for us and laying Himself down as a living sacrifice, paying for our sins and reconciling us back to God, His love is exposed. John F. MacArthur catches this love suberbly by studying Jesus' words on the cross! Even in His most humble moments, He pitied man and pleaded with the Father on our behalf. In fact, it takes the anger that many wrongly have towards the Jews away by revealing that Christ wasn't killed by them! He had a mission when He came, and the Jews and Romans were merely vessels used by God to fulfill this mission. This book has the definite ability to move any reader to tears, stirring great emotion and reality in a believer. When one fully grasps what Christ went through to atone us, he or she will truly be a different person. John F. MacArthur takes all of these sensitive subjects and brings them out in such a way that brings the reader closer and closer to Christ. The intimacy with the Lord that you'll feel while reading this book is unparallel. If you are a believer that is completely unfeeling when thinking about Christ's work on the cross, this is the book for you. Or even if you do have feeling and are close to God, this is THE book that will further improve your relationship with Jesus.