Yesterday I wrote about the fact that Jesus is Life and that He could not be killed because there is no death in Life- He had to lay down His life of His own free will. Today let’s revisit that same topic and ponder the significance of the fact that Jesus could not be killed.

If we were to go through every verse of the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry, we would see a number of occasions where it appeared that Jesus was in serious danger. For example, when He was in His own hometown of Nazareth, the people wanted to throw Him off a cliff, yet Jesus managed to just walk through them and walk away. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? If a crowd is angry and filled with rage, they turn into a mob that is unrestrained, unruly, and violent. No one could just pass through a crowd like that without harm… unless it was just not possible for anyone to kill Him.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears….  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, Luke 4:16-21, 28-30 (KJV)

The scriptures mention several times when the religious leaders sought a way to kill Jesus, but they were unable to do it because the set time for Him to lay down His life had not yet come.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.  In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. John 5:16-18 (New International Version, NIV)

After this Jesus traveled extensively throughout the province of Galilee, but he avoided the province of Judea, for he knew the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were plotting to have him killed…. His words caused many to want to arrest him, but no man was able to lay a hand on him, for it wasn’t yet his appointed time. John 7:1, 30 (The Passion Translation, TPT)

And who can forget the times when Jesus and the disciples faced storms of epic proportions on the sea of Galilee? On at least one occasion, we are told that Jesus was sound asleep in the boat. It seems to me that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to sleep in a small boat being tossed in the midst of a mega-storm with no concern whatsoever… unless He knew He could not die.

On that same day [when] evening had come, He said to them, Let us go over to the other side [of the lake]. And leaving the throng, they took Him with them, [just] as He was, in the boat [in which He was sitting]. And other boats were with Him. And a furious storm of wind [of hurricane proportions] arose, and the waves kept beating into the boat, so that it was already becoming filled. But He [Himself] was in the stern [of the boat], asleep on the [leather] cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, Master, do You not care that we are perishing? And He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush now! Be still (muzzled)! And the wind ceased (sank to rest as if exhausted by its beating) and there was [immediately] a great calm (a perfect peacefulness). Mark 4:35-39 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition, AMPC)

Jesus is Life. Because you can’t kill Life, He could not be killed without His own permission for His life to be taken. Jesus knew He was part of the plan of redemption and that He was to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He understood that there would be a specific time for His life to be laid down. Until He spoke the words that released His spirit to the keeping of the Father, He would continue to live. He also understood that His life was His own to give or to keep- no one could take it from Him.

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:46 (NKJV)

The awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping thing is that He actually did it; He gave up His life of His own free will. The King of kings, the Creator of all things, the Source of all life, the One true God, purposely submitted to being beaten mercilessly, to dying a gruesome death on the cross, and to going into the deepest depths of hell to suffer unmentionable torment. He did it on purpose… for you… for me. And because Life is too strong for the forces of death, hell and the grave, Jesus arose and gave us the victory. Life chose death so that death would die.

Bless His Holy Name! All glory, and honor, and power be His forever and ever! Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth and the Life- now and always!