Listening to a sermon this weekend, I learned that the Jewish Talmud (Sanhedrin 41a) records that 40 years before the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, the Sanhedrin officially lost the legal authority to carry out capital punishment.
Forty years before 70 AD is 30 AD… most likely the year Jesus died. This wasn't a coincidence, it was divine providence setting the stage for the cross.
If Jesus had been arrested just a year earlier, the Jewish leaders would have executed Him the way they wanted to... by stoning, because stoning was their method of capital punishment. But stoning wouldn't have fulfilled all the OT Scriptures prophesying His crucifixion, and it would’ve made Jesus a liar because He foretold His own crucifixion, too.
God used the shifting political landscape of the Roman Empire and the Jewish courts to ensure that when the time came, the Jewish leaders were legally powerless to kill Jesus their way. They had to hand Him over to the Romans. They had to use the cross.
When Pilate told them to judge Jesus themselves, they had to admit the frustrating truth that it was not lawful for them to put anyone to death (John 18:31). And John records the reason for this in the next verse: "This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was to die."
The Jews thought they were just using Roman law to get rid of a troublemaker... they didn't realize they were unwittingly fulfilling the exact specifications of God's redemptive plan.
Not a single detail was left to chance. God was orchestrating the salvation of the world, down to the very method of execution. For my sin, and for yours.
It honestly blows my mind when we get to see these little glimpses of how perfectly God's sovereignty works (seemingly) behind the scenes of human history.
how can you not believe in God when octopuses DREAM and otters have a favorite rock they carry around in a little SKIN POCKET and cows have BEST FRIENDS and bees are out there communicating the coordinates of flowers through INTERPRETIVE DANCE and they have REGIONAL DIALECTS??
cats are PURRING at frequencies associated with bone healing??? forests get absolutely incinerated and respond by growing FLOWERS??? dolphins literally invent NAMES for themselves and yell them across the ocean??? penguins are waddling around Antarctica looking for the PERFECT LITTLE ROCK to give their beloved???
CROWS REMEMBER YOUR FACE. THEY TELL OTHER CROWS ABOUT YOU. THEY TELL THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT YOU. YOU CAN HAVE GENERATIONAL BEEF WITH A BIRD.
goats have ACCENTS. rats GIGGLE when you tickle them. elephants mourn their dead. whales make SONGS and then OTHER WHALES LEARN THE SONG and suddenly everybody across the ocean is singing the new hit single.
monarch butterflies are born knowing how to fly thousands of miles to a place THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN. sea turtles hatch out of an egg, immediately sprint toward an OCEAN they have never seen, disappear into it for like THIRTY YEARS and then somehow come back to THE SAME BEACH???
birds can see COLORS THAT WE CANNOT SEE. there are colors happening RIGHT NOW that we don’t even get to know about.
there are sea slugs that eat algae and STEAL ITS CHLOROPLASTS and then are just like great thanks I’ll be PHOTOSYNTHESIZING NOW. there are mushrooms communicating underground. there are seeds sitting in the dirt for DECADES like no actually I will wait.
squirrels plant MILLIONS OF TREES because they simply cannot remember where they put their snacks.
A CATERPILLAR GOES INTO A LITTLE BAG, DISSOLVES MOST OF ITS BODY INTO ORGANIC SOUP, REARRANGES ITSELF, GROWS WINGS AND LEAVES.
and you’re telling me a tiny acorn knows how to become a 70-foot oak tree??? nobody tells it what to do??? it just has TREE INSTRUCTIONS INSIDE IT???
your body started as ONE CELL. ONE. and that cell divided itself into a brain that can think about its own existence and eyes that can look at stars and hands that can hold somebody else’s hands and a heart that runs on ELECTRICITY without you even asking it to???
the iron in your BLOOD was made inside a STAR.
I’M SORRY?????
we are walking around on a wet rock covered in bioluminescent oceans and singing whales and laughing rats and birds holding lifelong grudges and flowers exploding out of FIRE and somehow we’re supposed to act like this is a normal place to live?????????
@4gottnHistory Sumerians didn't originate the flood they were just 1st to ✍️ it. It obviously began as oral tradition after Noah, his descendants migrated to Shinar (Sumer) n built cities, keepn the story alive. Sumers wrote their version on clay, while Genesis gave the true monotheistic accnt
More rappers are leaning into their Christian faith lately, from baptisms to prayers and religious posts on social media. 🙏✝️
Fivio Foreign traded drill for gospel, NLE The Great announced he was baptized in the Holy Spirit, Skilla Baby paused his interview with The Breakfast Club to pray with the hosts and 6ix9ine proclaimed “Jesus is the way” during a podcast appearance.