Gods Sabbath

T HE J EWISH T RAGEDY

491

wanted, the deadly fear filled them that if He were allowed to live, He would eventually destroy all their hopes and aspirations. Therefore they found that it was just as necessary to dominate Him when He was of no further use to them, as when they thought He would do their bidding. If they could not force Him into being king, they would compel Him to die instead. The new situation called for a new set of plans, but in making them, there was no change in their determination to be Christ’s plan makers. Here, once again, they found themselves destitute of power to carry out their plans. As they were no longer a sovereign state, they could not sentence the loving Saviour to death and carry out His execution. Therefore they had to look for some source of power, which when added to their schemes, would enable them to destroy Christ. The only place such power could be acquired was from the hated Romans. At this time Rome ruled the earth and therefore held the sword of power in its hands. Because the Jews were dedicated to exterminating the Romans, they ought to have re jected the idea of using Roman power to accomplish their aims as a matter of principle. But principle and honor were not even considered. Expedien cy was all that mattered. To the Jews, the end to be achieved was so important that any means was justified, no matter how unscrupulous. Their actions were a revelation of the depths of inconsistency and iniquity to which they were prepared to go in their determination to have their own way. But even more than expediency was driving the Jews to cru cify Christ. They were thirsting for revenge. They had pitted all their hopes in Him. He was born a Jew as were they; He pos sessed all the power necessary to accomplish the mission they had assigned Him; He came at the promised time; and He claimed to be the Messiah. But He had not fulfilled their expec tations. They felt the intense pain of bitter disappointment, be trayal, and mockery. For this, they would see that He paid. With deep satisfaction they would watch Him die a lingering, agoniz ing death, rejected and hated by all. They would mock Him as they upheld the “failure” of His ways and the “superiority” of their own. Concentrated in what they did to Christ in His final suffering and death, was all the evil that is the natural out