The death of the One for the life of the many

"And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said the them, 'You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."

-- John 11:49-50

There's probably no way Caiaphas could have known that in privately originating the plot to kill Jesus, he was uttering an outline of what would become the doctrine of our salvation.

Even John goes on to say in the next verses that "this he (Caiaphas) did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. (John 11:51-52)."

The episode that brought this unintentionally (at least in Caiaphas' mind) prophetic statement on was Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead after four days in the tomb.

It's an incident that struck Caiaphas and the chief priests deeply.

One teacher points out that as Jesus was dying on the cross, the chief priests mocked him, saying "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. (Matthew 27:42)."

And once again, intended as an insult, they unintentionally gave exposition into the nature of the sacrifice.

They saw the crucifixion as an ultimate end to a perceived enemy. They couldn't understand that it was God's ultimate beginning to victory over mankind's true enemy -- sin.

If Jesus had indeed saved Himself, all others would have been lost. All that would have been proven was Christ's power over death for Himself.

But He gave His life as an offering for the sin of the world -- Sin that never was, and never would be, His own.

When that righteous blood spilled, it was poured out on the world -- on us -- to cleanse us of our sin, if we would only repent of it.

If this was to be the purpose of His death, He indeed could not save Himself. Not that it wasn't in His power to do so. Rather, to save Himself would have been to wander outside the will of the Father and to lose the very world He'd come to save.

Repeatedly through the book of Acts, Jesus Christ's resurrection is qualified by the phrase "whom God raised from the dead."

Having given Himself completely unto death, Jesus was raised by His Father in heaven. And through that, we are saved.

"He saved others, Himself He cannot save."

True indeed.

Just as Caiaphas and the high priests were violently opposed to Jesus and were still used for His Glory, consider the people in your lives that just seem to live in opposition to God.

Not only can God use them to speak of His Grace and Salvation, but He can save anyone, because of the sacrifice He has given.

It's always a good question to ask, where these private exchanges between the teachers of the law occur in the gospels, how they came to light in scripture?

Whether it be the Apostle Paul, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea or some pharisee scripture doesn't record, these sections come from someone who started out opposed to God and ended up under His Mighty Hand of Forgiveness.

Then again, any Christian's story follows the same arc.

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"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." John 12:24