John Byer

The detective during his investigation asked hundreds of ‘Christian’ people these two very simple and elementary questions about their proclaimed religion … and to his utter dismay, none of the people in his personal sample knew the correct answers. Most of them responded “Christ died to save us from our sins” (quoting Saint Paul at verse 3 in First Corinthians 15) but that is not the correct answer based on the many years of research by the detective. Therefore, here are his best answers and best explanations which he derived from his studies:
 
Why God sent Christ to Earth ...
First, God’s plan to send Christ to Earth was not a celestial decision made in the spur of the moment.  God doesn’t think, work, or react in that fashion. The idea of the Lord sending the Messiah to Earth originated long before the programmed event actually unfolded on the earthly landscape. Some say the Psalms of David, where many were allegedly written prior to 1000 BC foretell the coming of the Messiah, but now because of scholarly biblical research, the dating of the psalms is questionable and thus they are disputable. In any event, Isaiah (740BC-686BC) provides very specific information about Jesus in Chapter 53, not under the title of “Messiah,” but as the Suffering Servant, a very accurate and fitting description for Christ considering what he would physically endure at Calvary.  Isaiah prayed only for the Jews and in so praying, he described many of their visible transgressions or sins against Mosaic Law (e.g. idol worship and the corruption of Temple sacrifices). Because of these sins, he requests God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness for the Jews while also reporting the death and resurrection of the Suffering Servant in such a manner as to clearly define a larger reason and purpose for his brutal death (Genesis 1:27). Then, in the 6th Century BC, and at least 500 years before the public appearance of Jesus in Judea, Daniel reports in Chapter 9 of his Book the exact year of Christ’s arrival and the exact day of his death. He also foretells the anointing of the most holy; the detective asserts “the most holy” is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, or the Anointed One. Two chapters prior, the scripture reveals a vision seen by the prophet (Daniel 7:13) where he identifies an unknown Son of man (i.e. a human being) who rises with the clouds of heaven to meet God; then, about 500 years later, this prophetic scripture is finally fulfilled on the day of Passover 30AD. God’s message given to Daniel by Gabriel (Daniel 9:24), is validated when this vision and prophecy are sealed-up (or confirmed) by the spiritual ascension of Christ into heaven after his death on a Roman cross.  And once again, Daniel like Isaiah never prayed for the Gentiles; he only prayed to God to grant mercy and forgiveness for the transgressions committed by the Jews. Thus, when priests and ministers declare that Jesus came to earth to save “us” from our sins (where they very often make clear reference to original sin), the detective heartily disagrees with their claim; it is a false reading of Paul’s scripture and a total misunderstanding of the context where the Apostle made  this assertion in his epistle. Paul, himself would disagree with these Christian pastors because Paul was a Jew and he was addressing a synagogue full of Jews in Corinth, thus the word “us”!  Paul even qualifies his statement when he added “according to the scriptures.” The two Old Testament Jewish Books (Isaiah and Daniel) only address Jewish transgressions (sins) in their scripture; nothing is mentioned about the sins of Gentiles (i.e. the people who are not Jewish). And in this same vein, only the Jews made a covenant with God, so only the Jews could violate it …. which they openly did primarily due to their contravention of the First Commandment. Therefore, Christ wasn’t sent to Earth in order to “save” all people…he only came to save the Jews, but according to Isaiah, he would be a “Great Light” to the gentiles (i. e. the non-Jewish people of the world) … something which he has been for the last 2000 years (Daniel 7:14) And, even though Christ did not come to Earth to “save” the gentiles …. all people … Jews and gentiles alike … will learn in the following paragraphs the true underlying reason for Christ’s dispatch to Judea and why God believed it was necessary for Jesus to die a brutal death.
 
 
Why Jesus suffered a brutal death on a Roman Cross ...
Additional evidence that God sent Jesus only to ‘save’ the Jews is proven by the manner of his death and more particularly, his planned, visible, immediate, same-body resurrection from the tomb. These latter events along with the above scriptural issues relating to the First Commandment and the spiritual nature of man all coalesce and help expound the divine rationale for Christ’s earthly presence. However, adding to this devilish stew is the rise of several political parties inside Israel during the 4th Century BC, one of which was the Sadducees … a visible example of the moral decay and corruption within Jewish society. This Party, especially after the occupation of the Greeks in 168-167BC grew in political influence and power. By the time of Christ, the Sadducees represented 70% of the Jewish Sanhedrin (the supreme council and tribunal of the Jews). The Sadducees no longer believed in the resurrection or life after the grave; for them, everything ended at the time of physical death (Note: This precisely defines, and explains exactly why God sent Jesus down to Earth to suffer a brutal death). Additionally, they wrote legal opinions and created new law that denied or overrode Mosaic Law; for instance, their view of the world denied the eternal truth of Genesis 1:27 which acclaimed that man was made in the image of God. Similarly, the symbol of Judaism, the refurbished Second Temple of Jerusalem (thanks to King Herod), had been totally desolate of spirituality for many years, all due to the organized graft and mafia-style corruption, which made the Jewish feast days and rituals extremely offensive to the eyes of God (Isaiah 1: 11-15). In other words, the Jews were not real Jews … they were Jews in name only (somewhat like most ‘Christians’ today), and as such, no longer considered God’s chosen people since they had forsaken their status as being “holy” unto the Lord (Deuteronomy 14:2). For the same reason, the Jews were not a peculiar people above all nations anymore (Exodus 19:5).
   
Now that the reader has a firm grasp of the situation in Judea, the singular reason for God’s assignment of Christ to his unique mission on Earth finally comes into proper focus. The Lord had orchestrated Christ’s mission, everything down to the smallest detail, but His non-visible, behind-the-scenes control was never apparent, either at the time or through-out the next 2000 years. It wasn’t apparent because Lucius had foolishly and falsely identified Jesus as the Lord, a misnomer that has caused harm to Christian belief in immeasurable ways. His deceitful corruption of scripture in the New Testament has misguided the readers of his forged verses into believing Christ could rise from the dead by his own initiative and innate power, even though verse 11 in chapter 53 of Isaiah’s Book described God’s involvement. Keeping no hidden secrets, God had openly proclaimed and precisely articulated the who, what, when, where, why and even the how of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection, yet very few bothered to heed the message in Isaiah’s verses. During this critical period of Christ’s life, with the success of his assigned mission hanging in the balance, nothing happened to Jesus Christ by accident or misstep; every action was divinely choreographed and meticulously planned which includes the historically renowned public trial by Pontius Pilate; his crowning with a prickly wreath of thorns; his brutal scourging by 39 or 40 lashes; and finally, the nailing of his naked, bloody body to a wooden cross. Therefore, in this depiction of the resurrection scenario, Jesus would not be stoned to death in some quiet, isolated narrow alley by the Jews (because that would be a secluded event without a large viewing audience), and the Romans wouldn’t break the legs of Jesus either (because, if they obediently followed the customary crucifixion protocol), then he would not be able to walk out of the tomb. All these disparate issues were taken into consideration by God in order to pull-off a seamless resurrection. But once again, because of the antics by Lucius, people have failed to properly understand the mechanics of the resurrection, and hence, give too much credit to Jesus, when in reality, 100% of the credit goes to Almighty God.
 
Nonetheless, God recognized people had to fully comprehend and sincerely believe, (without any reservation whatsoever), that Jesus had really died … otherwise, future generations would always question and doubt the reality of Christ’s resurrection. So God, in order to eliminate this latter possibility, intentionally bided His time and waited patiently over several centuries until the Roman legions finally marched into Judea. With Imperial occupation now firmly in place, the Lord knew with absolute certainty that the crucifixion (an intentionally degrading and gruesome execution) would be a public affair. Widespread knowledge about punishments administered by Roman officials was a key feature of their imperial crime deterrence and crime control; as a matter of policy, conquered people needed to be regularly reminded about who was in charge. Stripped naked and nailed to a cross like a piece of rotten meat, high on a hill, just outside the walls of Jerusalem made Christ’s execution publicly visible to all residents and visitors of the city ... and, since God scheduled the trial and execution to occur on the Feast of the Passover, He could then count on a minimum of several hundred thousand people as His potential viewing audience. (Note: It has been estimated that the courtyard of the Temple could hold a million people, all thanks to the renovations of Herod the Great who also upgraded the city facilities to accommodate all the people, many of whom came from nearby foreign lands. Thus, the scourging, crucifixion, and death of Christ were watched by very large numbers of people who could testify to his death.)  Additionally, just before Jesus was able to draw his last breath on the cross, and only seconds before his soul would exit his body, he emotionally pleas to God quoting Psalm 22, perfectly timing his biblical plea and his last gasp so there would be sufficient time to place his mortal remains inside the new tomb constructed by his rich uncle, Joseph of Arimathea … and, in this regard, while Jesus was still on the cross, he must have known exactly how much time he had until Sundown, since he had a perfect view of the setting Sun’s position in the late afternoon sky. Thus, only a few hours before sundown: Jesus dies; his soul exits his body; it rises through the clouds in heaven to meet the Ancient of Days (God); this event seals-up the vision (Daniel 7:13); it also fulfills God’s message about this vision (Daniel 9:24); and, during these events, his body was removed from the cross for its unique positioning and display inside the tomb in order that his body’s image would be captured on the burial linen when the “Light” entered his body (Isaiah 53:11, Septuagint and the Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll).
 
Then three full days later (after the passing of 72 hours), God guided the soul of Christ back into his life-less physical body (i.e. the “Second Coming” of Jesus). Since this was a divine act conducted by God, no one knows for sure exactly what happened, but based on the activities of Christ following his resurrection, and the physical evidence embedded into the linen cloth that covered the corpse of Jesus, one can be relatively certain that during the re-incarnation procedure high concentrations of spiritual energy (i.e. Light) filled every pore of Christ’s physical body. The Shroud’s image of Christ’s body (both front and back) testify to this fact, and it was probably during this same procedure when a complete physical check-up was administered and all necessary medical repairs were made to the body. The body is a physical machine and for Jesus to exit the tomb on his feet, his machine had to be tuned-up, or it wouldn’t operate. So, God had to heal his wounds, correct all the stiffness problems associated with lividity and rigor mortis, restore blood flow to the brain, and replace all his missing body fluids, et cetera, et cetera . Only after God did these things could Jesus rise and walk out of the tomb (Isaiah 53:11, Septuagint). God did all this … not Jesus! The Lord provided the Sadducees visible, living proof that refuted and contradicted their religious belief about man’s soul when Jesus visited his disciples and the Elder Gamaliel after his resurrection. And … God also provided all posterity, the visual, scientific proof of the resurrection when a detailed image of Christ’s full body was burnt into the burial linen by the radiating light of God or Christ’s soul which emanated from inside the body of Jesus … This linen image is known today as the Shroud of Turin. Man has acquired the Shroud courtesy of God due to His advance planning and the able assistance of Jesus.  All of this “in your face” evidence was used by God to demonstrate the ability of man to live after the grave… a capability man possessed since he has a spiritual body (or soul) made in the image of God. The resurrection or second birth of Jesus substantiated the verses contained in the Books of Isaiah and Daniel. Isaiah said Jesus would prolong his life after death, and he demonstrated that when he walked the streets and roads of Judea again. Daniel reported 500 years earlier that the Anointed One (i.e. Christ) would die on Passover and history confirms the accuracy of God’s words.
 
Not one word of this detailed, step-by-step, investigative analysis into the events surrounding the resurrection was written to belittle Jesus Christ or his brave, faithful actions at a momentous time in man’s history; the purpose of this analysis serves the exact opposite … and hopefully, people will recognize the truth of the detective’s investigation.  Why?  Because biblical facts, and biblical history, have been seriously distorted and misrepresented due to an overzealous Bishop … who corrupted about 75% of the New Testament, and even various verses of the scripture in the Old Testament. This detailed analysis is presented in order to correct a 2000 year old belief that Jesus possessed a spiritual power, unlike any other, which permitted him to resurrect from the dead; this false assumption denies the role of God in the event  and attributes the resurrection almost exclusively to the innate spiritual power of Christ.  That belief is untrue and has been false for nearly twenty centuries; this is confirmed by Isaiah 53:11. In any event, people should be happy and overjoyed by the detective’s report. For almost two millennia, people have falsely believed that Jesus was God, the Lord, or the Son of God … and these descriptions easily explain and justify how Jesus Christ was capable of rising from the dead … but let’s deal with reality. How in God’s name does that belief ... or that information, help man in his spiritual journey? It doesn’t … but, if Jesus was a normal human-being (which he was), then every person on Earth should rejoice. Why rejoice? Because they should now recognize (like Jesus), they too possess a spiritual body that is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) which can survive a brutal, gruesome, physical death, and then, also successfully escape perpetual consignment to a grave --- a false belief fostered by the Sadducees after the corruption of Mosaic Law.

Exit and Return to Page listing all Articles on this website.