The Prayer from the Cross

As He hung dying on the cross surrounded by His enemies, Jesus asked His Father to forgive those who had orchestrated His death. He cited their ignorance as the reason God should grant His request. 

How could Jesus claim that they didn’t know they were killing God’s Son? He had given them 3 ½ years of evidence of His divinity and they had spent 3 ½ years resisting it. How could they not have known that they were fighting God? This was pre-meditated and orchestrated murder. There doesn’t seem any other way to portray it.

Jesus’ statement, “for they know not what they do,” only makes sense when we understand who was ultimately behind His death. Satan’s enmity against Christ had already banished him from heaven. Seeing Jesus condescend to come in human form onto Satan’s own ground filled Satan with renewed determination to destroy Christ. The Bible