A Prediction of His Death

A Predication of his death.

“Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” 
Matthew 20: 17-19.

Here Jesus predicts his death, by being turned over to the gentiles, flogged and crucified.
Jesus was not killed by the Jews.
Had that happened he would have been stoned to death. Which was the method of capital punishment used by the Jews.
Jesus was killed by the Romans.
Over the years many ignorant people have accused the Jews of crucifying Christ. This is far from the truth.
It’s interesting to note that Jesus the saviour of all mankind was persecuted by representatives of all mankind.
The Jews who rejected him as their Messiah. The Romans, representative of the gentile world, who mocked him and did he actual persecution.
The political leadership. The Jewish leadership who seen him as a threat to their authority.
The Roman leadership. Who found no wrong deserving of death in him yet out of political expediency ordered his crucifixion.
Even his disciples, those who did believe him deserted him.
All can be said to have a part in the persecution and death of Jesus.
It was death that had to be.
It showed in human terms how far God would go to reconcile man to himself.
The important thing to remember in all of this is that Jesus rose from the dead and not only do the Christian scriptures say this but so do external records out of the control of Christians,
Flavius Josephus, who lived until 98 A.D., was a romanized Jewish historian. He wrote books on Jewish history for the Roman people. In his book, Jewish Antiquities, he made references to Jesus. In one reference he wrote:
"About this time arose Jesus, a wise man, who did good deeds and whose virtues were recognized. And many Jews and people of other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. However, those who became his disciples preached his doctrine. They related that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Perhaps he was the Messiah in connection with whom the prophets foretold wonders." [Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XVIII 3.2]
Think about it.