Who killed Jesus?

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Acts 2:23-24

Jesus gave His life for us. His sacrifice was no accident. It wasn't just cruel injustice that crucified Him. It wasn't just a religious conspiracy to silence Him. It wasn't just poltical expediency that reluctantly allowed His execution. All of these factors certainly were at work in the events that led to Calvary's cross, but Jesus died in fulfillment of the Father's will and it was a direct working out of the definite plan of God.

Jesus willfully laid down His life, predicted His own death and resurrection, and obeyed His Father perfectly in all things in the unfolding of those events. And death could not hold Him. God raised Him up on the third day just as Jesus Himself told His disciples. And in that way our salvation was secured. Jesus didn't just die. He died for our sins and was raised for our hope!

In a very real sense nobody killed Jesus. No one is held responsible for His murder. Jesus laid down His life according to God's plan and foreknowledge. If anything, my sins, your sins, the sins of all people of all time were the "cause" of His death. But He is not dead! He is alive right now because death was defeated by Him for us. And in the darkest events in human history, a new eternal hope has arisen by the work of a now empty cross and empty tomb! Praise Him!