Urantia Book 91. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua bin Joseph, Yeshua, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. The fact that the spiritual leaders and religious teachers of the Jewish nation rejected the teachings of Jesus and conspired to bring about his cruel death does not affect the standing of any individual Jew before God. The Jews, as a sociopolitical group paid in full the terrible price of rejecting the Prince of Peace. There is no valid reason why the descendants of these long-ago Jews should be made to suffer the persecutions which they have endured at the hands of ignorant, bigoted and unworthy professed followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who was, himself a Jew, by natural birth. Kingdom believers, those who follow the teachings of Jesus, must cease to mistreat the individual Jew as one who is guilty of the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. The Father and his Creator Son have never ceased to love the Jews. God is no respecter of persons, and salvation is for the Jews as well as the gentile (175.2.1-3).************************ Just before midnight on Tuesday, April 4, AD 30 the Sanhedrin officially and unanimously voted to impose the death sentence on Jesus and Lazarus. The passing of death sentence (even before his trial) upon the Son of God was the Sanhedrin’s reply to the last offer of heavenly mercy ever to be extended to the Jewish nation. Israel had repudiated the Son of God, who had made a covenant with Abraham, and the plan to make the children of Abraham the light-bearers of truth to the world had been shattered. The divine covenant had been abrogated, and the end of the Hebrew nation drew on apace. The officers of the court were told to arrest Jesus in secret and at night, and bring him before midnight on Thursday (175.3.1-3).********************* While Jesus was out on Mount Olivet predicting the death of the Jewish nation, all the people were wondering what would happen to Jesus now. And Judas Iscariot was betraying Jesus, although he stayed with the apostolic group. At the home of Nicodemus 30 Jews who were secret believers decided to openly acknowledge their faith if Jesus was arrested. The Sadducees, who now dominated the Sanhedrin, wanted Jesus dead for 3 reasons: 1.The popularity of Jesus would come to the attention of the Roman authorities, and the Jews would be accused of not being in control of the people. They wanted to maintain the status-quo. 2. Jesus’ zeal for temple reform directly affected their income. 3. They felt themselves responsible for the preservation of social order, and they feared the consequences of the further spread of Jesus’ strange and new doctrine of the brotherhood of man. The Pharisees had their own reasons for wanting Jesus dead: 1. They were ultraconservative and they bitterly resented Jesus’ supposedly radical attacks on their prestige as religious teachers. 2. They held that Jesus was a lawbreaker; that he had shown utter disregard for the sabbath and numerous other legal requirements. 3. They charged him with blasphemy for alluding to God as his Father. 4. They were angry with his last discourse, at all “Woe to you” statements. A small group of Sadducees actually wanted to assassinate Jesus, but the Pharisees utterly refused to allow such an act (175.4.1-14).