Editor’s note:  The comment below comes from a Muslim who does not believe in Jesus.

Comment:

Acts 4:25 to 27 and psalm 2.   God was angry with them because they plotted against his messiah.  This means God did not want them to plot against his messiah.  This means God did not send his messiah to be plotted against.
God laughed and mocked them because they failed to harm his messiah.  Verse 1 describes this plot as being Unsuccessful.  In short, psalm 2 is evidence that Jesus was NOT crucified.

Response

First of all, this is certainly NOT evidence that he was not crucified.   In fact, the crucifixion is one of the most well-attested facts of ancient history.   It was recorded by several eye-witnesses to the event, including the apostles John and Matthew.   It is also attested to by Josephus (Jewish historian), by Tacitus (Roman historian) and by the authors of the Jewish Talmud.  Your “evidence” is literally NOT evidence against the crucifixion of Jesus.   It might be a logical argument that the Bible is inconsistent in its theology surrounding the events of the crucifixion (I will deal with this below), but please do not claim that this is actual evidence that the crucifixion did not happen because it simply is not that!

Having dispatched with your claim that this disproves the crucifixion happened, let me deal with the question of whether these passages represent some sort of contradiction in the Bible.  Like I said, this could be a legitimate point.  First of all, you mention Psalms 2.   This is a legitimate messianic prophecy.  It is a prophecy that the enemies of God would persecute the Messiah.  Psalms 2:2 says, “The kings of earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against the Anointed One” (Hebrew: The Messiah).  To be fair, this is a relatively vague prophecy.  The amount of historical detail in this prophecy is fairly slim, but it does point to the fact that when God’s Messiah comes to his people, the leaders of the people would reject him.

Naturally, God is displeased with the fact that his very chosen people–the leaders of Israel–would reject his Messiah.  I am not sure why it bothers you to read that God is angry that his people rejected his coming to them.  This is certainly consistent with what we know about God.   God is not happy when we reject his work among his people.   God did not “want” them to plot against the Messiah.   You are right about this.  Yet, in his all-knowing nature, he foreknew that this would happen.   God knows all things, including the future.   He knew long before Jesus came that he would be rejected by his people.  God certainly was not pleased about this, but he did tell us ahead of time that this would happen.   You say that God was angry with them.   I agree.   You say that God did not want them to plot against the Messiah and to kill him.   I also agree with this.  Then you say that “This means God did not send his Messiah to be plotted against.”  I suppose I can agree with you in part on this.  This was not the REASON he sent Jesus, but it was the result of his sending Jesus.   God did not want them to reject his Messiah, but he allowed them to do so, and he foresaw that they would.  God foreknows what will happen, but he does not predestine what will happen.  The fact that God told us ahead of time that the leaders would reject his Messiah is in no conceivable way a contradiction as you seem to imply.  In fact, it is evidence of the inspiration of the Bible.  I fail to see how this is an contradiction, unless you assume that there is no free will and that God forces people to do what they do.

I am sorry but I fail to see any inconsistency in this scenario.  God, in his omniscience, told us what would happen–that the leaders would reject the Messiah.  There is not even a hint of a contradiction here, and your claim that this disproves the crucifixion is, frankly, a completely unfounded and illogical claim.

John Oakes.