And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. ~ Matthew 26:1-4 

Those who were plotting Jesus’s death had gathered together secretly in an effort to put a plan together as to how to pull it off. Their plot wasn’t put into motion until Judas approached them with an offer to betray Jesus to them.

In John 10 Jesus had declared,  No man taketh my life  from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. ~ v. 18

When we read the gospel accounts we find that even though Judas was a traitor, he didn’t betray Jesus until Jesus told him, “That thou doest, do quickly” ~ John 13:27. This happened during the last Supper, and the next day was Passover. Judas then went out and betrayed Jesus to them, and they arrested Jesus that same night.

Now, I want you to notice the plan devised by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, along with Caiaphas the high priest. When they discussed how they could take Jesus and put him to death, they agreed not to do it on the feast day, which was Passover.

They were cowards and had no justification for condemning Jesus. They simply hated him without a cause as Jesus says to his disciples in John 15. They wanted to kill him subtily, because the truth in Jesus was a threat to their corrupt religious dominance over the people. The plot to avoid the Passover failed. They were prisoners of the powers of darkness, the very power of darkness that did not understand the mystery of God, for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Jesus died at their hands, but the timing was in Jesus’s hands. It was at the time ordained by God, because Jesus is the Passover lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

Though they plotted to kill him secretly, it happened out in the open for all to see. Jesus died in God’s timing, not theirs. When Jesus was crucified, he gave up the ghost at the exact moment that the Passover lamb was to be slain, his body was taken down from the cross and rested in the tomb the next day on the first day of unleavened bread which was also the Sabbath. He rose from the dead on the third day which was also the first day of the week, and the day of the feast of first-fruits on the ancient Jewish calendar.

May God give us all more insights into the wonders of cross.