Luke 23

In order for Christ's sacrifice to take the place of the traditional Passover lamb, He had to be both innocent and put to death. How could that be accomplished, though? As it turned out, the Israelites were under the rule of the Roman Empire at the time and they shared legal responsibility for the citizens with the Jews. Therefore, Jesus was able to stand trial before the Romans and be declared innocent while still being sentenced to death by the Jews.

This is a critical role for the Jews to play. They were the ones that believed in sacrifice for the atonement of sins. They were the ones that had the relationship with God. They were the ones that were looking for a Messiah to bring salvation. They were the ones that had to actually perform the sacrifice. What the Jews did by demanding Christ's death was to fulfill the scripture. It wasn't a bad thing; it was a necessary thing.

The Romans could no more have sacrificed Christ than they could have performed the sacrifice of lambs or oxen in the temple. It would have been unthinkable, and it would have simply been murder. I can't completely understand how the sacrifice works or why it is necessary for the atonement, but I can say that I am glad that it happened so that we can all have salvation.