Monthly Archives: November 2021

HIS ROYAL ROBE

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HIS ROYAL ROBE

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another, ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So, this is what the soldiers did.” John 19:23, 24.

Of course, if the soldiers gambled for Jesus’ clothing, it meant only one thing. He was left undressed.

He was suspended on four nails, lifted up and hanging on a cross, stark naked except for the thorny crown on His brow and the coating of blood that had congealed over His broken flesh. He had not only faced the agony of crucifixion after the horror of flogging; He now also endured the embarrassment and shame of nakedness; everyone around the cross and the passers-by could gaze at Him.

What did they see?

There were no garments to hide what the Roman soldiers had done to Him. His body was bloodied and broken beyond recognition. His face was bruised and swollen from the soldiers’ abuse; they had hit Him in the face with their fists; there were bald and bloodied patches on His cheeks where they had ripped out His beard. They had mocked Him and spat in His face. They had jammed a crown of thorns on His head, the vicious barbs piercing deep into His flesh, leaving rivulets of blood mixed with spittle streaming down His face, and into His eyes and mouth.

But, according to Jewish culture, it was not a sin to be naked; it was a sin to look at a naked person. The Jews, therefore, would have turned their faces away. It was the Roman soldiers who would have gloated over the spectacle of His naked body hanging from their torture stake; and gazed at their handiwork!

How many Scriptures were fulfilled in these two verses!

“They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” Psalm 22:18.

“…His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness…” Isaiah 52:14b.

“I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” Isaiah 50:6.

“Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised and we held Him in low esteem.” Isaiah 53:5b.

“They will look upon me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Zechariah 12:10..

Even the Father could not look upon His naked and ruined Son. Jesus’ broken body bore the brunt of all human sin – summed up in the hatred that was visible for everyone to see. God turned His face away and tore His garment – the great veil in the temple that hid His glory from the eyes of the people – and mourned for His Son.

But Jesus wore His wounds and His nakedness like a royal robe. It was not in shame but in triumph that He hung on the cross. His body proclaimed to the world, “Look what you did to me!” but His spirit remained pure and unstained by sin. Every blow to His body and every mocking word to His heart could not entice Him to hate. To His dying breath He loved them — “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:23-25

This was the royal robe, His perfect obedience to the Father throughout His life and in His dying. This is the righteousness which He bought and paid for with His blood. This is the robe He freely give to all who believe in Him.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

PILATE’S RESOLVE

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PILATE’S RESOLVE

“Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified Him, and with Him two others — one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

“Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews,” but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.'” John 19:17-22.

One short, bald statement! That’s all John had to say about the crucifixion of his Lord. Perhaps as he reminisced about that day, now an old man with many years of suffering under his own belt, he still felt the pain of the memory of the awful sight of his beloved Master suspended between heaven and earth on a Roman torture stake.

The other gospel writers had told the story. It was enough that he record the fact in as few words as possible. He chose rather to write of the Master’s love which shone forth in those terrible hours of suffering.

John also gave us a glimpse of an incident that salvaged some of Pilate’s resolve at a time like this. Pilate had given in to the howling mob when he should have stood firm. He had condemned an innocent man to death, shrugging off his responsibility by allowing men full of prejudice and hatred to pass sentence because he didn’t have the courage to stand up against them.

Yet he was convinced that Jesus was who He claimed to be, King of the Jews. In some mysterious way, Jesus was a king, but He was no threat to Caesar. Pilate knew nothing about spiritual things, but he sensed that Jesus was from and represented another dimension he could not understand. He had tried to defend Him and insisted on His innocence but the religious boffins, who should have known better, had prevailed.

Pilate had one more opportunity to press home his conviction, by stating in writing for the whole world to read — in Aramaic, Latin and Greek — his belief in Jesus as the King of the Jews. What he understood by that we do not know. We could coldly and callously ask, “Did Pilate go to hell?” without considering the intention of his heart. We could condemn him for not being true to his conviction, but in this one thing he refused to be moved.

The Jewish leaders thought they had Pilate in the bag. They had won the battle over Jesus’ conviction. Now they were incensed at Pilate’s final dig at them. Did he write the sign to get back at them; to show the utter ludicrousness of the charge against Jesus or to bear witness to his conviction that Jesus was indeed King of the Jews? We will never know but we can at least admire Pilate for his stand against them at this point.

Of course, it was too late to save Jesus. The religious leaders had their way but it left a bad taste in their mouths to think that Pilate had got the better of them here and made a bold statement for the world to read that Jesus was the King of the Jews. Whatever it meant to those who read it as they passed by, it was, for Pilate, a statement of the truth and of his own conviction.

How did this brief encounter with Jesus affect Pilate in the years that followed? We do not know. Perhaps he often mused on those terrifying moments when he was forced to make a choice and he had chosen to crucify the king. No amount of excusing himself by putting the blame on the religious leaders would ease his conscience. He had passed sentence by default and he must carry the guilt of that decision to the grave, and yet…

Peter’s words never rang in Pilate’s ears but God knew what He was doing. “This man was handed over to you (the Jews) by God’s set plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.” Acts 2:23-24.

What would Pilate think about that? Did he ever yearn for another encounter with Jesus just to put right what he had done? Only God knows!

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THEY MADE THEIR CHOICE!

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THEY MADE THEIR CHOICE!

“When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. ‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, ‘Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered.

“Finally, Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified. So, the soldiers took charge of Jesus.” John 19:13-16.

Was Pilate playacting or was he stalling for time?

He knew he was beaten but he still acted as though he were in charge. Perhaps he made a show of taking the judge’s seat, ready to give them his verdict and pass sentence on the prisoner. Instead of announcing, ‘I find the accused, Jesus of Nazareth, guilty of treason. I sentence Him to death by crucifixion,’ …or…’I find the accused, Jesus of Nazareth, not guilty of the crime of treason against Caesar. The prisoner is free to leave,’ he made a statement, weak but intended to be dramatic! ‘Here is your king!’

What was that supposed to achieve? Did he really think that this militant mob would be moved with pity when they saw the swollen face and bloodied body of their enemy being paraded before them? It was the sight of Jesus, weak and stumbling, with flesh hanging in shreds from His mangled body, that spurred them on to begin to chant, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ rising to a deafening crescendo until Pilate silenced them with an upraised hand.

‘Do you really want me to crucify your king?’ he asked. So significant was this question that it could have come from the mouth of the Lord God Himself. Just as Pilate stood before the representatives of God’s people and gave them the choice; ‘Who do you want to rule over you; to set the standards by which you are governed; to decide what is right and wrong; to decide the course of your lives and your destiny as a nation; and to exercise justice over you,’ so God was asking them, ‘Who will be your chosen king, Caesar or God?’

They made their choice. In the heat and fury of their demented minds, the chief priests yelled, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ What a choice! This was their final decision against the God who had loved them, wooed them and stood by them through centuries of rebellion, spiritual adultery and unbridled wickedness. Again and again, He had forgiven and restored them. His love would not let them go.

He sent His Messiah, He beloved and only-begotten Son, to rescue them from the consequences of their terrible choices and now they had thrown Him away like filthy garbage and chosen Caesar as their king. Who was this Caesar they were so enamoured with?

“Tiberius Julius Caesar ruled from 14 AD to 37 AD. He was one of Rome’s greatest generals but he came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive and sombre ruler.” (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/tiberius)

“It is not known whether Tiberius had heard of Jesus, or knew about the crucifixion of Jesus. Word about Jesus and his miracles spread quickly throughout the Roman Empire, even to the Imperial Palace on Palatine Hill but Tiberius had retired to his palace on the Island of Capri in 26 AD, while all sorts of corruption was happening in Rome…There were many rumours about Tiberius on Capri involving homosexuality, and sexual perversity with young boys, which included all sorts of inhumane cruelty.”

(www.bible-history.com/sketches/ancient/tiberius-caesar.html)

This was the man they chose to rule over them!

God took them at their word, “His blood be upon us and upon our children” and in AD 70 the Roman army under General Titus, destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, slaughtered the people and Israel ceased to exist as a nation until 1948.

And God has not finished with the Jews yet!

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

TRAPPED!

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TRAPPED!

“‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realise I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin.’

“From then on Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.'” John 19:10-12.

Three versions? Who was Pilate to believe?

Pilate thought he had the destiny of Jesus in his hands. After all, he was the Roman governor with delegated authority from the most powerful person in the world to decide whether Jesus lived or died. He was frustrated with Jesus because He was making no effort to defend Himself. In a few sentences, He could easily have persuaded Pilate of His innocence, and Pilate would have had no option but to release Him for the sake of justice.

Here is a lesson for us. Every person must decide for himself. Jesus’ life and words present the evidence. It is not His role to persuade people to believe in Him but to let the facts speak for themselves and to give them the choice to receive or reject Him for who He is. Is He or is He not the Son of God? If He is, then we give Him total allegiance because we can do no other.

Jesus’ response must have shocked Pilate. It was not Pilate who had the authority to decide on His fate. Pilate’s authority was only delegated, and not from Rome. There was a higher authority to which Rome was accountable and so was Pilate. God was in charge of the whole universe, and not even Caesar could rule without His permission.

This should change the way we view life when things seem to have gone horribly wrong. Do things just happen? Randomly? Coincidentally? Not from Jesus’ perspective! Here He was, standing before the Roman governor, on trial for His life on trumped up charges.  Where was God? Where was justice? From our point of view, it looked like things had spun out of control. But…

Peter said, “‘This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing him to a cross.'” Acts 2:23.

This was a deliberate plan of God and Jesus was in on the whole thing. He did not want to be released because He had a mission to fulfil and He was carrying it out in obedience to the Father. When they tried to arrest Him in the garden, they could not until He handed Himself over. Now He stood before Pilate and watched him wrestle with his conscience, knowing that fear would override justice because it had to be.

The religious leaders used their power to persuade Pilate – the power of intimidation. Although Jesus was no threat to Caesar, and Pilate knew it, the Jewish hierarchy taunted him with the accusation, “If you let Him go, Caesar won’t like you. Jesus is guilty of treason because He says He is a king. If you let Him go, you are in cahoots with Him and that means you are against Caesar!”

Pilate was trapped. Whichever way he decided, he was in trouble. To which authority should he bow; to Caesar; to God; or to the Jews? After the day of Pentecost, Peter knew the answer. When he and John stood before the Sanhedrin and were commanded not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus, Peter courageously looked their accusers in the eye and replied:

“‘Which is right in God’s eyes; to listen to you or to Him? You be the judges!'” Acts 4:19.

Pilate made his choice and had to live with it for the rest of his life.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

PILATE’S DILEMMA

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PILATE’S DILEMMA

“But Pilate answered, ‘You take Him and crucify Him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against Him.’ The Jewish leaders insisted, ‘We have a law and, according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God.’

“When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.” John 19:6b-9.

What a horrible position to be in!

Inside Pilate’s head was a raging conscience; outside the palace was a raging mob led by a persistent, insistent religious hierarchy who were beginning to show their true colours. Although they presented Him to Pilate as a rabble-rousing, trouble-making challenge to Caesar, that was not the real issue. This was a smoke screen for a religious conflict between men who felt threatened because Jesus had exposed their wicked hearts and a man who challenged them to examine the evidence, which they refused to do.

It was easier to charge Him with blasphemy and get rid of Him than to be honest enough to check out His credentials against the Scriptures to find out the truth. It was not their religion as much as it was their position and power over the people that was at stake. Jesus had made God too nice, and that did not suit them because they wanted to retain their hold over the people by their rigid insistence on obedience to their rules.

Pilate’s close encounter with Jesus had unnerved him. He was honest enough to admit that he could find no reason to charge Him with any criminal activity. Treason? Rabble-rousing? Inciting the mob to violence? Jesus didn’t even have any supporters heckling Pilate. He stood there alone and unresisting and Pilate did not know what to make of Him. Questioning Him got him nowhere. Jesus admitted to being a king, but He did not act like a typical usurper nor did He lay claim to the throne of Israel. He said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ What was Pilate supposed to make of that?

Now he was faced with another even more frightening possibility. Two charges Pilate did not understand. He was a pagan Roman. What did he know about these Jews and their strange and complicated religion? King, but not of this world? Son of God? Pilate would rather have been a million miles away, even on another planet if that were possible, rather than have to deal with this man and His howling accusers. He was scared. Jesus was a hot potato but the buck stopped with him. He had to make a decision.

Back he went into the palace to face Jesus again. Desperate to get to the bottom of this matter, he questioned Him again. ‘Who are you? Where do you come from? Come on, Jesus, give me some answers. I’m trying my best to save your skin.’ But Jesus said nothing. It was almost as though He wanted to die. That was even more unnerving and Pilate was thoroughly shaken by his encounter with this unusual man.

What were Pilate’s options? Condemn an innocent man to death to appease a fanatical crowd and live with an accusing conscience, or release Him and risk a Jewish uprising and the inevitable bloodshed that would follow? These Jews were volatile. He knew what would happen if he insisted on releasing Jesus. They would probably lynch Him before He got beyond the palace grounds. Pilate would have to face Rome, no matter what his choice.

Pilate was a cruel and ruthless governor. He was guilty of having Galilean worshippers murdered while they were offering sacrifices at the temple (Luke 13:1). He was recalled to Rome after brutally quelling a Samaritan up rising. Tradition had it that he was exiled to Pontus and finally took his own life.

But Pilate was caught up in circumstances that were not of his own making. Can we judge him? What would you have done?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.