God’s Faithfulness
“To declare your chesed in the morning;
And of your trustworthiness in the night;
Upon the ten strings and upon the harp;
With the sound of the zither.”
(Psalm 92:3-4 [verses 2-3 in English])
Again we find an emphasis on singing praise accompanied by the sound of instruments. The reference to the “ten strings” in Hebrew is unique to the book of psalms (33:2, 92:4, 144:9) and is likely a reference not simply to a small personal shoulder harp (which might have had 5 or 7 strings), but to a larger harp requiring more skill to play. Granted, depending on the dating of this psalm, much larger harps would have been familiar items; the ancient Egyptians had 22 strings on their full-sized arched-harp. Arguably this is one more reminder that this psalm has its focus the gathered worship of God’s people where skilled musicians (levitical or otherwise) would have been present, not simply to private worship.
The additional reference to the zither seems to reinforce both the corporate setting (as multiple instruments are being mentioned) and to skillful musicians required to play it. Often this word is translated as lyre, which shouldn’t surprise us as the lyre has its origins in the zither. Again, the emphasis of music in Sabbath worship.
Yet, what is more important is not the instruments used but for what God is being praised. Here, it is his “chesed” and his trustworthiness. The word chesed I have simply left untranslated as there is not a simple word-for-word equivalent of this idea. Ultimately it refers to God’s covenant faithfulness to his people (that’s us!) despite the covenant unfaithfulness of his people (sadly, that’s us too…). This we do not deserve, but this God graciously gives to his own to his own glory and praise. As the Apostle Paul wrote, salvation is by grace, not works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Indeed, it is worth praising our God for his faithfulness and for his chesed.
And it is for this faithfulness (amongst other things) that we praise God when we gather together on the Sabbath. The sad thing is that all-too-often, the lyrics of our praises are focused heavily on the individual, not on the God who saves the individual. Loved ones, remember, it is not our goodness or our works that brings about God’s faithfulness…God is faithful despite our lack of goodness and our failures…that is the essence of Grace. As the old Fanny Crosby hymn went… “To God be the glory, great things he has done!”
And you shall remember—for you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh, your God, redeemed you. Because of this, I command this thing of you today.
(Deuteronomy 15:15)
What is Good…
“It is good to praise Yahweh;
To sing to your name, Most High.”
(Psalm 92:2 [verse 1 in English])
Indeed, it is good to give God praise. How often, though, we seek to define for ourselves what is good rather than seeking obedience to God’s word about what is truly good. Scripture tells us that it is good to be in the presence of the godly (Psalm 52:9), to give thanks to our God (Psalm 54:6), to be near God (Psalm 73:28), to be afflicted that we might learn the statutes of God (Psalm 119:71), to wait quietly on the Lord (Lamentations 3:26), to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8), to discern the will of God (Romans 12:2), to not cause a brother to stumble (Romans 14:21), and to remain orthodox in your theology (Hebrews 13:9).
And while we could go on, isn’t it interesting how many of the things listed above take place in the context of our gathered worship on the Sabbath day. We pray, we gather, we sing, we learn the statutes (even sometimes in affliction), and we learn to wait on God’s time and his deliverance from trouble. It indeed is good to praise Yahweh, and not just on the Sabbath day, but with every waking breath and with our rest at night.
And in the context of praise, the psalmist also speaks of singing those praises. The term that we translate here as “sing” is the Hebrew word rmz (zamer), which refers to singing while accompanied by a stringed instrument like a harp or a lyre. It is the root from which the word rOwm◊zIm (mizmor), which is translated as “Psalm” comes from…a reminder that instrumentation is appropriate for the worship of God’s people.
Most High is one of those rich names for God amongst God’s people. It reflects his majesty and the loftiness of his name and person. When the Messiah was announced to Mary by Gabriel, he is referred to as the Son of the Most High, again a reminder of Jesus’ divinity (Luke 1:32). How rich and good it is to sing praises and proclaim the name of our most high God!
“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, holy to Yahweh, and honorable; honor it from doing your own things and finding your own pleasure and speaking words, then you shall delight in Yahweh and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth; I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
(Isaiah 58:13-14)
A Song for the Sabbath
“A Psalm: A Song for the Day of the Sabbath”
(Psalm 92:1 [superscript in English])
That which we identify as Psalm 92 begins with a clear statement of its purpose. It is written for use on the Sabbath day. And, presuming that superscripts are given to us as indicators of purpose and groupings of psalms, it follows that this introduces Psalms 92-97 as a grouping of psalms (given no superscripts until psalm 98) that are all designed for worship on the Sabbath day.
Sadly, in the western world, we have largely lost any sense of the Sabbath’s significance. Stores are open for business (even stores that purport to be Christian stores!), it is often the busiest day of the week for restaurants, amusement parks are open for business, athletic teams are practicing, and there is no abatement in the worldly junk that passes for television entertainment. We fill our lives with so much activity that we are beyond busy and then we buy into the lie that if we just rob ourselves of the Sabbath day and make that day busy as well, then we will find the satisfaction and fulfillment that we crave. Yet, falling into this pattern is a downhill race to self-destruction.
Probably even sadder is that teaching on the Sabbath in our culture is often ignored or avoided because of fears of stepping on toes. Yet, the scriptures have no hesitation about speaking of the Sabbath Day. The other challenge in our culture is that teaching on the Sabbath only tends to be received in terms of negatives and not in terms of positives. People hear “DON’T” and then they shut their minds off and never hear the “DO.” Yet, the scriptures place far more emphasis on the “DO” and the blessing of the Sabbath day. We don’t seem to have a problem hearing the words: “You shall no Murder” or “You shall not commit adultery” but when people hear the Sabbath spoken of, they seem to shut down and miss the blessing of the teaching.
While there are entire books and treatises written on the Sabbath, for the devotions that will follow, we will let this psalm guide our thoughts and hopefully challenge our practices. Though the day of the Sabbath has changed from Saturday to Sunday, the principle behind the Sabbath day remains the same; may the Spirit move our hearts as we reflect and meditate on these words.
“Remember the Day of the Sabbath and continually consecrate it.”
(Exodus 20:8)
Justice Being Served
“And while they ridiculed him, they took off the cloak and put his own clothes on him and took him to crucify him.”
(Matthew 27:31)
“And while they ridiculed him, they took off the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him and took him out in order to crucify him.”
(Mark 15:20)
“Then they entrusted him to them that he might be crucified. Therefore they took Jesus.”
(John 19:16)
Thus we arrive at the end of a section; what follows will be the crucifixion and the death of our great and glorious Lord. All that will take place follows directly from this wicked trial. Justice is being served…yes, you read this right, but not in the way that you probably think. Justice is being served not in Jesus’ case and not because of this wicked trial, but because God is bringing us to justice but is substituting his Son in our place. The wrath we deserve will be meted out on the cross — that is justice. God’s Son, though, is on the cross in our place — that is grace.
What strikes me as this section wraps up and as we anticipate the following sections of the Gospel accounts, is how little description that the Gospel writers give on the physical events of the crucifixion…even the events here that speak of Jesus having been whipped and mocked and beaten. Very little physical detail is being given.
Now, granted, the physical event must have been horrifying, but it as if the Gospel writers don’t want us dwelling there…instead they want us dwelling on the innocent man who is making atonement for us as our Great High Priest. They want us to focus on the completed work of the cross and the guilt of all of us who sent Jesus to the cross. As horrid as the event on the cross was, this substitution should be even more scandalous to us…and even more wonderful at the same time. Our guilt being paid for…justice being served, just on the head of another.
Yet, if this is the case, why is it that those who produce films and books about this event spend so much time emphasizing the gore of the cross and so little time emphasizing the wrath of God being poured out or the atonement that is being worked. Perhaps could it be that we “moderns” have become so desensitized to gore that we need to be shocked? Could it be that we moderns have become so desensitized to our own sin that the substitutionary atonement of Christ no longer shocks us? Could it be that the film producers simply want to tell a story and don’t want to offer (or don’t understand themselves) truth? Whatever the reason, in communicating the truth of this event, should we not endeavor to place emphasis where the Scriptures place emphasis and tread lightly where the Scriptures also tread lightly?
Thus, as we close this section, Jesus was entrusted to the Roman soldiers and they took him to crucify him that on the cross of Calvary he might bear the wrath of his Holy Father and pay the penalty for my sins…every single one…that I might be made clean and whole…and not just for me, but for all of the elect through the ages. What a wondrous Savior we have…how can our response be to do anything but worship?
No King but Caesar
“Again, they continued screaming, ‘Take him up! Take him up! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ And the chief priests answered, ‘We do not have a King except for Ceasar!’”
(John 19:15)
Those final words, “we have no king but Ceasar,” would be scandalous were individuals had spoken them during Jesus’ day, but it is not just individuals making this statement…in fact, it is not even the mob that continues to shout for Jesus’ death. It is the High Priests, those in spiritual leadership amongst the people, who are crying out — people whose only allegiance was to be pledged to God above, not to the men below who ruled over them. It was not to be given to Herod and certainly not to the Roman Emperor, Tiberius Caesar.
During Jesus’ lifetime, the Jewish aristocracy held Tiberius in relatively high esteem, even to the point of venerating him. Though Tiberius refused to be worshipped as a god, he did permit a temple to be built in his honor in Smyrna and Herod Antipas (the Herod of this account) built a city on the Sea of Galilee in Tiberius’ honor — a city that Herod would make his Capitol. Yet, the common people still resented Roman rule and the priests should have known better. Nevertheless, in the context of a mob, reason is never a highly esteemed virtue.
The language of “take him up!” should conjure up several images. The first is that of the insult paid by the young boys to Elisha (2 Kings 2:23-25). In a sense, the boys were saying to Elisha, “your master went up to God and out of our lives, you go too!” God judged those boys (and by extension the village) harshly for their sin. But the lifting that the people here had in mind was the lifting of Jesus’ body upon the cross. Yet, that too should conjure up the image of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:1-15) and how Jesus stated that he would be “lifted up” just as the bronze serpent was lifted up on the cross in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9).
We may not be in a mob context at the moment (I hope that is not the case!), but this should give us a moment to pause to ask ourselves to whom we are loyal. By our actions; by the way we invest our money; by the way we use our time; and by the fashion that we apply our energies…to whom are we loyal? Is it to an institution (even the church!)? Is it to a political party? Is it to a person? Is it to a corporation? Is it to Christ? If your loyalty is to anybody or anything other than to Christ Jesus, you stand convicted as do these chief priests…one cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
The Sixth Hour
“Now, it was the Day of Preparation of the Passover and it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King.’”
(John 19:14)
This is one of those passages where enemies of the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy say, “Aha! See, there is an error!” They go on to say that this is the “Day of Preparation for Passover,” not the Passover itself and that while John records the sentencing as taking place during about the “sixth” hour, Mark records the crucifixion as having taken place at the third hour! Oh my, such a dilemma we are put into if we hold to Biblical inerrancy…well, not really.
First of all, the language of the Day of Preparation is used in the Gospel accounts to speak of the Preparation for the Sabbath (for the Jews, Saturday), not in terms of the Passover (see Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:31,42). Thus, as the Passover this year fell on a Friday, it was also the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath…oh my, one objection answered simply by looking at the context.
The second objection has caused a little more consternation amongst commentators. As noted, Mark speaks of the crucifixion as taking place at the third hour (Mark 15:25). Different answers have been given for this from speaking about variant manuscripts that substitute “third” for “sixth” in John’s text to suggestions of scribal changes. Yet, the simplest answer is often the best. One should recall that John is writing at least 30 years after the other Gospel writers had penned their Gospel texts and arguably is familiar with the synoptic accounts. The Synoptics, writing before the destruction of the Temple, when the traditional Jewish sense of marking time was still in active use, chose to use the Jewish method of counting hours from sunrise. John, writing after the destruction of the Temple, when everyone would have been under the Roman system of marking time, used just that — the Roman system of marking time — a system which began marking hours at about midnight. That means that there is about 3 hours of time that will pass from the time that the sentence is uttered by Pilate (6 AM) and the hanging Jesus on the cross (9 AM), but this is not unrealistic as the execution had to be organized and Jesus had to proceed from there to Golgotha bearing the weight of his cross at least part of the way. Carrying such a burden would have taken a strong, healthy man a fair period of time; Jesus, being beaten and stumbling, would have taken considerably longer.
As with most cases, answers are available to every challenge to Biblical inerrancy and most challenges come as a result of surface readings, not being willing to look more deeply into the text.
What is much more important is the dialogue that follows. “Behold your King!” Pilate knows he has lost the chess game with the Chief Priests but he nevertheless wants to get in a final dig. This, though, will be the final rejection of Jesus that these men will make…denying Jesus’ Lordship to their own condemnation. How many in our world today insist, like these Jewish officials, that they have no king but Caesar! Yet, we get ahead. Here, though given as a taunt, we find Pilate speaking truth…Behold the King not only of the Jews, but of all creation. For them, all they saw was a broken and bloody man…one day all mankind will witness the risen and glorious Christ, King of all the universe — a King of power and might — how great the contrast will be, yet how these will find themselves not with him in their power, but under his crushing foot of judgment. Loved ones, there is a call given to each of us, flee to Christ as King while there is still breath in your lungs.
The Judgment Seat
“When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat in the Judgment Seat in the place that is called ‘Lithostrotos,’ and in Aramaic, ‘Gabbatha.’”
(John 19:13)
Most of our English translations refer to the place of Judgment as “The Stone Pavement” or something similar to that, but it seemed that as this is a specific location known to the people from where Pilate would pronounce judgment, its proper name in Greek might be more appropriate: “Lithostrotos.” And, as is usually translated, it referred to a pavement inlaid by mosaics from where judgments would be given. In Aramaic, it is called Gabbatha, and the name refers to a dome, or a slight elevation from which a judge would pronounce his judgment (not unlike the raised seats of judges today.
What is more significant is the idea of the judgment seat upon which Pilate sits, for there is another judgment seat that Scripture points to, and that is the judgment seat of God (Romans 14:10), which is also spoken of as the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). For though Jesus must stand before Pilate’s judgment seat, there will come a time where Pilate would stand before Jesus’ judgment seat. On one hand, Pilate judges with the wrath of Rome, but on the other hand, Jesus judges with the wrath of God. Pilate’s sentence will be death on a cross; Jesus’ sentence will be the eternal death of the fires of hell. There is no debate over which seat of judgment is more Awful.
Yet, how often it is that we focus more on the power of men than on the power of God — fearing the judgment of men over the judgment of God. Men may kill the body, but God can kill the body and eternally destroy the body in hell (Matthew 10:28). Such truth ought to make our hearts tremble and our knees weak.
The God-Man
“When Pilate heard these words, he was more fearful. And he went back into the Praetorium and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus did not give him an answer.”
(John 19:8-9)
So, why would Pilate give a start and be “afraid” with the accusation that Jesus had made himself the “Son of God.” Part of this ties into Roman polytheism and superstition. When Romans conquered the world, their practice was to incorporate the gods of the local cults of lands they had conquered into their own pantheon. Of course, Judaism was a bit of an anomaly for them as would be Christianity. Yet, within Roman thought was the idea of a “god-man” who would walk amongst the people. Pythagoras, for example, had been considered part-god and part-man, Apollonius of Tyana was a contemporary of Jesus, and others had been considered to be living demigods of sorts, not fully human nor fully divine. Now this, of course, opens the door to the discussion of one of the first major Christian heresies: Arianism — a view that Jesus was such a “demigod,” part God and part man. This fear, many have considered, was roused at the suggestion that Jesus might be such a man.
The other fear was that he was losing his chess match with the priests and he knew it, but this view doesn’t quite fit with the emphasis on his becoming more fearful or “very afraid” as some translations render it. Either way, Pilate was losing this match with the Jewish authorities and what will follow will reflect the spite he has in losing this contest.
Jesus was not the god-man, though, at least as Pilate (and later, Arius) suspected. Jesus was not part-god and part-man, but he is fully-god and fully-man — one person but two natures. He had to be both to do what he did. He had to become man to identify with us in our weakness and in our trials, to mediate for us, and then to die, facing off against our final adversary. Yet, to do so without sin and to pay for the sins of all the elect, he had to do so in the strength and power of his godhead. If either nature is compromised (not 100%), then he fails to do what the scriptures claim to be true and we are lost forever.
Yet, praise be to God that we are not lost forever! We have reliable witness not only to his life and death but to his resurrection from the dead — the great testimony to us that it is done — no longer does death hold power over our eternal state, but it is Christ and all Christ for those who flee to him. My prayer for you is that you do just that, that you run to the Son of God and not fear his wrath…clinging to him as Lord and Savior with all of your being.
We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus who died,
And is now gone above.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
-William Mackay
Blasphemy and Death
“The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law and according to the law he is obliged to die for he has made himself the Son of God.’”
(John 19:7)
In a country ruled by Rome, capital punishment was a right reserved for the Romans except for one instance…and that is blasphemy in the Temple. Obviously the addition of the location (from the Roman perspective) was to keep things in a controlled context, lest they be inundated with capital cases of blasphemy from every little provide. The Jews were aware of this ruling, hence their motivation to bring this false trial before Pilate and Pilate was certainly aware of this matter, hence his willingness to say to them, “you crucify him!” because he knew that they could not legally do so.
Thus the Jews appear to the blasphemy laws, a principle not only consistent with Roman law but with Jewish law, though Jewish law does not require one blaspheme in the Temple (or Tabernacle) for the death penalty to be exercised (see Leviticus 24:10-16). Thus, it is Jewish law with Roman constraints that is being appealed to here. And, in a sense, Jesus is guilty as charged. Not only has he spoken of himself as the Son of God broadly, he has also done so in the Colonnade of Solomon which is located in the Temple (John 10:22-30). In fact, in this context he goes even further and proclaims himself to be God himself — “I and the Father are one…”
Yet, I state, “in a sense.” Because Jesus has not “made himself” out to be the Son of God as these Jewish officials suppose, he is the Son of God. He is not lying nor is he misleading others, but is speaking the truth, and by speaking the truth he is not guilty of blasphemy. The Temple and all it represents is meant to point to him…it is his Father’s house and thus it is the Chief Priests and Jewish authorities who are worthy of death because they had blasphemed the Temple by their rejection of the Son and their using it for their own purposes — turning it into a den of thieves (Mark 11:17).
It is worth noting that sometimes people are a bit set back by the command from God that blasphemers be put to death as is found in Leviticus. Why would a God of love demand an action like that for words that people would say? The answer revolves around the purpose of capital punishment. Essentially, the reason behind the state taking the life of a criminal is because that criminal has been deemed a threat to the community as a whole. In this case, no longer is it the state punishing a person for a specific crime they have done, but it is also the state practicing justice by permanently removing the person from ever being able to harm the community. Thus, as we look at the legal code given by God at Sinai for the people of Israel, we find capital punishment being applied not just to murder, but also to adultery, sabbath breaking, blasphemy, witchcraft, etc… All of these evils harm the family as well as the community as a whole. And though the church no longer exists under the ancient Israele civil code, it is the basic principle behind the church being given the authority to excommunicate from the body where people persist in such sins that harm the community of faith as a whole and will not repent, turning from their evil ways. Let it be heard and heard well that God takes very seriously the care of his little ones — the covenant families and the covenant bodies that we refer to as His Church. May we take that to heart the next time we are tempted to gloss over sin (whether our own or another’s).
Crucify! Crucify!
“Thus, when they saw him, the chief priests and the assistants screamed out, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’ Pilate said, ‘Take him yourself and crucify, for I find no cause in him.’”
(John 19:6)
Pilate is playing a dangerous political game with the Jews at this point. On one level, his contempt for being manipulated by these Jewish officials shows through, but on another level, the chief priests have whipped the people into such a mob that there is no telling what is going to happen next. It is a very dangerous game of chess that he is playing and it seems as if his king is being boxed in move by move, each verbal interchange that is taking place.
Yet as intense as this interplay must have been at the time, God has superintended it all to bring it to the conclusion he has designed for his Son. Jew and Gentile are here together vying to see who would be responsible for the actual death of Jesus while the guilt fell on both groups. Sin is sin whether you are the hand that carries it out or whether you provide the thought that instigates it. There is no other word but “evil” to describe what is taking place.
But indeed, there is another word…and that is grace. Though the working and debating of Pilate and the Chief Priests is evil unbounded, God is overseeing these events to leave none guiltless and then to offer grace to those who turn toward his Son in faith. Loved ones, this is why Jesus is before these wicked men. It is not because of the plans of the wicked but it is because of the design of God the Father, that he, God the Son, be crushed for our sins and that he bear the iniquity of all believers upon his shoulders that we (believers) might become the righteousness of God. There are not words to describe the debt of gratitude and love we owe for this gift of grace…all we can do is commit our lives to serving Him who has given his life to save us.
Will you?
Behold the Man!
“And Pilate again went out and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out again in order that you may know that I find nothing of cause in him.’ Therefore Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorn vines and the purple robe. And he said to them: “Behold the Man!”
(John 19:4-5)
On the face of it, it appears that Pilate is making one last, half-hearted, attempt to assuage his own conscience. And that may be so, but I think that there is more at stake than just a man trying to soothe his own worries for they intentionally leave the crown and robe upon Jesus. Thus the mockery of Jesus is made to extend to the mockery of the Jews. It is as if Pilate is saying to the Jewish authorities, “Look, I am giving you your king back, your king of thorns and a tattered cape.
Either way, Pilate parades Jesus before the crowd, making a spectacle of this “King of the Jews” — a pauper king in the eyes of the Roman authority — and pronounces again that he has done nothing to justify the penalty of death. Indeed, hear the emphasis he makes when he says, “behold the man!” Or perhaps we could word it: “Look at what we have reduced this man to; surely he is not a deliverer but simply a broken man before your eyes.” Yet Pilate only judged power by earthly standards.
But how often are professing Christians also guilty of viewing power by earthly standards as well? How guilty we are of appealing to worldly powers and not resting in the almighty power of our savior? How often we get intimidated by the threats this world lifts up when we serve the God who spun this very world into being. Beloved, let us live with the confidence that comes from serving our great King and not back down from the call he places on our lives. May our lives proclaim not the words of Pilate: “Behold the Man!” but may we proclaim: “Behold our God!”
The Bruised Reed
4/25/14
“And they stripped him and laid a scarlet cloak on him. And they twisted together a crown from a thorn vine and put it on his head with a reed in his right hand, and they knelt before him and mocked him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews.’ And they spat on him and took the reed and beat him on the head.”
(Matthew 27:28-30)
“And they clothed him with a purple cloak and they put on him a crown woven from a thorn vine and they began to recognize him: ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they were striking him on the head with the reed and spitting on him and bowed the knee to worship him.”
(Mark 15:17-19)
“And the soldiers wove a crown from a thorn vine and put it on his head and clothed him with a garment of purple. And they came up to him and said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they gave him blows.”
(John 19:2-3)
So we have the robe, the crown, and now we are left with the reed that was given to our Lord, Jesus. And as we look at this element of Roman mockery, there seems to be two ways in which we can approach it. One of the tools of a reed in the ancient world was to form a standard of measure. Reeds were cut to a consistent length and could then be used much like we would use a yard stick. Thus, in scripture, we find Ezekiel measuring the New Temple with a measuring reed (Ezekiel 40) while John repeats that same activity toward the closing of the Canon (Revelation 11 & 21 — note that even the word “Canon” comes from this word for “reed”). As justice was measured along the lines of standards, the reed also became a symbol of righteousness worked out. That in itself helps us to see the horrible irony of this event, for the reed (of justice) is taken from the King’s hand and used to beat him.
We take this one step further, though, when we realize that in addition to making sure that justice is done, a King is given power over men that is often symbolized by the scepter that he carried. And while reeds were known for being straight, they were not known for being the sturdiest of materials to use and could be easily broken. Hence Jesus asks if, when the people went out to see John the Baptist, what they were looking to see was a “reed shaken by the wind.” Thus, the counterfeit that the Romans were using was that of placing a scepter in Jesus’ hand that represented power to be broken.
But there is a second way that this can be perceived, this time not as much in terms of the design of Roman mockery, but in terms of God’s prophetic design. Isaiah writes about the Messiah:
“A bruised reed, he will not break;
A glowing wick, he will not quench;
In truth he will bring forth justice.”
(Isaiah 42:3)
And here we have the one who will not break the wounded and broken but will restore them, having the symbol of the bruised and broken (the reed) crushed over his own head. How often God requires of his prophets seemingly strange acts so they may become living examples of his truth, justice, and grace; here is one more.
Yet, how often we are like those Romans, seeking power in the strength of men and not in the strength of God. How often people in our churches prefer force to humility, preferring to break the bruised and crushed reeds in their midst than to preserve and heal. How often truth and justice are only sought when convenient…yet how often genuine truth and justice are costly.
The Rest-Harrow
“And they stripped him and laid a scarlet cloak on him. And they twisted together a crown from a thorn vine and put it on his head with a reed in his right hand, and they knelt before him and mocked him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews.’ And they spat on him and took the reed and beat him on the head.”
(Matthew 27:28-30)
“And they clothed him with a purple cloak and they put on him a crown woven from a thorn vine and they began to recognize him: ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they were striking him on the head with the reed and spitting on him and bowed the knee to worship him.”
(Mark 15:17-19)
“And the soldiers wove a crown from a thorn vine and put it on his head and clothed him with a garment of purple. And they came up to him and said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they gave him blows.”
(John 19:2-3)
Yet, the robe isn’t the only counterfeit item placed upon Jesus to mock him…there is a reed and a crown as well. The crown is often what attracts the most attention given the cruelty of the act. The term used in the Greek is a¡kanqa (akantha) and refers to a very specific bramble known commonly as the “Rest Harrow” or scientifically as the “Onanis spinoza L.” for those of you who prefer to be technical. This is a vine that grows up in fields with a thick, woody vine with long spiny thorns (hence the distinction: spinoza). They are called “Rest Harrows” because they were so strong and stubborn to pull out that they would grab the farmer’s harrowing tool and bring it to rest. They are common in Israel both modern and ancient and bring grief to farmers both modern and ancient.
These are the thorns that Jesus spoke about in the parable of the sower which choked the seed out as it tried to grow (Matthew 13:7,22) representing the cares of this world. They are also the thorns of which Jesus spoke when he talked about good fruit not coming from a thorn bush (Matthew 7:16) and similarly is employed by the author of Hebrews to speak of a life that is worthless (Hebrews 6:8, also see 2 Samuel 23:6 for the same term in the LXX). In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, they are the hedge of thorns that represents the life of the sluggard (Proverbs 15:19), the crackling of the laughter of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:6), and it is the fruit of the carefully tended vineyard of Israel in Isaiah 5:1-6 (though our translations typically render this word here as “wild grapes” in favor of the Hebrew, not the Greek, reading).
Yet, the most significant reference to this word is found in Genesis 3:18 in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The punishment for Adam and Eve’s sin is that the ground will now produce thorns and thistles — “rest harrows.” And thus, our Lord is symbolically crowned with the thorn that is the symbol of mankind’s sin and rebellion. Again, this is God’s design, there is no random chance that these things are brought together in this way without a divine hand at work.
Jesus is indeed crowned with our sin on the cross, bearing the guilt of our sin before His Father’s wrath and anger so that we might be redeemed to trust in Christ’s completed work. My prayer for you is that you are doing just that. If not, my prayer is that God will use these humble words to spark something within you that He will use to draw you in faith to himself. Jesus bore the sins of his own on that cross and as the Second Adam, he too faced the Rest Harrow and the sweat of his brow.
Counterfeit Reality
“And they stripped him and laid a scarlet cloak on him. And they twisted together a crown from a thorn vine and put it on his head with a reed in his right hand, and they knelt before him and mocked him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews.’ And they spat on him and took the reed and beat him on the head.”
(Matthew 27:28-30)
“And they clothed him with a purple cloak and they put on him a crown woven from a thorn vine and they began to recognize him: ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they were striking him on the head with the reed and spitting on him and bowed the knee to worship him.”
(Mark 15:17-19)
“And the soldiers wove a crown from a thorn vine and put it on his head and clothed him with a garment of purple. And they came up to him and said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they gave him blows.”
(John 19:2-3)
There are so many details that are part of the passion account that are contained in these few short verses. I suppose that the first of the details that we should address, though, is that of the apparent discrepancy in the color of the tunic placed on Jesus by the soldiers. Matthew describes it as scarlet while Mark and John describe it as being purple. The obvious answers that are based on a similarity in the words don’t really apply well here as there are two very distinct words being employed by the Gospel writers. The word for scarlet is ko/kkinoß (kokkinos) and the word for purple is porfurouvß (porphurous).
Historically, the scarlet robe was one worn by the Roman soldiers as it could be prepared and dyed cheaply where the purple would be worn by society’s elite, given the cost of purple dye (in those days extracted from shellfish). There is some debate amongst commentators as to what is being emphasized in this difference in colors recorded. Some seem to stretch the text in favor of spiritualizing the colors into a representation of blood but that is a stretch that is further than the text really permits. Those with lower views on scripture simply write it off as an error, yet again, yet that comes from those with no commitment to an inerrant text of scripture. So, where shall we go from here? Some suggest two cloaks, one red and one purple, and while plausible, is unnecessary to make sense of the text.
To begin with, we must ask what it is that these Roman soldiers are doing. The obvious answer is that they are mocking him — making him out loosely as a king and giving him “honor” before they destroy his life. The elements of royalty are all there — the cloak, the crown, and the staff. Yet in each case, the elements are a twisting of the reality — Calvin calls them “counterfeits.” The crown is made of thorns. The rod of rulership is made out of a flimsy reed, easily broken. And here we arrive at the cloak — what ought to have been the purple cloak of royalty, but in this case made out of a red Roman soldier’s tunic. All counterfeits…all a warping of the reality that they are meant to symbolize. And, in the case of Matthew, he focuses on the specifics of what transpired while Mark and John focus on what those specifics represented.
How often, though, we are surrounded by counterfeits in life and in the church. When people act in a way that puts on a false front, we call them hypocrites. But we find more than just hypocrites in our midst. Sadly, we often find outright liars. We find gatherings that profess to be Christian churches, but they teach a doctrine of men, not the Word of God in the scriptures. We find supposed mercy missions, but those who run the ministries line their pockets while giving only leftovers to the ones they claim to serve. We find government officials who call themselves “civil servants” yet the only ones they seek to serve is themselves. The list goes on and on, but how it calls us to live with integrity — that we make “what you see is what you get” our motto and model. That we seek to worship God in spirit and in truth should be our highest aim…not to tear down others to line our own nests.
Loved ones, this account is more about the mockery of Jesus than it is about the counterfeit that the Gospel writers help us see through, yet how often we are engaged with counterfeits in this world of ours. Reject the counterfeit that you see and call for repentance while honoring Christ in word and deed.
Jesus in the Praetorium
“Then the governor’s soldiers took jurisdiction over him and brought him to the Praetorium where the whole Cohort was gathered.”
(Matthew 27:27)
“But the soldiers led him inside of the courtyard, that is the Praetorium, and they gathered the whole Cohort together.”
(Mark 15:16)
What strikes me about this passage is the number of soldiers present. A Cohort is a tenth of a Legion in Roman terms, which marks the number here at about 500 soldiers. This is the same term that is applied to the band of soldiers that Judas acquired from the priests to arrest Jesus, though those soldiers were most likely part of the Hebrew Temple Guard while these are Romans. One may speculate as to why so many soldiers needed to be present at the flogging of a single man. As Jesus and Pilate had already had a discussion about where Jesus’ Kingdom resided, perhaps Pilate was trying to show Jesus his own earthly kingdom or give Jesus a taste of the Roman kingdom. The number may also have to do with the timing of the event. This is Passover where the city of Jerusalem’s numbers would have swelled greatly. Perhaps he had all the soldiers there so that he could complete his judgment of Jesus. Jesus was being tried as an insurrectionist, so perhaps Pilate wanted to ensure that there would not be any more violence, this time brought on by those supporting Jesus. The answers to these questions we just cannot know on this side of the veil.
There is a significant theological purpose for what happens here, which ought to be noted. This palace or courtyard, known in Roman terminology as a Praetorium, was gentile ground. The Jewish priests had refused to enter these courts for doing so would have made them ritually unclean, and such would have made them ineligible to offer the sacrifices of the Passover that day. But note, in the Old Testament giving of the Passover commands (see Exodus 12), one of the instructions was that the passover lamb was to dwell in the house of those offering the lamb as a sacrifice. Typically this was done for a period of four days, though this was likely not consistently practiced given the prevalence of sellers haunting the streets and temple courts during this time. Nevertheless, here we find Jesus, having spent 4 days in the house of Jerusalem, now entering the house of the gentile — a reminder that the Gospel is not just for the Jewish people, but is for people from far off whom God will bring to himself…Jew and Gentile alike, through faith in Jesus Christ.
Remember, beloved, that there are no accidents in God’s providence and all things happen for a purpose. Jesus entered into this depth of sorrow for you and for me and for all of the elect through history that are trusting in Him as Lord and Savior. He is our Passover Lamb and we find our hope in Him.
Christians on the Sidelines
“Then he released Barabbas to them and scourging Jesus, he delivered him over that he should be crucified.”
(Matthew 27:26)
“But Pilate, wanting to make the crowd satisfied, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus to be scourged in order that he should be crucified.”
(Mark 15:15)
“And Pilate had come to the decision to grant their request, so he released the one whom during the revolt had been thrown into prison for murder, which was whom they requested, and delivered up Jesus to their will.”
(Luke 23:24-25)
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.”
(John 19:1)
Many of our English translations will render the beating that Jesus received as a scourging in the Synoptic Gospels and as a flogging in the Gospel of John. This is done to reflect the fact that two different words are being used here for these events. At the same time, the words are synonyms and each one can refer to a whipping, a flogging, or a scourging depending on their context, and, as it was the Roman custom to scourge a person before crucifixion to weaken him, this is the word that it seems sensible to choose.
A scourge is a whip with multiple strands coming forth from the handle and often would have little hooks or pieces of metal and stone woven into the ends for the purpose of tearing out hunks of flesh with each beating. In ancient times, these whips with metal ends were figuratively called “scorpions” respecting the amount of pain that they brought to the recipients of the beating. Indeed, such use adds light to the quote of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, when he said: “my father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions.”
Notice how Luke focuses the attention on the wish of the Jews. Pilate chooses to grant their request, he releases Barabbas, whom they requested, and he delivers Jesus up to their will. Clearly, he is making sure that it is clear that it is the Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob that is figuratively driving the train in this matter. Pilate and Herod are still guilty, but it is the Jewish authorities that are ultimately behind this wicked, wicked event. And thus Pilate seeks to placate the crowd and send Jesus to be crucified.
All through these devotions we have been speaking about peer pressure, mob mentality, and the wicked politics that happen to be taking place here at the prompting of the enemy. But let me again remind you of how often we fall prey to not doing the right thing due to the fear of men. How often we make a choice based on human standards rather than divine ones. How often we are guilty, like this crowd, of following along and not risking doing what is right and true and just. Can you imagine how different our communities would be were we to do what is right and true, not fearing the pressure of the wicked, and seek justice…always. We would transform the culture. We often pray for revival and transformation in the culture, but beloved, it will not come if we satisfy ourselves sitting on the sidelines.
Blood on Their Hands
“And the people replied, saying, ‘His blood is on us and on our children!’”
(Matthew 27:25)
If ever a people did not understand the eternal ramifications of a statement, here is a prime illustration. How foolish, how wicked, how hateful, how grievous a statement. Having been whipped into a frenzy by the chief priests, these people could say no other thing — they wanted to see Jesus die. How the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, Satan, must have rejoiced at these words, feeling as if over 4,000 years of planning and scheming had finally come to a head and victory was within his grasp. Here are the people of a nation that God had set his blessings on, had given his law, and had given promises of blessing, turning away from all revealed truth and putting to death the greatest gift of mercy handed down by God to men. God’s chosen nation had turned apostate, led by a wicked cadre of priests, and sought to put to death the Prince of Peace — even rejoicing in the prospect of having his blood on their own hands for all of eternity.
Yet, God has always kept a people for himself — a faithful remnant. This remnant we will see as our Lord hangs upon the cross, this remnant is scattered throughout the Holy Land in homes and small gatherings, aching over the wickedness being perpetrated, and this remnant will carefully gather Jesus’ body and place it with dignity into a tomb. And this remnant would see our Lord resurrected. Even later, before God used the Romans to enter Jerusalem and tear it to the ground, God delivered his remnant from that wicked city and set them on a missionary journey throughout the world to tell of the good news that God offers reconciliation between himself and men through his Son, Jesus. And if you who are reading this are trusting in Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior, then you, too, are part of this remnant that God has faithfully preserved through the generations.
In the midst of what he must have considered his greatest triumph, Satan was ultimately destroyed, for the Lord of Life could not remain in death, such is the way of truth. And though we stand at a point in history somewhere between the first and second comings, we stand in the assurance that Satan will never steal this remnant out of our Lord’s hands. We are held secure. But as ones who are held secure, why do we so often act so timid when speaking of Christ to others? Why do we often make so little of him who did so much for us? Loved ones, do not despair, Christ sits enthroned, the worst Satan can do is to steal your flesh, but what is that when God preserves your soul?
“Fear not, little flock, it is the good pleasure of your Father to give you the kingdom.”
(Luke 12:32)
Washing Hands
“But when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing but it was rather becoming an uproar, he took hold of water and washed his hands against the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this one’s blood; see to it yourself.’”
(Matthew 27:24)
As I write this, I am grieved by the events that are going on in the nation of Ukraine, where the pro-western protestors and the pro-eastern government have been clashing. Apart from the fact that Ukraine has a special place in my heart, the violence that is taking place there reminds me of the nature of this crowd here in these last hours before our Lord’s crucifixion. The reality is that one does not ever successfully reason or negotiate with a mob — it just does not happen. People become committed to their outcome and their outcome alone and will accept nothing less and no compromise will be given. And it is exactly that principle that the priests who have been inciting this crowd are banking on. Essentially, they are using the people to force Pilate’s hand and Pilate knows it as well.
Pilate has lost and you an almost see the anger in his body language. He thrusts his hands into water and forcefully washes them “against” the people. Literally, the text reads that Pilate “grasps water” with the implication that the grasping was fairly violent. He is mad and he is frustrated and is saying, “enough!” And from that point on, the idea of washing one’s hands from the blood of another has entered into the west’s figures of speech.
It is of course, not that Pilate invented the idiom, the Jewish people would regularly ritually wash their hands to purify them from defilement and even guilt (see Deuteronomy 21:6 and Psalm 26:6). Even so, whether Pilate is mocking the Jewish practice or if he is using it to communicate with an idea with more force, the once rather obscure Jewish practice is no longer obscure or without specific meaning in the Christianized world. For this Pilate will always be remembered.
Yet, much like Lady Macbeth, Pilate must realize that a symbolic gesture cannot remove the guilt of another man’s blood. And wash as he may, Pilate had and rejected the opportunity to see justice done and have Jesus exonerated. Nevertheless, that also was not in the Father’s design for his own Son. Jesus’ suffering and humiliation must be made complete upon the cross as the prophesies had thus stated…killed at the hands of wicked men for a wicked people to show us grace. For we are the wicked ones for whom Jesus endured the cross. We are the ones standing with Pilate and the priests in our guilt and we are the ones who have tried to wash the blood from our own hands by our own works and found ourselves woefully wanting.
Loved ones, never lose sight of that great truth. We stand guilty. And, if we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that same Jesus who died in our place will wash the blood of guilt from our hands with his own precious blood. What a wonderful gift of grace that came out of this wicked, wicked event played out in Jerusalem all of those years ago. Loved ones, will you turn to Christ? Will you live for him? If he gave all this for you, how ungrateful we are when we do not return our all to him. Do not seek to wash your hands as Pilate has done; it will offer you no eternal solution to the problem of your soul.
Injustice Done
“But he said, ‘What evil has he done?’ But they screamed with more intensity, saying, “He should be crucified!’”
(Matthew 27:23)
“Pilate said to them, ‘What evil has he done?’ But they screamed with more intensity, saying, ‘Crucify him!’”
(Mark 15:14)
“And for the third time he said to them, ‘What evil has this man done? I find no grounds in him for death, therefore after punishing him I will release him.’ But they pressed him with loud voices demanding that he be crucified. And their voices prevailed.”
(Luke 23:22-23)
Luke has an interesting way of relating what is taking place. The language he uses is in essence military and the picture that is being portrayed is that of a battle where the voices of the people have gone to war against Jesus and even against Pilate. Pilate raises his voice in opposition, appealing to the principle of justice. The people raise their voices and press him with them, almost like an army pushing back in hand to hand combat, and their murderous cries push back against Pilate, forcing him into submission.
Pilate is no hero and his motivations to appeal to justice are anything but noble. But like wisdom crying out in the streets in Proverbs, so too is Justice crying out in the streets of Jerusalem — and like their choosing to ignore Wisdom, they also choose to ignore Justice — one of those things that their God demands of them. Of course, like Pilate, when it comes to the pressure that others place upon us, how often we too ignore justice.
And here, the greatest of injustices is being done. He who had no sin is being condemned for the sins of the wicked…not just the wicked in his own day all of those years ago…but the wicked through the ages — your wickedness and mine as well. And he will go to the cross to bear the punishment for our sins. That is injustice, though a blessed injustice it is. Because of this injustice that is being done, in God’s design, we are given life and hope and reconciliation with God. What could be more blessed than that, yet it ought to cause our heart to grieve to see our Lord undergo this for us. May we indeed lay down our lives for him who first laid his life down for us.
Hills to Die On
“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what am I to do with Jesus whom is called Christ?’ And they all said, ‘He shall be crucified!’”
(Matthew 27:22)
“And then Pilate again asked them saying, ‘What then do you wish for me to do with the one called King of the Jews?’ But they again shouted angrily: ‘Crucify him!’”
(Mark 15:12-13)
“Yet again Pilate called out to them, wishing to release Jesus. But they were shouting, saying: “Crucify! Crucify Him!’”
(Luke 23:20-21)
Perhaps we have simply heard these words too many times that we often miss the sheer horror of what is taking place. Here is an angry crowd — a mob really — crying out for the death of an innocent man. Luke describes them as shouting, Mark uses the term kra/zw (kradzo), which means to shout angrily or vehemently with ill intent. Even the repetition that Luke is recording just drives home the point even further about this angry mob. These people are out for blood and there is no way that Pilate does not see that as well. At this stage, justice is giving way to preserving control of the situation.
We do find a peek into the mindset of Pilate in these verses, though. Luke records that Pilate was intentionally seeking to find a way to release Jesus. What we will find in the verses that follow is that Pilate even goes as far as to protest Jesus’ innocence — not something we might expect from a Roman official, but indeed Pilate is no dummy nor is he a puppet of the Jews as some have portrayed him. He recognizes the innocence of Jesus, his wife has already warned him not to have anything to do with this man, and Pilate also realizes that most of this is taking place because of the jealousy of the Jewish officials. Yet, he is being pressed hard.
It strikes me as interesting that we often falter when it comes to such pressures as well. True, most of us don’t have to face tribunals like this, but how often we falter when pressed from various sides and sacrifice truth, justice, and righteousness, for an “out” from whatever it is that we happen to be facing. We compromise and what we fail to remember is that one compromise always begets another until we find ourselves losing the battle for which we once hoped to stand.
Beloved, we are fallen and frail and apart from the work of God in us there is nothing good that can come from us. Yet, let us find hills that we are willing to die on and let us make those hills Truth, Justice, and Righteousness. Let that hill to die on be the call of Christ for he indeed commands us to take up our cross and follow him.
Pilate’s Wife
“And while he was sitting in the judgment seat his wife sent to him, saying, ‘You do nothing to that righteous one for I have suffered greatly today as a result of a dream about him.’”
(Matthew 27:19)
Not only is Matthew the only Gospel writer to record this warning from Pilate’s wife, he is the only Gospel writer to record God speaking through dreams at all, though in every other account, the dreams that Matthew records are those that take place as part of the birth narrative. In fact, in the Gospel narrative, the dreams are nearly all warnings about the attacks from a wicked king (Herod); here this dream stands as a warning against harming a righteous king. In each of the birth narrative dreams, the dream is also designed to protect Jesus from harm; so too, this dream is designed to protect Jesus from harm once again — or at least to serve as one additional warning so that Pilate, Herod, and the wicked priests around him would stand without excuse for the evil that they were doing.
Some medieval theologians suggested that the dream to Pilate’s wife was sent by Satan to thwart the design of God to sacrifice his Son, but that does not seem fitting either with the way that Matthew has been recording dreams and it seems to give Satan too much insight into the design of God. Satan’s aim is to see Jesus dead — his plan throughout history was one designed to destroy the promised seed of Eve. For him to seek to stop the execution would be for him to realize and comprehend the plan of God which is not likely. He saw this death as his victory even though it would become his eternal defeat.
Nevertheless, the warning is given and ignored. We know nothing more of Pilate’s wife. Several apocryphal traditions identify her as Claudia Procula, the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus, and as later becoming a Christian as a result of this dream. But we know nothing of the veracity of these things. The earliest church traditions do not speak of such a thing and Origen, the 3rd century Church Father from Alexandria, was the first to speak of her conversion though it should be noted that Origen is known (along with many of his contemporaries) for his spiritualizing of the Biblical texts.
What we know is that Pilate’s wife was tormented by this dream which motivated her to speak with her husband on the matter. Perhaps even the tormenting was meant as a foretaste of the judgment that was to come for the wicked apart from a savior. We simply do not know and are not given enough information to speculate with confidence. What we can say with confidence is that God’s design is being fulfilled and that those who stand in opposition to him will face judgment not only in this life but eternally. There is no speculation as to this matter.
Friends, if you have not given your life to Christ, I beg you to pray to God for the faith to do so. And, if you are a believer, I pray that you share the good news that you know to be true with others. Pilate’s wife was tormented by this dream over the wickedness her husband was about to commit. Lot is described as tormenting his soul over the wickedness of the people living in Sodom around him (2 Peter 2:7-8). Why is it that our souls are so often content with the eternal punishment awaiting those in our midst? Will not we be held accountable for all those we loved so little as to not share the source of eternal reconciliation, love, and hope with them?
To God be the Glory…Not to Man
“Now, when they were gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Which would you desire that I should release to you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was from jealousy that they delivered him.”
(Matthew 27:17-18)
“And Pilate asked them saying, ‘Do you desire that I should release the King of the Jews?’ For he knew that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had delivered him.”
(Mark 15:9-10)
Again, there is a lot of coverage over this activity and each from a little different angle, yet complimenting one another as they provide a very full picture of the people’s betrayal of Jesus. The point is clear; all involved are guilty — every one. We have discussed the irony of Jesus Barabbas having the same given name as Jesus the Christ and we have discussed the significance of the title: “King of the Jews.” Yet Matthew records Pilate using the word “Christ” of our Lord. So far, we have seen the High Priest using the term as he questioned Jesus, pressing, “Are you the Christ?” but here we find Pilate essentially connecting the term Christ with Jesus, though not as a profession of faith, but simply as a way to harras the Jewish authorities.
Christ is of course the Greek word for Messiah, a Hebrew term that means “the Anointed One.” Many in ancient Israel were called the anointed of God: priests, kings, etc… but in the Old Testament there is also a thread that points to a greater anointed who will redeem the people from oppression. Moses led the people out of slavery to the Egyptians; this messiah needed to be greater than that. Sadly, the people, being focused on the things of this world, saw Rome as that greater enemy while in reality Jesus the Messiah was here to defeat an even greater foe than that — sin and death. The unbelieving priests were so blinded by their jealousy that they could not see the truth written on the wall and sought to destroy this Christ to preserve their own power.
Yet, isn’t that the tactic of the devil through history? Destroy that which could be the Holy One? The trend goes all of the way back to Cain slaying Abel — a prophet of God (Matthew 23:35, Luke 11:51). Yet, in seeking to destroy that which God had anointed, the Devil fell right into God’s design, for to defeat death, the Messiah must die and then be raised from the grave. Thus all of the plans of the enemy would be thwarted just as the enemy felt he had realized his greatest victory. What Satan perceived would be his victory became his utter defeat. Ahh, the grand majesty of God’s sovereign design. And while Satan remains as a menace — a lion roaring in the darkness — he is a defeated foe and has no ultimate power over the elect of God. That, loved ones, is a reality that ought to drive us to worship.
But doesn’t the jealousy of these chief priests hamper us yet today? Or perhaps the kind of jealousy that these priests had? They were jealous of the attention and glory that was being given to Christ. How often the work of Christ is hampered by the egos of people who would rather the glory come to themselves. Sad, isn’t it? Beloved, don’t let this trap befall you in the work you do in Christ’s church and don’t let this trap befall your pastor. We are not building our own kingdoms personally or denominationally; we are building Christ’s kingdom — everything else is secondary.
I love thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of thine abode,
the Church of our blest Redeemer saved
with his own precious blood.
-Timothy Dwight
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