1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and
scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns,
and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they
smote him with their hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and
saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find
no fault in him. 5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of
thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests therefore and officers
saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto
them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by
our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he
was the more afraid; 9 And went again into the judgment hall, and
saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not
unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to
release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou
couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above:
therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. (John
19:1-11)
It may surprise some antinomians in our midst to learn that Jesus kept the Law
of God to perfection – even in death. In fact, Jesus saved us by means of
satisfying the terms of the Law. The law requires that all who sin to be
sentenced to death. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) You may
have counted yourself as an exception to the human race and free of sin, but
what does God’s Word say of such a foolish assumption? “As it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are
together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
(Romans 3:10-12) Regardless how diligently we search out the fine print, we
will find not exceptions to this fundamental flaw of human nature, either in
our selves, or any others. So we stand convicted and deserving of the sentence
of death. God is just and cannot abide sin in His Heaven. So the Law must be
satisfied. Death must be the sentence for our sins. In fact, as sinners, we are
already dead! But Christ came to satisfy that penalty of death for us. If He,
too, were a sinner, He could only have died for His own sins; but He was pure
and sinless and the only One who could qualify as a Redeemer. And so He came
and paid that horrible price at Calvary.
Though the Roman government was complicit in His mock trial, the Roman Prelate,
Pontius Pilate, attempted to find cause to set Jesus free. He publicly
proclaimed that he found Jesus guiltless of all charges. But the greater guilt
was borne by the religious leaders of the Jews who were religious in their
pride, prestige, and wealth; but very poor toward faith in God. I have heard it
said by sincere Christians that there are no degrees of sin – that every sin
carries equal weight with every other. This is true as concerns salvation, but
not the degree of evil intentions that are the authors of sin. “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it
were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the
greater sin.” Jesus clearly
declares that some sins are greater than others; and there can be no greater
sin than to dishonor and blaspheme the Son of God!
There have been more than 2,000 Good Fridays that have transpired since that
first Good Friday. Many would crucify Christ anew by seemingly accepting His
Lordship and Sovereignty in their lives and then, through their sinful actions
and hypocrisy, deny the blood that was shed for them. We all know that evil
must and will come, but woe unto them by whom it comes. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came to die in our stead. This is absolute fact! But He came to die by the
power of His own Will and not the power of mortal man. Man’s intent was wicked
toward Christ, but man had not the power to crucify Jesus. Our Lord allowed it
of His own Will and Purpose. “Thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.”
He came to satisfy the Law and impute the perfect righteousness required by the
Father for us to enter into His Heaven. His sacrifice was a once-and-for-all
sacrifice that is quite different from that of the so-called Roman Mass. But
His blood sacrifice at Calvary bears on-going fruits to all who seek
redemption. Though, in our mortal frailties we may fail and falter, Our Lord
stands upon the stormy seas of life to reach down His nail-scared had and
retrieve us from our sea of sin into which we may often sink. He offered no
defense at His trial before Pilate because it was His intent to go all of the
way for our salvation. He never hesitated or cast a longing eye back.
He “gave up the Ghost” at 3:00 pm outside Jerusalem, at the very moment that
the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed in the Temple; but that Temple lamb bore
no benefit for anyone. It was the Lamb of God which that Temple Lamb
represented that was for the healing of nations. The faithful Centurion who had
witnessed all of the events of the day was forced to confess and glorify God: “Truly
this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39)
At the moment of our Lord’s passing, a singular event transpired that is often
overlooked by the casual Bible scholar: “And the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” (Mark 15:38) This is viewed
by some as a simple little detail to which no particular importance should be
attached. But such an assumption gravely misses the mark. Until the very moment
of our Lord’s sacrificial death, only the High Priest was allowed behind the
veil of the Holy of Holies to intercede on our behalf with God following the
Pascal sacrifice. But now that the One, true sacrifice to which the Pascal Lamb
had pointed since the Exodus from Goshen in the Land of Egypt had been sacrifice,
there was no longer a need for the Veil of Separation between God and His
people. Being torn from top to bottom (it could not have been torn from bottom
to top since man had no power to remove the separation) God made Himself
available for the direct approach of His people to the Holy of Holies. Our only
Intercessor, Advocate, and High Priest became our Lord Jesus Christ. The Throne
of Grace is thereby made available to all who will come. We need no man or
priest to absolve us of sin – only the Lord Jesus Christ. In our Anglican
worship, the minister only PRONOUNCES the will of God in absolving all who
truly repent of their sins.
This day must be viewed as a most joyous day for those of us who have found
forgiveness and redemption for our sins; but it was the most egregiously
sorrowful day in all Eternity for God the Father in seeing His son being
treated with such dishonor, cruelty and same. Greater good has never been done
for humanity than on this day 2,000 years ago.
