The Jews Have Decided That Jesus Must Die

BEHOLD YOUR KING.

John 19: 14b

A Passion sermon by:

Rev. G.R. Procee

PUBLISHED BY THE

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

OF THE

FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.

(February 2008)

LITURGY:

Votum

Psalter 51

Law of God

Psalter 290: 4, 5

Scripture Reading: John 19: 1 – 16

Text: John 19: 14b

“….Behold your King….

Congregational Prayer

Offerings

Psalter 47: 1, 2, 3, 4

Sermon

Psalter 4: 4, 5

Thanksgiving Prayer

Psalter 49: 1, 2

Doxology: Psalter 268: 1, 4

Congregation,

The Jews have decided that Jesus must die. They have brought Jesus before Pilate and they want Pilate to condemn Him to the death of the cross. Pilate asks: What is the accusation against this man? Then it becomes vague. In John 18: 30 the only thing the Jews says is: If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. But we do not read that the Jews bring forth a clear accusation that would make Jesus worthy of death. In Luke 23:2 we read of an accusation brought forth: And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.

Pilate looks at this man, standing there alone, with no followers in simple clothing with his hands bound and his face bruised from the beating He has already received from the Jews and wonders: Is this a King?

Pilate asks: Art Thou the King of the Jews? John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate still does not understand anything of this. He asks in John 18:37 Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Pilate is convinced that this man has done nothing wrong. He wants to set Jesus free. But for some strange reason the Jews do not cooperate. Pilate tries to get them to consent to set Jesus free as he had the custom to set a prisoner free at the Jewish Passover feast. But this plan failed, the people wanted Barabbas and not Jesus.

Then Pilate tries another way. He gives Jesus to his soldiers who mock and whip Him and put an old purple cloak upon Him and give Him a reed in His hand as a royal scepter and they make a crown of thorns and press it on His Head. Pilate takes Jesus and brings Him out standing before the people. We read in vs. 5: Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

Verse 6: When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

Then the climax becomes even greater because the Jews cry out in verse 7: We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid. Again Pilate tries and now for the last time to set Jesus free. The tension increases. It is now amounting to the final verdict, the final judicial pronunciation:

In verse 13 John mentions the place where Pilate is: The pavement. In Hebrew Gabbatha, from the Hebrew word for a high place. That was a special place carefully laid with little mosaic tiles. That is where Pilate was seated, the official throne as judge. It is now coming to the final judgment in this trial that has taken up too much time as it is.

John also points to the time when Pilate is going to pronounce his verdict. Verse 14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour. That is to be taken at around 6 on Friday morning.

Then John records what Pilate’s verdict is: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

But the Jews cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified. He didn’t even say something like: I hereby deliver Jesus to be crucified. Pilate just gave Jesus up to be crucified. His final official pronouncement, having heard all what was said, was:

Behold your King. 1. This is a cry of mockery. 2. It is the proclamation of a deep truth. 3. It is the final call to Israel.

1. Behold your King. It is a cry of mockery.

Imagine the situation. There stands Jesus. He is presented to the people. Imagine how He stands there. He is presented as a fake king. A strange imposter who pretends that he is king but is doing nothing but playing a game. There He stands. Look at the pathetic sight. He is wearing that old worn out purple robe, and it is all stained with Blood. Look at His crown, sharp spikes of thorns intertwined and pushed on His Head. Look at His scepter a

broken reed, hanging down. That is how Jesus stands before the people. Pilate sneeringly says to those hated Jews: Look here is your King. What stinging ridicule. This all comes forth from plain resentment against the Jews. Such is your King o Jews, there He stands a shackled weak, defenseless man all covered with blood. He is now going to be sentenced to a horrible death and that is at your request o Jews. You want me to execute your King. Well look here is your king. As the king so the people. This weak king and that is how you are o Jews. How Pilate hates these people. He is letting them have it. Behold your King: It is an awful cry of derision. It is painful sheer mockery.

You call this man your king. You call this weak suffering staggering man, who is absolutely no threat to Caesar and who has no followers and who is being cast out by His own people, do you call Him a king? Pilate is angry and in bitter irony and full contempt he cries out: Look your king. You Jews here He is your King. The emphasis is upon your. This is your King. What a king, what a people.

What suffering this all was for the Lord Jesus. Terrible suffering, to be mocked and scorned. To be set up as a spectacle of derision. He who was always perfect and dignified and caring. How many miracles and signs had He not given to the Jews and how many of their sick had He not healed. How many blessed sermons had He not spoken to them. Then see how they set Him up in derision. They laugh Him to scorn. It will get even worse. In a few hours He will be hanging on the cross and then they will stand around Him and laugh at Him. What horrible suffering. Here the words of Psalm 22 are fulfilled. Psalms 22:6-8 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

This is done by Jews and Romans, by all people. Jews mock Him but Pilate also mocks Him and the Roman soldiers laugh at Him. They altogether rise up in derision against Jesus. This was horrible suffering for the Son of God.

He is suffering this because we have made such a mockery of ourselves. When you see Jesus standing there a pathetic sight: A King, look what became of Him? There is nothing left. That is exactly what has become of you and me.

We were once created as a King. Man was placed as king over creation. To fight manfully against sin, the devil and his whole dominion, we were called to rule over creation and to lead all our faculties to honour God our Maker. But look what we have done. We have abused this creation. We have ruined our own lives. We have poisoned our souls. We surrendered at the first possible occasion ourselves and all our happiness and our eternal well being, we surrendered it all to the devil. We are now under his dominion. We are lost in our sins.

That has become of man. That makes man to be such a pitiable sight before God. A pseudo king a false king, an imitation king, that is what we have made of ourselves. We are a king to be held in derision, because we have forsaken God and we fell from our high position. Look what a mockery has become of man,. He falls sick, he suffers he has to die and his whole life long he is afraid of death and misery. He who was created in perfect bliss, no death could disturb him, no pain was present, no misery could bother him. He ruled over his passions, over creation, he enjoyed perfect and full harmony with God. What a deep fall He made. What a fool he made of himself, what a wicked conduct he showed.

That congregation is you and me. You are I have become a fake king. That is why is Christ is here suffering as if He were a fake king. He is suffering the curse that rests on His people. They had shamefully defaced themselves and made themselves despicable by their conduct. Therefore Christ is suffering.

We also can easily make a mockery of Christ, when we hear His words but refuse to believe them. It can be that you do not take Him nor His words seriously, or that you resist His claims upon your life. In these instances we also reject Christ and make a mockery of Him.

Therefore there is simply one way for you and me. That is to humble ourselves in the

dust. For we have made a derision of ourselves. We were never made to suffer or to die. Look what has become of us. That is all because of sin. We have fallen down before the prince of darkness. We succumbed to his diabolical pressure and we threw away our royal dignity. What is needed for us is to bow in the dust before the Lord. To bewail our own deep fall and to realize it and to find life and salvation in this King. Cry out to Him: I have sinned. I am unworthy of Thy grace. O Lord open my eyes that I may see my deep fall. Open my eyes that I may see the mess I made of my life, that I may be humbled before Thee, and that I may see glory and life in Thee. That I may be saved, and washed. Have mercy, deliver me o Thou Son of David, as Thou art come into thy Kingdom.

2. Behold your King. It is also a deep proclamation. Because here is indeed the King of Israel. In this One the prophecies of old are all fulfilled, that a King shall reign in righteousness and that of His Kingdom there shall be no end. In this One the ancient prophecy is fulfilled that there will always be a Ruler from the House of David reigning before the Lord. His Kingdom shall be glorious and splendid. He shall have dominion from sea to sea. The scepter shall never depart from Judah because of this Man. He is the One, of Whom Balaam prophesied that a scepter that shall rise out of Israel. This is the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. In His majesty He will ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness. His arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies. His throne is for ever and ever. This is the One, Pilate, before Whom all kings shall fall down. All nations shall serve Him.

Isaiah 9:6,7 and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Behold your King. Exactly. That is it precisely. But Pilate doesn’t see it. The Jews do not see it. The disciples do not even see it. Nobody sees it.

Isaiah 53: 2,3 already said it: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Nobody noticed any glory in Christ. No one recognized Him as a King, because we all look at what we can see but we must learn to look at the invisible things.

Jesus may look like a fake king. But O Pilate, tremble, O you high placed Roman governor, tremble, for you do not know Him. You will stand before His Throne. Then you will tremble, o Pilate. You don’t think He is a threat to Caesar. Well you should realize that this King will overthrow the Roman empire and every empire here on earth. You say He has no followers, but in a few weeks His God will convert thousands of followers here in Jerusalem. His church will be planted forth until the ends of the earth. You think He is a fake King. But what you don’t know Pilate is that this Jesus is King of kings. Of His Kingdom there shall be no end.

The Jews see no beauty in Him. John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. They don’t see that He is King forever. They don’t see that He is at work establishing His everlasting Kingdom and that the glory of David and Solomon is nothing in comparison to the glory and the beauty of His everlasting Kingdom. He gives life everlasting. He makes all things new. He shall conquer every enemy, even death itself. But the Jews don’t see it.

The disciples do not see any royal authority in Christ. They are confounded. They have fled. They can only draw this conclusion: It is all lost. Peter has denied Him. John stands afar off. The other disciples have fled. Jesus is alone in His sufferings. The disciples had received such blessed instruction. They could have known so well. That Pilate didn’t see it, we can humanly speaking understand but that His own disciples didn’t see it, while they had observed such wonders from His hand.