(Read Luke 23)
THERE are four prayers in this chapter. (1) The prayer of hatred. Take care you do not join the people that make that prayer, or form one of those that are going to utter (2) the prayer of fear. Then there is (3) the prayer of love. You will never pray that. Lastly there is (4) the prayer of faith, and many of us have prayed that. Our hearts have been led to Christ, and we have got the answer from Him that gives us the knowledge of present salvation.
There was never a scene like this. Men had been saying, “Who will show us any good?” and absolute goodness was now here. God had visited the earth in the person of His blessed Son, and for thirty-three years He went about doing good. He never did anything but good. We are not told much about the first thirty years of His life, but after that wherever He went, if there was misery He brought in that which removed it. He unstopped deaf ears, bound up the broken-hearted, and, healed the leper. Every kind of misery and need Jesus met, and the more miserable the case the more the Lord put Himself about to meet it. God in human form was traveling through man’s earth, where man was under the power of Satan, under the dominion of sin, with misery in his heart. There Christ moved about in blessed goodness, carrying relief wherever He went.
What He was, in Himself, rebuked and condemned man—of course it did. What will convict an unholy man? The walk of a holy man. That is what the Lord was. What could convict the religious men of that day? The path and-words of Christ. He was there, a standing conviction to their conscience. He was fit for God; they were not, and at length this light became too great, and the testimony too strong. Then the evil of man’s heart came out, and here you get the world exposed, and the hearts of men exposed. At the same moment you get Christ’s heart exposed, and, oh, what a heart!
The love of God is brought out at the cross, as nowhere else; it is unfolded and demonstrated in the ways and words of His blessed Son, and in a world where death reigned, you get a man who had life in Himself, and upon whom death had no claim, going down into death to bring life to man. That man is the Son of God, and Jesus is His personal name. I would that ye knew Him.
In this scene, which Luke so touchingly describes, He had been betrayed by a false friend, Judas, denied by a true one, Peter, and the scripture was fulfilled, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness” (Psa. 88:1818Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness. (Psalm 88:18)). Again, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:77He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)). He was in the presence of Pilate, and the more pressure is brought to bear on this blessed Person the more fully His grace, His love, His truth, His goodness come out. When you put the sugar cane between the rollers of the mill, and crush it, the sweetness comes out. Nothing touches the Christian like the ways and words of Christ in the scene of His suffering and death.
Your eternal destiny hangs on your apprehension of who this Person was. Your eternity depends on your knowledge of Him and His grace, but, thank God, the preaching of the cross, though it be foolishness to those who perish, is the power of God unto us which are saved (1 Cor. 1:1818For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)). Perhaps you do not believe in the cross and in the atoning, dying agonies of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, I do not believe sin can be put away in that way.
To them that perish the preaching of the cross is foolishness. See your future, dear unbeliever, see your eternity. “To us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:1818For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)). I like that word “saved.” The cross to an unbeliever is foolishness, while to a believer it is the power of God unto salvation. Let it become so now to you; do not miss another opportunity of coming to Jesus and getting to know God. Ponder this wondrous scene.
They began to accuse Jesus of all kinds of untrue things, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king” (vs. 2). Never was there a bigger lie. Only two days before He had caught His accusers in their own trap. They said, “Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?” How had they become subjects of Caesar? Through their sinful departure from God, and His righteous judgment thereof. Mark Christ’s reply: “Render therefore to Cæsar the things that be Cæsar’s” (Luke 20:22-2522Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? 23But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? 24Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. 25And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. (Luke 20:22‑25)). What a foul lie was told forty-eight hours after.
“And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest I am” (vs. 3). The effect upon the governor was this: “Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man” (vs. 4). If Pilate had only staked his soul upon that true conviction, how different would have been his future.
We are here in the presence of a faultless man. Three times over does Pilate say, “I find no fault in him.” Can you show me that kind of man today in this world? No, you cannot. Why? Because “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). But here Pilate gives a true testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. A perfect man was He, and I want you to see the perfection of His manhood. By-and-by the poor dying thief adds his testimony: “This man hath done nothing amiss.” What do we see here? A perfect, sinless, holy man; a man who therefore ought to live, but He died.
The Holy Ghost says, regarding Jesus: “Who did no sin” (1 Peter 2:2222Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (1 Peter 2:22)); “Who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)); and “In him was no sin” (1 John 3:55And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)). Could that be said about you? No. You have been rolling sin, like a sweet morsel, under your tongue, when no eye was on you but God’s. Keep your eye on Jesus, for in this chapter you will find that He was made sin, and died for sinners. What a Saviour!
Pilate’s testimony only revealed man’s heart, for “they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time” (vers. 5-7). When Pilate heard of Galilee he was glad to send Him thither and thus get rid of Him. He said to the soldiers, “Take Him to Herod.” They took Him away. And you, have you not once and again sent Him off, glad to have got rid of Him? You may do that once too often.
I think Pilate would breathe more freely when rid of Jesus. And you too would rather not come to a decision for Christ just yet? You mean to come to it someday, a little later on in your life. In the meantime you would like to get rid of Him. That is Pilate all over again. He sent Him to Herod. “And Herod with his men of war set him at naught, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate” (vs. 11). Here was eternal love incarnate in that blessed Man, and yet Herod “set him at naught.” That is a very serious thing. How have you treated Christ up to this moment? What about your life, your whole history? Has He had a place in your heart? Have you not “set him at naught”? Unsaved reader, it is about time you pulled up, and came to a pause in your history. Take my advice and make everything of Him.
Do not forget this; as Herod arrayed Jesus in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate, he got a chance of salvation, and missed it. He got an opportunity of receiving Christ and missed it. His worldly position was at stake; he thought, If He goes up and becomes king, I must go down. He thought nothing of Christ and sent Him away. Perhaps you are doing as Herod did that day. He sent Him away. Fatal act!
He is taken again to Pilate, and Pilate had another chance. God is giving you today another chance of receiving Christ—of getting your eyes opened to see the beauty and glory of His person. Let me urge you to take it. What God has put down in His book is but a picture of what often goes on. Two men shook hands that day over the murder of Jesus, they were reconciled over the determination to get rid of God’s blessed Son. Awful picture! What a heart man has!
Pilate has again to confess that Jesus is faultless, and not worthy of death, and seems determined to let Him go. Why did he not let Him go that day? He loved the world―do not you? He was part and parcel of the world―are not you? You would not like to lose the favor or smile of the world; you would not like people to look down upon you as a follower of Christ. Pilate was evidently inclined to let Him go, but someone said, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar” (John 19:1212And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. (John 19:12)). Then came out the plain issue―Cæsar’s friends must side with. Cæsar, and Jesus’ friends must side with Jesus. Alas! none sided with Him. Who have you sided with as yet―the world, or Jesus, the despised Saviour? You would not like to lose the favor of your master, or your position in this world. That is Pilate over again. True, he washed his hands of Christ, but you cannot do that. You will never be able to wash your bands of the refusal of Christ for eternity. Herod had his chance, Pilate had his; they both missed it. Be warned by their folly, and do not join them in a lost eternity.
We will notice the four prayers in our next number.
W. T. P. W.