“Then led they [the ruler of the Jews] Jesus…unto the [Roman] hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled [with the blood they were planning on being splattered all over during the scourging]; but that they might eat the passover.”
Understand that “the Jews” who clamored for Jesus’ death were a small fraction of the entire nation, “the rulers” contrasting with “the people” who are ruled, we can avoid the mistake of calling the entire nation – who became known as Jews after the exile from the land of Judea – “Christ killers.”
“Pilate [basically the sheriff responsible for enforcing laws] then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?…Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.” [Why are you bothering me!?]
You can imagine him with a napkin in his hand, brushing toast crumbs from his mouth just like he intends to brush off this annoying interruption on a day that would develop into major turmoil with the Jewish sectarian crowds for the Passover alone, not to mention those zealots against Rome.
“Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Yahweh’s Savior and said unto him [in an annoyed tone of voice with that stiff upper lip utterly bored patrician manner], Art thou the King of the Jews?
Yahweh’s Savior answered, My kingdom is not of this world.”
The spiritual nature of his claimed kingdom was absolutely understood by Pilate, acknowledging the godhood of Caesar.
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?”
“Yahweh’s Savior 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.”
This guy sounds like a cult leader, so what’s the big deal?
“he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.”
From Luke 23:
“he asked whether the man were a Galilaean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod...And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate…
And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man…No, nor yet Herod…
And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified…
“And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, they smote / beat him with their hand.
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.
At the least under torture he did not break down and confess to conspiring against Rome as a rebel wanna-be king.
Then came Yahweh’s Savior forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.
And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
Thinking their blood lust might be assuaged at the sight of this bloodied, disfigured and utterly grotesque non-human being who clearly doesn’t have the power of any god-man he knows.
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.
The Jews answered him, 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 [this is exactly what he feared]; and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Yahweh’s Savior, Whence art thou? [Are you divine?!!!]
But Yahweh’s Savior gave him no answer.”
Then saith Pilate unto him [his voice shrilling up an octave], Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Yahweh’s Savior answered [dully, slowly, with a lisp through swollen lips and broken teeth], 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.
And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him.”
Bear in mind, he is using up his precious time negotiating with his quislings on the annual most turbulent day in Judea because he half-way believes that this man is indeed the son of a god. After all the Caesars rose from obscurity to immense power with claims of divinity and this guy is too crazy to be simply human, he must be controlled by a spirit being.
“but the Jews / Rulers cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend [but his enemy, accomplice to treason]: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
When Pilate therefore heard that saying [as a pragmatist he fears Caesar of Rome more than the god of any other nation], he brought Yahweh’s Savior forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
And it was the preparation of the Passover:”
And there we have it. The chief priests who are supposed to be supervising the great sacrifice are at the ultimate sacrifice, in God’s unbreakable plan.
“and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him!
Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King?
And so they yielded themselves servants to Caesar in a political concession that becomes the existential sin unto death of a nation.
“Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified…and two other with him, on either side one, and Yeshua in the midst.
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was Yeshua Of Nazareth,The King Of The Jews.
This was a high insult as Nazareth was not splendid Jerusalem, but a tiny rural backwater village, estimated to have had a population maximum of about 480 people in Jesus’ day.
Worse, Nazareth was located in Galilee, a Gentile subdivision of the Roman Empie. It was NOT part of Judea. “Even an impeccably Jewish Galilean in first-century Jerusalem was not among his own people; he was as much a foreigner as an Irishman in London or a Texan in New York. His accent would immediately mark him out as “not one of us,” and all the communal prejudice of the supposedly superior culture of the capital city would stand against his claim to be heard even as a prophet, let alone as the “Messiah,” a title which, as everyone knew, belonged to Judea (cf. John 7:40-42).
This title proclaiming that the Jews were ruled by an international king is unintentionally factual since, as Melchizedek, YHVH’s Savior is. Today, Nazareth is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel and is known as “the Arab capital of Israel”. Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and commercial center for Palestinians, of whom 69% are Muslim and 31% Christian.
This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
- And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. [Choice one – self-centered objectives.]
- But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God [choice two], seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Yeshua, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
How could he know that Jesus had done nothing wrong? Only if he had been following Jesus’ ministry. And that’s what it takes – fearing God’s righteous judgment on sin and accepting the Son of God as your savior from the consequences of your un-right-eous acts.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)
Turning to God’s Salvation usually only happens when we come to the end of our ability to find a way out of our problems. In Nicodemus’ case he faced an existential crisis when he was forced to make a choice between
- participating in further corruption of a system of law on which he depended for eternal life, or
- trusting that the so-called YHVH’s Savior of Nazareth was indeed who he said he was – the main character in all of the Mosaic law from Genesis to Malachi.
It ended well for Nicodemus, who took the most public stand possible – separating himself from the corrupt rulers, honoring the rabbi who had been unjustly put to death, and proving his faith by his actions accepting Jesus as his lord and master in the process.
“And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple / student of our Savior, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Yahweh’s Savior …And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Yahweh’s Savior by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight [in today’s currency, costing about $200,000]. Then took they the body of Yahweh’s Savior…as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” (John 19:38-40)
What could possibly drive these two men from the extremes of society – a law-breaking criminal and a law-abiding ruler – to give a public testimony of their belief that this Yeshua was the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of God as he died? There is only one possible explanation – knowledge of, belief in, and faith in God’s word to send a savior from sin.
“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For…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. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He 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. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities…because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53).
Kingdom Come 