Looking only at Jesus, the Leader and perfecter of the faith..
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews encourages the saints of the church to look to Jesus Christ, the originator of all things and only Shepherd perfecting the faith of sons chosen by the Lord God.
FAITH: Swear it upon your biggest BIBLE, mention GOD four times only and Christ Jesus not at all — faith in US?
Does this ‘ONE NATION UNDER GOD’ claim faith without fear of the LORD?
(But I digress..) Returning to the Bible:
Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord
Nor faint when you are punished by Him – Hebrews 12:5b
Speaking of those who would follow Jesus Christ as Lord:
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
IN GOD WE Trusted
In the days of Moses, David and some some other leaders, a chosen and blessed Hebrew nation had trusted God. Yet at times they became divided to trust each in his own ways.
Some like Zerubbabel responded to the voice of God through Prophets like Haggai and repented (as we pointed out previously). Faithful saints suffered once more in a fading Empire of Rome, which persecuted both Jews and Christians.
The writer to first century Hebrews asks the church to remain faithful to God in Christ Jesus.
Is the U.S. ‘one nation under God?’
Or are claims of both divisions of this troubled PEOPLE no different from failing faith of a divided Israel and Judah?
Hear more from the letter to the Hebrews.
Warnings against Rejecting God’s Grace
12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet…
14 Strive for peace with all… that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled; 16 that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau…
How are WE doing with this: our leadership United ‘underGOD?’
Contrast of Sinai and Zion
18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest..
For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.
Hebrews 12:19 NLT
21 (.. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
The Unshaken Nation
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.
For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth;
but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
.. the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—
Is your soul shaken by this?
Do you hear the Voice of the LORD?
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28b-29 KJV
Pray that this ‘one nation’ under God may repent and unite with He Who Was and Is and Will be forever unshaken.
SHAKEN 2 of our 4-post series is an update of commentary on the January 6th crisis of 2021 following the insurrection and assault on Capitol Hill - a lingering malignancy which not-so-amazingly continues to shake the very foundations of freedom of WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES of America who must agaub think carefully about our ways.
Think back carefully: Do YOU remember this recent history correctly?
inciting disrespect for Government“So help me God.”
GOD & Government
Although this series points to current events of the United States and the world, SHAKEN! is not a partisan political post, but a fleeting glace at government and the role of God in the leadership of nations.
Our next post will point back to God and government at various times including this Prophet’s writings. So here’s the setting and time, NOT the US in A.D. 2021, but Persia in about 521 B.C., some 2500 years ago.
Darius the Great was the third Persian King of the Achaemenid Empire
About 50,000 Jews returned. In 536 B.C., they began to rebuild the temple (cf. Ezra 3:1–4:5) but opposition from neighbors and indifference by the Jews caused the work to be abandoned (cf. Ezra 4:1–24)– source: Commentary of John MacArthur
Where is the great City of David or the expansive Empire of Solomon of five centuries before?
Where is the rebuilt Temple of the Lord from the Book of the Law uncovered during the reign of a previous administration (of Cyrus and the Governor Nehemiah)?
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: This people saith: The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.
Aggeus (Haggai) 1:2 DRB
Darius the Great
King of Kings Great King King of Persia King of Babylon Pharaoh of Egypt King of Countries
Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!
Haggai 1:5 NASB
6 You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to be happy. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.”
7 The Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways.
WHY has this happened?
Are theirs not the same questions as our political and religious leaders ask in these days of desperation?
WHY has God allowed this?
9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?”
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
“Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
So on your account, the skies have withheld the dew and the land its crops.
Haggai 1:9b-10 CSB
11 I have summoned a drought on the fields and the hills, on the grain, new wine, fresh oil, and whatever the ground yields, on people and animals, and on all that your hands produce.”
What is the PEOPLE’s response?
12 Then..
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,
governor of the Achaemenid Empire’s province Yehud Medinata led the first group of 42,360 Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity in the first year of Cyrus the Great, the king of the Achaemenid Empire. – source: Wikipedia
the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak,
and the entire remnant of the people
.. obeyed the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him.
So the people feared the Lord.
That was their response to the Lord God.
Yet what answer now from ‘the entire remnant .. of the people’ from US?
3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison?
Remember Zerubbabel their governor,the high priest Joshuaand all of the people obeyed the Lord their Godand therefore ‘So the people feared the Lord.‘
The Lord’s declaration:
4 Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel
Be strong, Joshua
Be strong, all you people of the land..
Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
5 This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’”
The LORD Who Leads
Can you imagine WHY the LORD God would restore a broken nation whose LEADERS OF GOVERNMENT AND WORSHIP had not led ALL of the PEOPLE to repentance?
In fact, Zerubbabel, Joshua and all the remnant of Israel once again bowed down in awe to the LORD, the God who had led them from Egypt and once again from Babylon.
Yet hear the word of the Lord to US — for WE THE PEOPLE are a stiff-necked and rebellious people led by winds of wantonness and words of wrath which stand upon our own strong wills.
For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies.
Previously, Pilate had questioned Jesus apart from the crowds and asked if He is a king. Now, after having had Jesus scourged 39 times and coming out to the barely controlled crowds of Jerusalem, Pilate will question this ‘man’ a second time in his judge’s chambers within the palace.
What has prompted Pilate’s new interrogation of Jesus?
This ‘man’ kept silent during all 39 lashes, confessing no crimes to receive some mercy from the whip.
When Rome’s Prefect had asked why Jesus should be crucified, the Jews answered Pilate, ‘.. because he made himself the Son of God.’
Pilate may have also been a religious man, though as we pointed out previously the Romans had many gods.
Could this man Jesus be one of them?
In a private appeal
Pilate said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to Him, “Are you not speaking to me?
Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”
John 19:10b Pilate’s claim of authority to ‘the man’ Jesus
Roman Authority
Before we hear Jesus breaking the silence of Roman interrogation, let’s consider briefly an earlier encounter of Jesus in Galilee with a Roman officer.
This healing by Jesus not only illustrates an absolute no questions asked authority of Roman Legions, but by his own high position, Pilate might have heard from this Roman leaderwho helped build a synagogue in Capernaum.
When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him..
Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”
And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.
For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.
And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
Judean Authority
Make no mistake about the authority of Rome’s governor Pontius Pilate. Rome revoked the kingdom of Herod Archelaus of Judah just two years after he failed to govern as Rome expected. They renamed the new Roman province Judea and placed a Roman Prefect in charge.
Pilate governs with political authority similar to Antipas in Galilee to the north. Jesus of Nazareth is technically a subject of Herod Antipas. Pilate, however, may have heard of Jesus from a fellow Roman legion in the region of Galilee.
Authority – Pilate’s understanding
Pilate said to Him, .. Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”
ἐξουσία, the Greek word for authority simply means, power. I am in charge. I can do whatever I please.
It could mean, I have influence and the privilege of judging you. In Pilate’s case, authority means: the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed). And specifically, the power of judicial decisions and authority to manage domestic affairs.
And Jesus remains silent, Pilate must have thought? Silent even when scourged 39 times and questioned by the Prefect with authority to sentence the ‘Man’ to a Cross?
Finally the Lord answers the authority of the governor in charge of this high Judean court.
The Authority of Christ
Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above..
John 19:11a NASB
Don’t miss this: Jesus in essence refers to a higher authority (from above).
Pilate is a religious man with many gods. Rome acknowledges these higher authorities as had Greece. These are gods defined as: the leading and more powerful among created beings superior to man, spiritual potentates (that is, kings and Caesars).
Again, perhaps Pilate has heard the buzz of the crowds witnessing Jesus healing the sick and even raising the dead. Romans kept close to the everyday happenings in Judea. Had he perhaps heard about the Galilean legion’s servant who Jesus healed?
Some dilemma, that a human judge should judge a god!
12 As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release Him..
A Greater Sin
Perhaps, in a sense, Pilate considers or acknowledges the Higher Authority of Jesus. To some extent Jesus’ answer actually exonerates Pilate, but convicts another.
Listen to the second part of the Lord’s answer to Pilate:
Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above; for this reason the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.”
John 19:11 NASB
A greater sin than Pontius Pilate? For Christ-followers remember by our creeds the the Lord Jesus “was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate?”
Yet Jesus says that one who handed Him over to Pilate has the greater sin.
Does the Lord mean to say that Pilate’s sin is forgivable? Perhaps.
We assume here that Jesus refers to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him to the Jews, is the one with the greater sin.
Have you ever considered that Annas or Caiaphas are truly the ones who handed Jesus over to the gentiles?
These High Priests of the Jews handed Jesus over to Pilate for crucifixion.
Annas, Caiaphas and other Jewish officials of the Sanhedrin, who betray their own Messiah, have greater sins than Pilate!
Had you have not known of the Highest Authority of Jesus until now, you may be forgiven for not knowing. But now that you know Jesus, you must accept Christ or oppose God Almighty.
Who will rule over you now?
Opposition to Authority
12 As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release Him; but the Jews shouted, saying,
“If you release this Man, you are not a friend of Caesar;
everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar!”
Pilate their Governor rules over those in the crowds and as Judea’s Governor. He appoints their religious authorities (who have consistently incited the crowds against the Authority of their Messiah) and outranks every member of the Sanhedrin in all civil matters.
But the Jewish authorities cite a technical argument, not a religious reason – a political reason for Pilate to condemn their messianic opponent.
Jesus claims to be a king.
Caesar, a king and a god to the Romans also commands their loyalty.
Will Pilate actually oppose the authority of Caesar by releasing a Man who makes claim as a king of the Jew?
Of course, the Governor cannot allow the crowds to think that. Now he must sentence the Man. Rome’s judge returns Jesus to the public court of crowd justice.
13 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement—but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
From the hour of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas under cover of darkness in Gethsemane until now, these trials, interrogations and cruel punishments have all been completed by morning’s end.
14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour..
The Jewish Authorities Prevail
No one likes to see the oppositionwin — not you, not me — and not even Pilate.
But in fact, here it would seem that evil prevails. Evil destroys its opponent in the agenda of those religious leaders who have stoked the hatred of the crowds.
Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king!” They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”
The chief priests answered,
We have no king but Caesar.
John 19:15b KJV
16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. KJV
Who are ‘they’ who crucify Christ?
We will explore the verdict, which would seem to suggest that the majority rules.
Who crucified the Man of God, Christ Jesus? This we must ask NEXT as we follow Christ with His Cross to the skull where criminals hang from a tree.
To be continued...
Please subscribe to our new posts & COMMENT on this one.
