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CHAPTER TWO
THE SINGULAR STEREOTYPE
John 18:29 - 19:19
HE WHO IS ABOVE ALL, IS MODEL FOR ALL:
HE THE SAVIOUR, WE THE TARGET OF TRUTH
As one considers human accountability, and the very existence of any way to surmount the fallen natures, the false nurtures, the tribal, the philosophic, the errant and often erratic religious, the civil and economic, the social and the domestic intractabilities, with the built-in resistances to reason, cunning devotion to treason as appears in Pakistan and the USA, and in the case of Israel relative to the international decision of the League of Nations and the surgically stripped cut-down at the hand of the UN in 1947, and ever since: there are two major responses that are available.
One is to tinker with a blackened motor, that still manages to go, albeit with many improper explosions, and with hideous spraying of oil as it proceeds, and to hope that somehow, beauty will arise from the contorted mess, and although it is the ruin of many mechanics, yet it may be coaxed, without reference to the manufacturer, into a long-lasting life.
That has been played out ad nauseam, even in the last few centuries, with Empires and Cartels, with Dictatorships, ponderous with pompous phrasing, dishonest claims and a marvellous marshalling of irrelevant words, or at times rather better, and with crushing ruin from unelected leaders who fought with force and live by it, to the death of the people, whose souls are taken as State property, as in China, and made to pay for the very act of BEING human, rather than as the State directs.
It has not proven any worth-while performance results. Britain adopted Protestant State Church foundation, but with the people in the State now decreasingly Christian in terms of numbers, the elected masters of the Church run for Christ, what His people do not control. The results, now that the initial fervour has died down, and despite much good and even excellent contributions from some of it some of the time, is that it bears the name of Christian, that is, the Church, while the nation wonders why it is there, and what is to replace it, and its first contender for the throne after its present occupant, wants to remove the official link between Church and State. That between the Church and the Bible has long been made a mockery, with confusion and argument raging about how to interpret, for example, sexual practices condemned as being apart from God and not to inherit His kingdom (I Corinthians 5-6, I Timothy 1, Romans 1), as REALLY meaning that this is fine and ought to be adopted, perhaps even by Bishops if they so list, and that it is those who keep to such restrictions who are vastly astray.
Some do not wish to notice the difference.
But EVEN the British Empire has fallen. Russia seems besotted with all that is great, whether Communist or its direct opposite, in the past, so long as it leads to massive power and control now. China as governed, has no time for religious liberty, despite its claims, insisting that all religion must be eaten up by the omnivorous State, and punishing those who seek for God, even without Christ as the necessary introduction, as if its very death to God as a nation, were the highest gift to mankind. Any God and His worshippers must be controlled by them, for them, for no apparent reason. Often, for gain, practising capitalism (not free enterprise), it mumbles from its amoral Marxism, pronouncing heavy morals to which, for contradictory reasons, its people MUST show fidelity, so that they in effect play God, and work at it, though it bring them to the point of a national-soul-sale!
Christ had and has an entirely different way. At its best, the British Empire began to show something of it, removing slavery (perhaps forgotten by those in charge of Iran), ameliorating industrial harshness, through Christians like William Wilberforce, John Newton and the Earl of Shaftesbury, and teaching respect for law, and for the law of God. At its worst, it fell to the normal pagan excesses, although much moderated by the degree of Christianity, working massively like a leaven in its midst.
It is the Bible which categorically and immutably shows this way, and Jesus Christ who massively and personally applied it, to the point not of death (to others) by control mechanisms, but of life (to others) by the power of God, first in healing thousands of bodies and minds, yes and spirits too, and secondly by bearing the guilt before God of those who so receive Him; for whether it be medicines or deity, it is taking them that works, not talk.
In the testimony of Jesus Christ, you see first the assurance that this is He of whom the predictive scriptures had spoken (John 1:29), then the coming of the years of His messiahship (about 30, as for priests), His power, His exposures of wickedness and hypocrisy, His gift of eternal life and temporal deliverance, His refusal (John 6) of political emplacement, of being their king on their terms, and of any force being used either to protect Him or to deliver His cause (cf. Matthew 26:53ff., John 18:36). You find dedication to death as the solution for man, and indication of life to lift His very body out of it (as in Psalm 16, John 2), so that He BOTH brought peace with God to His people and resurrection when the flight of time is over, and history has shown what is its lesson book, to the uttermost.
In John 18-19, indeed, you follow the path He traced, as His time of sacrifice came near, and see the values, grace, wisdom and dedication which is His, eschewing all force, while having all power, and not even to the tiniest fraction interested in survival, but instead, in revival of His people through His arrival at non-survival. The servant, said He, is not above his Master; so thus Christians too die daily, do not loom and loutishly command submission daily, whether as in Islam so often over history, in Communism and Romanism likewise*1 or in other secular projects without basis but self-belief, or value, except in dollars or whatever else is the valuation from the hand of man.
Let us then ponder that path, since the world neither knows it nor yet, understands, as exhibited as Christ faced the ecclesiastical death-squad, moving in the supposed interests of the priests and Pilate, the Governor of the land, for an alien power which had smashed its way to gaining control, that is Rome.
Christ at last, having annoyed the hypocrites, has been grabbed at night, so that no crowd could see to protect Him. He has been betrayed by a familiar disciple, as predicted in such Psalms as 69, 109, 31, and with His refusal to let His disciples physically fight for Him, He is entangled in the nets of the trappers. This is not new: He has known of it long before, often told His disciples it was coming, and cited biblical basis for it as to come. Indeed, at the last, He even indicated the traitor, but did not resist him (Matthew 17:22-23, Luke 9:44, John 6:60, 13:13-21, Mark 14:21).
Eternal life with God by His grace and saving action, this is the gift; and to that, force is not the way. History has held freedom like a crystal in its hand, and shown its heart. It has obscured that very freedom by its grubby fingers and the blood on its hands; but it remains, deep in our interstices, subject to assassination, but relieved and made alive, even before God, who is not limited by any fallen condition of man, but knows His own people (II Timothy 2:19), and His betrayers alike.
In this case, the option is not for this world and how much and how good a part, but for the God who made it, like one who despises the thought of grabbing for this or that famous work of art, but instead, delights to know the artists. When that artist is God, such knowledge is not only desirable and far better, but indispensable for life, just as His commands to create as in the DNA, were in the first place.
Divorce from God and His manual, the Bible, from His sacrificial Saviour is entirely possible and many so choose (John 3:19); but it is not necessary, since He has sent means for its annulment.
Beyond all in this was and is the One who paid for the restoration: Jesus the Christ (Isaiah 53), so that by His stripes those who receive Him are healed; and the healing is only through faith, that chosen instrument, so that it is WHEN you make HIS soul a sacrifice for sin that you become one of His, rejoicing that HE is worthy who became man, bore the penalty and dispersed its power, so that His own people might be saved. Moreover, this includes everyone who comes to Him in faith by grace, and receives Him as He is, not as an idol, nor idle as if it were a mere form, but in faith as fact (Hebrews 11:6, Ephesians 2:1-12, Isaiah 53:1, 5-10). Notice especially that the "we" whose sins He bears, are the same "we" who are healed. Everyone is invited, but it is the healed, the believers, given heart release and relief by salvation, whose sins are borne. He is not a social service provider, but God, who deals with each human heart as the Divine Physician. There is no bulk payment.
Now we turn our eyes to the successful spiritual syndicate, the Jewish Sanhedrin of Christ's day, concerning whose activities He has had some things to say (cf. Matthew 23, Luke 11). They have Him; it is night. Things progress. The High Priest's brilliant idea that you do not just sit and watch Him win vast numbers of people, but rather MAKE Him a sacrifice for the people so that Caesar cannot possibly be disturbed, and everyone else can lead a nice, peaceful life (John 11:49ff.).
It did not work. Within one generation Rome had destroyed Jerusalem, its temple, and polluted its land, ploughing with salt as a special dispensation of hatred. But that is precisely what Christ had told them: SAVE, SPARE your own life and you will lose it. Lose it for His sake, and you will gain it. You need to trust Him, and not yourself (Matthew 16:24ff.). Only with God is this proper, but with God it is necessary. Man is so made. He needs God and life is indeed abundant when instead of being like a watch run-down on the mantle-piece, you are WORN like a wrist-watch, close to His heart (cf. Isaiah 49:16, John 14:21ff.).
Watch now the steps of this world's treatment of Christ, here enacted in Jerusalem around 30 A.D. in our time-frame, and consider it each one alone, what it portends.
THE PASSION OF HATE
The Necessary Condemnation - John 18:29, and
The Cultural Clangour - 18:30
What accusation ? the Judge asks.
We are necessarily right! comes the
answer.
They merely identify what has to be - for they want it.
In this, they not only measure themselves by themselves, but directly usurping God, they exclude Him by authoritarian pronunciamento.
In the words of Isaiah 59:
"Justice is turned back and righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey."
Again, as in the prediction of Isaiah 53:
"And they made His grave with the wicked - but with the rich at His death,
because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth."
BECAUSE He was not evil, spoke no evil, did not use force to enforce what He offered, being thus neither Communist in its historic line, nor Romanist in its world efforts for so long and with so many claims, nor Islamic, surging across the earth to make people subject, using force, THEREFORE He came to His grave. This earth had no place for Him; the light shone in the darkness, which did not comprehend it, and alas for the world as one whole, the minority lights apart, the case has not changed.
That is why there is so much force, blood, disagreement: some use force, others use distortion, like Ahmadinejad, seeking to placard the sins of the West, while according to report, using fraud, force, religious intrusion, religion to mandate his way amid the surging masses. Confusion is thus confounded, and the supporter of terrorists becomes the moral monument, even if it is so because life thus meets its grave.
Beware of those who seek power 'of course' in democracy, for readily do they sell the souls of those whom they can sway, as the Iranian Revolution did. Seeking freedom, they gained but new chains, by courtesy of the religion of force, itself perhaps made use of by some, to implant power. Live by the sword, die by it.
The Easy Solution - 18:31
You judge Him by your law. Let the religion of your God look after itself, for it has no place here! is the thought behind Pilate's word.
THE PASSION FOR ACTION
The Wrong Authority - 18:32
However, they wanted blood so they sought authority, though many nowadays simply use it direct, making their own religious judgments and values become standard fare without so much as admitting it. Such is the position in the case of creation in the Schools and Colleges, and in the new manifestos about aborigines, for example.
Religious renegades and innovators need authority to wreak havoc, and they are gaining it towards the day when as in Revelation 13 and 17, they show where the actual religion is. This they have for so long been approaching, often unchallenged, their flight into folly not realised for what it is. Here God Himself, in human form, is despatched freely, as has been the case for His servants over the last 2000 years.
Evidence Disregarded - 18:33-38
The source of truth cannot be refuted, so Pilate takes rest in questions; and as to him, his concern for Christ is like faith without works, it is dead. It did not stop the crucifixion WITH HIS AUTHORITY.
Custom Considered - 18:39
Could there be some release
according to custom, one criminal normally being let free as a goodwill gesture
from the Governor to the people ? Could kindness save Him from His cup ?
The Violent Substitute - 18:40 - 19:3
No, for His cup had already been determined (Matthew 26:53ff., Psalm 40, 16, 22). No again, because they preferred (that vital word again as in John 3:19) a murderer. So does this world prefer its Romanism, its Communism, its Islam, with whole nations terrorised, sometimes for centuries. The path of truth is not so; and payment is high for not treading it!
So Pilate quietly had Him scourged,
despite finding no fault in Him! So do we hear of a modern dictator encouraging
troops with Viagra type drugs, to rape those whom he seeks to subdue. Justice is
irrelevant; persuasion by power is the objective; dehumanisation is the program.
Then he showed the result of the mockery and the scourging by gross, rough
ruffians, called soldiers, who gave Him clouts to the head, a purple robe for
the mockery and thorns, a twisted crown, for His head, mixing social torture
with the physical.
The Direct Exposure - 19:4-5
"Behold the man!" said Pilate. Would the people find pity and so relieve the conscience of trapped Pilate (19:12), who did not want trouble with Rome or his own area, but was not keen to flay this Man ?
THE TIME FOR TRUTH'S DEMISSION,
SUPERSEDED COMPASSION,
WHICH JOINS IT IN ABSENTIA
The Deranged Response - 19:6-7
Were the people impressed ? Not at all, but swayed by the minds that ran their now twisted religion (cf. Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 23), they cried Crucify Him! So with God in society, the trend is to get rid of what is Christ, and since He is already crucified now, to have His disciples stripped even in democracies, of recognition and His word mocked, countermanded by culture or made into travesty of truth by twisted oversight, so that what passes for religious studies, becomes Christ-countermanding instruction. BECAUSE He made Himself the Son of God, the Jews cried, therefore He must die.
As then, so in many a State now, whatever seals one Person as the answer, one God as the site, one declaration as His word, is denounced, degraded, given no serious attention, as media and sites of learning alike, either attack His word directly, or indirectly, assuming knowledge without any basis but preference, that for the darkness of which Christ spoke.
The Reluctant Subversion - 19:8-12
Pilate's nerve is failing, He must see Christ, but though what he hears cannot be condemned, yet he has fear of the culture, the mob and the priests, their words and his own health and career (19:12).
The Manipulative Master and the Seduced Ruler - 19:12-19
He tried harder. Were they not a people with some pride in so great a man as this ? "Behold your King!" he cried, as if they must realise His majesty. We have no king but Caesar, had been their response, in grovelling preference of hatred of Christ to national liberty, so now they rant, Crucify Him! After all, they had been invaded by Rome and in the days of Pompey had suffered religious outrage, and so Pilate might have hoped for some amelioration of their anti-Jesus raging. Instead, as he presents their King, they but rant the more.
Such is the way of this world of which Christ said this, noting its ruler: "the Prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in Me!" This world is slithering to its ruin and the pity of it all! but it will neither hear nor heed! and like the priest-party of Christ's day, its authorities have increasingly one mind, not in justice and truth, but in godless machinations and hopes, sometimes put in pseudo-religious terms, as in the UN, at others as if they themselves were the default rendering, and all should hear what they say, a futile solution to the antipathy to God.
Thus the steps of Pilate have some parallel to those of this world with the disciples of Jesus Christ. As He declared, in John 13:15 with 16:20, the servant is not greater than his master, and if they do these things to Me, they will do them to you! Steps parallel with those taken against Christ can be seen in character as this world assails the truth. His disciples are vexed, brutalised, unanswered, their cases manipulated, their judgment pre-arranged, the persecution programmed by impious partisans, their virulent aims in control of all their action, as their false ideas and ideals tend to run them like machines, machinating deformities often with massacring enormities.
BE VALIANT FOR THE TRUTH,
ALWAYS PRESENT IN HIS PEOPLE
Be therefore valiant for the truth (Jeremiah 9:3). Remember those in the Great Tribulation who were in heaven, doubtless with assistance from the prince of this world, who had washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb, who are seen in Revelation 7 walking at rest with Him whom they had served. Christianity is not for pretence, but truth, for easy life but for things courageous, not for life left alone, but for souls marshalled to fight with spiritual weapons for the glory of God, the elevation of Jesus Christ and the everlasting Gospel. It is not only in terms of Him who is the truth, but the way and the life also. In following Him, you surely will not lack adventure; nor hostility (II Timothy 3:12).
If there is peace, there is persecution no less; if there is joy, there is mourning no less, for the things of man are his ruin, and his rule is his disaster. Yet what joy when someone is found, who was lost, and weaned from the bottles of unwisdom, to drink freely of the truth, unchanged now and forever, always the same, never missing, provided by the Lord, imparting the steady heart-beat amidst the countless fibrillations of the lie.
THE
BOUNTIFUL, THE ACCOUNTABLE, THE SURMOUNTABLE
Remember this, then Christians: "When Christ who is our life a papers, then you will appear also with Him in glory." That is from Colossians 3. This world is in tatters, but this is not ultimately what matters, for the truth has tattered it and its own sin has spattered, and the blood is showing. It is accountable to its Maker, as are all in it; but why choose the grit, when the need is the oil; and why the sand, when the need is the rock on which to run, and rest ?
There is a singular stereotype, seen of men, a rejoicing to angels, joy to the world, peace to the broken in heart, reconfiguration to the vexed, re-orientation to the confused, grace to the downcast and death to the evil, one not imposed on others, but imparted to Himself. He is the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, essential and without alternative. If in despite of Him, then, you love this world, you are welcome; but your soul will not thank you when its time comes, for your love of what is already lost, ageing and wrinkled, awaiting its doom, when the last Spring comes with the return of its Maker.
NOTE
Jesus Christ, Defaced, Unfazed ... Ch. 5, Highway to Hell, More Marvels ... Ch. 4,
Divine Agenda ... Ch. 6, SMR pp. 50ff., 62ff., Celestial Harmony ... Ch. 10 B, SMR pp.1078ff.Acme ... Ch. 9 , Great Execrations ... Ch. 3, SMR pp. 1O88D - three major religions in some ways in concert, astray.
See also:
These latter show this
religion, with the other three major conspiracies towards the ultimate -
why conspiracies ? It is because men conspire, or breathe plans together for
a control, rule or oversight not ordained by God. These are breaths of man,
and the breath that matters is that of God, in and by which all scripture is
inspired by Him (II Timothy 3:16, Isaiah 8:20), in the Book of the Lord
(Isaiah 34:16), the Bible, and sustained and implemented by Him (Matthew
26:54ff.). Other ideas for rule are always unruly, since they always tend to
use power for what neither reason nor truth compels.
See further in indexes under Romanism, Islam, Moslem, Communism, Religion.