In the last few weeks we have been looking at the various aspects of apostasy. Apostasy, as you know, is the act of turning away from the truth. We started out examining the apostasy of the church in the example of the disciples at the arrest of Jesus. Peter’s denial of Christ exemplified the apostasy of the church.
Then last week we looked at the apostasy of the world, particularly as evidenced by religion and politics. The Jewish religious leaders under Annas exemplified apostate religion, and Pilate illustrated apostasy in politics.
Today we are going to look at one last example of apostasy, and that is the apostasy of government. Government is a divinely appointed institution, which God uses for HIs purposes. Romans 13:1 says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” However, even though God has established government, and has given it the authority to govern, we will see in this passage how as an institution it has turned away from the truth of God, or become apostate.
We might further define those three categories of apostasy as follows; Religion is man’s attempts to reach God; attempting to administer divine truth by mans methods. Politics is the art of compromise; attempting to manipulate truth to reach a consensus. And government is the rule of the people (the rule of law); attempting to enforce man’s truth through law. In each case, truth is subservient to man and not vice versa, as God intended it.
Now as we go through this passage, we will see seven ways in which government has turned apostate. As I have previously pointed out, Truth is on trial. Jesus is the embodiment of divine truth. And He is on trial for that truth which He represents on behalf of God.
So in rebellion against the Truth, Jesus is arrested and put on trial. And we see seven aspects of this apostasy on the part of the government which I have categorized as follows to help us see how this apostasy on the part of government is played out; they are exchanging the truth, mocking the truth, rejecting the truth, examining the truth, judging the truth, killing the truth, and rewriting the truth.
First let’s consider exchanging the truth. In chapter 18 Pilate declares, “what is truth?” And ironically, Truth is standing right next to him, and yet he does not recognize it. So Pilate does what people have done for centuries, what people do even today. As the representative of government he offers the people a choice; man’s version of the truth versus God’s designation of the Truth. He offers them either Christ or a man called Barabbas. Now John tells us that Barabbas was a robber. He was a convicted criminal. And yet when faced with the choice of choosing a criminal or an innocent man, they chose the criminal. So basically, they chose to exchange the truth for a lie.
Paul in his letter to the Romans, says the world is condemned because of that very thing. He says in Rom.1:25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” Paul isn’t just talking about pagan idolatry here, he is talking about serving the devil himself, the father of lies.
I want to point out an interesting feature in the name Barabbas. Barabbas means "son of a father”. So we have here son of the father, Barabbas, and on the other hand Jesus whose name means Jehovah is Salvation who claims to be the Son of God the Father. So here is the choice that Israel is faced with. Will you release Barabbas, son of the father? Or shall I release to you Jesus, Jehovah is salvation, the Son of God the Father? And of course we know that they chose the creature, rather than their Creator. So given a choice by government, the people chose to exchange the truth for a lie.
But in this travesty of human justice, let us not miss the picture of divine justice presented for us here. In God’s court of justice, mankind stands before God as Barrabas, guilty and condemned. But God offers His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, so that we might go free. It is the divine principle of the just dying for the unjust, the innocent taking the place of punishment for the guilty pictured in the law as the innocent, spotless lamb slain for the sins of the people. And this principle is stated succinctly in 2Cor. 5:21, “ [God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Secondly, in it’s apostasy, government mocks the truth. As we look at the beginning of chapter 19, we see Jesus mocked by Pilate and his soldiers. Pilate is almost obsessed with this concept of Jesus as King. Pilate of course is only a governor of Judea. He would have to bow to a King. So when He asks Jesus in chapter 18 if He was a King, Jesus asserts that He is in fact a King, but not of this world. He is really saying “I am a King, but not of this government.” He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords reigning throughout the world spiritually. But rather than that statement denouncing Christ’s authority, in reality it means that Pilate’s authority is subservient to Christ’s authority. But perhaps Pilate fails to comprehend this principle in entirety, or perhaps he does comprehend it, but instead of bowing to Christ as Lord, he mocks Christ’s rule.
So Pilate takes a man who is innocent by his own admission, and has Him scourged. John doesn’t give us the details of this scourging, but typically it was with a whip called a cat of nine tails, whose lashes were tipped with bits of glass or steel. The law had limited the number of strokes to 39, because 40 were known to kill a person. So they scourged Jesus, probably to within an inch of His life, though He was innocent of any wrong. Pilate reveals how cruel and evil he is, being willing to scourge an innocent man for the sake of appeasing the Jews and perhaps satiating his own jealous hatred of anyone challenging his authority.
Their mockery though is even more revealed by the crown of thorns and the purple robe the soldiers placed on HIm, and then parading the bleeding, lacerated Christ before the mob pronouncing “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapping Him in the face.
The mockery of apostasy as revealed in this example shows that it’s possible to espouse the truth and yet not really believe it. It’s possible to proclaim Jesus is Lord and yet live for the devil. It’s possible that one’s actions can make a mockery of their professed faith in God. 2Peter 3:3 says, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.” Truth is made a mockery by living in sin. Faith must be more than just lip service. As James said, “show me your faith by your works.”
Thirdly, the apostasy of government rejects the truth. Vs.4, Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.”
Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate *said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”
Pilate asserts again and again that Christ is guiltless of any crime. Yet in spite of that, the Jews still reject Him. This rejection of Christ really began a long time before this trial. Jesus spoke of this rejection in a parable found in Luke 19:14, in which the citizens of the kingdom say, “We do not want this man to reign over us.” Jesus was speaking allegorically of the citizens of Israel, who would reject God’s reign. And as Christ prophesied in yet another parable, they would kill the Son in order to try to thwart God’s sovereignty over them.
Government either recognizes God’s rule over the world, and they are merely stewards of that responsibility given to them by God, or they have rejected God’s rule, in order to rule themselves according to their lusts. And far too often in our society today, we see government capitulate to protests, to mob lust for blood, in spite of whether or not the placards and slogans of the crowds are true or not. As Isaiah 59:14 says, “Truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.”
And I would suggest that this is the crux of man’s rejection of salvation. Man rejects the idea that Christ should rule over them. They may not dislike the idea of Christ dying in their place, but they reject the notion that they give up their right to self rule. Most people reject salvation because they want to live their life by their standards, by their rules, and as such reject the rule of Christ as Lord of their life.
That brings us to the fourth aspect of apostasy in government, and that is the examination of the truth. When Pilate has said they should crucify Him themselves, they respond, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” This accusation strikes fear into the heart of Pilate. Pilate was more than willing to punish an innocent man who claimed a spiritual kingdom, but the thought that Christ was actually God in flesh concerned him greatly.
So Pilate brings Christ out to the Praetorium, his private residence, in order to examine Him. In effect, Pilate had already examined Christ by scourging, a method used to soften up the criminal so that he would be ready to confess. But at that point, Pilate had no charge to condemn Him with. Now he has this assertion by the Jews that Christ had committed blasphemy by declaring Himself as the Son of God.
But the Jews appeal to their law, probably referring to the law of Moses concerning blasphemy. However, they do not examine Him according to truth. Truth affirms that He is the Son of God. He was foretold by the prophets, heralded by angels, acknowledged verbally by God in the heavens, transfigured before His disciples, and He had performed hundreds of miracles that could only be of God and which served to validate the truth of His teaching. All of which, if they would have considered, would have eliminated the charge of blasphemy and caused them to fall on their knees in worship. But they aren’t interested in the truth, only in finding fault.
For Pilate, however, the possibility that Christ was the Son of God was alarming, and he takes Jesus privately into his quarters and begins to question Him saying, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
Listen, God is not obligated to answer man’s questions as to where He came from, or how or why He does certain things. Job became angry with God and asked God for answers on the assumption that God wasn’t fair and just, and when God finally did respond, He did not answer the question “why”. God is good and just and merciful, but He is God. He is sovereign, and finite, mortal man cannot ascertain Him. So Jesus did not answer Pilate.
Vs.10,11So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
As we looked at earlier, Romans 13:1 says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” Pilate thinks that he has authority to judge, but he fails to realize that actually the great Judge of all the earth is judging him.
I find it ironic that just this week we had a decision by a panel of judges that rendered the Presidents order as unconstitutional. I don’t want to make political statements here, but I will say that judges do not have unilateral authority to determine truth. Judges have to be accountable to the truth, and as the law is the expression of truth then they must judge according to the law. Judges cannot legislate; they interpret and apply the law.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that the the General Government has no powers but such as the Constitution gives it. And as I said last week in regards to the American Constitution, the founders recognized that certain truths from God were evident, from which they established certain laws.
That principle is expounded in Jesus’s statement which is that government’s authority comes from God and God alone. Without such truth as a foundation, there can be no justice. But in the case of the government under Pilate, we see that truth is rejected for what is considered popular and expedient. And so he judges Christ according to the dictates of a mob, and the pressures of the moment.
And by the way, we see that being played out today as well. Society is trying to change laws and influence government by protests, by mob violence. And as we have seen it is effective to a great degree. That method has been used with great effect since the 60’s to change American policy, to make the general populace and particularly the politicians think that it is the majority opinion, when in fact many times it’s just the louder opinion. The silent majority suffers injury from a more vocal and violent minority.
That leads us to the next aspect of the apostasy of government; judging the truth. Vs.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.”
John’s gospel is full of irony. And the height of irony is that Pilate sits on his judgment seat to cast judgment upon the Son of God. This same Jesus, whom Pilate and worthless men put to death, will one day sit on the Great White Throne. And all judgment will be given to Him to judge every man according to his deeds. John writes in Rev. 20:11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, [that includes kings and governors and celebrites and all who are considered great in this world) standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
So here is the puny prefect of Judea, sitting in judgment of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Judge of the whole earth. What irony. Who is man that dares to judge God? And how will God judge him that has passed judgment on Christ by refusing to submit to Him as Lord and King?
Vs.14, “Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’ So they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.”
In their judgment of Christ they sealed their own judgment. Here is the nation designed to be a theocratic nation. Here is the nation that claimed Jehovah as their God and King. But here they renounce their theocratic relationship to Jehovah God, by saying, "We have no king but Caesar." And so Israel, guilty of blasphemy in the denial of the Son of God, and guilty of apostasy in turning from God as King to Caesar thus denounces the theocracy, their own unique position before God, and in a few years they will receive their judgment and be scattered to the four corners of the earth, until there is no longer any Israel at all.
God is patient with the government of mankind, not wishing for any to perish but all to come to repentance. But one need only look at history to see the long line of governments that have abandoned God and become apostate, and as a result are no longer a power any longer on the earth to be reckoned with. The great Egyptian empire is no more. The Roman Empire has crumbled. The Greek Empire is no more to be found. England’s once grand empire is no longer. Nazi Germany’s empire was destroyed. And America, as the modern world’s greatest superpower, is on the brink of imploding under the weight of it’s own corruption. But the truth of God endures forever. God’s empire is increasing and will never end.
So the apostasy of the government results in killing Truth. That is the only solution to a world who hates the truth. That is their only way they think they can silence the truth, and thus silence their consciences. So they crucify Christ. Vs.17, “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.”
And governments have been killing Christians ever since, trying to silence the gospel. Trying to silence the truth of God. Christianity Today magazine has put the number of Christian martyrs since Christ walked the earth at 70 million people. And the persecution has not slowed down. Many sources say that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world today. Jesus said in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”
There is one final aspect of apostasy in government that we will look at today, and that is rewriting the truth. Vs.19, Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
Pilate wished to frame the argument his way. His argument was that Jesus was a Jew, and his death was a result of Jewish law. He wanted to absolve himself of any responsibility in the matter. He wanted to wash his hands of the whole affair. But Jesus did not let Pilate off so easily. Jesus made it clear that He was a King, but not of this realm. However, He also made it clear to Pilate that His realm superseded Pilate’s realm. He said Pilate would have no authority if God did not give him that authority.
So Pilate in one last desperate brazen act, writes a sign to be placed on Jesus’s cross, “The King of the Jews.” In one sense it was true. But it was only part of the truth. The full truth was that Jesus is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He was the very Son of God. And as is so often the case, a half truth is little more than a full lie.
Pilate writes his version of the truth. And says, “what I have written, I have written,” as if to say that his word was law. But as we have already stated, God’s law is the final authority. Man may write enough books to fill up the Atlantic Ocean, but all of them cannot equal the truth of God’s Word, the Bible. It is the sola scripture; the sole authority for life and practice. It is the source of truth, regardless of the revisionist historians, regardless of the scientists, regardless of the consensus of the courts of men.
The question for Pilate is the same for men today. What will you do with Jesus? If he was just the king of the Jews 2000 years ago, that was martyred, then we can write him off as inconsequential to 21st century Americans. But if He was the Son of God who gave His life as the Passover Lamb for the sins of the world, so that we like Barabbas might be set free, then we must fall at His feet and worship Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Do not turn away from the truth. Everyone will one day stand at the Great White Throne Judgment and answer this question: “What did you do with Jesus Christ?”
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