Very often we hear this world
compared to a great battleground in which the forces of good and
evil are contending together, or the powers that be seem to
ebb and flow as bad things happen and troubles arise. Sometimes
evil seems to prevail and we'll see some evidence of moral decline. Things that were unthinkable
just a few years ago are brought out and polished up, dusted down
and made acceptable so that men call evil things good and good
things evil. and paint black things as white
as they can and sell them to us and present them to us as
a new way of thinking, a more enlightened approach. And those
of us who stand back a little from it see how our society is
degenerating into a moral decline and morass. then occasionally
there will be a little victory. And something will happen that
will cause us to rejoice and something will happen where it
seems that for a little while at least the problems of this
world, the sin of this world, the wickedness of men's hearts
have been thwarted in their progress. And things are not quite as bad
as we imagine they could be. In times like those, we might
say, well, it just proves that God is still on his throne. The great battleground in which
good and evil, God and the devil, contend together in this world. But you see, that's not right.
That's not right. If we want a military allusion
from scripture, here's one for us. Daniel says this, all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can say his hand and
say unto him, what doest thou? John, the writer of this gospel,
in a later passage that he wrote, in the book of Revelation and
chapter 19, drew on this picture, this theme of God in his glory
and in his majesty and in his power. And he writes this with
respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. The armies which were in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And
he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He hath on his vesture and on
his sty a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
that we're speaking about. That is who he is, King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. There is no battle. It's a false
analogy. Satan is a real enemy. He is
an enemy of the church, he is an enemy of God's people, but
he is a defeated enemy. He has no power beyond that power
which God allows him to exercise in this world. Furthermore, his
synodal is breached. Its walls are toppled. Christ, the strong man, has entered
into his synodal to spoil his goods. Christ has led captives
to liberty. The Lord's people that were under
Satan's dominion are a liberated people. And he speaks with the
spirit of his mouth, and the captives go free. We see a lovely testimony to
that fact, the power and the glory and the dominion of the
Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 19. And many people would say,
well, that's just perverse, because what you've just read to us in
John chapter 19 is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've
shown him as a man standing before his judge. You've spoken of him
as a man bound by other men. A man of whom one could say,
take him away. And they took him away and they
crucified him. Here is a man presented as one
who is taken, and he is placed upon a cross, and his arms are
outstretched, and his legs are pulled, and his body is nailed
to a piece of wood, which is then lifted up and dropped into
a hole. That doesn't sound like victory.
That doesn't sound like someone is Lord of Lords and King of
Kings. That sounds like defeat. And yet it is a beautiful testimony
of the true nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me take a few
minutes of your time this evening and draw for you, if you will
give ear, this picture of how the Lord Jesus Christ's victory
is seen in these words. As we encounter the Savior here
at the beginning of chapter 19, he has already been beaten. The
soldiers, probably a very large number of soldiers, have had
sport with him. They have taken him and they
have blindfolded him and punched him, spat on him. They've endeavoured to humiliate
him to the best of their ability. They've caused all manner of
troubles to come upon this man, who in his defenselessness was
open to all of their abuse. He's bloodied, and he's shamed,
and he's weak. He hasn't slept for a long time,
nor eaten probably. And he's a broken man, praided before
the crowd. Pilate therefore, verse four
says, Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, behold,
I bring him forth to you. And yet, when we think about
the Lord Jesus Christ, when we think about him standing here
in the midst of his enemies, When we, as it were, behold the
man as we are directed to do, he's not broken at all. He is the one that has dignity
in this situation. All the others that are there
are swirling around in a state of confusion and uncertainty
and doubt. The Jews are panicked. The Jews
think that Pilate may be minded to let the Lord Jesus Christ
go. He says, I find no fault in him. That's rich. Verse 1 tells us
that Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. He scourged
him though he found no fault in him. So much for Roman law
and justice. So much for protection from the
law. Jesus was taken and he was scourged. And the Jews are anxious because
Pilate may well imagine that that will be sufficient and let
Jesus go. And they're thinking that all
their plans and all their scheming and all the manipulation that
they have undertaken and gone through might be about to fall
away as nothing if Jesus is set free. And Pilate's afraid. There is every likelihood that
he could have a riot in his hands. Jerusalem is packed. It's a time
of the feast. There are people there from all
over. Christ is a celebrity. There's so much going on here
in the way of stirring up these people's emotions that Pilate
knows full well that if trouble breaks out, he's not going to
have sufficient soldiers to stop a bloodbath. And into the bargain he has a
troubled conscience. He knows that this man isn't
deserving of death. And yet he's prepared to sacrifice
him in order to keep the peace. And he's got a nagging wife.
He's got a wife who's telling him, don't have anything to do
with this man. I have suffered so much in a
dream because of this man. The disciples, where are they?
Conspicuous by their absence, not mentioned at all here. Where
are the disciples? It appears that the only calm
one in the whole scene is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He
stands in the judgment hall and he's quiet and he's composed. Dare I say he's confident. In verse 10 we read, Then saith
Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not
that I have power to crucify thee, and I have power to release
thee? Pilate boasted of his power.
He says to the Lord Jesus Christ, Your life, your life is in my
hand. And I have power to let you go
and I have power to crucify you. Oh, the irony. You know, a Hollywood
blockbuster could not imagine the outpouring of power that
the Lord Jesus Christ could have initiated at that very moment. There's no understanding what
Jesus Christ could have done at that moment just to show Pilate
how wrong he was about such a statement as that. Jesus could have demonstrated
at that precise moment any number of characteristic evidences of
his glory and his power. His is the voice. that created
the universe and that calmed the wind and the sea. Without
him was not anything made that was made. He controlled the natural
elements of this world with a word. He raised the dead to life This
is the one whom Pilate is bragging in front of and boasting about
his own power. Only hours earlier, a whole band
of armed men had fallen at the Lord Jesus Christ's feet when
he uttered but a few syllables. The Lord Jesus Christ might even
have summoned the death angel of Egypt to stroll through the
judgment hall at that precise moment. He did it a little time
hence with Herod. And the men came and said, surely
this is a God who speaks to us. And God took his life there and
then. The Lord said on another occasion,
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
presently give me more than twelve legions of angels. Twelve legions
at once. Twelve is often symbolic of perfection
and completeness. What he was saying there was
that the job would be done, it would all be over. Twelve legions
is all I need. and I could call them at a moment
and my Father would give them to me. Lord Jesus Christ says to Pilate,
just so that this man should be in no doubt about the situation. Verse 11, Jesus answered, Thou
couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given
thee from above. Pilate could have no power at
all against the Lord Jesus Christ, except it were given to him from
above. It was not possible that Pilate
could raise a little finger against the Lord Jesus, except that he
had permission and allowance to do so. Now, do you see what
he's saying here? I think this is interesting.
Let me unpack this for a moment, if I may. Pilate is at this very
moment the most powerful man in Jerusalem. He has the delegated authority
of the most powerful force in the world. He is there as the
Roman Emperor's delegated authority. And the Lord Jesus Christ says
to him, thou couldst have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above. Now, if the greatest human power
had no power at all, then nobody else had any power either. If Jesus in his weakness, as
he stands bound in the judgment seat of a kangaroo court with
his Jewish enemies on one side and this man Pilate with all
the contradictions that's going on in his heart and in his mind
and all the doubts and uncertainties that that contained. If the Lord
Jesus Christ had more power than all of them, then here is the
statement of the dominion and the glory of Christ given to
us right here. Now, I don't want to stray from
the points that we're making here, but I just want to make
a slight, small application if I may. But that's exactly the case today
for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's exactly the
same for you and for me if we are members of that church. If we are members of the body
of Christ, no one can do a thing against us. No one has the power
to do anything at all except it be given them from above. Not Satan. Satan can't touch
us. Satan can't touch the Church
except it be given from above. Not Mr Turnbull. Or Mr Cameron. Or Mr Obama. Not Mr Putin. or anyone else
in this world that thinks they've got power. They can't touch the
church. They can't touch the Lord's flock,
His people. They imagine that they can exercise
power, that they can restrict and contain and hedge in and
undermine. holed up to mockery and pillory
at their leisure, to persecute, to do away with. The Lord Jesus
Christ's people are here upon earth and will be defended and
hedged in and maintained and provided for until it pleases
Him to take them into His presence. And not one can lay a finger
upon them unless they have power from above. That's exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here. It is the Lord Jesus Christ
who rules in this world. And there's more to it than that.
We've named names, but we can talk about illness in exactly
the same way. And we can talk about disease,
and we can talk about poverty, and we can talk about hardship,
and we can talk about crises. There's no illness or disease
or poverty or hardship or crisis can touch you, except power is
given from above. It is only for the good of the
Church that trials come. It is only for the good of the
Lord's people that hardships and poverties and crises are
experienced. Now that's not easy. That's not
easy to hold and to believe And yet it is the truth, because
our God is on the throne, and our Lord Jesus Christ rules. Our Saviour didn't throw His
weight around. He could have called 12 legions
of angels, but He didn't do it. He could have brought the death
angel, but He didn't do it. He could have laid all of His
enemies low, but He didn't do it. Yet he had a quiet confidence
in the midst of his enemies and he had a solid resolve that he
was in exactly the place that he should be doing exactly the
thing that he must. This power from above that is
spoken of with respect to Pilate It didn't have any reference
to his office as governor there in Jerusalem. It had no reference to Caesar,
but to heaven. God bestowed the power that enabled
Pilate to do what he was doing. Literally, this was the determinate
council of God unfolding. This was God's plan from the
beginning, having its course, running as it should. The players must fulfil their
roles and the purposes of God accomplished. The salvation of
God's people was at stake. The elect of God. Here, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were being saved by the
death of Jesus. The church was being delivered
from sin and guilt and punishment. And every condemnation and God's
purpose was at work. weak pilot, manipulated pilot,
fearful pilot, did exactly what he wanted to do in order to safeguard
his position and placate the crowd and give a sock to the
Jews and the priests and the Pharisees. He did exactly what
he wanted to do and yet he was fulfilling exactly the will of
God for the salvation of the church. At the point where many imagine
that Satan's power against Christ was at its greatest, The reality
is that our blessed saviour was himself arranging the events
that transpired that day. He was in control of everything
that was going on. In John 10, verse 18, he says,
No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He had power to lay his life
down, and he had power to take it again. And lay it down he
did. lay it down, he did. Think on why he did that. The motivating cause, not force,
not force of might, not man's power, not Satan's desire, not
necessity, not even obligation, save within that covenant purpose
that he had voluntarily undertaken in the eternal peace of God. No, the Lord Jesus Christ laid
down his life for the sheep. He willingly as their mighty
sacrifice made himself their substitute and placed his own
body under the wrath of God's sword. The Prophet could say
in anticipation, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace,
the punishment of our peace, that which would satisfy the
wrath of God, was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. That's the Gospel. Price has
been paid for the salvation of sinners. Liberty out from under
condemnation has been won. Salvation has been secured. The captives are free. And the
willing sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he laid down
his life for his friends. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12 says,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood
He entered, purposefully entered, willingly entered. in once into
that holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. That was why the Lord Jesus Christ
did what he did. That is why he died willingly
in our place, that he might with his own blood cleanse His people,
redeem His people, liberate His people, save His people from
their sins. Before the joy that was set before
Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. One of the old commentators
writes, Robert Hawker writes with respect to this picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ standing there in the judgment hall of
Pilate, the Jews, baying for his blood, seeking his life. Robert Hawker says, Jesus looked
over the heads of all his foes to eye the hand of Jehovah in
this appointment. Isn't that lovely? Jesus looked
over the heads of all his foes to eye the hand of Jehovah in
this appointment. Two points I want to make with
regard to that. Ought we not to do the same?
Ought we not to learn this truth? Our Saviour is not fighting for
every soul that goes to heaven. This whole free will notion,
this whole idea of a battle going on and we're making some advances,
then we're having to retreat. We're winning a little battle
here, but we're fearful that we're going to lose the war,
that there's enemies rising up against us that might at any
moment overwhelm us. That's not the way it is. The
Lord Jesus Christ is in control. Our joy as believers is that
the fight is won. It's finished. Christ has the
victory. It's not even that the Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross was fighting Satan. Satan doesn't even have
that stature in the grand scheme of things, but rather he was
fulfilling the righteous demands of a holy God. He was the lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world. And His precious
blood was washing away the sins of that lost, fallen people who
were at the heart of the Eternal God. Now the enemy is defeated. The Lord Jesus Christ, to show
that the enemy is defeated, is now in His risen intercessory
role in heaven, seated at the right hand of God. And we, the church, are the prize
that he has won. We're already under the arm of
his embrace. Or if we use the picture from
The Good Shepherd, we're over his shoulder and he's carrying
us home. Isn't that a lovely thought?
This is the King. This is the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords. And again, the church and individual
believers, you and me, we may make this application too. Whatever
happens in this world, whatever happens in this world, and you
know, there will be terrible things that will happen. Terrible
things at a macro level and at a personal level. Terrible
things that will go on in our families and terrible things
that will go on in our hearts. But whatever happens in this
world, the rising or the falling, the slipping or the sliding,
whatever happens, The Lord is in control and all is under his
power. The day of our birth and the
day of our death. People sometimes say that I take
too much to myself in these matters and that, you know, you need
to be a little bit more humble, Peter. You need to not imagine
that this is all about you. You see, the thing is, though,
that I do think like that. I think that that's exactly how
the church is in this world. It's all about the church. Everything
that is going on is the Lord working events and circumstances
for the good of His people, for the well-being of His church,
for you and for me as that blood-bought people. And nations rise and
nations fall. The Lord tells us in the Old
Testament that He gave nations for the well-being of His people.
I don't know how many of the elect he was talking about there,
but maybe just a few. one or two of a city, a few of
a tribe. The Lord is pleased to lift kings
and set down emperors in order to safeguard the well-being of
his people. They are safe in the palm of
his hand and nothing and no one can touch them except they are
given power from above. collectively as a church, individually
as saints. Every event tends to our health,
our good and our benefit. The power to act is given only
in order to achieve and to accomplish God's purpose. I want to make
a final point and then we're done for this evening. The Lord
Jesus Christ says in this verse, Thou couldst 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. He that
delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. There's no doubt that Pilate
was guilty before God for what he did. But so was every man for the crimes
that we commit against the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a difference in sin. All sins are not equal. God knows the truth of our conduct. He knows the nature of our hearts. He judges righteously and appropriately. He understands the motives and
He sees the actions. He knows the humblest sinner
and the hardest hypocrite. The Word of God tells us, be
not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that
shall he also reap. We stand before God and He knows
exactly what is in our hearts. He knows exactly what is in our
minds. He knows the motives for everything
we say and do and think. There is nothing hid from our
God. Well might it be said it is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Who
was it that delivered Christ to Pilate? Was it Judas? Judas Iscariot for a few pieces
of silver. Was it the Jews for their own
plans, ends, self-preservation? Was it the people that shouted,
crucify him? Was it you? Was it me? Who was it that delivered Jesus
into Pilate's hand? Let us take care that we do not
tread underfoot the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us take care
that we do not despise the ministry of forgiveness of sin that is
vouchsafed in the cross. Let us be careful that we don't
take to ourselves Powers that we don't have and imagine that
there are things that go on in our lives that we have the ability
to withstand or to ignore. Men imagine that they have power.
Power to manage their affairs, power to fulfill their desires,
power to follow their own courses, do their own thing, ultimately
save their own soul. Men imagine that they have power
to do such a thing, but they have nothing at all except it
be given them from above. I pray that the Lord will be
gracious to us in these days, that he may show his mercy to
some poor soul here. For he knows what we have need
of. He knows where we are. He knows
what we've been doing. He knows what's in our heart.
He knows the hypocrisy that we try to cover up. May he grant
pardon for sin. May he give us peace with God. May he give us power to believe
and a true and maturing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who
died in our place. Amen.