[Apologies for the background noise. Due to technical issues this morning, this recording was done in a different way to normal. ]
Today we are looking at Jesus trial before Pilate
John 9 vs 10-11
In Matthew 27 vs 24 Pilate washes his hands ceremonially and says to the Jewish leaders – “I am innocent of this man’s blood – the responsibility is yours”. The Jewish leaders respond and said – “we will take the responsibility for his death – we and our children”.
The Jews also state “that we have no king but Caesar” – throwing away the old testament history and heritage as Jehovah was their king. What has gone wrong here?
What Pilate said was true he did have the power to release Jesus or to crucify him and yet Jesus remains calm because as he says he knows that any power Pilate has or doesn’t have is actually only given to him by God (from Above). God’s great plan from the beginning of time is that Jesus would be the perfect sacrifice for our sins and would be crucified and rise again after 3 days.
There are over 300 specific prophesies in the old testament detailing the coming of the Anointed one – all fulfilled in Jesus. From the ”seed” who would crush the serpents head in Genesis, to the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, to the prediction of the “messenger” of the Lord (John the Baptist) who would prepare the way for the Messiah, all prophesies of Jesus life ministry and death were fulfilled and finished at his crucifixion – This was God’s great plan for the redemption of man!
Read Matthew chapter 1 and the Messianic Line – this was God’s plan from the beginning of time – though Abraham and Isaac – spared at the last moment as a sacrifice and in the messianic line – a foretaste of what God was going to do to reconcile a way back to God – Jehovah Jirah – the Lord will provide – though Rahab the prostitute who gave birth to Boaz who married Ruth – the wonderful love story of the kinsman redeemer – pointing to Jesus who will be our kinsman redeemer – Through David and Bathsheba and a sinful union comes King Solomon and so on to Jacob and Joseph and Mary and finally Jesus – God’s plan from the beginning of time and throughout the old testament – a wonderful book of stories of how God moved in peoples lives to bring Jesus into the world - And yet Pilate thinks he has the power to stop what God has pre-ordained from before the foundation of the earth – that’s why Jesus remains calm because actually this is a hollow boast!
The important point here is that Pilate did not decide to crucify Jesus neither did the Jews – it was God and Jesus who decided together.
John 10 vs 17-18
John 17 v4
Jesus was sent to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19 vs10), to provide a way that the sins of all who would ever believe in him would be forgiven (Romans 3 vs 23-25) and to reconcile sinful man to God..
2 Corinthians 5 vs 18-21
So how does this help us in our daily lives?
In our lives people think they have power over us and control us, but the truth is they only have what God lets them have.
God has got you – he knows and understands your circumstances – Honour God and he will Honour you – trust him and have faith in him – he will get you through no matter what? He is faithful and true – we may not understand everything but the challenge to all of us is to walk by FAITH and not by SIGHT which is hard as our whole horizon is taken us by what is in front of us – we tend to walk by sight and not by faith most of the time!
Proverbs 3 vs 5+6
Matthew 10 vs 28-30
Philippians 2 vs 5-11
Jesus is Lord of all the earth and he has your back! Believe in him, trust in him and have faith in him that he will get you through – because he will.