Thursday, April 14, 2011
John 19:15 Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"
DO I WANT MY KING CRUCIFIED?
What would you answer Pilate if he asked you, "Shall I crucify your King?" We don't want to answer, "Yes," for we know that Jesus is innocent. Yet for our salvation, we rejoice that the answer is yes. We rejoice that Jesus "was wounded for transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6). It is in the crucifixion of our King, and only in that sacrificial death that we find the forgiveness of sins. In what God calls the foolishness of the Gospel, we thank God for crucifying our King because He died for us.
Shall I crucify your King? We thank God that He answered, "Yes." At the same time knowing why that crucifixion was necessary we want to sanctify it in our lives by remembering that Jesus is to be the sole authority in our lives. While our sinful flesh may chafe at that, this King alone brings to us life and salvation.
This King who will Judge all tells us that though we crucified Him with our sin and in fact caused His death, He has rendered to us a not guilty verdict. At Judgment Day there will be no appeal. There will be no new evidence introduced. There will be no technicalities on which your case will hinge. It is very simply "guilty" or "not guilty." Rejoice in the fact that your King and Judge, the highest authority has Himself suffered the sentence of death and promised you life instead.
