Whosoever Makes Himself a King Speaks Against Ceasar

 
Dennis Edwards

In our last lesson, we saw that King Saul was more concerned with the opinion of man than with the opinion of God. God was not in all of his thoughts. Saul acknowledged that he feared the people and obeyed their voice rather than fear God and obey His voice. Saul had lost his love for God and had replaced it with love for his position, his power, and his popularity. He was more concerned with the praise of man, than with the praise of God. Today we will look at another similar example in the Bible.

Pontus Pilate is another sad example of the same tendency in man, the tendency to be men-pleasers, rather than God-pleasers. Even though Pilate knew that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death, even though he knew that the religious leaders had brought Jesus to trial because of envy, even though his wife had sent him a strong message urging him not to do anything evil to “that just man,” even so, Pilate caved in to the voice and the power of that vociferous religious minority, a minority who were famous in history for their management of money and gold and for their ability to influence public opinion and kings far and wide.

Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and wanted to release him, but he feared the power of the press, the power of that small religious and financial minority to move public opinion even way back home in Rome. In the Gospel of John we read, “thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: whosoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”[John 19:12]

Jesus had already told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world at this present time and that His followers  would not take up arms to fight. “Now is my Kingdom not from hence.” [John 18:36] Pilate knew that Jesus was not pushing a violent overthrow of the Roman government. He may not have understood Jesus’ doctrine very deeply, but he understood that Jesus was a philosopher of sorts and a healer. Pilate didn’t see Jesus as a threat to the Roman Empire.

However, the Jewish religious leaders saw Jesus as a threat to their empire and control over the Jewish people. Pilate knew the economic power of those religious leaders. Julius Caesar had embraced them and been killed by his friends out of fear and envy of the privilege Caesar had afforded them.  Pilate knew they might very well have influence with Caesar. He knew their opinions might threaten his standing with Caesar. And so, hearing the cry of the Jews that he, Pilate, was no friend of Caesar, if he let this Jewish Messiah claim to be a King, Pilate sat down in the judgment seat.

He sat down defeated. He thought he could out wit these Jews. He thought he was smarter than he was. He didn’t realize he was fighting against spiritual forces in heavenly places. He sat down not knowing what more he could do. The Jewish leaders had out smarted him. The Jewish leaders had attacked his standing with Rome, his bread and butter, his job, his financial security. “All that a man has will he give for his life.”[Job 2:4] Pilate saw no way out but to yield to their demands. Rather than follow his own convictions and the uphold the Roman law, he feared for the loss of his job, his position, his financial security. Even knowing that Jesus was innocent, Pilate turned Him over to their wishes in an attempt to save his political career.

The Jewish religious leaders knew how to persuade the people. The same crowd that had cried “Hosanna in the Highest,” as Jesus entered Jerusalem just a few days earlier, were now crying “Crucify him.” Pilate, fearing his reputation could be soiled if a riot broke out in Jerusalem, delivered Jesus into the hands of His enemies, while Pilate carefully washed his hands and claimed his own innocence.

Even though all the cards seemed to favor Jesus’ release, Pilate could not stop the power of evil, the power of darkness.  He conformed to their wishes in fear for his own future. How many of us do the same thing? We refuse to take a righteous stand on some moral issue because we fear the repercussions of that stand. We could lose our jobs, our platform, our way of bringing bread to the table. We tone it down, we compromise instead, when God may be calling us to embrace the cross of Christ by taking a stand, rather than running from it.

Apostle James wrote, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”[James 4:4] Do you want to be God’s friend, or a friend of the world and all its fleeting pleasures?

Some of the leaders of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious and governmental body, secretly believed on Jesus, but they too did not make it public. Again, it was for the same reason. They did not want to lose their position of authority and the financial privilege that came with being a member of the ruling body in the Jewish community. In the Gospel of John we read, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”[John 12:43]

Just like King Saul, they were afraid of the opinions of men. But in the book of Acts we see the disciples are of a different breed. Yes, they were considered unlearned and ignorant men by the Sanhedrin for having not studied under their Rabis. But, when brought before the Sanhedrin for questioning, Peter and the other apostles answered, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”[Acts 5:29]

The choice is simple. Fear God and keep His commandments, or fear men and keep their commandments. The commandments of men are often in opposition to God’s commandments. Joshua in the Old Testament, the leader of the Jewish nation after Moses’ death, gathered Israel together  just before his own death. He challenged them to fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth.

He said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve, the false gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, or the false gods of the people in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”[Joshua 24:15] “And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods…therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God.”[Joshua 24:16b,18b]

“And Jesus said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”[Luke 9:23-24]

“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear Him, which after He has killed has power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.”[Luke 12:4-5]

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”[Proverbs 1:7] Let us therefore, fear God and choose life. Let us not be as King Saul or Pontus Pilate, but let us take courage and resist the temptation to fear man. “The fear of man brings a snare: but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” [Proverbs 29:25]

If you would like to read my online book Where is America in Bible Prophecy? click on the title.