Ensign: Asking The Right Questions
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 April 2013
Thursday morning I was about to go into my office and Pilate and Herod came to mind. A message which may have fit better just before Easter got moved to today because “What's So Good About Friday?” is one of my personal favorites, and I think way more appropriate for that time of year. But let's dwell for a bit on the trial of Jesus; it's much better reading than Socrates'.
Essentially it got to be a game of Musical Chairs, Jerusalem Edition. Led to Gethsemane by Judas, the high priest Caiaphas and his servants carried Jesus to a full midnight assembly of the Sanhedrin and “found” Him guilty of crimes that in their “orthodox” Jewish eyes deserved death … but they couldn't kill Him. For the small reason that Jerusalem at the time was part of a Roman-occupied country.
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
And if anyone could pass a death sentence, it would be the Roman governor, in this case a gentleman named Pontius Pilate who'd already been there (and probably got a little fed up) for a decade dealing with the sentences on the grounds of their – the Jewish – religion. When Caiaphas brought Jesus to Pilate, he found a way out of passing the death sentence by hearing Jesus was from Galilee.
The gentleman who ruled Galilee by the grace of Rome, Herod Antipas, had heard of Jesus and the first thing he, the same man who ordered Jesus' cousin John beheaded and would later order His disciple James beheaded too, asks upon seeing the prophesied Messiah is that He perform a miracle. (See Luke 23:1-12 for more.) He doesn't. In fact, He doesn't say anything.
The gentleman who ruled Galilee by the grace of Rome, Herod Antipas, had heard of Jesus and the first thing he, the same man who ordered Jesus' cousin John beheaded and would later order His disciple James beheaded too, asks upon seeing the prophesied Messiah is that He perform a miracle. (See Luke 23:1-12 for more.) He doesn't. In fact, He doesn't say anything.
This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
Pilate at least – both before and after Jesus' trip to Antipas – was willing to listen to Jesus, not only to give the condemned man a chance to defend Himself but also maybe to understand some of this Jewish religion and why the Pharisees considered Jesus, the “king of the Jews”, such a threat. So He asked questions, and He got answers. Perhaps not always discernible answers to a Roman, but answers.
“My kingdom is not of this world”, “did you hear I was the Christ, or did someone tell you”, “the only power you have over Me is what's given to you from above”, “I bear witness to the truth”, … I'm paraphrasing here, but I think my point today is that all of us are asking Pilate's question. John 18:38 – What is truth? – we hope we have a lock on. We WANT to have a lock on.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
But the longer we live and the more of life this side of heaven or hell we endure or enjoy, depending on yourself, truth becomes harder to hold onto when we say it's a thing. Perhaps the reason I don't pepper these Ensigns with Scripture references as much is not because I don't know them or want you to know them too, but because we've had the time to react. It's your choice how to react.
Like Pilate I answer: What I have written, I have written.
“My kingdom is not of this world”, “did you hear I was the Christ, or did someone tell you”, “the only power you have over Me is what's given to you from above”, “I bear witness to the truth”, … I'm paraphrasing here, but I think my point today is that all of us are asking Pilate's question. John 18:38 – What is truth? – we hope we have a lock on. We WANT to have a lock on.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
But the longer we live and the more of life this side of heaven or hell we endure or enjoy, depending on yourself, truth becomes harder to hold onto when we say it's a thing. Perhaps the reason I don't pepper these Ensigns with Scripture references as much is not because I don't know them or want you to know them too, but because we've had the time to react. It's your choice how to react.
Like Pilate I answer: What I have written, I have written.
David
P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!
We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.
Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.
Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
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