HisHolyChurch

Kingdom Newsletter, Which world? Series 2.3

To Pilate Jesus was King of the third part of Judea containing Jerusalem. To those who believed in Jesus, His kingdom was their kingdom, His government was their government, His freedom was their freedom. Jesus was the king and you were not required to obey the decrees of Caesar who was another king of a “world” that was not a part of Jesus kingdom.

“Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, [one] Jesus.” Acts 17:7

What did they mean? Some will tell you that Jesus was not actually a king because some of the Jews rejected Him and wanted him crucified. Those who said crucify him also said :

“But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.” John 19:15

Jesus was only rejected by men who had rejected God and his Kingdom. Even when the people of Israel chose to elect a leader to exercise authority over them it was called a rejection of God.¹ When some turned from that elected king they said “What portion have we in David?” 1 Kings 12:16

When the Pharisees, including their high priest, rejected Christ they also rejected the highest son of David and his kingdom.

Of course there were thousands who did accept Christ even though it meant they would have to give up their legal right to the benefits offered by the Pharisees through the government temple they were tending.

Pilate had been shocked by the choice made by the pharisees. He had miscalculated how much they wanted Jesus dead.

BarAbbas had been a revolutionist, not merely some common criminal. The government of Judea had every right to execute someone as a criminal, but not as a revolutionist. Rome had come to settle one thing.

Who was the rightful King?

Pilate and even his wife were impressed by Jesus. The historical record says they became Christians and are considered saints by the early Church.

Pilate clearly pleads for Jesus (John 19:14) but to no avail. Pilate then did something that upset the Pharisees because it would turn their “world” upside down and take the kingdom from them forever.

“And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Luke 23:38

Pilate nailed an official Roman proclamation to the cross, which stated Jesus Christ was the rightful king of the citizens of that nation. Rome recognized the sovereignty of Jesus as the Christ, the Anointed king in Judea, the Messiah.

As far as the Romans were concerned Jesus and His appointed ministers could now openly claim that there was another King and another “jurisdiction”. They now had full access to the government buildings and worked daily in the temple doing the job of the government of the people with relative impunity.² Their right to be the government of the people according to the perfect law of liberty was sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees might have objected violently, but they had appealed to Rome to decide who was the rightful king and had already proclaimed that they had “no King but Caesar”. There was a legal and lawful division of the government and if the Pharisees arrested any follower of Christ they might have to answer to Rome. The kingdom of God had been taken from them just as Jesus predicted and he accomplished this by the words of their own mouth.³

The laws passed by the Sanhedrin of the Pharisees and their misinterpretation of the old testament had been nailed to the cross and those who turned to Christ and accepted his ways were now free.

At Pentecost thousands of people entered a new citizenship. They entered God’s government of liberty preached by John the Baptist and fulfilled by the Christ and served by Peter and the apostles who boldly preached the kingdom and managed that government of the people, for the people by the freewill offerings of the people.

The people exited the “jurisdiction of sin” established by the Hasmonians and then by Herod the Great, and by the Pharisees, and were free to enter the Kingdom of God.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pm and is filed under The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.