Good Friday: ARE YOU A KING THEN? (Grace Today Dieters)

Title: Good Friday: ARE YOU A KING THEN?

editor - March 21, 2008 07:59 AM (GMT)

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Beyond Sanctification ISBN 978-1-60266-822-5

ARE YOU A KING THEN?

Dear Friends,

Many today are confused as to who I AM. Many say that I was just mere man with
a mission, and still others say that I was just one of many sons of God with a message.
Yet, some indicate that I was man and God with a mission, but they keep Me in a tomb
now, lifeless and powerless. I say to you, I Am who I say I Am. I Am the risen Christ, the
true and eternal King of kings and Lord of lords; and to this end was I born, and for this
cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the
truth, hear then My voice to you. Do not be as Pontius Pilate, who said unto Me, "What is
Truth" and then went away from Me without hearing My reply.

But I know that it is not so with you, My friends, for I understand that you are
here at this very moment because your souls do hunger and thirst after truth. I have heard
your pleas for truth and I fill that need so that you may go forth and fulfill the needs of
others. Hear then a fraction of the account of My trial for the sake of My Kingship.
One charge brought against Me was that I perverted the nation, forbidding to give
tribute to Caesar. This charge, in itself, was false and perverted; but I withstood this trial
and judgment for your sakes, in your stead, so that you might not enter into judgment
with God.

I was not put on trial for the healings and miracles I performed, for not once
before the magistrate's bench did any one person say, "He has not performed theses
miracles." It was for My doctrine that I was tried, judged and sentenced to death; and it is
for this very same doctrine that I have commanded you to preach in all the world, that
you will taste, in part, of the contempt and hatred of men.

Pilate had put forth a question to Me designed with the intent to find something in
which to ground an accusation upon. "What! Are You the King of Jews?” Pilate asked,
hoping that I might make confession in his presence; for up until this point, no accuser
could prove what I had said, let alone even agree in their testimonies on what I had meant
by that which was spoken.

I answered Pilate's question with a question, so that he might consider how very
significant the ground he was proceeding on was; pertaining not only to his governmental
duty, but also to his very existence and mortality. Do you ask Me this because you are
yourself curious of My Kingship, or because others who are My enemies have said I am a
king?

Pilate's reply was, "Am I a Jew that I should care about Jewish traditions of Your
chief priests, and customs of the Jewish nation? I represent the Roman government, and I
do not stand accused of not being a friend of Caesar's as You do. I am bound by my
office to investigate if my government is in danger of any suffer or damage from anything
you have said or done. This is why Your people have delivered You to me. Now tell me
plainly, what is it You have done or said to align Yourself as an opponent of the Roman
power?"

I answered him, I set up My kingdom in the lives of people who are not worldly,
but spiritual. Then they are no longer of the world, as I am not of the world. If My
kingdom was of the world, My trusted servants would have fought on My behalf so that I
would not have been delivered to the Jews and stand here on trial. If My kingdom was to
be established now upon the earth, even more than seventy-two thousand angels would
have converged upon this earth on My behalf and for the sake of My servants and My
kingdom. But now, My kingdom is not from hence. If the truth were told, the chief priests
are outraged against Me because I do not set up a temporal kingdom on earth in
opposition to Roman power. My kingdom is in the world, but not of the world. It is
heavenly and soon shall be both heavenly and earthly.

Pilate then said to Me, "Are You a king then? You are speaking of a kingdom:
Explain Yourself. Are you a king in any sense?" I then made a good confession before
Pontius Pilate. You say that I am a king, yes it is so, but not in the context that you mean
it to be. For this reason I came into this realm. I bear witness to the God who created this
world and I bear witness to the truth. Sin has ruined the world that God the Creator
designed. I have come to destroy the power of sin, that through Me all men might
believe. The subjects of My kingdom are of the truth, and every one that is subjected to
Me hears My voice and does the will of Him that sent Me.

Pilate then put forth a good question to Me. "What is truth? Can You who speaks
of truth, tell me what it is, or give me a definition of it?" My friends, truly I say to you,
that although Pilate put forth a good question to Me, he did not patiently and with
perseverance stay for an answer.

My inquisitor, Pilate, then went out to negotiate My release. He publicly declared
Me innocent when he said to My accusers, "There is in this man, no fault at all. I will
discharge Him, by your own custom of releasing to you a prisoner in memorial of your
celebration of the Passover. Will it please you if I release to you the King of Jews?"
With much noise, the Jews cried out in unison, "No, no, not at all will we be
pleased. Do not release to us this man, but Barabbas."

My friends, do you see the travesty and irony in this, the people's choice? Those
that declared Me to be a breaker of the law of God and themselves to be true keepers of
His law, rejected Me for the very doctrine I was sent into the world to reprove them of
defiling. They chose to release a highway robber and murderer; an enemy of the public
and a law breaker. Thus, their choice expressly proclaimed that their king was sin; not
God. 

Pilate then agreed to have Me abused and scourged and a mockery of My Kingship
was held. After I was scourged, the whole band of Pilate's soldiers gathered around Me. My
guards taunted Me as they stripped Me of My clothing. Before sin entered the world,
there was no shame in nakedness, but that you might see that I paid the full penalty for
sin, this atrocity was cast upon Me. They placed on Me a scarlet robe--nothing more than
an old red cloak--and they upbraided Me for being a King. They afflicted Me cruelly as
they pressed down upon My forehead a crown of thorns, ripping open the little flesh on
My body which had not been torn yet. They placed a reed, intended as a mock-scepter, in
My hand, and jeered, "O king, shall you hold out your golden scepter that we may
live forever and ever?"

They bowed their knee before Me in mockery, saying, "Hail King of the Jews."
Kings were kissed on their face by their subjects as a sign of homage, but they spit in My
face as an act of contempt. They then took the mock-scepter and struck Me on the head
so that the crown of thorns would embed more deeply into My flesh. This too, My
friends, is only a fraction of the contempt and hatred I endured on your behalf; for if you
will search the Gospel accounts carefully, you shall see that Herod and his soldiers had
ridiculed and mocked Me also, dressing Me in a robe, and sending Me back to Pilate this
second time to be delivered into the hands of Pilate's soldiers. Man's sin only has a way
of repeating and escalating itself.

When Pilate's eyes beheld Me after this scourging, he sought My release again.
He brought Me out to the Jews and showed them that I had been cruelly scourged.
Wearing My crown of thorns and tattered robe, My head, face and body all bloodied and
torn, He declared, "Behold the man!" To silence their suspicions that I was anything
more than a man, who bled like a man, bruised like a man, and now a man who was held
in contempt and reproach; hardly a king. The chief priests and officers stood their ground
and yelled out again, "Crucify him, crucify him! We have a law, and by our law he
ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

Pilate was more the mad when he heard this. He took Me back into the
judgment hall and questioned Me again, now the more zealously. Upon hearing My
answer, he sought once more to release Me. He brought Me forth again to the Jews, and
although Pilate, without meaning to be, seems as if he is the voice of God to My
accuser's, when he said, "Behold your King." The people shouted loudly "Away with
him, away with him, crucify him". Pilate spoke again, as if the voice of God, "Shall I
crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no King but Caesar."

Although Pilate the judge, declared Me innocent, he signed My warrant for
execution by crucifixion. It is such a cruel and bloody, painful death, that merciful rulers
allowed those condemned to it by the law, to be strangled before being nailed to the
cross. But I would not even have this mercy and compassion showed to Me. This is such
a shameful and cursed death, that a law was made by the Roman senate that the execution
should be deferred at least ten days after sentence to allow the criminal time to reflect and
prepare for his death. But I was scarcely given even a few minutes of rest after Pilate had
Me abused. And now, sentenced to die, it was time for these beautiful feet to move on
once more, to Calvary.

For the sake of My Kingship, set above the cross was placed a controversial sign
and an accusation written, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS". This
was even a reproach upon My character, for it was a common said proverb, "Can any
good thing come from Nazareth?" It gave occasion for the people to ridicule, "Can a
pretend king from Nazareth set His banner and ensign in competition and above
that of Caesar and live to tell of it?"

But even in this accusing sign, as it was worded, contained no charge of crime
against Me. It was written in the three most known languages, so that the multitudes that
read it, had to reflect and decide if this title was mockery or truth. And in truth, it was
published, so that every nation should hear in their own tongue, the wonderful works of
their Savior and Redeemer.

When My chosen people, the Jews, rejected Me, Pilate, a Gentile, attested that I
was and am a King. He would not be intimidated or persuaded by the chief priests of the
Jews to alter this inscription. He proclaimed, "What I have written, I have written." Honor
was done to Me as Pilate stood by what he wrote with resolution, so that Scripture might
be fulfilled, "He shall be a light to the Gentiles."

My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Behold Me bleeding. Behold Me
struggling. Behold Me suffering. Behold Me gasping for My last breath and dying; and
now I say to you, Behold, your King! You have expressly accepted Me as your King, and
now I no longer call you servant or subject, but I call you friend. You are in the world,
but you are no longer of the world. I say to you, rejoice!

With Love Eternal,
Jesus

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