Why such a fierce hatred?
Terry phillips ~ John 18:12-19:16
October 7, 2018
Why Such a Fierce Hatred?
John 18:12-19:16
Turn with me if you would once again, to John's Gospel. The passage that Jes read this morning, is where we want to be focusing our attention. We have been already considering the arrest of the Lord Jesus in the in our previous couple of weeks, in this passage, in the 18th chapter. And the last time we were together we were focusing our attention on the failure of Peter. Peter had obviously come to love and believe in Jesus, but we had noted that he had also failed to embrace a fully reverential respect for the Lord, and that had led him to a shameful failure in the moment of intense crisis. As we seen, this is a him a very significant issue. What we really think of the Lord is ultimately going to be displayed in the way we live, way we think, and especially in the middle of trying times, difficulties things that we face that are not so easy. And obviously this was a time, a situation that Peter faced that was especially difficult.
As we continue on in the account of our Lord's arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion, we come to the other side of the narrative, if you will, that is, we look at-- we are faced with the actions of the enemies of Christ. We’ve been looking at in focusing on the actions of the Lord's followers, but now we come face-to-face with the actions of those who hated the Lord. There's a brutal hatred here. As you read through this account-- and I trust each of us is fairly familiar with these accounts-- and as you read through not only John's account of the Lord's arrest, His trial His appearing before the Jewish leaders and then before Pilate and Herod, some more details are filled in. And it’s a very difficult thing to read through, if you really stop and think about it. We get sort of accustomed to things --certain portions of God's word that we are so familiar with that it seems to me, sometimes we find ourselves reading through in the words just sort of bouncing through our heads--and we really aren't even thinking about them that much. The description that is before us in this passage is a very, very difficult one, if you stop and think about it. There's a brutal hatred, a disdainful disregard, a blatant contempt for the Lord Jesus, and not just by one or two people-- by a lot of people.
It's also-- it seems to me, that it's very important for us to include the context in which such scornful enmity is exhibited. This just doesn't come out of the blue. Jesus hasn't committed a crime. Jesus hasn't done something to cause them to bring him before the Roman leaders and to make these accusations against him. As we recognize Jesus is innocent. So much so, in the passage that Jes just read, did you notice three --on three separate occasions in Pilate's interaction with --with the mob, that's really what they are-- three times, no less than three times he says, makes this statement, “I FIND NO guilt in Him.” He doesn't just say well He hasn't done anything that bad, he says, “I find no guilt in Him.”
So the context here is that Jesus is innocent. Not only is He innocent, He had for three years engaged in a very public, in a very remarkable ministry throughout the land of Israel. You think of that period of time, during those three years, the unbelievable healing to many, relief, comfort, enlightenment that the Lord brought to thousands of sin wearied souls. Day after day ministering very publicly helping people in some of their most trying difficulties—with “a word” ridding them of disease and affliction. With “a word” casting out demons. With “a word” on number of occasions, even bringing people back to life from the dead. Think of all the good that Jesus had accomplished from a purely-- just from the public's perspective, to see all that He had done in those three years. Not only was there no guilt in Him, there was an incredible amount of good in Him, and that had happened through Him.
That's the context that were looking at here the blessings of his ministry had been bestowed upon needy sinners from all walks of life. Jesus had not just treated those who were in one particular class. There were people in all walks of life extending from the influential to the lowliest and the neediest--the outcasts of society, the lepers, the blind, the beggars the harlots, the tax collectors. Masses of people have been genuinely uplifted, had been often compelled to glorify God in the wake of what Jesus had done. Think of the times that we’re told that. The multitude glorifies God when they see what Jesus has done. In response to the manifestation of divine mercy people had been in awe of Christ, and yet when we get to this point in the life of the Lord Jesus we see nothing but the worst kind of hatred imaginable. A deep-seated hatred, a brutal animosity. An intense, a personal hostility towards the Son of God that is painful even to read about. A very severe thing. If you take this account and reconcile it along with the other accounts you know how badly Jesus was treated. He was hit in the face. He was spit upon. He was mocked, He was ridiculed, they hit Him again and again and again, they beat Him on the head, it says, “they kept beating Him on the head with this reed, having placed a crown of thorns upon his head.” The mistreatment of the Lord is staggering, and this, a man, who had accomplished so much good for so many people. For me, there just is this huge question of, why? Wouldn’t you agree? When you come to this passage, and I realize we are aware of the “why’s” to some extent, that's what I want to look at this morning the, why? Why such a fierce hatred. Why the brutal scorn? Why the unbridled loathing of the Lord? Why the hate filled contempt for a man who had accomplished so much good for so many people? How could it be that Jews and Roman authorities could become comrades in perpetrating the most gruesome atrocity in all of human history? Jews –and, and the Jews and the Roman authorities hated each other deeply and yet here they find common ground in their hatred of Christ. How do we account for this? Why such hatred for the Lord?
The answers to the question of why are important. You and I are not innocent bystanders in this scene that is before us. We tend to do this many times, don’t we? We place ourselves off in a safe—at a safe distance, or on higher ground, and we look down all these people and what they're doing to the Lord of glory. You and I are NOT innocent in what took place in these moments. And I think it's important for us to ask this question, why? The answers are of special significance in relation to understanding and coming to appreciate more fully the ‘means’ and the ‘magnitude’ of the salvation our Lord wrought through His unspeakable suffering, His shame, and His death.
So, I want this morning to just briefly consider the cause of such hostility against the Lamb of God. The first cause that I want to point out, and it should be a fairly obvious one, and that is the debasing sin of envy, the debasing sin of envy. Envy is ugly. It's one of the prominent features of the sin nature. We can't seem to stand it when something really good happens to somebody else. We’re all we’re all subject to this sin. It’s a terrible sin. No matter how guilty each of us may be, no matter how guilty I may be of envy, I still find it to be quite obnoxious when I witness it in others. And we are curiously alert to it in others. Have you noticed that? I can really point that out somebody else no matter how blind I may be to it myself.
This is one of those sins that is mentioned often—frequently, in the Scriptures in regards to the natural man's plight before God. I remind you of the passage in Romans chapter 1, detailing the depravity of mankind, of each of us individually having turned away from the glory of God. Verse 28 says this, “and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God.” Ted referred to a passage there in Titus, a very familiar passage to us, in the third chapter, the third verse, detailing our condition each and every one of us apart from Christ, before we came to Christ, “We also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” That's the human condition, apart from Christ. There’s nothing new about that. And even as believers we are warned to be on the lookout for this matter of envy. Peter says in first Peter chapter 2 verse one, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” We’re to set this aside as God's children. Apart from Christ were consumed by these sins, were dominated by these attitudes and thoughts.
The Roman authorities were clearly aware of the part that envy had played and was playing in the Jewish leader’s hatred of the Lord. We’re told this-- were given this insight in the account of Matthew—in Matthew’s gospel, in the 27th chapter, we’re made aware of this fact that Pilate knew what was going on in this respect. Matthew chapter 27 verse 18, “For he, that is Pilate, knew that because of envy they had delivered Him up.” We’re given this same insight in Mark's gospel, the 15th chapter in the 10th verse. The Jewish leaders could not stand the attention that Jesus had been getting because He was taking attention away from them. For Him to get that much attention, He was drawing attention away from them, and they hated that. It absolutely drove them crazy with anger and envy. They despised Jesus, and Pilate recognized this fact. He wasn't unaware of what was going on. He knew this is why they brought Him to him. This is why they were accusing Him. He was aware there was no guilt in Him, but he knew why He was there-- why these men had brought Him. Rather than rejoice in the manifestation of divine glory, these Jewish leaders were jealous-- jealous of God in flesh. Think about that! What a terrible spot these men had put themselves in. Think of how they should have rejoiced to see the day of the Lord-- God's Christ in their midst proclaiming the truth. And instead, they cannot stand Him. He's taking attention away from them. These are men who loved respectful greetings as they sauntered through the marketplace. They loved to sit at the head of the table. They love people to be in awe of them, to hang on every word they were saying. Now someone has come into their midst and He speaks, as we are told, not as the scribes and the Pharisees, but as One having authority. An authority these men did not have.
One of the reasons these men could've had authority, is because for the most part, they were exceedingly wicked and corrupt men. Now Jesus pointed this out, but we know from even history that some of these men were extremely corrupt. This man Annas that they brought Jesus to, was an extraordinarily wicked man, greedy as could be --a man who had profited greatly from the temple service. And most of the leaders were very much like him. They were envious, they couldn't stand this fact that Jesus had come and taken away their position of prominence.
That leads to a second reason for their hatred and that is because of their exposure to the light, their exposure to divine light. It isn’t just that Jesus had taken some of-- a good bit of the spotlight away from them, it went a lot deeper than that. Jesus had exposed them for who they really were. And Jesus hadn’t exposed them secretly and in person so much as he had done so publicly, painfully. Can you imagine being somebody who you had--- who you had, here you had duped and deceived the multitudes of people to worship the ground you walk on, to continue to cater to a system that enriches your pocketbook, that enhances your standing in the community. Jesus comes along and exposes who you are who you really are—you’re a hypocrite. Your whole life is a lie. There's nothing more loathsome to the denizens of the darkness than unwanted exposure to the light-- can't stand it. Jesus IS light. By His very nature He's pure truth. His becoming flesh exposed the world to divine light as never before, and the world, in the end, though they might have enjoyed it for a time, in the end they didn't like it at all. And that's one of the things we’re seeing as we see this hatred. Finally, raising up and reaching depths that are hard for us to understand. They don't just want to get rid of Jesus---You see in these, in this passage, you see in this description, a display of people who hate Jesus. They’re hitting Him, they’re spitting on Him. They’re ridiculing Him. Herod is mocking Him. It’s not enough for them just to get rid of Him. He has exposed them for who they are, and that brings out the worst in them.
I remind you of even the beginning few words in John's Gospel, when John says in the beginning was the Word, we know is referring to the Word made flesh, “the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life,” and notice this, “and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overpower it,” overcome it. It tried, it did everything it could, threw up everything possible to hide the light, to obscure the light, to belittle the light to undermine its influence, but in Him was life, and His life is the light of men.
If you recall what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 in this regard, you remember what He said? He said this in verse 19, “and this is the judgment that the Light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light.” It’s a hard thing when you think about. Here's a reality, a hard reality-- light is come into the world, Jesus said, and men loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Jesus answers the ‘why,’ “for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” There's nothing that can stir a person up to anger and hatred quite like the exposing of their wickedness. None of us likes that, do we? We don't like our evil to be exposed. It’s not a comfortable thing. But for the unregenerate heart, you expose enough evil, cleanly enough, clearly enough, publicly enough, and that's not going to be tolerated. It’s not going to be enough just for you to avoid the man Jesus you're going to have to get rid of His witness. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” We treasure that truth, do we not? But if we were still in darkness, we wouldn't treasure that truth. In fact, that truth would rub us the wrong way. And the longer we are exposed to that Light, apart from saving faith, the more were going to begin to hate that Light.
Look at the world around you. You see this evidenced everywhere. Is it not amazing, the extent to which people will become exceedingly filled with anger and hatred, when the light of truth begins to shine very brightly on their sin, on their evil deeds. Jesus is the Light of the world. Remember what he said in chapter 9 verse 5, “While I am in the world I am the Light of the world.” That's not good news to the world. John chapter 12 verse 46 Jesus made this statement, “I have come as Light into the world that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.” The thing about the Lord's relationship to the religious leaders is this, Jesus had exposed their wickedness, but He had done so, from the position of divine purity.
Have you ever noticed in our world-- This is-- this is something that is can be very frustrating but it's because it's so obvious-- Here's somebody who's taking a stand for what's right, okay, in whatever situation it is in this world. They’re taking a stand for what's right, in a specific instance, can bring upon them the wrath of those whose wickedness is exposed. And what is the response? Almost always, the first response is to go after the person who's exposing their wickedness, and say, “what about your wickedness? What about what you've done?” They couldn't do that with Christ. Think about that. No opportunity. No option to come back at Jesus and say yeah, “but what about You? What about Your past? They couldn't do that. When Jesus pointed the finger of truth when He shone the Light of pure truth of the holiness of God on sinners, there was nothing they could do except to respond in anger and hatred. Now, we notice, and I trust that we recognize, that not every single person in this account is exhibiting the same degree of animosity. Right? I think we-- we would have to agree. There are those who are sort of drawn into this and who are not nearly as animated in--in terms of their hatred. Take Pilate, for example, his --his part in this situation I find to be most intriguing in many respects. He's thrust into a situation not of his own choosing. These people bring Jesus to him and Pilate is forced to deal with Him. He tries to get rid of the responsibility and says, “you go you will deal with Him, judge them according to your laws,” and they say, we’re not permitted to put anyone to death. They make it pretty clear what they're up to and what they’re after, and it's going to require Pilate to make a decision one way or the other, it's going to be thumbs up or thumbs down for Pilate. He's put in a position. Is it not interesting as he tries to wiggle his way through this circumstance, trying to find some way to do what he knows instinctively to be right and just, and yet at the same time please the multitude, at the same time keep from having to face- who knows what might happen if he denies these people who are obviously in a fit of rage and are not going to be denied. He’s in a tough spot.
You recall here when Jesus, in one of the few answers that He gives to Pilate, He acknowledges the fact that He's a king in verse 37 He says, “For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” It’s to that statement that Pilate responds with derision, “What is truth?” Pilate, Herod, the Roman soldiers who themselves take, take part in abusing the Lord physically, their problem isn’t envy, is it? You can see very clearly, Pilate is not afraid of Jesus politically. He’d of had Him had put to death like that if that was his fear. He understood, he recognized that this Man was no threat to him from the perspective of political power. Why do all of these men and up being sucked into the hatred? It goes back again to this exposure to the Light. Look what Jesus says to this man, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.” Pilate knew this. There's no way Pilate could have been completely isolated from everything that Jesus had been saying and teaching. Even His enemies would have been bringing some of this to his attention, and then Jesus says, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” That means Pilate is accountable. That makes Pilate accountable. He's come face-to-face with the Word made flesh speaking truth to him. Pilate's question about truth is a pathetic attempt to avoid exposure to the Light. It’s as though he's just pushing his arm away, pushing the Lord away.
“What is truth,” is one of the world's favorite excuses. People are still asking this question today by the thousands. What they're saying--what they mean to say is, there is no such thing as truth. You can't be sure of anything because if you can be sure of anything they know where that leads. They know where that will go. If you've ever been in a lengthy discussion with someone who actually, willingly over time, was one would follow you, follow along in this discussion, this question of truth. You know what-- what I'm getting at here. I've seen people deny the most obvious realities, because of this fact, they knew full well that that reality would lead them to an absolute, which meant that they would ultimately be accountable to God-- and they couldn't put themselves in a position. And this is what men will do constantly. Pilate did this very thing. Pilate himself is perturbed by his exposure to the Light.
There's a third factor involved when we think of why, when we look at why these people are showing such hatred for the Lord, and that is something we've just simply call spiritual blindness. There's something in addition to our own personal rebellion against the Lord and that is the complicity of the devil. In Luke's gospel, Luke records for us the statement of the Lord as He's arrested, in Luke 23, I’m sorry, Luke 22 verse 53, He says, “While I was with you daily in the temple you did not lay hands on Me, but this hour, and the power of darkness are yours.” Men, in collusion with the devil, have come to that point where they are going to put the son God to death. Their hatred has reached a fever pitch. Their disdain for the Son of God has reached such a climax that they --it's almost like it's not enough to kill Him. They've got to ridicule Him, and torture Him, and show physically their disdain for the Son of God, and part of this is due to spiritual don't darkness. This is Satan's realm. Satan's dominion is in the realm of darkness. You recall what Jesus told Paul, Saul at the time, when He laid hold of him to be His choice servant to proclaim the truth of the gospel. And Paul testifies of this that, what Jesus said to him concerning what he would be, what the responsibility the Lord would give him. He says in verse of Acts chapter 26 verse 16, “But arise and stand on your feet. For this purpose, I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
Satan is complicit in our sin and he is actively blinding the minds of the unbelieving, as Paul says there in second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, “that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” It's an interesting thing-- Satan is complicit in keeping us in spiritual ignorance. Ironically, he often accomplishes this under the guise of intellectual and social enlightenment. Do you ever notice that? But it’s still the same thing, it’s blindness, it’s darkness.
One last thing that we need to say in regards to what is the cause of all of this. There's one word we can use here that will sum it all up, isn't there? It’s that one nasty five letter word—pride-- pure and simple. This is the root cause behind all rebellion against the Lord, both in the spiritual realm, that is with Satan, and those angels that followed him, and in the human realm, beginning with Adam and Eve. It’s pride. This is the root cause of rebellion. Rebellion at first may seem very enticing, mere very exciting, invigorating even. Think of what the serpent said to Eve, “You're not going to die when you eat this. You eat this and you're going to be like God.” He made rebellion look very enlightening. But in the end, it leads to total depravity. I just want to ask you to ponder this morning in closing, these moments that are before us, that are recorded for us. These are the defining moments for all of time and eternity. The cruel perversity the depths of human depravity, the exceeding sinfulness of human rebellion exposed in the unspeakable treatment of the Lamb of God-- and yet in those very same moments. The matchless lovingkindness of our Lord super abounding all the more. As Paul said, “That as sin reigned in death, even so grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The world's enmity and hatred for the Lord culminates in their arrest, their torture, their crucifixion of the Lord of glory. But in those very same moments God's grace is super abounding in relation to our sin.
I said earlier, we’re not innocent bystanders. What we've been looking at here this morning is us. We look at these people and what they're doing to the Lord, that’s you and that's me, that's what we've done to the Lord. That's who we are by nature. By birth and by choice we came into this world defiled and defiant and depraved. It's our sin. It's my sin that is exposed in all of its vileness in the way Jesus was treated. That’s not just those people, not just those really bad Pharisees and Sadducees and Romans. It's you and it's me. Think of those words that the Lord Himself uttered in those moments on the cross, “Forgive them Father, they do not know what they are doing.” That’s you and that’s me. We came into this world completely— completely embedded in spiritual darkness—ignorance, spiritually dead, dead to the light, dead to the right, at enmity with God. And so, as we ponder these moments this morning, I would ask you to consider very carefully the reality of what we see recorded before us. Our sin, my sin, and the Son of God dealing with my sin. This reality ought to be and has become, I trust, the very theme of our hearts, is it not? The theme of our songs. The theme of our living. The theme of our hope, our deepest joy. We look at the Lamb of God this morning and we see the way He was treated and we’re reminded of those words in Isaiah 53:4-6,
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows. He carried yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”
Praise the Lord! Let’s bow together.
John 18:12-19:16
Turn with me if you would once again, to John's Gospel. The passage that Jes read this morning, is where we want to be focusing our attention. We have been already considering the arrest of the Lord Jesus in the in our previous couple of weeks, in this passage, in the 18th chapter. And the last time we were together we were focusing our attention on the failure of Peter. Peter had obviously come to love and believe in Jesus, but we had noted that he had also failed to embrace a fully reverential respect for the Lord, and that had led him to a shameful failure in the moment of intense crisis. As we seen, this is a him a very significant issue. What we really think of the Lord is ultimately going to be displayed in the way we live, way we think, and especially in the middle of trying times, difficulties things that we face that are not so easy. And obviously this was a time, a situation that Peter faced that was especially difficult.
As we continue on in the account of our Lord's arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion, we come to the other side of the narrative, if you will, that is, we look at-- we are faced with the actions of the enemies of Christ. We’ve been looking at in focusing on the actions of the Lord's followers, but now we come face-to-face with the actions of those who hated the Lord. There's a brutal hatred here. As you read through this account-- and I trust each of us is fairly familiar with these accounts-- and as you read through not only John's account of the Lord's arrest, His trial His appearing before the Jewish leaders and then before Pilate and Herod, some more details are filled in. And it’s a very difficult thing to read through, if you really stop and think about it. We get sort of accustomed to things --certain portions of God's word that we are so familiar with that it seems to me, sometimes we find ourselves reading through in the words just sort of bouncing through our heads--and we really aren't even thinking about them that much. The description that is before us in this passage is a very, very difficult one, if you stop and think about it. There's a brutal hatred, a disdainful disregard, a blatant contempt for the Lord Jesus, and not just by one or two people-- by a lot of people.
It's also-- it seems to me, that it's very important for us to include the context in which such scornful enmity is exhibited. This just doesn't come out of the blue. Jesus hasn't committed a crime. Jesus hasn't done something to cause them to bring him before the Roman leaders and to make these accusations against him. As we recognize Jesus is innocent. So much so, in the passage that Jes just read, did you notice three --on three separate occasions in Pilate's interaction with --with the mob, that's really what they are-- three times, no less than three times he says, makes this statement, “I FIND NO guilt in Him.” He doesn't just say well He hasn't done anything that bad, he says, “I find no guilt in Him.”
So the context here is that Jesus is innocent. Not only is He innocent, He had for three years engaged in a very public, in a very remarkable ministry throughout the land of Israel. You think of that period of time, during those three years, the unbelievable healing to many, relief, comfort, enlightenment that the Lord brought to thousands of sin wearied souls. Day after day ministering very publicly helping people in some of their most trying difficulties—with “a word” ridding them of disease and affliction. With “a word” casting out demons. With “a word” on number of occasions, even bringing people back to life from the dead. Think of all the good that Jesus had accomplished from a purely-- just from the public's perspective, to see all that He had done in those three years. Not only was there no guilt in Him, there was an incredible amount of good in Him, and that had happened through Him.
That's the context that were looking at here the blessings of his ministry had been bestowed upon needy sinners from all walks of life. Jesus had not just treated those who were in one particular class. There were people in all walks of life extending from the influential to the lowliest and the neediest--the outcasts of society, the lepers, the blind, the beggars the harlots, the tax collectors. Masses of people have been genuinely uplifted, had been often compelled to glorify God in the wake of what Jesus had done. Think of the times that we’re told that. The multitude glorifies God when they see what Jesus has done. In response to the manifestation of divine mercy people had been in awe of Christ, and yet when we get to this point in the life of the Lord Jesus we see nothing but the worst kind of hatred imaginable. A deep-seated hatred, a brutal animosity. An intense, a personal hostility towards the Son of God that is painful even to read about. A very severe thing. If you take this account and reconcile it along with the other accounts you know how badly Jesus was treated. He was hit in the face. He was spit upon. He was mocked, He was ridiculed, they hit Him again and again and again, they beat Him on the head, it says, “they kept beating Him on the head with this reed, having placed a crown of thorns upon his head.” The mistreatment of the Lord is staggering, and this, a man, who had accomplished so much good for so many people. For me, there just is this huge question of, why? Wouldn’t you agree? When you come to this passage, and I realize we are aware of the “why’s” to some extent, that's what I want to look at this morning the, why? Why such a fierce hatred. Why the brutal scorn? Why the unbridled loathing of the Lord? Why the hate filled contempt for a man who had accomplished so much good for so many people? How could it be that Jews and Roman authorities could become comrades in perpetrating the most gruesome atrocity in all of human history? Jews –and, and the Jews and the Roman authorities hated each other deeply and yet here they find common ground in their hatred of Christ. How do we account for this? Why such hatred for the Lord?
The answers to the question of why are important. You and I are not innocent bystanders in this scene that is before us. We tend to do this many times, don’t we? We place ourselves off in a safe—at a safe distance, or on higher ground, and we look down all these people and what they're doing to the Lord of glory. You and I are NOT innocent in what took place in these moments. And I think it's important for us to ask this question, why? The answers are of special significance in relation to understanding and coming to appreciate more fully the ‘means’ and the ‘magnitude’ of the salvation our Lord wrought through His unspeakable suffering, His shame, and His death.
So, I want this morning to just briefly consider the cause of such hostility against the Lamb of God. The first cause that I want to point out, and it should be a fairly obvious one, and that is the debasing sin of envy, the debasing sin of envy. Envy is ugly. It's one of the prominent features of the sin nature. We can't seem to stand it when something really good happens to somebody else. We’re all we’re all subject to this sin. It’s a terrible sin. No matter how guilty each of us may be, no matter how guilty I may be of envy, I still find it to be quite obnoxious when I witness it in others. And we are curiously alert to it in others. Have you noticed that? I can really point that out somebody else no matter how blind I may be to it myself.
This is one of those sins that is mentioned often—frequently, in the Scriptures in regards to the natural man's plight before God. I remind you of the passage in Romans chapter 1, detailing the depravity of mankind, of each of us individually having turned away from the glory of God. Verse 28 says this, “and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God.” Ted referred to a passage there in Titus, a very familiar passage to us, in the third chapter, the third verse, detailing our condition each and every one of us apart from Christ, before we came to Christ, “We also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” That's the human condition, apart from Christ. There’s nothing new about that. And even as believers we are warned to be on the lookout for this matter of envy. Peter says in first Peter chapter 2 verse one, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” We’re to set this aside as God's children. Apart from Christ were consumed by these sins, were dominated by these attitudes and thoughts.
The Roman authorities were clearly aware of the part that envy had played and was playing in the Jewish leader’s hatred of the Lord. We’re told this-- were given this insight in the account of Matthew—in Matthew’s gospel, in the 27th chapter, we’re made aware of this fact that Pilate knew what was going on in this respect. Matthew chapter 27 verse 18, “For he, that is Pilate, knew that because of envy they had delivered Him up.” We’re given this same insight in Mark's gospel, the 15th chapter in the 10th verse. The Jewish leaders could not stand the attention that Jesus had been getting because He was taking attention away from them. For Him to get that much attention, He was drawing attention away from them, and they hated that. It absolutely drove them crazy with anger and envy. They despised Jesus, and Pilate recognized this fact. He wasn't unaware of what was going on. He knew this is why they brought Him to him. This is why they were accusing Him. He was aware there was no guilt in Him, but he knew why He was there-- why these men had brought Him. Rather than rejoice in the manifestation of divine glory, these Jewish leaders were jealous-- jealous of God in flesh. Think about that! What a terrible spot these men had put themselves in. Think of how they should have rejoiced to see the day of the Lord-- God's Christ in their midst proclaiming the truth. And instead, they cannot stand Him. He's taking attention away from them. These are men who loved respectful greetings as they sauntered through the marketplace. They loved to sit at the head of the table. They love people to be in awe of them, to hang on every word they were saying. Now someone has come into their midst and He speaks, as we are told, not as the scribes and the Pharisees, but as One having authority. An authority these men did not have.
One of the reasons these men could've had authority, is because for the most part, they were exceedingly wicked and corrupt men. Now Jesus pointed this out, but we know from even history that some of these men were extremely corrupt. This man Annas that they brought Jesus to, was an extraordinarily wicked man, greedy as could be --a man who had profited greatly from the temple service. And most of the leaders were very much like him. They were envious, they couldn't stand this fact that Jesus had come and taken away their position of prominence.
That leads to a second reason for their hatred and that is because of their exposure to the light, their exposure to divine light. It isn’t just that Jesus had taken some of-- a good bit of the spotlight away from them, it went a lot deeper than that. Jesus had exposed them for who they really were. And Jesus hadn’t exposed them secretly and in person so much as he had done so publicly, painfully. Can you imagine being somebody who you had--- who you had, here you had duped and deceived the multitudes of people to worship the ground you walk on, to continue to cater to a system that enriches your pocketbook, that enhances your standing in the community. Jesus comes along and exposes who you are who you really are—you’re a hypocrite. Your whole life is a lie. There's nothing more loathsome to the denizens of the darkness than unwanted exposure to the light-- can't stand it. Jesus IS light. By His very nature He's pure truth. His becoming flesh exposed the world to divine light as never before, and the world, in the end, though they might have enjoyed it for a time, in the end they didn't like it at all. And that's one of the things we’re seeing as we see this hatred. Finally, raising up and reaching depths that are hard for us to understand. They don't just want to get rid of Jesus---You see in these, in this passage, you see in this description, a display of people who hate Jesus. They’re hitting Him, they’re spitting on Him. They’re ridiculing Him. Herod is mocking Him. It’s not enough for them just to get rid of Him. He has exposed them for who they are, and that brings out the worst in them.
I remind you of even the beginning few words in John's Gospel, when John says in the beginning was the Word, we know is referring to the Word made flesh, “the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life,” and notice this, “and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overpower it,” overcome it. It tried, it did everything it could, threw up everything possible to hide the light, to obscure the light, to belittle the light to undermine its influence, but in Him was life, and His life is the light of men.
If you recall what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 in this regard, you remember what He said? He said this in verse 19, “and this is the judgment that the Light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light.” It’s a hard thing when you think about. Here's a reality, a hard reality-- light is come into the world, Jesus said, and men loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Jesus answers the ‘why,’ “for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” There's nothing that can stir a person up to anger and hatred quite like the exposing of their wickedness. None of us likes that, do we? We don't like our evil to be exposed. It’s not a comfortable thing. But for the unregenerate heart, you expose enough evil, cleanly enough, clearly enough, publicly enough, and that's not going to be tolerated. It’s not going to be enough just for you to avoid the man Jesus you're going to have to get rid of His witness. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” We treasure that truth, do we not? But if we were still in darkness, we wouldn't treasure that truth. In fact, that truth would rub us the wrong way. And the longer we are exposed to that Light, apart from saving faith, the more were going to begin to hate that Light.
Look at the world around you. You see this evidenced everywhere. Is it not amazing, the extent to which people will become exceedingly filled with anger and hatred, when the light of truth begins to shine very brightly on their sin, on their evil deeds. Jesus is the Light of the world. Remember what he said in chapter 9 verse 5, “While I am in the world I am the Light of the world.” That's not good news to the world. John chapter 12 verse 46 Jesus made this statement, “I have come as Light into the world that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.” The thing about the Lord's relationship to the religious leaders is this, Jesus had exposed their wickedness, but He had done so, from the position of divine purity.
Have you ever noticed in our world-- This is-- this is something that is can be very frustrating but it's because it's so obvious-- Here's somebody who's taking a stand for what's right, okay, in whatever situation it is in this world. They’re taking a stand for what's right, in a specific instance, can bring upon them the wrath of those whose wickedness is exposed. And what is the response? Almost always, the first response is to go after the person who's exposing their wickedness, and say, “what about your wickedness? What about what you've done?” They couldn't do that with Christ. Think about that. No opportunity. No option to come back at Jesus and say yeah, “but what about You? What about Your past? They couldn't do that. When Jesus pointed the finger of truth when He shone the Light of pure truth of the holiness of God on sinners, there was nothing they could do except to respond in anger and hatred. Now, we notice, and I trust that we recognize, that not every single person in this account is exhibiting the same degree of animosity. Right? I think we-- we would have to agree. There are those who are sort of drawn into this and who are not nearly as animated in--in terms of their hatred. Take Pilate, for example, his --his part in this situation I find to be most intriguing in many respects. He's thrust into a situation not of his own choosing. These people bring Jesus to him and Pilate is forced to deal with Him. He tries to get rid of the responsibility and says, “you go you will deal with Him, judge them according to your laws,” and they say, we’re not permitted to put anyone to death. They make it pretty clear what they're up to and what they’re after, and it's going to require Pilate to make a decision one way or the other, it's going to be thumbs up or thumbs down for Pilate. He's put in a position. Is it not interesting as he tries to wiggle his way through this circumstance, trying to find some way to do what he knows instinctively to be right and just, and yet at the same time please the multitude, at the same time keep from having to face- who knows what might happen if he denies these people who are obviously in a fit of rage and are not going to be denied. He’s in a tough spot.
You recall here when Jesus, in one of the few answers that He gives to Pilate, He acknowledges the fact that He's a king in verse 37 He says, “For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” It’s to that statement that Pilate responds with derision, “What is truth?” Pilate, Herod, the Roman soldiers who themselves take, take part in abusing the Lord physically, their problem isn’t envy, is it? You can see very clearly, Pilate is not afraid of Jesus politically. He’d of had Him had put to death like that if that was his fear. He understood, he recognized that this Man was no threat to him from the perspective of political power. Why do all of these men and up being sucked into the hatred? It goes back again to this exposure to the Light. Look what Jesus says to this man, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.” Pilate knew this. There's no way Pilate could have been completely isolated from everything that Jesus had been saying and teaching. Even His enemies would have been bringing some of this to his attention, and then Jesus says, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” That means Pilate is accountable. That makes Pilate accountable. He's come face-to-face with the Word made flesh speaking truth to him. Pilate's question about truth is a pathetic attempt to avoid exposure to the Light. It’s as though he's just pushing his arm away, pushing the Lord away.
“What is truth,” is one of the world's favorite excuses. People are still asking this question today by the thousands. What they're saying--what they mean to say is, there is no such thing as truth. You can't be sure of anything because if you can be sure of anything they know where that leads. They know where that will go. If you've ever been in a lengthy discussion with someone who actually, willingly over time, was one would follow you, follow along in this discussion, this question of truth. You know what-- what I'm getting at here. I've seen people deny the most obvious realities, because of this fact, they knew full well that that reality would lead them to an absolute, which meant that they would ultimately be accountable to God-- and they couldn't put themselves in a position. And this is what men will do constantly. Pilate did this very thing. Pilate himself is perturbed by his exposure to the Light.
There's a third factor involved when we think of why, when we look at why these people are showing such hatred for the Lord, and that is something we've just simply call spiritual blindness. There's something in addition to our own personal rebellion against the Lord and that is the complicity of the devil. In Luke's gospel, Luke records for us the statement of the Lord as He's arrested, in Luke 23, I’m sorry, Luke 22 verse 53, He says, “While I was with you daily in the temple you did not lay hands on Me, but this hour, and the power of darkness are yours.” Men, in collusion with the devil, have come to that point where they are going to put the son God to death. Their hatred has reached a fever pitch. Their disdain for the Son of God has reached such a climax that they --it's almost like it's not enough to kill Him. They've got to ridicule Him, and torture Him, and show physically their disdain for the Son of God, and part of this is due to spiritual don't darkness. This is Satan's realm. Satan's dominion is in the realm of darkness. You recall what Jesus told Paul, Saul at the time, when He laid hold of him to be His choice servant to proclaim the truth of the gospel. And Paul testifies of this that, what Jesus said to him concerning what he would be, what the responsibility the Lord would give him. He says in verse of Acts chapter 26 verse 16, “But arise and stand on your feet. For this purpose, I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
Satan is complicit in our sin and he is actively blinding the minds of the unbelieving, as Paul says there in second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, “that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” It's an interesting thing-- Satan is complicit in keeping us in spiritual ignorance. Ironically, he often accomplishes this under the guise of intellectual and social enlightenment. Do you ever notice that? But it’s still the same thing, it’s blindness, it’s darkness.
One last thing that we need to say in regards to what is the cause of all of this. There's one word we can use here that will sum it all up, isn't there? It’s that one nasty five letter word—pride-- pure and simple. This is the root cause behind all rebellion against the Lord, both in the spiritual realm, that is with Satan, and those angels that followed him, and in the human realm, beginning with Adam and Eve. It’s pride. This is the root cause of rebellion. Rebellion at first may seem very enticing, mere very exciting, invigorating even. Think of what the serpent said to Eve, “You're not going to die when you eat this. You eat this and you're going to be like God.” He made rebellion look very enlightening. But in the end, it leads to total depravity. I just want to ask you to ponder this morning in closing, these moments that are before us, that are recorded for us. These are the defining moments for all of time and eternity. The cruel perversity the depths of human depravity, the exceeding sinfulness of human rebellion exposed in the unspeakable treatment of the Lamb of God-- and yet in those very same moments. The matchless lovingkindness of our Lord super abounding all the more. As Paul said, “That as sin reigned in death, even so grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The world's enmity and hatred for the Lord culminates in their arrest, their torture, their crucifixion of the Lord of glory. But in those very same moments God's grace is super abounding in relation to our sin.
I said earlier, we’re not innocent bystanders. What we've been looking at here this morning is us. We look at these people and what they're doing to the Lord, that’s you and that's me, that's what we've done to the Lord. That's who we are by nature. By birth and by choice we came into this world defiled and defiant and depraved. It's our sin. It's my sin that is exposed in all of its vileness in the way Jesus was treated. That’s not just those people, not just those really bad Pharisees and Sadducees and Romans. It's you and it's me. Think of those words that the Lord Himself uttered in those moments on the cross, “Forgive them Father, they do not know what they are doing.” That’s you and that’s me. We came into this world completely— completely embedded in spiritual darkness—ignorance, spiritually dead, dead to the light, dead to the right, at enmity with God. And so, as we ponder these moments this morning, I would ask you to consider very carefully the reality of what we see recorded before us. Our sin, my sin, and the Son of God dealing with my sin. This reality ought to be and has become, I trust, the very theme of our hearts, is it not? The theme of our songs. The theme of our living. The theme of our hope, our deepest joy. We look at the Lamb of God this morning and we see the way He was treated and we’re reminded of those words in Isaiah 53:4-6,
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows. He carried yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”
Praise the Lord! Let’s bow together.
