READ: JOHN 19:14-16
TEXT: “We have no king but Caesar” (VERSE 15B)
“Good Friday”. Have you ever thought about the irony of that? “GOOD Friday”. Have you ever been tempted to think that perhaps another name for the day might be more appropriate? Perhaps:“Solemn Friday”, or “Dark Friday”. Or what about: “Shameful Friday”. Ever crossed your mind?
I’ll come back to talk about that in just a little while, but first let’s have a look at these verses that I read to you a moment ago.
At this point of the proceedings on that first “Good Friday”, Jesus had already been interrogated by the Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas, who then sent Him before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who in turn (finding no fault in him), then sent him to the local puppet-king Herod, who (not wanting to be the one to make the decision), returned him AGAIN to Pilate. Jesus had been kept awake all night, examined and cross-examined, already brutally flogged, mocked, and “crowned” with cruel thorns. By the time we come to these verses, He must have been in exhausted agony. Pilate was obviously struggling to know what to do, and the angry mob (antagonized by their religious leaders), were reaching fever pitch in their calls for Jesus’ death. “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” The atmosphere was charged with a blood lust.
Finally, with mock concern and taunting, Pilate asked: “Shall I crucify your King?” In His proud “conquerors” mind he’s thinking how this bloodied and helpless prisoner is the only king these Jews are ever likely to have, but he doesn’t realise the truth of his words — he’s speaking better than he knows. The long-awaited king — the Messiah foretold through centuries of prophecy — stood before them ... and they did not recognize Him. “Shall I crucify your King?”
And then comes the stunning statement. Surely the crowd must be out of their minds with rage now, because listen to their shocking words — from the lips of their religious leaders, no less ...
“We have no king but Caesar!”
Let me just pause there, for you to consider the gravity of what they have just said: “We have no king but Caesar”.
I want to draw three (3) things to your attention this morning, about that wretched statement which they made as they sold out the Son of God.
Firstly,
1. This declaration constitutes the final rejection of Jesus Christ by the Jews.
You might miss it quite easily because of the pace of the account — the noise of the throng — but this is a DEFINING MOMENT.
Here is the SEED of Israel’s blindness right down to the present day. The Apostle Paul wrote, in 2 CORINTHIANS 3:14 ... “For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ”. To this very day, when the Old Testament prophecies of Messiah are read in Jewish synagogues, there is no comprehension of the glorious way in which God has fulfilled it — and is fulfilling it — in the earth today. The mighty plan of God is lost in the haze to them — there’s a veil over their eyes. Why? Because they “MISSED the day of their visitation”. Jesus came, and God attested Him before their very eyes and ears with His own voice from Heaven, and with signs and wonders and authoritative teaching — and they rejected Him. The Light of the World came and shone before them — but sinful men prefer the darkness — and so they disowned Him, and let the haze of confusion and uncertainty descend and cover their minds once more.
Thank God for every Jew who has come to a saving knowledge of Jesus — the Christ of God, but these are few in comparison with the nation. Israel rejected Him.
As John writes in JOHN 1:11 ... “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him”. God had called Israel out from the nations to be His own special people, but when He came amongst them as Jesus — the promised One — they did not receive Him.
We have no king but Caesar.”
Just a little earlier on this crucifixion day, Pilate had offered them the choice of a prisoner to be freed — Jesus or Barabbas — and they cried, “Not this man, but give us Barabbas”. Now, again, they cry their rejection: “Not the Lord of glory for us, but the demon lord of Rome; not this King of kings, but Tiberius Augustus”.
“We have no king but Caesar” — it constitutes the final rejection of Jesus Christ by the Jews.
Secondly,
2. This declaration is blasphemy against their God.
Let us imagine, for a moment, that Jesus had NOT been the awaited Christ. Even then, they would have no excuse for saying: “We have no king but Caesar”. It is high treason against their God — the True and Living God who had revealed Himself time and time again to the nation in their history.
This is a breaking of their covenant relationship with Jehovah. In the days of the judges, when the people had come to Gideon and asked him to rule over them, he replied, “I WILL NOT rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you” (Judges 8:23). The Lord God was King over Israel, and when He did finally, because of their stubbornness, allow them to have a line of earthly kings, He made it plain that their reign was only valid as long as they submitted themselves to His great will — allowing God to rule the nation THROUGH them.
Israel was a theocracy, but what did they say? “We have no king but Caesar”. They broke covenant with God, and they compromised their nationalistic identity. Oh, they were normally so PROUD of their election as the covenant people of God. In JOHN 8:33 one group of Jews proudly announced to Jesus: “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone”. That was their boast. Oh, of course they knew that they had known times of being ruled over by other nations — right now it was the Romans, but there had also been the Babylonians and the Persians and on and on, but their proud claim was that, even while they were in physical chains THEIR HEARTS REMAINED A FREE NATION because they owned no other king but their God.
But all of this is cast aside like a worthless encumbrance now, isn’t it?! The chief priests, the official heads of the nation, who usually yearned and prayed for independence from Rome, put themselves on record as subjects of the pagan Emperor (they sold out the very soul of the nation).
Oh, how they must have hated Jesus to be prepared to make such a declaration: “We have no king but Caesar”.
What they are exhibiting here is the sinfulness of the human heart — hardened and calloused against the government of God. Yes, they’ll claim God as king while it is convenient enough — for as long as they can keep Him as a general “idea” of a God, but don’t let Him step into their lives — don’t let Him challenge them — don’t let Him make too much of a demand.
When He does arrive on the scene: “We have no king but Caesar”.
That brings us to the third and final thing:
3. This declaration is a signing of allegiance with the world.
Caesar was ruler of the world’s greatest empire at that time. Symbolically, you might say, he was the ruler of the age.
Down through history, God’s constant plea to His people was “Come out from among the world and it’s system and it’s way, and be SEPARATE. Be MY people”, but they don’t hesitate to sign on with the world.
When you reject Jesus Christ you align yourself with this whole damned world and its leadership. You’re at the whim and folly of its HUMAN leaders — world leaders who can’t be faithful to their own wives and can’t manage their own households; world leaders entrusted with awesome powers of destruction, but appear to live their lives in a drunken stupor. Who wants their destiny laying in those hands?! And behind that leadership, there is the unseen hand of the god of this world — SATAN. You reject Jesus Christ, and you’re aligning yourself with this world. Jesus said: “Whoever is not FOR ME is against me”.
They cried: “We have no king but Caesar”, and where did this giving of allegiance to the world lead them? Where it always leads — to destruction. God handed them over to the world they claimed that day. In the years that followed this terrible day of the crucifixion of Jesus, the Caesars became tyrants to Israel until, in 70AD, Jerusalem was sacked, and the Temple was destroyed.
Jesus had foreseen that event and He wept over Jerusalem you will recall. He said in LUKE 19:41-44 ... [READ].
It is highly likely that some of these who were present on the day Jesus was crucified lived to witness Jerusalem lying in ruin and ashes, and I wonder if they recalled the day; and I wonder if their own words didn’t come back to haunt them: “We have no king but Caesar”. They signed on with the world — turning their back on Christ — and the world destroyed them. Caesar turned on them.
And friends, I see a day not long from now, when men and women will finally come to their senses in the fires of Hell, and will be haunted with the decision they made in life. “Will you turn and look to Jesus the Saviour; will you receive Him as the Son of God?” “No ... we have no king but this life, this world; no king but money, fashion, pleasure; we have no king but our royal selves.”
CONCLUSION:
I began this message by asking whether it’s really appropriate to call this day “GOOD Friday”. As we read the Scriptural accounts of what happened on that Friday in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, it seems such a horrific occasion. There doesn’t seem to be anything “GOOD” about it at all.
But then it all depends upon your perspective. if all you usee is a man bloodied and scorned, dying a barbaric death before an angry crowd — then surely you’ll find it hard to call it “GOOD Friday”; and if in your own life you have decided that you will have no king but yourself or worldly interests, then you had better call it something else — like “Dark Friday”, because it will yet prove to be the day that judgment against you was sealed.
BUT if, on the other hand, you see in Jesus not just a man, but truly God’s eternal sacrifice laying Himself down for your sins, and if you have looked to Him trusting Him as your only Saviour — believing that the pain and the scars He bore were for you, THEN it truly is “GOOD Friday”. The day you went free from the bondage of sin, and came out from under the wrath of God. The day Caesar lost control in your life — and the God who loves you was restored as your rightful King.
“VERY GOOD FRIDAY.”
