The Clash of Kingdoms.

Stirred by the fervor of their religious leaders’ hatred and envy, the crowd screams for Jesus’ death.  “Crucify, crucify!” {Matt. 27:23}.  It’s just one word in the Greek, like the football chants of a rabid fan-base: ‘D-fense, D-fense!’  It is pure mob mentality at this point.  As Matthew recorded, “When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.  ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said.  ‘It is your responsibility!’”  And “all the people answered, ‘Let His blood be on us and on our children,’” vv. 24-25.  And it was.  One generation away, in 70 AD, the Day of Reckoning would come.

I was thinking about Jesus the other day, about the inevitability of Jesus’ death.  It was going to happen; it was bound to happen.  You can’t bring the Message He brought and live the Life He lived, you can’t teach the things He taught and so beautifully illustrate by your actions a Life of devotion to God, passion for God, and allegiance to His Kingdom in complete contradiction to the kingdoms of this Earth, to their gluttony and greed, their lust for Mammon and hunger for power, to the worship of oneself ...and not get killed sooner or later.  Jesus painted a very clear picture of the Kingdom of Grace, a Kingdom He tells Pilate is “not of this world.”  It is a Kingdom in which the world’s order of power, prominence, and possession is inverted, and replaced by justice, mercy, and humility {Mic. 6:8}.

It is a Kingdom which neither cares for nor prioritizes the Profit Motive which makes our modern world ‘go round.’  The Bankers running our show on the national and international level would gouge out their eyes and rip the ears off their heads before they would consider expunging all debt every seven years, pressing the ‘reset’ button on economic relations, as God instructed His people Israel {cf. Deut. 15:1-11, which begins with, “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.”}.  That is a Message no one wants to listen to: “Where is the profit in that?  Where in the world will we make our money?”  I don’t know.  Try fleecing taxpayers for your ridiculous bonuses; it’s always worked before.

What is His Kingdom?  It is the piercing Light which clashes violently with the darkness of men’s deeds— both individually and corporately, systemically.  And let’s be honest: nobody wants to hear the Message of a Kingdom which demands every ounce of allegiance we possess.  No ‘king’ or ‘queen’ wants to hear that their kingdom, however large or small, is inconsequential to Eternity and will one Day be crushed by the “weight of glory.”  Nobody.

So Jesus goes to His death, hanging on our cross and suffering in our stead, with the courage and heroism only a perfect Man could display— the God-man, undivided deity and sinless humanity welded as One forevermore.  When the price of sin was paid and the ransom of mankind accomplished, He cried out, “It is finished ...forever!” {Jn. 19:30}.  Then, as Peter boldly declares over and over in the Book of Acts before the very people whom he once cowered from: “But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him” {2:24}.  Impossible indeed! ...for Death to hold the Author of Life!  In v. 32 he says, “God has raised this Jesus to Life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.”  A martus is a legal, historical “witness,” one who bears testimony in a judicial sense to people, places and things.  Peter’s conclusion?  “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ”— Master and Messiah {v. 36}!  Amen and amen.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
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