The Judge's Seat

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE JUDGE'S SEAT

John 19:12-16

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar." 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

NIV

There are several very interesting comments here in this portion of the narrative. Pilate was trying his best to set Jesus free, he had no reason to execute Jesus, but the Jews, which is meant the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. We might even suspect it included other members of the Sanhedrin and even some who were serving as priests. They knew the tenuous position a Roman Governor held and that if he could not keep the peace over the region he was in charge of Caesar would replace him, maybe even have him demoted or worse. Pilate also knew he had to keep the peace if he wanted to keep his position. The Jews made it very clear to Pilate that if he did not execute Jesus he was no friend of Caesars. Pilate then sits on the judgment seat and passes judgment upon Jesus. Is that not ironic? Man judging God. Little did Pilate know, one day he was going to be standing before the judgment seat of Christ, and be judged for his deed of refusing to do that which was right, accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Yet, Pilate was also just a bit playing in the plan of God for the salvation of the whole world. Some might say this is divine control over a man who is doomed to destruction, yet we also have to remember Jesus came to earth at a specific time in the plan of God, who foreknew Rome was an occupying force in Israel and the personality of Pilate and the temperament of Judas, and the Pharisees. It is not that God controlled their minds, but that God foreknew who they were and how they were and what they would do about Jesus. That simply means God’s timing was and still is perfect. He is not a God of reaction, but rather a God of action, he initiates how and when things are and will be. The other interesting comment made by the Jews is when that said they have no king but Caesar. Did they not consider the Lord God Almighty as their King of kings? Were they so quick to deny God as their King to accomplish their own personal agenda? We wonder if we have done the same thing at times, denying God as our King in order to do what we want to do when we want to do it. Are we really going to say that our plans for our lives are more important than God’s plan for us? Do we use the phrase, “I have decided to go here or there” or “I have decided to do this”? This “I have decided” should only be used in conjunction with “To follow Jesus”. After that, we should be seeking what the Lord wants us to do and where he wants us to be. When we consider Jesus as our example, he was always about doing the will of the Father, even onto death. If we want to use a man as an example we have many within the scriptures we could use who did things which God called them to do and went where God called them to go. Look at Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, David, to name a few and then there is Paul, Matthew, Peter, James, and John, Mark and Luke and others. Sure, they were not perfect men, but they were about doing the will of God.  We think it wise to always be in a position of knowing Jesus our Lord and our King and he will be upon the Judge's seat.