MEMORIAL MESSAGE



THAT ONE SHOULD DIE FOR THE PEOPLE

(John 11:45-57)

SUBJECT:

F.C.F:

PROPOSITION:

INTRODUCTION:

A. The sovereign rule of God extends not only to what God plans and purposes to do, but also to what all creatures plan and purpose to do. There is no action or choice, decision or motion that is outside his sovereign, over-ruling control. As the Shorter Catechism declares (reflecting Ephesians 1), God has “foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.”

To many professing Christians this is terribly troubling if not frightening. We often hear the charge that if this is true, then God has made us robots, which is quite silly, if you give it even a little thought. Why couldn’t God accomplish his will and purposes through our foreordained choices and decisions? Why couldn’t God bring about his goals while we at the same time are doing as we please?

But we see this so clearly in our text. And the biblical writers not only admitted to God’s complete and sovereign rule over all his creatures, but gloried in it and took great comfort from it.

B. And let me remind you that John’s first readers were most likely Jews who lived far from the Holy Land of Israel. They would have naturally banded together with other Jews for support and self-defense, but all that was threatened for those who embraced the good news that God had already sent his Son, his Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth. Because of their allegiance to Jesus, they were being ostracized and excluded from the safety and support of the synagogue and were made vulnerable to loss and persecution as a result. And John writes to assure them that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God, and that he alone can give true life to those who believe in his name.

C. A great part of that assurance is that the same God who gave his Son, Jesus, is firmly in control of all things, even the scary suffering they may have to face. And we can take the same comfort in the perils and perplexities of our own lives in our own days. God is in charge, and he knows what he’s doing. Even in times like ours where we clearly see the decline of the church in North America and the often militant ascendancy of unbelief in every sphere of life. This, too, is known by God. This is part of his wise and good plan, and we can fully trust him, even as we spend ourselves proclaiming Christ and standing against the night. Let’s explore the comfort of our text for times when things seem to be falling apart.

I. OPPOSITION TO CHRIST IS IRRATIONAL.

A. If John has shown us anything, it is that truth is on our side, that unbelief has no basis in fact, and that rejecting Jesus is against all the evidence. This is reflected rather pointedly in our text. After the very public, irrefutable miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, we read of the aftermath: “45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.” The implication is not that they were simply reporting this, but that they did so to rat on Jesus in a hostile manner, to tell not simply what he had done, but where he was. Bethany, after all, was only two miles from Jerusalem. An arrest party could have been on their way. “47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

What’s missing here? If they admitted to the reality and legitimacy of his “many signs,” why not believe him? Many had believed in him already due to the signs. Why resist against the plain evidence?

The phrase “our place,” clearly points to the temple. They feared a Jewish revolt and a Roman backlash. But there’s more. They feared losing their place and their nation, that is, their positions of relative power and prestige as the official leaders of the Jews. What this means is that their rejection of Jesus was not simply an intellectual matter of incredulity, but was a matter of stubborn resistance of their wills. They liked things the way they were and did not want to lose their place in the pecking order. Jesus threatened to upset all that.

B. Imagine John’s first readers, scratching their heads wondering why their fellow Jews could reject Jesus (and them because of him). Had they been mistaken? It’s very hard to be in the minority. Had they missed something? Why were the Jewish leaders so certain that Jesus was an imposter? Well, here you have it. It had nothing to do with what is true and right, but with the will. If the majority Jews in their synagogue would embrace Jesus, it would be costly for them as well. They would be rejected by the authorities in Jerusalem. So they could take comfort that they could clearly be in the right about Jesus and also in the minority.

C. And we must be very clear on this as well. Sadly, it seems that the church in our land is making less and less choices and decisions on what is right according to God’s Word, and more on the basis of what is popular and expedient. For example, there really is no question that the Bible speaks with a single voice on homosexual practice. There is no middle ground or wiggle room. There is no special kind of homosexual practice that was not envisioned by God’s Word. As with other sins, it’s wrong. It is a clear violation of the seventh commandment, condemned by every Scripture text that addresses it, and diametrically opposed to the singular biblical model, one man and one woman, husband and wife.

But, of course, this position is losing favor, growing in unpopularity, and considered mean, backward, and bigoted. On March 24 of this year, somewhat evangelical relief organization, World Vision, announced it would allow its U.S. branch to hire employees in same-sex marriages. Two days later, after a vocal outcry, they declared they had made a mistake. But others are sure to follow as they stick their finger to the wind and follow wherever the cultural trends are blowing.

I cannot tell the future, no one can, but I expect a rather rapid freefall among the evangelical church on this issue for one simple reason. Much of the evangelical church has courted and has largely enjoyed the popular favor of the people. As the overwhelmingly, biblically ignorant public (and much of the church) changes its position, many evangelicals are going to face the displeasure and criticism of the culture, and many will not be able to stand tall as their churches empty out and donations dry up. And as these churches refuse to speak truthfully to the world, God will remove their lampstands, and they will become no churches of Christ, but instead (large and prosperous and well-liked) synagogues of Satan.

D. Be sure you understand: God’s Word has not changed. God’s truth stands. And churches either stand with the Word or stand against it. What has changed is public sentiment, and those who depended on favorable press from the public are either going to have to embrace the world’s scorn (as the church almost always has through the ages) or deny her Lord. And there is no middle ground. Popular sentiment has not changed its mind due to any new truths, but because of the demands of sinners to sin with approval. This will continue to be a dividing line for decades to come, I suspect.

Opposition to Christ is irrational, and it also

II. OPPOSITION TO CHRIST SERVES GOD’S PURPOSES.

A. Here is the real gem in our text. Until now we have not met the high priest of the Jews named Caiaphas. According to the Old Testament, the high priest was to be selected for life. But by the time of the New Testament it had become a largely political office, and was passed around as a political favor to friends of the ruling authorities. Caiaphas had held the post for the unusually long period of 18 years A.D. 18-36).

He was a member of the party of the Sadducees, politically conservative but theologically liberal. They sought cooperation with the Romans in order to maintain their own political control. And they were notoriously rude and abrupt, which explains his caustic and calculating comments. “47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

It is not as though the high priesthood changed every year. Rather, John’s point was that he was the high priest in “that momentous and significant year.” And his counsel was one of political expediency. If Jesus was allowed to go on unchecked, he would likely foment a revolution, which would ultimately fail, and the city would be destroyed, the nation wiped out. So it makes perfect sense that one die instead of the whole nation. Jesus must be stopped, killed, and this budding revolt squashed.

B. But John notes that Caiaphas said much more than he intended. To “die for” as in “one man should ‘die for’ the people” was identical to language that would be used of a sacrifice. In a sense, Jesus would be sacrificed for the nation. By the way, how did John know of the details of this secret council? When we get to John 18:15, we will find that John was somehow “known to the high priest.” He had connections.

And John sees the deeper significance of this statement: “51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” The irony of this is quite amazing. Caiaphas suggests that Jesus be assassinated, officially murdered for the sake of political expediency, a great wickedness. And yet this is precisely why Jesus came into the world. Here is a graphic instance when the wicked intended some action for evil, but God intended it for good, and God even got the official spokesman of Israel (who happened to be the perpetrator of this evil deed) to declare it to be so.

C. Several chapters from now we will see Pilate, the official representative of the highest human authority of the day, Caesar, publically declare Jesus to be innocent at least three times, and then sentence him to death as an innocent man. Again, God arranged that his will would be done through the actions of weak and corrupt human beings, His officially innocent Son condemned to death, obviously not for his own sins, so thus for the sins of others: the spotless “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Scripture is filled with instances where God has used his enemies to accomplish his good will. For example, in A.D. 49, emperor Claudius issued an edict expelling all Jews from Rome. Two of those Jews, a wife and husband named Priscilla and Aquila settled in Corinth. Another Jews who shared their same trade of tentmaking, named Saul or Paul came to Corinth and went into business with them. He also preached the Gospel in Corinth where this could was converted, and later went back to become leaders in the church in Rome after the edict has been rescinded. God needed them to meet Paul in Corinth so they could be saved and assist the church, so he got Caesar Claudius to issue that edict.

D. So surely are our lives in his hands, and we can be confident in every circumstance of life. John’s first readers could sees how even the head of the Jews who opposed them was a simple tool in God’s hand, and so could take courage as they faced their own situation.

It is not helpful to try to second guess why God does what he does. We may not be able to make all these connections in this life, and some of this can degenerate quickly into conjecture and superstition. And we do not really need to know in every instance why God has done what he does. We only need to trust that he does and rest in his wisdom.

And thirdly, we can take heart that

III. OPPOSITION TO CHRIST IS EXPECTED.

A. If the Jews to whom John first wrote were being harassed and hard pressed, well that should be no surprise. And if you and I face misunderstanding and the opposition of the evil one, well, take a number. It has always been this way, stretching all the way back to our Lord Jesus.

“53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. 54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.”

B. Just a few comments: from this point on, Jesus was officially on the FBI’s most wanted list of his day. There was no Jewish authority higher than this one, and they had called for his arrest. We should understand this to mean “wanted posters” of Jesus, and quite possibly the threat of a charge of “aiding and abetting” for all who helped harbor this fugitive. I sometimes pause in the post office and look at some of those wanted posters. I wonder what these desperate criminals must be like, and how ashamed their families must be. If hope never to meet any of them unless they are in jail first.

That was Jesus. That was our Lord. The Son of God was a wanted man. What an upside down world!

And what we must realize is that the world is no less upside down. Jesus warned in Luke 6:26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” If we are not facing opposition from time to time, then perhaps we are speaking accurately for Christ. The world likes the “false” prophets. If we seem right-side up in an upside-down world, then maybe, just maybe we are upside down with them.

CONCLUSION

So take heart. It is unbelief that is truly irrational, incompatible with God’s truth, contrary to reality and ultimately unworkable and unlivable.

And God is fully in control. He scoffs at his enemies: when they think they are prevailing, he has only used them to accomplish his better and greater purposes.

And if you are facing trouble and hardship and difficulty, always running against a headwind and going against the flow, you are in good company. All of the Apostles faced the same. And before them, our Lord Jesus Christ.

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