Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20060730.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XLII: Christianity's Validity Seen In Christ's Trial Before Pilate
(John 18:28-19:16)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

A religious circular I recently received reports an atheist in Italy is suing the Roman Catholic Church for what he claims is the deception that Jesus Christ was ever an historical person!

Such claims not only challenging Jesus' existence, but even basic facts about His death that we hold to be true often abound:

(1) The Islamic faith denies the New Testament account that Jesus was ever crucified! In sura 4, Women, the Islamic holy book, the Koran claims: "God sealed them [the Jews] for . . . their saying, 'We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of God' -- yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them." (cited in "It Is Written: What the Koran (Quran) Teaches," SIM NOW, July-August 1989, p. 7). This denial of the New Testament record coincides with Islam's belief that the Gospel records are annulled or corrupted from their original true versions, Ibid., p. 5.

(2) Some would deny the historicity not only of Jesus, but of the events the New Testament records about His life and death! Jon Murray, President of American Atheists, claimed: "There was no such person in the history of the world as Jesus Christ. There was no historical, living, breathing, sentient human being by that name. Ever. [The Bible] is a fictional, nonhistorical narrative. The myth is good for business." ("Who Was Jesus?" Life magazine, December 1994, p. 68)



However, our Christian faith is BASED on belief in the HISTORICITY of Jesus' DEATH by CRUCIFIXION under PONTIUS PILATE! If Christ did not die on the cross, the New Testament record is FALSE, and our belief in salvation by FAITH in the finished work of Christ is in error, 1 Corinthians 15:12-19!



One may then ask: "In view of the questions raised as to the HISTORICITY not only of JESUS, but of His DEATH by CRUCIFIXION under PONTIUS PILATE as given in the New Testament, IS that record TRUE, and HOW can we KNOW?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "With questions raised today on whether Jesus and Pontius Pilate ever existed or that He was tried and condemned to die by crucifixion, how can we know the Gospel record of Jesus is true?!"
  1. There exists IMPARTIAL ANCIENT PAGAN evidence that Christ's trial before Pilate and His death by crucifixion OCCURRED:
    1. In "1961, a stone tablet was discovered at Caesarea, bearing the Latin names Pontius Pilatus and Tiberius . . . archeological proof of Pilate's historical reality," Zond. Pict. Ency. of the Bib., vol. Four, p. 791.
    2. Pagan Tacitus, in Roman Annals, xv. 44 (circa. A. D. 117), wrote of Christians: "They got their name from Christ, who was executed by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius." (F. F. Bruce, Jesus And Christian Origins Outside the N. T., p. 22)
    3. Justin Martyr's Defense of Christianity (A. D. 150) written to Rome's Emperor Antonius Pius on Christ's death, in First Apology, 35. 7-9 claimed: " . . . nails . . . were fixed in Jesus' hands and feet on the cross . . . That these things happened you may learn from the 'Acts' which were recorded under Pontius Pilate." Martyr's pointing Rome's pagan Emperor to a work he could himself use to verify such claims reveals the "Acts" of Pilate DID exist and DID make these claims!
    4. Thus, IMPARTIAL ANCIENT PAGAN sources claim procurator Pontius Pilate and Christ existed, and that Christ was executed by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Emperor Tiberius!
  2. Then, JOHN'S GOSPEL in LIGHT of SECULAR INSIGHT shows Jesus' trial before Pilate was RULED by GOD rather than MEN:
    1. The Jewish rulers who sent Jesus to Pilate to be tried and killed by crucifixion did so contrary to their initial plans on executing Jesus:
      1. John 8:59 with John 10:31 reports that the religious leaders had twice before tried to kill Jesus by stoning, not by crucifixion !
      2. Though illegal (John 18:31), as seen by the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:59, such mob executions went unchecked by the Romans if they were well supported, L. Wood, John (NICNT), 1979, p. 787.
      3. Yet, Jesus' raising of Lazarus followed by His triumphal entry had led these leaders to fear Jesus' popularity and to want Him dead soon (Jn. 11:45-53; 12:17-19), and as Judas had given them Jesus (John 13:1, 27), they wanted Pilate to crucify Jesus to shift the crowd's blame of Jesus' death from them to Pilate, 18:28-29!
    2. Pilate himself was very reluctant to condemn Jesus to be crucified:
      1. Pilate normally lived in Caesarea, but he moved to Jerusalem at the Passover: this feast recalled Israel's release from ancient bondage to Gentile rule, making anti-Roman sentiment run high in the city at the time and making it prudent for Pilate to be present to keep the peace, Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 336!
      2. For this reason, the LAST thing Pilate wanted to do was to crucify a JEW at Passover! Quite understandably, he repeatedly tried to free Jesus as we can note from John 18:29-31, 38 and John 19:4, 6!
      3. On the other hand, Pilate could not afford for the Jewish leaders to report to Tiberius that he was not a friend of Caesar (as follows):
        1. Philo of Alexandria reports that in a case where some Jewish leaders spoke of referring a matter to Tiberius, Pilate feared it would expose his briberies, insults and executions without trials that made him look bad as a ruler, Ibid., Wood, p. 799, ftn. 27!
        2. Besides, Tiberius was "sick, suspicious, and often violent," so Pilate could not afford to rile him, Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 338!
      4. Thus, regardless of Pilate's effort to gain sympathy for Jesus by flogging Him so he could free Him (John 19:1-6), and regardless of his reluctance to crucify a Jew at Passover and risk an unwanted riot, when the Jewish leaders spurred by Jesus' raising of Lazarus and His triumphal entry claimed they would say he was not Caesar's friend, Pilate sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, 19:12-16!
    3. Jesus never spoke at His trial before Pilate to keep Himself from being crucified (John 19:9-10); rather, He spoke only to show He was not guilty of insurrection as the spiritual King of the Jews and sinless Lamb of God (John 18:33-37; 1:29) and to show that Pilate was NOT innately superior to Him as Jesus was the Son of God (John 19:7-11)!
    4. So, Jesus' own prediction that He would die not by stoning, but by crucifixion (John 12:32-33) came to pass as BEGUN by God's work of raising Lazarus from the dead and Jesus' triumphal entry , and it was MOVED ALONG by GOD'S USE of all the parties involved so that what GOD had willed CONTROLLED the RESULT!
Application: (1) May we trust in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin (John 20:30-31) and (2) view the Christian faith as true!

Lesson: The evidence from secular records PRECISELY HARMONIZE with the record of Jesus' trial before Pilate in John's Gospel, revealing (1) its PARTIES and the TRIAL EXISTED and OCCURRED, and that (2) GOD both BEGAN and then MOVED the trial along, USING the parties involved, Acts 2:23! (3) Thus, (a) Jesus is the Son of God and King of the Jews as He said (John 18:31-32, (b) our Christian faith is true and (c) Christ is to be believed for eternal life, John 20:30-31!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

In a post September 11, 2001 world, it is refreshing to glimpse anew the power of God behind the Christian faith to transform the heart of a man even of the Islamic faith, a faith that denies the historicity of the crucifixion (trial and) death of Jesus Christ!

A testimony to that end (that I used before, but is so applicable in view of current events) came in the July-August, 1989 issue of the SIM NOW circular put out by SIM International mission, p. 11:

An Arab from Lebanon who graduated with honors M. A. from the Islamic University of Al Azhar in Cairo with a major in Islamic Law, and who was appointed preaching sheik in mosques in the Lebanese cities of Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon, wrote of his conversion to Christianity shortly before his death in Beirut (as follows):

"It was the teaching and the manifestation of love that first attracted me to Christianity. The love of Christ changes men. They live in kindness and concern . . .

"When I was serving my religion in its many duties, I honestly believed that I was serving God. But so many difficulties and problems came into my life, I began to think perhaps that was not the way God wanted me to serve Him. I became increasingly dissatisfied, and asked God that if this were not the way, would He please show me the right way.

"After that I kept having a dream in which I was walking along a path that always ended at a church . . . And another thing -- I kept thinking of Christ. The picture of Him on the cross, with blood flowing from His wounds, kept imposing itself on my mind. This was even against my will, because I had been taught that Christ was not crucified. In spite of my continued rejection of Christ, this picture came to my mind more and more, and every time it happened I felt a great happiness. It seemed that Christ was ordering me to follow Him.

After a long time I finally decided that I wanted to accept Christ . . ." (italics ours)

The New Testament record of Jesus' trial and condemnation to be crucified is accurate: the testimony of ancient secular writings, the witness of the Gospels and this word from an Arab from Lebanon once steeped in Islam reveal our faith IS real!

May we trust in Christ as Savior and live for Him in His spiritual power and grace!