Some 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was falsely accused and condemned by the religious leaders of his day. They then delivered him to the Roman governor named Pilate, hoping that he would be convicted of a crime punishable by death. But who was really on trial? We'll find out today on Truth for Life.
Alistair Begg is teaching from the opening verses in Mark chapter 15. Well I take it that a number of you will have read the article in the review section of yesterday's Wall Street Journal. It was announcing the revolution in technology, which is allowing previously inanimate objects such as cars or trash cans or teapots to talk to us and not only to talk to us but to guide our behavior. The article quoted the CFO of Google giving an interview to an Australian magazine or newspaper in 2010. And in that interview, he announced to the journalists that Google is, quote, really an engineering company with all these computer scientists that see the world as a completely broken place, suggesting that many of those problems can be solved, of course, by technology. The article also quoted Jane McGonigal, who is a futurist and a video game creator, designer, as being identified with those who like to talk about how, quote, reality is broken but can be fixed by making the real world more like a video game with points for doing good. It's quite remarkable. I mean, if our grandparents could come back and listen to this kind of thing, it really… And it's all deadly serious. I was reading this yesterday as I was traveling, and I said, This is a fantastic article.
I like this article very much. Why not use it tomorrow morning? Because you're doing the Gospel of Mark. And the story of the Gospel writers is exactly that—the story of what God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ to come into our time and into our space into a world that is broken. Because this is accurate.
These computer scientists get it. They perhaps don't get the extent to which it's broken, but they know it's broken. And the Bible has told us from the beginning that it's broken.
God creates man for fellowship with himself. That fellowship is broken by man's rebellion. Before you know where you are, there is dislocation, and there is confusion, and there is dysfunction. Adam and Eve are arguing with one another. Their children, Cain and Abel, are killing each other. And it's absolute mayhem.
And it all spins out from there— brokenness at every level. Now, let's look at the way in which Mark now advances this story on the day of Christ's crucifixion. And now you will notice that Mark tells us that as soon as it was morning—in other words, without any delay at all—they're now pressing the charge, they are now seeking to bring this conspiracy to bear upon the Roman authorities.
And so, Mark actually takes us in chapter 15, through the day of Christ's crucifixion, with an explicit timeframe. We've seen that what has taken place with these religious people is really a kangaroo court. There's nothing that marks legality about it at all. It is completely trumped up. It is, in every right sense, a conspiracy. And so we ought not to be surprised that as we come now to their attempt to bring the Roman authorities into this—something that they absolutely require—that what we are confronted with is just political maneuvering. And we're familiar with political maneuvering. You can't live in America, or really in any place, without being aware of political maneuvering.
We all read the newspapers and see the way you—apparently somebody becomes the foreign secretary or the secretary of state or whatever it is. It's really quite remarkable. But anyway, we ought not to be surprised, because we've been going on forever. It's part of our brokenness.
It's part of our brokenness. And these fellows are at their best here, aren't they? They'd already concluded in verse 64 that Jesus should die. Remember, we said they came with a verdict. They came with the sentence, which was death. All they were looking for was a legitimate kind of charge. And now, here they are before the Roman authorities, and what they have to do is not so much get Pilate to try the case as to coerce him to pronounce the verdict.
They've already decided the verdict. And I think it's fair to say that if these Jewish leaders had been able to carry out the evil deed on their own, they would have done so. But they couldn't, because they were living in subservience. They were under the domination and control of the Roman authorities. And if, then, they were going to do away with Jesus by death, then it was imperative that they brought the clout, if you like, of the Roman judicial system to bear upon the proceedings. Now, it wasn't going to be enough for them simply to talk about the fact that Jesus was a blasphemer. What did the Roman authorities care about Jewish concerns of blasphemy?
Now, they were going to have to manipulate this in some way to make it sound as though it was a threat to the Roman Empire. Then, perhaps, Pilate would listen. Because from what we know of Pilate, he wasn't really interested in listening to these Jewish people. He was there to keep them subjugated, he was there to dominate them and make sure that they stayed in line.
He wasn't really interested in their trumped-up charges, as we saw in our reading. He knew that it was out of envy that they showed up, and he knew that they didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to what they were saying—which makes, of course, his ultimate decision all the more reprehensible. So that's really what we have in verse 1. The morning has come, the chief priests are now leading the charge, Jesus is bound, he's led away, he's delivered over to Pilate. And then, in verse 2 and 3 and 4, we have this encounter with Pilate himself. And Pilate asks him the question that we might anticipate, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, You have said so. In other words, Jesus is not dodging this. He is affirming the fact. That was his very purpose. He tells the gathered assembly on that occasion.
It's not recorded here in Mark, because remember, Mark is moving quickly. But he had explained to the people on that day, it was for this purpose that I was born and for this purpose that I come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. That's quite a statement. It's no surprise that elsewhere it is recorded that Pilate responded by saying, What is truth?
But we'll come to that at another time. He personalizes it in the middle of John's gospel that's recorded. Remember, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.
He is back affirming the same thing, isn't he? This is the purpose for which I came into the world. Why don't you just turn to John chapter 18? Because that's really what I'm quoting, and you can say, Well, now I know where he got it all from.
Look at verse 33. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? He's just poking back at him, isn't he? He says, Did you come up with this on your own, Pilate?
He knew, of course, he didn't come up with it on his own, because these religious rascals had been feeding him his lines. Pilate answered, somewhat in a surly tone, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you over to me.
What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. And then you have the statement that we have just rehearsed about the truth.
You see what he's saying? Yes, it is as you say, I am the king of the Jews. But if what you think it means to be the king of the Jews is a threat to the Roman Empire in terms of treason or insurrection, then you don't understand what that actually means, that I am the king of the Jews. And I know that these characters have put you up to this, suggesting that that is what it is you're facing. So actually, what we have in this little encounter that goes on for a while is not so much the trial before Pilate as the trial of Pilate. Because as we're going to see, Pilate is pushed to make a decision—as is every man and woman pushed to make a decision—when they come up against Jesus of Nazareth. He's forced, now, to have to come to terms with who this person is.
Who are you? What do you mean for this purpose you've come into the world, that everybody who listens to you knows the truth? Are you saying you're the truth? That truth is embodied in you?
What is the truth? And, of course, you know that he pushed back, and he tried to dodge, and he tried to weave, and he's down in history on account of that. Do you think we would have known this one particular Roman governor were it not for his encounter with Jesus here? That's the only reason we know him.
Because he was confronted by the challenge of Jesus as men and women are this morning, as you are in listening to the sound of my voice. You and I, each of us, have to come to the point where we determine who is Jesus, why did he come, what did he do, and does it even matter? It will not be enough for us to try and fudge the decision off as Pilate did.
There are no balls available in the auditorium at the moment for the washing of our hands of the responsibility. There is no place for us to hide. There is no place that we can ultimately hide from God. Jesus stands in the hall of Pilate, waiting for Pilate to make a decision. One day, Pilate will stand in the hall of Jesus, and Jesus will pronounce the verdict. Now you see that Pilate comes back to him, and he says, Have you no answer to make? Because, actually, this little phrase, You have said so, is the last recorded statement of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark before the words that we hear from the cross. So this is it. This is the end. It is as you say, Or you have said so. Pilate says, Don't you have an answer?
What about all these charges they're bringing against you? And then look at this, how stunned he is by the sound of silence. Verse 5, But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Pilate must have gone home and said to his wife—remember, in one of the other Gospels, she has a part to play as well—and said to his wife, You know, I don't know what it is about this Jesus of Nazareth. What do you mean?
Well, I mean this. Somebody who is up on a charge that may end with crucifixion, he would anticipate arguing his corner, seeking to defend his position, doing whatever it possibly takes to make sure that he doesn't face the eventuality of death. He says to his wife, I'm used to people cowering before me.
I'm used to people pleading with me. She said, Well, what was he doing? He said, Nothing. He said, He only gave me one phrase answer. I asked him, I said, Are you the king of the Jews?
He says, Well, you've said so. His wife says, I'd be careful with that guy. He's something else, you know. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. This is no ordinary criminal.
He is something else. Now, that's really where it ends, isn't it? You have to go on into verse 6, and we're not going on into verse 6. We're going to stop. But before we stop, let me remind you of what we've always said. That the Bible is a book about Jesus, and in the Old Testament Jesus is predicted, in the Gospels he is revealed, in the Acts of the Apostles he is preached, and in the Epistles he is explained.
Okay? So, when we think in terms of where we are right now, which is in the Gospels, we have Jesus being revealed to us. He has been anticipated as the priest who will come, as the prophet who will come, as the king who will reign.
Classically, as we saw a couple of times ago, in Isaiah 53, as this suffering servant, he will appear like a lamb being led to the slaughter is silent, and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so he will not open his mouth. That was part of the prediction of what would happen. That was the prediction before the revelation. Now we have the revelation. What has happened?
Exactly what was predicted. You've got all these charges, huh? You have nothing to say. Why are you saying nothing?
Well, there was nothing to answer in terms of the trumped-up charges, but it was more than that. Jesus was not being manipulated into death. Remember elsewhere he said, No one takes my life from me. I'm not like anybody else. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to pick it up again.
People must have said, You've got to be crazy. Nobody can lay their life down and pick it up again. Even if you could lay it down, you definitely can pick it up again. And wait a minute. It's Friday night. But Sunday's coming, you know. So here he is. And he is delivered.
Delivered over to Pilate. That's the verb that's used at the end of verse 1. Now, I don't think there's any theological connotation in the use of that verb there. But that verb does have theological significance. Those of you who have been paying attention as we've gone through Mark, which I'm sure is a vast company, will remember that Jesus uses that very phraseology when, for the third time, he foretells his death. This is the thirty-third verse of chapter 10. See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Oh, we see, so that's what he anticipated. This is now what he has experienced.
So it's the responsibility, ultimately and solely, of these individuals. Well, no, you need to go from the gospels into the Acts. And into Acts chapter 2, and verse 23, and now Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God has come. Peter has been restored.
He's back in action. And he is doing a wonderful job of explaining just what has happened in Jesus. And so he says, verse 22, Men of Israel, hear these words. This is verse 22, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus—here's our verb again— now, he doesn't say delivered up by the scribes and the Pharisees. He says, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Telling us what? That the hands of lawless men were automatons?
No. That the hands of lawless men acted as lawless men, but they did so underneath the sovereign overarching plan and purpose of God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God is providing a lamb for the sacrifice. And if he is then preached in the Acts, he's explained in the Epistles. So Romans chapter 4 and verse 25 will see us right.
Paul is explaining the nature of justification. And as he speaks of Jesus being raised from the dead, he says in Romans 4, and here's your verb again, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. He was delivered up to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. And he was raised so that our justification may be obvious and declared in his resurrection. You see, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are inseparable, because they are one redemptive act. One makes no sense without the other. If you have the death of Jesus without resurrection, it makes no sense. If you have the resurrection of Jesus without death for sinners, it makes no sense. He was delivered up for our trespasses, and he was raised for our justification. So, you don't have an answer? Pilate says.
What would I answer? No, he has been going steadfastly towards Jerusalem. What is taking place? Well, think about it.
Think about it right now, and think about it as the day unfolds. The scene that is recorded for us here is a scene in which they bring Jesus bound before Pilate. He was in a particular position of weakness. He apparently could do nothing before the authorities of heaven. His disciples didn't get it. That's why they were fiddling around with swords. Jesus has explained to them, Listen, we don't need to worry about this.
I could call twelve legions of angels, and we could sort this out in a nanosecond. Put away your sword. It's not my purpose. For this purpose I came into the world. See him go bound. Why is he bound in order that we might be set free? He is bound so that that which binds us may be broken. The ties and knots of the brokenness of our sinful lives are to be set free in and through the work of Jesus. He, we see, delivered up to death.
Why? In order that we might be delivered from death. He, we discover, is about to be broken in order that we might be restored. So we come full cycle. It's the broken world. Technology.
Theology. There's no doubt that many of these inventions will be very helpful. I like the idea of a chip on my steering wheel that goes, Ooh, ooh, you're about to fall asleep.
Or a little bell that says, Maybe you should get yourself a Diet Coke. Because I'm sure the advertisers will be on it in a moment. But technology can't fix your marriage. Technology will not cure your selfishness. Technology will not free you from the addictions that bind you.
Technology will not restore your joy or grant you freedom. No, the brokenness is far deeper than this superficial stuff. And the story of Mark is the story of how Jesus comes to deal with our dislocation and our alienation and our brokenness. You see, the story of the Bible is essentially this. Jesus saves us.
We don't save ourselves. And one of the reasons that some of you have never come to admit to Jesus that just, Jesus, I am broken, I am dislocated, I am messed up, is because you still cherish the forlorn notion that you can fix yourself. And until you face the fact that you can't, you will never find Jesus to be a Savior. Have you ever told God you're broken, earnestly, honestly, in a way that says, I have fallen off the wall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put me together again? Lord Jesus Christ, I need you. You can do that today, just where you're seated. You don't need a special prayer. You don't need special language.
You need special nothing. You just need to be gut-wrenchingly honest and save before God from your heart. I am broken. Please fix me. And He will.
That's the good news. You're listening to Bible teacher Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. As Alistair pointed out today, each of us has to come to the point where we determine who is Jesus, why did He come, what did He do, and what does it matter. Maybe you have friends or relatives or colleagues who are skeptical about Jesus or about the claims surrounding His death and resurrection.
If that's the case, let me recommend to you a book titled, Is Easter Unbelievable? Four questions everyone should ask about the resurrection story. When you ask for a copy of the book, we will actually send you three copies. You can keep one for yourself to help you explain to others why you trust the gospel, or you can give all three books away. Use them to introduce friends or neighbors to Jesus. This book can open the door to gospel conversations. Again, the book is called, Is Easter Unbelievable? Ask for your bundle of three copies when you donate today to support the ministry of Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate.
Or you can call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow we'll find out why it's impossible to remain neutral when we're confronted by Jesus. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
