We Have A Law
We have a Law
John 19: 7 We have a law and by our law he ought to die [bolded words are mine for emphasis]
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As I read my Bible, I like to place myself in a scene; I to try and feel, see, hear, and smell the setting. This is how I visualize the heated furor before us in this verse.
The angry mob, the crowded courtyard, the animal sounds and smells as they wait to be sacrificed. Pilate in his nobility, trying to appear in control but quickly losing it. The confusion of the mob. The rising fury of the religious leaders. The violent will of the people, shouting, “Crucify him!” The soldiers mocking. It’s a crazed and chaotic scene with some, perhaps, not even fully comprehending why they’re even there or what is going on, just caught up in the heated moment.
Then, there’s another scene — one played out unseen. The clash of principalities and powers; the skirmish between the forces of darkness and light as the culmination of God’s divine purpose comes rushing to its determined climax. Life and Death. Good and Evil.
And yet there is a third scene, a quiet, private one. The one which has intensely gripped my imagination and deep meditation this early morning: the breaking heart of God the Father as He views God the Son. Silence is in heaven, as I visualize it. Angels are at the ready, longing to rush to the Messiah’s aid. Strong and confident the Son is led forth, mockingly, shamefully donned in a scarlet robe and crown of thorns; blood dripping down his holy, faultless, pure face. Lifting His gaze above the chaos of the courtyard, looking past His accusers, past the throngs of people, past buildings and surroundings, the familiar landscape, He looks heavenward. His heart in communion with His Father, a prayer goes to the throne of Glory. “Father, we have a law, and by our law they ought to die.” Yet He looked even past the Mount of Olives and beyond the cross on which He would soon hang and die, looking rather at the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).
It could have stopped there, and God would have been just and holy and right. Yet the Son continues, “But Father, I’ll go, I’ll satisfy your holy law, I’ll fulfill your prophechies, I’ll make a way to bring home again your banished, I’ll make a way of forgiveness and mercy. Father, not my will but Thine be done.”
I believe the statement Jesus uttered from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34) was the echoing of words spoken in the Garden between Father and Son so many thousands of years earlier. The law can only condemn but mercy makes a way to forgive in the sight of a righteous and holy God.
Only by the obedience of Jesus Christ, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalm 85:1)
“Who for the joy that was set before him. endured the cross, despising the same, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
