The Judgment Hall and The
Judgment Seat.
[Nov. 13, 2018]
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John 18 & John 19.
John
18 brings in the Judgment Hall (v28) and John 19 presents the Judgment Seat
(v13).
Both
the Judgment Hall and the Judgment Seat present two different and distinct
thoughts. The Judgment Hall shows Christ being humiliated to take the
position of a thief (John 18:30,40) instead of
Barabbas. Whereas the Judgment Seat shows Caesar taking the position of
Christ as king in the minds of the people (John 18:12,15). In
both places, Christ' glorious Person is maligned and suffers the ignominy of
rejection.
At
the judgment hall, Christ is identified as a thief though He were
not and at the judgment seat, Christ is rejected as King which He indeed
was. Thus, the subjective consideration and controversy at both these
places: judgment hall and judgment seat - revolves around the identities of a
'thief' and that of the 'king'
Back
in Exodus 22:1-3, a thief was to be spared if he were caught during the day and
sought for restitution of that which was stolen. And if he were to die, then
the thief's next of kin were to revenge his death upon the thief's
slayers. However in Christ' case tried before the Jews, they were two
serious flaws: Christ did not steal and was no malefactor as they had alleged
(John 18:30). And second, there was no opportunity given even if the case was
tried for theft as it was day by the time when they presented Him before Pilate
(John 18:28). This means, that by demanding for His death (v31), the Jews were
flouting the law of God.
The
Jews could not destroy Christ under blasphemy laws as the Romans did not allow
for death under blasphemy. So, the Jews came up with a different plan: they
alleged that the Lord be killed because He was a malefactor, (though they
finally revealed their true colors of indicting blasphemy charges to Pilate in
John 19:7).
In
one sense, though the Jews were fabricating charges of theft upon Christ since
they could not make a case of blasphemy on Him; still it is remarkable as to
who a thief was for divine reckonings. For the standard of God's holy measure,
mankind was a single brood of thieving community since Adam's first act of
transgression to rob God's glory for himself. However, Christ never thought it
robbery to be equal with God (Phil 2). However, Christ takes the place of the
fallen and the condemned. He was nailed between two malefactors and was
numbered with the transgressors.
So,
the judgment hall reveals Christ' great humility to take upon Himself the shame
of our failures.
Next, coming to the judgment seat. In Deuteronomy 17:15, there is a divine instruction that
the Jews should never choose a non-Jew as their king. But this instruction was
brutally trespassed by the Jews when they rejected
Christ for Caesar (John 19:15): 'we have no king but Caesar'.
In
this case, the judgment seat depicts Christ' Kingly position taken upon by
others. In Judgment Hall, the idea was different- it was Christ who took other'
position of shame.
In these two places, we find the
duality of wonder. The wonder of Christ' lowly love and humility to endure such
flagrant abuses and crimes meted out against His glory and power. It was all
for us, our redemption and deliverance.
P.B.