March 15 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

John 19:1–9

Devotional

The Jews said to Pilate: “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” According to Jewish law, whoever claims equality with God is subject to punishment by death. Christ makes an oath before Caiaphas that He is the Son of God and according to Jewish law this makes Him a candidate for death.

Claiming to be God is the ancient sin. In the garden, Adam desired to be equal to God. We all have that same desire. The Jews accused Jesus but they do not realize that they also are guilty of the sin. They considered themselves to be righteous. They did not acknowledge their own guilt and their absolute need for this very act of Jesus to occur for the covering of their sins. Jesus came to earth as a man to die for those who wanted to be autonomous. In their autonomy, mankind was destined to die. Jesus steps into creation to bear man’s punishment.

“We have a law.” We can say this also. We have the same law as the Jews. It is the law that originated in the probationary command in the Garden of Eden. We have a law that was in place for the first man and applies to every man because he is human.

Have we torn our clothes in sorrow? We must mourn, not in self-willed piety as Caiaphas, but because we are conscious that we are worthy to be condemned to death.

According to the law placed before us, we must die, for we have gone beyond the limit that has been appointed to us by God. We have rejected His commandments. We have determined the boundaries ourselves. He who issues his own laws wants to be equal to God. And according to the divine decree issued in Paradise, such a one must die. Christ must, therefore, be sentenced to death in the likeness of sinful flesh. He, the perfectly righteous One, must die this death as if He had dishonored God’s glory. He must not only become man, but He also must bear the curse of man. Do you understand the curse of the law? Have you recognized your guilt? Has your pride to be as God become a burden to you? Do you know the pain of being a blasphemer?

Here then is the gospel of the suffering Surety. He permits Himself to be condemned as if He Himself had offended the majesty of God. According to God’s own law, He must die. He is made to be sin for us. The transgression of the first Adam is placed on Him, and He becomes the second Adam.

There is still salvation for him who blasphemes God. In the person of the second Adam he may eat freely of every tree in the garden of God’s grace. The more he is renewed after God’s image, the less desire he has to look to that one tree. He is delivered from his sin of pride because of the work of the humble servant, Jesus Christ. According to the law you must die. In your place, Christ is condemned before the tribunal of God. Therefore, child of God, you need not only say: “We have a law,” but you may also say that we have One who fulfills the law!

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.