Like Pilot, We Condemn Christ by Our Silence

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Like Pilot, We Condemn Christ by Our Silence

Today's Text: Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. John 19:10, 11

The Message:      Before the judgment seat Christ stands bound as a prisoner. The judge looks upon Him with suspicion and severity. The people are fast gathering, and spectators are on every side as the charges against Him are read: "He says he is the king of the Jews." "He refuses to pay tribute to Caesar." "He makes himself equal with God."... Pilate was convinced that no evidence of the guilt of Christ could be substantiated, notwithstanding the priests and rulers had declared that He had spoken blasphemy. But the Jews were under the inspiration of Satan as was Cain and other murderers who have determined to destroy life rather than to save it. "And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place."      Here Pilate thought he saw a chance how he might rid himself of the whole matter of the trial of Christ. He perceived clearly that the Jews had delivered Christ up from envy.... "As soon as he knew that he [Christ] belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time."      This was the Herod whose hands were stained with the blood of John. "And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him...."      The work and mission of Christ in this world was not to gratify the idle curiosity of princes, rulers, scribes, priests, or peasants. He came to heal the brokenhearted.... Could Christ have spoken any word to heal the bruises of sin-sick souls, He would not have kept silent. But the precious gems of truth, He had instructed His disciples, were not to be cast before swine. And Christ's deportment and silence before Herod made His silence eloquent.      The Jewish people had brought their long-looked-for Messiah for condemnation to the power to which they themselves were in bondage. They sought to obtain the condemnation of the Prince of life-the only One who could deliver them from their bondage.-Manuscript 112, 1897.

Commentary: My friend, though Pilot found no fault in Jesus, he bowed to the will of the people and consented for Him to be crucified.  Soon after this decision was made, he lost favor with the emperor of Rome, was unseated as governor, and took his own life.  Though he had washed his hands of the matter, in the eyes of heaven he was guilty of sentencing the Son of God to death. How many today are doing the same thing by their silence, by not standing up for the Son of the One true God?  The remnant church of God today is being shaken by the controversy over the truth about God.  The church has adopted the belief that God is a triune God made up of three co-equal, co-eternal beings, while the Scriptures proclaim that there is only One true God who has a literal Son.  The churches position is based upon tradition and the misinterpretation of Scripture; while the minority opposition has historical and biblical support. In this controversy, each must decide for themselves what is truth, for the decision that each makes will determine their destinies for all eternity.  The message that is going through the church today is a separating message and will shake the people of God to their very cores.  At this time the wheat is being separate from the chaff, the righteous from the unrighteous.  Who we worship is all important.  We may be worshiping on the correct day of the week, but if we are worshiping a false god on that day we will not receive the seal of God, for the day that we worship on does not sanctify us.  "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:12). The sanctification that we are to have does not come from the day that we worship on but from who we are worshiping.  The Scriptures says "I am the LORD that sanctify them."  Who we are worshiping is all important, therefore we must know who it is that we are render homage too.  The church by its adoption of the trinity says that God is a triune God and that the Son of God is co-eternal, meaning that He has always existed; while the Scriptures declare that He is the Son of God.  The churches position is that Jesus is not literally the Son of God, but it is only a metaphor, or a title that He has assumed for the salvation of man.  By teaching this they are denying both the Father and the Son, for if the Son is not really a son, then the Father is not really a father, and makes Him out to be a liar. The spirit that is leading the belief in the trinity is the spirit of antichrist.  1 John 2:22, 23 says "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.  Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also."  Though this may not be an easy thing to accept, we must place a thus sayeth the Lord ahead of a thus sayeth the church, or our pastors.  We must "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). My friend, the time has come to make a stand with Jesus the true Son of God, and give the message of warning from the Faithful and True Witness of God, to our brothers and sisters today. God bless,

Video of the Week The Seal of God - Allen Stump This presentation from the 2018 West Virginia camp meeting studies the seal of God from Ezekiel 9 and the chapter on the seal of God from volume 5 of Testimonies for the Church by Ellen White.