GOD’S EFFORT TO SAVE PILATE.
“Who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Tim. 2:4, R.V. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Eze. 33:11. The God of love desires to save all men, the rich and the poor, the high and the low, those in official position and those in private life; for “God is no respecter of persons.” Of this desire He has given us abundant evidence. It is ever true that “the common people,” if uninfluenced by evilly-disposed or blinded leaders, have heard Christ “gladly,” whether the message reached them direct from His own lips or through the lips of His chosen servants. They are not so filled with other things that they have no time to listen. But men occupying high social or official positions are more difficult to reach. A multitude of state duties or social functions prevent them from listening or reading. And yet they must be warned. Sometimes the Lord does this through the interest or conversion of their prized servants or relatives; and sometimes by a new translation of His Word. When other means fail, God suffers His servants to be persecuted, apprehended, prosecuted, imprisoned, that rulers may hear. From the time when Abraham and Isaac and Joseph went down into Egypt till Moses and Aaron appeared before the Pharaoh of the oppression, it was God’s desire to save Egypt. Some of the kings learned to know God. When a change of dynasty took place, about the time of Moses’ birth, the new king knew not Joseph and his God. But all the Lord’s efforts through Moses and Aaron were to teach Pharaoh and his people that Jehovah was God. And if Pharaoh had acceded to the Lord’s request, the glory of God’s name would as truly have been spread abroad through the earth as it was by Egypt’s humiliation and defeat. Before the throne of Babylon was brought the Gospel by Daniel and his companions. Nebuchadnezzar at last heeded it and was saved; Belshazzar rejected it, and was lost. Before the Medo-Persian rulers did the Lord proclaim His saving power by Mordecai, Daniel, Nehemiah, and others. The translation of the Scriptures into Greek, and the vision of the high priest at Jerusalem, caught the attention of the learned Grecian world and the haughty Alexander. Before great Rome God presented His Gospel in its glorious perfection. Rome was represented by Pontius Pilate; the Gospel, by Jesus Christ. Read the record of how Jesus was brought before the governor: (1) By the malignant priests and scribes clamoring for His death over unproved charges; (2) Pilate’s conversation with Jesus, in which he finds no evidence of crime; (3) the dignified bearing of Christ, so unlike the criminals or men Pilate was used to seeing, trusting in some power higher than Pilate knew; (4) Pilate’s endeavor to escape the responsibility and turn Jesus over to Herod, and Herod finding Him worthy of no punishment; (5) the further malignity of the Jews in choosing Barabbas, and this calling forth no word of retaliation from Jesus; (6) the repeated efforts to release the innocent Man always being met with fresh outbursts of malignity on the part of the Jews, who would yield neither to law nor justice in the declarations of both Pilate and Herod, nor to pity at the sight of the scourged, beaten, bruised, bleeding Man, unresentful and unresisting under every indignity and insult. All these convinced Pilate that before him stood One more than man, and appealed more strongly to the heart of the Roman to do the right, whatever the consequences, than any sermon could have done. But Pilate was yet undecided. He feared the Jews. And yet the Lord could not leave him. One more effort must be made. Pilate had a loved wife, Claudia Procula by name, tradition tells us; and the Lord endeavors to reach the will and choice of the governor through her. On that day of days she sleeps, and God gave her a dream, a vision, of the Christ; and she gave to Pilate the solemn warning, “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous Man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him.” It is Pilate’s last chance. Once more he endeavors to induce the priests to withdraw their charges, but they refuse. And Pilate also refuses to identify himself with the suffering Innocent One, hoping to escape responsibility and ease conscience by delivering Jesus to the mad mob and washing his hands in water. Poor Pilate! our heart pities him; but what more could God do? There are other rulers—a multitude—who know not God. They have never heard that Gospel in its purity and power which will fit men for Christ’s coming. They must hear it and see its power. Some of them will heed it and be saved. Some will reject it, but all must be left without excuse. Jesus Christ suffered and died that He might bring it before Pilate and the world. His servants before that time and since have suffered with Him for that same purpose. If you are faithful, this may be a part of your mission. “They shall deliver you up to councils; and in synagogs shall ye be beaten; and before governors and kings shall ye stand for My sake, for a testimony [witness] unto them.” What a privilege would this be—to preach the Gospel to kings and rulers! Are you witnessing for Christ now, in your every-day life before the world? You can not witness for Him unless you know Him; and you can not know Him unless you have His Spirit. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” “But ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses.” Ask for that Spirit. Receive of that Spirit; God is more willing to give it than is a father to give that which is good to his children. Then “ask, and ye shall receive.” Then shall you witness with your mind and heart full of His Spirit and Word. And then, if brought before rulers or kings, you need not prepare your address, need not that some specially learned person shall write your speech. “Be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.”