The Death Sentence of Christ

"The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." - John 19:7

The Lord's Table service is a special time for the Christian that God has ordained for the church. I believe that too many Christians just sit through this ordinance without giving too much thought about anything. As I hold the bread and the juice, I am to be vividly reminded of the fact that Jesus physically offered His body and blood for the redemption of my soul. This is something that should be thought about much more often than the Lord's Table service at your local church. It's something that a believer should dwell on every day of their lives.

Several years ago, I developed a habit during the Lord's Table service while attending Lancaster Baptist Church during my college days. LBC is quite a large church and even with many deacons serving, it takes quite a while to pass the elements to everyone in the congregation. I really learned to enjoy that time and take advantage of it. I began to use the moments of relative quiet to read the entire chapter of John 19. This is the chapter in John that details the crucifixion of Christ. I found that this helped greatly in my remembrance and meditation on the price Jesus paid for me.

I remember coming to vs. 7 of this chapter one of the first times I read it during the Lord's Table service and underlining the verse in my Bible. I knew it was a profound verse from that point forward. I heard Pastor Randall quote that verse in a message a week ago and the true magnitude of that verse finally hit me.

The Jews were speaking to Pilate in John 19:7. Pilate had tried his best to talk them out of crucifying Jesus. The final justification that the Jews gave for the murder of Christ was that "their" law said it should be so. Jesus was a "blasphemer" for saying that He was God Himself. I think the fact that the Jews referred to the law as "theirs" really threw me off on the depth of this verse for a long time. That law they were talking about, who did it really belong to? Who's law was it?

Exodus 20 records the day that Moses went up to Mount Sinai and God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger. God gave the law to Israel as a nation, but it was God's law! The law has several purposes in the plan of God for the human race. It is very humbling to think that one of those purposes was to sentence His own Son to death. God knew His own people would use the very law He gave them as the final justification for the killing of Christ. When God put His finger to that stone in Exodus 20, He was writing the death sentence of Jesus Christ.

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He would give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure