Life’s Ultimate Question

Life’s Ultimate Question

Answering Life’s Ultimate Question (John 7:37–52)

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Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” (7:37–52)

The ultimate question that everyone must eventually face, the most crucial issue determining one’s eternal destiny, is, “What shall I do with Jesus Christ?”

Ironically, that very question was posed by the man who sentenced the Lord to death. The Jewish authorities had arrested Jesus and, after a mock trial of their own, brought Him before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Their reason for involving the hated Romans was simple: they wanted Jesus dead and the occupying Romans had not given them the right to enforce capital punishment (18:31). Therefore they needed the Roman authority to approve the murder.

After examining Jesus, Pilate declared, “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4) and sought to release Him (John 19:12). The governor’s desire to do so only intensified when his “wife sent him a message, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him’ ” (Matt. 27:19). Since it was customary at Passover for Pilate “to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested” (Mark 15:6), the governor offered the mob a choice between Jesus and the “notorious prisoner” (Matt. 27:16) Barabbas. He assumed they would ask for Jesus to be released, but “the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death” (Matt. 27:20). It was then that a frustrated Pilate asked the momentous question, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matt. 27:22).

The frenzied crowd, stirred up by the chief priests (Mark 15:11), “cried out all together, saying, ‘Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!’ ” (Luke 23:18). But “Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again” (Luke 23:20) and said, “Why, what evil has He done?” (Mark 15:14). Having officially pronounced Jesus innocent (three times; Luke 23:22), Pilate should have released Him. But instead, when he realized “that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves’ ” (Matt. 27:24). He capitulated, because the people “were insistent, with loud voices asking that [Jesus] be crucified” (Luke 23:23), and because the Jewish leaders threatened to report him again to the emperor as an inept leader: “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12). So “wishing to satisfy the crowd” (Mark 15:15), “Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted” (Luke 23:24), and “handed Him over to them to be crucified” (John 19:16).

Pilate failed to correctly answer his own question regarding Jesus. Although he feared that Jesus might have supernatural powers (19:7–9), he did not acknowledge Him to be the Son of God. By sentencing the innocent Savior to death, Pilate ultimately condemned himself.

The crowd that demanded Jesus’ execution also brought judgment on themselves. For generations the people of Israel had longed for their Messiah. But when He finally came, they rejected His message and used their Roman overlords to execute Him (cf. Acts 2:22–23). In their blind rage, they accepted responsibility for Jesus’ execution, even pronouncing on themselves the fearful curse, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matt. 27:25). Unless they later repented and believed, they were eternally damned.

Over the centuries, countless millions of people have likewise made the wrong choice concerning Jesus Christ. Like Pilate, the Jewish leaders, and the crowd, they have rejected Him as the only Savior of the world. But there is only one correct response to Him: “Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9); acknowledge that “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; cf. John 14:6); confess your sins (1 John 1:9) to the “Son of Man [who] has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6); and bow in submission to Him as the sovereign Lord (Phil. 2:10–11). Those who do so “will be saved” (Rom. 10:9; cf. 5:1; 8:1; 1 Thess. 5:9; 2 Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 2:10; 5:9). But those who fail to do so will face eternal judgment (Ps. 2:12; Luke 13:3, 5; John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; 2:12; Gal. 3:10; Eph. 5:6; 2 Thess. 2:10; Heb. 10:29).

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