The apostle John wrote how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and afterward, “many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, You know nothing at all, ...”, and in chapter eleven and verse fifty of his book John shared how “Caiaphas” continued by saying, “nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people” where we read:
Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation perish not.
The verse reads, “Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, ...” John began with the words, “nor consider that it is expedient for us” which means “neither and not in any way reason, revolve, reckon or deliberate that the following is profitable and better”, “that one man should die” or “that a single, particular and certain male human being should suffer death and be slain” “for the people” which means “on behalf of the tribe, nation, stock and language of a population gathered together”. John shared how “Caiaphas” concluded that it was “profitable” that “one person” be “slain” for the whole nation or people group than the following.
The verse continues, “... and that the whole nation perish not.” John added the words, “and that the whole nation” which means “and so the entire and complete multitude of the same nature or genus” “perish not” which means “are not destroyed, killed or rendered useless”. John shared how “Caiaphas” determined it was “better” for one person to be “killed” rather than having an entire “nation” be destroyed.
When we meditate upon John's words in this verse, we learn how the leader of the “Jewish” people surmised that it was more profitable for one person to die rather than the whole nation to suffer destruction. We shall see how He was actually prophesying about Jesus' fate in our next verse, but for now let us realize Jesus did indeed “die” on behalf of the people in every nation. The whole world needed to be “saved” from the penalty of sin which is “death”, and because He gave His life on the cross, those who believe and trust in Him will be forgiven of their sins and inherit everlasting life with God. Jesus not only “died” for the Jewish nation, but also for every person in the world, and those who are wise will surrender themselves to Him who gave His life that they might be saved.
Next time John shares how Caiaphas, “spoke he not of himself”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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