“No King but Caesar!”

It was about twenty years before Jesus was born that God changed Rome from a Republic into an Empire.  In making this change, God was setting up for His people a choice between their heavenly Messiah and an earthly king.  The following portion of Scripture shows us that the Jews chose the Empire over the Son:

John 19

13. Pilate led Jesus outside and sat on the judicial bench,

14. and he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 

15. But they cried out, “Away with him! Away!  Crucify him!”  Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priest answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

Before Rome became an Empire, there was no Caesar for the Jews to choose as their king instead of God’s Son, and they could not have said, “We have no king but Caesar!”  But decades before God sent His Son into the world, He prepared an alternative king for those among His people who wanted the way of the flesh instead of the Spirit.

God is ahead of us all, creating paths for our feet which will accommodate the hidden desire of our hearts, good or bad.  When we make our choice, the choice will seem right to us, whether we be among the few who choose the Son of God or among the many who choose the Empire of man.  David was wise to pray that God would put right desires in his heart.  And he warned his son Solomon to make every effort to keep his heart pure, “for out of it”, he said, “are the issues of life.”