Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. Matthew 22:19-22.
Because the Pharisees could not kill Jesus in their own timing, they sought to discredit Him by entangling Him in His words. Anyone who has taught the Word for any length of time has come across modern-day Pharisees who desire to entangle us in our speech in order to discredit us as teachers, but more importantly, to discredit the truth of the Gospel.
The Pharisees came to Jesus with flattering words, a Roman coin in hand, and a question for which they believed there was no good answer; they showed Jesus the coin which bore Caesar's image and superscription and asked whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. (We saw earlier how they had come to the disciples earlier and asked for their temple tribute, which Jesus paid). Their desire now was to have Him speak insurrection against Rome, thereby giving them a reason to call Him a traitor and lawbreaker. Jesus, knowing their wicked motives, called them hypocrites, and instead asked them a question - "Who's image and superscription is on this coin?" Well, of course, they answered "Caesar's." Then came the answer - "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and what is God's to God."
This answer astonished them - they could not accuse Him of any wrongdoing with this reply. But what was He really saying to them? He was telling them that this kingdom of God was a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly kingdom where He, the Messiah, would come as a vanquisher, set on putting the Roman Empire down and restoring the earthly kingdom that Solomon once had. No, this was a spiritual kingdom that would coexist with the evil, earthly kingdoms of the world. All men would have the opportunity to exercise their free will, believe in Messiah, be born again and enter into this glorious spiritual kingdom.
We see that this has been true for the past 2000 years. As the kingdom advances, nations are influenced by the Gospel, and in turn, physical manifestation of spiritual truth is manifested on the earth! The problem is that so much false doctrine has crept into the church over the years, mixing the truth of God's wonderful grace with law, legalism, works, and heretical teaching called dispensational or end-times theology. None of that is supported by the Word!
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