SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2017
10:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Accusation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
18:29-32)
Message of the
verses: “29 Therefore Pilate went
out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this
Man?" 30 They answered and said to him, "If this Man were not an
evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you." 31 So Pilate said to
them, "Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law." The
Jews said to him, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death," 32
to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death
He was about to die.”
I mentioned that we would look at a brief history of
Pilate and since John MacArthur has a couple of paragraphs in his commentary we
will use this and may add some things that I wrote in my Spiritual Diary from
the fifteenth chapter of Mark also.
“Pontius Pilate had been
appointed the fifth governor of Judea by Emperor Tiberius in A. D. 26 and held
that position for about ten years. Both
the Gospels and extrabiblical sources portray him as a proud, arrogant, and
cynical (cf. 18:38), but also as weak and vacillating. His tenure as governor was marked by
insensitivity and brutality (cf. Luke 13:1).
Reversing the policy of his predecessors, Pilate had sent troops into
Jerusalem carrying standards bearing images that the Jews viewed as idolatrous. When many of them vehemently protested
against what they saw as a sacrilege, Pilate ordered them to stop bothering him
on pain of death. But they called his
bluff, and dared him to carry out his threat.
Unwilling to massacre so many people, Pilate gave in and removed the
offending standards. The story
highlights his poor judgment, stubborn arrogance, and vacillating
weakness. Pilate further angered the
Jews when he took money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct to bring
water to Jerusalem. His soldiers beat
and slaughtered many Jews in the riots that followed.
“But the incident that led
to Pilate’s downfall involved not the Jews, but their hated rivals the
Samaritans. A group of them planned to
climb Mt. Gerizim in search of golden object allegedly hidden on its summit by
Moses. Viewing the Samaritans as
insurrectionists, Pilate ordered his troops to attack, and many of the pilgrims
were killed. The Samaritans complained
about Pilate’s brutality to his immediate supervisor, the governor of
Syria. He removed Pilate from office and
ordered him to Rome to be judged by Emperor Tiberius. But Tiberius died while Pilate was en route
to Rome. Nothing is known for certain
about Pilate after he reached Rome. Some
accounts claim he was banished; others that he was executed; still others that
he committed suicide.”
Now the following comes from a sermon on the 15th
chapter of Mark done by John MacArthur and we must remember that the sermons
that he did on John were done very early in his time at Grace Church and the
book of Mark was the last gospel he preached on, ending his journey through the
New Testament which took 45 years.
““Some legends grew
up about the end of his life. Really interesting ones. A little research
reveals them. We know he committed suicide, that’s history. But legend says
that after he committed suicide, his body was taken and thrown into the Tiber
River, the main river that runs through Rome. At which moment when the body hit
the water, the water became so disturbed by evil spirits, that the body was removed,
taken to Vienna and thrown into the Rhone River where there is a monument there
today titled “Pilate’s Tomb.” It’s a legend, but it’s not the end of the
legend. The Rhone apparently, according to another legend, rejected Pilate’s
corpse so it was again removed and it was thrown in the Lake in Luzon
Switzerland. It was taken out of that place because they didn’t want it and it
was removed to a mountain near Lucerne Switzerland. Some say it is in another
lake called Lagodepilato in the Sibylline Mountains in Italy. You could guess
from the name of the lake, Lagodepilato that somebody believes it was put there
in that little lake, and legend says that every Good Friday, Pilate’ body
emerges from the waters and he washes his hands.”
We will end this SD
with this story and then go onto looking more at what is in these verses in our
next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: John MacArthur’s sermon that he gave that
this quote came from was entitled “Pilate Before Jesus,” and as I thought about
the truth of this title it caused me to think about how much the Lord is in
control of things that go on upon this earth and for that I am thankful, not
for the things that cause pain and suffering, but because God has a plan and
nothing will stop it from being fulfilled.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
Trust the Lord to continue to give me grace in order to make my next
Sunday school lesson something that will bring glory to the Lord and profitable
for those in the class.
Answer to yesterdays Bible question:
“By fire and brimstone” (Genesis 19:24).
Today’s Bible question: “How did
Paul escape from Damascus?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/21/2017 11:09 AM
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