SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/28/2017
10:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Pilate’s Failed Proposals”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
18:39-19:7
Message of the
verses: “39 “But you have a custom
that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release
for you the King of the Jews?" 40 So they cried out again, saying,
"Not this Man, but Barabbas." Now Barabbas was a robber. 1 Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him.
2 And the soldiers twisted together a
crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; 3 and they began to come up to Him and say,
"Hail, King of the Jews!" and to give Him slaps in the face. 4 Pilate
came out again and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so
that you may know that I find no guilt in Him." 5 Jesus then came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the Man!" 6
So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying,
"Crucify, crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves
and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him." 7 The Jews answered him,
"We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself
out to be the Son of God."”
As we begin to look at the things that are going on in
this section we know that they are fulfilling prophecy, especially from Isaiah
53, and yet we also know that it is not Pilate who is in control of this
situation, but Jesus.
One thing that we do not see in John’s gospel is that
Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, and it is mentioned in Scripture that Pilate and
Herod became friends after that, for they were enemies before. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod because He was
from the region of Galilee, and Herod ruled over that part of Israel. Jesus never spoke a word to Herod. Herod did nothing to Jesus as far as ruling
over this case and so he sent Jesus back to Pilate.
We know that Pilate had pronounced Jesus as being innocent
and according to the “proud tradition of Roman justice, Pilate should have
released Him.” (MacArthur) “But to do so would have infuriated the
Jewish leaders, and possibly touched off a riot that could have cost him his
position as governor.” Like we have said
Pilate was not in charge.
Pilate then comes up with another plan “But you have a
custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I
release for you the King of the Jews?"”
MacArthur has some interesting things to say about this and he will also
quote F. F. Bruce too. “There is no
clear reference to this practice outside of Scripture (some scholars see an
allusion to it in the Talmud), but ‘the testimony of the Evangelists [gospel
writers] is evidence enough for the historicity of the practice.’”
Looks like Pilate was trying to make the Jewish leaders
mad when he asks “Do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?” Pilate knew that this was one of the problems
that the Jews had with Jesus and they totally rejected this then and most
Jewish people still reject this even today, however Paul writes in Ro 11:5
“In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s
gracious choice.” Paul is saying
that during the Church age there will be some Jews who will come to know the
truth that Jesus Christ is their Messiah and their King. Paul goes on to say later on in Romans 11 “26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as
it is written, “The Deliverer will come
from Zion, he will banish ungodliness
from Jacob.’” Yes there is coming a day
when “all Israel will be saved.”
Ok back to the trial of Jesus and we want to at this time
look at Matthew 27:17 “17 So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to
them, "Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is
called Christ?"” What we see here
is that more and more people were getting word of what was going on here and
they came to see for themselves and Pilate knew that a riot could soon break
out. Pilate knew that many people
believed that Jesus was indeed their Messiah so things were getting more and tenser
for him. However many of those who had
believed that Jesus was their Messiah now see Him bound and seemingly helpless,
not realizing that this was all in the plan of God from eternity past. If they could have studied the OT Scriptures
they would have not only seen that it was the time for the Messiah to come as
seen in the 9th chapter of Daniel, but also that Isaiah wrote that
this would happen to Him when He came along with Daniel in that 9th
chapter of his book, and also David who wrote Psalm 22. I am sure that the crowd that though Jesus
was the Messiah was horrified to see Him the way He was at this point in time.
Spiritual Meaning
for my life today: It seems to me as
I think about what Jesus was going through that there is always a part of me
who wants to see Pilate release Him, but then reality sets in and I know that I
could never be saved apart from what Jesus went through, and for that I am so
very thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As I continue to prepare for my Sunday School
class my thoughts are going to the greatness of God and my prayer is that “that
I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Adam named them” (Genesis
2:20).
Today’s Bible
question: “In what ways are we to be
children?” (Hint: 1 Cor. 14:?)
Answer in our next SD.
4/28/2017 11:15 AM
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