SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/20/2017
10:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 Intro
to John 18:28-38
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
18:28-38
Message of the
verses: “28 Then they led Jesus from
Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not
enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the
Passover. 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. 33 Therefore Pilate entered again into
the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, "Are You the King of
the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own
initiative, or did others tell you about Me?" 35 Pilate answered, "I
am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me;
what have You done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so
that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of
this realm." 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a
king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this
I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the
truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to
Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to
the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.”
Jesus spoke about how the time of His trial and
crucifixion was a time when the rulers of darkness would have their way: “"While I was with you daily in the
temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours."” From this verse we can understand that God
was going to use the powers of darkness to accomplish what He desired and also
prophesied to happen. Jesus was totally innocent,
for Jesus is and always has been and always will be God and therefore He is
perfect and therefore the trials He went through had trumped up charges against
Him. In the end good will always conquer evil even though many times it does
not look like that will happen, for in the end all those who have not received
Christ as their Savior, and all the forces of evil will be put into the lake of
fire for all eternity and all those that have received Christ as Savior and
Lord will life with Him throughout eternity where we will be able to worship
Him and we will be able to do the things that He desires us to do whatever that
may be. As we continue to study the life of our Savior we see that even in the
OT it speaks of His sinlessness: “His
grave was assigned with the wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His
death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth
(Isa. 53:9).”
Not all of the “religious trials” of Jesus are mentioned
in John’s gospel, but we know who the cast of characters were that played a
part in His trials as we looked earlier at Annas and Caiaphas, and later on the
Sanhedrin who meet at the house of Caiaphas during the night as described in
Matthew 26:57-68. Pilate played a big
role as it was he who finally gave in and had our Lord Crucified. Herod had a small role, and yet Jesus did not
speak one word when confronted by Herod.
In my study of the gospel of Mark I learned a lot about how Pilate was
persuaded by the Jews to sentence Jesus to be crucified and we may look at that
in a latter SD.
Why was it that the Jews wanted Jesus crucified? Envy, jealousy, and hatred along with money
were the main reasons. The Jews were powerless
to sentence Jesus to death for they were under the rule of Rome and Rome said
they could not do this as it had to go through the Romans to put someone to
death, which fulfilled both OT prophecy and what Jesus said as early as John
chapter three as to how He would die.
John’s account of this portion of Jesus’ trial began
early in the morning and the fourth watch was between 3 and 6 AM. MacArthur writes that “Roman officials often
began their duties at dawn and finished by late morning, so there is no reason
why the Jewish leaders could not have brought Jesus to Pilate before 6:00 A.
M. Their goal was to have him
rubber-stamp their decision to kill Jesus, and carry out the execution before
the crowds were aware of what was happening.”
Remember that Jesus first of all must die by crucifixion and that He had
to die at 3:00 P. M. on the day of Passover which was the time when the
Passover Lambs were to be slain.
I mentioned how verse 28 has always upset me: “28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into
the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they
would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.” John MacArthur writes the following
concerning this section:
“Illustrative of the
twisted devotion of religious legalists, the Jewish leaders expected to pleas
God through their legalism expressed in physical separation from a Gentile
house, while at the same time illegally murdering God’s Son. The fastidiously avoided any superficial
ceremonial defilement, but cared nothing about the profound moral defilement
they incurred from rejecting and condemning the Holy Son of God to death. ‘The Jews take elaborate precautions to avoid
ritual contamination in order to eat the Passover, at the very same time they
are busy manipulating the judicial system to secure the death of Him who alone
is the true Passover’ (D. A. Carson).
“John’s account of this
phase of Jesus’ trial unfolds in three acts:
the accusation, the interrogation, and the adjudication.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I think about
what Jesus went through for me I am in awe of the love that He demonstrated in
dying on the cross for me. I desire to
have the Holy Spirit cause me to love others as Christ loves me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to
work in my life doing the things that will help me to walk with the Lord, and
accomplish the things that He desires me to do for the glory of the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Haggai.”
Today’s Bible
question: “How was Sodom destroyed?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/20/2017 11:13 AM
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