Tuesday, June 4, 2024

PT-3 "The Attack of the Crowd" (Matt. 26:47)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2024 10:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-3 “The Attack of the Crowd”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 26:47

 

            Message of the verse:  “And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.”

 

            I cannot actually say how it was that the Roman soldiers were coming with the Jewish priests, but they must have gone to Pilate or perhaps they had an arrangement with the Romans to get help from then when it was needed.  Let us look now at Mark 15:6-7 and then comment on it as this could help us better understand this situation.  6 Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. 7 The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.”    The highlighted portion of verse seven shows that there had been an insurrection in the past and Rome did not want another one so perhaps that is why the Roman soldiers came to make sure that this did not happen.

 

            Now I talked about when Judas had left the upper room and Jesus told him to do what he had planned to do, and so he must have run to the Jewish leaders and informed them that the propitious time they had been waiting for was at hand.  Judas had just made arrangements originally with the chief priests and other Temple officials as seen in Luke 22:4, however the Pharisees also became involved in the plot as seen in John 18:3, and so did the Sadducees and the entire Sanhedrin as seen in both Mark 15: and Acts 23:6, a verse I want to quote now:  “6  But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!’”  This verse is from Paul’s trial and shows the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees on their opinion of resurrection from the dead.

 

            MacArthur writes “And because the multitude not only included representatives from the chief priests and elders but the chief priests and elders themselves (Luke 22:52), those leaders obviously wanted to make sure Jesus did not overpower them or slip through their fingers again.  When all four gospel accounts are compared, it becomes evident that the total number of men who came with Judas to the garden may have been as high as a thousand.”  I wonder what Judas though about when he led this large number of men to betray the Lord.  Perhaps he felt powerful, but soon that would change.

 

            Now the rest of this SD, and also what I will write tomorrow will be quoted from John MacArthur’s commentary in order to help me and also those who read this better understand what is going on here.

 

            “The mixed multitude was a prophetic portrait of the world’s treatment of Christ, a vivid illustration of its wickedness, mindlessness, and cowardice.  Instead of humbly welcoming the Son of God, embracing their long awaited Messiah, and falling at His feet in adoration and worship, they arrogantly came to put Him to death.

 

            “Their wicked intent was manifest first of all in the gross injustice of their accusations and actions, which had no relation to truth or justice.  Jesus had broken neither Mosaic nor Roman law.  He had committed no immoral or illegal act.  His only offense was in not recognizing or obeying the man-made, legalistic rabbinical traditions.  Pilate had no love or respect for Jesus, but he acknowledged He was not guilty of breaking any Roman law, much less of inciting a rebellion (John 19:4).  Yet to protect his own position with Rome and to keep from arousing the discontent of the Jewish leaders, he was perfectly willing to allow an innocent man to be executed.”

 

            It is my desire to pick up the second point in my next SD.

 

6/4/2024 10:43 AM

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