PT-2 "Intro to 1 John"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2024 5:57 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to 1 John”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  1 John

 

            It is my desire to look at some of the things that John MacArthur has written in his commentary on the preface and introduction to his commentary on First John this evening.

 

            I like what he says in the Preface of his commentary on First John and so I will quote some of the things that he has written in it.

 

            “It continues to be a rewarding, divine communion for me to preach expositionally through the New Testament.  My goal is always to have deep fellowship with the Lord in the understanding of His Word and out of that experience to explain to His people what a passage means.  In the words of Nehemiah 8:8i, I strive ‘to give the sense’ of it so they may truly hear God speak and, in so doing, may respond to Him.

 

            “Obviously, God’s people need to understand Him, which demands knowing His Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15) and allowing that Word to dwell in them richly (Col. 3:16).  The dominant thrust of my ministry, therefore, is to help make God’s living Word alive to His people.  It is a refreshing adventure.

 

            “This New Testament commentary series reflects this objective of explaining and applying Scripture.  Some commentaries are primarily linguistic, others are mostly theological, and some are mainly homiletical.  This one is basically explanatory, or expository.  It is not linguistically technical but deals with linguistics when that seems helpful to proper doctrines in each text and how they relate to the whole of Scriptures.  It is not primarily homiletical, although each unit of thought is generally treated as one chapter, with a clear outline and logical flow of thought.  Most truths are illustrated and applied with other Scripture.  After establishing the context of a passage, I have tried to follow closely the writer’s development and reasoning.

 

            “My prayer is that each reader will fully understand what the Holy Spirit is saying through this part of His Word, so that His revelation may lodge in the mind of believers and bring greater obedience and faithfulness—to the glory of our great God.”

 

            One of the things that comes through the preaching and teaching of John MacArthur is his love for the Word of God and that is why I read his commentaries and listen to his preaching, and that is what I want to do as I go through this letter of 1 John. 

 

            I have read through his introduction and it is long and so I think that it best if I just begin in my next SD to jump right into the first four verses of this letter.  One of the things that I did learn from reading over his introduction is that in the first century it was not clear that John, the apostle of Jesus Christ was the one who wrote this letter and the chief reason was that like the gospel of John his name is not found anywhere in it.

 

            From looking back at my study of the gospel of John I remember that many believe that this gospel by John was written very late in his life.  John wrote the gospel of John, first, second, and third John and also the book of Revelation.  Some actually believe that he wrote his gospel of Jesus Christ after he wrote the book of Revelation, and possibly all three of his letters too.  All I know is that I believe that he wrote all of what we find in the Bible late in his life as to exactly when I cannot not be sure.  I look forward in studying this letter that we call “1 John.”

 

7/31/2024 6:18 PM

 

 

PT-2 "The Acquiescence of the Governor" (Matt. 27:24-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2024 9:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                            Focus:  PT-2 “The Acquiescence of the Governor”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:24-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves." 25 And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!" 26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”

 

            I want to again quote from John MacArthur’s commentary as we begin this SD this morning.  “It was ironic, and doubtlessly intentional, that the governor chose Jewish ritual to depict his renunciation of responsibility for Jesus’ fate.  If the ruling elders of a city were not able to determine the identity of a murderer, the Mosaic law provided that they could public wash their hands, pray to God, and thereby absolve themselves of any guilt regarding their inability to render justice.  Using a modified form of that Jewish ceremony which he had heard of, Pilate proclaimed he was innocent of this Man’s blood.”

 

            Now as we look at what Pilate says it can be sure that he said the following with a tone of both dismay and disgust as he says “See to that yourselves.”  Now since Pilate gave the people what they wanted then the people gave Pilate what he wanted: And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"  MacArthur goes on to write “That declaration did not, of course, absolve Pilate of guilt, but it did proclaim for all time the people’s acknowledgment of their own guilt.  They soon forgot the assumption of guilt, however, and not many months later the Sanhedrin self-righteously rebuked the apostles for holding them accountable for Christ’s blood (Acts 5:28).”  Now as I read over what the leaders said about the guilt being on them and all their children it saddens me very much to think that what they said and what it cost Israel was certainly more than they had bargained for.  As we look into the future from this point on we see that in 70 A. D. that the Roman army came in and destroyed their Temple and killed many, many people, and then the people who were left offered themselves as slaves because there was nothing else they could do and just as it was prophesized no one would buy them.  The reason was that there were too many slaves offered at that time on the slave market.  Now as Ezekiel prophesized Israel would finally become a nation again and they did back on May 14^th 1948.  Today the state of Israel is in a war for their existence as they are fighting wars on three different fronts.  There is no doubt in my mind that this war is Satanically motivated as Satan hates Israel and always has and the people who are fighting against Israel hate Israel so much that even in the (something like their construction) it says that they receive a reward for killing a Jew.  It was just last week that the leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a brilliant speech at the U.S. capital before a joint session of congress that Israel did not begin in May of 1948, but began when God called Abraham many thousands of years ago.  Now it was during that call to Abraham that God said to him “I will bless those who bless you and those who curse you I will curse.”  History proves this to be correct, and it is my great fear that because of the government leaders we now have that God will curse the United States because these leaders hate Israel even though they say the opposite to save face. 

            It seems that I had to get something off my chest so to speak and what I have just written I believe is true, and what I believe is that this world is in for a big change as it seems to me that the end of the church age is close to coming which means that the rapture of the church could happen very soon.  The world possess weapons that could actually destroy this earth, but God is in control and He will destroy this earth when He is done with it, which will not happen according to prophecy to the end of what is called the Millennial kingdom which begins soon after what is called the “tribulation period” a period that will last for seven years and begins shortly after the rapture of the church.  This seven year period of seven 360 day years will see the rise of the Antichrist who will bring “so called peace” to Israel but will only last for three and a half years when he like many before him will turn on Israel.  The last three and a half years will be what can be described as “hell on earth” and will end according to Revelation chapter 19 with the return of Jesus Christ to the earth to end this world wide war that will be taking place in the Middle East.  Shortly after that He will what can be called “re-create” the earth into a kind of paradise like it was when He created it the first time.  He will rule from His seat in Jerusalem for 1000 years and then at the end of that time will destroy the entire solar system as there will then be a new heaven, new earth, and a New Jerusalem.  This is all explained in the last chapters in Revelation, chapters 20-22. 

 

            Now since I have taken the time to talk about prophecy let me just say that in order to go to heaven in the rapture of the church you have to realize that you are a sinner, realize that Christ died for you on the cross, and the confess that you are a sinner and believe in your heart that what Christ did on the cross was for you and then invite Him into your heart to save you and He will do that.  After that go out and live for the Lord as you grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord which are the last words that Peter wrote:  “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

 

7/31/2024 9:53 AM    

PT-1 Intro to 1 John

 

EVENING SD FOR 7/30/2024 6:09 PM

 

            This SD will be the first introduction to the letter of 1 John, and in this SD I will quote what the late Warren W. Wiersbe wrote in his Be Book series entitled “Be Real” “Turning from Hypocrisy To Truth.”  Today’s introduction will be rather short and then Lord willing, tomorrow’s introduction from John MacArthur’s commentary will be longer.

 

            “Once upon a time….’

 

            “Remember how exciting those words used to be?  They were the open door into an exciting world of make-believe, a dreamworld that helped you forget all the problems of childhood.

 

            “Then—pow!  You turned a corner one day, and ‘Once upon a time” became kid stuff.  You discovered that life is a battleground, not a playground, and fairy stories were no longer meaningful.  You wanted something real.

 

            “The search for something real is not new.  It has bee going on since the beginning of history.  Men have looked for reality and satisfaction in wealth, thrills, conquest, power, learning, and even in religion.

 

            “There is nothing really wrong with these experiences, except that by themselves they never really satisfy.  Wanting something real and finding something real are two different things. Like a child eating cotton candy at the circus, many people who expect to bite into something real end up with a mouthful of nothing.  They waste priceless years on empty substitutes for reality.

 

            “This is where the Apostle John’s first epistle comes in.  Written centuries ago, this letter deals with a theme that is forever up-to-date: the life that is real.

 

            “John had discovered that satisfying reality is not to be found in things or thrills, but in a Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Without wasting any time, he tells us about this ‘living reality’ in the first paragraph of his letter.

 

            “As you read 1 John 1:1-4, you learn three vital facts about the life that is real.”

 

            Now I will quote 1 John 1:1-4 at this time, but as in my other NT studies that I have been doing most of my help comes from the commentaries of John MacArthur with at times some help from Warren Wiersbe’s commentaries.

 

“1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life —  2  and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —  3  what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”

 

7/30/2024 6:27 PM

PT-1 "The Acquiescence of the Governor" (Matt. 27:24-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2024 9:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                            Focus:  PT-1 “The Acquiescence of the Governor”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:24-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves." 25 And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!" 26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”

 

            Today we begin to look at the fourth element in this account that demonstrates Jesus’ perfection and innocence was acquiescence (compliance) of the Roman governor to the will of the multitude, which had been incited against Christ by the Satan-led religious leaders.  No doubt that this was Satan-led which is how he works as seen here, one of many times Satan uses “religious leaders” to get done what he desires to get done.  I did not matter to them, as all they wanted was the blood of Christ, that is for Him to die, and the truth is that it did not matter to them that there was not a single accusation against Him which had stood before Annas, before Caiaphas, before the entire Sanhedrin, before Herod, or before Pilate.  Again the truth is that in their willful spiritual blindness they had no concern for truth, for justice, or even for righteousness.  They rather pursued unfounded and irrational vengeance on an innocent man who not only had never done them harm but who had healed their diseases and offered them eternal life, but of course as we can see they did not want the eternal life that He offered them.

 

            Therefore, when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves."  Pilate finally realized that no amount of reasoning or evidence would prevail with this obsessed mob, he made public testimony that he did not concur with their decision and that he disavowed any complicity in it, which is seen by him washing his hands.

 

            In an earlier SD we talked about how the Jewish people knew things that were against Pilate and if there would be another riot under his rule in Jerusalem that he could have been sent back to Rome and possibly killed by Roman authorities.  He saw this mob was totally out of control, and it was clear that their only pacification would be Jesus’ crucifixion.  Life was very cheap at this time and killing one Person to stop a riot was no problem to the governor, he thought, but in the end it would haunt him to the point of suicide.

 

            MacArthur writes “Pilate was never known for mercy or diplomacy.  Herod Agrippa I is reported to have said that Pilate was ‘naturally inflexible—a blend of self-will and relentlessness’ (Philo of Alexandria in the Legatio ad Gaium [38].  It was his previous cruel indifference to the people under his jurisdiction that had gotten him into so much trouble.”

 

            It can be seen here that Pilate did have a sense of justice, for had he been able to discover the least amount of evidence against Christ that would have shown him that Christ was guilty of a capital crime, then he would have been greatly relieved and more than willing to grant His execution, but as stated there was none, and there was none because Jesus Christ is God and it was impossible for Him to do anything wrong.  If Pilate thought He was guilty then it would have been much easier on him to have Him crucified.  MacArthur adds “But the fact that he unwaveringly maintained Jesus’ innocence, rendering at least five five public verdicts of not guilty, testifies to his inability to find any guilt in Him.  He therefore repeatedly appealed to the Jewish leaders and to the multitudes to relinquish their demand for Jesus’ death.  But he was not courageous enough to risk his own welfare to protect Christ’s life.”

 

7/30/2024 9:40 AM

Evening SD For 07-29-2024

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2024 10:49 PM

 

            I have not been writing two Spiritual Diaries in a day since the end of 2016, and the reason that I did it then was because I had a strong desire to study the book of Colossians.  Now I desire to do this again and there are several reasons for me wanting to do this which I will explain.  First of all I have to say that it has to do with me teaching Sunday school in the fall, beginning in September.  At the end of May of this year I told the small group of believers in my Sunday school class that I would not be returning to teach the class in the fall.  I am getting older now and it makes things a bit more difficult to get the lessons together and so I thought it would be best if I stopped teaching.  It was about that time when I began to put my older Spiritual Diaries on the book of Colossians.  I put them onto the second blog that I write, and as I was doing this it seems to me that the Lord was using this to teach it in my Sunday school class.  I spoke to most of the people about this and they were happy to return to the class in the fall. 

 

            I then spent about 5-6 weeks going over my older Spiritual Diaries on Colossians so that I can put them into a booklet form so that is what I will use to teach the class.  Yesterday I spoke with one of my friends at church, a ninety year old former Pastor about reading over this booklet to see if he thought that there were some spelling errors or other mistakes in it.  Once I get his corrected copy back I will then fix the mistakes and put it into some kind of booklet form so that all the people in the class will have one.  I think that there were about 285 pages that were in this “first copy” of the booklet on Colossians. 

 

            I have to say that this seems a bit easier for me to be able to teach our class, and as I was looking at my book shelf I found a commentary from John MacArthur on the letters of first, second, and third John.  I thought that once I get done with Colossians and then Philemon that I would then began to teach form those three letters.  Here is a kind of a problem that I have and it has to do with my study of the gospel of Matthew, which I have been studying and posting onto my blog for over five years.  I probably have at least a couple of months to go before I finish that study and so it is my desire to study these wonderful letters and then, Lord willing to teach them after Colossians and Philemon.  My thoughts were to begin this study in the evenings until I get done with Matthew and then go back to just doing one Spiritual Diary in the morning like I have been doing.

 

            It is my desire to begin looking at the introduction to these three letters tomorrow evening with several SD’s on introductions to First John.  I hope that what I am writing is clear and I look forward to studying these three letters from the pen of John.

 

7/29/2024 11:07 PM

PT-4 "The Animosity of the Crowd" (Matt. 27:15-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2024 9:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 "The Animosity of the Crowd"

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  (Matt. 27:15-23)

 

            Message of the verses:  “15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 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?" 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him." 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21 But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." 22 Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!" 23 And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"

 

            I want to begin by writing about our church services that I attended yesterday as there was one family that taught the Sunday school class and his son preached both the morning and evening services.  Both worked for a mission agency called Baptist Mid Missions located near Cleveland, Ohio.  The father is the retired president of the mission, and now his son works there and has for the last three years.  The son does a podcast and I will give you the info in order for you to listen to it.  https://www.bmm.org/serve/send938.  There is also a pray938 booklet that one can get from BMM.  I will now insert how I pray for this which comes from my prayer list that I use at least five days a week:  “27. Pray 938, that is from Matthew 9:38 “"Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”  I pray that the Lord will work in the hearts of His Church to send new missionaries out into the field to do work for the cause of Christ.  I pray for those who are living in their homes that they too will be ready to give out the good news of the Gospel to those that the Holy Spirit brings into their lives.  Use me to do this in our neighborhood, and around the world through the blogs that I write.”

 

          I am hopeful that this information will be something that some of you who read these Spiritual Diaries will use as I believe that if you do it will bring glory to the Lord.

 

            I now want to try and complete this section of Scripture that we have been looking at for the last three days and will begin with a quote from MacArthur’s commentary.  Innocently John MacArthur had to have a heart valve replaced a couple of weeks ago.  He is 85 years old and the report I heard was that he is doing fine, resting at home.

 

            “It is possible that Pilate and his wife already had discussed Jesus many times that week.  His triumphal entry was common knowledge, as were His healing miracles, including the recent raising of Lazarus just outside Jerusalem.  They knew of His daring and dramatic cleansing of the Temple and probably laughed over the consternation He caused the chief priests and the Temple merchants by that act.

 

            “Whatever the wife’s personal understanding of righteous may have been, she was corrected in her assessment of this Man, and she suffered greatly because of that awareness Matthew does not explain the source of her dream, and there is no justification in insisting it was given directly by God.  “Everything that happened here was according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).  But although God worked supernaturally through the dream, Pilate’s wife may simply have been convinced of Jesus’ innocence in her own mind and had the dream as a result of that concern.  In any case, she was frightened for her husband and insisted that he have no part in Jesus’ condemnation or punishment.  In doing so, she added her attestation to Jesus’ perfection and innocence.”

 

            I think because of what his wife had just informed him about her dream that this gave Pilate a compound problem.  There was great pressure for him to release Jesus as he himself felt that Jesus was innocent and now his wife felt the same way.  Pilate was caught in the middle of this great problem and in the end would not do the right thing, but in not doing the right thing he would be fulfilling prophecy that had to be fulfilled in order to bring about salvation to those who are willing to accept it.  After Pilate got the message from his wife the chief priests and the elders took advantage of the opportunity and persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death.  The governor then realized that he had again underestimated the craftiness of the Jewish leaders and overestimated the convictions of the fickle crowd.

 

            Pilate was actually unaware of what the leaders had managed to accomplish among the crowd while his attention was turned to his wife’s warning, the still hopeful governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?  There was no hesitation from them as with one voice they all said, “Let Him be crucified!”

 

            “MacArthur concludes by writing “The multitude clearly wanted blood, not justice, and even to the hardened, pagan mind of Pilate their vicious response must have been blood chilling.  Why, what evil has He done?” he rebutted, again proclaiming the Lord’s innocence before the world.  As he should have known, that question only inflamed the mob to greater frenzy, causing them to keep shouting all the more saying, ‘Let Him be crucified!’  Just as they had done before Herod, but with even greater vehemence, they demanded nothing less that Jesus’ death.”

 

 

7/29/2024 9:50 AM   

 

 

PT-3 "Intro to Matt. 27:15-23"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2024 7:45 AM

 

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

 Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:15-23

     Message of the verses:  “15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 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?" 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him." 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21 But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." 22 Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!" 23 And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"

 

            I promised to quote some things about Barabbas from MacArthur’s commentary so that we can get to know a little bit about him, as there is not many things known about him without I suppose speculation.

 

            “Little is known about Barabbas except that he was a robber, murderer, and insurrectionist (Luke 23:25; John 18:40).  He was probably not a Zealot but an independent rogue who fought Rome more for personal gain that patriotism.  This arch-criminal was as great a threat to his fellow countrymen as to their oppressors.  Because of the severity of his crimes, he was doubtlessly scheduled for execution, and Jesus probably was crucified on the cross originally constructed for Barabbas.

 

            “It was now ‘about the sixth hour’ (John 19:14), which by Roman reckoning would be 6:00 A. M.  By this time a throng of Jews had assembled in front of the Praetorium, attracted by the large gathering of religious leaders as well as by the specific summons of Pilate (Luke 23:13).  When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you?  Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’  Although he despised the Jews, the governor had learned enough about their practices and beliefs to know that they looked forward to a promise deliverer, whom they called Christ, or Messiah.  He also knew that many Jews had ascribed that title to Jesus.  And he could hardly have failed to know of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem a few days earlier and His boisterous acclamation by the multitudes.”

 

            Pilate also knew that of their envy of Jesus, the religious leaders had delivered Him up, and by pitting the people against those leaders, he hoped to safely release Him.

 

            It was while he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s deliberation was interrupted when his wife sent to him saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.”  I don’t think that it was her practice to interrupt her husband when he was in the midst of a trial, especially one so sensitive as this one was.  When Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat he was to be acting in the official capacity of judge, and not even a governor’s wife would have dared intrude on such proceedings except in a serious crisis.  I have to believe that she surely thought that this was a serious crisis.  She knew what Pilate’s original verdict had been but was now afraid that the Jewish leaders would coerce him into changing his mind.

 

            I will write more about this subject as I begin my next SD, Lord willing.

 

7/28/2024 8:23 AM

PT-2 "The Animosity of the Crowd" (Matt. 27:15-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2024 7:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  PT-2 “The Animosity of the Crowd”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:15-23

 

            Message of the verses:  “15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 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?" 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him." 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21 But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." 22 Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!" 23 And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"

 

            I went back and searched out a Spiritual Diary that came from 02-05-2013 where I had quoted something from John MacArthur’s sermon, as at that time he had not written his commentary on the gospel of Mark, and I wanted to find out what he said about Pilate and so as I begin this SD will quote from that earlier SD as I find it very interesting.

 

“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.”

 

            I have no idea if these legends are true, but I have to say that they are interesting to read about, showing that Pilate was probably tormented from what he had allowed to happen to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            Now back to today’s section and I will begin with a quote from John MacArthur’s commentary to get us started looking at these verses from Matthew’s gospel.

 

            “The third element in this narrative that demonstrates Jesus’ perfection and innocence was also the third phase of His political trial.  The first two ended in acquittal, one by specific declaration and the other by default.

 

            “Had he had the courage to do it, Pilate could have ended the trial after Jesus’ first appearance before him, and he could have ended it now.  But with his own career and perhaps his life in jeopardy, he could not directly defy the Jewish establishment without risking a riot during the most tumultuous week of the year in Jerusalem.”

 

            So what we see her is that Christ is therefore standing once again before the governor, who at this time “summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them ‘You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion and behold, having examined Him before you, I found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.  No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.’” (Luke 23:13-15).

 

            Pilate thought that he could get out of any responsibility of sentencing Jesus and that is why he had sent Jesus to Herod, but now Jesus is back where Pilate must make a decision.  Pilate is not convincing the Jewish leaders to let Jesus be released because he knows in his heart that Jesus is innocence of any charge that the Jewish leaders are bringing against Him.  When “the multitude went up and began asking [Pilate] to do as he had been accustomed to do for them” (Mark 15:8), he remembered that at the feast of the Passover the governor was accustomed to release for the multitude any one prisoner who they wanted.

 

            I don’t know if anyone knows when this custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover celebration in Jerusalem began, but it was in place when this sham trial for Jesus was going on and that custom was like an act of diplomacy to reduce tension and bitterness in the subjected nation of Israel.  MacArthur states that this custom probably began before Pilate took office, that is of releasing any one prisoner during the Passover celebration.  Now because they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas, the governor probably had in his mind that the common people, the ones who knew the crimes against Barabbas would not want him released. Well as seen this did not work out for Pilate ad the multitude demanded Jesus’ death.

 

            In the next SD I will begin by quoting what MacArthur has written about Barabbas.

 

7/27/2024 10:51 AM   

 

PT-1 "The Animosity of the Crowd" (Matt. 27:15-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2024 7:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  PT-1 “The Animosity of the Crowd”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:15-23

 

            Message of the verses:  “15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 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?" 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him." 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. 21 But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." 22 Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!" 23 And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"

 

            As I begin to study this passage there are a few things on my mind, and the first one is that all of this was planned by God in order for His Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world.  The second thing I think about is that how a crowd can influence a verdict for someone on trial.  I have mentioned that our former President has been on trial for a number of false accusations that were brought against him and it reminds me of some of these sham trials that our Lord had to go through.  Crowd influence is not always right.  I read a story in my preparation to teaching our Sunday school class on Colossians this fall, and in the story Warren Wiersbe talked about a man in England who had killed his wife and was found guilty of t he crime and was sentenced to death.  William Booth, the man who began the Salvation Army was asked to take care of this man’s funeral.  The crowd at the funeral was very hostile as Booth began his words at the funeral.  Wiersbe writes “Booth faced as ugly and mean a crowd as he had ever seen in his life, but his first words stopped them and held them:  “John H. Starkey never had a praying mother.”  These words settled the crowd down and Booth then had control to finish his words at this funeral.

 

            The crowd at Jesus’s trail was also hostile as the Jewish leaders got them all in a frenzy as they smelled blood, the blood of the Creator of the Universe who had stepped down onto the world He had created and was willing to die for those who live on this earth, was willing to take the almighty wrath of His Father for three hours of darkness as He became sin for us, so that we can accept what He did for us as He hung on the cross enduring a kind of pain and suffering that would pay for every sin every person would commit who ever lived on planet earth.  We don’t know what those three hours were truly about with the exception that once they were over and Christ was about to give up His life that He had paid for my sins and for yours and what is needed now is for a person to realize that they were born a sinner because of Adam’s sin and that we sin because of being born a sinner, and there is nothing on our own that we can do with the exception of admitting your sin to the Lord and then ask Him into your life in order to save you, and I will tell you from my experience some fifty plus years ago that He will and you will then be a born-again believer, have a new heart, have the Holy Spirit living in you and will one day come face to face with Jesus Christ your Savior and your Lord.

 

            I guess that tomorrow we will begin looking at these verses from Matthew 27.

 

7/26/2024 8:09 AM

PT-2 "The Attitude of the Lord" (Matt. 27:12b-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2024 9:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 "The Attitude of the Lord"

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  Matthew 27:12b-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “He did not answer. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?" 14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.”

 

            I promised to continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary as he is writing about Pilate.  “A short while later, Pilate forcefully took money from the Temple treasury to erect an aqueduct.  When the Jews again openly rioted, Pilate sent soldiers disguised as civilians among them to brutally slaughter many of the unsuspecting and unarmed protesters.  Luke reference to ‘the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices’ (13:1) may relate to an additional cruel facet of that massacre.

 

            “Pilate’s third public offense against the Jews was almost his undoing.  He had special shields made for his guard at Fort Antonia and no doubt intending to gains favor with the emperor, ordered likenesses of Tiberius engraved on the shields.  This time the Jewish leaders appealed directly to Caesar, and Pilate’s scheme backfired.  Tiberius was more concerned about the genuine prospect of rebellion than the insincere flattery of Pilate, and he demanded that the shields be removed immediately.

 

            “Pilate was now justifiably afraid that another riot by the Jews would cost him his procuratorship.  His brutal and senseless ambush of some Samaritan worshipers a few years later brought exactly that result.  When the Samaritan worshipers a few years later brought exactly that result.  When the Samaritans appealed to the governor’s immediate superior, the legate of Syria, that official ordered Pilate to Rome to explain his actions.  His political career was ended, and tradition holds that he eventually committed suicide in Gaul, to which he had been banished.

 

            “We learn from Luke that when Pilate heard the Jewish leaders say Jesus was stirring up the people, ‘starting from Galilee, even as far as this place,’ He asked if Jesus were a Galilean.  When told that Jesus was indeed from that region, he felt certain he had found a solution to his dilemma.  He immediately sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee but was visiting Jerusalem at the time (Luke 23:5-7).  With His appearance before herod, the second phase of Jesus’ political trial began.

 

            “For his own perverse reasons, ‘Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him’ (Luke 23:8).  Because Antipas had beheaded John the Baptist, Jesus had never visited the tetrarch’s capital city of Tiberias in Galilee, and the ruler had neve seen Him.  Herod desired to meet Jesus purely out of curiosity, hoping to see this famous miracle-worker perform for his private benefit.

 

            “Although Herod  ‘questioned Him at some length,’ Jesus answered him nothing.  And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently’ (Luke 23:9-10).  Luke does not mention what Herod asked Jesus about, but based on what is known of that ruler, his questions were utterly superficial.  Jesus therefore had even less to say to him than to Pilate.  He owed the tetrarch no explanation of His teachings or His activities, about which Herod was probably well informed or easily could have been.

 

            “Whatever else Herod may have known or believed about Jesus, he knew He was no political threat to himself or to Caesar.  By this time Jesus had already been beaten by the Sanhedrin, and His face was bruised, bleeding, and covered with spittle.  The accused, silent prisoner appeared anything but regal or dangerous.

 

            “But resentful of Jesus’ silence and probably hoping to mollify the howling, infuriated Jews, ‘Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate’ (Luke 23:11).  The word rendered ‘gorgeous’ literally means bright and resplendent, suggesting the royal apparel that had often been worn by Jewish kings at their coronations.

 

            “Although Herod did not declare Jesus not guilty, as Pilate had done, he acknowledged no charge against Him, and once again Christ’s innocence was manifested.  The tetrarch mocked and mistreated Christ, but he could find no fault in Him.”

 

            I remember when I was studying the gospel of Mark, and I did it by listening to MacArthur’s sermons and he had not written his commentary at that time.  Mark was the last New Testament book that MacArthur studied as he had preached on all the NT books and then had to start over, and I believe he went over the gospel of John again as it was the first of the gospels that he preached on.  At any rate while listening to these sermons on Mark I believe that he went into more detail into what happened to Pilate and so I will try and dig what I wrote about that when I studied Mark, and if I can find it I will post in on another SD.

 

7/25/2024 9:53 AM

 

PT-1 "The Attitude of the Lord" (Matt. 27:12b-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2024 10:07 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-1 “The Attitude of the Lord”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 27:12b-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “He did not answer. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?" 14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.”

 

            What we see here is the second element that is in this account and this demonstrates the perfection and the innocence of Christ, and that was His attitude.  This was no doubt upsetting to Pilate as Jesus made no answer to this intensified accusations of the chief priests and the elders.

 

            Now when these Jewish leaders brought Jesus to Pilate they had a predetermined verdict of guilty, however Pilate found Jesus not guilty as he declared in John 18:38 “I find no guilt in Him.”  Pilate realized that the original charges against Jesus not only were religious rather than political but were bogus and made out of envy.  Pilate also knew that the charges they had just made regarding insurrection, not paying taxes, and claiming to be a king were manufactured solely for his benefit, in order to give a political basis for judgment that was against Him.

 

            It is disturbing to me that the Jews did not know the truth but Pilate did know the truth, and the Jews were opposing the truth.  The truth is that the Jews had unjustly convicted Jesus, however we know that this was all in the plan of God in order to have His Son die in our place so that those who accept this will have eternal life. 

 

            Pilate was hoping that Jesus would come to His own defense and help expose the deceitful Jewish leaders.  Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"  However again Jesus “did not answer him with regard to even a single charge.”  So understandably, “the governor was quite amazed.”  We can see that Pilate had confronted hundreds of accused men, most of them who loudly protested their innocence and were willing to say or do anything to save themselves, and so this probably was what so amazing about Jesus who said nothing.  Many of the others who had come before him doubtlessly made countercharges against their accusers or else passionately would plead for mercy.  A person who said nothing in his own defense was unheard of and that was astounding.  However Jesus’ innocence was so obvious that it demanded no defense on His part.

 

            MacArthur writes “Where it the revolutionary who opposes Rome, the tax-dgdging protester, and the rival to Caesar’s throne?’ Pilate must have mused.  The Man who stood before him was calm, serene, undefensive, and completely at peace.  As Isaiah had predicted some seven centuries earlier, although ‘He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth’ (Isa. 53:7).”

 

            It seems that Pilate was not only amazed, but was in a quandary.  He was convinced of Jesus’ innocence and was repulsed by the chicanery of the chief priests and the elders. The truth is that Pilate did not dare offend them, because his own position with Rome was not precarious due to the contemptuous misculations he had previously made regarding Jewish religious convictions. 

 

            MacArthur then goes on to explain some of the things that the Jewish leaders had on Pilate, and I will only begin to quote these and will, Lord willing continue them in the next SD.

 

            “He had governed Judea for some four or five years, but his rule had been marked by several serious misjudgments that threatened his office and even his life.  First, he had deliberately offended the Jews by having his soldiers carry ensigns into Jerusalem that carried the likeness of Caesar.  Because the Jews considered such images to be idolatrous, previous governors had carefully avoided displaying the emblems in public, especially in the holy city of Jerusalem.  When a delegation of Jews persistently asked Pilate to remove the ensigns, he herded them into an amphitheater and threatened to have his soldiers cut off their heads if they did not desist.  When the group bared their necks and threw themselves to the ground, defiantly asserting their willingness to die, Pilate withdrew both his threat and the ensigns.  He had been sent to Palestine to keep the peace, not foment a revolution, which a massacre of those men would surely have precipitated.”

 

             As mentioned I will pick up this story from MacArthur’s commentary in the next SD.

 

7/24/2024 10:43 AM