Wednesday, August 7, 2024

PT-5 "The Ignorant Wicked" (Matt. 27:27-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/7/2024 9:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-5 “The Ignorant Wicked”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:27-37

 

            Message of the verses:  27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

 

            “32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

  

             “33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”

 

            “Some interpreters suggested that only the cross-beam or the upright post was carried, but in all probability it was the entire cross, weighing in excess of 200 pounds, that the victim carried.  He would normally be surrounded by a quaternion, four soldiers who would escort the prisoner through the crowds to the place of execution.  A placard bearing the prisoner’s indictment was often placed around his neck, giving notice to others of the high price to be paid for the crime.

 

            “It was during the grueling procession through the streets of Jerusalem that Jesus gave His last, and very brief, public message. ‘There were following Him a great multitude of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him,’ Luke reports.  Turning to them Jesus said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’  For if they do these things in the green tree, what will happen in the dry?’’ (Luke 23:27-31).

 

            Having children was considered the greatest blessing a Jewish woman could have, and only a tragedy of awesome dimensions could cause her to wish otherwise.  Jesus’ reference to the green and dry tree related to a popular proverb that meant if something bad occurred under good circumstances, it would be much worse under bad.  His point was that if the Romans did such a terrible thing as to crucify one innocent Jewish man, what could they be expected to do to the guilty nation of Israel?  If they executed a man who had committed no offense against them, what would they do to a people who rebelled?

 

            “The Lord was, of course, referring to A. D. 70, when the Temple would be utterly destroyed and the majority of its inhabitants slaughtered by the Roman legions of Titus.  From that holocaust the nation of Israel has not yet fully recovered even in modern times, because there is still no temple in Jerusalem, no sacrifices, no priesthood to offer them, and no priestly records to verify lineage.  That was the horror of which Israel should have been fearful, Jesus said.

 

            “Because He was sinless and completely undefiled in body as well as in mind and spirit, Jesus was physically all that Adam was before the Fall and more.  But Jesus’ severe beatings and the scourging had made even Him too weak to carry the heavy cross.  Not only was He suffering excruciating physical pain, but He had had no sleep the previous night and was suffering the added agonies of betrayal, defection, and denial.  In addition to that, He was still suffering the accumulated pain of having been tempted by and being continual spiritual battle with Satan.  There were now no angels sent to minister to Him as they had after the wilderness temptations, and His body was all but depleted of strength.  More even than all of that, He knew perfectly that He faced the indescribably painful prospect of taking upon Himself the sin of all mankind, of becoming sin for their sakes.  And for that He would suffer the wrath of His heavenly Father which that sin deserved.”  Now notice again the highlighted portion of this paragraph and then think about that, shall I say pounder on it, for this was the very reason that Christ came to earth, to take your place, and my place on that cross, and I think that being separated from His Heavenly Father and then becoming sin, (not ever sinning), were the worst fears that Christ faced, and he did that for you, and for me.  If Christ is not your Lord and Savior, then now is the time to thank Him for dying for you, for suffering for you, for becoming sin for you.  Every man ever born, with the exception of Jesus Christ, was born a sinner because of our relationship with Adam, and we sin because we are born sinners.  The good news of the Gospel is that Christ died in your place and all one has to do is to first of all confess that you are a sinner, and then thank Christ for taking your place on the cross and invite Him into your life to be your Savior and your Lord.  This is the most important decision that you will ever make in your entire life for it changes where you will spend eternity, and being saved means that you will spend eternity with the Lord, your Lord.

 

8/7/2024 10:20 AM

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