Imitating His Voice

Pastor Mark Thompson of Faribault, Minnesota, suffered terrible knife wounds from an assailant in his home, in October 1988.  One of the many consequences of his difficult recovery was being forced to miss watching  his son Chris run in the state cross-country championship meet.

Pastor Thompson commissioned his brother Merv to go in his stead. According to the account in the St. Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch, Mark told his brother, "I can't be there to see Chris run.  So I want you there at the beginning of the race. Holler a lot.... Then at the end, I want you to really cheer loudly.  And I want you to make your voice sound like mine."

Merv heeded the advice, and Chris ran a strong race, finishing second. Merv, also a pastor, discerned the theological truth in the story. "That's what Jesus wants us to do." he said.  "Make your voice sound like mine."

-- Author Unknown

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Peter Allan C. Mariano

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Only Jesus

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

(John 20:10-14)

In these verses we see Mary’s deep love for Jesus. The going away of Peter and John commends Mary’s staying. She was the first to the grave, then she goes to tell the disciples, she returns to the grave with them, and at the grave she remains without them–an unwavering love which, as we will discover, was richly rewarded by the Lord.

As we in faith draw closer to Jesus, He will draw closer than anyone we have ever known. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Mary knew this.

“All believers have not the same degree of faith, or hope, or knowledge, or courage, or wisdom; and it is vain to expect it. But it is a certain fact that those who love Christ most fervently, and cleave to Him most closely, will always enjoy most communion with Him, and feel most of the witness of the Spirit in their hearts.

It is precisely those who wait on the Lord, in the temper of Mary Magdalene, to whom the Lord will reveal Himself most fully, and make them know and feel more than others.” (John Charles Ryle)

Jesus was the object of Mary’s affections. Her strong love for Him kept her at the tomb–while others left–with a flicker of hope that something or someone might turn up to explain where her Master’s body had gone. She could not tear herself away from the last place His body had been seen.

Take It to Heart

While Jesus’ identity may have at first been veiled from Mary’s desperate eyes, there was certainly no missing the sound of him speaking her name. One single word–one very personal word–was enough to deliver her from her present blindness. Jesus sees Mary’s genuine, persevering love for Him. He is the solitary aim of her soul and He rewards her consuming love. He always does.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love … he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust

…But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children–with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. (Psalm 103:8-14; 17-18)

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But They Did Not Believe

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. (Luke 24:9-12)

Hurrying away from the tomb, astonished, amazed, bewildered, and afraid, yet all the while filled with joy, these women experienced the entire range of emotions. They had a story to tell the disciples and they were ready to tell it in reverential fear.

I think it was wonderful of God to allow these female followers to be the first ones to bring the good news of His story. While I realize this is not true in every case, and I am certainly not meaning any offense, women in general are better in giving the details of a story than men. We enjoy hearing and telling all the little particulars–all the nuances to every detail. They had just experienced the supernatural and they were stunned.

Mark tells us in his gospel:

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. (Mark 16:8)

The word translated “bewildered” is from the Greek word ekstasis meaning: “Astonishment, amazement, bewilderment; it is a sense of breathtaking and profound amazement coupled with exquisite dread at the sight of something remarkable, incredible, strange, or supernatural; the gripping fascination with some enthralling phenomenon which drives one from his powers of reason in order to encounter it; the word portrays someone as being carried away out of mind, being so psychologically and emotionally moved by some fantastic sight that he loses all sense of his present situation. He is held captive by it and falls under its sway because it is beyond his power to impose rational controls on the object of wonder”

(Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible New Testament Lexical Aids).

Unfortunately, the report the women gave was not well received. Rather it seemed to the disciples as idle talk and sheer nonsense.

“They thought it was only the fancy of the women, and ascribed it to the power of imagination; for they also had forgotten Christ’s words. One cannot but be amazed at the stupidity of these disciples–who had themselves so often professed that they believed Christ to be the Son of God, had been so often told that he must die and rise again, and then enter into his glory, had seen him more than once raise the dead–that they should be so slow to believe.”
(Matthew Henry)

Slow to believe. Is it not amazing, when the day is cloudy and dark, how forgetful we become of the obvious? Fully not comprehending the Master’s plan, Peter leaves the tomb scratching his head and wondering. Who would have just stolen the body and not the grave clothes–not to mention leaving them folded so neatly behind? Who moved the stone and chased away the powerful Roman guards?

Take It to Heart

I find comfort in the disciple’s confusion. If Peter and John, who had both walked so closely with Jesus, could be baffled on that dark day, then my confusion seems understandable as well. It is easy to believe in Jesus when the day is bright, but let the winds and rain clouds come and it is quite another story. We are then often left wondering and baffled and forgetful of the promises of our Lord.

Having a firm grasp of God’s Word is monumental, especially when the storms of life begin to blow. That is how we are able to rest secure in Him … and that is His desire for all of His children.

“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” (Deuteronomy 33:12)

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.(Philippians 4:13)

“Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)

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He Has Risen!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!

Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words. (Luke 24:1-8)
 

The faithful female followers of Jesus were the first to find the empty tomb. Showing their supreme love for the Lord, their desire was to demonstrate their commitment to Jesus by bringing expensive spices to the tomb that they had prepared for His burial. Oh that all of our passions and desires would always lead us to Jesus!

There is a difference between simply knowing Jesus as a person and passionately loving Him as our Lord. When we are inspired with love and delighted by His presence, it is not a compulsion but a pleasure to walk with Him. Just as a child who adores their father’s company, our delight in Him should be prompted by joy.

 

“Beyond all measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our love towards Him, and to increase our knowledge of Him.

… But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of Him, welling up with His love, even to overrunning; hence the apostle prays ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts’. ‘That He may dwell’; not that He may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night, but that He may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being, never more to go out.

… We should pant after love to Christ of a most abiding character, not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by a sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet … If love be cold, you can be sure that faith is drooping.” (C.H. Spurgeon)

 

Very early in the morning, approaching with their spices, these dear women discover … an empty tomb! Where could the body have gone? Who had moved away the heavy stone? What had happened? They had been eye witnesses to the crucifixion and to the burial preparation. So certain were they that He was dead that they had gone to extravagant measures to prepare a proper burial.

John tells us their reaction to this scene:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:1-2)

When they arrived at the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away, this was, of course, a great wonder to them! But the angels remind them of Jesus’ words to them that He would be delivered into the hands of sinful men, crucified, and raised again!

 

Take It to Heart

“All the powers of death and darkness are under the control of the God of light and life. An angel from heaven has power to break the seal, though it was the great seal of Israel, and is able to roll back the stone, though ever so great. The angel’s sitting on the stone, when he had rolled it back, is very observable. There he sat, defying all the powers of hell to roll the stone to the grave again. The angel sat as a guard to the grave, having frightened away the enemies’ black guard; he sat, expecting the women, and ready to give them an account of His resurrection.” (Matthew Henry)
 

“To know a crucified Savior as having crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to know a risen Savior as having justified me, and to realize that He has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new creature through His own newness of life, this is a noble style of experience: short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. May you both ‘know Him, and the power of His resurrection’.

Why should souls who are quickened with Jesus, wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen.” (C.H. Spurgeon)

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Love That Results in Courage

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
 

Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

(John 19:38-42)
 

Once a secret disciple for fear of the Jews, Joseph now boldly petitions Pilate for Jesus’ body. Some followers of Christ may in lesser trials be quite fearful yet in greater difficulties display much courage. This we find in Joseph who honored Christ’s body when Christ could seemingly do nothing for him. Circumstances oftentimes bring out character in unexpected ways.

The other gospel writers tell us that Joseph was a wealthy, good, and upright man who was waiting for the Kingdom of God. He was a prominent member of the Council but had not consented to their decision and actions regarding Jesus. Interestingly, Joseph of Arimathea is not mentioned in other places in the New Testament, Only in the burial of our Lord do we read about him. Certainly there are many Christians in this world about whom very little is known.
 

Out of love, Joseph took off his cloak of secrecy and came forth publicly in humble service for our Lord. He did not hesitate to confess his association with Jesus though at the time Romans and Jews alike viewed Jesus as a criminal. Joseph’s actions may have rendered him a marked man among the Jews, he most certainly ruining his character with the high priests and ruling council. And yet, his actions stand in Scripture as a memorial to him. Surely it is the hope of the Church that in every age there are hidden servants unknown to the world yet known well unto God. Joseph is memorialized in all four gospels as showing kindness to the Lord Jesus for no other reason than love.
 

Not too dissimilar to Joseph in his secrecy while Jesus was alive, we see Nicodemus now coming forth as a volunteer to aid in the burial of Jesus. They both demonstrated more reverence and love towards our Lord when He was dead than they had when He was alive. Nicodemus did not shrink to take part in this good work. Had these men not come forth, our Jesus’ body may have been buried in a common grave for criminals. But that was not God’s intent. He had allowed as much to be done to His Son’s precious body as was going to be done. He therefore empowered and emboldened these once timid followers–at this perfect time–to demonstrate their compassion and mercy for Jesus. God always supplies the grace sufficient to meet a specific need at an appointed time!

Out of immense love, we see in our verses for today, Joseph and Nicodemus together taking Jesus’ body down from the cross and carefully wrapping it in strips of clean linen on which myrrh and aloes has been laid. John is the only one of the gospel writers to include the amount of Nicodemus’ sizeable offering of spices for the holy work of burying Jesus. His actions are quite in contrast to his first timid visit with Jesus’–coming to question Him under the cloak of darkness–fearful of his associates. Nicodemus’ actions show his rapid growth in grace, faith, knowledge, and courage in a mere three year span.
 

What we see here is Joseph and Nicodemus selflessly loving Jesus with seemingly no apparent gain for themselves and certainly some loss in reputation and standing among their peers for their actions. It is important to remember that this kind of service can never be done in our own strength or we will quickly lose our courage. We will weary from the task; we will become bored or burdened or disgruntled or afraid.

True love is a love born of God, not of man. It is a love which esteems, cherishes, favors, honors, respects, accepts, prizes, and relishes. It comes from God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the believer. If our actions are not motivated with this kind of empowered love, we will soon become discouraged.
 

God’s love and power are gifts from the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to fill you with His strength and grace.
 

Take It to Heart

Sometimes it is hard for us to understand the God’s higher purposes for good when calamities occur. We must hold on to the promise of God’s Word that He will use these things for our good and for His glory. God has a plan and it is for always for our good!
 

“Faith raises the soul above the difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one to stand still. We gain nothing by our restless and anxious efforts … It is therefore true wisdom, in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to stand still–to wait only upon God, and He will assuredly open a way for us.” (C.H. Mackintosh)
 

“To the child of God, there is no such thing as an accident. He travels an appointed way … Accidents may indeed appear to befall him and misfortune stalk his way; but these evils will be so in appearance only and will seem evils only because we cannot read the secret script of God’s hidden providence.” (A.W. Tozer)

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Hope in Times of Despair

But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. (Luke 23:49)

Those who knew and loved Jesus stood at a distance trying to assimilate what they were seeing. However, what appears to be the worst they could have imagined, is in actuality the very best that can possibly be! Is not this life for many of us?

We stand in a bereaved silence, stunned, staring at a particular circumstance that has crossed the path of our lives and quite literally taken our breath away. How can something so devastating turn out to be good? Though we know God has good plans, the “why’s?” of life often echo loudly in our minds, drowning out any thoughts of a higher purpose for good, oftentimes leaving us bereft of hope.

Paul’s words shout out to us:

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

“Now” we suffer from incomplete knowledge. It will only be when “now” becomes “then” that we shall understand fully and have all of our questions completely answered. The “in part” that we can comprehend and hold on to is His faithfulness to us, love for us, and intentions toward us. God always has our best interest at heart!

The message of the Old Testament reminds us:

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.(Deuteronomy 7:9)

Throughout our seeming devastation, God is in the business of making beauty from our ashes. Indeed, Jesus’ “job description” covers that very issue. We are told by the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion–to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Jesus Himself reads these very words from a scroll handed to Him in the synagogue, proclaiming to His hearers that this words have been fulfilled in their hearing:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21)

Jesus came to bring good news, bind up the brokenhearted, free the captive, proclaim God’s favor, comfort the mourning, bring beauty out of ashes, and restore gladness.–all of this coming our way by way of the cross.

What appeared as devastation to the onlookers mentioned in today’s verses all actuality become life to the full.

Take It to Heart

Sometimes it is hard for us to understand the God’s higher purposes for good when calamities occur. We must hold on to the promise of God’s Word that He will use these things for our good and for His glory. God has a plan and it is for always for our good!

“Faith raises the soul above the difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one to stand still. We gain nothing by our restless and anxious efforts … It is therefore true wisdom, in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to stand still–to wait only upon God, and He will assuredly open a way for us.” (C.H. Mackintosh)

“To the child of God, there is no such thing as an accident. He travels an appointed way … Accidents may indeed appear to befall him and misfortune stalk his way; but these evils will be so in appearance only and will seem evils only because we cannot read the secret script of God’s hidden providence.” (A.W. Tozer)

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Jesus Died for Us!

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others–one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
 

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

(John 19:17-22)
 

The cross–an instrument of the most dreadful and agonizing torture, commonly used among the Romans for slaves and criminals. Persons sentenced to crucifixion were first scourged, and then compelled to bear their own cross to the place of execution. Crucifixion was reserved for the worst and most hardened of criminals and a sign was usually placed on the chest of or over the head of the one being executed. What humiliation Christ endured as our substitute.
 

Jesus was reckoned a sinner and counted a curse for our sakes–He was the mightiest sin offering ever to be seen–bearing our disgrace In the book of Hebrews we find this summation:

The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.(Hebrews 13:11-13)
 

We must choose to follow Jesus regardless of the humiliation or suffering that being His disciple might entail. We may be stretched past our “safe” confinements of traditions and ceremonies or friends and family or location and lands. We may be deserted by all, persecuted for our doctrine and practice, and yet be willing to stand alone. As we carry our crosses, we embrace His right over our lives and in so doing take hold of the life that is truly life.

Whatever cross He calls us to, we must remember that He bore His cross first. He died among the criminals fulfilling the prophecy found in Isaiah:

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)
 

How incredible that the words Pilate chose to place on the cross of our Lord would be the exact proclamation God would have the world to know! How symbolic that those words were nailed to the wood on which Jesus bore ours sins. How like God to use someone like Pilate to accomplish His purpose!
 

“JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” the proclamation read. Christ came to be a King, and as a King He lived and suffered and died for His subjects. The sign eliminates any confusion about who He is. The myriads who pass by, those who witness the crucifixion, see that Jesus really did suffer. and that He was not at the last moment released, or another punished in His stead, or His death taken away by miraculous intervention.
 

Jesus’ vicarious death blotted out the ordinances of the law which was held against us.

Paul tells us Christ nailed them to the cross:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)
 

Take It to Heart

“The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ.

To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive–He would contradict His nature if He did.

The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm … Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.” (Oswald Chambers)

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God's Plan Unfolding

It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
(John 19:14-16)

All Jewish feasts have their preparation days in order for people to be ready mentally, spiritually, and physically. On these days, no regular work is done in order to focus totally on preparation. Jesus’ death occurred prior to the special Sabbath known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The children of Israel were to abstain from all leavened bread for seven days. To prevent any accidental consumption, they were to empty their homes of any leaven or leaven products.

Scripture includes strict instructions:
“‘These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’”
(Leviticus 23:4-7)

“For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” (Exodus 12:19-20)

Yeast in the Bible is symbolic of sin. The absence of yeast represents the picture that those who are under the safety of the shed blood of the Passover lamb are free from the corruption of sin before a holy God.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians:
Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast–as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
(1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

It is important to note that Jesus died on the day the Israelites were to rid their lives of leaven (sin). This was the day they were to leave their wanderings behind them. The great God in Heaven allowed the perfect Lamb of God to take upon Him all the sin of the world so that those who would believe on Him would be safe under His shed blood:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:21)

Sadly, many of the Jews did not want Jesus to be their King. In our verses for today we find them raising their fierce, relentless, obstinate cry in a demand for death of Jesus. They shout to Pilate: “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” They want no part of Him. Only His blood will satisfy them and only His blood will fully satisfy God’s righteous requirement for the payment of their sin.

Had not our Lord been thus rejected, we would have been forever rejected by God. As Christ was made sin for us and crucified, in like manner we are to crucify the sin in our lives. Christ was put to death for our offences–the Righteous One for the unrighteous. He is our substitution. Our punishment was laid upon Him and by His wounds we are healed.

He has set us free! Paul tells us:
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:25)

This was a part of God’s plan! Isaiah clearly foretold of God’s amazing plan to redeem us to Himself:
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

 

 

Take It to Heart

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
 

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

Beth Yoe Devotionals

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JesusOnline Ministries

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Peter Allan C. Mariano

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King of the Jews

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” 

(John 18:33-34)

In an effort to remove Jesus from the raucous of the rabble so that he could ply Him with his own queries, Pilate summons Jesus inside his palace. Holiness has been summoned into defilement. Is that not a perfect description of what Jesus does every time He is asked to enter a heart at the point of salvation? Pure, holy, blameless, and set apart from sinners He enters into a heart filled with sin and depravity–saving, cleansing, and empowering that heart to be like Him.

The writer of Hebrews gives us the following description of our great High Priest and Savior, Jesus:
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need–one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. (Hebrews 7:23-26)

C.S. Lewis paints a vivid description of what he found when he examined his own heart, which is not too dissimilar to any one of us: “A zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears and a harem of fondled hatreds.”

He also wrote: “Man is now a horror to God and to himself and a creature ill-adapted to the universe not because God made him so but because he has made himself so by the abuse of his free will.”

I find it interesting that all four gospels record Pilate asking the same question: “Are you the king of the Jews?” He obviously had a desire to know if Jesus professed to be the king of this ancient people over whom he and his soldiers now ruled. Considering our Lord’s humble appearance, Pilate possibly assumed that Jesus was merely a mock Messiah–simply setting Himself up over the throngs of people who adored Him. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus replying to Pilate with the same words: “Yes, it is as you say”.

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. (Matthew 27:11)

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
(Mark 15:2)

So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. (Luke 23:3)

A few verses later in John 18 we find similar words from Jesus, yet with a stipulation for those willing to hear Him–we must be on the side of truth:
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37)

 

Take It to Heart

The Roman historian Suetonius has noted that a rumor was prevalent throughout the East at this time in history that a king was about to arise among the Jews who would obtain dominion over the world. This rumor no doubt originated from Jewish prophesies.

I cannot help but be reminded of the Magi’s statement as they sought to visit Jesus at His birth:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

Jesus’ entire life was lived within the framework of his role as the King of the Jews. It is precisely because of it that He saves us!

Beth Yoe Devotionals

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JesusOnline Ministries

P. O. Box 6017

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Peter Allan C. Mariano

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What Is In Your Heart?

So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
 

“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
 

Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
 

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

(John 18:29-32)
 

There was certainly no love lost between Pilate and these hypocritically pious Jews. Pilate was not the least bit duped by their false pretense–he saw right through their charade. Matthew’s gospel tells us Pilate was aware of the motives behind these Jewish leaders’ actions:

For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. (Matthew 27:18)
 

Pilate was well aware of these leaders envy and fear over Jesus’ growing popularity and following. He had witnessed the love, acclaim, and wild enthusiasm the Jewish nation had for their King. Certainly he had heard about–if not been privy to see–the great throngs assembled together shouting “Hosanna”, and waving palm branches (symbols of victory) at Jesus’ triumphal entry, and ascribing Messianic titles to Him.

John tells us earlier in his gospel:

The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!” (John 12:12-13)
 

But it was the Jewish leaders in our verses for today causing this annoying raucous for Pilate, not the masses. These leaders wanted Jesus dead and if possible, they wanted the deed done by the hands of the Romans. They wanted to keep everything legal in the eyes of man, always desirous of justifying their external behavior. Never mind that their hearts were hardened and dead.
 

Yet the Jewish leader’s flawed actions were merely the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophetic words–another confirmation that our Lord was exactly who He said He was!
 

Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:17-19)
 

Take It to Heart

What the Jewish leaders failed to realize is that God values what is in the heart over the pretense of righteous actions. He always judges on the basis of why we do what we do.

All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.
(Proverbs 16:2)

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
(2 Chronicles 16:9)

“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

Beth Yoe Devotionals

Copyright © 2014

JesusOnline Ministries

P. O. Box 6017

Great Falls, MT 59405

======

Peter Allan C. Mariano

Links2Prosperity Enterprises 

Web Marketing : Web Content : Web Design

Follow me on TWITTER:

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