How you doin? We seem
to have a heightened awareness of the sickness, brokenness, and pain of
people right now. People who are close to us have cancer, addiction,
severed relationships with loved ones, and several other things not of
God. Not to mention the people that aren't close to us. I'm sure I don't
have time in my day to pray for all the people who need prayer. I've
been praying for our neighborhood, town, county, and state. God is
good... Satan is bad. Victory is God's. John 19 today.
Verses
10-12, got me today. Pilate is clearly in a bad spot. he's trying to
deal with his political responsibility and the fact that he finds no
fault in Jesus. The Jews are way out of line and consumed with
disbelieve and hatred for Jesus. Pilate asked Jesus (19:10),
"Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"
Pilate is seeking answers from Jesus to help him with the decision he's
being forced to make. Pilate doesn't have a clue of what's going on in
the Spirit realm. He's clueless that Jesus is handing Himself over.
Jesus' response is (19:11), “You
would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.
Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
AWESOME!!!!!!! Jesus lets Pilate off the hook. He lets Pilate know that
he's a small part in a huge plan. Verse 12 is the best, "From
then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, ..." I love how Jesus'
compassion continues to poor out even during His crucifixion. COME
ON!!!!!!!
Another thing I noticed about Pilate was in 19:19-22. Pilate had a "notice" placed on Jesus' cross that read "Jesus Of Nazareth, The King Of The Jews" (19:19) The Jews of course protested this "notice" saying "this man claimed to be king of the Jews" (19:21) Pilate takes a stand and replies, "What I have written, I have written". (19:22)
The Bible never tells us if Pilate was or became a believer. His part
of this story may be so we know that Jesus truly handed Himself over to
be crucified. I can't find it this morning, but I think I remember
reading Old Testament scriptures about the Jews killing Christ. So,
perhaps Pilate's roll in this story was keeping this between God and His
chosen people. Either way I find Pilate to be a fascinating character
in this story.
During
devotions this morning I ended up reading Isaiah 53. I would love to
copy and paste all 12 verses, but because the most common criticism of
my email is the length, I'll just strongly encourage you to read Isaiah
53 on your own. I will say this about Isaiah 53, "COME ON!!!!!!!". Read
John 19 along with Isaiah 53 today.
PS God is deep and wide and lengthy.
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