John 19:1-9So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him." Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!" Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate shows Jesus to the gathered crowd to say that he has found no fault in Him. His method of establishing this was to have Jesus scourged, or flogged, and then let his soldiers have their way. Thus Jesus was attacked in body, mind and spirit. His body was violated by the scourging, His mind pierced by thorns (the darts of the enemy) and His spirit repeatedly mocked and denigrated. Despite such humiliation and brutality, no fault could be found in Him, because there was none to find. The crowd however, were not so easily dissuaded, and demanded that He be crucified. Reading this passage from John 19, we are confronted by a fundamental reality. The world does not want Jesus; it has no wish to embrace Jesus or His Truth, let alone accept the Life that He offers. We must remember that Jesus accepted this as the natural outcome of His time on earth. He knew what was in man. (But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. JOHN 2:24-25) The lesson for each of us who follow Jesus is that this world will assail us as it did Jesus. We will receive blows in the little problems and irritations of our earthly existence, every bit as much as in the affliction of major trials. Our salvation rests on the very fact that He went before us, securing our redemption and opening the gate to eternity. Every one of us should surely be profoundly affected by Jesus’ sufferings. Therefore, hold fast to your faith and rest in Him. To the end He proves that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. MEDITATE ON THESE THINGSDANIEL 6:3-9 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, "We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God." So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: "King Darius, live forever! All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter." Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. BEHOLD THE MAN — Kathryn and Sean Donaldson LOVE with all your MINDWATCH THE MARGINS of your mind when you begin to take the view that it doesn't matter whether God is holy or not; it is the beginning of being a traitor to Jesus Christ. Spiritual insight does not so much enable us to understand God as to understand that He is at work in the ordinary things of life, in the ordinary stuff human nature is made of. [from ‘Disciples Indeed’ by Oswald Chambers] Listen to this meditation by clicking on ‘Download File’ below…
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