The Shield of Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
Psalm 18:32-35 NKJV

David continued to write with war-like tones, referring to strong arms able to “bend a bow of bronze”, with training for warfare, and containing a reference to a shield, an essential device in the hand-to-hand combat of those days, and able to fend off missiles coming towards the warring soldiers. These verses previously appeared in 2 Samuel 22, with the addition of “Your right hand has held me up” to Psalm 18:35. But, regarding the shield, this was not any ordinary shield – it was a “shield of salvation”. In a military setting, such a shield could be the difference between life and death, especially because it was the Lord’s shield. How would that work? Well, with a foe pressing hard with sword or some other sharp or heavy device, perhaps the defending soldier would feel the shield move in a direction, and at the right speed, necessary to save his life. The Lord’s shield of salvation saved his life.

But this morning, we will be concerned with another type of shield, to be used in spiritual warfare. In spiritual realms we know that ” … we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). In such an environment we need a different type of shield, because holding up a square piece of metal in the face of the devil will not prevent his attacks at all. He attacks in evil ways, by trying to get us pilgrims to sin, or by confusing our minds with worldly philosophies and ideologies, that sound plausible but instead are subtle ways of drawing us away from God’s truth. Another way the devil lures us away into error is by twisting Bible verses, causing us to fall into error. He is behind theologies such as Universalism, that maintains everyone will be saved and go to Heaven, regardless of their faith and actions in this life. The list of ways in which the devil and his minions attack us is long and comprehensive, and, knowing their ploys, Paul helpfully described in Ephesians 6 five items of spiritual armour, and one item of attack, to keep us safe on our journeys to our Heavenly home. 

David described a shield of salvation, something that protected his body from attack. Paul described a helmet of salvation, to protect our minds, where the majority of evil attacks will take place. We read in Ephesians 6:17, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God“. We might even put the helmet and sword together as an invincible combination able to complete the advice in James 4:7, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you“. 

Regarding salvation, we would do well to even go through the motions of taking an imaginary helmet and placing it over our heads, praying as we do for God’s protection through the blood of Jesus to keep us safe. Our salvation is a daily need, and one that we must dwell upon and pursue all the time. A Roman soldier’s helmet had to be tightly fitted over his head, buckles adjusted, straps inspected and tightened, every time he put it on, because one that was loose and liable to fall off was no good at all in protecting his head from an enemies sword. And I would suggest that our spiritual helmets of salvation must always be polished and inspected, to make sure that there are no sins reducing their usefulness. Because of the power of the cross, our enemy the devil no longer has any hold on us. Jesus died in our place on that Calvary Cross and His blood is an eternal demonstration to the devil that we are under God’s protection. We are now a different people, not trapped anymore in a world of sin and evil, twisted, defeated, and led away by our enemy to a lost eternity.

So on our knees today, once again we confess our sins, and in the process we remind our spiritual enemies that we are God’s children under His protection with His shield or helmet of salvation protecting us every day of our lives. God’s plan for our salvation is complete and achievable as we allow His love and grace through Jesus rule and direct our lives.

Dear Lord Jesus. You saved is through Your selfless act of taking on our punishment on our place. Through You we are assured eternal life with You in Heaven and beyond. We are so grateful. Amen.

Satisfied Hunger

Posted on by korgrocker

“Arise, O Lord! Stand against them, and bring them to their knees! Rescue me from the wicked with your sword! By the power of your hand, O Lord, destroy those who look to this world for their reward. But satisfy the hunger of your treasured ones. May their children have plenty, leaving an inheritance for their descendants. Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.”
Psalm 17:13-15 NLT

Again, a theme of the difference between people who “look to this world for their reward” and God’s “treasured ones”, a difference between unbelievers and believers, finishes Psalm 17. At first glance, David would seem to be obsessed by God’s judgement of the wicked unbelievers, comparing them with the lot of the favoured believers, between those heading for a lost eternity, and those who will go to live with God forever. But then what could be more important? Compared to eternity, the life span of a human being is indeed infinitesimally short. James 4:14, “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone”. Eternity is a concept that is difficult to imagine, because humans are constrained in a temporal world, the result of sin with lives cut short in a cursed world, a world that, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:22, “ … has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time“. But in this world, the believers and unbelievers jostle along, side by side, heading for a final separation at the End of the Age. 

David wrote that the unbelievers, by their choices, will end up satisfied with the things of this world, a portion allotted to them as a reward for their brief life. In 1 Timothy 6:7, Paul wrote this to Timothy, “After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it“. That is the truth about temporal rewards. So many people spend their short lives trying to accumulate wealth, property, goods, and the things of this world, only to reflect on their death beds that none of it can go with them across the Great Divide. And we even find that such people find that their lives are shortened by the stresses and anxieties involved in the process. 

Jesus said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21). We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”, echoing David’s prayer for God to “satisfy the hunger of [His] treasured ones”. Our “daily bread” isn’t just the food we eat of course. It also refers to our spiritual “bread”, the Word of God that sustains our souls. God’s food is a complete formula designed for the health and wellbeing of all. 

David finished Psalm 17 with the thought that one day he will wake up and see God’s face. I sometimes think of Lazarus, graveyard dead and who had been buried in a tomb four days previously. He was wrapped in grave-clothes, lying on a cold slab in a rock tomb, when suddenly through the cloth strips covering his ears, he heard someone calling his name with a loud voice. Jesus, of course, called out, “Lazarus, come forth” or probably more colloquially, “Lazarus, come out of there!” and that was enough to miraculously wake him up and completely reverse the decaying process. We next find Lazarus hopping his way out of the hole in the rock, constrained by the strips of cloth that had been tightly wrapped around him. I would have loved to have been there, seeing the reaction on people’s faces, but the thrust of this story is what it could mean for all believers one day. After we too have died, will the next thing we hear be the voice of Jesus calling our names? What applied to Lazarus will apply to us as well, because we too have been called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. Lazarus woke up in a dark tomb to then continue his previous earthly life, having to die again one day, but we will wake up to a life with God, and, as David wrote, “be satisfied”. 

David was certain that because he was righteous then he will see God one day. We have the same assurance, because Jesus Himself gave us His righteousness in exchange for our sin. That momentous day on a hill called Calvary was enough for Jesus to take on all our sins, receiving the punishment that was ours to bear. And amazingly, because of Jesus, we will see God one day. Too good to be true? Too good not to be.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your Son Jesus and all He did for us. May we live our lives honouring to You, day by day. Amen.

Tale of Two Peoples

Posted on by korgrocker

“Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord. Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him. The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the Lord will protect his people.”
Psalm 14:4-6 NLT

Graphic language from David. He sets out the difference between those who acknowledge God and have a relationship with Him, and those who are evil and don’t. A very clear distinction emerges between two groups of people, one group, probably the larger, oppressing the smaller group of people who are relatively and apparently disadvantaged and oppressed, a scenario that has been repeated time and time again throughout history, but with one difference – the smaller group are God’s people. And for that reason the evil people should beware. Their actions are unacceptable to God and when He acts, “terror will grip them” because the Lord will protect His people. 

But David wrote, “They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord”. What was he getting at here? The Message translation reads, “Don’t they know anything, all these impostors? Don’t they know they can’t get away with this— Treating people like a fast-food meal over which they’re too busy to pray?” (Psalm 14:4). The picture emerges of evil people who contemptuously dismiss others who don’t follow their ways, quickly terminating the social occasion and moving on to spend time instead with their evil peers. A fast food meal is a sad and sorry way to fill an empty stomach, with processed foods often pre-cooked, heated up and served in a box and eaten with fingers. They provide little proper nutrition and too many of them can even be harmful. They are eaten quickly, with little enjoyment or consideration for the God who provided food for life. And so it is with the way unbelievers tend to regard God’s people. A meeting which they terminate quickly, rudely and overbearingly, not considering that the people before them have touched God and are His people. And worse than that, they will perhaps also take steps to introduce difficulties in the plans of God’s people, just out of spite.

A sad tale of two peoples, but for those who have rejected God, the evildoers, their lives will not end well. David wrote that “terror will grip them”, something that will happen either in their current lives or when they stand before God to give an account of their lives. David returned to this theme in another Psalm, where we read, “For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land” (Psalm 39:9). Paul adds a few more details in Romans 2:6-8, “He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honour and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness”. 

So why do people reject God and carry on in their evil ways? It’s all about the pleasures of sin, and the human tendencies and traits that underpinned an old song, “I’ll do it my way”. People don’t want to live a life during which they perceive they will lose their freedom of choice and independence. An evil person wants to behave in any way he chooses and although bounded by the laws of the society in which he lives, when that society is godless as well, then he’s happy. The sad thing is that there are many people who think they are living a “good” life and, if there is a God, they will never be turned away at the pearly gates.  They claim that it would be an injustice if a loving God would overlook and disregard what they consider to be their goodness. But if they only lifted the Bible for a moment and started to read, they would soon discover the truth and start to feel an ominous terror emerging in their souls. But, as David wrote, they will “never learn“. 

We pilgrims, however, will never give up in our love and care for the evil people around us. We may not perceive the evil within them but God sees all, and He asks us to be as gracious and patient as he is, extending His message of salvation while there is still time. Peter wrote in his second letter, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9). God never intended anyone to end up destroyed and consigned to hell. That will be the place He originally intended to be the final home for the devil and his angels, but, think about it, where else can God send those people who, because they are evil, cannot be accepted into Heaven? A sobering thought, and to find themselves in the company of the devil for all eternity is enough to strike terror into anyone. But God will protect His people, as David wrote, and we are so thankful for that. So we continue into the day ahead, with thankful hearts, repenting of our sins, and praising the God whom we love so much.

Yes Lord. We love You. We praise You. We thank You. You are the One who blesses and loves Your people, forever. Amen.

Our Forever God

Posted on by korgrocker

“But the Lord reigns forever, executing judgment from his throne. He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness.”
Psalm 9:7-8 NLT

A small child’s question “Who made God?” is understandable from a natural perspective, as young minds grapple with difficult issues in life. Everything around us has been made at some time or another. Our natural world emerged in the Genesis account of creation, our material world of houses and cars and so on contains objects created by human beings. But then comes along the scientific distortions based on the largely unsubstantiated views and “research” by scientists like Darwin and others, bring confusion and contradictions, and media journalists propagate reports of a world formed a very long time ago when some geological discovery is made. But I lack the faith to believe in a world that is populated through a chance meeting of molecules many billions of years ago, or was formed by an apparent celestial explosion even further back into history. And none of these scientists have ever explained where all the matter that formed the universe came from in the first place. So a young mind, perhaps through a Sunday School lesson or teacher’s comment, and unable to make sense of the enormous amounts of data available, intuitively believes that there must be a Creator, and asks where God came from.

It may be a difficult concept to believe, but our God, the Lord, “reigns forever”. God has always been present. Jesus said in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End“. So the answer to the small child’s question “Who made God?” is “No-one – He has always been there”. And there is something special about that knowledge, that our Creator God, the One who loves us and has graciously saved us, has always been there. And there is more – Ephesians 1:4, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes”. Such knowledge elevates us into Heavenly places that are unseen with our physical eyes but home to our spirits.

David also declared that God has always been there and His righteousness prevails through His judgement and fairness. And there is coming a time when He will rule the nations. We can only pray that this will happen soon, as the world around us seems to descend further and further into depths of evil and depravity. But instead of getting depressed we look up to the One who made it all. The One who created our world and populated it with human beings made in His image. The One who holds all things together – Colossians 1:17, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together”. By looking up we get God’s perspective and receive the assurance that He is holding back the full potential of the forces of evil.

Paul continues in Colossians 1:19-20, “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross”. Perhaps a better question should be “How could the One who has always been there send His Son as a human being, to save us from our sins?” The answer to such a question we will never fully understand until we meet the One who made it all possible. But we are so grateful for Jesus. Perhaps John 3:16 doesn’t really fully communicate the heart of God and His love for you and me. We will never get our minds around what it must have cost Him. God wants to be involved intimately in the affairs of His creation, and in response we feel our hearts lift within us, a warm glow flushing away the thoughts of a sad and bad world. We want to shout out our praises to the One who has done it all. Jesus!

Dear God. You have always been present, because that is what eternity means. Thank You that Your love and grace is eternal and present with us today and every day. Amen.

Trouble and Strife

Posted on by korgrocker

“My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared. For you have judged in my favour; from your throne you have judged with fairness. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have erased their names forever. The enemy is finished, in endless ruins; the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.”
Psalm 9:3-6 NLT

Why is it that so many of the Psalms contain references to “enemies”? David often brought his enemies before God with a request that they be judged and dealt with, leaving him vindicated. And he continued to pray for judgements and punishments to extend beyond his boundaries into the adjacent nations. The political situation in David’s days was volatile and has continued unchanged right up to the 21st Century, with the Middle East being a hot bed of factions and different political interests, with nations, and even people groups within the nations, striving with each other and at times descending into extremes of violence. External influences stoke up the flames of discord and hatred, raising them to intolerable levels, with violence viewed with puzzlement by peoples in other parts of the world. The nations and borders might have changed since David was king in Israel but the strife has continued across the generations almost as though the very ground in that part of the world is cursed. 

Of course, the glib answer to the Middle East’s problems is laid at the door of sin, and the enemy who introduced it to the world, in the Garden, itself being located in an adjacent area, so some have thought, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Southern Mesopotamia. But whatever the geography, the very fact that there are people regarded as “enemies” indicates that sin is present. David expected God to be his arbiter and rule in his favour, and his writings describe both real and imagined Godly judgement, with punishments meted out on his “enemies” and even their infrastructure.

It is true that God has judged sin and wickedness in the past – think about the situations in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Noah – but does He do that today? Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. From that perspective, does God therefore favour one people over another, and bring judgement to bear in these modern times? But introduce into that scenario the following verses in Romans 3, “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). Sinners have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and now stand righteous in God’s presence. This elevates us into a different kingdom, God’s Kingdom, and introduces a different emphasis, as we read in Ephesians 6:12, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places”. Two kingdoms emerge, the kingdom of the world which contains all unredeemed peoples wherever they live, and God’s Kingdom where His people are united through His love and grace. We have weapons of defence and one of offence, all of which can keep us safe from our enemies, should we choose to use them as God has ordained. 

We pilgrims read what David wrote all those years ago and superimpose over his words the principles and perspectives of the Kingdom of which we are a part. We have a Judge who rules with righteousness and love, with mercy and grace, and who will ultimately deal with the sin and sinful people that has polluted this world. We might not see a solution to the battles taking place in the Middle East in our earthly lifetime, but we will one day see all wickedness and evil being dealt with, and banished forever. 

Dear God. You are the righteous Judge, who will fairly deal with all human beings one day. We pilgrims thank You that, although sinners, we have been redeemed by Your Son, Jesus, and can come before You covered over with Jesus’ righteousness. Thank You for the miracle of Your grace and love. Amen.

The Seamless Robe

Posted on by korgrocker

“When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did.”
John 19:23-24 NLT

Many representations of Jesus on the cross always seem to have the addition of a piece of cloth to preserve His dignity but the reality was that people crucified in those days were stripped of their clothing. This was apparently done to add to their shame and humiliation. Jesus apparently had five garments, because the four soldiers each had something, and that left the seamless robe, for which they cast lots. This was a method of determining by chance who should win a certain prize – imagine casting a dice and the highest score wins. The seamless robe was a valuable commodity to the impoverished soldiers and the winner probably sold it on to supplement his meagre wages. Today there are claims from several places about where it is now, but none able to be reliably verified. We wonder about the origin of the Seamless Robe, and there is a tradition that it was woven for Him by His mother, Mary, but we don’t know for sure, and the Robe has disappeared into history.

To us pilgrims, does this, or any other religious artefact, really matter? There are a plethora of items including bones that litter the Christian world, and they connect people with God. Our churches here in the UK are full of statues, stained glass windows and so on that seem to help bridge the gap between God’s world and ours. High Church and Roman traditions add various items to their liturgies, such as incense and bells, all to help the congregant. At the other extreme, Protestant reformers cleared out such artefacts from their meeting places and worship services, instead simplifying the liturgy to little more than themselves and the Bible. But the question is, when do the artefacts become idols?

We pilgrims are God-worshippers and we do not necessarily need any items such as the Seamless Robe to help us in getting close to God. His door is always open. At any time we can communicate with Him in prayer using natural conversation without the Christian jargon that is so easy to select, the “thee’s” and “thou’s” and other words that some have called the “language of Zion”. But there is an invitation from Jesus always hanging in the air – Matthew 11:28-30, “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light”. Isaiah 55 starts, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!” And the Bible ends with an invitation – “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). We respond as John did, ” …  Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20b). ‭‭

Our Father in Heaven, God Himself, sent Jesus to his world to be humiliated and killed so that mankind, you and me, would be able to be His children and end up with Him in Heaven for all eternity. Do we believe that? Do we live that truth in our daily lives? If not, then it saddens God and impoverishes our lives. But even then, His door is always open for a repentant sinner. Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord“. Nothing indeed! No Robe required.

Dear Lord Jesus. When we consider what You endured that terrible day, we shudder. But with gratitude in our hearts we worship You today. Amen.

The Greater Sin

Posted on by korgrocker

“When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.””
John 19:8-11 NLT

Pilate was out of his comfort zone. Here was a Man who claimed to be the Son of God and who had just been flogged at Pilate’s order. But he was a superstitious man and when the mention of a “god” appeared in the context that he faced, then he became frightened. Pilate claimed to have the power to either release or crucify Jesus, but Jesus rightly pointed out to him that Pilate had no authority of his own other than what was given him by his superiors back in Rome. The Jews were a troublesome lot to Pilate and the constant threat of unrest and rebellion was wearing him down, particularly as there had been previous times when negative news about Judaean civil unrest had finally filtered back to Rome. So Pilate was not just afraid of the events panning out before him; he was also afraid of the consequences if news of the baying mob outside reached Rome. Pilate was not a nice man at all though, and his political skills seemed to be non-existent. On several occasions history records events when he unnecessarily provoked the Jews.

But Jesus made an interesting comment about sin. He implied that some sins were worse than others, when He said, “the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin“. But, don’t we understand that all sin is sin, with equal weight before God? Paul obviously thought so, when he wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). God demands absolute holiness and the only way that can be achieved is through Jesus. I always think of God’s perfect standard as being the pass mark in an exam set at 100%. Analysing how sinful someone’s life is might come up with a score depending on how many sins they have committed, the severity of each, and how good they are. So a murderous despotic leader of a country might score 0%. Some politicians might only get to 15%. A minister in the church might be holier and come up with a mark of 40%. A really saintly person might even achieve 60%. I shudder to think where my mark would be. But the important thing about this analogy is that all those who take the exam have failed because they have a mark less than 100%. The Pharisees thought they had achieved 100% through the adherence to the Law and all the rules and regulations that had been bolted on. But in Acts 13:38-39 we read what Paul said during a sermon in Antioch  of Pisidia. “Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do”. 

But Jesus still implied that there was a “greater sin”. The person responsible for bringing Jesus before Pilate was the High Priest, Caiaphas. In the end, he was the one who handed Jesus over to Pilate, and one day he will stand before the One he condemned. Caiaphas had the power to send Jesus to the cross, even though it had to be through a Roman governor, but in our moral universe, one day he will be brought to account. But there is only one punishment for sin, as we all know. Sin is sin. 

Thankfully, we pilgrims are blood-bought, forgiven, children of God. We stay close to the cross, believing in Jesus and keeping a clean slate before Father God. And the wonderful thing is that Jesus is interceding for us continually. Our message to the dying world around us, populated with people who have failed the exam, is our testimony of God’s love and grace. 

Dear God. Thank You for Jesus and His sacrifice at Calvary. We worship You today. Amen.

Barabbas Released

Posted on by korgrocker

““What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?” But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)”
John 18:38-40 NLT

In those days of the Roman occupation of Judaea, there were many insurrections, with an “underground” of guerillas always looking for opportunities to harass the Romans and try and bring about the autonomous state of the Jewish nation. So, the Roman governor had to walk a tight rope between provoking a fractious population and defending the Roman occupation when attacked. There was a custom every Passover for the Governor to release a prisoner, one who was imprisoned on death row. We know little about Barabbas. Matthew’s Gospel records Barabbas as being a “notorious prisoner”. Mark and Luke wrote that he was involved in a riot. But in the end he was captured and was awaiting his fate on a Roman gallows, another crucifixion carried out in those violent times. So that morning in the hours of darkness before the start of Passover at daybreak, the crowds were gathering in front of Pilate’s house, awaiting the announcement from the governor. We read in Matthew 27:15-18, “Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted. This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)” I would have thought that there were many in the crowds who had seen Jesus, had heard His messages and had seen or even experienced His miraculous healings. But the Jewish leaders had stirred up the crowd against Him, probably leveraging the religious power that they had over the people of Jerusalem. 

Imagine standing in Barabbas’ shoes. What must have been going through his mind, as he faced into the horrors of crucifixion. The mental stress and anguish would have been unbearable, even in those violent and febrile days. Knowing that a day or two from then, he would be whipped and forced to carry a cross to the execution site, and there nailed to a cross, and left to die in excruciating agony. Perhaps he was looking through his cell bars as the crowds gathered. Perhaps he could hear the shouts. Was that his name he could hear? Did a glimmer of hope start to rise within him? Would he be released? But his thoughts would have been quickly suppressed – after all, why would they want him to be released when Jesus was the obvious choice. But in Matthew 27:26a, we read, “So Pilate released Barabbas to them …“. Imagine his relief, his gratitude, as he was returned alive to a family expecting his dead body. 

Tradition has it that Barabbas was also called Jesus. But whatever his name, was Barabbas the first to benefit from Jesus’ sacrificial death? Would he go on to believe in Jesus and turn his life of violence around? So many unanswered questions. But just as Barabbas was released from prison, he possibly went home unchanged, facing into an uncertain future on either side of the Great Divide. For us pilgrims, and, through Jesus, we were released from our own prisons of sin but the stark and eternal difference is that we have been washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb. We have a certain future and a hope of eternal life with God.

Dear Lord Jesus. Our words cannot express our gratitude for what You did that weekend two thousand years ago. We worship You today. Amen.

Malchus’ Ear

Posted on by korgrocker

“Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” “I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” He did this to fulfil his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.” Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”“
John 18:7-11 NLT

Malchus, the High Priest’s slave, makes a cameo appearance in the Biblical account, and he had the dubious experience of an encounter with Peter’s sword. Peter, good old impetuous Peter, once again acted without thinking. Standing before Jesus and His friends was a heavily armed contingent of Roman soldiers, armour and swords clanking, gruff voices speaking a foreign tongue, and with them was the Temple guards and others, and yet Peter thought he could make a difference with his sword. Luke’s account of this episode reveals more details. In Luke 22:49-50 we read, “When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear”. The next verse records that Jesus healed the man with the “ear-ing” loss and then in Mark’s Gospel we read, “Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked” (Mark 14:50-52). Altogether the arrest of Jesus had the potential to turn into an ugly situation with the arrest of His disciples as well as Jesus, but the Master was in charge, and His friends, the disciples were kept safe. We don’t know who the naked young man was but the accounts in the Gospels kept him nameless and saved his blushes. 

Jesus knew that He had the power to prevent His arrest, but His mission was not about His personal safety. Instead, it was about the salvation of the world, and we 21st Century pilgrims are and will be eternally grateful. But I wonder what the experience did for Malchus. He was in the firing line of a sword coming for him in then dark. He felt the sharp pain as his right ear was severed from the side of his head, and in the commotion the Man who they had been sent to arrest calmly took control of the situation and healed his ear. The pain of loss and injury was suddenly removed and I expect he raised his hand to feel if his ear had been restored. We don’t know if Jesus stooped down and picked up the ear off the ground and put it back in its rightful place, or if He just touched the place where it had been and miraculously grew another one, but regardless, Malchus was ear-less no more. He must have reflected much on what had happened. Did it lead to his belief and faith in Jesus? We don’t know, but perhaps we will get to find out one day.

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the Healer of body, soul and spirit. But we praise and thank You for the ultimate miracle – our salvation. Amen.

Jesus the Nazarene

Posted on by korgrocker

“As Jesus said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” “I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.””
John 18:6-8 NLT

In those days the name “Jesus” was relatively common, and there were others of that name mentioned in the Bible. There was one man called Barabbas, also called Jesus Barabbas in some manuscripts. We can read about him in Matthew 27:15-17, “Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted. This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named [Jesus] Barabbas. As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you— [Jesus] Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”” As an aside, can you imagine the relief that Barabbas felt, in prison having been part of a gang who had killed Roman soldiers, and expecting to be executed in the very near future, and to then be released, in the place of someone with the same name? Such is the saving power of Jesus Christ, bringing relief to sinners, who are otherwise under a eternal death sentence. There were other historical figures in those times with the name “Jesus” but who weren’t mentioned in the Bible. The name “Jesus” is a derivation of the name “Joshua” meaning “to deliver or to rescue”, or “salvation of God”. 

To differentiate between men with the same name, often the place where they lived was added for clarity, along with the name of their father. So Jesus became Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph. Or Jesus the Nazarene. Matthew 2:23 reads, “So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”” Later Jesus was referred to “Jesus Christ” or “Christ Jesus”, adding the Greek name of Messiah, as written by Paul in Romans 1:4, “and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.” The name Jesus is not commonly used in English-speaking nations, but it is  more used in places where languages such as Spanish in spoken.

To us pilgrims, however, Jesus is not “Jesus of Nazareth”. He is our wonderful Saviour, the Name above all names. There is no other name by which man can be saved. Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved”. In Acts 4 we can read the account of Peter and John, brought before the Sanhedrin for healing the lame man begging at the Beautiful Gate, healing that took place in the Name of Jesus. Acts 4: 7, 10, “They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?” … Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead“. Peter didn’t hold back. He clearly pointed out to the Jewish leaders what the power of the Name of Jesus was capable of, and added for good measure the facts of His death and resurrection. And he finished up by saying, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Dear Lord Jesus. Your Name is above all names. We sing it and believe it and worship You today. Amen.

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