Read: 2 Samuel 15:23-16:23; John 18:25-19:22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 16:10-11
David used wisdom in fleeing the throne for his life. He was a man of military strategy so he used that knowledge and placed people in his kingdom to keep him informed and to work on his behalf. The priests were on his side, his advisor stayed behind to give Absalom bad advise and others stayed to be his eyes. Ziba lied about Mephibosheth for his own gain which will be exposed later and the prophesy about David was fulfilled. What David did with Bathsheba in private was done with his concubines in public.
David walked the road that Jesus walked to be crucified. To both of them, it seemed, were losing their kingdom when really they were establishing a kingdom that could not be taken. It often looks the bleakest before the greatest breakthrough.
Jesus had been kept awake all night being questioned by Caiaphas at his house. When morning came, he was led to the palace of the Roman governor. The Jews did not do crucifixions so they had to have the Romans charge him. When the Roman officers asked the priests what the charges were against Jesus they couldn’t give them a specific charge. Pilate asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. All Jesus could talk about was his heavenly kingdom. Pilate could find nothing to charge Jesus with so he told the crowd. To make it easier for them, he offered to release Jesus as the prisoner that got released every Passover. When they chose Jesus, Pilate would be off the hook. To his utter amazement they chose Barrabas who was probably the worse criminal he had in his jail.
Pilate had Jesus flogged and his soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put them on his head. They put a purple robe on him and brought him out before the people to present them their king. Once again Pilate told the crowd that he found Jesus innocent.
When the crowd yelled to crucify Jesus, Pilate told them to do it. They explained that they couldn’t under their law and that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God. This made Pilate even more afraid so be brought Jesus in and asked him where he was from. When Jesus refused to answer him, Pilate was furious. He said, “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus told him that the only way he would have power to do that would be that God gave it to him. Pilate was starting to get the truth and tried everything he could do to set Jesus free. He didn’t want the Son of God’s blood on his hands.
The people intimidated Pilate and accused him of being against Caesar if he let Jesus go since Jesus was claiming to be a king. Pilate was in between a rock and a hard place. He caved to the crowd and turned Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified. Pilate put a sign above Jesus that read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
No one could have stopped God’s plan: not Pilate or any of Jesus’ disciples. This was the plan from the foundation of the earth and as bloody and cruel as it was, it was wonderful - it was the salvation for the world.
Thank you, Jesus for being our Passover Lamb.
No comments:
Post a Comment