Behold the Man

In John 18 and 19 we read of Jesus’s arrest. Then He was sent to Caiaphas, then to Pilate who questioned Him and scourged Him. After that, Pilate brought Him out to the crowd and said, “Behold the Man!” John 19:5

Pilate was essentially saying, "Here is Jesus. He is not your Messiah, He is not your king, He is not God. He is just a man."
Let us consider the man... Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. Heb. 12:3. 

What joy could possibly be worth enduring the pain, torture and humiliation of crucifixion? Could it be that Jesus would be exalted above all else in Heaven and Earth? Or that He would be King of Israel... and the world? Wouldn't that be selfish and vain of Jesus? The joy set before Jesus was redeeming the human race and all of creation, for God so loved the world.
See also John 10:11.

In The Beginning Was The Word

John 1:1, In the beginning... was the Word, and the Word was WITH God, and the Word was God.

This study begins with “in the beginning” because it requires understanding. In the beginning is a vague and indistinct phrase. There is no definite place in time specified. We naturally think of Genesis 1:1 as the beginning of the time of creation. But in John 1:1, we should consider a “time” before creation, which was not a “time” in our sense of the word, but the eternity before time, or it could mean during the time of creation. In any case, the entire triune Godhead is outside of time but works within time as well. We are here introduced to a relationship before anything is created; the relationship of “the Word” to God.

Go And Cry Out To The gods You Have Chosen

Jeremiah 2:27-28 says, "They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet when they are in trouble, they say, 'Come and save us!' Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble!"

God warns His people of old, that if they persisted in looking to their false gods in the time of prosperity--that they would have none but their idols to assist them in the season of adversity. In the same way, in times of prosperity, the unsaved not only neglect God but despise Him as well! They cast off all fear of God and serve their idols, to the utter neglect of God.

We Do Not Relinquish The Vain Pursuit!

We Do Not Relinquish The Vain Pursuit!
~Charles Simeon (unedited)

Jeremiah 2:11-13,  Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate, says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

"POP" Christianity

Not many people, in today’s modern culture, care to be part of an organization, or club, or clique unless it is popular. There is, it seems, a broad stamp of approval in being in with a group that others are eager to be part of. It offers assurance that “we’re OK” — actually better than OK; it swells our pride, which feels good; it validates our existence.

The Assurance of Spiritual Life

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, In Him (we) also trusted, after (we) heard the word of truth, the gospel of (our) salvation; in whom also, having believed, (we) were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Our inheritance is eternal life. There is no eternal life without spiritual life which is fellowship with God. He made us, who were DEAD  in sin, alive in Him, Christ. That life is forever. A spiritual life of fellowship with God is guaranteed. What is not guaranteed  is our spiritual perfection in Him... our growing into the mature man, to the measure (standard of judgment; determined extent, which is lofty) of the stature of the fullness of Christ; which is our spiritual completeness in Him. It’s not guaranteed because that part is up to us, and apparently there are some believers in the world who either don’t know that we have to grow  into it (ignorance of the word), or have decided it’s not necessary (complacency).

THE VAST NURSERY

In the "ward" called Christianity, there is a vast nursery of babes, which encompasses most of the domain. They are fed milk sporadically but it is of little nourishment. So the newborns come in, and they grow…ever so anemic.

Day Care is but one day a week. The rest of the time they are left to their own devices. Some mature to kindergarten. Few graduate beyond the elementary. The scholar is an unrecognizable mutant. This is the vast nursery of today's Christians. There are few attendants and even fewer doctors. The babes are sometimes left to lie in their own ineffectuality.

The Price of Redemption

The price of redemption was very high, not for us, but for God... probably beyond our comprehension. God, of course, is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. Nothing is impossible to Him, Luke 1:37; Jer. 32:27; Gen. 18:14; Matt. 19:26. This is not a statement of faith... it is fact.

To consider the price, we must understand what happened at the “fall” of both Adam and lucifer. satan,as he is now called, was the author and possessor of sin and death. Before Gen. 1:1 is a HUGE study. 
For us, it began in the Garden with the sacrifice of that innocent animal to clothe Adam and Eve back into a state of fellowship with God. We should note that it was God’s own sacrifice of, I believe, sheep. God Himself had to “submit” that innocent animal to death in order to take its hide. I wonder if we can understand the profound significance of what God did.

Grace in Jesus

2 Peter 3:18 says, Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to Him is the glory both now, and forever. Amen

How do we grow in Grace? Well, maybe we can search out the answer to that question in a Bible study. But allow me to introduce some thoughts and comments for discussion.

The exhortation is, we MUST grow in Grace, otherwise we remain babes in Christ coasting along on God’s loving-kindness and mercy. God, our Father, does not want that.

The Glory and Fullness of Jesus

1 John 4:16-17 AMP
We have come to know by personal observation and experience, the love which God has for us, and have believed with deep, consistent faith. God is Love, and the one who abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in him. In this union and fellowship with Him, love is made perfect among us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment with assurance and boldness to face God and not fear judgment; because as Jesus is, so are we in this world.

Thyatira: Revelation 2:18-29

 from: “The Addresses to the Seven Churches” by Hamilton Smith (unedited)

In order to rightly interpret the address to Thyatira, and the addresses that follow, it is important to see the characteristic differences between the first three addresses and the last four.

It is clear that the first three Churches set forth the condition of the whole professing Church at three successive periods of its history. Moreover, the general condition set forth by these Churches does not continue throughout the Church's history; though, indeed, the evils that develop, during the periods set forth by these Churches, continue to mark the Christian profession for all time.

Thus the united testimony of the Church that marked the Ephesian period has passed away; though the loss of first love has ever since marked the Christian profession.

Barabbas

Part of the Consider Him Series... 

I would draw our attention to Hebrews 12, verse 3, Consider Him Who Endured, and although that might be a lifetime of study and consideration, that is what I’ve been doing. 

The Greek for consider according to Vine’s Dictionary and the Interlinear is:
(an-al-og-id'-zom-ah-ee), from which we get our word ANALOGOUS. I found it interesting that analogous means “something that is similar to something else and can be compared to another.” OR... “having similar features to another and therefore able to be compared with it.”

As I Consider Him Who Endured, I give sympathetic meditation, conscientious study, careful thought, quiet deliberation, and attentive observation (because that’s what “consider” means) to... JESUS... and Barabbas. 

Comfort

2 Cor. 1:3-7, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance, so also our comfort, our encouragement, and our consolation is abundant through Christ, it is truly more than enough to endure what we must. 6 But if we are troubled and distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted and encouraged, it is for your comfort, which works in you when you patiently endure the same sufferings which we experience. 7 And our confident expectation of good for you is firmly grounded and unshaken, since we know that just as you share as partners in our sufferings, so also you share as partners in our comfort. 

Intercessory Prayer

In Isaiah 53:12, we read...
...He poured out His soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

I have been immersed in prayer this week, and it has never felt more “intercessory” than it has this week. I never really related to being an “intercessor” before, but that’s exactly what we are when we “intercede” on someone else’s behalf. I want to thank very much everyone who has prayed with me.