Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 19:15 “So they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’"
With the preparation of the Lamb completed and with those words of condemnation, the Passover sacrifice was sentenced to death.
Jesus was silent like Isaiah prophecied in 53:7. “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” What can we learn about love from His silence? There are times when we know it is God’s will that we bear the weight of another’s sin or ignorance. For their highest good it is best to remain silent. Such was the case here. Any words of defense or excuse would reveal a resistance to God’s will. True love loves God’s will and His being our Passover lamb was God’s will. Also to speak could easily communicate thoughts of injustice or complaint. But Jesus was suffering to satisfy divine justice once for all. What a good work! May God give us discernment to know when it is God’s will to reveal His love through us as we trust that Jesus’ death satisfied God’s justice for that sin, and we can suffer and forgive without a word. So how can we know when it is God’s will for us to suffer and remain silent? I think Jesus gave us insight when He spoke to His Father, “Forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” When someone doesn’t know what their doing, and you know they wouldn’t understand, then it is best to remain silent before them and pray for God to forgive them.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 19:13-14 “Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’"
The Pavement was a judgment seat outside the Praetorium, and there Pilate presented Jesus once again to the Jewish officials. He still had nothing by which to condemn Jesus. The Jew’s accusation that He was an imposter portraying himself to be their king didn’t seem to be worthy of the death penalty. Nevertheless, Pilate made one last fruitless appeal. Behold your king.
There Jesus stood robbed in purple, crowned with thorns, blood steaming down His face and torso. The blood of the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son had begun to be spilled. Every drop that hit The Pavement declared the love of God for His people—an everlasting love, sustained by the will of God through the incomprehensibly brutal beating. The will of God the Father authorized it, and the will of God, the Son, received and endured it. In this the definition of the love of God is revealed: the sustained direction of the will, toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost.
This kind of love flows out of the lives of those in whom Jesus lives. And in a way, very different from what Pilate meant that morning, we say to the world, “Behold my King!”

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 19:13-14 “Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’"
There isn’t time to go through all the various explanations of the “sixth hour” mentioned by John in this verse. After reading many of them, I think this one seems most plausible, reconcilable to all accounts, and meaningful. Jesus was the sacrificial Passover lamb. The Greek word pascha, here translated Passover, is also used elsewhere to refer to the Passover meal or the lamb of sacrifice. Before the lamb was offered it had to be examined by the high priest and prepared. The only timeline that makes sense is this. Jesus was arrested around 2 a.m., taken to Annas’ and the Caiaphas’ houses for examination. Then He was taken to Pilate around 6 in the morning, then to Herod for further questioning and execution. When Pilate proclaimed to the Jews, “Behold your king” at around 8 a.m., 6 hours of examination and preparation had transpired—from 2-8. This explanation brings this account into the timelines of the other gospel accounts, but it also explodes with meaning. John revealed that God prepared His Passover Lamb according to the Law to fulfill all righteousness. The Lamb of God was prepared on the preparation day of Passover, and the Lamb was ready for sacrifice. He was presented one last time to the high priests and Jewish officials.
Behold the love of God! His blood on your life means His death angel will passover your life and not destroy you. Look now at Jesus in the moment recorded here in John 19:14 and recognize and receive God’s gracious and merciful provision so He could passover your sins.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 19:12 “As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar."
James, Jesus’ brother, wrote, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Pilate was faced with a decision we all face. Will I be a friend of Jesus or a friend of the world? We can’t be friends of both. We should not be surprised when the world threatens to cancel us if we are friends of Jesus and proclaim that He is God. He is the only way to be saved from the wrath to come.
But if we love them, we must testify to Jesus, the Life. When the angel of the Lord released the apostles from jail he told them, "Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life” (Acts 5:20). May we be faithful friends of Jesus when the pressure is on.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 19:10-11 “So Pilate said to Him, ‘You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You? Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.’”
Let’s unpack this verse carefully because it could be confusing. Jesus recognized that God gave Pilate authority to crucify and therefore he, Pilate, has a responsibility to God. The fact that God had given Pilate authority to execute the death penalty was the reason the High Priest and the Jewish officials gave Jesus over to him. They didn’t have that authority. For that reason the High Priest and Jewish officials committed a greater sin than Pilate in the death of Jesus.
This truth didn’t let Pilate off the hook so to speak, but it reveals that this execution took place under God’s jurisdiction. God established government as a “minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Rom. 13:4). So Pilate was sinning against God to punish Jesus, who he knew was innocent.
But the High Priest has the responsibility to offer the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people, and he was the one who delivered Jesus to Pilate proclaiming Him to be blemished and guilty. He knowingly offered to God what was in his mind a unacceptable offering. He is guilty of the greater sin.
The reason we live to love with Jesus is the reality that everything we do is an offering of worship to God because we are priests serving in God’s temple. Have we been guilty of great sin by offering to God actions and words that we know are unacceptable for His consumption?
When we love, we know we offer that which is a fragrant aroma of Jesus.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com