Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 19:17a “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross.”
The Roman soldiers took Jesus out of the Praetorium. Who came up with the idea that Jesus should bear His own cross? God did. That’s what love did. Since God loves us, it was His will that Jesus carry our crosses as one unit. Our cross became His cross. We should die for our sins and every weight we carry in this life, we deserve more. We are the sinner in God’s view. Yet our cross was put upon Him before He was put upon our cross.
He bore our cross with its shame so that we might live. If we follow Jesus, we may expect God to continue revealing His love to and through us by putting what someone else deserves upon us and then crucifying our selves upon it. We must follow in His steps to know Him and to live to love with Him.
Jesus told His followers of this life recorded in Luke 9:23. “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’”
Jesus took up His cross once and for all to put sin to death. We are to take up our crosses daily to put self to death. It is a testimony that we died to this world when Jesus died and that we have been raised to live to love with Him. Will you carry your cross today or will you refuse to? What did love do for you?

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

John 19:16 “So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.”
Have you ever realized that loving someone was going to cost you more than you previously thought, and you considered it a privilege to give it? Have you ever wanted to stop the pain, avoid the inconvenience, or run for comfort but you didn’t? What about the time your soul screamed for overcoming grace to not quit, to suffer in silence, to bear the weight and consequences of someone’s sins so they could stand before you forgiven, accepted, and know the power of the love of God?
If you have had these experiences then you know Jesus personally. You know what it was like for Jesus in the moment God gave Him over to the will of the Jews—to be crucified. Why did God allow someone’s sins to fall upon you? That you might know Jesus! That you might know and be satisfied with His love. That you might enter into the glory of God revealed in and through Jesus. How did Jesus love like this? The suffering and shame were as nothing compared to the joy set before Him (Heb. 12:2). So today and everyday when you find yourself given over to those who wish you ill, remember Hebrews 12:3 “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” That’s living to love with Jesus.

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

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