Herod Finally Meets Jesus!

And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
— Luke 23:8

After Pilate discovered Jesus was from Galilee, the jurisdiction of Herod, the Roman governor quickly sent Jesus off to see Herod. At that time, Herod was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover with the Jewish people. But before we get into Herod’s excited anticipation to meet Jesus, let’s first see which Herod this verse is talking about.

Several men named Herod ruled in Israel over the years. The first and most famous was “Herod the Great,” who was made the first governor of Galilee when he was twenty-five years old. His kingship was launched by the order of Octavius and Marc Antony — the same Marc Antony who had a famous relationship with Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. Flavius Josephus, the well-known Jewish historian, recorded that Herod the Great died in 4 BC.

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After the death of Herod the Great, his territory was divided among his three sons. These three sons (also named “Herod”) were as follows:

Herod Archelaus

Herod Archelaus was made governor of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea in 4 BC when his father died, and he ruled until approximately 6 AD. This makes him the Herod who was ruling when Mary, Joseph, and Jesus returned from their flight to Egypt (see Matthew 2:22).

When Herod Archelaus ascended to the throne in 4 BC, things almost immediately went sour for him. The first problem he confronted was a rebellion incited among Jewish students by their teachers. Because the Ten Commandments forbid graven images, these teachers encouraged their students to tear down and destroy the imperial golden eagle that Rome had ordered to be hung on the entrance to the temple. As punishment, Herod Archelaus ordered these teachers and students to be burned alive. The massacre continued until three thousand Jews had been slaughtered during the Feast of Passover. Soon Herod Archelaus journeyed to Rome to be crowned by the Emperor Augustus. However, fresh riots ensued in his absence, resulting in more than two thousand people being crucified.

The Gospel of Matthew indicates that Joseph and Mary were troubled about settling in the territories ruled by Herod Archelaus and therefore made their home in Galilee (Matthew 2:22). Herod Archelaus was so despised that the Jews and Samaritans, usually foes, united together and corporately appealed to Rome to request that he should be removed from power. In 6 AD, Herod Archelaus was banished to Gaul (modern-day France) and died before the year 18.

Herod Philip

Herod Philip was educated in Rome, along with his brothers Herod Archelaus and Herod Antipas. When his father, Herod the Great, died in 4 BC, Herod Philip became governor of the distant regions in the northeast territories of his father’s kingdom. These territories included:

•  Gaulanitis — known today as the Golan Heights.
•  Batanaea — the territory east of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.
•  Trachonitis and Auranitis (or Hauran) — the southern part of modern-day Syria.

The Jews were a minority among Herod Philip’s subjects. Most people under his rule were of Syrian or Arabian ancestry, but he had Greek and Roman subjects as well, usually living in the cities. Herod Philip died in the year 34 AD after having ruled his kingdom for thirty-seven years. Since he left no heir, the Roman Emperor Tiberius directed his territories to be added to the region of Syria.

Flavius Josephus wrote that Herod Philip was moderate and quiet in the conduct of his life and government. When Tiberius died in 37 AD, his successor, Caligula, restored the principality almost in its entirety and appointed Herod Philip’s nephew, Herod Agrippa, as the new ruler — but he’s another story that we won’t get into today!

Herod Antipas

This leads us to the third son of Herod the Great — Herod Antipas, the same Herod before whom Jesus appeared in Luke 23:8 and who had long desired to personally meet Jesus. What do we know of this Herod?

Herod Antipas was assigned tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea (located on the east bank of the Jordan). The Roman emperor Augustus affirmed this decision, and the reign of Herod Antipas began in the year 4 BC when his father died.

The name “Antipas” is a compound of two Greek words, anti and pas. The word anti means against, and the word pas means all or everyone. Once compounded into one word, it means one who is against everything and everyone. This name alone should tell us something about the personality of this wicked ruler.

In the year 17 AD, Herod Antipas founded Tiberias, a new capital he built to honor the Roman emperor, Tiberius. However, the building of this city caused an enormous disturbance among his Jewish subjects when they discovered it was being constructed on top of an old Jewish graveyard. Because these graves had been desecrated, devout Jews refused to enter Tiberias for a very long time.

Herod Antipas tried to style himself in a way that would appeal to the Jewish people, even participating in national Jewish celebrations. But the people were not convinced by this act and viewed him as an insincere fraud. Even Jesus compared Herod Antipas to a fox — an animal that was considered to be the epitome of trickery and that was usually unclean and infected with sickness. In other words, when Jesus called Herod a fox, it was the equivalent of saying he was a sneaky, lying, deceiving, dishonest, infected, and sick individual. Those were pretty strong words for Jesus!

Herod Antipas’ first marriage was to the daughter of an Arabian leader. However, he divorced this woman so he could marry the ex-wife of his half-brother, a woman named Herodias. Taking the ex-wife of one’s brother was not uncommon, but Herodias was also the daughter of another half-brother, Aristobulus. In Roman law, marriage to one’s niece was also permitted, but marriage to a woman who was both one’s sister-in-law and one’s niece was most unusual. This unusual marriage drew the attention and criticism of John the Baptist. The Gospel of Mark records that John the Baptist died because of the public stand he took against Herod Antipas’ second marriage.

In the year 37, Herod Antipas’ new wife, Herodias, disagreed when her brother Agrippa became king in place of Herod Philip. She thought that the royal title should not be given to Herod Agrippa but to her husband and made plans accordingly for Herod Antipas to be appointed king. Adamantly disagreeing with Herodias, the Roman emperor exiled both her and her husband to live the rest of their lives in Gaul, which is modern-day France.

Luke 23:8 tells us that Herod Antipas was eager to finally meet Jesus: “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.” Notice this verse says “And when Herod saw Jesus.…” The word “saw” is from the Greek word horao, meaning to see; to behold; to delightfully view; a scrutinizing look; or to look with the intent to examine.

This word horao paints a very important picture for us of exactly what happened when Jesus finally stood before Herod Antipas. It conveys the idea that Herod was excited and delighted to finally behold the miracle-worker he had heard so much about. Once Jesus stood before him, Herod literally looked Him over, scrutinizing and examining every detail of the Man who appeared before him.

The next part of the verse confirms the exhilaration and jubilation Herod Antipas felt about seeing Jesus. It says, “he was exceeding glad.…”  The Greek text uses two words, echari lian. The word echari is from the word chairo, the Greek word for joy. The Greek word lian means much, great, or exceedingly. These two words together suggest extreme excitement or someone who is ecstatic about something. In other words, Herod Antipas was so “hyper” about having the chance to meet Jesus that he was nearly jumping up and down on the inside!

This should tell us how well known Jesus had become during His ministry. If Herod Antipas was this excited to meet Him, it’s no wonder that the scribes and elders were apprehensive about His widespread popularity. Even the nobility longed for a chance to see Jesus’ miracles!

That’s why the next part of the verse says, “…for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him….” The word “desirous” is the Greek word thelo, which means to will or to wish. However, the construction used in this Greek phrase intensifies the wish, making it a very strong wish or desire. According to this verse, Herod had this strong desire for “a long season” — a phrase taken from the Greek words ek hikanos chronos. The word hikanos means many, considerable, or much. The word chronos means time, such as a season, epoch, era, or any specified duration of time. These words together could be translated for many years, for a long time, or for many seasons.

Why had Herod Antipas longed to see Jesus for many years? The verse says, “…because he had heard many things of him….” Jesus was a name that the Herod household had heard for years! I’m sure all three Herod boys — Archelaus, Philip, and Antipas — heard tales about:

•  Jesus’ supernatural birth.
•  The kings from the east who had come to acknowledge Him.
•  The attempt of their father, Herod the Great, to kill Jesus by ordering all the babies in Bethlehem to be murdered.
• Jesus and His parents slipping into Egypt and waiting for the right moment to come back into Israel.
•  The ministry of Jesus touching the nation with healing and delivering power.

Stories of Jesus must have been very familiar to the Herod household. Herod Antipas had longed for a chance to meet this famous personality for many years. Jesus was a living legend, and now He was standing in his presence!

At the end of this verse, we discover the reason Herod Antipas was most excited to meet Jesus. The verse continues to tell us, “…he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.” The Greek word for “hoped” is elpidzo, meaning to hope, but the construction used in this verse is similar to the word thelo, noted above, which means to wish. Just as Herod’s wish to see Jesus was a very strong wish, now his hope to see some miracle performed by Jesus was a very strong hope or an earnest expectation.

Herod was expecting to “…have seen some miracle done by him.” The word “see” is the Greek word horao, the same word used in the first part of this verse when we are told that Herod was excited to see Jesus. Now this word is used to let us know Herod was euphoric about his chance to see some “miracle” done by Jesus.

The word “miracle” is the Greek word semeion, which is a sign, a mark, or a token that verifies or authenticates an alleged report. It is used in the Gospels primarily to depict miracles and supernatural events, which means the purpose of such miracles and supernatural events is to verify and authenticate the message of the Gospel.

But Luke 23:9 tells us that Jesus did not work miracles on demand for Herod, nor did He answer the large number of questions that Herod put to Him that day. As a result of His silence, the following verse tells us, “And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him” (v. 10).

Notice that the chief priests and scribes followed Jesus from Pilate’s palace to Herod’s residence. When Jesus performed no miracle for Herod, the scribes and elders, most of whom belonged to the sect of the Sadducees who didn’t believe in the supernatural, seized the moment to start screaming and yelling uncontrollably. The word “vehemently” is the Greek word eutonus, meaning at full pitch, at full volume, strenuously, or vigorously. In other words, these religious leaders weren’t just slightly raising their voices; they were what we might call “screaming their heads off”! Most likely they were screaming accusations right in Jesus’ face, saying things like, “Some miracle worker You are! You have no power! You’re a fraud! If You can work miracles, why don’t You work one right now! You’re nothing but a charlatan!”

That day Herod was left with the impression that Jesus was nothing more than a spiritual fraud. Because Jesus didn’t perform on demand as Herod wished, this governor’s expectations were dashed, causing him to unleash his rage against Jesus. In the short time that followed, Jesus took the full brunt of this wicked ruler’s wrath.

I’m sure you’ve been in situations when you’ve been railed at because you failed to meet someone’s demands. Can you think of a time when something like this happened to you? How did you respond? Did you yell and scream back at that person when he vented his anger at you, or were you able to remain quiet and controlled as Jesus did that day before Herod Antipas and the chief priests and elders?

Life will occasionally take you through difficult places. One of those hard places is when you discover that people are disappointed with your performance. If you find yourself in this kind of predicament, remember that Jesus failed to meet the expectations of Herod Antipas (although that was probably the only person whose expectations Jesus ever failed to meet)! When you find yourself in such a place, go hide yourself away for a few minutes and call out to the Lord. He has been there; He understands; and He will help you know how you must respond! 

My Prayer for Today

Lord, help me control myself when a project into which I’ve put my whole heart and soul goes unappreciated and rejected by my boss, my parents, my pastor, my fellow workers, or my friends. Help me take advantage of moments like these to learn how to be quiet and controlled. Please use these times in my life to help me mature and to learn how to keep my mouth shut. I know You understand the emotions that accompany this kind of disappointment, so who else can I turn to but You to help me in these kinds of ordeals?

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

My Confession for Today

I confess that I am self-controlled when people get angry or upset with me. Even when others vent their anger by yelling and screaming, I don’t yell and scream back at them. In these moments, the Spirit of God rules my heart, mind, and emotions, and I am able to remain quiet and controlled. When I find myself in this situation, I hide myself away in prayer for a few minutes and call out to the Lord. He helps me understand the right way and the right time to respond.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

Questions to Answer

1. Can you recall a time when after putting forth your very best efforts, you discovered that those efforts weren’t appreciated or considered acceptable by those you were trying to please?

2. When those you were trying to satisfy informed you about how displeased they were with your performance, did you graciously listen and learn, or did you put up a fight in your self-defense?

3. Looking back on that situation and knowing what you know now, how would you respond differently if you could turn the clock back and do it all over again?

Pilate Looks for a Loophole

When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.
— Luke 23:6,7

Pilate had never had a problem with causing bloodshed in the past, so it seems strange that he balked at the thought of crucifying Jesus. As governor and the chief legal authority of the land, Pilate had been invested by Rome with the power to decide who would and wouldn’t live. This Roman governor was infamous for his cold-hearted, insensitive, and cruel style of leadership and had never found it difficult to order the death of a criminal — until now.

There was something inside Pilate that recoiled at the idea of crucifying Jesus. The Bible doesn’t state exactly why Pilate didn’t want to crucify Him, but it makes one wonder what he saw in Jesus’ eyes when he interrogated Him. We do know Pilate was shocked at the manner in which Jesus carried Himself, for Matthew 27:14 tells us that Pilate “marveled greatly” at Jesus.

The words “marveled greatly” are from the Greek word thaumadzo, which means to wonder, to be at a loss of words, or to be shocked and amazed. A man like this Jesus had never stood before Pilate before, and the governor was obviously disturbed at the thought of murdering Him.

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In fact, Pilate was so disturbed that he decided to probe deeper by asking questions. He was looking for a loophole that would enable him to escape this trap the Jews had set both for Jesus and for himself as well. Indeed, the Jewish leaders had carefully schemed a trap with three potential results, all of which would make them very happy. The threefold purpose of this trap was as follows:

1. To see Jesus judged by the Roman court, thus ruining His reputation and guaranteeing His crucifixion, while at the same time vindicating themselves in the eyes of the people.

To ensure that this happened, the Jewish leaders falsified charges that made Jesus appear to be a bona fide political offender. These were the charges: 1) that He had perverted the whole nation — a religious charge that was the responsibility of the Sanhedrin to judge; 2) that He had commanded people not to pay their taxes to Rome; and 3) that He claimed to be king (see Luke 23:2). According to Roman law, Jesus should be crucified for claiming to be king. If these charges were proven true, Pilate was bound by law to crucify Him. If this is what followed, the first purpose of their scheme would have worked.

2. To see Pilate wiped out and permanently removed from power on the charge that he was unfaithful to the Roman emperor because he would not crucify a man who claimed to be a rival king to the emperor.

Had Pilate declined to crucify Jesus, this rejection would have given the Jewish leaders the ammunition they needed to prove to Rome that this governor should be removed from power because he was a traitor to the emperor. News would have reached the emperor of Rome that Pilate had permitted a rival king to live, and Pilate would have been charged with treason (see John 19:12).

It is interesting that this same charge was brought against Jesus. It was a charge that most assuredly would have led to Pilate’s own death or banishment. If Jesus was allowed to go free by the Roman court, the Jewish leadership would have been thrilled, for then they would have had a legal reason to expel Pilate from their land. Thus, the second purpose of their scheme would have worked.

3. To take Jesus back into their own court in the Sanhedrin if Pilate would not crucify Him, where they had the religious authority to stone Him to death for claiming to be the Son of God.

The truth is, the Jewish leaders never needed to deliver Jesus to Pilate because the court of the Sanhedrin already had the religious authority to kill Jesus by stoning for claiming to be the Son of God. Even if Pilate refused to crucify Jesus, they fully intended to kill Him anyway (see John 19:7).

So we see that the trip to Pilate’s court of law was designed to turn Jesus’ arrest into a political catastrophe that would possibly help the Jewish leaders get rid of Pilate as well. But if Jesus had been freed by the Roman court, they intended to kill Him anyway. This was the third part of their scheme.

The solution to this mess was easy! All Pilate had to do was crucify Jesus; then he would have happy Jewish elders on his hands; no charges of treason leveled against him in Rome; strengthened ties to the religious community; and a guarantee of remaining in power. Pilate just had to say, “CRUCIFY HIM!” and this political game would be over. But he couldn’t bring himself to utter those words!

Instead, Pilate gave Jesus three opportunities to speak up in His own defense. But Jesus said nothing. Isaiah 53:7 (NKJV) says, “…As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” According to the law, Jesus should have automatically been declared “guilty” because He passed up three chances to defend Himself. But this time Pilate simply could not permit himself to follow the due course of judicial process. He sought instead to find a way out of this dilemma.

As noted above, perhaps Pilate saw something in Jesus’ eyes that affected him. Maybe Jesus’ kind and gracious behavior grabbed Pilate’s heart. Others have speculated that Pilate’s wife may have secretly been a follower of Jesus who told her husband about His goodness and the miracles that had followed His life. Matthew 27:19 reports that Pilate’s wife was so upset about Jesus’ impending death that she even had upsetting dreams about Him in the night. She sent word about her dreams to Pilate, begging him not to crucify Jesus.

As Pilate probed deeper in his interrogation, he discovered that Jesus was from Galilee. At long last, Pilate could breathe a sigh of relief. He had found the loophole that shifted the full weight of the decision to his old enemy, Herod! Galilee was under the legal jurisdiction of Herod. What a coincidence! Herod just “happened” to be in Jerusalem that week to participate in the Feast of Passover!

Pilate promptly ordered Jesus to be transferred to the other side of the city to the residence where Herod was staying with his royal entourage. The Bible tells us, “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him” (Luke 23:8). However, it didn’t take long for Herod to get angry with Jesus and return Him to Pilate!

What do you think went through Jesus’ mind as He stood before first a Roman governor, then a Jewish king — only to be shipped back to the Roman governor again? Have you been feeling knocked around and passed from one authority figure to another at home, at church, in the workplace, or in the governmental system? If so, you can feel free to talk to Jesus about it, because He really understands the predicament you find yourself in right now!

Hebrews 4:15,16 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Since Jesus understands your dilemma, I advise you to speak freely to Him about the emotional ups and downs you feel as a result of your situation. His throne is a throne of grace — a place where you can obtain mercy and find grace to help in your time of need.

So go before God’s throne today. He will hear you, answer you, and give you the power and wisdom you need to press through this time in your life!

My Prayer for Today

Lord, I am so glad You understand when I feel confused about the person I am supposed to report to and to whom I am supposed to be accountable at work and at church. Sometimes I feel like my leaders send me back and forth, not knowing what to do with me or to whom I am supposed to report, which makes it hard for me to do my job. I know that those who are over me have their own challenges, so I want to be helpful to them, not judgmental of them. Please give me the wisdom to know how to behave in a godly manner in this environment.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

My Confession for Today

I confess that I have the mind of Christ for my situation. I am not in confusion; rather, I walk in peace in every situation. Because Jesus has been in my same place, I go to Him to tell Him about my situation, and He gives me all the mercy and grace I need to be successful in this place where He has called me!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

Questions to Answer

1. Do you feel like you are knocked around from one authority to another at your job or in your position at church? Are you confused about whom you are really supposed to be accountable to?

2. Have you ever asked for clarification regarding this matter? If you didn’t understand what you were told, did you seek further clarification to avoid confusion?

3. If you’ve done all you can to properly report to the authorities who are over you and they still don’t like the way you are reporting to them, have you prayed and asked the Lord to help you become what your authorities need you to be?

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest thou that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
— Matthew 5:23-24

Have you ever been hurt or offended, but tried to deal with the problem by pretending nothing was wrong? You made an effort to smile, regardless of whether you felt like it or not, and then forced yourself to put on a bright, shining, happy face as though nothing was bothering you. You smoothed the wrinkles out of your forehead, unfurrowed your eyebrows, and prayed that people didn’t see reflected in your eyes the conflict that was raging in your heart.

You inwardly surmised, If I can keep up this facade, no one will ever detect my disgust! However, in spite of your efforts, the bottled-up hurt and offense inevitably surfaced. Perhaps you ran into the offender at church and said hello, but the other person didn’t reply exactly as you thought he should. Maybe he simply didn’t have time to talk because of a previously scheduled appointment, or maybe he was just being plain rude. In either case, your flesh slipped into a silent mode of self-justification, mud-slinging, and name-calling. Inwardly you may have thought poisonous thoughts like: That’s exactly what I expected from that person! I don’t know why I even try! He’ll never change!

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Suddenly you were consumed with negative feelings you couldn’t control. You became a prisoner to your own emotions. Those negative thoughts kept rolling around in your heart and soul, tearing you up on the inside. By not bringing those wounded emotions into the light, you allowed them to fester in darkness and wreak destruction in your life. And to top it off, your inner ugliness revealed that you are just as “in the wrong” as the other person!

Learning how to deal with these conflicts, resolve them, and move in the love of God is key to achieving victory in our relationships and in our lives. We must deal with our hearts and then make sure our outward actions reflect a walk of love. Part of those outward steps may be going to your offender to confess your hurt — or acknowledge his or her hurt — and make your relationship right both with that person and with God. You might say, “But, oh, this is so hard and embarrassing to do.” The truth is, doing the right thing is not always easy.

Our need to confess our hurt and make things right usually comes to our minds when we are in worship. In fact, that’s the essence of what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23,24. In those verses, He told us, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest thou that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Let’s look at this verse and see what Jesus commanded us to do.

Jesus was saying that as you bring a gift to the altar — whether it’s a financial gift, an act of worship, a prayer, or simply your decision to draw nearer to God — you may “remember” suddenly, in a flash of a moment, that there is an issue between you and another person. If an issue has suddenly been quickened to your mind when you come before God in prayer or worship, it is likely the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart in order to bring an issue to your attention.

Maybe it is something you were not aware of, or maybe it is something that you’ve tried to ignore or just didn’t want to face. But when the Holy Spirit quickens it to you, that is a game-changer. It makes you personally responsible for whatever He has revealed to you. And Jesus said that if you suddenly remember your brother has “ought against” you, it is your God-given responsibility to put forth the effort as quickly as possible to make it right.

In Greek, the word “ought” is the little word ti, which means anything at all. In other words, this doesn’t have to be something that you would deem a major issue. If the Holy Spirit brings anything to your mind that wrongfully exists between you and a fellow believer — regardless of what it is, how big it is, or how small it is — Jesus commands you to leave your gift at the altar, go find that individual, and be “reconciled.” It may seem like a minor issue. But if the Holy Spirit has quickened it to your mind, you need to treat the situation seriously and immediately get “reconciled” with that individual.

The word “reconciled” in Matthew 5:24 is the Greek word diallassomai, which refers to mutual concession after mutual hostility. The idea of concession is giving up an argument, surrendering a point, conceding to someone else, or letting something go and refusing to let it be an issue. In other words, even though the issue is not totally agreed upon, you have at least agreed to be “right” with each other.

The sad fact is that most of the problems that people hold on to and allow to wreak havoc in their lives are truly insignificant. Many people are sent reeling into a maze of emotions over meaningless issues, which they subsequently magnify and exaggerate in their minds to a point of absurdity — literally making mountains out of molehills. We’ve all been guilty of this from time to time.

If I were to ask everyone reading this to send me stories of silly conflicts they’ve experienced, I could fill pages and pages with their testimonies. We could sit and roar with laughter over the silly things that upset people and see just how foolish we all can be. If we then magnify our personal experiences by those of thousands of other people, we’ll begin to catch a glimpse of how many hours of people’s lives are dominated by senseless, meaningless, unimportant debate.

Most of life’s conflicts fall into this category. They are small, temporary, ridiculous, emotional flare-ups that can later be seen in their true light — perhaps humorous or even stupid, but certainly not worthy of getting upset about.

However, these trivial conflicts can easily become serious when we refuse out of pride to admit our error, apologize, and let go of our offense. When pride comes into the picture and someone gets offended, a minor incident that should be laughed off will quickly become a wall that separates. Anytime something small becomes a major issue, we need to back up and reexamine what we are thinking and feeling. Therefore, look inward and ask yourself, Is this problem really so serious, or are we letting this matter get way out of hand?

Once you’ve done what the Holy Spirit has told you to do — and you’ve done all you know to do to clear the air and to make wrongs right — the last of verse 24 tells you what to do: “…Then come and offer thy gift.” Hopefully, the other person has received you, but even if he or she doesn’t, at least you can rest knowing you’ve done your best. You’ve done what is necessary to keep a clear conscience and a clean heart before God. Now it’s time to enjoy sweet, unhindered fellowship in the presence of the Lord.

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, here in Your light, I see the light of Your truth shining on the reality of the nonsense I’ve allowed to become a dividing wall of offense. I acknowledge my part in this, and I repent of thinking and responding contrary to the love of God. I will not ignore the situation any longer or harden my heart in pride. In obedience to Your Word, I will humbly go to my brother with the sincere desire to make this right. This may be difficult and somewhat embarrassing, but a clear conscience and unhindered fellowship with You means more to me than anything. As I seek to make peace, I entrust the outcome to You, Lord.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I keep a clear conscience toward God that is void of offense toward any man. I keep myself in the love of God as I continually seek peace and pursue it. I refuse to make mountains out of molehills and allow petty nonsense to escalate into an offense that will produce bitterness in me or in others. I am quick to repent and also quick to forgive. Holy Spirit, I ask You to quicken my heart any time I need to make things right with anyone for any reason. I commit to You that I will do what You tell me to do so I can live peaceably with everyone and enjoy unbroken fellowship with You at all times.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Have you ever been in a time of worship when suddenly your mind became aware of a relationship that needed to be made right — and that you needed to take care of it before you could proceed with anything else in your life?
2. Is there someone who has “ought against” you right now? Or who is that person whom you have “ought against”? Based on today’s Sparkling Gem, what is Jesus asking you to do about it?

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
— Romans 12:1

It is no secret that the desires of your flesh are often in direct contradiction with God’s plan for your life. When God calls for moderation, the flesh strongly cries out for excess, and it will fight tooth and nail to get its way. That is why the apostle Paul began Romans 12:1 by intensely pleading and commanding you to hear and follow through with obedience to his message. He wrote, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I especially want to draw your attention to the word “beseech” at the beginning of this verse. In Greek, it is the word parakaleo, which is a compound of the words para and kaleo. The word para means alongside, and the word kaleo means to call or to beckon. When these two words are compounded, the new word depicts a person who comes alongside someone else, as close as he can get, and then begins to passionately call out, plead, beckon, or beg another person or group of people to do something. In fact, the sense of pleading is so strong in the word parakaleo, one expositor has suggested that this verse figuratively shows the apostle Paul on his knees, pleading with his readers to hear what he is saying and to do what he is requesting. This is no mere asking; it is Paul prayerfully pleading for his readers to hear his petition and obey it.

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However, it is important to note that the word parakaleo actually holds another layer of meaning. In New Testament times, this word was also used to describe military commanders who would passionately address their troops before sending them into battle. In this context, the word parakaleo means to exhort, and it depicts a leader urging his soldiers to take action, prepare themselves for a fight, and then brave the imminent battle with courage and a commitment to win, regardless of the difficulties that might lie ahead. This is no suggestion — it is a command! Thus, Paul’s use of the word parakaleo in Romans 12:1 reveals that in addition to earnestly pleading with his readers, he was commanding them as a leader and exhorting them to obey his request. What Paul was about to convey to his audience would require great fortitude and commitment on their part, so it was vital that they entered this spiritual battle with great strength of courage.

What was this difficult and monumental task Paul was urging us to intentionally engage in to fully accomplish? It was to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God.

Paul continued, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice….” The phrase “ye present” is a translation of the Greek word paristemi, and it means to present a sacrifice or to dedicate something to the Lord. In fact, it is the same word used in Luke 2:22 to describe the moment when Joseph and Mary presented Jesus to God and dedicated Him in the Temple. The verse states, “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord.” The word “present” in this verse is paristemi — the same word used in Romans 12:1. Just as Joseph and Mary presented Jesus to God and fully dedicated him to His service, Paul was exhorting us to present and dedicate our human bodies to God.

Because of his choice of language, there is no doubt that Paul was referring to the human body when he urged his readers to “present your bodies a living sacrifice” in Romans 12:1. The word “bodies” is the Greek word soma, which specifically refers to the physical body. Paul was calling on believers everywhere to surrender their physical bodies to the service of God — to put their bodies on the altar and dedicate them to God as “a living sacrifice.”

Paul knew this endeavor would be difficult because the human body by its very nature does not want to be laid on the altar. Flesh desperately desires to be in full control of itself and will actively resist God’s cry for surrender. So like a military commander, Paul exhorted his audience to take charge of their physical bodies and to surrender them to God regardless of what their flesh was telling them to do.

Paul’s language in this verse is peculiar, because in New Testament times, there was no such thing as a living sacrifice when it came to the sacrifice of animals. All sacrifices were dead and thus had no voice or ability to resist. When a sacrificial animal was killed on an altar, the act was final, and the animal couldn’t protest or scream out after the fact that it didn’t want to be sacrificed. Yet in Romans 12:1, God calls on us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. He seeks living human beings who belong wholly to Him and who choose to stay on the altar of their own free will. In other words, we are to be completely surrendered to Him, fully dedicated to His purpose, and living entirely for Him — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

So take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you struggle with surrendering your body to the Lord and remaining a “living sacrifice”?
• What do your physical habits reveal about the current state of your surrender to God?
• Does your body call the shots, or is Jesus the Lord of your body?

These questions may be difficult to acknowledge, but they are vitally important. If you find that it’s difficult to keep your body dedicated to God, don’t be too shocked or disappointed in yourself. Realize it’s a challenge for everyone, but don’t give yourself any slack! Make a quality decision today to continually recommit the ownership and lordship of your body to Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice.

As we’ve seen, it’s what your Heavenly Father asks for — the total surrender of your body, its habits, and its actions. He wants you on the altar, and He wants all of you. He knows that it is as you willingly choose to adopt that position of utter surrender to Him that His Spirit will be able to work in you and through you to become everything He created you to be.

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, Jesus asked us why we call Him Lord, yet fail to do what He tells us to do. The one I obey is the one I truly serve. Today I see areas where I have allowed the voice of my flesh to call the shots. Instead of mastering and subduing my flesh into silence, I have silenced the voice of my spirit that calls for me to present my body as a living sacrifice in obedient surrender to You. Father, I humble myself beneath Your mighty hand, and I repent for the ways I have indulged the carnal mind, which is not subject to You. I judge that as rebellion and I refuse to give it place any longer. Father, I thank You for Your great mercy in opening the eyes of my understanding to see this as You see it. I choose to submit to You and to resist the devil’s attempts to exploit my flesh to gain access to my life. You alone, Lord Jesus, have the right to lead me and conform my thoughts to Your will.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I make a decisive dedication of my body and my faculties to the Lord. I choose to follow the example of my Lord Jesus, who learned obedience through the things He suffered by walking in continual obedience to the will of the Father. I choose to make a continual commitment to refuse to live life according to fleshly dictates. Although this may be the biggest fight of my life, I decide and decree that this is a fight that will be won as I yield to the power of the Greater One inside me!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Has there been a concrete moment you can recall when you presented your body to Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice? If yes, when was that moment? If no, why not do it today before you do anything else or go anywhere else? It will change your life!
2. In what areas of your life do you battle with surrendering your body to the Lordship of Jesus? What steps can you take to make this process of submission easier?
3. Why don’t you make a list of the areas that you still need to surrender to the Lord? At least if you have a list, you’ll be aware of what areas you need to present to the Lord and work on committing to Him.

Being Confident of God’s Plan

And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
— Matthew 27:2

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt like you were surrounded and besieged by control freaks who were obsessed with keeping everything that moved under their monitoring control? If you’ve been in a situation like this before, you know how hard it is to function in that kind of environment.

Well, at the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth, Israel was overwhelmed with scads of leaders who were obsessed with the notion of holding on to the reins of power. This paranoia was so epidemic that it had spread to both the religious and political world. The high priest, along with his scribes and elders, were suspicious and paranoid of anyone who appeared to be growing in popularity. The political leaders installed by Rome to preside over Israel were just as paranoid, looking behind every nook and cranny for opponents and constantly struggling every day of their lives to keep power in their grip.

Israel was under the enemy control of Rome, an occupying force that the Jews despised. They hated the Romans for their pagan tendencies, for pushing Roman language and culture on them, for the taxes they were required to pay to Rome — and that’s just a few of the reasons the Jews hated the Romans.

Because of the political turmoil in Israel, few political leaders from Rome held power for very long, and those who succeeded did so using cruelty and brutality. The land was full of revolts, rebellions, insurgencies, assassinations, and endless political upheavals. The ability to rule long in this environment required a ruthless, self-concerned leader who was willing to do anything necessary to maintain a position of power. This leads us to Pontius Pilate, who was just that type of man.

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After Herod Archelaus was removed from power (see April 18 to find out more about the three sons of Herod the Great), Judea was placed in the care of a Roman procurator. This was a natural course of events, for the Roman Empire was already divided into approximately forty provinces, each governed by a procurator — a position that was the equivalent of a governor. It was normal for a procurator to serve in his position for twelve to thirty-six months. However, Pilate governed Judea for ten years, beginning in the year 26 AD and concluding in the year 36 AD. This ten-year span of time is critical, for it means Pilate was governor of Judea throughout the entire length of Jesus’ ministry. The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, noted that Pilate was ruthless and unsympathetic and that he failed to comprehend and appreciate how important the Jew’s religious beliefs and convictions were to them.

In addition to the normal responsibilities a procurator possessed, Pilate also ruled as the supreme authority in legal matters. As an expert at Roman law, many decisions were brought to him for final judgment. Because of this high-ranking legal position, he had the final say-so in nearly all legal affairs for the territory of Judea. However, even though Pilate held this awesome legal power in his hands, he dreaded cases having to do with religion and often permitted such cases to be passed into the court of the Sanhedrin, over which Caiaphas the high priest presided.

Pilate lived at Herod’s palace, located in Caesarea. Because it was the official residence of the procurator, a military force of about 3,000 Roman soldiers was stationed there to protect the Roman governor. Pilate disliked the city of Jerusalem and recoiled from making visits there. But at the time of the feasts when the city of Jerusalem was filled with guests, travelers, and strangers, there was a greater potential of unrest, turbulence, and disorder, so Pilate and his troops would come into the city of Jerusalem to guard and protect the peace of the population. This was the reason Pilate was in the city of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

As a highly political man, Pilate knew how to play the political game. The Jews he ruled were also well-versed at playing the political game with him. In fact, so many complaints had been filed in Rome about Pilate’s unkind and ruthless style of ruling that the threat of an additional complaint was often all that was needed for the Jews to manipulate Pilate to do their bidding. This no doubt affected Pilate’s decision to crucify Jesus.

That day the high priest, the Sanhedrin, and the entire mob, insisted that Jesus be crucified. Pilate wanted to know the reason for this demand, so they answered him, “…We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He himself is Christ a King” (Luke 23:2).

Pilate knew the Jews were jealous of Jesus. But politically the charges they brought against Jesus put him in a very bad position. What if the news reached Rome that Jesus had perverted the nation, teaching the people to withhold their taxes and claiming to be a counter King in place of the Roman emperor? It would be political suicide for Pilate to do nothing about that kind of situation. The Jewish leaders were well aware of this when they fabricated these charges against Jesus. They knew exactly what political strings to pull to get Pilate to do what they wanted — and they were pulling every string they held in their hands.

The Jewish people loathed Pilate for his cruelty and inadequate care of his subjects. The kind of brutality that made him so infamous and hated can be seen in Luke 13:1, where it mentions that Pilate slaughtered a number of Galileans and then mixed their blood together with the sacrifices. Appalling and sick as this act may sound, it is in accordance with many other vicious actions instigated under Pilate’s rule as procurator of Judea.

Another example of Pilate’s callousness can be seen in an incident that occurred when a prophet claimed to possess a supernatural gift that enabled him to locate consecrated vessels, which he alleged had been secretly hidden by Moses. When this prophet announced that he would unearth these vessels, Samaritans turned out in large numbers to observe the event. Pilate, who thought the entire affair was a disguise for some other political or military activity, dispatched Roman forces to assault and massacre the crowd that had gathered. In the end, it became apparent that nothing political had been intended.

The Samaritans felt such great loss for those who died, they formally requested that the governor of Syria intervene in this case. Their complaints of Pilate became so numerous that he was eventually summoned to Rome to give account for his actions before the Emperor Tiberius himself. But before Pilate could reach Rome to counter the charges that were brought against him, the Emperor Tiberius had died.

Outside the Gospels, Pilate is not mentioned again in the New Testament. Historical records show that the procurator of Syria brought some sort of accusations against Pilate in the year 36 AD. These indictments resulted in his removal from office and exile to Gaul (modern-day France). Eusebius, the well-known early Christian historian, later wrote that Pilate fell into misfortune under the wicked Emperor Caligula and lost many privileges. According to Eusebius, this man Pilate — who was ultimately responsible for the trial, judgment, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus and who had ruled Judea ruthlessly and mercilessly for ten years — finally committed suicide.

With this history now behind us, let’s look at Matthew 27:2. It says regarding Jesus, “And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.” The word “bound” is the Greek word desantes, from the word deo, the same word that would be used to describe the binding, tying up, or securing of an animal. I am confident that this was precisely the connotation Matthew had in mind, for the next phrase uses a word that was common in the world of animal caretakers.

The verse tells us that they “led him away.” These words come from the Greek word apago. The word apago is used for a shepherd who ties a rope about the neck of his sheep and then leads it down the path to where it needs to go (see April 13). Just as the soldiers had led Jesus to Caiaphas, now they slipped a rope about His neck and walked the “Lamb of God” to Pontius Pilate.

The Bible says that once Jesus was in Pilate’s jurisdiction, they then “…delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.” The word “delivered” is the word paradidomi, the same word we saw when Jesus committed Himself to the Father who judges righteously (see April 13). However, in this case, the meaning would more likely be to commit, to yield, to transmit, to deliver, or to hand something over to someone else.

This means that when the high priest ordered Jesus to be taken to Pilate, he officially made the issue Pilate’s problem. The high priest took Jesus to Pilate; delivered Him fully into Pilate’s hands; and then left Pilate with the responsibility of finding Him guilty and crucifying Him.

Matthew 27:11 says, “And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.” Pilate asked a direct question, but Jesus refused to directly answer him. Matthew 27:12 goes on to say, “And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.” So for a second time, Jesus refused to answer or refute the charges that were brought up against Him.

Matthew 27:13,14 tells us what happened next: “Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.” Notice the Bible says Pilate “marveled greatly” at Jesus’ silence. In Greek, this phrase is the word thaumadzo, which means to wonder; to be at a loss of words; to be shocked and amazed.

Pilate was dumbfounded by Jesus’ silence because Roman law permitted prisoners three chances to open their mouths to defend themselves. If a prisoner passed up those three chances to speak in his defense, he would be automatically charged as “guilty.” In Matthew 27:11, Jesus passed up His first chance. In Matthew 27:12, He passed up His second chance. Now in Matthew 27:14, Jesus passes up His final chance to defend Himself.

At the very end of this time of interrogation, Pilate asked Jesus, “…Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it” (Luke 23:3). John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus added, “…My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36). After hearing these answers, “then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:4).

As you will see in tomorrow’s Sparkling Gem, Pilate searched diligently for a loophole so he wouldn’t have to kill Jesus. John 19:12 says, “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him.…” But nothing Pilate could do was able to stop the plan from being implemented. Even Jesus passed up His three chances to defend Himself, because He knew the Cross was a part of the Father’s plan.

When Jesus finally answered Pilate’s question, He still didn’t defend Himself, knowing it was the appointed time for Him to be slain as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. But Pilate didn’t want to crucify Him. In fact, the Roman governor began looking for a loophole — for some way out of putting this Man to death.

But Pilate’s search for a way out was in vain; the plan couldn’t be changed because it was time for the Son of God to offer the permanent sacrifice for sin. As Hebrews 9:12 says, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

Are you certain of God’s plan for your life? Consider whether or not you are able to say with conviction: “I know what God has called me to do, and I’m willing to go where He tells me to go and pay any price I have to pay. My greatest priority and obsession is to do the will of the Father!” If you are not able to say this yet, ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow to the point where doing God’s will, regardless of the cost, becomes the most important thing in your life. Even if the life of obedience takes you through hard places as it did with Jesus, the end result will be resurrection and victory!

My Prayer for Today

Lord, I want to be so confident of Your plan for my life that I refuse to let anything move me! Just as Jesus refused to be swayed away from Your plan for Him, I want to be fixed and committed to do exactly what I’ve been born to do. Help me know Your plan for my life — and once I really understand it, please give me the strength, power, and conviction to stand by that plan until I see it come to pass in my life!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

My Confession for Today

I boldly declare that God has a wonderful plan for my life! God’s Spirit is revealing that plan to me right now. I am willing to do what He’s called me to do; I’m willing to go where He tells me to go; and I’m willing to pay any price I have to pay to accomplish the life-assignment God has preordained for me! My greatest priority and obsession is to do the will of the Father! 

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

Questions to Answer

1. Are you able to verbalize or write down God’s plan for your life? If so, try right now to speak out loud or write out plainly on paper what God has put in your heart about His plans for you.

2. Do you believe you possess the fortitude you need to stand firm in the face of any hardship or opposition that might come to challenge you as you follow God’s plan?

3. What steps do you need to take right now so you can grow strong enough spiritually to overcome any pressures that might try to coax you into giving up God’s plan for your life?

But as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
— Romans 8:14

It was the early 1990s — a time when supernatural doors were flying open for our TV ministry in nearly every corner of the Soviet Union. But one area that remained closed was Baku, Azerbaijan. Since this was a Muslim city, I had been strongly advised not to go there to negotiate for television time. Plus, the country of Azerbaijan was in a serious military conflict at the time. But despite what people were advising me to do, I sensed a strong leading of the Holy Spirit to go there. I simply knew that if I would put my feet on that land, God would open doors for us to broadcast the teaching of the Bible there.

We watched the news day by day to monitor what was happening with the military developments that were largely based around the capital city of Baku — where the largest TV tower in that part of the world was located. This tower was so huge, its signal covered not only Azerbaijan, but it reached all the way into the heart of Iran. For a door of this size to open would definitely require the supernatural grace of God — and it would also require divine courage to go there in the middle of an escalating military conflict!

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A single day came when a temporary cease-fire had been declared, so we quickly purchased plane tickets for two team members and me. We called to set up an appointment with the director of the national TV station, and we raced to the airport so we could board our plane to Azerbaijan. Hours later, we landed in the capital city of Baku. After being vigorously searched at the airport, a private car picked us up and drove us directly to the broadcasting company of that nation.

When we entered the broadcasting building, we were escorted to a sitting area to wait for our meeting with the TV director. We were told that we would need to be patient because the cease-fire had been broken at almost that exact moment, and there was heavy machine-gun fighting all around the TV facility. A secretary asked us if we’d like a cup of tea, and we sat drinking our tea while we could hear gunfire at the other end of the hallway adjacent to the area where we were seated! At one point, a group of soldiers carrying machine guns ran hurriedly past us, disappearing through the door to an area outside where all the action was taking place!

Soon the door opened to the national TV director’s office, and we were invited in for our scheduled appointment. To my surprise, the director was a woman. She held an unusual, very powerful position in a Muslim society. When I made my presentation about our TV programs, she responded, “Maybe you don’t understand. We are a Muslim republic. Your programs can’t be broadcast here. Plus, our signal reaches Tehran, and if we run your Bible teaching programs, it could offend our partners in Iran.”

But this broadcasting endeavor had been on my heart a long time. So rather than take no for an answer, I insisted, “We’ve come a long way today. Will you please just look at one of our programs?”

The director kindly consented. It just so happened that the random program she chose to watch was part of a series on what the Bible teaches about how husbands should treat their wives. As we watched, I could see the Holy Spirit was touching her heart with answers she had been seeking for her own marriage.

When that program ended, she asked if we had Part Two of that series with us and could show it to her. By the end of the second program, the Holy Spirit had totally melted her heart.

She said, “How often would you like to broadcast these programs and what price would you like to pay?”

Right before our eyes — with machine guns firing rapid-fire in the background — God opened a door that would not have opened if we had not had the courage to go to Baku at that critical moment in history.

That day I learned once again that it takes courage and confidence if you want to walk through a door that has never opened for anyone else. It also takes the leading of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who led us there on that very day — the day a great door flew open for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

In Romans 8:14, we are promised, “But as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” I want to examine this verse in today’s Sparkling Gem.

The Greek word for “led” is the word ago, which simply means to lead. But it must also be pointed out that this word forms the root for the Greek word agon, which describes an intense conflict, such as a struggle in a wrestling match or a struggle of the human will.

This illustrates the fact that although the Holy Spirit wants to lead us, our human will doesn’t like the idea of being led. You see, it’s the nature of the flesh to want to go its own way. Thus, when we choose to walk in the Spirit and let Him dictate our lives, His leadership over us creates a struggle of our will with our flesh.

An example of this kind of intense struggle is that dangerous trip to Baku. The Spirit of God inside me was telling me, “Go now — there is an open door for you today.” But the flesh ranted and raved, “You’re putting your life in danger! Don’t do what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do.”

Maybe that’s how you’ve been feeling about your own life. You want to obey God and be led by His Spirit, but your flesh is interested only in self-preservation and going its own way. However, as a child of God, you must learn to walk with Him and stay in your place — behind the Holy Spirit, following His lead. You have to defeat every fight the flesh puts up to stop you from obtaining the supernatural results the Lord wants you to have.

If you really want to live a supernatural, Spirit-led life, there is no way around it. You have to deal with your flesh! The flesh wants to control you, so you must mortify, or defeat, the flesh and allow the Holy Spirit to have His way. The struggle may seem great, but it’s the only way to live a fruitful Christian life.

I’m so thankful for that day many years ago when God empowered me by His Spirit and gave me the courage to get on a plane and fly to Baku. God knew what I didn’t know — that a great open door was waiting for me. When we arrived and found the cease-fire had been broken, we could have turned around, gotten back on the plane, and headed home immediately. But we were certain the Holy Spirit was leading us. By God’s grace, the fight with the flesh was won, and a great event occurred before our very eyes.

As we do the will of God in life, we must listen to natural advice, but we must never forget that the leading of the Spirit is the prime factor in yielding supernatural fruit and obtaining a Heavenly outcome.

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I now recognize that every time I have ever struggled to do what You asked me to do, the reason behind the struggle was that I had allowed fear and carnal reasoning to hinder me. Father, I repent for yielding to the pull of my own flesh instead of to the direction of Your Spirit. I want to live a fruitful life. Holy Spirit, right now I yield to Your strength, and I receive the courage I need to step out by faith and follow Your leading so I can obtain a heavenly outcome to the glory of God!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I obey God and I am led by His Spirit. I put to death all self-interest and every fleshly thought to make decisions based on self-preservation. I belong to God! My life is His, and His strength is mine! I refuse to allow my flesh to stop me from obtaining the supernatural results the Lord wants me to have. I choose to do the will of God. I declare right now that in those moments when the struggle to stay on track with His plan seems great because I’m tempted to let natural reasoning pull me off course, I will not fall short but will fulfill all the will of God without wavering! Greater is the courage of God within me than any fear that rants against my mind or any opposition that rises against me in this world!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Have you ever been directed by the Holy Spirit to do something that made no sense to your natural mind? When was that? How did you respond? What was the result of your obeying what He instructed you to do?
2. Have you ever been in a place that seemed filled with danger, but God told you to be there, and it ended up bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God? When was that experience? What happened as a result of your obedience?
3. What is God asking you to do right now that is requiring a greater measure of spiritual fortitude for you to obey Him? Have you asked Him to give you the courage and inner strength to obey what He is asking you to do?

Playing Games at Jesus’ Expense!

Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
— Matthew 26:67,68

And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?
— Luke 22:63,64

If we’re going to get the full picture of what happened in Caiaphas’ chamber that night when the religious leaders were spitting on Jesus and striking Him in the face with their fists, we need to pull all the pieces of this picture together from both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Luke 22:63 says, “And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.” I want you to particularly see the word “mock” in this verse. It comes from the Greek word empaidzo, which meant to play a game. It was often used for playing a game with children or for amusing a crowd by impersonating someone in a silly and exaggerated way. For instance, this word might be used in a game of charades when someone intends to comically portray someone or even make fun of someone. This gives us an important piece of the story that Matthew didn’t include in his Gospel account.

Even before He had to endure the spitting and vicious beating of the scribes and elders that night, Jesus was also severely beaten by “the men that held” Him. This doesn’t refer to the scribes and elders, but to the temple police and guards who kept watch over Jesus before Caiaphas examined Him.

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In addition to everything else that was going on that night, these guards decided they would take advantage of the moment too. The Bible doesn’t tell us how these men mimicked and impersonated Jesus that night, but the use of the Greek word empaidzo categorically lets us know that these men turned a few minutes of that nightmarish night into a stage of comedy at Jesus’ expense. They put on quite a show, hamming it up as they almost certainly pretended to be Jesus and the people He ministered to. Perhaps they laid hands on each other as if they were healing the sick; or lay on the floor and quivered, as if they were being liberated from devils; or wobbled around, acting as if they had been blind but now could suddenly see. Whatever these guards did to mock Jesus, it was a game of charades to mimic and make fun of Him.

When they were finished making sport of Jesus, Luke tells us that these guards “smote him.” The word for “smote” is from the word dero, a word used frequently to refer to the grueling and barbaric practice of beating a slave. This word is so dreadful that it is also often translated to flay, such as to flay the flesh from an animal or human being. The usage of this word tells us that even before the scribes and elders got their hands on Jesus, the guards had already put Him through a terrible ordeal.

Immediately after the guards were finished playing their charades and brutally beating Jesus, the scribes and elders began to spit in His face and whack Him on the head with their fists (see April 14). But the elders didn’t stop there. They blindfolded Jesus and began to strike Him on the head again, taking their humiliation of Him to the next level. This represented Jesus’ third beating.

If we only read Luke’s account, we might conclude that this third beating was also at the hands of the guards. However, when we compare and connect Luke’s account with Matthew’s account, it becomes clear that by this time Jesus had already been transferred into the hands of Caiaphas and his scribes and elders. What we read next in Luke 22:64 occurred after these religious leaders had already spit on Him and hit Him (Matthew 26:67).

Luke 22:64 says, “And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?” The word “blindfolded” comes from the Greek word perikalupto, which means to wrap a veil or garment about someone, thus hiding his eyes so he can’t see. We don’t know where the blindfold came from. It could have been a piece of Jesus’ own clothing or a garment borrowed from one of the scribes and elders. But by the time they finished wrapping Jesus’ head in that cloth, He was completely blinded from seeing what was happening around him.

Just as the guards played charades at Jesus’ expense, now Caiaphas with the scribes and elders played blindman’s bluff at His expense! Once Jesus was blindfolded, “they struck him on the face.” The word “struck” is from the Greek word paio, which describes a strike that stings. A more precise translation might be “they slapped him on the face.” This is the reason the Greek word paio was used, for it referred to a slap that caused a terrible sting.

After slapping Jesus, the scribes and elders would badger Him, saying, “…Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?” Here we find that these so-called religious leaders got so caught up in their sick behavior that they sadistically enjoyed the pain they were putting Jesus through. They slapped Him over and again, telling Him, “Come on, prophet! If You’re so good at prophesying and knowing things supernaturally, tell us which one of us just slapped You!”

Finally, Luke 22:65 tells us, “And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.” The word “blasphemy” is from the Greek word blasphemeo, meaning to slander; to accuse; to speak against; to speak derogatory words for the purpose of injuring or harming one’s reputation. It also signifies profane, foul, unclean language.

When Luke says they “blasphemously spake,” he is talking about Caiaphas with his scribes and elders! Once these religious leaders “took off the lid,” every foul thing that was hiding inside them came to the top. It was as if a monster had been let out, and they couldn’t get it back in its cage!

Jesus had told these religious leaders earlier, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleaness” (Matthew 23:27). In the end, the death and uncleanness in their souls came raging to the top as they screamed and yelled at Jesus using profane, foul, unclean language.

I’m sure that if the people of Israel had been allowed to sneak a peek into that room that night, they would have been horrified to see their supposedly godly leaders slapping Jesus, spitting on Him, slapping Him again, and then screaming curses right in His face! Here these leaders were — all dressed up in their religious garb, but inwardly so rotten that they could not hide their true nature anymore.

So let me ask you two questions:

•  Are you serious in your relationship with Jesus Christ, or are you, like those who held Him that night, simply playing games with Him?
•  When other people start playing around with your mind and emotions, are you able to follow Jesus’ example by holding your peace and loving them in spite of the torture they are putting you through?

Let’s covenant together from this day forward to never be like the backslidden religious leaders in this story. How terrible it is to outwardly look beautiful but to inwardly be so ugly! To avoid this scenario in our own lives, we must make the commitment to be serious in our relationship with Jesus and absolutely refuse to play games with God.

And should you ever find yourself in a predicament similar to the one Jesus faced — in other words, if people are emotionally abusing you or taking advantage of you — then call out to God to strengthen you! He will give you the wisdom to know when you should speak, when you should be quiet, and exactly what steps you must take. When you find yourself in this kind of tight place, just be certain to guard your mouth and to let the Holy Spirit dictate your emotions so you can demonstrate the love of God to those whom the devil is trying to use against you.

Jesus is the perfect Example of how we must behave in all situations. Although He was blasphemed, reviled, and cursed, He never fought back or allowed Himself to be dragged into a war of words. For this reason, Peter exhorted us to follow in Jesus’ steps: “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:21,22).

Today you can make the decision to come up to a higher level in your commitment to Jesus Christ. You can refuse to play games with God or to deceive yourself any longer about your own spiritual condition. The truth about what is in you will eventually come out anyway, so take an honest look at your soul now to make sure there are no hidden flaws that will later come rising up to the surface!

Why don’t you open your heart right now and let the Holy Spirit shine His glorious light into the crevices of your soul? Allow Him to reveal those areas of your life where you need to get to work!

My Prayer for Today

Lord, I never want to play games with You. I am asking You right now to forgive me for any time that I have lied to You and to myself, deceiving myself into believing that things were all right in my life when, in fact, they were not inwardly good at all. Please shine Your light deep into my soul to show me any areas of my life that need immediate attention. And, Lord, I also ask that You give me a strong desire to read through all four of the Gospels so I might better know the life of Jesus and how I can be more like Him.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

My Confession for Today

I declare by faith that God gives me the wisdom to know how to respond when I am in a difficult predicament. I know when I should speak, when I should be quiet, and exactly what steps I must take. When I find myself in a tight place, I don’t give way to my emotions. Instead, I guard my mouth and let the Spirit dictate my emotions so I can demonstrate the love of God even to those whom the devil is trying to use against me!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

Questions to Answer

1. Do you have areas in your life where you are playing games with God and deceiving yourself about your own spiritual condition? Isn’t it time for you to get honest with God and with yourself about these problem areas?

2. Have you ever experienced times when the monster in your flesh that you hadn’t yet dealt with came crawling to the top, causing you to behave in a way that was shocking even to yourself?

3. Since reading the Gospels is the best way to learn how to become more like Jesus, don’t you think it would be a good idea for you to carefully read all four Gospels from beginning to end?

Has Anyone Ever Spit in Your Face?

Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him.…
— Matthew 26:67

Some years ago, I visited another church in our city to hear a special speaker who had come from afar. That evening at the meeting, the local church I was visiting announced they would be starting a building program. As I sat in there, God’s Spirit spoke to my heart and instructed me to sow a sacrificial seed into their new building program. It was a time when we desperately needed money for our own building program, so anything I sowed would be sacrificial. However, the amount the Lord put in my heart was significant.

What made it even harder for me to give this gift was that this church had acted maliciously toward our church in the past. They had lied about us, scoffed at us, and even prayed for our downfall. And now the Lord was telling me to sow a large gift into this same church?

Throughout that entire service, I argued with the Lord. The issue really wasn’t the money, although we could have used the money ourselves at that moment. The issue I was wrestling with was giving a gift to this church that had treated us with contempt for so long.

Finally, the Spirit of God asked me, Are you willing to sow a seed for peace with this church? That clinched it! I pulled my checkbook out of my pocket to write what I considered to be a sizable gift for this other church. Writing that check was difficult, but once it was written, my heart simply flooded with joy because I had been obedient. There is no joy to compare with the joy that comes from being obedient!

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

One week later, the pastor to whom I gave the gift was at a meeting with his staff and church leaders. The pastor told his leaders, “Look at this puny little check Pastor Rick gave us! Couldn’t he have done any better than this?” When I heard how he viewed the sizable gift I’d given, I was quite shocked. But when I heard what this pastor did next, I was literally stunned. He devoted the next part of his staff meeting to discussing all the things he didn’t like about me and our church. He poked fun at us, ridiculed us, mocked us, and put us down in front of his people. Instead of being thankful for the gift we gave, he once more demonstrated utter disrespect and contempt for us.

When I heard about this event, it hurt so badly that it cut deep into my heart. How could anyone say the gift we gave was puny? It would be considered significant in any nation of the world. But what hurt the most was that the pastor had put us down and publicly made fun of us in front of his staff and leadership. I remember feeling as if I had been spit on — and as the years passed, this same pastor spit on us many more times.

For instance, when we dedicated our church building — the first church to be built in sixty years in our city — it was a moment of great rejoicing. But soon after our dedication, this man stood before a large convention of several thousand people and sneered at our new facility. For a second time, he injected a dagger into my heart! At a time when this pastor could have been rejoicing with us, he chose to make it another opportunity to spit in our faces.

How about you? Can you think of an instance in your life when you did something good for someone, but that person didn’t appreciate what you did? Was he so unappreciative that you felt as if he’d spit in your face? Were you stunned by his behavior? How did you act in response to that situation?

I think nearly everyone has felt taken advantage of and spit on at some point or another. But imagine how Jesus must have felt the night He was taken to the high priest where He was literally spit on by the guards and temple police! For three years, Jesus preached, taught, and healed the sick. But now He was being led like a sheep to the spiritual butcher of Jerusalem, the high priest Caiaphas, and to the scribes and elders who had assembled to wait for His arrival.

In the trial that took place before the high priest and his elders, the religious leaders charged Jesus with the crime of declaring Himself the Messiah. Jesus replied by telling them that they would indeed one day see Him sitting on the right hand of power and coming with clouds of glory (Matthew 26:64). Upon hearing this, the high priest ripped his clothes and screamed, “Blasphemy!” as all the scribes and elders lifted their voices in anger, demanding that Jesus die (Matthew 26:66).

Then these religious scribes and elders did the unthinkable! Matthew 26:67,68 says, “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?”

Notice that it wasn’t just a few who spit in his face that night; the Bible says, “…they spit in his face.…” The word “they” refers to all the scribes and elders who were assembled for the meeting that night. One scholar notes that there could have been one hundred or more men in this crowd! And one by one, each of these so-called spiritual leaders, clothed in their religious garments, walked up to Jesus and spit in His face!

In that culture and time, spitting in one’s face was considered to be the strongest thing you could do to show utter disgust, repugnance, dislike, or hatred for someone. When someone spattered his spit on another person’s face, that spit was meant to humiliate, demean, debase, and shame that person. To make it worse, the offender would usually spit hard and close to the person’s face, making it all the more humiliating.

By the time Caiaphas and his scribes and elders had finished taking turns spitting on Jesus, their spit was most likely dripping down from His forehead into His eyes; dribbling down His nose, His cheekbones, and His chin; and even oozing down onto His clothes. This was an extremely humiliating scene! And remember, the men who were acting so hatefully toward Jesus were religious leaders! Their hideous conduct was something Jesus definitely didn’t deserve. And what makes this entire scene even more amazing is that Malchus — the servant whom Jesus had just healed — was in all probability standing at the side of Caiaphas and watching it all happen!

These religious leaders didn’t stop with just humiliating Jesus. After spitting on Him, they each doubled up their fists and whacked Him violently in the face! Matthew 26:67 says, “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him.…” The word “buffet” is the Greek word kolaphidzo, which means to strike with the fist. It is normally used to picture a person who is violently beaten.

As if it wasn’t insulting enough to spit on Jesus, approximately one hundred men viciously and cruelly struck Him with their fists. Not only was this brutal — it was sadistic! Humiliating Jesus with their spit and curses didn’t satisfy the hatred of these men; they wouldn’t be satisfied until they knew He had been physically maltreated. To ensure that this goal was accomplished, their own fists became their weapons of abuse.

It appears that these scribes and elders were so paranoid about Jesus getting more attention than themselves that they simply wanted to destroy Him. Every time they spit on Him, they were spitting on the anointing. Every time they struck Him, they were leveling a punch against the anointing. They hated Jesus and the anointing that operated through Him to such an extent that they voted to murder Him. But first they wanted to take some time to personally make sure He suffered before He died. What a strange way to render “thanks” to One who had done so much for them!

When I get disappointed at the way others respond to me or to what I have done for them, I often think of what happened to Jesus on that night when He came before these Jewish leaders. John 1:11 tells us, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” Although these men who spit on and hit Jesus refused to acknowledge Him, He still went to the Cross and died for them. His love for them was unwavering — unshaken and unaffected by their wrong actions.

As you think of how people have wronged you, does it affect your desire to love them? What have these conflicts revealed about you? Is your love for those unkind people consistent, unwavering, unshaken, and unaffected? Or have the conflicts revealed you have a fickle love that you quickly turn off when people don’t respond to you the way you wished they would?

The same Holy Spirit who lived in Jesus now lives in you. Just as the Spirit of God empowered Jesus to love people consistently, regardless of what they did or didn’t do, the Holy Spirit can empower you to do the same. So why don’t you take a few minutes today to pray about the people who have let you down or disappointed you? Then forgive those people, and decide to love them the way Jesus loved those who wronged Him!

My Prayer for Today

Lord, thank You for being such a good example of love that is unshaken and unaffected by other people’s actions. You have loved me with a consistent love, even in times when I’ve acted badly and didn’t deserve it. Thank You so much for loving me in spite of the things I’ve done and the things I’ve permitted to go on in my life. Today I want to ask You to help me love others just as consistently as You have loved me. Forgive me for being on-again, off-again in my love. Help me become rock-solid and unwavering in my love for others, including those who haven’t treated me too nicely. I know that with Your help, I can love them steadfastly no matter what they do!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

My Confession for Today

I confess that what other people have done to me doesn’t affect my desire or my commitment to love them. My love for people is consistent, unwavering, unshaken, and unaffected. The same Holy Spirit who lived in Jesus now lives in me — and just as the Spirit of God empowered Jesus to love everyone consistently, now the Holy Spirit empowers me to do the same!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

Questions to Answer

1. Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt like someone you tried to help later turned around and “spit in your face”?

2. Did that conflict reveal that your love for them was consistent, unwavering, unshaken, and unaffected — or that you have a fickle love that is quickly turned off when people don’t respond to you the way you wished they would?

3. The next time someone treats you this way, how do you think you should respond to him or her?

But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
— Romans 5:20

In yesterday’s Sparkling Gem, I recounted the time we baptized 926 new believers in a public swimming pool during the first meetings we held in the former Soviet Union. But there is more to this amazing story! As I stood and looked at all the people being water-baptized that week, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “What will you do with all these people now that they have been baptized?” In that moment, it was like a streak of divine revelation pierced through my soul — and I knew that God was telling me to take responsibility for these new believers. Denise and I were being instructed by the Holy Spirit to start a church.

Soon afterward, we began searching for a location to start a new church. When Jesus started his ministry, He announced that He was anointed to preach the good news of the Gospel (see Luke 4:18), so we felt we should name the church the Good News Church because the Gospel was such good news! Especially in the wake of the collapse of USSR when there was so much bad news all around in this part of the world, we believed this name would signal the truth of what the Gospel is.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

After being rejected by several locations that we had investigated as potential sites for our church, we learned that an old auditorium formerly used by the Communist Party was available if we wanted to rent it. Within hours of receiving that information, I went to that auditorium to see if it would work as our new church building. There I was — surrounded by 680 leather-padded, theater-style, Communist-red seats. An enormous chandelier hung from the ceiling with gigantic, matching light fixtures that surrounded the circular auditorium. The walls were adorned with emblems of the Soviet Union that included a huge cameo of Marx and Lenin adorning the top left and right of the stage. The back rooms of the stage were filled with Communist paraphernalia — including flags of every Republic of USSR, a gargantuan bust of Lenin, and a huge copper emblem that celebrated one of the anniversaries of the Communist party.

When I stood on that stage and looked out onto those empty seats, I understood that this was the location where Jesus wanted us to start the Good News Church. We contacted the new believers who had been water-baptized and invited them to a full week of meetings in the new location. From the onset of those meetings, the power of God literally burst into that place and established the Church of Jesus Christ in that part of the world!

During that first week, every chair was filled, and people crowded the steps and lined the auditorium each evening. The auditorium was packed to maximum capacity until the number of people attending overflowed beyond the limitations prescribed by the local fire department, and we had to begin holding multiple services each week to accommodate our burgeoning congregation. In the middle of that location — where Communist powers had once prevailed — the grace of God was being poured out!

That week I couldn’t help but be reminded of the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 5:20, where he wrote, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Paul said that sin “abounded” — from the Greek word pleonadzo, which describes something that exists in abundance. However, Paul went on to use comparative language to tell us that regardless of how immense sin and its dominion was in a person’s life, it is nothing in comparison to the working of God’s grace.

When I looked at that auditorium, I thought of how that building, like so many lives, was once dominated by a horrible working of sin. But regardless of what sinful decisions were made there, it is nothing compared to the grace now poured out upon us!

God’s grace is being poured out in a measure that is way above and beyond anything that that sin ever dreamed to accomplish. Paul said grace did “much more abound” — that was his inspired way of explaining the profuse, lavish, bountiful, and overflowing nature of God’s grace!

The words “much more abound” are actually a translation of the Greek word huperperisseo, which is a compound of the words huper and perisseo. The first part of this compound is the word huper, which means over, above, and beyond. It depicts something that is way beyond measure. It carries the idea of superiority — something that is utmost, paramount, foremost, first-rate, first-class, and top-notch; greater, higher, and better than; superior to; preeminent, dominant, and incomparable; more than a match for; unsurpassed, unequaled, and unrivaled by any person or thing.

The second part of this compound is the word perisseo, which depicts something that abounds in an extraordinary measure or something so profuse that it can be likened to a river that is overflowing and flooding beyond its banks. It is so full that it simply cannot be contained in a single location. Thus, when these two words are compounded to form the word huperperisseo, it dramatically portrays grace as a force that is measureless and which can never be exhausted. So this verse could be understood to mean, “Where sin existed in abundance, grace FAR exceeded it!”

This is not only true of that location where our first church gathered in Riga, but it is also true of you. Sin may have once existed in abundance in your life, but the grace of God has far exceeded anything that the devil or any past sin ever attempted to fulfill in your life. The grace of God working in you is higher, preeminent, unsurpassed, and unrivaled by any past rule of sin in your life. God’s grace in you is simply measureless and inexhaustible!

Just as the grace of God was poured out in that old Communist auditorium, it is now being poured out abundantly — without measure — in your life. This is your time to gloat over what God can do in a person’s life. There you are, a former temple of sin, and now you have become a place where God with all His miracle-working power is at work. It leaves one speechless to consider what God has done and is doing in you!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, although sin once dominated in my life, Your lavish, overflowing grace has abounded even more in me. Your grace far exceeds the work or influence of sin. Holy Spirit, I ask You to open the eyes of my understanding and help me begin to understand how to cooperate more fully with the grace of God that is at work in my life.

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that the grace of God abounds in my life, teaching me to say no to ungodliness and yes to living a morally upright life in this present age. The grace of God working in me is unsurpassed and unrivaled by any past rule of sin in my life. In the areas of my life and thoughts where fear and other sins once held control, the grace of God released to me now holds the superior position, and I allow that grace to reign supreme.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. When you survey your life and the areas where sin once operated in you without restraint, what differences do you see now because of the grace of God at work in your life?
2. How is grace abounding in your life? Describe the ways in which you are deliberately cooperating with the grace of God so its work can increase in your life.
3. What is the most notable change that you have observed in your thoughts and attitudes toward others due to the measureless grace of God overflowing the banks of your life?

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit….
— Matthew 28:19

In yesterday’s Sparkling Gem, I related the story of the first large meetings that Denise and I conducted in the former Soviet Union. We held those meetings in Latvia’s capital city of Riga. During that amazing week, approximately 8,000 people attended the meetings on all five nights — for a total attendance of 40,000 people. Just as people followed Jesus to witness the powerful, mind-blowing miracles He performed during His earthly ministry, we discovered that these precious people didn’t want to go away once they had been touched by God’s power. Miraculous power abounded all around us, and that week we witnessed several thousand people come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ!

However, during these meetings, I was deeply disturbed by one very important fact: These new believers needed to be water-baptized! In Matthew 28:19, Jesus proclaimed, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus didn’t tell us to just preach to them; He commanded that we baptize them and get them moving on the road to discipleship! Jesus treated baptism like it was important, so I knew I needed to find a way to get these new believers into baptismal waters.

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

Before I continue with this story, let’s look at the word “baptism” for a moment to see what it originally meant in the Greek. The word “baptize” is from the Greek word baptidzo, a word that originally meant to dip and to dye. For instance, in very early cases, the word baptidzo described the process of dipping a cloth or garment into a vat of color to dye it; leaving it there long enough for the material to soak up the new color; and then pulling that garment out of the dye with a permanently changed outward appearance. Likewise a person who comes to Jesus Christ can be likened to an old garment that needs to be dipped into a vat of dye so its color can be changed. However, the person isn’t dipped into a vat of colored dye, but into the precious blood of the Lamb! This person is so totally transformed by Jesus’ blood that he becomes a new creature. His countenance is so changed that he even looks different. You could say that this new believer has been supernaturally “dipped and dyed”!

What a new light this sheds on baptism! In Romans 6:4, the apostle Paul said, “Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Water baptism is a symbolic proclamation of the fact that believers have been buried with Christ and raised with Him. When a believer is placed in the baptismal waters, it symbolizes being immersed in one condition and coming out looking brand-new. In other words, it is a picture of what happened to that person when he got saved! This outward symbol represents the fact that he has been dipped in the blood of the Lamb, and now his entire life has been newly colored and transformed to be like Jesus!

According to Paul’s instructions in Romans 6, this was the act of officially burying the past and starting a new life in Christ. At the time of those meetings, I fully understood that Christ commanded us to lead people into the waters of baptism as a public declaration of what God had done in their lives — in addition to preaching and leading people in a prayer of repentance. When we saw so many people get saved the first night, I knew we had to come up with a solution to baptize them.

To solve this problem, we rented a public swimming pool for three afternoons, and I announced that we would make water baptism available to each new believer and that we would instruct him or her about water baptism around the sides of the swimming pool before they entered it to be baptized.

We thought it would be extraordinary if 100 converts showed up to be baptized in a mid- afternoon service, but even at that, our team was ready to baptize 10 people at a time. We thought that with all the getting in and out of the pool, we could handle 100 people in one hour per afternoon if we were really careful with our time. We thought that if 300 of the new converts showed up over the course of all three afternoons, it would be a fabulous turnout — so you can imagine how stunned we were when more than 300 people showed up the first afternoon. There were so many people that we could not fit them around the edge of the pool in one teaching session, so we decided to divide the afternoon into three different baptismal sessions that each accommodated about 100 people. This meant we ended up baptizing a little more than 300 people in that first afternoon.

But on the second day, another 300-plus people came to the pool for water baptism — meaning the turnout had already exceeded 600 people! Then on the third day, we were stunned when an additional 300-plus people showed up to be baptized. By the end of those three afternoons, we had water-baptized 926 people. To be honest, we were both spiritually elated and physically exhausted. And we still had one more evening service to preach where more people would repent. That meant even more people would need to be water-baptized!

It was an amazing week in our lives. It was our first public event in the former USSR. Approximately 40,000 people attended, approximately 7,000 people repented and received Christ, countless notable miracles abounded, and we water-baptized 926 people in a public swimming pool! Little did we know that we were just getting started, but as you will see in tomorrow’s Sparkling Gem, God had plans that we were unaware of when that week of meetings began!

So have YOU ever received water baptism?

I am amazed at how many believers think that water baptism is optional because Scripture never presents it as an option. Certainly it doesn’t save us, but it is, in fact, the first step of obedience for a believer who wants to become a disciple. Jesus commanded that we receive water baptism in Matthew 28:19.

Since Jesus spoke of water baptism as the first serious step for a believer, it is essential that you not simply skip over this step, as so many people have done. I have seen over many years of ministry that people who neglect this divine command tend to let other vital requirements of their Christian walk slip through the cracks. Don’t let this describe you. You’ve been washed in the blood of Jesus, and if you haven’t already been water-baptized, it’s time for you to go under the waters of baptism to declare publicly that the old man is gone and that you are now “dyed” in the blood of Jesus Christ! Don’t you want to do what Jesus has asked you to do?

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, today I see more clearly than ever the significance of water baptism as a powerful demonstration of my spiritual transformation in Christ. Father, just as Jesus publicly obeyed You when He suffered and died to purchase my redemption, I obey the Lord’s command to publicly proclaim through the waters of baptism that I have been washed in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb. I thank You that because Jesus died in my place and You raised Him to new life, I take every step to demonstrate that I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Clothed in His righteousness alone, baptism symbolizes that I’ve been dipped and dyed in the crimson flood of Jesus’ blood as I gratefully proclaim: I am a child of God!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

 

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away and through Him, all things have become new. Crucified with Christ, I follow the Lord into baptism to bury my old man in a watery grave. And when I rise up, it is as a demonstration of how Jesus saves.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. At what age were you water baptized? What do you remember about that event? Were there changes you witnessed in your life as a result of publicly proclaiming your faith in Christ with the act of water baptism?
2. If you have never been water baptized, why not? What would prevent you from obeying the Lord in this very elementary first step of obedience? Did you inadvertently skip it because no one told you it was important?
3. Do you attend a church that regularly baptizes people? If not, why do you attend a church that doesn’t obey a command of Jesus that is so clear and simple? If your church doesn’t regularly baptize people, is it possible that you should ask your pastor for the church’s position on water baptism?