11 May 2020

Devotional Notes Psalm 131+John 19

MORNING
Psalm 131
B1 What does this mean?
C1 This is a Psalm of honesty.
C2 He is not bragging about doing or being right. He is just telling the truth. People can use the same words but have a different attitude and motive for those words. Telling the truth with a humble attitude is important.
C3 He has quieted himself. This is because of his hope in God to help him. Psalms 42:5 NRSV Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help
C4 Because God has helped him, the Psalmist (David) urges others to do the same.
C5 Matthew 11:29-30 NRSV Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
B2 How do I apply this to my life? Be honest. Have the right attitude and motives. Give God the credit for His help. Tell others how God has helped us.

EVENING
John 19
B1 What does this mean?
C1 Jesus and Pilate
D1 Note how Jesus does not retaliate.
D2 Note how Pilate mistakenly thought that if Jesus was abused, beat, whipped, mocked, etc., the Jews would think that would be enough.
D3 Note how the Jewish leaders, etc. only wanted to kill God.
D4 Note how Pilate declared Jesus not having committed any crime that would justify being whipped or killed.
D5 Note how the Jewish leaders and their followers lust for blood.
D6 Note the absence of truth and justice.
D7 Note how the government, religion, and society was corrupt. They were not following God’s ways.
D8 Verse 11, Jesus teaches that some sins are more evil than others and that God considers the motives as well.
D9 Verse 14, the Preparation Day before the Passover was Friday. The sixth hour was approximately 0600.
D10 Note how these Jew gave their final rejection of Messiah. They hated God, God’s ways, God’s beliefs, God’s laws, God’s worldview, God’s lifestyle, God’s plans, God’s promises, etc.
C2 Jesus Is Crucified
D1 Verse 20, note near the city, not in the city.
D2 Note how they still hated Jesus in their complaining about the sign over Jesus’s head.
D3 After Jesus was dead, I wonder if the people rejoiced as will happen in the future when the 2 witnesses were dead? Revelation 11:7-10 LEB And when they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war with them and will conquer them and will kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is called symbolically Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 And those from peoples and tribes and languages and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days, and they will not allow their dead bodies to be placed in a tomb. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them, and will celebrate and will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.
D4 I wonder too if the Jewish leaders and their followers had great fear after the report came that Jesus was gone from the tomb just as He prophesied. He is risen. Revelation 11:11 LEB And after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
D5 Verse 25, note who are the witnesses.
C3 Jesus Dies
D1 Verse 28, all things have been completed. Jesus in the midst of suffering for our sins still keeps His composure to know the Scriptures and fulfill them.
D2 Verse 29, vinegar without myrrh or gall which had been refused already.
D3 Verse 30, a shout of victory. Compare: Matthew 27:50 HCSB Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. His victory is our victory, too. Thank you, Lord Jesus for being our Passover Lamb.
D4 Jesus had to yield His spirit to die, because He is sinless and not deserving. Clarke adds:
Every man, since the fall, has not only been liable to death, but has deserved it; as all have forfeited their lives because of sin. Jesus Christ, as born immaculate, and having never sinned, had not forfeited his life, and therefore may be considered as naturally and properly immortal. No man, says he, taketh it, my life, from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again, John 10:17-18,. Hence we rightly translate Matthew 27:50, αφηκε το πνευμα, he gave up the ghost; i.e. he dismissed his spirit, that he might die for the sin of the world.
D5 Verse 31, Barnes writes: Was an high day. It was,
1st. The Sabbath.
2nd. It was the day on which the paschal feast properly commenced. It was called a high day because that year the feast of the Passover commenced on the Sabbath. Greek, "Great day."
D6 Note that John is an eye witness
C4 Jesus Is Buried
C5 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NRSV For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
C6 Colossians 2:12-14 GNB For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross.
B2 How do I apply this to my life? Let us be careful not to reject God’s ways today.

I hope to have a devotional every day on John’s Gospel starting with the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel. This is the way I do my devotions. You may notice grammatical and spelling errors. It is my hope you will also start or continue in your daily reading and thinking about the Scriptures. I do this Monday through Friday. It is a 3 year plan of reading and thinking on 1 chapter in the Old Testament, which takes 3 years, and reading and thinking on 1 chapter in the New Testament once a year for a total of 3 times. So, I read through the Old Testament 1 time and the New Testament 3 times over a period of 3 years. I do this Monday through Friday and use Saturday and Sunday for other devotions.

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