John 19

I started reading in John 19 this morning and finished up well into the book of Acts.  What a blessing to read God's Word each morning.  I've been up at least an hour before everyone else has woke up, and I have enjoyed the time I have with the LORD.  Here are a few thoughts that I got from reading the first chapter I read this morning.  1) BEHOLD THE MAN- This is what Pilate said of Jesus in verse 5.  Here Jesus was wearing a crown of thorns, badly beaten, and a purple robe was placed upon Him.  But, he was not whimpering... he was not crying out... He was a real man's man in every area.  Pilate said: "Behold the man!"  I wrote in the margin of my Bible:  "Become a good man by beholding a great Man!"  What Pilate meant was an introduction.... Behold the man; but, what we need to do is to study Him..... Beholding the man!  Only in looking to Jesus will a man ever become the man he ought to be.  All of us are crippled by a fallen nature, but only One Person can give us victory over that.... the Man, Christ Jesus.  Dear friend, look to Jesus today!  He is our only source of victory. 2) FULFILLING SCRIPTURE- In John 19, four times the phrase is found: "that the scriptures might be fulfilled".  In the birth of Christ in Luke chapters two and three, we have that phrase mentioned of fulfilled scriptures mentioned many times, and now at the death of Christ we see once again that many scriptures are being fulfilled.  What a blessing to see that Christ in his birth, life, and death, fulfills the Scriptures so that we with complete confidence in Him, can say with all assurance.... My LORD, and My GOD!!  Have a blessed day today!  Pastor Mike Mutchler