"But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly." (Matthew 27:14)
What so many do not realize is that neither Pilate nor the mob had anything to do with this. Jesus earlier had said, "....I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me....I have power/authority to lay it down, and I have power/authority to take it again."
This is the day in the quarter when I am in Matthew 27, a most sobering time. Yesterday was good Friday, tomorrow Easter/Resurrection Sunday. We have salvation, hope and strength for life only because of the faithfulness of our King and Savior Jesus Christ going to the Cross for our sin and forgiveness. "Glorious things of Thee are spoken...."
The Hebrews were once being stricken, and many dying when serpents were roaming the camp. "The Word of God," Jesus, instructed Moses to mount a serpent on a pole and said that anyone who looked to that would be healed.
Jesus embraced this foreshadow of His surrender to death on the Cross when He said, "....As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I so embrace this "old, old story." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
