Good morning. As they were getting ready to scourge Paul, he
said to the centurion, is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and
condemned? Remember when he was in the Philippian jail that when they sent to
release him, Paul realized too late that he had the same defense. It was
against the Roman law for a Roman citizen to be subjected to any kind of
degrading form of punishment. The next day, the commander ordered the chief
priests and the council to assemble so that he could find out why they were
accusing Paul. He said to them, I have lived my life with a perfectly good
conscience before God up to this day. The high priest commanded those standing
beside him to strike him on the mouth. God is going to strike you, you
whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the law, and in violation
of the law order me to be struck? But the bystanders said, do you revile God‘s
high priest? I was not aware that he was high priest; for it is written, you
shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Paul had been away for several
years; so he was not knowledgeable of who was high priest. Also, it is
possible, that he was being sarcastic. Even the one who was high priest at the
time of Jesus’ trial was not considered the true high priest by the people of
Israel. He had been designated such by the Roman government. The true high
priest was a direct descendant of Aaron, and was not designated such by some
outside government. We’ll see next time what clever device Paul used to defuse
the situation. Father go with the reader. Bring him/her peace and prosperity.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
Comments
Post a Comment