<\/p>\n
(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/em><\/p>\n By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!<\/strong>) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and\/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!<\/p>\n Scripture Reading: John Ch. 19 (ESV)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (vv. 1-16)\u00a0Jesus now wears a crown of thorns on his head\u00a0and the\u00a0purple robe stained with blood.\u00a0The soldiers struck him with their hands and said,\u00a0<\/span>“Hail, King of the Jews!”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The chief priests and\u00a0the officers cried out:\u00a0<\/span>“Crucify him, crucify him!”<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0“He\u00a0ought to die”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>because “He\u00a0has made\u00a0himself the\u00a0Son of God.”\u00a0What an\u00a0ironic, ruthless,\u00a0and indifferent\u00a0picture!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A man, perfectly pure and flawless,\u00a0seated on the throne of glory; the King and Messiah that the Jews had hoped for; the\u00a0Son of God that the world had never seen before;\u00a0the One came and traveled all over the cities and towns to save His people from sins;\u00a0a\u00a0person who had no intention of confronting the government and\u00a0who had\u00a0no\u00a0guilt, but suffered such a great humiliation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What Jesus was facing right now was a group of angry and ignorant\u00a0people who were\u00a0<\/span>“his own\u00a0people”.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The chief priests took the lead and shouted:\u00a0<\/span>“We have no king\u00a0but Caesar”<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0It\u00a0was as if\u00a0they forgot\u00a0that some of them asked\u00a0Jesus,\u00a0<\/span>“Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(Luke 20:22). The purpose was to frame Jesus and\u00a0crucify\u00a0him\u00a0using\u00a0extreme\u00a0methods;\u00a0on\u00a0the other\u00a0hand, Pilate, who was allowed to hold\u00a0the\u00a0authority\u00a0of judgment during that time, feared the threats of the crowds and\u00a0chose\u00a0to succumb to the will of the people. He did not know\u00a0he should\u00a0fear\u00a0Jesus, the Lord who will judge him in the future.\u00a0<\/span>\u202f\u201cIf you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend.\u202fEveryone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(John 19:12)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>In this way, Jesus was handed over\u00a0and nailed to the cross, which was extremely cruel and unkind.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n No one will\u00a0choose not to defend his own life\u00a0when\u00a0given\u00a0the opportunity to\u00a0do so.\u00a0Jesus\u00a0once said that He would make such a sacrifice, and\u00a0as\u00a0He promised, He\u00a0carried out the Father\u2019s\u00a0plan.\u00a0Jesus would not sacrifice Himself unless\u00a0His true identity was\u00a0God, and unless\u00a0He knew\u00a0that\u00a0His mission was to sacrifice Himself so that the sins of the world could\u00a0be forgiven.\u00a0Indeed, the sins of the world could only be forgiven by God!\u00a0In verse 11, Jesus replied,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cYou would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above<\/span><\/b>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Jesus had authority to lay down His life and authority to\u00a0raise\u00a0it\u00a0up again.\u00a0He received the charge from the Father\u00a0(John 10:18).\u00a0Brothers and sisters, this is the Lord we follow. He\u00a0sacrificed\u00a0His life for you and for me!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv. 17-30)\u00a0According to\u00a0the\u00a0records\u00a0of the four Gospels, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, there was a group of women who followed\u00a0Him to the end\u00a0including:\u00a0\u00a0Mary Magdalene,\u00a0Mary –\u00a0<\/span>the mother of James and Joseph, and the wife of Clopas,\u00a0and\u00a0the mother of the sons of Zebedee<\/span>.\u00a0If you compared\u00a0these names, you\u00a0could\u00a0infer that Mary,\u00a0<\/span>the mother of James and Joseph<\/span>,\u00a0was\u00a0Mary,\u00a0<\/span>the wife of Clopas<\/span>;\u00a0only\u00a0the book of\u00a0John mentioned\u00a0the “mother of Jesus.”\u00a0In\u00a0verse 25, it said,\u00a0<\/span>“<\/span><\/b>but standing by the cross of Jesus were His\u00a0mother and\u00a0His\u00a0mother’s sister<\/span><\/b>\u2026\u00a0“<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0Some\u00a0speculate that Salome\u00a0was\u00a0the sister of Jesus’ mother. If this\u00a0was\u00a0the case, Jesus, James,\u00a0and John\u00a0were\u00a0also related to one another.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n Jesus entrusted\u00a0His\u00a0mother to\u00a0His\u00a0disciple John\u00a0and said to Mary,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWoman, behold, your son!\u201d\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Then he said to John,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cBehold, your mother!\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0This\u00a0was very moving.\u00a0In Mary\u2019s own words, we\u00a0learned\u00a0of\u00a0her respect\u00a0for the Lord through\u00a0\u201cMary\u2019s Song of Praise:\u00a0The\u00a0Magnificat.\u201d\u00a0(Luke 1:46-55);\u00a0before\u00a0Jesus said,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt is\u00a0finished!\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0He\u00a0made future arrangements for\u00a0His\u00a0mother.\u00a0This point is worth letting\u00a0us\u00a0consider:\u00a0What else can I do for my parents?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv. 31-42)\u00a0If you find a modern forensic doctor or coroner to issue a death certificate for Jesus, the causes of death may include:\u00a0excessive blood loss, physically unable to handle\u00a0crucifixion, heart failure, and eventually respiratory failure and death, etc.\u00a0This diagnosis\u00a0may be used to describe the cause of other people\u2019s death, but it cannot be established in Jesus\u00a0at all!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The reason why Jesus died on the cross is completely different from the reasons why other prisoners died on the cross.\u00a0The\u00a0aforementioned\u00a0are only diagnoses that can be made from medical science\u00a0and physiology.\u00a0Although they are all true,\u00a0they are not\u00a0enough to\u00a0render\u00a0Jesus\u2019\u00a0death!\u00a0Remember how many miracles Jesus\u00a0had\u00a0performed that surpassed all nature, material, time, space, quantity,\u00a0etc.\u00a0Not long ago,\u00a0Jesus\u00a0raised\u00a0Lazarus\u00a0from his tomb.\u00a0Jesus repeatedly predicted His suffering.\u00a0He\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0need to die at all, but He died!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n God’s love for us is described as long, wide, high, and deep. Thus, the true cause of Jesus’ death\u00a0was because\u00a0He had to bear\u00a0the sins of the world –\u00a0including\u00a0yours\u00a0and\u00a0mine.\u00a0If\u00a0one verse\u00a0could\u00a0issue a death certificate for Jesus, this should be:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u201c<\/span><\/b>but\u202fGod shows his love for us in that\u202fwhile we were still sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(Romans 5:8)<\/span>.\u00a0If it weren’t for the sins of man, Jesus wouldn’t have to shed a drop of blood; if it wasn’t for God’s love for you and I,\u00a0there was no need to sacrifice His life,\u00a0become the lamb of atonement, and die for our sins!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In today\u2019s devotional time,\u00a0let us\u00a0imagine\u00a0going\u00a0to the morgue and look through the death certificate of Jesus: What\u00a0was\u00a0written on it because of our\u00a0sins?\u00a0\u00a0Thank you,\u00a0Savior Jesus!\u00a0Your pain is for me!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: \u201cDear Lord, what\/where are you going to lead me to today?”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding-in-the-lord","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2398,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions\/2398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Worship<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Scripture Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Meditation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Devotional<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n Matthew\u00a027:56<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n Mark 15:40<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n John 19:25<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Mary Magdalene<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n Mary Magdalene<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n Mary Magdalene<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n the mother of James and Joseph<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n Mary,\u00a0the mother of James the younger and of Joses<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n the wife of Clopas<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n the mother of the sons of Zebedee<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n Salome<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n his mother’s sister<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pray<\/strong><\/h3>\n