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Jan 29, 2024 06:00am

The Bible Recap: Days 316-322

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(The following are reflections from the writer’s personal journey through The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble – a Bible reading plan to read the Bible chronologically in one year. To learn more about The Bible Recap, visit thebiblerecap.com. Find more posts from this series at lifeword.org/thebiblerecap.)

Day 316: Read Matthew Chapter 27 & Mark Chapter 15

My Takeaways:

Perfect submission.

That’s what I would title today’s reading. Jesus submitted to His Father’s will. As Tara-Leigh said, He was given three religious trials and three civil trials. He didn’t defend Himself. Even though Pilate knew it was wrong. Something that grabbed my attention was this: “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate handed Barabbas to them…” Pilate was a people pleaser. Oh friends, this gets me! I can fall into this trap of people pleasing easily! God highlighted this part to me today: people pleasing can take us right off of God’s path in life and out of His will. Pilate knew He was innocent but was afraid of the crowd. In doing this act, he put God on the cross. He heard the warning his wife gave to him, he turned Jesus over to not only be crucified but to be flogged first.

Friends, this flogging was a complete undoing of His body. It was quite possible He was flogged 39 (or 40) times, leaving His internal organs showing. It left Him with much loss of blood and strength, which is possibly why they needed Simon to help Him carry the crossbeam of the cross (which would have been at least 100 pounds).

And yet, Jesus submitted. He could have stopped it all—the false trials, the beatings, the mocking, the flogging, and the cross…and yet He doesn’t. He bears them all. He’s clothed in a purple robe and His head is pierced with a crown of thorns. Even while hanging on the cross, the mocking and jeers continued.

“Jesus died on the cross.” We say it so much, we lose the meaning of those sacred five words. He faced the most excruciating form of execution devised by man because it was God’s will. Because it was an act of obedience to the one He loved. Because this act of obedience would save us all.

I find it so fascinating that when He died, there were signs and wonders He was God’s son: the earth quaked, the curtain in the temple that separated the most holy of holies to the rest of the temple was torn from top to bottom (you guys, this is was a thick curtain! It was as if God was tearing it Himself—no longer would priests atone for their sins there. Jesus paid the price once and for all!) And this isn’t it, the sun was darkened the last 3 hours of Jesus’ death and the dead rose and came back to life! They walked the streets of Jerusalem! Can you even imagine?!

Even the Roman guards realized that Jesus was indeed God’s Son.

My God Shot is the most challenging action we will ever do as believers: surrender to God’s will in our lives. Though the circumstance we are facing may not work out to what we want, our love and trust in the Lord will guide us through the worst case scenario. He will strengthen us to face it all.

Jesus’ surrender saved us all. Our surrender to God is an act of love, the ultimate obedience.

Day 317: Read Luke Chapter 23 & John Chapters 18-19

My Takeaways:

After the last supper, Jesus knew His time of persecution was near. Though He was God’s Son, He was fully human as well. Jesus knew this death would be painful. He also knew He would have to take on mankind’s sins, until the debt of sin had been paid. He was so distressed and upset, He went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. He began His prayer asking God if He could avoid “this cup of suffering” He was about to face; He was in such agony over His imminent death, He actually sweat blood (a condition called hematidrosis). Though Jesus also knew His sacrificial death for all mankind was a part of God’s plan, He still experienced raw emotions of agony and anguish. But, by the end of his prayer time, He had fully submitted to God and His plan—He was strengthened and ready to face His persecutors.

Right afterwards, Judas arrived with the Roman officers. Judas gave Jesus a kiss on the cheek to greet Him; this kiss, however, had a deeper meaning to the soldiers. It was a signal to the officers that this man was Jesus. As the officers arrested Jesus, Peter fought back, cutting off the ear of one of the guards. Jesus stopped him, telling him violence was not the answer. Then, He healed the guard’s ear—His own persecutor’s ear. Afterwards, Jesus’ disciples fled out of fear. Later, Peter, one of His closest disciples, would deny even knowing Jesus.

Jesus was betrayed and abandoned by those closest to Him.

And thus begins a very long and very painful process of Jesus’ persecution. He was given several unjust trials with false witnesses. People lied about Him and lied about what He said. The religious experts at the trials mocked Jesus, spit upon Him, blindfolded Him, and beat Him. The police, also abusing Jesus, took Him to the governor, Pontius Pilate. Pilate allowed the people who gathered there to determine Jesus’ fate. Their vote was unanimous: crucifixion. First, He was flogged with a flagellum, or cat of nine tails. This was a leather whip with individual strands. At the end of these strands were metal balls meant to bruise and pieces of sheep bone meant to embed in and rip up the flesh. With this, Roman soldiers whipped him at least 39 times, perhaps more. He was disfigured beyond recognition. He was also most likely in shock from the loss of blood and the pain. Then, the soldiers mocked Him by calling Him the “king of the Jews.” They put a purple robe on Him, and pierced His head with a crown of thorns, causing more blood loss and pain (this time, to His face). They spit on Him as they hit Him repeatedly on the head with a reed, driving that crown deeper into His flesh. He was forced to carry the crossbeam to the crucifixion site, outside the city. Weakened from the beatings and severe blood loss, He was in shock and couldn’t carry this heavy beam alone, so a Jew named Simon was forced to help Him carry it. When Jesus finally got to Golgotha (also called Calvary), His crucifixion site, He underwent another form of torture: He was nailed upon the cross, a nail in each hand and a nail through his feet. Once crucified, it was a struggle for Jesus to breathe and talk.

Despite all of this, He asked God to forgive His persecutors. He saw John, His disciple, there at the foot of the cross with His mother, Mary, who had witnessed all these horrific events; Jesus commissioned John to take care of His mother for Him. He also forgave a repentant thief who was also crucified next to Him. Several hours later, He said, “Father, into your hands, I entrust my spirit,” and He died. To ensure Jesus was truly dead, a soldier stuck a spear in His side. Then, there was an earthquake. Tombs opened up, the dead came to life, and they walked around Jerusalem! Seeing all of this, the Roman guards exclaimed, “Surely, this was the Son of God!”

My God Shot again is Jesus’ complete surrender to the Father’s will. When Pilate told Jesus he had the authority to crucify Him, Jesus told him he had not authority that wasn’t given to him from above. At any point, Jesus could have called all the angels in heaven to fight for Him…but it would be outside of God’s will. He knew that this persecution would have a deeper purpose for all of mankind, that we needed His sacrifice. So, out of His love for God and for us, He became our Passover lamb.

Dy 318: Read Matthew Chapter 28 & Mark Chapter 16

My Takeaways:

What I loved about today’s reading was that an angel appeared to the women proclaiming the Good News! Can you even imagine?! And then Jesus appeared to them on their way back to tell the disciples.

Three moments that I loved:

The moment Jesus spoke Mary’s name! Can you imagine this scene? It’s dark. There’s a man, whom she suspects is a gardener, in front of her. The sun is rising in the background. It’s then he says her name, “Mary.” That’s it. She knew. It was her Jesus. The first person to meet the risen Jesus was a woman who was demonized. A woman set free by her Jesus. A woman who followed Him ever since. Oh, friends, I am all teary-eyed! Jesus loved all, but was especially tender to the women in His life.
The moment the angel announcing Jesus’ resurrection said this to the women: “Go and tell his disciples and Peter ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee;you will see him there just as he told you.’ “

Go tell the disciples and Peter.

And Peter.

The man who denied Him. The man probably living in regret. The man struggling to face himself. Jesus especially wanted to see him. The disciple who probably messed up the most was specially requested by the risen Jesus. This slays me! Not once should we ever think our greatest mistakes would keep us from the love of Jesus Christ!

So, for every time I would mess up, I love to imagine my name in place of Peter’s: “And Amber.”

Peter’s greatest mistake would be his greatest passion by the time we are done with our study. Jesus’ restoration of us is scandalous.

And, lastly, the moment Jesus, amid all disciples, rebuked their hardness of heart and disbelief because they didn’t believe the women when they said Jesus was risen. Jesus, ever the teacher, got His pupil’s attention in a very big way here, I am sure!

My God Shot was in two simple words Jesus spoke: “Mary” and “Peter.” Those two words speak volumes about our Jesus.

Day 319: Read Luke Chapter 24 & John Chapters 20-21

My Takeaways:

I am just going to say it right now: each reading today could have been its own day with all the beautiful moments we read about! So much happened!

We learned some new things:

Jesus has a sense of humor! He shows it when walking with the two men on the road to Emmaus, acting like He had no idea what has been going on the last few days! He was like, “No way, that happened? Tell me more.” Once these men broke bread with Him, He opened their eyes and disappeared! Can you imagine?!
When Jesus appears to all eleven disciples, He is still teaching them, especially Thomas. When He shows Thomas His hands that bear proof it was really Him, Thomas believes! Jesus then said, “Blessed are those who don’t see and believe”! Ouch, Thomas! That whole “walk by faith and not by sight” message is loud and clear!
And you girls know my favorite part of the whole reading: the restoration of Peter. That moment when Peter and John and other disciples were fishing and hadn’t caught a thing all night and a guy on the beach tells them to cast their nets on the other side. The catch was so much, something must have sparked a memory to John about another time this happened….John declared, “It is the Lord!” and Peter does something not many fisherman would do: he jumped out of that boat and swam to shore where his Jesus was. Scripture doesn’t record their conversation, but friends, they had a few minutes alone here. I can’t imagine Peter said much other than confessing and crying before Jesus. He got a second chance, friends. And that’s not it. Jesus restores him when He asked him three times “Do you love me?” And Peter, three times, affirmed his love. Then, Jesus commissioned Peter to his ministry: Show me by feeding my sheep.

And that’s not it. Jesus also predicts Peter’s death right after this. Peter would die the same way Jesus did. Oh yes, Peter loved Jesus. He would spend the rest of his life professing his love.

My God Shot is that Jesus gives us do-overs in life. That our pain in life can give us purpose. That our worst mistake can be our biggest passion. He makes all things new.

Day 320: Read Acts Chapters 1-3

My Takeaways:

The Holy Spirit has arrived!

Friends, our disciples grew up! Whether it’s because Peter is passionate to preach about Jesus after his restoration or the Holy Spirit has given him a “tongue of fire” (or both), he is ON FIRE to preach the Gospel! He doesn’t waste a moment telling the Jews they killed Jesus and to repent! After his first sermon, 3,000 were saved and baptized!

Later, he and John healed a lame man and when the people are amazed at this, he says “Why are you amazed at this? God did this! Jesus was really His Son!! You all were ignorant and missed Him!”

Don’t you just love our salty, yet now concise preacher?

The Holy Spirit will now remind all the disciples of Jesus’ words and teachings—and they are empowered to understand them and to preach the Gospel. They replaced Judas and are now spouting Scripture like it’s nothing and healing people.

Twelve people, who loved and lived with Jesus, will now light the world on fire for the Gospel. Young people, few in number, empowered by the Holy Spirit, changed the world for Christ. I am in awe of these apostles.

I bet they made their teacher proud.

My God Shot is the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Peter, our impulsive fisherman, is now a spirited, eloquent preacher, throwing Scripture down like it’s nothing, calling out the Jews for killing Jesus.

Jesus changes everything and everyone, friends.

Day 321: Read Acts Chapters 4-6

My Takeaways:

Let’s just say that the Holy Spirit is on fire in the passages!

Once again, Peter, full of Holy Spirit power, doesn’t waste an opportunity to speak the name of Jesus or Scripture that supports Him as Messiah! I particularly love it when he calls out the Pharisees for killing Jesus. I am telling you, this salty man is now a salty preacher— I love his transformation!

The Pharisees see the boldness of Peter and John and are amazed by it! They can’t believe they are the same uneducated men that were followers of Jesus! Basically, they say, “Hey, pipe down about Jesus or else…” but they can’t punish them because our young preachers have done nothing wrong, save healing a lame man!

This group of believers came together, sold possessions, and donate money to the ministry! There wasn’t a needy person among the apostles!

Then, we had a moment where a couple sold some land, but held back a portion. They presented their offering as the whole price of the land, lying to the Holy Spirit, and were stricken dead. I have always wondered why they were killed for something people do often—lie. My hunch is because this was an offering to God, and it was lying, in essence, to God. They could have told the truth—“Hey guys, here’s a portion of our sale on our land!” But, when they chose to lie, I feel like God saw their hearts and saw behind them just one big lie. Since we know God is forgiving and merciful, we have to trust that His punishment is just. He uses their deception as an example to everyone else.

The apostles are put in jail for preaching…and God rescued them from that jail and go back to preaching. They are put on trial for their preaching. Once again, Peter throws down another verse to support their ministry and accuses them of murdering Jesus.

The word of God spread, the disciples increased, the amount of believers increased, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. The Holy Spirit is stirring up many hearts for Jesus Christ!

And finally, we have Stephen, a man full of grace and power, performing wonders among the people when a group of people targeted him for blasphemy. We will read his sermon tomorrow.

My God Shot is all the power preaching going on amid our apostles! These men are shaking things up in all the right ways, and the Pharisees don’t know what to do with them! They thought by murdering Jesus, it would all calm down…little did they know, they would be waking a sleeping giant of a force that they can’t stop.

Day 322: Read Acts Chapters 7-8

My Takeaways:

Years ago, my uncle died. One of his last marked places in his Bible was Stephen’s sermon. My uncle’s name was Stephen too. The sermon at his funeral was titled “Stephen’s Sermon”—it was beautiful and fitting.

So, any time I read “Stephen’s Sermon” in the Bible, it always reminds me of my uncle’s last tribute.

You guys, our reading today showed us how the Holy Spirit can give us the words we need for the moment we are in. Stephen, compelled by the Holy Spirit, PREACHED! He talked about how God worked through one man: Abraham. He highlighted how Abraham was obedient to God, but after Abraham, generations resisted the call and obedience to God.

Then, he turned on his persecutors and called them “stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears”! He accused them of persecuting and killing God’s prophets over the years. Then, Stephen saw something amazing: he saw God with Jesus next to Him. The people were beside themselves and dragged him out of the city and stoned him.

And this moment: he asks God to forgive them and he fell asleep.

I have to say, this story has always bothered me. Here we have a man who threw down one of the best sermons in the Bible, and he was murdered. It didn’t end well with him (at least one earth).

But, perhaps God allowed this all to happen because there was one man in particular he had plans for: Saul. Perhaps God allowed his servant to be killed as a reminder to a man who had approved his murder. Perhaps this evil had to happen so that it could be used for good in Saul’s story.

My God Shot was how powerfully the Holy Spirit worked in Stephen’s life, Peter’s dealing with Simon, and the Ethiopian official’s life! The persecution seems to amp up the Holy Spirit’s work in people! If people were curious about God, he made sure they heard the Gospel!