LOOKING TO PRAISE AND WORSHIP JESUS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. 18 No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

Sunday, January 22, 2006

BEHOLD THE MAN Part 1

''Pilate then went out again, and said to them, Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him. Then Jesus came out, wearing a crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, ''Behold the Man!'' -John 19:4-5

Yes, indeed, Behold the Man! Behold that One ''Who is the image of God'' -1 Cor. 4:4; That One Whom God calls His ''Fellow'', -Zech. 13:7; That One Who is the Brightness of the Father's glory, -Heb. 1:3; That One Who upholds all things by the word of His power, -Hebrews 1:3; That One in Whom dwells all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Col. 2:9; That One about Whom God the Father said, ''In You I am well pleased'', -Luke 3:22; That One Who is the very ''Word of God'', and Who is ''God'', -John 1:1; That One Whom God the Father calls ''God'', -Hebrews 1:8; That One through Whom all things were made, -John 1:3; That One about Whom it is written, ''In Him was life, and the life was the light of men'' -John 1:4; That One Who was the true Light which gives Light to every man, -John 1:9; That One Who is ''God with us''; That One Who is the ''Only begotton of the Father, full of grace and truth'', -John 1:14; That One Who came from the bosom of the Father, to declare Him to the world, John 1:18; He is the ''Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, -John 1:29; He is the very ''Son of God'', John 1:34; He is the One of Whom Moses and the prophets wrote, John 1:45; He is ''The King of Israel'', John 1:49.

Yes, indeed, Behold the Man! Behold that One Who alone is ''the Way, the Truth, and the Life''. No one can come to the Father except through Him, -John 14:6; That One about Whom it is written, ''Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, -Acts 4:12; That One about Whom the Bible teaches, ''there is One God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all'', -1Tim 2:5-6; That One about Whom it is written, ''Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification'', -Romans 4:25.

Yes, indeed, Behold the Man! Behold that One for Whom the Apostle Paul would one day suffer: ''five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; -2Cor. 11:24-25; Yes, behold Him for Whom the Apostle James would be killed by the sword, -Acts 12:2, and Steven would be stoned, -Acts 7:58-60; Yes, behold him for Whom the Christians in Thessalonica and Judea would suffer, -1Thea 1:6-7, 2:14.

Dear reader,let us use the above verses to help us meditate upon Him Who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, The Son of the Living God.

In part 2 we will consider his sufferings, again using John 19:4-5 as our starting point.

16 Comments:

Blogger Kc said...

Great post brother. I've wondered about Pilot's full intent with that statement. He seemed to place himself above and apart from all with it but can you imagine how it would be to hear those words echoed in judgement seeing all you've listed here?

January 23, 2006 1:11 AM

 
Blogger Joe said...

It would be good for us to behold Him now, as we certainly will in eternity.

January 24, 2006 6:55 AM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Joe: Thanks for stopping by.

January 24, 2006 10:24 AM

 
Blogger Gordon said...

Great post, brother! It is always a blessing to be reminded of who our Savior is. God bless you.

January 24, 2006 6:37 PM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Pastor Gordon,
It is always great to see new faces. Thank you for stopping by. I visited your blog-I love it! So many insights into a wide variety of issues. I love your views on the family and the role of the supreme court. God bless you.

January 25, 2006 6:39 AM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for another excellent post, Mark

Thanks for compiling a list of truths to worship by!

Lord bless you :)

January 26, 2006 1:39 AM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Jodie,
Thank you for stopping by.

January 26, 2006 6:29 AM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Ah,Ha,Blogger has done away with my chicken-scratch. Now it is ethereal chicken!

Goodbye blogger-world!

January 26, 2006 10:19 AM

 
Blogger Antonio said...

Mark,

"Behold the Man" is a great exhortation. When we keep the eyes and heart on the master, the temptations lose their force and leave the mind.

Antonio

January 26, 2006 9:01 PM

 
Blogger Antonio said...

of course, Mark. cyber-buddy!

Antonio

January 27, 2006 12:09 PM

 
Blogger Matthew Celestine said...

It is good to see another post here, Mark.

God Bless

Matthew

January 27, 2006 6:28 PM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Matthew,

Thank you for your very kind visit. It is good to hear from you again.

I was wondering, did Darby and Spurgeon ever meet? If so, did the meeting have any impact on either one. Are there any comments they may have had about the other that survive today? Spurgeon is my very favorite.

I do not spend much time in blogdom these days because of time constraints. I will try to post when I can. One will not see much of my comments on other blogs for that same reason-not enough time. I do read some blogs still, when time permits. Right now my attention in blogdom is concentrated on the interaction between Antonio and Evan May.

May the Lord bless you.

Mark

January 28, 2006 10:01 AM

 
Blogger Matthew Celestine said...

I do not know if they ever met, but theologically they were at odds.

Spurgeon was deeply critical of Brethren theology. He doubted that there was any theological worth in Darby's writings and suspected that their incomprehensibility kept people from realising this.

Spurgeon had some admiration for the writings of William Kelly, one of Darby's closest followers. However, he felt sad about Kelly's theology.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

January 29, 2006 5:44 PM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Matthew,
Where would you point me so that I can see for myself Spurgeon's thoughts on Darby and Brethren theology?

Also, I just got done reading off of Yahoo about Robert Sandeman and John Walker. Do you believe that these men were influential in Darby's theology?

Also, What were the differences between Newton and Darby? My books never clarify. Can you, please?

January 29, 2006 6:13 PM

 
Blogger Matthew Celestine said...

Great questions.

There is no documentary evidence for a link between those guys and Darby, though I think some historians may have suggested it.

I think Darby would be unhappy with the theoogy of Zane Hodges. He would doubtless be unhappy with the theology of everyone in today's theological scene.

There is a paper or lecture by Spurgeon on the Brethren at Phil Johnson's Spurgeon Archive.

B.W. Newton was more orthodox in his Calvinism than Darby. Unlike Darby, he held to the imputation of Christ's obediance to the believer. The Brethren hold to justification in the heavenly position of Christ.

Newton was Post-Tribulational and held to a kind of combination of Dispensational and Covenant theology that was similar to Progessive Dispensationalism.

A British organization called Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony upholds Newton's views. I have a link to their website on my Bible Prophecy blog. Providence Baptist Ministries also promotes Newton's eschatology.

Newton and Darby came into conflict because Darby felt Newton was excercising a rigid authoritarian control over the assembly at Plymouth.

It was later found that Newton was in doctrinal error. He had taught that Christ was party to the guilt of both Adam and Israel as a result of the Incarnation.

Newton made several attempts to clear himself, but the Brethren were unconvinced.

Newton later preached in various Reformed Baptist chapels.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

January 30, 2006 4:06 AM

 
Blogger mark pierson said...

Matthew,

Thank you for your gracious and kind reply. Thank you for taking the time.

I got the information about a possible link between Sandeman, Walker and Darby when Yahoo took me to "Grace Evangelical Society" journal for Spring 2002. It was while
I was looking up information on Sandeman.

While reading about Darby I noticed that his views were very simular to yours regarding the church- that its structure today should be very simple, due to the fact that it fell into a state of ruin after Pentacost. Interesting.

Thank you again for your response.

Mark

January 30, 2006 10:15 AM

 

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