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Free Daily Bible notes by Rev Stephen Thompson

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Retired pastor

1 Peter 1:1-2: Wanted children!

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,To God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” NIV

There are mysteries to face in Christianity. In fact, there are many of them. Although our minds may find it hard to grasp all that is entailed in being ‘’…God’s elect…chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…’’ our hearts can surely rest in the confidence it brings, and the sense of security it engenders. God has no unwanted children. There are no un-planned ‘births’ into the Kingdom. If someone is born again it is by Divine design.

Similarly, who can ever fully comprehend the doctrine of they Trinity? This is the truth that there is one God who exists eternally in three distinct Persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today, I don’t ask you to understand or explain it (if you could explain God would He be God?); I just encourage you to enjoy it. Delight in the fact that you have been brought into a relationship with each member of the Godhead. Revel in the knowledge. If you do, it will surely bring ‘abundant’ ‘’Grace and peace…’’ into your life.

‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.’ (Westminster Shorter Catechism).

PRAYER: Almighty God, at a time when there is understandable fear in the air, I pray for myself, and for all my brothers and sisters in Christ, that our lives may be full of your grace and peace – that peace which is beyond explaining or understanding. I thank you that you have chosen to bring me into a friendship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a privilege beyond any words.

 

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1 Peter 1:1b: ‘Strangers’.

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,To God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,” NIV

The other night I had a dream. I was in a city. I don’t know which one. Perhaps it was a composite of several. But I had this thought, ‘I really like it here!’ There was, perhaps, a sense of being reluctant to leave the familiar behind. However, in the next moment I found myself thinking something like this: ‘If I were in heaven I would realise that it is far better than anything I’ve known on earth.’

Peter says God’s people are ‘’strangers in the world.’’ Paul writes that ‘’our citizenship is in heaven’’ (Philippians 3:20). We have been born from above. As I often say, ‘We don’t belong here, and we won’t be long here. Not really. Life is fleeting. It is, as the Bible tells us, just a breath; it quickly disappears like the morning mist.

C.S. Lewis writes in ‘Mere Christianity’: ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.’

PRAYER: ‘O Lord, you alone know what lies before me today; grant that in every hour I may stay close to you. Let me be in the world, but not of it. Let me use this world without abusing it…Do not let me embark on anything today that is not in line with your will for my life, nor shrink from any sacrifice that your will demands. Suggest, direct, and guide every movement of my mind; for my Lord Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.’ (From ‘A diary of private prayer’ by John Baillie).

 

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John 19:7: The satisfaction of the law.

John 19:7: The satisfaction of the law.

“7 The Jewish leaders insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.’ NIV

”We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

There is no doubt that Jesus died because He claimed to be God. Whatever other reasons His enemies may have given; whatever other charges they brought, this was why they wanted Him dead. He claimed divinity, and that was just beyond the pale. He was a blasphemer and too bad for this world. That was their viewpoint. (Don’t forget that in the resurrection and ascension a ‘higher court’ was overturning the human verdict.)

It is ironic that Jesus died ”because he claimed to be the Son of God.” The truth is, only the Son of God could die for our sins. The hymn writer got to the heart of the matter:

”There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.”

It was not their law! We have a way of calling ours what really belongs to God. For example we speak of ‘my’ church, or ‘our’ church, and we often behave like it is. But it’s not ours. And it was not their law. It was (and is) God’s law. According to this law we must die. We have broken it. We are ‘criminals’ before the law of God. But Jesus became the willing substitute to die in our place, taking for us the punishment our ‘crimes’ deserve.

God has a law and according to that law we must die. But now we can live because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

This is amazing grace.

PRAYER: ”Thank you Jesus for your love for me; thank you Jesus for your grace so free.”

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1 Peter 1:1a: Do you know who you are?

Hello everyone and welcome. The book of 1 Peter begins with these words:

‘’Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ..’’

So here’s the first thought to came into my mind when I began to look at the opening part of this letter: PETER KNEW WHO HE WAS!

So did my friend Aziz (that’s what I’ll call him here). He was a member of another faith, but he became a Christian in a time of trouble. He was going through a personal crisis, and during it he asked Jesus to come into his life. He had been influenced by the words and example – and no doubt the prayers – of Christians he had rubbed shoulders with while studying at an English language school. Students were able to work to off-set their fees, and I remember seeing him pushing a wheelbarrow around the college grounds, smiling, and singing a well-known Christian song of the time: ‘I’m the son of a King, I am, I’m the son of a King…’ I don’t think his troubles had disappeared. But he was different.

If you’re a believer, one thing that can help you get through this time is knowing who are.

Who are you when your life is restricted and more hidden? When you can’t perform as you did before? When you can’t so obviously produce as you once did? Our culture seems to place so much value on what we produce and what we accumulate. The Coronavirus pulls the rug out from under much of that. What’s more, it was never a true measure of worth. Knowing who you are and what God has called you to do is so liberating.

If you are trusting in Jesus, you are a child of God. That is your true identity. Don’t lose sight of it.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that the Bible clearly says that the people who receive Jesus become the children of God. Whatever may happen in the coming days, may I not lose sight of the fact that I am your child, and that my value in your sight is not based on anything I can do or earn. You are not impressed by status symbols. You just love your children and your Fatherly care extends to every detail of life. Thank you Heavenly Father.

 

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John 19:8-10: Silence is golden.

John 19:8-10: Silence is golden.

“8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 ‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’ NIV

”…but Jesus gave him no answer” (9b)

Here’s a saying I heard a few years back: ”No answer was the stern reply.” There is a place for such silence in human interactions.

There is no doubt about who is in control here and it is not Pilate. Silence can be intimidating. Pilate was no doubt used to people flattering him or fearing him, and perhaps a mixture of both. But Jesus was not scared of him, and that was possibly unnerving for Pilate. He wasn’t used to this. He seems out of his depth; way out of his comfort zone; thrown to some extent by the unique and mysterious figure stood before him – a man who ”claimed to be the Son of God” (7). I think Pilate sensed something very different in Jesus.

There is ”…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…” (Ecclesiastes 3:7). It takes wisdom to know the difference.

We are not obligated to reply to every question.

We certainly don’t have to answer immediately.

On the other side of this, when asking questions of other people we can be too quick to fill in the silences. Perhaps It makes us feel awkward or embarrassed. But learn to let the question hang in the air sometimes.

Silence can be powerful.

”Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…” (James 1:19; see Ecclesiastes 5:2)

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John 19:7-16: ”Finally…”

John 19:7-16: ”Finally…”

“7 The Jewish leaders insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.’8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 ‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’11 Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews.15 But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked.‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered.16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.” NIV

”The Jews insisted…the Jews kept shouting…But they shouted…” (7, 12 & 15).

You feel the insistence of the Jewish people as you read through this passage. Pilate doesn’t want them to win, but they just won’t back down. As we have seen, he first compromises, but then he capitulates. He has resisted to some extent; he has held out for a while. But there comes the dreadful, fateful ”Finally” (16)

”Pilate caved in to their demand” (The Message).

This is is how it is with us, is it not?

The voice of the WORLD is so insistent, telling us how we should look and what we ought to desire; where we should go and what we must do; attempting to squeeze us into its mould.

The voice of the FLESH is so insistent, craving within us, often with a red hot destructive desire, for things God forbids and knows will do us harm. We know we shouldn’t. It didn’t satisfy before, and really we know it will prove futile and shameful again. But still we head to the banks of the polluted stream, and stoop to drink the muddy waters. That voice cajoling us; seducing us into believing it’s a fresh, sparkling stream, is so insistent.

The voice of TEMPTATION is so insistent. The old serpent slithers once more into your garden, casts doubt on God’s Word, and proffers forbidden fruit. And we know the story well. We know it doesn’t have a good ending. But still we sink our teeth into the juicy looking specimen held out for the titillation of our taste buds…and again we are poisoned.

Like Pilate, if we first start to compromise with the insistent voices, we will end up capitulating, caving in. We will arrive at our ”Finally” moment.

But isn’t this inevitable? Frail, fallen, fragile creatures that we are, can anything better be expected of us?

Well I suppose the reality is that as broken people living in a broken world, we will often eat the food of failure. But that said, I have to believe that the victory of Christ on the cross means something for my daily life and my on-going struggle with temptation and sin. It is possible to refuse, to resist, to not give in to these raised, clamouring voices of the world, the flesh and the devil. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:1-11). If the devil and the powers are under Jesus’ feet, and we are ”in” Him, they are under our feet also. Therefore a different ”Finally” is possible (Ephesians 6:10ff). Don’t settle for a defeatist attitude. Jesus’ death deserves a different response.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that my fight is not for victory but FROM victory. Teach me please to stand in your triumph.

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John 19:1-6: What fear can do.

John 19:1-6: What fear can do.

“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face.4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.’ 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’But Pilate answered, ‘You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.’ NIV

It is obvious that Pontius Pilate was afraid (8), and fear can be a dangerous thing. 

”Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

Out of fear, Pilate went along with the crowd (18:40 – 19:1). He was swayed by the loudest voices (12, 13). As powerfully as the voice of conscience spoke to him, the voices in the angry mob registered more deeply. He was scared. He sought to save his life (12) – to protect what he had: position, influence, privilege etc. But He lost it. He heard the implicit threat in their shouted words, and he backed off. He wanted to save Jesus; but he wanted his life in the governor’s palace even more.

Out of fear, Pilate did not live up to his deepest, truest convictions. He knew that Jesus was innocent (4,6). He was without excuse. The Lord should not have been ”flogged” (1), let alone crucified. Pilate knew something important and true about Jesus, but He did not act according to that knowledge. There was a credibility gap between what his head and heart most assuredly knew and where his feet went. Does this remind you of anyone. I heard Rick Warren highlight a problem we have in the evangelical world, namely that we know far more than we do.

I was thinking also that there is a form of ‘worship’, where we repeatedly gather and use the right words, and we try to dress Jesus in ”purple” robes of praise, but it will be like a slap in the face to Him if our hearts are not right. From such outward forms, without real power, may God the Holy Spirit deliver us.

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John 18:33-40: The truth about Jesus.

John 18:33-40: The truth about Jesus.

“33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’34 ‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’35 ‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’37 ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’38 ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release “the king of the Jews”?’40 They shouted back, ‘No, not him! Give us Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.” NIV

Pilate’s somewhat cynical sounding question (38a) follows an important statement by Jesus: ”Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognises my voice” (37) ‘The Message’. If you are a sincere seeker after truth, read the words of Jesus. Look at the life of Jesus, and then tell me that He doesn’t ‘ring’ true. I read a book by a seasoned missionary/Bible teacher, in which he said that, in his experience, it is rare for an adult to take a serious look at Jesus and not be converted. Here is ultimate reality in human form.

Throughout this chapter we have seen the majesty of Christ. He is the one being hounded, arrested and abused, yet there is no doubt that He is in control and that God’s overall plan is unfolding. Prophecy is being fulfilled. Although He seems to be the one on trial, it is in fact Pilate and His other Jewish accusers who are in the dock. Here is a King of a different kind (36;see 2 Corinthians 10:4) – a King who wasn’t just ”born” but who came ”into the world” (37). He is pre-existent. He has always been, the eternal Son of God. But at a certain point in time He stepped into history. He is a King like no other, and He has left huge ‘footprints’ on the shores of time.

However, we can reject the reign of this King. That is what happened then (39, 40). It is still happening today. Many people now will opt for ”Barabbas” over Jesus. They choose another who, they imagine, will be the easier option; more comfortable to live with. They do this even though it may seem to be an obviously damaging choice. In the rejection of our true King – the One for whose reign we were created – we are self-condemned (John 3:18). Barabbas is also a ‘type’ of the human race. He was guilty. He should have died. But the innocent Jesus died in his place (38-40). This is the heart of the gospel.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord Jesus for dying in the place of this rebel. I look at Barabbas and I see myself.

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John 18:28-32: True to life.

John 18:28-32: True to life

“28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?’30 ‘If he were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed him over to you.’31 Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ they objected. 32 This took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.”

There is a story, probably apocryphal, about a preacher who wrote a note to self at a particular point in the margin of his manuscript. It said, ‘Argument weak; shout louder!’

There is something so true to life as we know it in this reading. When Pilate asked the Jewish leaders what charge they were bringing against Jesus, they didn’t answer his question. Instead they bridled; they got prickly. ”If he were not a criminal…we would not have handed him over to you” (30). Their argument was flimsy (in fact they didn’t have a leg to stand on), so they ratcheted up the volume. Doesn’t this resonate with what we know of life? Maybe in conversation with someone you expose the weakness of their position. But instead of conceding the point; rather than proving teachable, they get angry instead and come out fighting. By trying to shout louder than anyone else they fight to bolster their untenable position.

But Pilate’s further words revealed what was truly going on (31, 32). They weren’t interested in truth. They didn’t want to be bothered with the facts. They just wanted Jesus dead. The Jews did not have the power of the death penalty, so they needed the rubber stamp from Rome.

The gospel account emphasises the point that Pilate knew he was punishing an innocent man (29, 38). Jesus was sacrificed to the malice of His enemies and the expediency of the Roman governor. Whatever truth was, Pilate was not sufficiently concerned about it to lose his job.

Yet even against such a dark back drop the truth shines out that God is in control (32). He always is. So shout as loudly as you wish. You will never get rid of Christ. Even when you think you’ve succeeded, you will find that He is back come the third day!

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