Open Heaven 9 April 2023

Open Heaven Topic:

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Memory Verse:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. – John 1:29 

Bible Reading: 

John 19:1-18 (NIV)

1 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.”

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 realize 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.So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

¹⁷ Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Open Heaven 9 April 2023 Message

Imagine that you are right at the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion and you are looking at Him on the cross.

What do you see? You will be right if you say, “I see a man in pain”. He had been beaten and a crown of thorns had been placed on His head before His crucifixion (John 19:1-18).

Someone else may say, “I see a man who is naked”, because according to Matthew 27:35, they even took His garment away from Him. That is the highest level of shame that a man can experience, to be naked in front of multitudes. Another person could also say, “I see a man being ridiculed”.

Matthew 27:39-44 says people that were passing by were saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save”. Though he had the power to call for angels to rescue Him, He chose to endure the ridicule so that you and I can have a chance of spending eternity in Heaven.

I want you to imagine the president of the most powerful country in the world holding a device in his hand with which he can call on his army anytime, yet he subjected himself to some terrorists who were about to kill him and were mocking him, “You call yourself the President of a nation with weapons of mass destruction, look at you now, you cannot save yourself”.

That is similar to what Jesus did just so that you and I will not perish in hell. Without any doubt, when you look at Jesus on the cross, you will see a man in sorrow.

You cannot be in pain, naked, in shame, ridiculed, and be joyous. Isaiah saw the scene of Jesus’ death many years before and he called Him a man of sorrow (Isaiah 53:3-5). If you however take a closer look at Jesus as He hung on the cross, you will see a man in love.

A man so much in love with you and I that He went through the highest level of physical and emotional pain to save our soul.

Thank God He resurrected on the third day and has made eternal life available to all those who surrender their lives to Him. Beloved, don’t let that sacrifice go to waste. Don’t live your life for the devil, live your life for the One who loves you so much that He gave His life for you.

Open Heaven Hymn: 

Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer

Open Heaven Point:

Reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for you and determine never to offend Him again.

Bible in One Year:

1 King 1, 1 King 2