READ CAREFULLY
Suggested Reading: Luke 23
(click scripture link to read online)
This Roman road is below the modern city level of Jerusalem. It is the road Jesus would have walked on while carrying His cross to Calvary.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where Reynold took the photo, click HERE.
Key Verse: Luke 23:27-28
And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children…”
In the movie, “Passion of the Christ,” they got it wrong. They showed only two or three women weeping. Notice the word “also.” The great multitude had just arrived in the city after spending the night in neighbouring communities. Thousands had come from the Galilee for the Passover in Jerusalem. The “great multitude” wept also. More proof is found in verses 48 & 49. “The whole crowd…beat their breasts.” It was not the average Jew who crucified Jesus, it was the crowd who were on the payroll of the High Priest. The High Priest and his fellow collaborators were the ones who cried, “Crucify Him… His blood be upon us and upon our children.” The twisting of Scripture to condemn all the Jewish people has been a tool of Satan to promote anti-semitism, which eventually resulted in the Holocaust of the Nazis. This illustrates the supreme importance of a careful study of God’s Word, word by word.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, You said that the Spirit of Truth would guide us into all truth. I’m asking, Holy Spirit, that You will do that for me as I write this blog each morning. By Your illumination of God’s Word, I’ll do my best to pay attention to little words like “also.” I weep to think of the tragedies perpetrated on the Jewish people because Satan messed with the minds of those who either ignorantly or deliberately misinterpreted these Scriptures. Please give us a new start in our relationships with Your ancient people, the Jews. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
How well I remember making statements like, “The fickle crowd shouted their praises of Jesus on Palm Sunday and just five days later were shouting, ‘Crucify Him.'” I was 100% wrong. They were not the same people. The small area known as Pilate’s Judgement Hall would hold only about 300 people. It was 6 a.m. when the first shift of those on the High Priest’s payroll arrived for work. The great multitude would not have arrived in the city until about 9 a.m. I’ve prayed fervently that I will be more careful in my studies, and my efforts to teach. There is another example of the twisting of Scripture in today’s reading. It’s in verse 43. A Brooklyn, NY pastor, back in the 1840’s, moved the comma from before the word “today” to after. He began to preach that the thief was not in Paradise with Jesus the day of his death, but only in the future resurrection. This was the beginning of the Watchtower Society, otherwise known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. The pastor’s name was Charles Russell. He continued to twist other Scriptures to go against the historical understanding of the Word of God. There are no commas in the original language, but all the rest of the Scriptures would show that in English the comma belongs where it is in our Bibles. I pledge to pay careful attention to detail in this blog and always.
Yours for a more thorough understanding of the Word of God,
David
REMINDER: If you are reading the email version and wish to post a comment on my blog, go to www.100words.ca and “Leave a Reply.”
Well said! Thank you for shedding light on these matters, which have lead to devastating cruelty, death and distortion. As distortion exists in all extremism, the Jewish people were not responsible for the crucifixion of Christ. Abuse of power and the desire to control, both religiously and politically, were contributing causes. However, it was written and came to pass, Christ was crucified, burried and risen for us ALL!
Thank you David for making that a more clear.
Good morning, David. I believe I inserted the comma in the right place. I’ve heard this issue debated a number of times, about the thief on the cross , I mean. I’m not sure what to believe on that score as I believe we all sleep in death to be resurrected at Christ’s return. Nevertheless, I do realize that, over the centuries since Jesus’ lifetime, Scripture has been “twisted” to reflect the views of many! I do agree and have been told by many people that everyone has their slant on things so I agree that we must read and study ” The Word ” for ourselves. Bless you, David in your daily blog. Amen.
Thanks David for the insites.
I wish more pastors would inform their people
about the errors of the cults teachings.
Blessings,
Al Smith
Innisfil
Thankyou for this insight, David. I am just beginning my indepth learning. I am curious as to what they would do with Barrabus when he was released to them. Was he allowed to go free ?
The two men who died wmy Saviour represent two of all mankind. We either recognize our sinful selves – our sentence of death & our deserving of that sentence, which leads us to repent & believe – or we curse God & die. Thanks for you faithfulness in reminding us of this daily David. God Bless you Love Ellen
Dear Mr. Mainse,
Everyday I read your suggested reading with The Living Bible, Paraphrased published by Tyndale and the NKJV via the link in your blog.
This helps me understand the NKJV. There are differences in the words.
I pray before I read, that the words I read will be His truth and his truth will be revealed to me.
Your blog with the photographs helps reveal the truth to me and I thank you.
Enjoying your daily blog 🙂
Diane
Mr. Edwards, these two examples came to mind.
Luke 23:43, And Jesus said to him “Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.
The criminal went with Jesus “today”.
Luke 9:30, And Behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah.
David, I want to thank you for todays teaching. I had no idea about how the Jehovah Witness thing got started. I love to learn new things about scripture, and today I did !
I also have a great respect for the Jewish people and I always see them as Gods’ chosen line. I am glad you brought out the points about the timing, the size of Pilates grounds and the fact that most of the Jewish nation was NOT in attendance at the time. I didn’t know that anti-semitism got started from this scripture reference.
Thank you for cautioning us in how we interpret scripture and for being humble enough to tell us you, too, have made errors in interpretation.
We are so blessed in Canada to have freedom to discuss our belief so openinly.
May our Lord bless you and NormaJean in a special way today
Compelling teaching today, David! The stunningly tragic consequences that can result from failures to remain vigilant to each and every word and syntax was, for me, incredibly revealing and incredibly disturbing. You have proven a crucial point: There is no other way to establish God’s truth, but through the rigours of meticulous (sometimes painstaking) spirit-filled labours.
With great appreciation,
Linda
David, thank you for making that clarification about Jesus and the crowd. For years I wondered how a difference in one week could change an attitude of a croud so significantly. One moment they were praising Him and hailing Him as Lord and then the next moment yelling out ‘crucify him!’, it just didn’t make sense to me. I had always wondered what Jesus had done to turn this crowd against him so quickly. Thanks to you David, you’ve solved a great long-time mystery for me! Yours is a great perspective which I’d never considered before now. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks ehe? haha!
Jesus fervently prayed that believers “be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent me..” (John 17:23). Divisions create separation and misunderstanding, undermining the spiritual lives of believers. To God there is only one race; the human race. In order to have a close relationship there must be communication. We must listen to God. His voice is no less clear than it every was and may be heard through a Scripture passage, a sermon, a song on the radio, and even through the words of a child. God has not lost His voice, but some people have lost their ability to listen. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27. God’s faithful Love abides forever.
thank you, David for being transparent. It’s scary to think of how easy it is for us to misinterpret scripture. However, it’s good to remember that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. It was a wonderful blessing to read your blog tonight. I find it very interesting about how the position of the coma changes the meaning in Luke 23:43. May God continue to Bless you richly in every way!!!
Thank you dear David for today’s reading and the photograph. Both were so powerful and ministered to me a lot!! God Bless you, heal you, and keep you and Norma Jean and family!