Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank You for today. We thank You that even as things in our lives change—our families change, our country changes, our world changes—you never change.
The truth of Your Word never changes. We can always find our source of peace in You, as our bedrock foundation, and the truth of Your Word as to how we live by. You have already prescribed to us, given to us as a gift, how You want us to live our lives, and it is a treasure because we don't have to walk around this world never knowing; You've already given it to us.
The problem is we often don't want to follow it. But, Lord, we pray that You would direct our hearts to live lives pleasing to You as we get to know You better through Your Word. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. In a Reader's Digest article published just a month and a half ago, on the 24th anniversary of 9/11, the author recounted real-life stories where timing meant the difference between surviving that day or losing a life. James Sturak had a morning routine that took him from the subway stop at 14th Street to the stop at the World Trade Center, where he would disembark, take the escalators up to the main floor, get a coffee and a newspaper at one of the stands there, and then walk out the front doors and down a block to the building where he worked.
He always was in the office by 9:00 a. m. to trade stocks, but for some reason that Sturak still can't explain to this day, he was running unusually late that morning.
As he turned on the news, he saw what was happening, and needless to say, he stayed home that day. His normal morning routine would have put his subway train under the first tower and stuck there when the first plane hit at 8:46 a. m.
On September 10th, 2001, George Keith's brand new car started acting up out of nowhere. Annoyed at the inconvenience for seemingly no reason to a brand new car, Keith showed up at the dealership the next morning at 7:00 a. m.
, hoping to have the necessary three-minute repair done and be on his way to work by 8:00 a. m. When he arrived at the dealership, the repairmen refused to work on it until 8:00 a.
m. , causing Keith to be late for work. At 8:00 a.
m. , the work started and was completed, and Keith was racing down the expressway, trying to make a meeting on the 73rd floor of Tower 2. As he drove, mad about possibly being late to his meeting, he saw smoke coming out of the first tower and watched in horror as a jet flew right overhead and into the second tower—the tower that he was supposed to be in that morning at that exact moment.
There are many other stories out there like these, where the timing of people's days in God's sovereignty meant everything to how the rest of the story of their life would go. As we pick back up with John 18:28, the timing of what is happening also plays a crucial role in prophetic fulfillment and our understanding of it. Last week, we set up all the historical, geographical, and political background for Jesus being brought before the Roman governor over Judea, a man named Pontius Pilate, in his Jerusalem praetorium.
Maybe I got a bit too carried away with it, but I wanted to set up all the background for you. We resume in John 18, the second part of verse 28 this morning. So, if you brought your Bible with you, please turn to John 18, verse 28.
If you didn't, that's okay; there should be one located in the pew in front of you. Please also turn there or look this up on your favorite Bible app on your smartphone. This is what we read last week: we read, "Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the praetorium, and it was early.
" We spent an entire message on that half a verse. Now we're picking up with "and they themselves did not enter into the praetorium, so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. " Now, before we move into this first trial itself, critics of the Bible are quick to point out this seeming contradiction here in comparison to the three other synoptic gospels.
Didn't Jesus just observe the Passover before he started walking through the streets of Jerusalem and entered the Garden of Gethsemane? How is it that the religious leaders we just read here refuse to enter into the unclean residence of a Gentile pagan ruler because they want to be able to eat the Passover meal later that day? How is that a seeming contradiction?
It's a new day; the sun has risen. The Sanhedrin's official decision is now legal because it's daytime. Now, how can both observances of the Passover be correct?
Short answer: because they both can. I'm going to explain this. Firstly, one way this can be cleared up is with the understanding that the Jewish people viewed and called not just the evening of Passover, but the whole following week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—all of it simply Passover.
So, not wanting to defile themselves to observe the whole rest of the week of Unleavened Bread, the religious leaders refused to enter into the praetorium itself. However, John makes a very clear connection in John 19, which we'll get to eventually, with Jesus being crucified at the same exact time as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in preparation for or before the actual Passover meal would take place. So, again, how could both Jesus and his disciples.
. . Observe Passover before the Passover that everyone else seems to be observing.
Is Jesus breaking the Jewish law, or are the rest of the Jewish people breaking the Jewish law? Short answer: again, neither. Here's what I mean: it all has to do with two documented ways of telling time in this period and culture—the Galilean way and the Judean way.
Here again, my shameless plug about sitting up front so you can see this: the Jewish law dictated that the Passover sacrifice be slaughtered and offered in sacrifice 14 days after the beginning of what was then known as the month of Nissan. Okay, not the car company. The Galilean method of calculating time was from sunrise, 6 a.
m. , to sunrise the next day. That's the Galilean way of counting what this 14th of Nissan was: sunrise to sunrise.
The Galilean method was what Jesus, his disciples, and the Jewish sect known as the Pharisees followed. You remember, where was Jesus and most of his disciples from? Galilee.
Jesus was raised in Nazareth of Galilee, so this was the way that they calculated time. The Sadducees, more concentrated in Jerusalem and Judea, used the Judean method, which calculated days from sunset, 6 p. m.
, to sunset, 6 p. m. Both the 14th of Nissan would be occurring about 6 hours apart from each other.
As we can see on this chart, Jewish people who used both methods of calculating time still followed the Jewish law's requirement of sacrificing the Passover lamb on the 14th of Nissan. Okay, Jesus and his disciples observed the Passover during the evening of the 14th of Nissan, on the Thursday what the Romans—and we today—calculate as the Thursday evening of the 14th of Nissan. The Sadducees, chief priests, and scribes, concentrated in the Judean city of Jerusalem, would have observed Passover also on Nissan 14, but for them, it would have been later on that day, Friday, that year.
You see, here they start at 6:00 p. m. , but they started celebrating on the next day, Friday.
Furthermore, as has been pointed out during Passover, at this point in human history, the population of Jerusalem would have exploded to about 125,000 people, the adult males of which all required to sacrifice Passover lambs. So, in order to accommodate all of those Passover sacrifices at the temple, along with the two methods of calculating days, it's entirely plausible that the priesthood would have been sacrificing Passover lambs from the beginning of Nissan 14 in the Galilean calendar all the way to the end of Nissan 14 in the Judean calendar. And all of this explains how the synoptic gospels are clear that Jesus and his disciples observed Passover on Thursday evening that year, while Jesus was still crucified, while Passover lambs were still being slaughtered at the temple on the day of preparation in preparation for the Passover.
That year, the Passover was a high Passover; it took place on the same day as the Sabbath that year. Remember, Caiaphas, who was high priest at the time, was also a Sadducee, and since it was him and his officials who were primarily bringing Jesus to Pilate, they would have followed the Judean method of calculating time. Soon after dawn, they marched Jesus to the entrance of the Praetorium.
Remember this from last week: this is the Praetorium itself. Here's the entrance, and here's the courtyard where the crowd gathered to yell, "Crucify him! Crucify him!
" while Pilate stood on this raised or elevated section right here to give his official decision. So, soon after dawn, the Jewish officials marched Jesus to the entrance of the Praetorium but did not themselves enter the confines of the Praetorium itself so that they might still eat the Passover and still be ritualistically clean to do so according to their law. They could enter the courtyard of a Gentile; they could enter the courtyard but not the house itself—not inside the Gentile's house, in this case, the Praetorium itself.
The absurd irony of that, though, right? Breaking every other rule to get Jesus executed by the Romans but following that rule so that they could still eat the Passover. Instead, they demand that Pilate go out to meet them, and this initial conversation probably takes place outside the gate of the Praetorium, again out here in the stone-paved gathering place surrounded by columns.
The first trial before Pilate, and the third of Jesus's six trials, marking the first Roman civil and secular trial, can, as has been noted, be divided into two phases: the phase that occurs outside the Praetorium and the phase that occurs inside the Praetorium. John records the first outside phase in verses 28-32, so we're just going to start with verse 29 here. Therefore, Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?
" We talked a lot about Pilate last week—who he was, how he got his position, his blatant anti-Semitism, how everyone hated him and he hated everyone but himself, and how he only cared about saving his own skin and keeping his position as Roman governor. As has been noted, Pilate opens the inquiry by simply following Roman trial protocol, while Jewish trials begin with a statement from the defendant, even though that was completely ignored in all three of Jesus's trials before the Jewish leaders: Annas, Caiaphas, and the whole Sanhedrin Council. All Roman trials were to begin with the accusation brought against the defendant.
We see Pilate simply following this protocol for Roman trial proceedings in verse 29: "What the accusation? " But now we begin to see that disdain and hatred that the Jewish leaders have for Pilate and Pilate for the Jewish leaders, which we spent a good deal of time on last week. The Jewish leaders respond with this verse.
30. They answered him and said to him, "If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you. " Let me ask you this, brothers and sisters: is that an official accusation that would stand up in an official Roman court of law?
No, not at all. As has been pointed out, what they are doing here is completely sidestepping the very normal civil requirement for a court trial and giving a ridiculous response dripping with contempt. One scholar notes that these Jewish officials intended to bring Judas Iscariot as their star witness, but Judas was nowhere to be found since the Gethsemane betrayal, and no one could still find him when all the so-called witnesses were being gathered for the illegal Sanhedrin night trial.
Once Pilate makes his official decision on his judgment seat to condemn Jesus to crucifixion, Judas went and hanged himself, like we talked about last week. So, still bent on accomplishing their goal of having Jesus executed by Roman hands, but having no witnesses whatsoever to follow through with that, they respond with contempt, essentially demanding Pilate to disregard his own Roman laws to execute a man only on the basis that they hated him. Seeing right through the religious leaders' ridiculous undermining response, Pilate's immediate reaction is to toss them out of his sight and toss the case out the window (first part of verse 31).
So, Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law. " Pilate knew that they had no judicial power to enact the death penalty, so any petty judgment they made according to their petty law would be on the same level and would be of no bother to him. According to one scholar, Pilate knew exactly what was going on.
Matthew points out that the Jewish leaders were seeking to put this Nazarene to death simply and only because they were envious of the following he had grown. With no doubt whatsoever, Pilate was aware of and watching very closely Jesus entering Jerusalem just five days prior to this, surrounded by a massive crowd of people shouting, "Hosanna! " or "Save us now!
" with the incredibly strong implication that they wanted this Nazarene to save them from him and the rest of the Romans. Jesus was already on Pilate's radar, but so far, other than that entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and causing an uproar in the temple by flipping over the tables of the currency exchangers and driving them all out with a homemade whip, Jesus had been pretty quiet. However, all of that was enough reason for Pilate to at least hear what the Jewish leaders had to say, to at least hear the Jewish leaders' case about Jesus.
But Pilate was only concerned with Roman law; he didn't care about the petty Jewish laws. He was only concerned with Roman law, and upon hearing that they had no evidence to condemn him and thus clearly did not have a Roman trial case worthy of the death penalty, Pilate wanted nothing to do with it. The Jewish officials rightly respond with the second part of verse 31, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death.
" You can almost read it like this: "Yeah, well, we are not permitted to put anyone to death. " As has been pointed out, their response is purely manipulative. They knew they had no evidence that would hold up in Roman court, but they desperately wanted Jesus dead, so they manipulated the Roman powers into doing what they wanted.
They reminded Pilate, "You're right; we should be able to have our own trial and handle this ourselves, but you Romans were the ones who removed that from us and took that power for yourselves. " In other words, it's your fault that you do have to try this man. Do you see the manipulation going on here?
Furthermore, seeing as they can't get anywhere with Pilate and he clearly wasn't interested in their accusation of blasphemy according to their law, Luke follows this contemptuous reminder to Pilate that they weren't allowed to do what Pilate wanted them to do because of Pilate's own fault with this addition: "And they began to bring charges against him, saying, 'We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. '" There's the further manipulation. I've been saying this for quite some time, but here's where the Jewish accusations of blasphemy against Jesus, when they were within the safety of their own Sanhedrin trial, now take on a much more Roman-friendly flavor of insurrection against Emperor Tiberius.
As has been pointed out, there are three charges of insurrection brought up, mind you, with no witnesses corroborating them: 1. Misleading their nation—that is, preaching blasphemy that was creating instability, and instability was the last thing Pilate or the Romans wanted. 2.
Not paying taxes to Caesar, which again is a flat-out lie since Jesus did command people to pay their taxes to Caesar. 3. That Jesus was making himself out to be a king on the same authoritative level as Caesar.
Now, these three accusations are what get Pilate's attention. This is why we spent so much time last week talking about Pilate and how any whiffs of insurrection or rioting or clear threats to him keeping his own position as governor—as he was already on tenuous terms with his own Emperor Tiberius—in fact, Pilate took these rumors of insurrection and rioting so seriously, he took them too seriously, like we talked about last week, and crushed them in unnecessarily and unreasonably cruel ways. We can see here the human manipulation going on, playing to Pilate's sensitivity to insurrection, but we can also see the divine sovereignty at work.
John records this verse to fulfill the word of Jesus, which he spoke signifying by what kind of death he was about to die. Jesus himself said earlier, back in John 3, in his conversation with one of those members of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, that his death would be by way of being raised up so that everybody could see him being raised up. Matthew 20 tells us that Jesus flat out prophesies that he would die by crucifixion.
Here's why this is hugely important: the Mosaic law prescribed death, especially for blasphemy, by stoning. That was it; that is how they performed executions: by stoning. The Romans, on the other hand, were huge fans of crucifixion, which only one of the two involved the lifting up of someone to kill them: crucifixion.
Moreover, Psalm 22:16 prophesies the Messiah's death with, "They pierced my hands and feet. " That occurred hundreds of years before this. That's just one Old Testament prophecy that refers to the Messiah's death with clear references to crucifixion, as John refers to.
The Romans had— I can't overstate this—had to be the ones to condemn Jesus to death to fulfill Jesus's own words and Messianic prophecies, indicating that he would be executed by crucifixion. Remember, the Sanhedrin had only been stripped of their authority to execute by stoning the death penalty in 29 AD. If we take Jesus's birth as happening around 4 BC, before Herod the Great's death in 4 BC, and thus executing Jesus around 29 to 30 AD, this fulfillment of prophecy, as has been noted, would have only been in place mere months before all of this.
Okay, clearly this is way more fascinating to me than the rest of you. The Sanhedrin's ability to judge by the death penalty their own way, by stoning, had been stripped from them, making it Roman authority only—only a mere few months before this. So, God's timing in human history truly was perfect.
That's what I want us to see here. That was the outside phase of Pilate's first trial of Jesus. Once the Jewish leaders went so far as to claim that this Nazarene was convincing Pilate's constituents to not pay their taxes, a portion of which funded his lavish lifestyle and insurrection against the Roman Emperor over him, who held his life and position in his hand, Pilate had to investigate those claims for himself.
So, he leaves the public behind and withdraws back into the praetorium to have his own private conversation with this accused threat to the Roman Empire and his own personal station in life. That's what begins the inside phase of Pilate's first trial of Jesus. Verse 33: Therefore, Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?
" We now know why this would be Pilate's immediate initial question to Jesus himself. Like Annas was trying to do a couple of hours earlier, the quickest and easiest way to get an "aha" moment out of the accused is to try to get them to incriminate themselves. The quickest and easiest way to do that is to ask the question point blank and see if the accused responds with, "Oh yeah, have you seen how many people are following me?
" So, Pilate asks the point-blank question to Jesus: "Are you the King of the Jews? Is that who you think you are? " In other words, "Are you the Jewish Messiah, the one they say will rise up and run us Romans out of town?
" Jesus answers with verse 34: "Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? " As one scholar points out, picture this: Jesus has already had the tar beaten out of him at the Sanhedrin's trial shortly before this. So, here he is standing before Pilate, beaten, bloodied, and bruised, and Pilate looks at him and asks him if he's the Jewish Messianic King.
Doesn't look like one, does he? Now, as has been noted, the three synoptics simply summarize Jesus's response to Pilate with, "It is as you say. " That's what it says in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, whereas John elaborates with a little bit more specificity about this conversation.
As has been pointed out, Jesus treats Pilate with the respect that his civil governmental position gave him, and before he answers Pilate's question, he respectfully asks where the accusation was coming from—if it was coming from Pilate's own initiative or if he was told by the Jewish officials. In other words, was Pilate asking Jesus this question because he was truly interested in the Messianic implications and wanted to know more about who Jesus was for himself personally, or was it because of the illegal, deceptive accusations brought by those who had already decided they wanted him dead? As has been noted, this was Jesus's first sharing of the Gospel with this pagan Gentile.
Pilate, on the other hand, is as disrespectful and anti-Semitic as he can be towards this pitiful Jewish man beaten up by his own people. Verse 35: Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me.
What have you done? " Pilate responds to Jesus's inquiry in a way that more or less puts Pilate on the spot by asking him if he is interested in finding out more about who he really is as the Messianic deliverer, with contempt. Again, "Why on Earth would I be interested in that?
Who do you think I am, Nazarene? You're here because your own people betrayed you to me, a Roman. " If they wanted nothing to do with you as a messiah but rather want you dead, why in the world do you think I would care about any of that Jewish nonsense?
Now, you tell me, why are you here? Why do you think they brought you here? To get me to condemn you to death?
As has been noted, Pilate was not interested at all in the Jewish reasons of why Jesus was there; he was only interested in whether Jesus posed a threat to the Roman Empire and to him. Jesus answered Pilate's question here in verse 36: Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.
" As one scholar points out, Jesus answers Pilate's question but again directs Pilate to the gospel connection of his mission on Earth. What Pilate demanded to know from Jesus was incongruous and disconnected from the real reason why Jesus was on Earth. Jesus posed no threat to the Roman Emperor, for his kingdom was not of this world.
If it were of this world, he would be commanding his followers to stage an uprising to free him from Roman custody so that he could overthrow the Romans and establish that earthly kingdom. As it really is, Jesus is not interested in establishing an earthly kingdom at that point, and his mission at that point was to pay for salvation with his death and resurrection, thereby destroying the power of Satan's spiritual kingdom. Tiberius's empire meant nothing to Jesus's interests and mission, just like with everyone else who heard Jesus speak anything about his ministry.
However, when Jesus spoke with spiritual language, referring to spiritual things, his listeners interpreted everything he said in a physical way. Right? Just like when the people looked at Jesus in horror as he described how anyone who wanted to enter God's kingdom must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
Pilate interprets what Jesus just said in a purely physical way, again with Roman trial protocol. He's investigating to see if there is any Roman law this Jewish Nazarene was breaking—much more, anything that would warrant execution according to Roman law. And so, Pilate responds with a physical understanding of verse 37.
Therefore, Pilate said to him, "So you are a king? " And again, Jesus continues with his spiritual explanation. Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king.
For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. " Again, the synoptics sum up everything Jesus has said, including verse 37, as simply, "It is as you say.
" Even though Jesus is speaking in spiritual language, Jesus confirms that he indeed is a king— but again, of the spiritual realm. He then lays out the gospel message for Pilate again. Jesus has always existed as God, seated at the right hand of God the Father; but, as Paul explains in Philippians, he didn't count that position as something to cling to or exploit but willingly took on human flesh and therefore made himself into the likeness of a servant.
That's included in the statement about the reason for Jesus being born that he states here in verse 37. All that submit to the Father's will and to pay the price for the salvation of human beings will be starting to celebrate that statement in a few weeks. All that's wrapped up in the perfectly fulfilled prophecies in human history given hundreds to thousands of years before it, leading to the birth of God incarnate as both 100% God and 100% man—Emmanuel, God himself dwelling among us—all to fulfill the mission of Jesus's first Advent.
The very reason why he's beaten into a bloody pulp and standing before a pagan Gentile in authority leads to Jesus's next statement in verse 37: "For this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. " Jesus has spoken of this for the past three and a half years. He is God; anything he has said, God the Father told him to say.
He would be crucified at the hands of sinful men but rise again to life three days later. His death would serve as payment for the redemption of sin. To secure that salvation and redemption from sin, one would need to look at him dying on the cross in repentance, just as the Israelites did with Moses's bronze serpent.
He would resurrect those who surrender to him as Savior and King in repentance of their sin to eternal joy spent with him. He would resurrect those who continually reject him in their lives to eternal torment. Right here before Pontius Pilate, he just revealed that he is a king— but the transcendent King of Heaven.
Earlier on in Matthew, he declares that he will return as that King and establish his earthly kingdom of righteous judgment. Everything Jesus has said up to that point has been the truth of the Gospel that every single human being needs to reckon with. After Jesus's statement summarizing the gospel message being offered to him, even as a Gentile Roman and known hater of Jewish people, Pilate responds as many do to the gospel message presented to them.
What he responds with is sarcasm. "What is truth? " he scoffs.
In verse 38, Pilate said to him, "What is truth? " Some may see this as a sincere rhetorical question on Pilate's part, but within the context and from what we already know about Pilate and his attitude towards the Jewish people generally, and this Jewish Nazarene specifically, we can easily see how this is most likely derisive and dismissive sarcasm. "Okay, sure, whatever you say, bro.
" Jesus declared earlier in. . .
John, during that last Passover he shared with his disciples just mere hours before all of this, said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one, doesn’t matter how good you think you are, doesn’t matter how sincere you think you are, comes to the Father except through me. ” As has been noted, the embodiment of the truth—that is the entirety of the wisdom of Almighty God—was standing before Pilate, open for Pilate to sincerely ask questions of Him and come to a saving faith himself.
But instead, Pilate scoffed at Him and dismissed and rejected His message of gospel truth with three words: “What is truth? ” If you have not surrendered to Jesus as the truth, the life, and the only way to God, do not dismiss it. Do not reject it, responding with sarcasm because you don't want to come to grips with what Jesus, as the truth, has already declared about Himself.
I implore you, do not be a soul that King Jesus will resurrect at the end of time, only to stand before the Most Holy God, to be judged for your sins and be thrown into the lake of fire for all of eternity. I implore you, don't be that soul. Once you die, it's too late; you've lost the chance to accept it for yourself, and you will and must deal with the consequences from a perfectly just God who will judge you regardless of whether or not you even believe in His existence.
Surrender to the truth today; come to God in prayer, telling Him you recognize that you're a sinner, no matter how good you think you are, and asking for forgiveness of that sin based only on the truth that Jesus died to pay the price for your sin on your behalf. Then, surrender to living the rest of your life in pleasing and serving Him as King, following the commandments of righteous living found in His word. Jesus is the King; nothing will ever change that.
That's especially powerful with what's coming up in a couple of days. Jesus is the King. Jesus will always be the King.
The result of what happens on Tuesday will not change the fact and truth that Jesus is the King. Jesus came once to save you; Jesus is coming again to establish His kingdom on Earth. Will you surrender to Him as King now, thus being saved from your sin and the hell that justly deserves, looking with excitement and hope to His return for His church?
Or will you continue to continually reject Him as King, dismiss and be sarcastic about it, and be forced to experience His eternal judgment? Jesus is King; nothing and no one will change that. Surrender and continue to live for Him today.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for these words in the Gospel of John, where You shared the gospel message to this pagan Gentile who wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. But You still shared the words; You still offered him the opportunity.
Lord, each of us cannot now say that we have not been offered the opportunity to put our faith in what You have done for us on the cross and rising again on the third day. The power of what that offers to us—forgiveness of our sin, eternal life, eternally being in Your presence—is open to us. It is a gift; we don't need to work for it.
We don't need to do any rituals or say enough prayers to earn it; it is a gift. It is something You have done for us. Lord, I pray we would accept that gift today, if we have not already, that we will come to You in prayer and repentance of our sin and surrender to You as Savior and King, living out the rest of our days in service to You as King.
I pray that if there’s anybody here who You are working in their hearts, that they would not reject that but they would listen to You. And Jesus, for those of us who have surrendered our lives to You, I pray that we would continue to live our lives for You, continue to do the work that You have for us to do, continue to be strengthened by Your Holy Spirit. We thank You for who You are; we thank You for Your power and Your strength.
And now, as we come before the Lord's Table, I pray that You prepare our hearts to come before You in this manner, and I pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
