The Casting of Lots for Jesus’ Clothing
Devotional by Rebecca Patterson
Read Psalm 22:18 & John 19:23-24
Psalm 22:18
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
John 19:23-24
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
Devotional
The enthroned Messiah left heaven to serve and suffer for mankind, providing a way for complete atonement and forgiveness of our sin. Jesus willingly laid aside His heavenly robes to come to earth in human flesh. When the soldiers disrobed Jesus, they cast lots for His garments, unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:18.
The casting of lots was a common practice, as the soldiers earned a “tip of sorts” from the garments of those crucified. In John 19:23-24, we see the prophecy fulfilled as Jesus’ outer tunic was more valuable as one piece of fabric rather than divided among the soldiers; therefore, there was a need to cast lots to see who would win the outer garment.
Jesus, stripped of His only earthly garments, was physically exposed to the world as He bore the sins of the world. It is reminiscent of when Adam and Eve realized they were naked and exposed after their sin and hid themselves. At this moment of exposure, while bearing our sin on the cross, Jesus felt the separation from His perfect and holy Father and cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).
But, praise the Lord, He now sits at the right hand of God and will one day return in His regal robes! For us, we try to cover and hide our sins. The only way to be truly forgiven and remove the feeling of being forsaken by and separated from God is to expose and confess our sins to the Savior, our Suffering Servant. Then—and only then—can we be covered by the sacrificial blood of Jesus.
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You looked past my sin and made a way for me to be called your child. Thank you, Father.
IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME, AMEN.🙏📖🕊✝
Praise and exalt our Father for all that he went through and for all that he has done! Amen!
Your love for your children is a love that cannot be matched! Thank you Jesus for being obedient to fulfilling Father’s will to cleanse the world of our sins.
Your love for your children is like no other! Thank you Jesus in fulfilling Father’s will to cleanse the world of our sins!
“But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as a man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 10:26-28
Thank you Jesus for all the prices you paid for us…🙏🙏🙏
It’s such a blessing to know that every day as sinners, we’re able to have the choice of either forgiving ourselves and confessing to the Lord so he brings us peace, or we don’t and live in our selfish ways and plans to where we let our sins destroy us. The beautiful part about repentance is that Jesus doesn’t judge us and that no matter what he’ll always forgive us and never leave our side even if we may stray away. Thank you Jesus!
For God do loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so the world through Him might be saved….
The most wonderful story!
After reading these words, I’ve been thinking about the idea of “exposing” vs. “being exposed.” One of these is an action step from a person and the other is something that happens TO a person. Christ, being exposed of His identity, authority and humanity as if revealing His “guilt” (or lack thereof) grants me the chance to not be exposed BUT to expose my own sin and sinful state. It reveals my humility and gratitude to a God that would send His Son to take my place of punishment. His blood NOW covers what I revealed and repented of and because of that, I’m no longer the same or ashamed — praise the Lord!
This part really stood out to me:
“At this moment of exposure, while bearing our sin on the cross, Jesus felt the separation from His perfect and holy Father and cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?””
We teach kids about how our sin means we are completely separated from God forever. This is the ultimate punishment of sin. God is a pure, perfect and holy God who can’t be around sin. But that wasn’t his plan for us. His plan, what he created us for, was to be in a relationship with him forever! So he gave us Jesus. And if we believe that we are sinners, that God gave his one and only son Jesus to take on the ultimate punishment for our sins, and then rose 3 days later, we will be saved. We will be in a relationship with God once again forever!
However, seeing this part of the study was very surreal for me. It’s one thing to teach it in the most simple way for young people… and it’s one thing to let it sink into your soul. The pure, perfect and holy God came down to the sin-filled earth and lived a perfect life…. Then experienced total separation from his Heavenly Father for the first time. For who? A sinful person like me? I am unworthy of such a sacrifice.
Thank you Jesus. Thank you God for making a way back to you. Thank you that this isn’t where the story ends.
Praise the lord for he covered our and my sins with his blood. He is the savior of the world. Praise the lord for another day of recovery from my sins.
Our faith in Jesus‘ finished work on the cross guarantees us to never be separated from our Holy And Righteous Father. Thank you Jesus for taking my sin and shame upon yourself so I may have life eternal. Hallelujah
Lord I pray that no one will fall away from the salvation You have given us through the suffering death of Jesus. Thank You Jesus for willing laying downYour life to set us free from sin and eternal death.
The Peril of Falling Away
6 Therefore let us get past the elementary stage in the teachings about the Christ, advancing on to maturity and perfection and spiritual completeness, [doing this] without laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 of teaching about washings (ritual purifications), the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [These are all important matters in which you should have been proficient long ago.]
3 And we will do this [that is, proceed to maturity], if God permits. 4 For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have [a]tasted andconsciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted and consciously experienced the good word of God and the powers of the age (world) to come,
6 and then have fallen away—it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace. Hebrews 6:1-6 (AMP)
Thank you Jesus for suffering the shame of my sin that I justly deserve, bridging the gap that separates me from our Heavenly Father, and reconcile me to yourself.
We, just like Adam and Eve, attempt to hide our sins from the only one, Jesus, who left Heaven, to serve and suffer for us and forgive us for those very sins we commit. Times have not changed!
Thank you Jesus that you still, to this day, continue to forgive me my sins.
Christ was laid bare before the world .. There were no hidden agendas, tricks or unrighteousness in his death on the cross.. So too our faith in God ought to be laid bare before the world without holding anything back .. if you won’t stand for your faith, you have no faith… Thank you Jesus for Standing !!
“He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so we could become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. Thank You Jesus for trading places with me!
Many people associate nakedness with shame, leading to the belief that one should feel ‘ashamed’ of their actions, which reflects our state before knowing Him. The disobedience of Adam and Eve is often viewed as the beginning of sin, leaving no room for redemption under the old law. Yet, one of the wonderful aspects of the English language is its richness and depth. Nakedness can also represent vulnerability, symbolizing even Jesus’ reliance on the Father. Although He is equal to the Father, He chose to submit to His will, illustrating the kind of vulnerability we should embody when approaching God. I am thankful that I don’t have to meet Him in the garden in shame thanks to Jesus; instead, I can approach Him in heavenly places, seated alongside Jesus. Ephesians 2:6
There is no other love than that of our Father and our Savior. For to give up one’s only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the whole world’s sin and for Jesus to obey and surrender himself even unto death. To be separated from His Father, and neglected by everyone. Tortured, ridiculed and nailed to the cross. He still reached out in love and mercy to save another sinner up on a cross next to him. All Jesus went through by himself so that we could be forgiven, cleansed whiter than snow and given the true gift of eternal love and life in Heaven with himself and our Creator God the Father. What an abundance of love so unconditionally pure and the gift of being chosen to die for me, so that I could have eternal life with Him is the most precious gift I could ever receive. I am humbled, honored and blessed to be chosen before the foundation of this world to be one of God’s children. Praise God and Praise Jesus for my precious gift. Hosanna to Lord God Almighty!!!
Thank YOU our FATHER for covering my nakedness (my confessed sins)with the Righteousness of JESUS. The penalty of sin & death has been paid in full. To GOD be glory forever; always, & then some to no end.
I think from the best point of view, this is the season when all sacrifices were made about Easter and Memorial Day, in the fact that it is the same way that helps me see a bigger picture on how sacrificial love works.
I think in the fact that, in my best point of view, it is true because, as it is mentioned to Genesis is that we are going to see God again, and that he is going to combine Heaven and Earth, and that is how I see the beauty of his return in Revelations.