PT-1 “EXCURSUS: WHY EVERY Self-respecting Calvinist Must Be a Premillennialist”

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2026 8:08 AM

            This morning I will begin to quote from a chapter in John MacArthur’s commentary which is different from other chapters that we have been looking at.  Let me begin by giving the title of this chapter, and then write something that is written first in the chapter.

“EXCURSUS: WHY EVERY Self-respecting Calvinist Must Be a Premillennialist”

“This material is taken from a message delivered by the author at the March, 2007 Grace Community Church Shepherds’ Conference.  It has been lightly edited, but no effort has been made to remove the marks of the original spoken message.  It is included here as an expansion of a theme introduced in the discussion of the covenants in chapters 9-11 of this volume.  A proper interpretation of the biblical data leads to the conclusion that God’s promises to Israel will be literally fulfilled in the nation of Israel and not transferred to the church.  That reality logically leads to premillennialism.

            “Is one of the strange ironies in the church and Reformed theology that those who love the doctrine of sovereign election most supremely and sincerely, and who are most unwavering in their devotion to the glory of God, the honor of Christ, the work of the Spirit in regeneration and sanctification, the veracity and inerrancy of Scripture, and who are the most fastidious in hermeneutics, and who are the most careful and intentionally biblical regarding categories of doctrine, and who see themselves as guardians of biblical truth, and are not content to be wrong at all, and who agree most heartily on the essential matters of Christian truth so that they labor with all their powers to examine in a Berean fashion every relevant text to discern the true interpretation of all matters of divine revelation are in varying degrees of noninterest in applying those same passions and skills to the end of the story, and are rather content to be a happy and even playful disagreement regarding the vast biblical data on eschatology, as if the end didn’t matter much.

            “But it does matter that Calvinist care about eschatology and get it right—and we will if we get Israel right.  We get Israel right when we get the Old Testament covenants and promises right.  We get the Old Testament covenants and promises right when we get the interpretation of Scripture right.  We get the interpretation of Scripture right when we’re faithful to a legitimate hermeneutic and God’s integrity is upheld.  We get our hermeneutics right, we’ll get Israel right.  Get Israel right, we’ll get eschatology right.

            “The Bible calls God the God of Israel more than 200 times.  There are more than 2,000 references to Israel in Scripture, and not one of them means anything but Israel, including Romans 9:6 and Galatians 6:16, which are the only two passages that amillennialists go to, to try to convince us that those cancel out the other 2,000.  There is no difficulty in interpreting those verses as simply meaning Jews who were believers, the Israel of God.  Israel always means Israel, never means anything but Israel.  Seventy-three New Testament uses of Israel always mean Israel.

            “Seventy percent of Scripture is the story of Israel.  And, I think, the whole point of the story is to get to the ending—and it doesn’t go up in smoke.  So here’s how to get the foundation for an accurate understanding of eschatology.  Get election right and get Israel right.  Those two go together; they’re inseparable.  How is it that we’ve come to get number one right and totally miss number two so often?  I’m confident that God did not reveal prophetic truth in such detail to hid or obscure the truth, but to reveal it for our blessing, our motivation, and ultimately His glory.

            “But there is a theology concerning Israel and the end times—popular in many Reformed and Calvinistic circles today—that I believe does not get things right concerning Israel.  It is replacement theology, and scholastically it’s often referred to as supersessionism.  This view demands that all the Old Testament promises to Israel be viewed through the lens of the New Testament and ultimately get transferred to the church.  Replacement theology, and integral part of amillennialism, also creates a strange dichotomy, since all the curses promised to Israel came to Israel.  Literally, and they’re still coming.  If one wonders whether the curses in the Old Testament were literal, they’re going on right now.  Israel right now is not under divine protection.  They are under the promise of God  that they will be perpetuated as an ethnic people, but this current group of Jews that live in the world today and in the nation of Israel are not now under divine protection—they’re apostate.  They’ve rejected their Messiah.  They are under divine chastening.  But they are still a  people and will be to the end.

            “What a staggering apologetic that is for truthfulness of Scripture.  We can’t abandon that without a huge loss of confidence in Scripture.  All the curses promised to Israel for disobedience to God came true, literally on Israel.  And now, all of a sudden, we’re supposed to split all those passages that give blessing and cursing and say all the blessings promised to Israel aren’t coming to Israel; they’re coming to the church instead?  Where’s the textual justification for such a split interpretation?  And wouldn’t we think that whatever way the curses were fulfilled would set the standard for whatever way the blessings would be fulfilled? Or to put the question in another context. Wouldn’t we expect that all the prophecies that came to pass when Jesus came in a literal fashion would set the pattern for how the prophecies connect to His second coming would come to pass?  There’s no place for splitting up these interpretations.

            “Thus the Old Testament cannot be amillennial.  If we affirm a normal hermeneutic—the perspicuity of the Old Testament—of course it pronounces clearly covenants and promises and a kingdom to come to Israel.

            “The Old Testament must be interpreted, preached, and taught as clear revelation from God that is to be understood, believed, and applied by the people to whom it was given.  So what did God promise Israel?  Look at the twelfth chapter of Genesis, and obviously this is a study beyond our capability to dig into all the details.  But it’s clear and straightforward; it’s not difficult.  I want us to see the connection between these covenants and divine, electing sovereignty.

            “Follow the use of the expression “I will” in verses 2-3: “And I will make you a great nation; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” I will, I will, I will—five times.  It is sovereign, unilateral, unconditional election.

            “That’s prophecy.  God later puts Abram to sleep and says this is what is going to happen:  “I will also judge the nations whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.  As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age” (Genesis 15:14-15). 

            “Then in verse 17:  “It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.”  God put Abram out, anesthetized him, and He alone went through the pieces—a unilateral, unconditional, irrevocable promise that God made with Himself.  There were no conditions for Abram to fulfill.  On that day, the Lord made a covenant with him.

            “It is to be a covenant that does not end.  Chapter 17, verse 7 says “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.” God elected Abram, elected the nation that would come out of his lions, made a covenant and a promise with them to be their God.  This is the foundational covenant in the Bible—foundational, biblical covenant—the promise of God, unilateral and unconditional.”

3/26/2026 9:30 AM

“The Blessings of the New Covenant” (Luke 78b-79)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2026 7:27 PM

My Worship Time                                                  Focus:  “The Blessings of the New Covenant”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                               Reference:  Luke 1:78b-79

            Message of the verses:  “with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

            We are coming to the end of the first chapter of Luke, with only one more verse to look at, verse 80 “80  And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”  Now I have not seen any commentary on this verse from MacArthur’s commentary, but perhaps he will have something to say about it.  One more thing and that is that after I get done with this SD, the next chapter in MacArthur’s commentary is something that is completely different.  As I go through that chapter, beginning in tomorrow’s SD I will just quote what he has to say in that chapter, and I don’t know exactly how long it will take me to get through it, but we will see once I begin in the morning, Lord willing.

            Now as we look at these verses we can see that Zacharias anticipated the coming of the One whose death would procure the blessings of the New covenant—the messiah. MacArthur writes “He identified Him using a metaphor rich in Old Testament messianic theology and symbolism.  Anatole (Sunrise) literally means ‘rising, and refers here to the first light of dawn.  On high (lit., ‘out of’ or ‘from the height’) refers symbolically to heaven.  Zacharias thus depicts the Messiah as a great light from heaven, who will shine the light of salvation upon those who sit in darkness and shadow of death (cf. Isaiah 9:2; Psalm 107:10, 14; John 12:46)

(cf. Isaiah 9:2; Psalm 107:10, 14; John 12:46)

“2  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

“10 ¶  Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,”

“14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.”

“46  I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

“He is ‘the sun of righteousness [who] will rise with healing in its wings’ (Mal. 4:2), shining into the deep darkness of sin and ending the soul’s long night.  Second Peter speaks of the time when ‘the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts,’ while Revelation 22:16, the Lord Jesus Christ called Himself ‘the bright morning star.’

            “Darkness in Scripture cane be used metaphorically in two ways.  Intellectually, it refers to ignorance and error (e.g., Psalm 82:5; Eccl. 2:14; Eph 4:18).  Morally, darkness symbolizes sin (e.g., Prov. 2:13; 4:19; John 3:19; “Rom. 13:12; 2 Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 5:8, 11), and the realm of Satan (e. g., Luke 22:53; Eph. 6:12; Col. 1:13).  God is light (1 John 1:5), and consequently Jesus, God incarnate, came into the world as the Light of the world (John 1:9; 3:19; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46).  He is ‘a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison’ (Isa. 42:6-7).   

(Isa. 42:6-7)

“7  to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

            “To a lost world groping in the darkness and desperately hoping for light (Isaiah 59:9-10), God, knowing there was no human solution to sin’s dilemma (v. 16), sent ‘a Redeemer…to those who turn from [their] transgression’ (v. 20; cf. 53:4-6, 8, 10-12). Speaking of the New covenant that would bring that about, God declared, ‘As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the Lord: ‘My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,’ says the Lord, ‘from now and forever (v. 21).

            The Light of salvation will continue to shine in the millennial kingdom, as Isaiah 60:1-5 reveals:

1 ¶  Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4  Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5  Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.” (ESV)

Indeed, throughout eternity the light of God’s glory will illuminate the New Jerusalem:

“19  The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20  Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.” (ESV)

            “Not only would the Messiah bring the light of salvation to His people, He would also guide their feet into the way of peace.  Lost sinners, stumbling around in the darkness, know nothing of true peace (Rom. 3:17).”   

(Rom. 3:17)

“17  and the way of peace they have not known.’”

“But peace is one of the elements of the New covenant.  In Isaiah 34:10, God said, ‘For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,’ says the Lord who has compassion on you’  ‘Peace I leave with you; ‘ Jesus promised, ‘my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let it be fearful’ (John 14:27).  Peace, Paul wrote, begins with salvation:  ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom. 5:1).  The kingdom of God is characterized by ‘righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 14:17).  Peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), and the ‘peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard [believers’] hearts and [their] minds in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 4:7).

            With the end of Zacharias’s song of praise, the curtain falls on the life of John the Baptist, not to be raised again until the beginning of his public ministry in chapter 3.  The
Bible passes over his childhood in silence, revealing even less details about it than it does of Jesus’ childhood.  All that is known of John during the long years between his circumcision and the beginning of his public ministry is that he continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.  He then assumed the role predicted for him as Messiah’s forerunner, proclaiming the New covenant of which his father so eloquently and passionately spoke.”

            So there at the end we see verse 80 of Luke’s first chapter.

3/25/2026 8:18 PM

 

“The Source of the New Covenant” (Luke 1:78a)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2026 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  “The Source of the New Covenant”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 1:78a

Message of the verse:  “because of the tender mercy of our God,”

            Now it is God’s tender mercy that moves Him to show compassion to lost sinners.  MacArthur adds that “Tender translates splagchna, which literally refers to the inner parts of the body, such as the intestines, heart, liver, and lungs (cf. Acts 1:18).”  “18  (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.”  “Figuratively, it describes the affections and the heart as the seat of those afflictions (2 Cor. 6:12, 7:15; Phil. 1:8; 2:1; Col. 3:12; Philem.7, 12, 20; 1 John 3:17).”

(2 Cor. 6:12, 7:15; Phil. 1:8; 2:1; Col. 3:12; Philem.7, 12, 20; 1 John 3:17)

“12  You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.”

“15  And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling.”

“8  For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

“1 ¶  So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,”

“7  For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”

“12  I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.”

“20  Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.”

“17  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

“In combination with eleos (mercy) it vividly depicts the intensity of God’s compassionate concern for sinners.

            “Mercy is a glorious attribute of God, celebrated throughout Scripture. He is ‘merciful and gracious’ (Ps. 86:15; cf. 145:8), and ‘full of compassion and…merciful’ (James 5:11; cf. Luke 6:36).”

(Ps. 86:15; cf. 145:8)

“15  But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

“8  The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

(James 5:11; cf. Luke 6:36)

“11  Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

“36  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

“The outworking of that mercy results in God showing kindness to sinners.  Speaking of His tender mercy toward Israel, Isaiah wrote, ‘In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them’ (Isa. 63:9).  In Jeremiah 33:26, God said of downtrodden Israel, I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them’ (cf. Ezekiel 39:25).”

(cf. Ezekiel 39:25)

“25  "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.”

“Mary rejoiced that God’s ‘mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him’ (Luke 1:50) and that ‘He has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy (v. 54).  Earlier in his hymn of praise, Zacharias also spoke of God’s past mercy to Israel (v. 72).”

(Luke 1:72)

“72  to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,”

“Ephesians 2:4 declares that it is because God is ‘rich in mercy’ that He redeems lost sinners, while in 1 Timothy 1:13 and 16, Paul praised God for His mercy in saving him.  Titus 3:5 declares that God ‘saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy’ (cf. 1 Peter 1:3, 2:10).

(cf. 1 Peter 1:3, 2:10)

“  3 ¶  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

“10  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

            “In his classic exposition of the attributes of God, The knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer expressed the wonder that all the redeemed should feel whin they contemplate God’s mercy toward them:

‘When through the blood of the everlasting covenant we children of the shadows reach at last our home in the light, we shall have a thousands strings to our harps, but the sweetest may well be the on tuned to sound forth most perfectly the mercy of God….We who earned banishment shall enjoy communion; we who deserve the pains of hell shall the bliss of heaven.  And all through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us. ([New York; Harper & Ros, 1975], 96)

            “There was nothing inherently wrong with the Mosaic covenant ‘the Law is holy, and commandment is holy and righteous and good’ (Rom. 7:12).  It was an absolutely perfect reflection of God’s righteous character.  Had God merely enforced the terms of the Mosaic covenant and condemned all sinners to eternal punishment for violating His law, He would have glorified Himself by displaying His justice.  But God chose to have mercy on hopeless, helpless sinners in the misery of their fallen state and institute the New covenant, with its promise of forgiveness, righteousness, and full eternal acceptance with God.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life today:  As I think about the statement MacArthur wrote “Had God merely enforced the terms of the Mosaic covenant and condemned all sinners to eternal punishment for violating His law, He would have glorified Himself by displaying His justice,” I am so very thankful for the next statement MacArthur wrote “But God chose to have mercy on hopeless, helpless sinners in the misery of their fallen state and institute the New covenant, with its promise of forgiveness, righteousness, and full eternal acceptance with God.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is my desire to continue to tell others through this blog site about the great mercy that God has made possible through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ the mercy that is available to those who will confess that they are sinners, and to then accept the forgiveness that Christ offers to those who will accept His forgiveness.

3/25/2026 10:51 AM

 

“The Promise of the New Covenant” (Luke 1:77)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2026 4:38 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: “The Promise of the New Covenant”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 1:77

            Message of the verse:  “to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins”

            In an earlier SD it was noted to experience the promised blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, as well as to escape the threatened cures for violating the Mosaic covenant, it requires that God sovereignly give to His people the knowledge of salvation.  Now the knowledge in view here is not theological or theoretical, but the personal knowledge that comes by the forgiveness of … sins.

3/24/2026 10:47 PM

            John MacArthur writes:  “Moses, the giver of the law, recognized the need for this covenant.  As he reiterated the principles of the Mosaic covenant to the new generation about to enter the Promised Land, Moses spoke of another covenant ‘besides the covenant which [God] had made with them at Horeb [the Mosaic covenant]’ (Deut. 29:1).  That the people of Israel would be unable to keep the Mosaic covenant is evident from Deuteronomy 30:1-3:

“  1 ¶  "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2  and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.”

“The reference to their banishment and captivity makes it clear that the people of Israel were not going to obey the law of Moses.  God promised to regather them from the nations to which He had scattered them—but only when they returned to Him and obeyed Him with all their hearts and souls. (It should be noted that Israel’s reconstitution as a nation in  1948 is not the regathering in view in this passage; modern Israel is a thoroughly secular state, whose people as a whole have not returned to the Lord with all their hearts and souls.  The regathering predicted here refers to Israel’s national salvation [Rom. 11:25-26]).”  I would like to say that the Bible shows us every time that Israel will come back to their land, and so in my opinion this is the last time that Israel will return to their land.  When the rapture of the Church happens, [and I hope that it is very soon], Israel will be in their land as  soon after the rapture of the Church the Tribulation period will start, the last seven years that are spoken of in the 9^th chapter of Daniel.  Once that is over the Lord will return to planet earth as seen in the 19^th chapter of the book of Revelation.  He will end the battle of Armageddon and then set up the Millennial Kingdom which was promised to Israel and then once that is over the Great White Throne Judgment will happen, after that heaven and earth will be destroyed seen in 2 Peter chapter three, and then there will be a new heaven and earth, and a New Jerusalem as eternity will then begin.

            “Before anyone can turn to the Lord and be saved, God must first circumcise their hearts (Deut. 30:6).  Here is the essence of the New covenant—a spiritual surgery performed on the sinful heart of man.  Only such a radical transformation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17), can break the power of the law of sin and enable people to keep the law of God.  Since the Mosaic, Davidic, and Abrahamic covenants did not have the power to change the heart, God provided the New covenant.

            “The most explicit Old Testament description of the New Covenant is in Jeremiah 33:31-34:

“31  "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’” (ESV)

“By Jeremiah’s time, Israel’s situation was desperate.  The northern kingdom (Israel) had already fallen to the Assyrians, and the days of the southern kingdom (Judah) were numbered.  The people were apostate, and Jeremiah’s dire warnings of impending judgment and calls for repentance went unheeded. In the short term, then, the people’s forsaking of the Mosaic covenant had rendered their situation hopeless.  But God through Jeremiah promised a new covenant—the one Moses had spoken of centuries earlier (see the discussion of Deut. 30 above—His unconditional, unilateral, eternal, irrevocable promise to redeem lost sinners from judgment and hell.)

            “The promised New covenant would ‘not [be] like the [Mosaic] covenant which [God] made with their fathers’ (v. 32).  In sharp contrast to the external law code of the Mosaic covenant, God promised that in the New covenant He would ‘put [His] law within them and [write it] on their heart’ (v. 33), thus granting sinners a new heart (Ezek. 36:26).  The powerful spiritual dynamic provided in the New covenant provides deliverance from the power, penalty, and, ultimately, the presence of sin.  God irresistibly draws sinners to Himself (John 6:44), and to those who come (John 6:37) He promises, ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’ (Jer. 31:34; Ezek. 36:25).  The New covenant thus provides the essential things that all the other covenants lacked—a new heart, power to obey God, fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:27), and the forgiveness of sin.  Those are the keys that unlock all the promised blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants and cancel the condemnation of the Mosaic law (cf. Rom. 8:1-2).

            “The New covenant is personal, promising the salvation of individual sinners through faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin or the world’ (John 1:29).  Everyone who ever has or ever will be saved has come to salvation under the terms of the New covenant (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; cf. Acts 10:42-43; Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 2:5-6).

            “But the New covenant also has national implications for Israel.  The irrevocable promises of God that Israel would be saved and blessed, that Messiah’s kingdom will come, and that their land be restored all hinge on the nation’s believing in Jesus Christ.  In the future, the believing remnant of the Jewish people will ‘look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and the will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn’ (Zech. 12:10), and as a result ‘all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26).  Until that time of national repentance and acceptance of the New covenant and the One whose death made it possible, Israel cannot receive the blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants.”

3/24/2026 11:23 PM

PT-2 “Zachariahs’s Song of Salvation –Part 3 The New Covenant” (Luke 1:76-80)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2026 9:45 AM

My Worship Time     Focus: PT-2 “Zachariahs’s Song of Salvation –Part 3 The New Covenant”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                        Focus:  Luke 1:76-80

            Message of the verses:  “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.” (NASB)

            I continue to quote from the introduction of John MacArthur’s commentary on these verses above.

            “In his farewell address to the nation nearly forty years later as the wilderness wandering ended, Moses described the blessings that would come from Obedience (Deut. 28:1-14),and warned of the consequences of disobedience (vv. 15-68).  As an object lesson, Moses commanded that after Israel entered the Promised Land, half the tribes were to recite the promised blessings of obedience from Mount Gerizim and the other six pronounce the threatened curses for disobedience from Mount Ebal (Deut. 27:11-26).  After the conquest of the land of Canaan, Joshua, like Moses, also challenged Israel to obey:

“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Josh. 24:15) (NASB)

In response ‘the people answered and said, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods’’ (v. 16).  When Joshua further cautioned them, ‘If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you’ (v. 20) they protested, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord…We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice’ (vv. 21, 24). 

            “Again, those good intentions were not enough to keep the people slipping into apostasy.  ‘The people served the Lord all the days  of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel’ (Judges 2:7).

But after

10  And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. 11  And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. 12  And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. 13  They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14  So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15  Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.” (Judges 2:10-15) (ESV)

            “Israel’s situation thus seemed hopeless.  Were they never to receive the promised blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants?  Could they somehow be forgiven for violating the Mosaic covenant and granted the means to obey? What they desperately needed was for God to provide another covenant that would provide both forgiveness and the power to obey.  That really underscores the need for the New covenant—the personal work of God to forgive sin, cleanse the heart, and provide spiritual power.”  Now if you are looking for more detail exposition of the theological aspects of the New Covenant see the commentary that John MacArthur wrote on 2 Corinthians pages 93-117.

            “Zacharias, a true believer in the Lord God, and a student of the Old Testament Scripture, understood the covenants and their fulfillment through the Messiah to come.  His response to the announcement of a son to be Messiah’s forerunner was to break out in praise for the inevitable fulfillment of the Messianic covenants.  He had already referred to the Davidic and Abrahamic covenants.” We already looked at that when we looked at verses 67-75 in earlier SDs.  “God would end four centuries of revelatory silence.  John’s ministry would be to go before the Lord to prepare His ways, in fulfillment of God’s promise through Malachi, ‘Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way for Me’ (Mal. 3:1; cf. 4:5).”  “5  "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.”

“He was ‘the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!’’’ (Matt. 3:3).  John’s mission was to prepare the people for Messiah’s arrival.  To that end he ‘preach[ed] a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ (Luke 3:3), and his uncompromising message was that people should ‘repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ (Matt. 3:2).  John also challenged the legitimacy of some of his hearers repentance:

“7 ¶  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9  And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (vv. 3:7-10” (ESV)

            “John’s message ran counter to the popular conception of the Messiah.  The people were looking for a conquering hero, who would defeat their enemies, establish his throne, and usher in the promised blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants.  That is why the crowd wanted to make Jesus king after He miraculously fed the five thousand (John 6:14-15).” “14  When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”  15 ¶  then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”  “But before realizing the blessings of those covenants they needed to face the reality of their sin, repent, and seek the forgiveness provided only in the New covenant, already in operation, through ratified by our Lord on the cross.  In God’s timeless, eternal view He applied the death of the Savior through all redemptive history to those who repented and sought His salvation by grace.”  This ends the introduction to these last verse found in the first chapter of Luke chapter one, and as I have copied the commentary from John MacArthur it surely brings back great memories to me, and has taught me new things.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  To remember the cost that God gave to me through the death, burial and resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to help me to live a life that is very pleasing to Him, who has given me salvation through Jesus Christ my Lord as He suffered and paid for my salvation on the cross, then was buried and three days later arose from the dead to show that what He did pleased God.  For this I am very thankful!!

3/24/2026 10:56 AM

 

PT-1 “Zachariahs’s Song of Salvation –Part 3 The New Covenant” (Luke 1:76-80)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2026 7:08 PM

My Worship Time     Focus: PT-1 “Zachariahs’s Song of Salvation –Part 3 The New Covenant”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                        Focus:  Luke 1:76-80

            Message of the verses:  “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.” (NASB)

            It is my practice to quote from the introduction of John MacArthur’s commentary as I begin a new chapter from his commentary.

            “Of the several covenants God has given for the outworking of redemptive history, the New covenant is unique.  As noted in previous chapters of this volume, three of those covenants, the Noahic, Priestly, and Mosaic, are non-salvific; that is, they are not promises associated with salvation.  The Noahic covenant is God’s pledge not to destroy the world again by water, while the Priestly covenant is a ‘covenant of a perpetual priesthood’ (Num. 25:13) promising that all legitimate high priests would come from the family line of Phinehas.  Nor is salvation in view in the Mosaic covenant, because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin’ (Rom. 3:20; cf. v. 28; Gal. 2:16; 3:11; 5:4).  And though the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants require salvation for their blessings to be realized, nothing in them provides it.

            “There is a barrier, insurmountable by any human effort, which prevents everyone, including Israelites, from experiencing the benefits of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants—sin.  For those covenants blessings to be realized requires a new, different, and superior covenant—one that provides total forgiveness of sin (Heb. 7:22; 8:6).  That is precisely the point the writer of Hebrews makes in Hebrews 8:7-13:

“7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8  For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11  And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12  For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." 13  In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (ESV)

“Commenting on the significance of God’s making a new covenant the Puritan theologian John Owen wrote, “Had it not been of the greatest importance to the glory of God and the good of the souls of men, God would not, for the sake of it, have laid aside one covenant and made another…All this was done that we might be pardoned (The Forgiveness of sin [Reprint; Grand Rapids; Baker, 1977], 179).

            “The most basic problem people face is not psychological or social.  It is not how they act, think, or speak.  Those things merely reflect (cf. Luke 6:45) the true problem; that is, that all are sinners (Rom. 3:23), with evil, sin-defiled hearts (Jer. 17:9).  The apostle Paul gave a comprehensive description (drawn from Old Testament passages) of mankind’s endemic, systemic sinfulness when he wrote to the Romans,

“10  as it is written,: "None is righteous, no, not one; 11  no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." 13  “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15  "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16  in their paths are ruin and misery, 17  and the way of peace they have not known." 18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18 ESV)

            “Paul referred to sin’s pervasive presence as the ‘law of sin’ (Rom. 7:23, 25), graphically expressing the power, authority, constraint, and influence that sin exerts.  The apostle’s use of the term ‘law’ was metaphorical; he was not speaking of a standard to be lived up to, but of a force to be reckoned with.  Sin is an operative reality in man’s nature that has the power to drive and compel behavior, much like hunger, thirst, sexual desire, fear, anger, and sorrow do.  Indwelling sin manipulates and controls behavior from the inside, unlike external standards or rules.

            “Since neither the promised blessings of the Davidic and Abrahamic covenants, nor the threatened curses for violating the Mosaic law can change the heart, they cannot overpower the law of sin.  No amount of willpower or determination to obey can enable a sinner to keep the Ten Commandments (or even Jesus’ summary of the Law [Mark 12:28-31]).”  I will stop here to quote these verses from Mark’s gospel” (Mark 12:28-31) “28 ¶  And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29  Jesus answered, "The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." (EST).  The law both demonstrates to sinners their inability to obey and their need for mercy, grace, and forgiveness, and even exacerbates sin and leads to death (Rom. 7:8-11).” “8  But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9  I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10  The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11  For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” (ESV).  “It displays our sin and helplessness in order, as Paul wrote, to become ‘our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith’ (Gal. 3:24).

            “Israel’s experience illustrates that truth.  The people had the best intentions, vowing obedience to God’s law and sealing their commitment with blood as recorded in Exodus 24:4-8:

“4  And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5  And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6  And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." 8  And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." (ESV)

But it proved impossible for them to overcome their sinful natures and soon they were breaking the commandments with a level of idolatry and immorality that led to divine judgment (Ex. 32).”

            I will end here and Lord willing pick up the rest in tomorrow morning’s SD.

3/23/2026 7:48 PM

           

 

“The Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant” (Luke 1:74-75)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2026 7:43 AM

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  “The Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:74-75

            Message of the verses:  “to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”

            In this mornings SD I begin the last section in MacArthur’s 10^th chapter in his first book on the gospel of Luke, and I believe that there will be just one more chapter in order to finish his commentary on this first chapter of Luke.

            “In one of the most dramatic incidents in all of redemptive history, God’s covenant with Abraham was confirmed by his faith, expressed in his willingness to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God.  Israel unlike Abraham, has through history failed to respond in faith to the revealed will of God, even when Messiah came.  As a result, the promised blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, like those of the Davidic covenant, have not been realized.  Not until the Jewish people acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah who comes in the name of the Lord (Luke 13:35), look with penitent remorse on the One they pierced and mourn their rejection of Him, will the believing remnant be saved (Rom. 11:26) and the nation experience all the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant in the millennial kingdom.  Only then will Zacharias’s fervent hope that the children of Israel, being rescued from the and of their enemies, might serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all their days, be realized.”  Now let me quote the verse references from this paragraph in the order that they are listed.

(Luke 13:35)

“35  Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’"”

(Zech. 12:10)

“10  "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

(Rom. 11:26)

“26  And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

            “As is the case with the Davidic covenant, Gentile believers will also experience the vast blessings of the Abrahamic covenant.  In a spiritual sense, all Christians share in the promises of salvation blessing in the covenant, and so in the promises of salvation blessing in this covenant, and so in the sense of salvation are called children of Abraham, as the apostle Paul notes in Galatians 3:6-7: ‘Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.’ Looking ahead to the cross, God applied the righteousness of Jesus Christ to Abraham’s account.  Those who believe the gospel and in faith embrace Jesus Christ ‘are blessed with Abraham, the believer’ (v-9).  Even if they are not descended from Abraham physically all who believe share the principle of faith with Abraham and thus are in that sense his spiritual descendants.  The salvation blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles.  To the Romans Paul wrote:

“11  He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12  and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” (ESV)

            “That all believers become Abraham’s children spiritually does not mean that the church is the new Israel, cancelling all the promises to the nation.  That kind of ‘replacement theology’ is unacceptable in light of the unconditional Old Testament promises of God and the New Testament reiteration of them.  Paul says with regard to Israel, ‘the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable’ (Rom. 11:29).  Israel has not been permanently set aside as a nation; God would not perpetuate and protect the Jewish people through the centuries unless He had a definite purpose for doing so.  The apostle Paul recoiled in horror as the thought that God had permanently rejected Israel:  “ I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” (This is the strongest Greek Paul is using here)  “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Rom. 11:1-2).  Though Israel stumbled into disobedience, ‘They did not stumble so as to fall, did they?  May it never be [me genoito]! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous’ (v. 11).   Gentiles, like a wild olive branch, are grafted into the rich root of Abrahamic blessings (v. 17).  But the natural branches (the Jews), ‘if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again’ (v. 23).  Indeed, after ‘the fulness of the Gentiles has come in’ (v. 25), ‘all Israel [i.e., the believing remnant] will be saved’ when Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation to set up the millennial kingdom (v. 26).  

            “It is then that the Abrahamic covenant, anticipated by members of the believing remnant such as Zacharias, Simon, and Anna, but rejected by the unbelieving nation when it rejected the Messiah, will be fully realized.  Through redeemed Israel, its blessings will flow to the world in the earthly kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to say that before I  became a believer over 52 years ago, I did not know much, if anything about the Jewish people, but once God saved me I have certainly learned to love them and as I look at the world today with what is going on in the middle east I certainly pray that God will continue to bless the nation of Israel as they team up with the United States to rid the world of the terrible people in Iran.  Now not all of the people of Iran are terrible, but those who are trying to kill the Jewish people and the people of the United States are the ones that, it seems to me that God is judging. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I continue to believe and always will believe that God is not finished with Israel at this time, and as mentioned pray for victory for Israel over the bad Iranian regime.

3/23/2026 8:37 AM