SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2012 7:22:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Confusion
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Mark 8:31-33
Message of the verses: We will continue to look into Mark’s Gospel,
chapter eight in Today’s SD. Mark
chapter eight is one of the most critical chapters in the book of Mark, for in
it we see a great turning point in the ministry of our Lord as for the first
time in the book of Mark we see humans testifying that Jesus Christ is the
Messiah, the Son of God, and as it says in Matthews Gospel, the Son of the Most
High. Jesus will spend much time with
the twelve in the last days of His life on planet earth as He prepares them for
life when He returns to heaven.
Confusion (vv. 31-38): 31 And
He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed,
and after three days rise again. 32 And
He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke
Him. 33 But turning around and seeing
His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you
are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s." 34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples,
and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 "For whoever wishes to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save
it. 36 "For what does it profit a
man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 "For what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? 38 "For whoever is
ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with
the holy angels.’”
This
section is packed with many things that are very important to those who have
trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and those who may be considering
to take this most important step. We see
in verses 31-32 Jesus preparing His disciples for His death and then His resurrection
from the grave, His victory over death becoming the first fruits of many who
will one day have their bodies raised again.
This surely brings about confusion to His disciples, for they were
looking for a conquering King to defeat the Romans and make Israel the most
powerful nation on earth. This is surely
prophesied in the OT, but there are also prophecies that tell that the Messiah
must suffer and die for the sins of the world and bring in a spiritual kingdom
before He returns to set up His 1000 year reign on earth from Jerusalem. The 1000 years of His reign is seen in the NT
book of Revelations, but His reign from Jerusalem is clearly seen in the OT.
Peter
decides to rebuke our Lord stating that He must be mislead, but Jesus in turns
rebukes Peter stating that he was doing the will of Satan and not the will of
God. We know from the reading of the
Gospels that Peter often stuck his foot into his mouth, but we also know from
reading the book of Acts that Peter became the kind of man that the Lord knew
he would become as Peter is the first to preach the gospel after the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why was
what Peter said in league with Satan’s plans?
The answer is that Jesus Christ had to die in order to satisfy the
justice of God. His death on the cross
would pay for the sins of all who would accept God’s forgiveness through Jesus
Christ and Peter did not realize this at that time.
Dr. Wiersbe
writes about Peter’s confession and then his rebuke to Jesus: “This is a warning to us that when we argue
with God’s Word, we open the door for Satan’s lies. Peter began rebuking his Master, and Mark
used the same word that describes our Lord’s rebuking of the demons (Mark 1:25;
3:12).
“Peter’s
protest was born out of his ignorance of God’s will and his deep love for his
Lord. One minute Peter was a ‘rock,’ and
the next he was a stumbling block! Dr.
G. Campbell Morgan said ‘The man who love Jesus, but who shuns God’s method, is
a stumbling block to Him.’ Peter did not
yet understand the relationship between suffering and glory. He would eventually learn this lesson and
would even emphasize it in his first epistle (Note 1Peter 1:6-8; 4:13-5:10).”
I can see
at this point that I will have to continue this SD tomorrow as we take up then
the important subject of how Jesus gives an evangelistic message that would not
be too popular in certain circles in today’s world. Before that there is one more important quote
from Warren Wiersbe that needs to be made to tie up this section: “Note, however, that when Jesus rebuked
Peter, He also ‘looked on His disciples,’ because they agreed with Peter’s assessment
of this situation! Steeped in Jewish
tradition interpretation, they were unable to understand how their Messiah
could ever suffer and die.”
This shows
us the importance of studying the Word of God to make sure that some of the
traditions that we have lines up correctly with the Word of God, and this is
where Peter and the other disciples missed the mark as they took the word of
tradition and not the Word of God to be the truth.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The importance of reading and studying the
Word of God is seen clearly in this section of Scripture.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to study the Word of
God, and continue to abide in the Vine to get my marching orders from the
Spirit of God.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-7
1 ¶ Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of
Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by
the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to
life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own
glory and excellence. 4 For by these He
has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you
may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that
is in the world by lust.
5 ¶ Now for this very reason also, applying all
diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence,
knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge,
self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance,
godliness, 7 and in your godliness,
brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
7/26/2012 8:11:13 AM
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