SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/18/2012
9:15:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A
Question of Authority PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
11:27-33
Message of
the verses: Today’s Spiritual Diary will be the last SD
on the eleventh chapter of the book of Mark and the reason that it is part one
is because we see that in chapter twelve there is more on this subject. Dr. Wiersbe states that from the 26th
verse of Mark chapter eleven until the end of chapter twelve that Jesus will
ask four questions and the section that we look at today is just part of answer
to His question. In the first twelve
verses of chapter twelve Jesus will continue his discussion with those who
asked Him about His authority over the cleansing of the temple. This sub-section that we look at today is
under the main section from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary entitled “The Servant-prophet.”
A Question of Authority Part One (Mark 11:26-33)
“27 ¶ They *came again to Jerusalem. And as He was
walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders *came
to Him, 28 and began saying to Him,
"By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this
authority to do these things?" 29
And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you
answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
30 "Was the baptism of John from
heaven, or from men? Answer Me." 31
They began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, ’From
heaven,’ He will say, ’Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 "But shall we say, ’From
men’?"-they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to
have been a real prophet. 33 Answering
Jesus, they *said, "We do not know." And Jesus *said to them,
"Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’”
Let us begin this section
by stating that the chief priests and the scribes and elders who came to Jesus
were actually doing their job in finding out who Jesus was. We will look at a section from the book of
Deuteronomy to show that what they were doing was right, but the problem with
them is that they were not looking for the right answer, for if they would have
they would have known that Jesus was who He claimed to be, and that is the Son of
God, God in human flesh. Deuteronomy
18:15-22 is the section we will look at and this section actually gives the
children of Israel the criteria to know if a prophet is actually sent from God
or not. It also shows that God would
raise up a prophet like Moses in the future.
When the Pharisees came to John the Baptist to find out who he was they
ask him if he was the “prophet,” to which he answered by stating who he was and
what his commission from the Lord was.
Deut. 18:15-22, “15 ¶ "The
LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your
countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16
"This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in
Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ’Let me not hear again the voice of
the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’
17 "The LORD said to me, ’They have
spoken well. 18 ’I will raise up a
prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his
mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 ’It shall come about that whoever will not
listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of
him. 20 ’But the prophet who speaks a
word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or
which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 "You may say in your heart, ’How will we
know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of
the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing
which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you
shall not be afraid of him.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes of these
men by stating, “They were not seeking truth; they were looking for evidence to
use to destroy Him (Mark 11:18). Jesus
knew what they were doing, so He countered their question with another question
and exposed their hypocrisy.” The
question that we may want answered is why did the Lord go all the way back to
the ministry of John the Baptist? John
the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah and his ministry
to the nation of Israel came after four hundred years of silence that began
after the last OT prophet’s writings, which took place after the Jews returned
to Israel after the conquest of the Babylonians. One would think that these leaders of Israel
would have known the prophecies of John the Baptist and if they would have
understood the writings of the prophet Daniel they could have figured that the
time was near for Messiah to come.
Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of the timetable of the arrival of Messiah. God gave light in the person of John the
Baptist and these spiritual leaders of Israel rejected that light and so they
would receive no more light. Dr. Wiersbe
states that this principle is seen in John 7:17 which states, “"If anyone
is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God
or whether I speak from Myself.” Dr.
Wiersbe quotes an English Pastor, F. W. Robertson who says, “Obedience is the
organ of spiritual knowledge.” “The
Jewish religious leaders had not accepted what John had taught, so why should
God say anything more to them? Had they
obeyed John’s message, they would have gladly submitted to Christ’s authority,
for John came to present the Messiah to the nation.”
I think that these so
called spiritual leaders would have made good politicians today. They were caught in a dilemma that they
actually made for themselves. They
really did not want to know the truth, and they really did not want to know
what was right, but what they were looking for was what was safe. Dr. Wiersbe writes “This is always the approach
of the hypocrite and the crowd-pleaser.
It certainly was not the approach of either Jesus (Mark 12:14) or John
the Baptist (Matt. 11:7-10). He only
refused to accept and endorse their hypocrisy.
He was not being evasive; He was being honest.” Jesus had more to say to the spiritual leaders,
but that will have to wait until next month when we look at the rest of the
story.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Telling the truth
because it is the truth is something that I strive to do, and there are
sometimes when that is not easy, for it may be easier to take the ways of these
spiritual leaders of Israel took, but that would not be the way that Jesus
took.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to learn contentment and patience as
I walk with the Lord. Continue to be
ready to tell others about Christ when God brings people into my path who are
willing to listen.
Memory verses for the
week: 1Corinthians 13:8-11
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy,
they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is
knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For
we know in part and we prophecy in part, 10 but when the perfect come the
partial will be done away. 11 When I was
a child I use to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child;
when I became a man I did away with childish things.
10/18/2012 10:03:09 AM
Suresh,
ReplyDeleteYou are so very welcome. One of the desires of my heart for this blog is to help others grow in the Lord.
Thanks for Reading.
ken