SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2014
10:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: How?
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Thess.
1:6b, 9
Message
of the verses: “with affliction….These
will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power,”
The question “How” is a question on
how will God repay those who are afflicting the Thessalonian believers, and I
must stress that this is not only for those believers in Thessalonica, but
believers throughout all the ages. The
answer is that God will afflict those who they are afflicting, but it will be
with God’s affliction. John MacArthur
tells us that the word for affliction is Thlipsis
in the Greek and it can mean “trouble,” “distress,” “difficult circumstances,”
or “suffering.” “Paul specifically
defined it in this passage as ‘the penalty of eternal destruction. Aionios
(eternal) refers in the overwhelming majority of its New Testament uses to
things of endless duration, such as God (Rom. 16:26), the Holy Spirit (Heb.
9:14), the covenant (Heb. 13:20), the gospel (Rev. 14:6), God’s kingdom (2
Peter 1:11), hell (Matthew 18:8; 25:41, 46; Heb. 6:2; Jude 7), and most
frequently, eternal life.” There are far
too many verses for me to copy from this section of MacArthur’s commentary on
this subject. “Like all of the
above-mentioned things, the destruction of the wicked will have no end but will
last forever.” Now that is something to
think about when one is thinking about becoming a believer in Jesus Christ, for
your choice is to be with Christ throughout all eternity or to be in hell
throughout all eternity.
Next we look at the Greek word for
destruction (Olethros), and this does
not refer to annihilation, but it does refer to ruination. This word does not mean that someone will not
exist any longer as some think, for everyone who is conceived has an eternal
soul and will either exist in heaven or hell, there is no between or no stop
existing. MacArthur writes “It does not
mean the cessation of existence but rather the loss of all that makes existence
worthwhile,” and then tells his readers to look at 1 Tim. 6:9 to help them
understand what he has just written “But those who want to get rich fall into
temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men
into ruin and destruction.”
As we continue to look at our verses
for today we will find that there are two conditions under which the lost will
serve their eternal sentence. The first
one is found in verse nine where Paul writes that it will be “away from the
presence of the Lord.” The second is
that they will live “away from the glory of His power.” The glory of His power is something most
people take for granted, but should not.
We get up every morning and the sun comes up to warm the earth, to make
things grow so we have food to eat. We
have good air to breathe so we can continue to live. We see the glory of the Lord at night when we
look up at the stars and the moon which controls all the tides. I could go on and on, but the point is that
when we think of God’s glory we probably don’t stop and think about praising
Him for it, and those who will end up in hell will never see it again. I think that is what Paul is referring to when
he wrote that part of verse nine.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Father I
am thankful for Your glory that I see each and every day, but must confess I
rarely give thanks to you for all the wonderful blessings that You give me each
and every day of my life. Most of all I
want to thank You for the gift of salvation that was provided by the death,
burial, and resurrection of You One and Only Son!
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
think more about the glory of the Lord, and praise Him for it.
Memory
verses for the week: Colossians 3:1-9.
1Therefore
if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set you mind on the things above, not on the things that are on
earth. 3 For you have died and you life
is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him
in glory. 5 Therefore consider the
members of you earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God has come upon
the sons of disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living
in them. 8 But now you also, put them
all aside: anger, wrath, malice,
slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its
evil practices,
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Solomon.”
Today’s
Bible question: “How did the Lord smite
Azariah?”
Answer
in our next SD.
9/30/2014
11:13 AM
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