SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
9/28/2014 8:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Why
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Thessalonians 1:6a
Message of the
verse: “For after all it is only
just for God to repay.”
No matter what country you live in there is a series of
laws that you must follow, if you do wrong then you will be punished. The question is where did all of this come
from, and the answer is that because man is made in the image of God that man
wants justice for those who do wrong.
However man’s justice is flawed because man is sinful, but God’s justice
is not flawed, for God is perfectly holy.
In the 18th chapter of the book of Genesis God is about to
destroy the nations of Sodom and Gomorrah and is talking to Abraham about what
He is about to do. Abraham’s nephew Lot
was living there and therefore he did not want Lot to be destroyed with the
wicked so there is like a bargaining going on between Abraham and God as to if
they found so many righteous people there then God would not destroy the
cities. At the end of that bargaining
Abraham makes this statement: “shall not
the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
Of course the answer is that God would do justly and so He rescued Lot
and his two daughters from the city before He destroyed both cities. God did not have to do that but that is what
He chose to do.
John MacArthur writes “Isaiah 45:20-25 illustrates God’s
just dealing with those who reject Him:
“20 "Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together,
you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their
wooden idol And pray to a god who cannot save. 21 "Declare and set forth your case;
Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has
long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God
besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. 22 “Turn to
Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no
other. 23 “I have sworn by
Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will
not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear
allegiance. 24 “They will say of Me, ’Only in the LORD are righteousness and
strength.’ Men will come to Him, And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 “In the LORD all the offspring of Israel Will be justified and will
glory."”
Now we will look at Isaiah 55:6-7 “6 Seek the LORD while
He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his
way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And
He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” MacArthur writes the following about these
verses: “God, as if were, summons people
into court and demands to know why they should not be punished for violating
His law and rejecting His commandment to repent and seek His gracious
forgiveness (Isa. 55:6-7). No one, of
course, can offer any viable reason for having done so. Therefore, God judgment is just and sinners
are justly condemned for rejection Him.”
The question “why” is asked in the Spiritual Diary, that
is why is it just for the Lord to punish those who have been bringing
persecution on the Thessalonians, and it goes further than them, for God will
bring about punishment on all of those who have not trusted the Lord Jesus
Christ for salvation, for Luke writes in Acts 4:12 the following to show this
to be true: “"And there is salvation in no one
else; for there is
no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be
saved."” I have mentioned
this before that when people look at God they generally look at the fact that
God is love, and for sure God is love, but God is also just, among other
characteristics that are found in who God is.
We cannot just take one of these attributes of God and say that this is
what God is all about we have to look at all of His attributes in order for us
to better know who God is and what He does.
It is just for God to bring retribution to those who have been
persecuting the Thessalonians, and they will receive greater punishment in
eternity for doing this than those who have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation and have not persecuted believers. I am saying that there are different degrees
of punishment for those who will spend eternity away from God in hell, just as
there are different degrees of rewards given to believers in heaven. Some believers will not receive any rewards
even though they will be saved as Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
The point in all of this is that God is not only love,
but God is just and because He is just He has to do what is right, and because
He is perfect and perfectly holy we can trust that God will do justly to all
who have ever lived on planet earth whether unbelievers or believers.
MacArthur writes “When the Lord Jesus Christ brings
vengeance on those who reject Him, He will be acting in perfect harmony with
God’s pure justice, for He is ‘Faithful and True, and in righteousness He
judges and wages war (Rev. 19:11). Those
who accuse the absolutely holy God of being unjust are in fact unjust
themselves. He has given His law and
called people to obey it and will judge those who do not. The truth is that God would not be righteous
if He did not.”
We will not look at what MacArthur writes about the word
“repay:” Antapodidomi (Repay) means ‘to give back,’ or ‘recompense,’ it is a
strong, compound word that conveys the idea of a full and complete
repayment. The God who said, ‘Vengeance
is Mine, and retribution’ (Deut. 32:25), will just repay sinners for violating
His law.”
We find, what may seem strange to some who read the
following words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 13:1-5 “1 Now on the same
occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose
blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus said to them,
"Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other
Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3 “I tell you, no, but unless you
repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 “Or do you suppose that those eighteen
on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all
the men who live in Jerusalem? 5 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you
will all likewise perish."”
MacArthur explains “The fate of the victims was exactly
that which all sinners deserve—divine judgment.
All sinners deserve death and hell; therefore, Jesus twice warned His
hearers that they would suffer a similar fate unless they repented. The threat of God’s vengeance, retribution,
and judgment is not only just but also a deterrent, a roadblock on the way to
hell. Those who ignore that roadblock
are without excuse (Rom. 1:18-20). “18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known
about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been
made, so that they are without excuse.”
9/28/2014 9:37 AM 9/28/2014
9:15 PM
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am so glad that
I have been able to spend time with some good books learning about the attributes
of God, for if I did not have a fairly good understanding of who God is then I
would have problems with some of the things that are in His Word, like the
passage from today.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Seeing that it is near the end of the
day I want to thank the Lord for seeming me through this wonderful Lord ’s Day,
and for also giving us a perfect day for us to spend time together with my
oldest daughter yesterday.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:1-9. (I am having some difficulty in putting some
of these verses to memory, but am learning much from the ones that I have been
able to memorize.)
1 Therefore 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
your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your 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 your 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 no 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: “Cyprus” (Acts 4:36).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who was fed by a raven?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/28/2014 9:26 PM
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