SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
12/27/2015 8:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 The Seeking Souls
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 1:38-42
Message of
the verses: “38 And Jesus turned and saw them following,
and said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi
(which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?" 39 He said to
them, "Come, and you will see." So they came and saw where He was
staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have
found the Messiah" (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to
Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you
shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).”
I want to begin this SD by focusing in on what John
writes in verse 39 “for it was about the tenth hour.” Now I have read and heard two different times
as to whether this was 10:00 in the morning, which would be Roman time or 4:00
in the afternoon, which would be Jewish time.
In an earlier sermon by John MacArthur he states that this was Roman
time, in a later sermon he states it is Jewish time. In his commentary he states that this is
Jewish time, and in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary he states that this is Roman
time. At any rate it is not so much
important as to whether or not it was 10:00AM or 4:00 PM, the point is that it
was important to John and that is why he states the time. Why was this important to John? This could very well be the time when he came
to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior and so he writes it
down in the gospel he is writing.
Remember that John wrote this gospel when he was older and he still
remembers the time when he came to know the Savior. I can relate to this as I remember the time
period that the Lord saved me, and that to was many years ago.
John MacArthur writes “The reference to the ‘tenth
hour’ is the first mention of time in John’s gospel. This detail offers one of the many evidences
that its author was an eyewitness to the events he recorded. The truth that the apostles were eyewitnesses
point to Jesus is one which John stressed in his first epistle: ‘What we have heard, what we have seen with
our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the
Word of Life…what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also’ (1 John 1:1,
3). Because they were ‘witnesses of all
the things [Christ] did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem’ (Acts
10:39), the apostles’ testimony was unassailable (cf. Luke 24:48; John 15:27;
Acts 1:8, 22:2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 5:32; 10:39-41; 13:31; 2 Peter 1:16). So important was that testimony that when the
apostles sought a replacement for Judas Iscariot, they looked for someone who
had ‘accompanied [them] all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among
[them] beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was take up from
[them]’ (Acts 1:22-23). This incident marked the
beginning of John’s firsthand observation of Jesus’ life and ministry.”
I want to insert a quote from Warren Wiersbe here: ‘“Where
are You dwelling?’ may have suggested, ‘If You are too busy now, we can visit
later.’ But Jesus invited them to spend
the day with Him (it was 10 A.M.) and no doubt He told them something of His
mission, revealed their own hearts to them, and answered their questions. They were both so impressed that they found
their brothers and brought them to Jesus.
Andrew found Simon and John brought James. Indeed, they were their brothers’ keepers!
(Genesis 4:9) Whenever you find Andrew in John’s Gospel, he is bringing
somebody to Jesus: his brother, the lad with the loaves and fishes (John 6:8),
and the Greeks who wanted to see Jesus (John 12:20-21). No sermons from Andrew are recorded, but he
certainly preached great sermons by his actions as a personal soul winner!”
I want to bring up something that perhaps is
speculation on my part, but perhaps is what happened when Andrew and Jesus
spend the day and night with Jesus.
First of all that would be something that would have been wonderful to
spend the day and night talking with Jesus, the One who created all that we
see, but it could have been that what happened there was similar with what
happened with the disciples who were walking with Jesus on the road to village
named Emmaus as seen in Luke chapter 24.
This is one of my favorite stories found in the Gospels as this too
would have been something that I would have loved to have done too for we read
in this story that Jesus began with the books of the OT and then spoke to these
men of how these prophecies spoke of Him.
Genesis 3:15 surely would have had to be the first one that Jesus spoke
of, and then Isaiah 53-53 and Psalm 22 would have also been something He
mentioned along with many others that I would have loved to hear about. Jesus Christ is the theme of the entire Bible
and to hear first hand from Him as He spoke of where He is found would be
something that I would have loved to hear.
This is one of the reasons that I enjoy studying the Word of God for in
doing that I can see Jesus as I study His Word and can spend time with Him like
the apostles did.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Spending time with Jesus, telling others
about Him, and remembering the time when He sought me out are all things I
think of from this passage.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to spend time with the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Righteousness” (Romans 6:18).
Today’s Bible
question: “All the promises of God in
Christ are what?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/27/2015 9:35 AM
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