SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/7/2015
11:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Unbelievers: Testimony Rejected
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: John 1:9-11
Message of the
verses: “9 There was the true Light
which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and
the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who
were His own did not receive Him.”
We begin with a question, an easy one: Can blind people see The Light? Of course the answer is no so it was John the
Baptist who had to point out the true Light to them so that they would be able
to see it. Paul takes up on this in 2
Cor. 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God.” There
are others that I will mention here Isaiah 61:1-2; and Luke 4:17-18). I have a couple of friends who are
undertakers and the question was asked them if any of the dead people that they
work with ever tell them what kind of clothes they want to put on. We know the answer to that one too for once a
person’s body dies their spirit leaves them and the body cannot respond
anymore. Once Adam and Eve sinned they
both died spiritually and so things pertaining to God died with them so that
they could not walk with God like they use to because of their sin for they
were dead and so it takes a miracle from the Lord through His Holy Spirit to be
able to understand the things of God. I
have written in earlier SD’s that in January of 1974 when I went to visit my
friend in Florida that having a relationship with the Lord was the last thing
on my mind, but it was there that the Holy Spirit quickened my spirit and saved
me from my sin. He gave me an effectual
call that I could not say no to; He was like the godfather giving me an offer
that I could not say no to. So John was
telling others about the true Light which came into the world.
John MacArthur writes “The unbelieving world’s blindness
is inexcusable, because Jesus ‘was the true Light which, coming into the world,
enlightens every man. Alethinos describes (‘true’) in another distinctly
Johannine term; all but five of its twenty-eight uses in the New Testament are
in John’s writings. It refers to what is
real and genuine; according to Thayer’s Greek
Lexicon, alethinos describes ‘that which has not only the name and
semblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name.’ God’s people had seen reflections of the
light of His glory, but in Jesus the full ‘radiance of His glory’ (Heb. 1:3)
was revealed.
Ok the next phrase has always been a bit puzzling to me “enlightens
every man.” First let’s look at Isaiah
49:6 for a little help: “He says,
"It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of
the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."” John MacArthur writes about what this phrase
means: “It could mean that the Word
incarnate is none other than the fullest revelation of God who has already
revealed Himself in every human soul, a truth Paul expressed to the
Romans: “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. 21
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give
thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart
was darkened. (Rom. 1:18-21; cf. Eph. 4:18).
“The phrase could also mean that Jesus is God’s
self-disclosure in the most glorious way for every man who has seen Him or
heard about Him or read His story. Some
will narrow the idea to restrict ‘every man’ to only those who receive
Him. The first interpretation seems best
in the context, since it refers to those in the world who do not receive Him,
as well as those who do. Even those who
never become children of God are accountable for the knowledge of God and His
light revealed Christ. Though all men
are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-3) and blind, they are accountable for the
knowledge of God revealed in creation and conscience (Rom. 2:14-15).
“The tragic reality is that sinners reject the ‘Light of
the world’ (John 8:12): ‘19 “This is the
judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness
rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does
evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed (John 3:19-20).” Now as
you read this you can get an idea why it is that I have so much trouble with
those to fall to the false teaching of evolution, for even though every man
every born is accountable to the God who created all things when evolution is
taught and believed then the people who fall for this false “religion” do not
believe that God created the world and thus do not believe that they have to be
accountable to Him, and sadly if they don’t come to and believe the truth of
the Gospel, they will one day, too late actually learn that they are
accountable to God.
One of the reasons that people will not come to the light
of Jesus Christ is that they love their sin and because of their love for their
sin they do not want it exposed by the Light.
Thus, though Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made through
Him,” however, “the world did not know Him.”
What we have here is that the Creator of the world came into the world
as the Savior, however the word chose to reject Him and because of that
rejection they did not know Him.
John MacArthur writes:
“Kosmos (world) is another term used frequently by John;
more than half of its occurrences in the New Testament are in his
writings. It describes the physical
world (v. 9; 12:25; 16:21, 28; 21:25); humanity in general (3:16; 6:33, 51;
12:19); and most frequently, the evil system dominated by Satan (3:19; 7:7; 14:17,
30; 15:18-19). It is this third sense of
kosmos that John had in mind when he
wrote that ‘the world did not know’ Christ.
Despite its rejection of Him, the unbelieving world will nonetheless one
day be forced to acknowledge Jesus as Lord (Phil. 2:9-11) and judge (John 5:22,
27).”
These truths that are being taught here by John are the
most significant truths anyone can find and they are tragic to those who don’t
understand them, however John goes on to talk about the nation of Israel’s
rejection which is even more tragic because Jesus came to the nation of Israel
to teach them things of God for it was prophesied that He would come to do
this. John writes that He came to His
own, and this could mean the world that He created (“cf. the second sense of komos above).” However it could also mean the particular place,
which is the land of the promise which was given to the Jews through Abraham,
and this includes the coming earthly kingdom predicted by the prophets. Jesus came to God’s land, He came to the city
of David, which the land of the temple.
The Jews had been awaiting their Messiah for centuries and if they would
have been studying the book of Daniel they could have actually known the time
period that He was to come as seen in the ninth chapter of Daniel. (See my Spiritual Diaries from Daniel dated
9-24 and 9-25, 2013) to better understand that they could have known the time
period of the Messiah, and there were some in this time period who realized
that He was coming then. Now the second
use of the word “own” speaks to the people of Israel as we have been looking
at.
Just like their ancestors the people of Israel were
stiffed necked and this time it was not a prophet’s teaching, although Jesus
was The Prophet, He was also their Messiah and they rejected Him. After they cried out “crucify Him” at the
determined of His life, Jesus died and was buried and then rose from the dead,
spoke to His disciples and others, and then went back to heaven waiting the
time when He would return to earth.
After this Peter spoke to the crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost
with these words: “22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words:
Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and
signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves
know- 23 this Man, delivered over by the
predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands
of godless men and put Him to death.” “36
“Therefore let all the
house of Israel know for
certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you
crucified’ (Acts 2:22-23, 36).”
John MacArthur concludes “The theme of rejection will be
repeated throughout John’s Gospel.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Just as John was
a witness to the Light, so I am to also be a witness to the Light.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to bring people into my life so
I can boldly be a witness of Jesus Christ to them.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jesus” (Matthew 16:15).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where did Jonah find the ship
going to Tarshish?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/7/2015 12:40 PM
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