SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/17/2016 7:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Finished Works
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 5:36
Message of the verse: “36 "But the testimony which I have is
greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish-the very works that I do-testify
about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
I think that
I am finally getting a better grasp on why it is that MacArthur said what he
said in the sermon that I listen to the other day about verses 30-40 speak of
the Father’s work in Christ even though we looked yesterday at John the Baptist’s
testimony about Christ it was still the Father who had sent John the Baptist
into the world to testify about Christ and as we can see from the end of verse
36 we see that the works that Jesus is doing, and perhaps in particular the
healing of this man who was sick for 38 years, were done to show that the
Father had sent Christ to the earth.
Now not
only was the work of the healing of the man by the pool a significant work, but
we must remember what it was the Nicodemus came to see Jesus, for he told
Christ that he knew about the works that Jesus was doing. Let us fast forward to what the crowds say
about Jesus in John 7:31 “31 But many of
the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, "When the Christ comes, He will not perform more
signs than those which this man has, will He?"” Jesus’ enemies were even talking about His
works “47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and
were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs
(John 11:47).” There are other places
in the Scriptures that Jesus speaks of His works as it shows the people that He
was indeed the Messiah (cf. 10:25, 37-38; 14:11; Matt. 11:3-5). I want to look now at what John says in John
20:30 to show that not all of His miracles were spoken of in the Scriptures “30
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book.”
John
MacArthur writes “That Christ did only ‘the works which the Father had given
Him to accomplish’ in no way implies that He is inferior to the Father (1:1;
5:18; 10:30; cf. Phil. 2:6; Col. 2:9).
As noted in the discussion of 5:26…Jesus voluntarily gave up the
independent use of His divine attributes during the Incarnation. That self-emptying included submission to the
Father’s will and Spirit’s power.
Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus was conscious of carrying out the
mission that the Father had given Him in the energy of the Spirit (Luke
4:14). In John 4:34 He told the
disciples, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His
work,’ while in 14:31 He added, ‘I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.’ In His High Priestly Prayer to the Father
Jesus declared triumphantly, ‘I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished
the work which You have given Me to do’ (17:4).”
We conclude
that because Jesus’ works that He did were in perfect harmony with what the
Father willed Him to do this shows that the Father had sent Him. These works were not only supernatural, but
they were also in keeping with the exact wishes of the Father. The sad part of all of this is that even
though people saw His works, and in some cases were actually a part of His
healing works many still did not believe Him.
We come now to a verse that took place after the resurrection of Jesus
which He said to Thomas, and He says this not only to Thomas, but also to us “26
After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came,
the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be
with you." 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger,
and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not
be unbelieving, but believing." 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My
Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed?
Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful that even though I did not see
the works that Jesus did, I can read about them and convinced that He did every
one of them just as is written in His Word.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Tell others of His works so
they can believe too.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Pharisees” (Luke 18:9-10).
Today’s Bible question:
“How much money did Jesus tell His disciples to take when He sent them
out to preach?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/17/2016 8:01 AM
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