SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2016 7:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 The Wrong Time
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 7:1
Message of the verse: “1 After these things Jesus was walking in
Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to
kill Him.”
Before we
begin discussing what we will find in this verse I want to say that in this
main point (The Wrong Time) that we will be looking at three different
sub-sections, “The Remaining,” “The Request,” and “The Response.” Today we will look at “The Remaining.”
First we
will look at the phrase “after these things” something that we have seen in
John’s gospel before, and what John is doing is saying that there was a period
of time between the things that happened in the sixth chapter and what we will
now be looking at in this seventh chapter.
What took place in the sixth chapter was around the time of the Passover
which happens in April, as it just took place last Saturday of this month and
this year. Chapter seven speaks of the
Feast of Tabernacles which takes place in October so the events in chapter
seven happen between six and seven months after the events in chapter six. Now John does not record anything about what
happened between these two feasts.
MacArthur writes “The apostle’s purpose in composing his gospel was not
to write an exhaustive biography of Jesus Christ, but to present Him as the Son
of God and Messiah (20:21). The other
gospel writers note that during those six months, Jesus traveled the length of
Galilee, from Tyre and Sidon, northwest of Galilee (Matt. 15:21-28) to
Decapolis, in the southeast (Mark 7:31-37).
During that time He performed miracles, including healing (Matt.
15:29-31; Mark 8:22-26), casting out demons (Matt. 15:21-28; 17:14-18), and
feeding the four thousand (Matt. 15:32-38).”
So we are now pretty much caught up on the things that Jesus did between
that celebrations of the Passover until the beginning of the celebration of the
Feast of Tabernacles. However much of
the time was actually spent teaching His disciples, for in a few short months
(around 6) Jesus would be going back to the Father after His crucifixion,
death, and resurrection, so it was important for Him to continue to teach His
disciples. I suppose that much of that
teaching that He gave to them was remembered later on as the Holy Spirit would
come upon them on the Day of Pentecost, as Jesus said that the Spirit would
remind them of things after He came upon them.
MacArthur
writes about discipleship: “Discipleship
must also be a priority for the church.
The Lord did not commission the church to attract large crowds, but to
go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19).
Likewise Paul charged the young pastor Timothy, ‘The things which you
have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful
men who will be able to teach others also’ (2 Tim. 2:2). The measure of any church’s success is not
the size of its congregation, but the depth of its discipleship.” In the sermon that I listened to that go
along with verses 1-13 MacArthur told of how different Pastors were seemingly bragging
about how many people that have been attracted by their ministry to which he responded
that the Super Bowl attracts many people, more that their ministry. He was saying that the number means nothing
but what one does with the number of people in the ministry means everything.
As we move
along in our verse we see the reason what Jesus was not willing to walk in
Judah “for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to
kill Him.” We see from this that the
hostility against Jesus was beginning to mount and would continue to mount
until they would kill Him. Jesus was on
a divine timetable as we are looking at in this section of chapter seven, but
this timetable included everything that He did while on planet earth, including
the exact time that He would die and how He would die, and nothing was going to
change these events. MacArthur writes “He
was not, of course, unwilling to die; that was why He came into the world (John
12:27; cf. Matt. 20:28). As John Calvin
wrote, ‘Although Christ avoided dangers, he did not turn aside a hair’s breadth
from the course of his duty.’” “Until
His hour came, Jesus would not put God to the test (Matt. 4:5-7).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I was pondering the thought of the divine
timetable that Jesus was following while here on earth my mind went to John
chapter four where we read that Jesus must go through Samaria, and the reason was
that He had to talk to the woman at the well and then as a result of that stay
two days ministering to those in her village, as many would come to know Him as
their Messiah. The divine plan of God
from eternity past was for Jesus to go and talk to the woman at the well. And then I thought that a part of His divine
plan was for me to listen to a series of tapes in a friend’s house while on
vacation and as a result of that coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior and
Lord. This is awe inspiring to me!
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Be thankful and praiseful for
being a part of Christ’s divine plan for my salvation and as a result of this
to love Christ more, and learn to know Him better.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Samaritan woman” (John 4:15).
Today’s Bible question:
“Where was Paul born?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/26/2016 8:22 AM
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