SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/20/2016 9:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 The Cautious Disciples
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 11:7-16
Message of the verses: “7 Then after this He said to the disciples,
"Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi,
the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there
again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If
anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this
world. 10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is
not in him." 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our
friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of
sleep." 12 The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen
asleep, he will recover." 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they
thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 So Jesus then said to them
plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him." 16 Therefore
Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we
may die with Him."”
We begin
today’s SD by looking at what Jesus says in verse eleven, and the point I want
to make here is that there was probably a bit of a pause for the text says “This
He said, and after that He said to them,” perhaps He wanted the truth of verses
9-10 to sink in a bit before He spoke to them again. He then goes on to say that their friend
Lazarus was sick. Now this also
indicated that all of the disciples knew this family, and perhaps this is
evident that they had stayed with them on many different occasions. Now after all can you blame this family for
wanting to have Jesus and His disciples around them as much as they possibility
could? I think that there is a spiritual
message in that for us as the best way that we can have Jesus around us is to
stay in His Word, especially the gospels.
Jesus first
of all talks about Lazarus’ sleep and death for the believer is called sleep as
it is throughout the Word of God. I will
only look at First Corinthians 11:30 “For this reason many among you are weak
and sick, and a number sleep.” This
verse speaks of the Lord’s Table and the section speaks of how the Corinthians
were not observing it the way they should as some of them were even getting
drunk and so the Bible teaches us that if we are not a believer we should not participate
in it and if we are a believer and have a sin in our lives that we are not
willing to give up we are not to participate either. Some of the Corinthians had taken the Lord’s
Supper unworthily and so we see in verse 30 that they had died, but Paul says
they slept.
After
hearing that Lazarus was sleeping the disciple’s were relieved and though that
since he was sick that the best thing he could be doing was to sleep so his
body would recover. In verse four Jesus
said that this sickness would not end in death, and this is probably what got
the disciples to misunderstand what Jesus said in verse 12.
Jesus then
plainly says to them that Lazarus was already dead and then goes on to say “I
am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe,” and
MacArthur says that this “does not mean that He rejoiced in the death of His
dear friend…The Lord’s point was that Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead would
do far more to strengthen the disciple’s faith than a healing alone would have
done. Jesus’ time on earth was rapidly
nearing its end, and with the cross looming ever nearer, the disciples needed a
powerful support for their faith.”
Now we come
to the end of this section, and we see a statement by Thomas whose name means “twin”
says: “Let us also go, so that we may
die with Him.” I never thought about
what Thomas was actually saying here, but it was his idea that they should all
go and die together with Jesus, something similar to what Peter would say in
the upper room before Jesus’ crucifixion.
Both he and Thomas would be running for their lives after Jesus was
arrested. MacArthur adds “Here, however,
Thomas was an example of courage and strength to the wavering disciples. Following his bold lead, despite their doubts
(vv. 8, 12), they all went to Bethany with Jesus.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I see a different side to Thomas as he would
be the one who would doubt the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and yet
here we see strength in wanting to die with Jesus. I see that from this that I am not to have a
changing mind when it comes to the truth of the Scriptures, to be strong as I
allow the Lord to give me the strength to do what He has planned for me to do.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord to give me the
faith for today that I need for today.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:5-7): “5 For if we have
become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be
in the likeness of His resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old self was
crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that
we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Samson” (Judges 16:21-31).
Today’s Bible question:
“Which book contains the liturgical hymn book used regularly in the
temple?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/20/2016 10:13 AM
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