SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/12/2016 8:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Challenge
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 10:34-38
Message of the verses: “34 Jesus answered them, "Has it not
been written in your Law, ’I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’? 35 “If he called them gods,
to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you
say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ’You are
blaspheming,’ because I said, ’I am the Son of God’? 37 "If I do not do
the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38
but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so
that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the
Father."”
I have to
admit that I have never truly understood what Jesus said in verses 34-36 and so
the best thing for me to do is to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary at
this time. “The very ‘Law’ (a reference
here to the entire Old Testament, not just the Pentateuch) that the Jews prized
so highly used the term ‘gods’ to refer to other than God Himself. The reference is to Psalm 82:6, where God
rebuked Israel’s unjust judges, calling them ‘gods’ (in a far lesser sense)
because they ruled as His representatives and spokesmen (cf. Ex. 4:16;
7:1). The Jewish leaders could not dispute
the fact that those judges were called ‘gods,’ because the ‘Scripture cannot be
broken’—a clear and unambiguous declaration of the absolute authority and
inerrancy of the Bible. Scripture can never be nullified or set aside…though
the Jews often tried (cf. Mark 7:13).
“Since God
called the unjust judges ‘gods’ Jesus’ argument ran, how could His opponents ‘say
of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are
blaspheming,’ ‘because He said, ‘I am the Son of God?’’ If mere men, who were evil, could in some sense
be called gods, how could it be inappropriate for Jesus, the One ‘whom the
Father sanctified and sent into the world,’ to call Himself the ‘Son of God’
(cf. 5:19-27)? The point is not to add
to the evidence of His deity; it is simply a rebuke on the level of their
overreaction to the use of the word ‘God’ in reference to Jesus. He had proven that He was entitled to that
title in the full divine sense, as He would affirm again in vv. 37-38. They were merely those ‘to whom the word of
God came;’ Jesus was the Incarnate Word of God (1:1, 14). As one commentator further explains, ‘This
passage is sometimes misinterpreted as though Jesus was simply classing himself
with men in general. He appeals to the
psalm that speaks of men as ‘gods,’ so runs the reasoning, and thus justifies
his speaking of himself as Son of God.
He is ‘god’ in the same sense as others.
But this is not taking seriously enough what Jesus actually says. He is arguing from the less to the
greater. If the word god could be used of people who were not
more than judges, how much more could it be used of one with greater dignity,
greater importance and significance than any mere judge, one ‘whom the Father
sanctified and sent into the world’? He
is not placing himself on a level with men, but setting himself apart from
them.’ (Leon Morris, Reflections on the
Gospel on the Gospel of John).’
“The Lord’s
appeal to the Old Testament was a challenge again for the Jewish leaders to
abandon their biased conclusions about Him and consider the objective
evidence. In that same vein Jesus
continued by saying ‘If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you
may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.’ As He had so many other times before, with
annoying patience (cf. vv. 25, 32; 5:19-20, 36; 14:10-11) the Lord appealed to
His works as proof of His indivisible union with the Father (v. 30). But incredibly, the religious leaders of
Israel were so spiritually blind that they could not recognize God’s
works. ‘If’ Jesus did ‘not do the works
of’ the ‘Father,’ they would have been right in refusing to ‘believe’ Him. On the other hand, because He did ‘do them,’
they should have put aside their reluctance to ‘believe’ His words, and chosen
instead to ‘believe’ His words, and chosen instead to ‘believe’ the clear
testimony of His ‘works.’ As supposed
men of God, they should have been willing to follow the evidence to its logical
conclusion.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: In this section of John’s gospel we see the
attribute of wisdom that Jesus is displaying, which is what Leon Morris is
saying in his commentary. To have wisdom
like Jesus would be a wonderful thing to have.
I do believe that God gives me wisdom because of who I am in Christ, and
for that I am thankful.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to pray that the
Lord will bless me with His wisdom to use in times when I certainly need it.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:5-7) “5 For if we have become untied 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 the body
of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves of sin; 7
for he who has died is freed from sin.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Mary Magdalene” (John 20:1).
Today’s Bible question:
“What was the Jewish day of worship called?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/12/2016 9:05 AM
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