SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2016 7:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Attention by the Gentiles
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 12:20-22
Message of the verses: “20 Now there were some Greeks among
those who were going up to worship at the feast; 21 these then came to Philip,
who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, "Sir, we
wish to see Jesus." 22 Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came
and told Jesus.”
We have
been looking at a preview of what was going to happen with the message of the
gospel as we work our way through John 12:17-26, and we saw that the Pharisees
made a decision not to accept the teachings of Jesus in our last SD, and now
today we see some people who spoke the Greek language come to Philip, who
probably knew about Philip as they lived close to each other in Galilee. They wanted to speak to Jesus, and so this is
a preview of what we see as we look at the book of Acts. Now John MacArthur writes that he believes
that these men who came to see Philip were Gentiles who were proselytes to
Judaism.
These men
wanted to have an audience with the Lord Jesus.
Now one of the reasons that these men could have been proselytes is that
they were in Jerusalem during the time of the Passover, and were probably there
to celebrate the Passover. So we have
seen that the Jews did not want to have anything to do with Jesus as in a few
days they would call for Him to crucified, but here we find some Gentiles who
did want to see Jesus, and I believe that they wanted to believe in Him for
salvation, otherwise why would they want to see Him. Paul tells us that Israel’s rejection of the
Messiah was spoken about in the OT, and in Romans 9:25-27 we read “25 As He
says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ’MY
PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ’BELOVED.’" 26 “AND IT SHALL BE THAT
IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ’YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY
SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD." 27 Isaiah cries out concerning
Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE
SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;” Hosea is saying that those who were
not His people will be His people and this speaks of the Gentiles coming to
know Him, however the Jews will have their eyes blinded in seeing Him, and only
a remnant will be saved. “For I do not
want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-so that you will not be
wise in your own estimation-that a partial hardening has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25).” Now we go on to read verses 26-29 to show
that there will be a day when the Lord once again begins to deal with Israel “26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
"THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM
JACOB." 27 “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR
SINS." 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your
sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of
the fathers; 29 for the
gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Paul is speaking about the covenant that God
made with Abram, and also the covenant that He made with David, and also the
New Covenant that is spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31.
Philip did
not really know how to handle this situation of having Gentiles come to see
Jesus and so he went and got Andrew and told him about the request. Now as we look at the tenth chapter of the
book of Acts when Peter was shown in a vision that the Gentiles would receive
the message of the Gospel we saw that there was still a prejudice against the
Gentiles from the Jews even after the gospel and the church had been around for
some time. Perhaps this is why Philip wanted some advice from Andrew as to what
he should do.
John
MacArthur concludes “The question arises as to why such an open-ended incident
is included. Since there is no record
that Jesus ever spoke to them, the best that can be said is that they represent
Gentile interest—the wave of the near future as the Lord called the church, a
new people made of Jews and Gentiles, to be His witness in the world.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can learn from this section that there may
be times when I would be like what Philip may have done and that is judge
someone whom I do not think that they want to hear the gospel, when in reality
they do.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Have the attitude to bring
people to Jesus.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:12) “12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies
so that you obey its lusts;”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “In the air” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who said ‘I appeal unto Caesar?’”
Answer in our next SD.
9/22/2016 8:11 AM
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