Sunday, September 18, 2016

In The Predicted Manner (John 12:14-15)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/18/2016 7:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  In The Predicted Manner

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 12:14-15

            Message of the verses:  “14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.’”

            I suppose that it is interesting that I am studying the book of Zechariah at the same time that I am studying the book of John, as this OT quote comes from the book of Zechariah right about where I have been studying it.  It is interesting to look at where the OT quotes come from and how they are originally used in the context of the OT. 

            Now if one looks at the Synoptic Gospels they will tell you how the Lord got this donkey’s colt to ride on, one that had never been ridden before, but John does not give us those details in his gospel.  It is possible that His disciples knew the people who owned the donkey, but we cannot be sure of that, for all they told them was that “The Lord has need of it” and they had no trouble in getting the donkey.  The Lord had need of the perfume that Mary put on His body to prepare Him for burial, and the Lord had need of the blind man going to the pool to wash off the mud He had put on his eyes, and the Lord had need of the people to roll the stone away from the grave of Lazarus, and they did that too.  The Lord allows us to do the things that we can do for His cause, but the things we cannot do like healing a blind man’s eyes, or raising someone from the dead He does.  Another thing interesting about this story from the Synoptic Gospels is that His disciples brought both the donkey and her colt for they did not know which one He would ride on.

            The words “Fear Not” were added from Isaiah 40:9 and the rest came from Zechariah 9:9 and “daughter of Zion” is a reference to Jerusalem as seen in passages like 2 Kings 19:21; Isa. 10:32; and Zech. 9:9.  It is interesting that if Jesus would have come as the conquering hero like He will come at His second coming ridding on a white horse, then He would not have come ridding on the colt of a donkey as He did in His humble way the first time He came as Zechariah foretold that He would.  MacArthur concludes “The symbolism of His humiliation was lost on the crowd, however, who continued to proclaim Jesus as the conquering King all the way into the city (cf. Matt. 21:15).  As Leon Morris observes, ‘The meaning of the happenings of the life of Jesus are not for every unregenerate man to see.  They are revealed only by the Holy Spirit of God.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Humility is something that I talk to the Lord about most days in my prayer time in kind of the opposite way as I pray that I will not be proud.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to keep me humble and not proud.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Elisha” (2 Kings 5:9-10).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the first book of the Bible?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/18/2016 8:19 AM

             

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