SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/20/2016 8:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Introduction to John 12:17-26
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 12:17-26
Message of the verses:
We begin looking at a new chapter
in John MacArthur’s commentary which he entitles “The Gospel Reaches Out: A Preview of Gentile Salvation.” In his introductory commentary on verses
17-26 MacArthur writes about how the Jewish people were suppose to be a witness
of God to the Gentiles from the very first time that the Lord called Abram, the
father of the nation of Israel, into serving Him for God said to Abram first
off “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from
your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name
great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3
And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will
curse. And in you all the
families of the earth will be blessed’ (Genesis 12:1-3).”
It was on
the day that the Ark of the Covenant was first brought into Jerusalem that we
read the following from 1 Chronicles 16:8, 24-30 “8 Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His
name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.
24 Tell of His
glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 25 For great is the
LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the peoples are
idols, But the LORD made the heavens. 27 Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and joy are in His place. 28 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 29 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due
His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy
array. 30 Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly
established, it will not be moved.’”
The OT and
the NT are filled with verses that speak of the fact that the children of
Israel are God’s chosen people, and also filled with the fact that they were supposed
to be a light to the Gentile nations, something they did a very poor job in
doing. Even after Jesus Christ went back
to heaven and the Church was already established the people were still prejudice
against the Gentile people. It takes a vision
given to Peter by God to show him that he was suppose to go to the Gentiles,
which he did as seen in the 10th chapter of the book of Acts. I have to say at this point that the church
has also done a poor job in bringing the gospel to the Jewish people, and as I
have mentioned on many different occasions in my Spiritual Diaries that God
still has a plan for Israel, and also none of the promises of Israel that God
has given to them are directed to the Church, which many believers in Jesus
Christ believe. I am in no way saying
that we cannot gleam principles from the promises that God gave to Israel, but
as far as God being done with Israel there is no truth in that statement, but
it is a lie that comes from the pit of hell.
After the rapture of the church which is still in the future God will
once again focus in on the people of Israel as seen in the book of Revelation
chapters 6-19, and then in chapter twenty, which is after the return of Jesus
Christ, John the author of Revelation tells his readers that the kingdom that
was promised to Israel will last for 1000 years.
Now back to
our introduction to these verses. We
will look at one more quote from MacArthur which will give us the outline that
we will follow and then we will be done with this SD. “In Romans 15:8-12, Paul emphasized that it
has always been God’s plan to bring Gentiles into His kingdom: ‘8 For I say that Christ has become a servant
to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given
to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is
written, "THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND I
WILL SING TO YOUR NAME." 10 Again he says, "REJOICE, O GENTILES, WITH
HIS PEOPLE." 11 And again, "PRAISE THE LORD ALL YOU GENTILES, AND LET
ALL THE PEOPLES PRAISE HIM." 12 Again Isaiah says, "THERE SHALL COME
THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL
THE GENTILES HOPE.’ In that brief
passage, Paul quoted from all three divisions of the Old Testament (cf. Luke
24:44, the Law (Deut. 32:43), the Prophets (Isa. 11:10), and the Psalms (18:49;
117:1), demonstrating to the Jews from their own Scriptures the truth of God’s
plan for Gentile salvation.
“In this
vein, John 12:17-26 illustrates three perspectives on Jesus: that of the Pharisees, that of some Gentiles,
and then that of the Lord Himself.”
We will
begin to look at the rejection of the Pharisees in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: What I can see from the verses that we looked
at today is that God has a plan for me too as I am a Gentile, a part of the
family of God through the shed blood of my Savior, and He has a plan for my
life to which I am thankful.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to study His Word
and to do a better job on mediating on it to see the plan that God has for me,
and then trust Him to enable me to accomplish it.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:11) “12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its lusts;”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “A keeper of sheep” (Genesis 4:2).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who is the prince of the power of the air?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/20/2016 9:24 AM
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