SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/3/2016 11:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Murders”
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 11:46-54
Message of the verses: “46 But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 Therefore the chief priests
and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing?
For this man is performing many signs. 48 “If we let Him go on like this, all
men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place
and our nation." 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that
year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you take into
account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that
the whole nation not perish." 51
Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest
that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not
for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one
the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they
planned together to kill Him. 54 Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk
publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the
wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.”
This
section is going to take us more than one day to get through it, and so I will
try and break it up into sections that seem to make sense to me.
I want to
begin with a verse from the gospel of Luke which will show us that Jesus brings
division between people as happened after He performed this greatest of
miracles: “"Do you suppose that I
came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division (Luke 12:51”
and then he goes on to say “52 for from
now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two
against three. 53 "They will be
divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and
daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law
against mother-in-law.’” Now I know that
these verses are very true as I have friends who minister in countries where
Muslims and Buddhists live and when a person in one of their families comes to
know the Lord the other members of the family want nothing to do with them and
in some cases even want them killed.
Jesus says that He did not come to grant peace to the earth, but
division. The gospel is a very simple
message with the rewards of those who accept it will actually be out of this
world, and yet many people who hear it want nothing to do with it for various
reasons. Let us take a look at when the
prophet Isaiah was called by God to be His prophet and we will see what God
tells him. “9 He said, "Go, and
tell this people: ’Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but
do not understand.’ 10 "Render the
hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with
their hearts, And return and be healed.’”
Isaiah is told by God to tell the people of Judah the truth, but says
that they will not accept it, and they did not accept it either and finally God
destroyed their city and their temple.
Why would they not listen and why will not people listen today to this
simple truth with gives such great rewards?
Well when Adam sinned along with Eve they died spiritually at that point
of disobedience and all of Adam’s offspring were born spiritually dead. Out of those who were born spiritually dead
God chose some to be His children (now don’t ask me to explain this for no one
can), and Jesus came to offer Himself for the sins of the world, but only those
whom God called will hear the calling of the Spirit of God. Once they hear that call they will accept it
and be saved. (Like I said don’t ask me
to explain it.) Now we go back to John’s
gospel.
Question: Why did these people go and tell the Pharisees
what happened? Well we ran into this
same question in chapter nine didn’t we as people ran to the Pharisees to tell
them Jesus healed a man born blind. John
MacArthur quotes Homer Kent who writes “This response of unbelief in the face
of the clearest proof is confirmation of Christ’s teaching in Luke 16:31 ‘If
the hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead.’ The chief cause of
unbelief is not inadequate information, but a heart in rebellion against the
authority of God and his word.” I have
to say that I never connected these two verses together, but it does make sense
to me. I also have to say that I agree
that these people were rebellious against God and they also hated Jesus and
that is why they ran to tell the Pharisees.
Now notice
that they did not run to the Sadducees who did not believe in angels or anyone rising
from the dead, as they only believed in what was in the first five books of the
Bible and this did not happen there so they did not believe it, but they ran to
the Pharisees who did believe the entire OT.
Now we come
to and will end with what Caiaphas answer to the question as to what they
should do to Jesus. He answered them by
saying “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you take into account that it is
expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation
not perish.’” A John point out that part
of what he said was prophetic as not only did Jesus die for the nation, but for
those outside the nation of Israel, and I for one am glad of that for I am
outside the nation of Israel, although I love them very much. Caiaphas also said that the nation need not
perish, but this part of his statement was not true, for because of the
rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish nation and because of the fact that the
put Him to death their nation was destroyed by the Romans, the very people Caiaphas
had said would take their nation from them.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is a statement that people use to say
when they said that they were going to do something, as they would say “If the
Lord wills.” This is a good statement
for by saying it one takes away any pride that what they are about to do will
really happen. Caiaphas should have said
that as he was a very prideful person, and even though part of it was true,
part of it was not.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Not to be prideful, but trust
the Lord when making decisions, Proverbs 3:5-6.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:8-9) “8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the
dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over Him.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Isaac” (Genesis 22:1-10).
Today’s Bible question:
“How many books are there in the Bible?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/3/2016 12:00 PM
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