SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2016 9:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Multitudes
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 11:55-57
Message of the verses: “55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 So
they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in
the temple, "What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at
all?" 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if
anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.”
We can go
all the way back to the books of the Law as they tell about the first Passover
and then they also tell the children of Israel that along with the Passover
there are other feasts that the men in Israel are required to go to. Now it was not until David was made king of
Israel and after he conquered the city of Jerusalem and the temple was built by
his son Solomon that the children of Israel were to go there, but it was a
requirement and so we know that Jesus would go to this the last Passover that
is mentioned in the book of John. This
is not only the last Passover mentioned in the book of John, but this would
actually be the last true celebration of the Passover since the Lord Jesus
Christ would establish the Lord’s table or communion to take the place of the
Passover celebration even though it is still celebrated by Jewish people
today. However there is no way it can be
celebrated the way God designed it to be celebrated since there is no temple
and because of that there are no sacrifices being offered.
So we can
see from verse 55 that people would come to Jerusalem early in order to purify
themselves. I have always found it very
disturbing to me, and this is something we will get into later, that at the
trial of Jesus the Jews were afraid that they would do something so that they
would not be clean and therefore could not celebrate the Passover.
We know that
at the celebration of the Passover there were many, many people in Jerusalem,
and as we saw in the first Passover that John writes about the celebration had
a lot to do with commercialism as they were selling the animals needed to
sacrifice and making a large prophet on that.
The spiritual aspect was mostly gone and that is what was upsetting to
the Lord Jesus as He cleansed the temple on that first Passover and would do it
again on this one too.
It seems
that John MacArthur agrees with me as he writes “It is bitterly ironic that the
people zealously purified themselves ‘while their leaders had indelibly stained
themselves as they ruthlessly plotted the death of the blameless Son of God’
(Gerald. L. Borchert).”
We can also
see in verses 56-57 that these huge crowds were seeking Jesus and on wonders
what they wanted with Him. You know that
is the most important thing that a person can do, that is to seek Jesus for the
correct reason. The correct reason to
want to see Jesus is to confess Him as Savior and Lord, but during this time
there were many who just wanted to see Him do a miracle, or those who desired
to kill Him. Paul’s desire was to know
Jesus, which should be the desire of all true believers, “that I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
conformed to His death (Phil. 3:10).”
How do believers get to know Jesus?
We have to continue to study His Word, to study His attributes as we
study His Word, and seek the Holy Spirit to show us more about who Jesus really
is. Some believers only want to see His
attribute of love, but don’t want to see His other attributes like justice and
wrath. Jesus came the first time as meek
and lowly in order to die in our place, but as we see in the 19th
chapter of Revelation the next time He comes to earth He will have a sword in
His mouth and we will see His wrath and His justice.
MacArthur
concludes his commentary on this 11th chapter of John by writing “The
resurrection of Lazarus, like the rest of Christ’s life and ministry, forced
people to a decision about Him. Many
responded in faith; others indifferent; and some were murderously hostile. As Jesus’ final Passover drew near, it would
not be long before those who were indifferent and those who were hostile would
unite to crucify the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8).”
We begin to
look at chapter twelve in our next SD as the public ministry of Jesus Christ is
now ended and we look at some of the private ministry Jesus had with His
disciples to prepare them for what would lie ahead for them as they would begin
the church age as seen in Acts chapter two.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to say that what will happen to Jesus
Christ in the coming chapters of John sadden me, but they also bring me great
hope as we will see the Lord of Glory take my place on the cross to take my sin
upon Him on that cross and die the death that I should have died, and not for
me only but for all who realize that they are born a sinner, sin because they
are born a sinner and realize that they too need a Savior who is Christ the
Lord.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to tells the story
of my Savior and Lord through the pages of my Spiritual Diaries so people
around the world can hear the truth and be saved.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:8-10) “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. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all;
but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “By suggesting that the living child be cut
in two” (1 Kings 3:25)”
Today’s Bible question:
“What one thing did Paul determine to know among the Corinthians?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/5/2016 10:33 AM
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