SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/24/2016 7:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Treason Announced
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 13:19-21
Message of the verses: “19 “From now on I am telling you before it
comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. 20 “Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who
receives Me receives Him who sent Me." 21 When Jesus had said this, He
became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, "Truly, truly, I say to
you, that one of you will betray Me.’”
We made a
point in our last SD that comes up again in this one and that is that Jesus is
telling His disciples what was going to happen to Him so that when it did
happen they would believe who He says that He is, that is the Messiah, God come
in the flesh. Now we know that once the
betrayal occurred that the disciples would scatter, would run away, but even
though that would happen, and that also would be a fulfillment of OT prophecy,
they would realize later on that Jesus is who He claims to be.
Perhaps as
you read verse twenty you may think that this verse is out of context from the rest
of the verses as I did. MacArthur writes
“The disciples (the eleven) would be shocked by Jesus’ prediction that one of
them would betray Him. They might think that
having a traitor in their midst would destroy their credibility as a group and
end their mission. Further, if the Lord
was betrayed to His death, their hope for the immediate establishment of the
earthly messianic kingdom would die with Him.”
Now I have to say that these words help me to understand this verse in
the context that it is used here. The treachery of Judas would not affect what
were the plans that were in place by the Father that Jesus would fulfill, and
things that are going on in our world will not affect the plans of God either
for everything is right on schedule.
Jesus would
still send the eleven into the world as His representatives and they would
spread the gospel around the known world soon after the church began as we see
in the book of Acts, and it would continue to go around the world even
today. God’s plans will always come to fruition. MacArthur writes “The very title that Christ
gave them (Luke 6:13) emphasizes that truth; the Greek word translated ‘apostle’
(apostolos) refers to one sent out
having the full authority of the person who sent him, much like an ambassador
today. But though the apostles had a
unique, nontransferable authority (cf. Eph. 2:20), all believers represent Jesus
Christ in the world. As Paul reminded
the Corinthians, ‘We are ambassadors for Christ, as through God were making an
appeal through us’ begging sinners ‘on behalf of Christ [to] be reconciled to
God’ (2 Cor. 5:20; cf. Eph. 6:20). As
citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), believers represent their King to a world of
lost sinners, among who they live ‘as aliens and strangers’ (1 Peter 2:11).”
In verse
twenty-one we see that after Jesus prepared His eleven disciples what was going
to happen He then becomes troubled “Troubled translates a form of the verb tarasso, a strong word used figuratively
to speak of severe mental or spiritual turmoil.” This word described the terror that the
disciples had when they saw Jesus walking on the water, and is also used in
other places to describe terror. Zachariah
experienced it when the angel Gabriel appeared to him. Jesus experienced it when He was at the tomb
of Lazarus (11:33), and also at the prospect of going to the cross (John
12:27).
We have to
believe that Jesus loved Judas and at the prospect of him betraying Him, Jesus
became upset. I think that this may be
hard to understand, something that I have a tendency to do, to look at things
without a lot of feelings, something I need to work on, for what I see here in
Judas is he was going to fulfill prophecy, but Jesus had a great deal of love
for him as He does for all unbelievers.
MacArthur quotes Andreas J. Kostenberger who writes “In the present
passage, Jesus’ emotions are shown to be in a state of turmoil, his whole inner
self convulsing at the thought of one of his closest followers betraying him to
his enemies.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It would be difficult for me to have someone
who is a friend of mine betray me, as in a small way this has happened, but
seeing Jesus so very upset because Judas was going to betray show me the love
that Christ has for humanity. When I
watch a movie where the bad guy gets it I am happy, but it seems to me that
although Judas was going to fulfill prophecy that Jesus was actually
brokenhearted about him doing it.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Be more sensitive.
Memory verse for the week:
(Romans 6:15) “15 What then?
Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “3,000.”
Today’s Bible question:
“What were the dimensions of the ark of the covenant?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/24/2016 8:36 AM
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