SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/9/2016 9:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
His Mission Would Be Victorious
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 14:30b
Message of the verse: “for the ruler of the world is coming,
and he has nothing in Me.”
When Jesus
was in the wilderness preparing for His ministry on earth which took place
right after His baptism He was confronted by Satan as seen in Matthew and also
Luke, both in chapter four. Jesus did
not argue with Satan but confronted Him with the Scripture when He was tempted
by Satan. Jesus knew that Satan was the
ruler of the world as stated in our verse today, but I believe after the cross
that the Lord teaches us that He has not only defeated Satan, but also the
world system and the flesh. Satan still
is very powerful, but he is a defeated foe and for that I am thankful. 1 John 5:19 tells us “We know that we are of
God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” John MacArthur writes “The Devil, of course,
is not the legitimate ruler of the world, but a divinely permitted usurper. He is the ruler of the evil world system that
is in rebellion against God (cf. 7:7; 8:23; 14:17; 15:18-19; 17:14-16; 1 John 2:15-17;
3:1, 13; 4:4-5; 5:4-5, 19). Jesus saw
Satan coming in the persons of Judas, the Jewish leaders, and the Roman
soldiers, who would shortly arrest Him in Gethsemane.”
We
mentioned Satan’s temptations in the wilderness, but even before that Satan
used Herod to kill all the babies 2 years old and younger trying to kill
Jesus. Now just a side note on that
there are some who think that Joseph received the dream from God to take Jesus
to Egypt right after He was born, but Jesus was around two years old when this
happened and so that means that the wise men who came from the East did not
come to find Jesus until He was older than just an infant so the pictures that
include them there at Jesus’ birth are not correct, they were not there when He
was born (Christmas). Satan did not stop
tempting Jesus after His wilderness experience for the Bible tells “When the
devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time (Luke
4:13).”
MacArthur
writes “Finally, in a few short hours, Jesus’ lifelong conflict with the Devil
would reach its triumphant climax. Satan
would finally succeed in having Him killed, but in so doing would bring about
his own destruction. Far from being
Satan’s victim, ‘the Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works
of the devil’ (1 John 3:8) ‘…that through death He might render powerless him
who had the power of death, that is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14). The cross marked Satan’s ultimate defeat,
though the final sentence against him will not be carried out until the end of
the millennium. At that point his final
assault against God’s people will be thwarted, and he will be case into the
lake of fire, where he will be punished for eternity (Rev. 20:10).” I want to take us back to Genesis 3:15 which
is the first prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, and His defeat of
Satan: “And I will put enmity Between
you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on
the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’” “And there will be war
between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your
head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.” (BBE)
Notice that Satan will bruise the heel of Jesus, and this was done on
the cross, but Jesus will crush Satan’s head, a death blow.
One more
important quote from John MacArthur “Jesus’ emphatic declaration (there is a
double negative in the Greek text) ‘Satan has nothing in Me’ explains why the
Devil could not hold Him in death. The
phrase in a Hebrew idiom meaning that the Devil could make no legal claim
against Jesus. ‘How could he? Asks D. A.
Carson, ‘Jesus is not of this world (8:23), and He never sinned (8:46). The devil could have a hold on Jesus only if
there were a justifiable charge against Jesus.
Jesus’ death would then be his due, and the devil’s triumph’ (The Gospel According to John, 509).’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: When I became a believer in Jesus Christ in January
of 1974 I had no idea of all of the planning that went into how God was able to
save me. I am thankful for all of this
planning that it took to save, not only me, but all of those who have and will
be saved.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to trust the Lord to
make me more like His Son.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Peter” (Luke 22:62).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who said ‘It is lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil’?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/9/2016 10:10 AM
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