SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2017
10:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 The Requirements He Meets
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:4
Message of the
verse: “4 “I glorified You on the
earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”
This verse also speaks of Christ’s impeccability
(sinlessness), and Jesus also spoke of this in 8:46 “"Which one of you
convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?” Of course the answer to that question is that
no one could every prove that He sinned because it is impossible for Christ to
sin, it could not happen even though they accused Him of blasphemy in his
trumped up trial, He could not blaspheme for is God come in the flesh, but they
did not recognize this and therefore they were the ones who sinned. Paul, in 2 Corinthians picks up on this where
he wrote “Him who knew no sin.” The
writer to the Hebrews states that Jesus was “holy, innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.” Peter writes the following in 1 Peter 1:19
and 2:22 “as of a lamb unblemished and spotless,” “He committed no sin, neither was deceit
found in his mouth.” We will quote one
more verse that actually comes from the voice of the Father who stated more
than once “"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’ (Matthew
3:17).” “"This is My beloved Son,
with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"(Matthew 17:5).”
We read in Matthew 3:15 that John the Baptist did not
want to baptize Jesus, but Jesus said to Him “But Jesus answering said to him,
"Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill
all righteousness." Then he permitted Him (Matthew 3:15).” This is very important to know for it was imperative
for Jesus to live a life of perfect obedience, which fulfilled all of God’s
righteous requirements. “Only the One
who was perfectly holy (Lev. 19:2), could be the final sacrifice for sin (cf.
Heb. 10:1-18). Through His death and
resurrection, Jesus conquered death and provided eternal life to all who
believe in Him. But in addition, His
perfect life of obedience, the fullest expression of which was His willingness
to die on the cross (Luke 22:42), is imputed to believers at justification (cf.
Rom. 5:18-21). Though Jesus was sinless,
God treated Him as if He had committed the sins of everyone who would believe
in Him, so that believers, through unrighteous, could be treated as if they had
lived Christ’s perfect life, as John MacArthur writes. Once again we must look at 2 Cor. 5:21 “He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.” Now we
mentioned the death of Christ which happened on the cross and when we go back
to the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane we see that Jesus was actually
sweating great drops of blood, not because He did not want to die, but I think
that it was for two reasons, and they are that Jesus would be separated from
the Father, and also that He would become sin.
As we look at this verse in 2 Corinthians we see that God made Jesus
sin, He did not make Him a sinner, which is important to note, but those
darkened hours which Jesus hung on the cross God was separated from Him as He
was made sin and took the penalty for all who would believe in Him for
salvation. Jesus paid the price of all
the sins of those who would believe in Him on the cross, and when you think
about that He had to satisfy God’s justice for what it would be as if all who
believe in Him spent eternity in hell, so it is no wonder that Jesus asked the
Father if there is another way to do this, but then said not my will but Your
will be done. His death was then
different than the death of a believer in that when a believer dies it is said
to be sleep and our spirit goes to be with God in heaven awaiting our
resurrected body which will happen at the Rapture, but we are not separated
from God at death like Jesus was, however when we were born we were separated
from God until the Holy Spirit gave us an effectual call for salvation which we
accepted, and then we were saved from our sins and are adopted into God’s
family. Some of these are hard things to
understand and we may not know all about this until we get to heaven.
MacArthur adds “Christ’s willingness to be a sin-bearing
sacrifice on the cross was the ultimate demonstration of His complete
commitment to obey the Father, as well as the ultimate expression of His love
for sinners (cf. John 15:13).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Knowing what it
cost for my salvation I desire to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Before” (1 Kings 1:39-40).
Today’s Bible
question: “What is the glorious mystery
among the Gentiles?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/24/2017 11:14 AM
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