SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2017
9:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
John 17:24-26
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
17:24-26
Message of the
verses: “24 "Father, I desire
that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may
see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of
the world. 25 "O righteous Father,
although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have
known that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will
make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I
in them."”
John MacArthur entitles this last section in the 17th
chapter of John “Jesus Prays for All Believers—PT-2: That They Would One Day Be
Reunited in Glory.” That, too me is a
wonderful promise. In today’s SD we
begin the last section of our journey through the most magnificent prayer found
in all of Scripture, a chapter that gives its readers an opportunity to listen
in on a inter-Trinitarian conversation, (be it one sided) between the Son of
God praying to the Father. We have
looked at Jesus praying for Himself, praying for His disciples, and now we look
at the last part of Jesus praying for all believers who would hear the words of
salvation that began with those eleven disciples. I can honestly say that I will miss studying
this chapter once we are finished with it.
I wish to begin by talking about a story that John
MacArthur tells at the beginning of his commentary on this section, a story
that can cause toes to be stepped on. He
went to the former Soviet Union, to a very isolated eastern city there and had
the opportunity to speak to some 1500 believers that were so poor that it took
a day’s work just to put food on the table.
Their greatest concern was to learn about their future in heaven, which
he spoke to them for several hours. The
words that he spoke to them were from the Word of God and these impoverished
people had tears of joy streaming down their cheeks as they listened to what
heaven will be like for them one day.
How about those of us who live in the West who are living
at worst so much better than the people of that story; How often do we think
about heaven. Yes when things get hard
or when a love one is about to enter into the presence of Christ do we think
about heaven, but in all honesty is that enough? The old song that says “Everybody talkin’ ‘bout
heaven ain’t goin’ there,” it is also true that everybody going to heaven is
not talking about it.
MacArthur writes “When the church loses its focus on
heaven, it becomes self-indulgent and self-centered, materialistic and worldly,
spiritually weak and lethargic. The
pleasures and comforts of this present world consume too much of it time and
energy. Believers forget that this world
is not their true home, that they are ‘aliens and strangers’ (1 Peter. 2:11;
cf. Heb. 11:13) here, that their ‘citizenship is in heaven’ (Phil 3:20), and
that ‘here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is
to come’ (Heb. 13:14). The church is
increasingly in danger not of being so heavenly minded that it is no earthly
good, but rather of being so earthly minded that it is no heavenly good.
“A worldly minded church is the result of a disobedient
church. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded
His followers, ‘Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your
treasure is, there you heart will be also’ (Matt. 6:20-21). ‘Therefore if you have been raised up with
Christ,’ Paul wrote, ‘keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at
the right hand of God’ (Col. 3:1). The
apostle John warned believers,
‘15 Do not love the world
nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the
lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is
from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one
who does the will of God lives forever.’”
Now as we think about this subject of heaven we can turn
to a couple of passages that show us that some godly men from both the Old and
New Testaments longed to go to heaven to be with their Lord. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your
right hand there are pleasures forever (Psalm 16:11b),” written by David. Philippians
1:23, written by Paul, “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the
desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” Paul also wrote “to be absent from the body
and to be at home with the Lord,” in 2 Corinthians 5:8.” As we look at that verse we realize that once
a believer leaves this body in either death or those who are raptured that they
will immediately be with the Lord, for there is no “soul sleep” or purgatories
as some teach which teachings are not found in Scripture.
Paul wrote the following very near the end of his life
which is found in 2 Timothy 4:6-8
“6 For I am already being
poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in
the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also
to all who have loved His appearing.”
Why then should believer long for heaven? Everything that is precious to us will be
their including all of our family and friends who are believers will be
there. We will get to rub shoulders with
people like Abraham, like Moses, like David, and then others like Daniel, and
Elijah. We can ask questions to these
great OT saints, like asking Daniel what it was like to spend a night in a cage
with those hungry lions. We can talk to
Paul, and Timothy, John and the other Apostles like Peter, James to mention a
few. However the most wonderful thing
about heaven will be that we will be in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ
forever.
MacArthur concludes this introduction by writing “The
reality that believers will be reunited in heaven with Christ and each other is
the subject of the last part of the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer. Verses 24-26 describe the fellowship of
future glory, the focus of future glory, and the foretaste of future glory.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The story that
John MacArthur told causes me to think about my life in a way that I have
thought about before, and need to think about more frequently.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Keep my priorities in the right order.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Daniel.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “To restore the Red Sea, what
did Moses stretch over the water?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/30/2017 9:51 AM
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