SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2017
8:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Root of True Unity
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:20
Message of the
verses: “20 "I do not ask on
behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;” “20 "I am not praying only for these men
but for all those who will believe in me through their message, (Phillips).”
As we look at the things that Christ was praying for we
can go back and see what He was not praying for. Let us first look at verse 9 “9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the
world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;” and so
we see that He is not praying for the unbelievers of the world. Next we want to look at verse 15 “15 “I do
not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Jesus here, is not
praying for the disciples to be removed from the world. Now we move into another group of people that
Christ is praying for as He begins this section with “I do not ask on behalf of
these alone.” Jesus is looking ahead and
praying for every believer who were to be born in, those who at that time had
not been born. MacArthur writes “He knew
them all, since their names have ‘been written from the foundation of the world
in the book of life’ (Rev. 13:8; cf. 3:5; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; Phil. 4:3)) which
began with this prayer 2,000 years ago, continues to this day, ‘since He always
lives to make intercession for [us]’ (Heb. 7:25).” Now I
want to quote from all of these verses listed above and then make a simple
statement afterwards. “8 All who dwell
on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from
the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” “5 ’He who overcomes will thus be clothed in
white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will
confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” “8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not,
and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who
dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was
and is not and will come.” “12 And I saw
the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead
were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their
deeds.” “15 And if anyone’s name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who
practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose
names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
“Phil. 4:3 “3 Indeed, true
companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the
cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow
workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
Now we know that it takes to have a child born into this world, how the
sperm and the egg have to come together in order to produce a child, and once
this happens the fertilized egg has its own DNA. Think about this for a moment,
and as you do think about who is in control of every person who is born on this
earth. Now think about what we have
learned from our studies in different places of the Scripture teaching us that
God has chosen people before the foundation of the earth, that Christ came to
die for them, that the Holy Spirit had to give them an effectual call to
salvation, and that these people had to accept that call which they will as it
is effectual. Now think about this one
simple statement “They all had to be born.”
As we look at who Christ is praying for, those who would hear the gospel
in the future and accept it; everyone of them has or had to be born, that
certain egg and sperm had to come together in order to produce that child who
was chosen before the foundation of the earth by God for salvation, that person
who is given to the Son as a love gift from the Father had or has to be
born. All of them has their name in the
Lamb’s book of life as we have seen in the verses from Revelation and the one
from Philippians. Some may ask about
those whose names are not written in that book, and the answer is that they
have refused the gracious offer of salvation on their own. After sin entered the human race as seen in
Genesis chapter three we see right after that that the first prophecy of the
Redeemer is seen, and we also see that everyone who is born into Adam’s race is
born a sinner with the exception of the Messiah whose seed came from the woman
(Gen. 3:15). All were heading to a
Christless eternity in hell and out of those heading there God in His mercy and
grace chose some to be a love gift for His Son who came and took their place on
the cross to pay for their sin, and gave them His righteousness so God would
accept them. Well my simple statement
got a little longer than I thought it would, sorry about that.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 36:1-23).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which of Joseph’s brothers
promised Jacob that he would take the blame if anything happened to Benjamin in
Egypt.”
Answer in our next SD.
3/22/2017 9:11 AM
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