SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/13/2017
11:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 Intro
to John 17:11-19
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
17:11-19
Message of the
verses: “11 "I am no longer in
the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy
Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may
be one even as We are. 12 "While I
was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I
guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the
Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 “But now I come to You; and these things I
speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 “I
have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world. 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. 17
"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 “As You sent Me into
the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 “For their sakes I sanctify
Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”
Well we finally come to the last introduction to these
very important verses from this very important chapter of this very important
book that is found in the Word of God.
As we look at these verses we see that the word “world” is seen many
times, speaking of the world system that all people are born into because all
people are born sinners, and as we see in these verses that very soon Jesus
would no longer be in the world, now He was never a part of the world system,
but when He came to earth we know that He was living in the world, the physical
world. Once He would leave the world
then His disciples would be alone as He was the One who cared and protected for
them while He was here, and now the disciples would be in the world (not
system) to live by themselves and this is one of the big reasons for this
prayer that the Father would care for them once Jesus leaves the world. MacArthur writes “His use of the present
tense is indicative of the fact that, after the events of the next few hours
transpired, His earthly mission would be completed. The time was no longer future, it had
arrived. He was going away but they were
staying behind. Though they surely
wished to go with Him (cf. 14:6), it was critical that, for the time being,
they remain and take the gospel to the world (cf. Matt. 28:18-20; John 17:18;
Acts 1:7-8). Since in the plan of God
there would have been no church, and no subsequent generations o f believers,
if the disciples hand not been left as witnesses to the gospel, this
intercession on their behalf is weighty.
It is a means God used for activation His will.”
Jesus also speaks of the hostility that the world would
have for His disciples who were left behind after Jesus goes back to heaven,
and that hostility will come to many who are true believes in Jesus
Christ. I have to say that I heard a
story a long time ago that I believe was from Hal Lindsey, the author of “The
Late Great Planet Earth.” I was
listening to some of his tapes when the Lord spoke to my heart and the Spirit
of God gave an effectual call to save me and so after I first became a believer
I would listen to more of his tapes and he spoke about a movie that he had seen
or someone had seen and told him about it.
The movie was about an alien who came to earth and somehow put something
into the brains of certain people on the earth so that they would then belong
to the alien. Now as we look at our Lord
coming to earth, and I am not saying that He is an alien, but He came to earth
to die for our sins which is what the gospel is all about. Now all that the Father has given to Him will
come to Him as they will be a part of His bride. All who come to Him are given an effectual
call by the Holy Spirit and once that call is made and accepted all are still
living in this world and yet they are not a part of this world system, but
become hated by this world system just as the Lord says they will be. So after this call we still live on planet
earth, but planet earth is not our home anymore, as we become citizens of
heaven and we all have a desire to be with the Lord in heaven because this
world is not our home anymore. One day
according to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 there will be a trumpet played and those
who had died who were true believers will have their bodies resurrected, and
those who are alive who are believers will also go to be with the Lord in the
clouds and then transported to heaven and that trumpet blast will conclude the
church age and then shortly after that the seven year tribulation period will
begin. All church age believers will
then be in heaven with the Lord in their glorified bodies worshiping and
serving the Lord there. As I was
listening to my Bible this morning I listened to some chapters in the book of
Numbers and a verse caught my eye I will now share “But when the assembly is to be gathered together,
you shall blow a long blast, but you shall not sound an alarm (Numbers
10:7).” The highlighted part of this
verse is what caught my eye making me think of what we call the “Rapture of the
Church.” Numbers 10 speaks of making two
trumpets that were to be used to get the attention of the people as they
traveled through the wilderness, and one of the blasts was used to gather the
people together just like will happen when the Lord returns to receive His
church.
Ok we want to look at the last short paragraph from
MacArthur’s commentary which tells us what we will be looking forward to as we
begin to study these verses in dept:
“Having established the
reasons why He knew the Father would answer His prayer (in vv. 6-10), Jesus now
made those tow requests on behalf of His disciples: that they would receive
spiritual protection (in vv. 11b-16) and sanctifying purity (in vv. 17-19) from
the Father.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: This is such a
wonderful chapter to be studying, seeing the Lord praying for all the things He
is praying about which shows how much that He cares for me and all who belong
to Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will continue to keep
these important truths that I am learning in my heart.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jesus” (Luke 8:52).
Today’s Bible
question: “Psalm 23 states ‘Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’ and that I will
dwell where forever?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/13/2017 11:38 AM
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