Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Christ's Supreme Obedience (John 18:10-11)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/11/2017 9:24 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Christ’s Supreme Obedience

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  John 18:10-11

            Message of the verses:  “10  Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?"”

            As we look at these verses we also need to look at this section of Christ’s life from the other gospels to understand it better.  All four gospels mention this event, but only John mentions that it was Peter who cut of the ear of Malchus.  Perhaps Peter was dead and that is why John mentions his name here.  In doing this act Peter was not following what the Lord wanted him to do, for it was Jesus’ will that He die on the cross.  Another thing not mentioned here or in two of the other gospels is that Jesus heals Malchus’ ear, as Dr. Luke is the only one who mentions that part of the story.  Another thing is probably true and that is that Peter was trying to cut off his head, but as he ducked he only got his ear.

            Now we have been talking about Jesus’ prayer that none of those eleven would be harmed during this time, and then Peter does something that could have caused the eleven to be arrested, but Jesus defused the situation as He sharply rebukes Peter.  “52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” 

            Let’s go back to Jesus healing of Malchus’ ear for a moment and think about that.  First of all we saw the power of the Lord as it could have been as many as 1000 people fall over when He said “I Am,” and now we see Jesus actually replacing Malchus’ ear.  What do you think that those people should have been thinking when these two things happened?  Perhaps we have already looked at the answer earlier in our study:  “37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him (John 12:37).”  Spiritually dead people, even when confronted with miracles done by the Son of God cannot understand who He is.

            Now we have also mentioned that none of His disciples have understood the reason as to why Christ must die, and it will still take up to a couple of months before they really do understand this as the Holy Spirit will cause them to truly understand this as seen in Acts 2.

            With this SD we end the section from the outline of John MacArthur’s commentary and so next we will be looking at a rather long section he entitles “Jesus’ Trial; Peter’s Denial.”  This section will cover verses 12-27.  I realize that it is getting close to what we call “Good Friday” and so this study will have more meaning to us as we think about all these things that happened to Jesus during the last hours of His life on earth.

            Now I usually give a Bible question at the end of my Spiritual Diary, and I will do that today, but here is an extra question that goes along with what we will see in John’s gospel.  Name what happened at both times when a “charcoal fire” is mentioned.  Not only name what happened, but think about the differences of each time they are mentioned.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In Dothan” (Genesis 37:13-17).

Today’s Bible question:  “What man walked with God until God took him to heaven without dying?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/11/2017 9:47 AM

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