SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2017
8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
John 18:1-11
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 18:1-11
Message of the
verses: “1 When Jesus had spoken
these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron,
where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. 2 Now Judas
also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with
His disciples. 3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from
the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and
weapons. 4 So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went
forth and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" 5 They answered Him,
"Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them, "I am He." And Judas
also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. 6 So when He said to them,
"I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Therefore He
again asked them, "Whom do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus the
Nazarene." 8 Jesus answered, "I told you that I am He; so if you seek
Me, let these go their way," 9 to fulfill the word which He spoke, "Of those whom You have given Me
I lost not one."
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?"”
I really don’t want to jump into the end part of these
verses, but the highlighted portion of these verses seem to speak to my heart
this morning. Jesus’ prayer was answered
by the Father a prayer that He prayed asking that all that the Father had given
to Him would not be lost. Judas was not
given to Christ! I believe that we can
conclude that in eternity past God chose many for salvation and all that He
chose He gave to His Son as a love gift and everyone of those that He gave to
His Son, none of them will be lost as we read at the end of verse nine.
As we begin to look at these verses we have to understand
that what happened to Jesus Christ at this time of His life on earth as well as
all of His time on earth was exactly carried out in the divine plan of
God. Remember when we began our study of
John 17 and we read as Jesus began His prayer to the Father "Father, the
hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” The death of Jesus Christ was planned in
eternity past and was foretold also in certain OT passages like the 22nd
Psalm, the 53rd chapter of Isaiah and in Daniel 9: 26 “Then after
the sixty-two weeks the
Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,” and the words “cut off” means
that He would die. People try and say
that because He died that things went terribly wrong for Him, but don’t believe
this as all things went exactly the way that they were planned in eternity
past.
John MacArthur writes “In keeping with his purpose of
portraying Jesus as the incarnate Son of God (20:31), John depicts His majesty
and glory—even as He is betrayed and arrested to be executed. The apostle skillfully demonstrates that the
shameful, debasing things done to Christ failed to detract from His person, but
rather offered decisive proof of His glory.
B. F. Westcott observes,
‘In comparing the narrative
of St. John with the parallel narratives of the Synoptists, it must be observed
generally that here, as everywhere, St. John fixes the attention of the reader
upon the ideas which the several events bring out and illustrate. The Passion and Resurrection are for him
revelations of the Person of Christ. The
objective fact is a ‘sign’ of something which lies deeper…It [the account of
the Passion and Resurrection] is…like the rest of the Gospel, an interpretation
of the inner meaning of the history which it contains.’
“Thus unlike Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, John makes no mention of Jesus’ agonized prayer to the Father (cf. Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42-44). John’s different emphasis does not contradict
the picture of Christ given in the other gospels, but supplements it.
“In his account of Christ’s betrayal and arrest, John
presents four preeminent features that demonstrate His majesty and glory: His supreme courage, power, love and
obedience.”
This last short paragraph gives us the outline that we
will follow as we look closely at these verses in this 18th chapter
of John.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Witch of Endor” (1 Samuel
28:7-8).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which book records a man with
twelve fingers and twelve toes?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/5/2017 9:09 AM
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