SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2017
8:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Intro to John 19:31-20:10
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
19:31-20:10
Message of the
verses: “31 Then the Jews, because
it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross
on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs
might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came,
and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with
Him; 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did
not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear,
and immediately blood and water came out. 35 And he who has seen has testified,
and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that
you also may believe. 36 For these things came to pass to fulfill the
Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN." 37 And again another
Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED." 38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but
a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away
the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His
body. 39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a
mixture of myrrh and aloes, about
a hundred pounds weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it
in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now
in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new
tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 Therefore because of the Jewish day
of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. 1 Now on the
first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still
dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and came
to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them,
"They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where
they have laid Him." 3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and
they were going to the tomb. 4 The two
were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and
came to the tomb first; 5 and stooping
and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 6
And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw
the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-cloth which had been on His
head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8
So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 9
For as yet they did not
understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 So
the disciples went away again to their own homes.”
John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary “The
Death-Conquering Savior.”
As we have been looking at the death of our Savior we see
that His life on earth ended in death like everyone else who has lived on planet
earth. The one hope that all believers
have is the rapture of the church. At
the rapture of the church there will be some who do not die pictured by Enoch
and Elijah from the Old Testament as neither of them died but were taken right
to heaven. My former Pastor, Ralph Burns
said when speaking of Enoch as found in Gen. 5:24 “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Pastor Burns said that everyday Enoch walked
with God and one day God said to him, “You are closer to my home than yours so
just come home with me,” and so Enoch did and never died.
John MacArthur writes “Death casts its long shadow (cf.
Ps. 23:4) over every aspect of man’s existence.
It ends his dreams, mocks his hopes, and fills him with dread. People have sought desperately, but
unsuccessfully, over the centuries to evade death. One of the most recent high-tech attempts to
cheat death is cryonics. According to
the Alcor Life Foundation of Scottsdale, Arizona, one of its leading practitioners,
cryonics is ‘a speculative life support technology that seeks to preserve human
life in a state that will be viable and treatable by future medicine’ (www.alcor.org; accessed 3 October 2007).”
I suppose at this time we need to ask how death has
entered our world in the first place, and for that answer we have to go back to
the beginning of our Bible where after God created the world getting it ready
for His prize creation, which of course is man, He said to the man and the
women that they could eat of any tree in the garden with the exception of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, and on the day they ate of that tree they
would surely die. Along came Satan in
the form of a serpent, which was far different than the way that a serpent looks today, and spoke to Eve causing her and
her husband Adam to eat of that tree and as soon as they did they died
spiritually, and eventually physically and death has been a part of lives ever
since. Paul tells us that “in Adam all
die.” We are all relatives of Adam despite what the lying evolutionists tell
us, and because we are all will die just has he died. Because we are all in Adam’s family we are
also born spiritually dead. Think about
this: Have you ever had to teach your
children to do wrong? Of course the
answer is that you don’t as that comes natural to them because we are all born
spiritually dead.
Now in our verses that we are previewing this morning we
see that when the women and the apostles came to Jesus’ tomb they found it
empty and that is what the gospel is all about, not only did Jesus die to take
our place on the cross bearing our sin in His own body, but because God was
satisfied with His sacrifice, God raised Him from the dead so that one day when
the rapture comes all who have been born again in the church age whether dead
or alive will meet the Lord in the air and so we will ever be with the
Lord. This is our hope: “Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” That’s my hope, and when we see this word “hope”
it is a noun and not a verb, for this hope is certain, as certain as Christ
being raised from the dead.
We conclude this introduction with the way we conclude
many introductions we have written with the last paragraph from John MacArthur’s
introductory comments to show us where we are going from here.
“Throughout His life, Jesus
performed countless miracles that manifested His divine power 21:25). He healed the sick, cast out demons, and
raised the dead. But nothing more
clearly reveals the greatness of His power than His resurrection. Flowing out of this simple narrative are
three manifestations of Christ’s power over death, each of which also fulfill
specific prophecies. His power was
revealed in His dying, His burial, and His resurrection.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: When I look at
the book of Acts I find that there are different titles that we could name it,
and one of them would be the Acts of the Apostles, or perhaps the work of the
Holy Spirit, but the main theme, that is to me, is the work that was done in
the lives of believers because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead. In our study in Colossians, that
last introductive section from Colossians 3:18-4:1 we were talking about how
the world has changed because of Christianity, and the reason for the change is
because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ which has brought many people to a
saving knowledge of Him thus changing their lives, the lives of their families
and communities along with nations and it all stems from the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to continue to, through the
work of the Holy Spirit, to use these Spiritual Diaries to tell others of the
truth found in Scripture, and to also change the lives of believers bringing
growth and revival to many lives.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Bethel and Dan” (1 Kings
12:29).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which of the judges was very
strong?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/18/2017 9:34 AM
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