SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/15/2017
9:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Committed
Christians Are Willing to Sacrifice Everything for Christ
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
21:18-19a
Message of the
verses: “18 "Truly, truly, I
say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever
you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone
else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." 19 Now
this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.”
Jesus is telling Peter what kind of death he would die, a
death that would glorify our Lord Jesus Christ.
A couple of things come to mind when I think of this prophecy that Jesus
gives to Peter. There was a time when
two of the disciples’ mother came to Jesus and ask Him if her sons could sit at
His right hand and left hand in the kingdom.
He told her that was up to the Father, and then asked if they were
willing to drink the cup that He was about to drink, and they said that they
were. That cup He was speaking of was
what He went through being crucified on the cross. He told them that they would drink this cup,
but later on. Every one of the disciples
suffered greatly for the cross of Christ, and all but one died a martyr’s
death. Peter was crucified upside down
after watching his wife crucified before him. Another thing comes to my mind
and that is when Peter was in prison about to be killed in the early part of
his ministry. James, John’s brother had
just been killed by the sword and Peter would be next. Peter must have been thinking of how he would
die and therefore he was asleep between two guards as an angel came to rescue
him and take him out of prison.
Now as we begin to look at this section we see the words “truly,
truly” and we have talked about these words before as Jesus is giving a solemn
truth after using these words. Jesus is
telling Peter that when he was younger he walked about where he wanted to walk,
as he was in control of his actions.
Then Jesus uses the word “but” and this tells of a whole new situation
that would be told to Peter. “When you
grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and
bring you where you do not wish to go.”
As mentioned this speaks of the kind of death that Peter would go
through to glorify the Lord, and that death would be crucifixion. Jesus makes that clear when John adds “Now
this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.”
MacArthur concludes:
Peter spent the last three decades of his life serving the Lord and
anticipating his martyrdom. Yet he faced
that prospect with confidence, comforted by the knowledge that he would not
deny the Lord again, but instead would glorify Him in his death (cf. 1 Peter
4:14-16). ‘14 If you are reviled for the
name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests
on you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or
evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he
is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.’ According to tradition, Peter was crucified,
but requested to be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be
crucified like his Lord.”
We have one more sub-title to look at in the gospel of
John. We began looking at the gospel of
John on 11-24-2015 and should end it in a couple of days. I have ordered my commentaries for the book
of Acts and so once they get here we will begin to look at this book, a book
that I have wanted to go over for a long time.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Persia” (Ezekiel 1:1).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who went to visit Elisabeth
before John the Baptist was born?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/15/2017 10:05 AM
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