The Exaltation of Christ (Acts 2:33-36)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2017 7:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  The Exaltation of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:33-36

            Message of the verses:  “33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ’THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, 35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified."”

            Peter begins verse 33 by stating that Jesus Christ was exalted to the right hand of God.  If we go back to eternity past we can see that the plan for the Son of God was to come to earth to become the God/Man, live for 33 years, preaching and teaching for the last three years and then dying for the sins of man.  Because of this God was going to exalt Him to the position of power, that is at the right hand of God which is where our Lord is at this time interceding for His children.  This was all God’s plan which Christ fulfilled.

            Peter then goes on to talk about Jesus “having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, has poured forth this which you both see and hear,” and this to was in the perfect plan of God.  John MacArthur writes “Peter now bring his listeners full circle back to the phenomena of Pentecost.  He tells them that what they had just seen resulted from God’s promise to send the Spirit to inaugurate the messianic age (Joel 2:28-29).  Now that Christ was risen and glorified, God fulfilled that promise.”  “But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39).”

            Peter moves onto another of the Messianic Psalms, Psalm 110 in order to prove from the Lord’s ascension and exaltation that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.  As we look at the end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke we see Jesus asking the Pharisees a question:  “41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: 42 “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David." 43 He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ’Lord,’ saying, 44 ’THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET"’? 45 “If David then calls Him ’Lord,’ how is He his son?" 46 No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question (Matthew 22:41-46).”  So in total we see this section “The Lord said to My Lord” four times in the New Testament including here in the book of Acts, and as mentioned it comes from Psalm 110.  This Psalm was written by David and it speaks of the Messiah.  Placing one’s enemies under one’s feet was a figure of speech that denotes their abject submission as seen as an example in Joshua 10:24-25 “24 When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came near and put their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua then said to them, "Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies with whom you fight."”   We know that it was not David who was exalted to God’s right hand, but it was Jesus who was as seen in Acts 1:9-11 “9  And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."”  Now we have the proof of this which was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as God promised to do, and as the crowd witnessed this happen.  This fulfillment of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the proof that Jesus was sitting at the right hand of God as we have seen from Psalm 110. 

            Peter’s sermon gives overwhelming evidence from Jesus life, death, resurrection, and exaltation that He is indeed Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.  Peter concludes this powerful sermon with a powerful ending as he says “36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified."”  John MacArthur states “for certain” is the Greek word asphalos, which speaks of that which is known beyond a doubt.  He goes on to say “The verdict was in, and they were on the wrong side, guilty of opposing God and rejecting their Messiah.  As Peter was later to put it, ‘He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very corner stone’ (Acts 4:11).”

            We will begin looking at “The First Christian Sermon—part 3 The Appeal and Results which covers verses 37-41 of Acts chapter two in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that since God has planned out in eternity past what Christ was going to do for me, and of course not only me but all that belong to Him that He now has a plan for my life and will fulfill that as long as I submit to Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Submit to the Lord so He can fulfill His plan in my life, a plan that will bring glory to His name.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Silver” (Acts 19:24).

Today’s Bible question “Where was Jesus born?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/31/2017 8:15 AM

PT-3 The Resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:24-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2017 9:41 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-3 The Resurrection of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:24-32

            Message of the verses:  “24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ’I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. 26 ’THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; 27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. 28 ’YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’ 29  "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30  "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, 31  he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”

            We need to begin with a quote from John MacArthur “Peter’s quote of Psalm 16:11 has puzzled some commentators, since it doesn’t appear to advance his argument.  The phrase ‘the ways of life’ (the Hebrew text of Psalm 16:11 uses the singular ‘path of life’), however, can be interpreted as a reference to the resurrection.  It would thus have the sense of ‘the path to resurrection life.’  The context strongly implies such an interpretation.  As a result of the resurrection, Messiah would be ‘full of gladness’ as He experienced God’ presence. 

            “Peter now comes to the crux of his argument.  Addressing them once again as ‘brethren,’ he ‘confidently’ reminds them that ‘the patriarch David both died and was buried.’  In fact, his ‘tomb’ provided visible evidence that he had not fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 16.  David spoke as a prophet, however, not of himself.  He ‘knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne.’  That promise is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:11-16:

‘The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. 12  "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13  "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14  "I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15  but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."’"”

“David then, ‘looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,’ who, in contrast to David, ‘was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.’

            “Peter’s argument from Psalm 16 can be summarized as follows:  The psalm speaks of the resurrection.  Since David however, was not resurrected, it cannot speak of him.  Thus David speaks in the psalm of the Messiah.  Hence, Messiah will rise from the dead.  Peter now delivers his powerful conclusion:  ‘This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.’  The argument is conclusive:  Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “With kindness” (Genesis 33:4).

Today’s Bible question:  “Out of what metal were shrines of Diana made?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/30/2017 10:01 PM

PT-2 The Resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:24-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2017 7:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus: PT-2 The Resurrection of Christ 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:24-32

            Message of the verses:  “24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ’I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. 26 ’THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; 27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. 28 ’YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’ 29 "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”

            When we look at the end of verse 24 we read that “death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power,” and we desire to understand why it is that it was impossible for Jesus to be held in deaths power.  The first reason death could not hold Him was because of divine power.  We read in John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”  MacArthur adds “Jesus was ‘the resurrection and the life’ who died ‘that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14).  Second, death could not hold Him because of divine promise.  John 2:18-22 records the following dialogue:

‘18 The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.’

“Thus it is written,’ our Lord told the disciples, ‘that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day’ (Luke24:46).  Finally, death could not hold Him because of divine purpose.  God had designed that His people be with Him for all eternity.  In order to do that, the need to go through death and out the other side.  Jesus had to go first to make the way (cf. 1 Cor. 15:16-26).  Because He lives, His people will live forever (John 14:19).”

            In yesterday’s SD I quoted the ESV of the Bible and in today’s SD I quoted the NASB, the one I usually quote, and in that version we see sections with all caps indicating that what you are reading comes from the Old Testament.  What is seen is a quote from Psalm 16:8-11 and David is the author of that Psalm and it is written in the first person as we can see when we read it.  It was written by David but the passage is prophetically Messiah speaking in the first person as is similar to Psalm 22, the Psalm that speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  Psalm 16:8-11 describes Messiah’s confident trust in God as He looked towards the cross.  We read that “I was always beholding the Lord in my presence” and this is the key to that trust that He had in God.  Jesus was keeping His focus on God no matter what trials came His way.  Jesus knew that because God was at His “right hand,” He would “not be shaken.”  When we see the term “the right hand” it speaks of protection.  MacArthur adds “In a wedding ceremony, the bridegroom stands to the right of the bride.  In the ancient world, a bodyguard stood on the right side of the one he was protection.  In that position he could cover him with his shield and still have his right arm free to fight.”

            Now it was because of His confidence in the protection that God gave Him, the Messiah then could say “my heart was glad and my tongue exulted.”  Even though the prospect of Him going to the cross could not dampen the joy that Christ had, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2).” 

            John MacArthur writes “Moreover,’ another reason for Messiah’s joy was His confidence that His ‘flesh also’ would ‘abide in hope.’ ‘Flesh’ here refers to the physical body Kataskenoo (‘abide’) literally means ‘to pitch a tent.’  It expresses Messiah’s certainty that He could commit His body to the grave with the confident ‘hope’ that it would be raised to life again.”

            Verse 27 tells us “BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.”  This gives the reason for Messiah’s confidence.  Now when we read “Hades” it is the New Testament term for “Sheol.” MacArthur adds “Although it can refer specifically to hell (Matt. 11:23), Peter uses it here in its more general sense of the abode of the dead.  The phrase expresses Christ’s confidence that He would not remain a captive in the realm of death.”  The last part of verse 27 tells us that God would not allow His Holy One to undergo decay.  During the three days of Christ’s body in the tomb our Lord’s body experienced no corruption, and we will look later at the significance of this verse.

            My hope is to finish this section in our next SD and I plan to begin with another quote from John MacArthur as he speaks of puzzling part of Psalm 16.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the confidence that our Lord had even while going through what He went through on the cross it gives me confidence that when I go through different trials that the Lord is in control of them and by trusting Him as I go through these trials it shows that I am truly a child of God, something I have been learning from the daily devotions that I am reading in my John MacArthur devotional Bible and also in my study of 1 Peter.  I think that at this time that I will quote from my last SD from 1 Peter five as I quoted yesterday’s devotion from John MacArthur in that SD.

“I find it very interesting that in my morning devotions from John MacArthur’s devotional Bible that we covered the same verse from 1 Peter 1:6-7 “6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV).”

            MacArthur writes “Although some Christians fear that trials and persecutions can only rob them of their joy.  Peter taught just the opposite.  In fact, he said that joy comes not in spite of trouble but because of trouble.  That’s because it’s easy to lose your joy if you doubt your salvation; but when your faith has been tested and proven to be genuine, doubts will disappear, and you’ll have joy and assurance.

“Every trial you face is designed to test and perfect your faith, and God carefully controls their parameters to accomplish that purpose.  Verse 6 specifies that they are temporary, necessary, distressing, and multi-faceted, but they should never diminish your joy.  He won’t allow you to undergo more than you can bear (1 Cor. 10:13).

“Peter used the analogy of an assayer or goldsmith to illustrate the purging process that produces proven faith (v. 7).  The fire symbolizes trials, and the gold symbolizes your faith.  Just as the refiner’s fire burns away the dross and leaves only pure gold, so God purges you through trials in order to reveal the purity of your faith.

“That’s an appropriate analogy because gold was the most precious of metals and the standard for all monetary transactions.  But as valuable as gold is, proven faith is infinitely more precious. Gold is temporal and perishable; proven faith is eternal.

“So don’t fear trials when they come your way.  Welcome them as opportunities to prove that your faith is real.  Be encouraged that ‘after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you’ (1 Peter 5:10).”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to help me as I go over the lesson for tomorrow’s Sunday school class, that He will use it to bring glory to His name, and that He will give me the calmness to do an effective job teaching this class.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Hebrews.)

Today’s Bible question:  “When the met, did Esau treat Jacob with hatred or kindness?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/29/2017 8:58 AM

  

PT-1 The Resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:24-32)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2017 9:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-1 The Resurrection of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Acts 2:24-32

            Message of the verses:  “24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25  For David says concerning him,  “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me,  for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26  therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;  my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29  “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30  Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31  he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”

            One of the great themes of the book of Acts is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for if Christ had not risen from the dead then there would be no need of the book of Acts.  Paul writes about this in the 15^th chapter of 1 Corinthians:  “12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”  Paul realized the importance of the doctrine of Jesus being raised from the dead as Peter also did too.

            This theme of the resurrection of Christ is not only the theme of the Apostle’s preaching but as John MacArthur writes it is “also without question the climax of redemptive history.  It proves beyond doubt the deity of Jesus Christ and establishes His messianic credentials.  It is also the guarantee of our own resurrection (John 14:19; Rom. 6:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:16-23).  The resurrection is the crowning proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (cf. Rom. 4:25) [‘He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.’]  Without it He death becomes the heroic death of a noble martyr, the pathetic death of a madman, or the execution of a fraud.”

            So as we think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ we can say that it is the greatest proof that He is indeed the Messiah.  Not His preaching, or His miracles, but His resurrection proves that He is Messiah.

            Let us look at verses 23 and 24 as they are one connected thought “23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”  The truth is that Israel rejected her Messiah but God raised Him up again, and this is the truth that Peter is forcefully driving home to those who are listening to his inspired preaching.  Peter is telling the crowd that they are guilty of opposing God—despite their boasts to the contrary.  Let us look at Romans 2:17-20 “17 But if you bear the name "Jew" and rely upon the Law and boast in God, 18  and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, 19  and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20  a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.”  This is not the only time that this tactic was used in the book of Acts.  “14  "But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15  but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses (Acts 3:14-15).”  39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40 “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible (Acts 10:39-40).”  “27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb (Acts 13:27-30).”

            John MacArthur writes “By raising Jesus, God put ‘an end to the agony of death’ for Him.  ‘Agony’ translates odinas, which literally means ‘birth pangs.’  Like the pain of a woman in labor, the pain of death for Jesus was temporary and resulted in something glorious—the resurrection.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can say for certain that if Christ had not been raised from the dead then I would not be writing what I am writing at this time.  I can also say that I am thankful for a better understanding of the Greek language that John MacArthur brings out in his commentary.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to see me through a trail that I am going through at this time, but in the end it will bring glory to the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Rahab” (Joshua 2:1-4).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book has as its main theme ‘That Jesus is a better priest or mediator between God and man than were the Old Testament priests’?”

Answer in our next SD.  7/28/2017 10:22 AM

PT-2 "The Death of Christ" (Acts 2:23)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2017 9:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  PT-2 The Death of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:23

            Message of the verse:  “23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

            I mentioned that I was having some trouble with the last quote that I wrote in our last SD that quote written by L. Berkhof, and then after that MacArthur quotes him again in a very short paragraph that was also troubling to me.  As I asked the Lord to make this more clear to me and began to study it this morning I have come to the conclusion that this word translated “foreknowledge” means much more than just knowing what is going to happen as both of these quotes speak of.  “The idea that God saw in advance that Israel would reject and crucify Christ and worked that into His eternal plan is an implicit denial both of His sovereignty and omniscience (cf. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 68).”  The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was determined to happen by God in eternity past thus it had to take place.  Perhaps you remember when we were looking at what Judas did in turning Christ over to the Pharisees to be crucified and we stated that this was prophesied that this would happen, but Judas did it on his own free will because that is what he desired to do.  Judas did this to fulfill prophecy, and because he wanted to do it. 

            John MacArthur writes “Peter strongly emphasizes the point that Jesus was delivered to death by God’s eternal plan.  That being the case, His death in no way contradicted His messianic claims.

            “That Jesus Christ was delivered to death by God predetermined plan, however, does not absolve those who put Him to death of their guilt.  Peter goes on to indict them because they nailed Jesus ‘to a cross…and put Him to death.’  They were instigators of Jesus’ execution, which ‘by the hands of godless’ (literally, ‘lawless’) Romans was carried out.”

            “God used evil men to accomplish His purpose, yet never violated their will or removed their culpability by doing so.  Peter thus presents the total sovereignty of God alongside the complete responsibility of man.  That apparently paradoxical truth is affirmed throughout Scripture and is illustrated in Luke 22:22.  Speaking of His betrayer there, our Lord said ‘The Son of Man is going as if has been determined; but woe to that man through whom He is betrayed!’  Men are responsible not for God’s plans but for their own sins.

            “The heinous sin of rejecting Jesus Christ was the blackest moment in Israel’s history.  Far from casting doubt on His messianic credentials however, that betrayal was part of God’s eternal plan.  And though Peter does not develop the thought here, the Old Testament clearly teaches that Messiah had to die (cf. Ps. 22; Isa. 53).  The death of Jesus Christ, no less than His life, confirmed that He was the Messiah.”

            In order to understand what we have been talking about here we have to understand that while in our bodies on this earth we will never have the capability of understanding all about these difficult truths.  We have a choice to make and this do we bring God down to our level as human beings or do we by faith trust that even though we don’t understand it all that God truly had all of this planned out in eternity past.  He planned for the second person of the godhead to come to earth to die for the sins of those whom He chose before the foundation of the world.  This is the truth that the Bible teaches and it also teaches that all of those whom He chose in eternity past must receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.  Confused?  “29 The secret things are the Lord our God’s: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children’s forever, so that we may do all the words of this law (BBE).”  Now here is my way of saying Deuteronomy 29:29 “I [God] have some secret things that I don’t have to tell you, none the less are true, for I am God and I don’t have to tell you everything, however the things that I have told you I want you to follow them, things that I have written in my Law.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Trust the Lord to continue to give me the faith that I need to live my life in obedience to Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord for some things that are happening at this time that I need answers for.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jerusalem” (Isaiah 1:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who hid the two spies that Joshua sent to Jericho?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/27/2017 9:52 AM

PT-1 "The Death of Christ" (Acts 2:23)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2017 8:02 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 The Death of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:23

            Message of the verse:  “23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

            As I look at this verse one of the first things that came to my mind was that I was wondering how many people who were listening to Peter preach this very first sermon of the Church age were the ones yelling for Christ to be crucified.  There may have been many there who were yelling for the crucifixion of Christ listening and being convicted of their sin and later on saved.  While studying the book of Philemon which I finished a few days ago I read a story at the end of John MacArthur’s commentary about the man who was the leader of those that bombed Pearl Harbor.  The article made me want to read his book and so I purchased it and read it in a couple of days as it was short, but the book speaks of forgiveness just as Paul’s letter to Philemon speaks of forgiveness, and just as Peter’s sermon speaks of forgiveness.  The man who was the leader and the first to bomb Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 eventually became a believer in Jesus Christ and worked for a missionary organization that eventually became worldwide that used by the Lord to save many people both in Japan and the United States.  John MacArthur writes in his commentary that “we are never more like God than when we forgive,” and I think that statement has a world of meaning in it.  Now if there people who had been yelling for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Peter’s audience and became saved that shows the wonderful grace, mercy and the forgiveness of our God.

            Peter begins this verse with the words “this Man,” to let his audience know to whom he was speaking of, that is their Messiah, the One who was delivered up by those in the audience to be nailed to the cross.  There is a stark contrast between the hearers’ evaluation of Jesus and God’s. 

            Perhaps a question on the hearts of those who were listening to Peter was “if Jesus was the Messiah, why was He a victim?”  Why did Jesus not use His power to avoid the cross?  The answer is that Jesus was no victim.  “17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father’ (John 10:17-18).”  “10 So Pilate said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin’ (John 19:10-11).”

            John MacArthur writes “Ekdotos (‘delivered up’) appears only here in the New Testament.  It describes those surrendered to their enemies, or betrayed.  God gave His Son to be the Savior of the world, which entailed delivering Him to His enemies.  By the design of God, Jesus was betrayed by Judas into the hands of the Jewish leaders, who handed Him over to the Romans for execution.

            “Predetermined’ is from horizo, from which we get our English word ‘horizon.’  It means ‘to mark out with a boundary,’ or ‘to determine.’  ‘Plan’ is from boulomai and refers to God’s will, design, or purpose.  Taken together they indicate that Jesus Christ was delivered to death because God planned and ordained it (Acts 4:27-28; 13:27-29) from all eternity (2 Tim. 1:9; Rev. 13:8).

            “Foreknowledge’ translates prognosis, an important and often misunderstood New Testament word.  It means far more than knowing beforehand what will happen.  Significantly, the word appears here in the instrumental dative case.  That shows that it was the means by which Christ’s deliverance to His enemies took place.  Yet, mere knowledge cannot perform such an act.  Foreordination can act, however, and that is the New Testament meaning of prognosis:

‘Proginoskein and prognosis in the New Testament… do not denote simple intellectual foresight or prescience, the mere talking knowledge of something beforehand, but rather a selective knowledge which regards one with favor and makes one an object of love, and thus approaches the idea of foreordination, Acts 2:23 (comp. 4:28; Romans 8:29); 11:2; 1 Peter 1:2.  These passages simply lose their meaning, if the words be taken in the sense of simply taking knowledge of one in advance, for God foreknows all men in that sense.  Even Arminians feel constrained to give the words more determinative meaning, namely, to foreknow one with absolute assurance in a certain state or condition.  This includes the absolute certainty of that future state, and for that very reason comes very close to the idea of predestination. (L. Berkhof,   Systematic Theology [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976], 112).’”

            I have had many people talk to me about election, which goes along with what we are talking about here who say that they believe that God knows who will be saved, but that God could not have chosen people for salvation in eternity past.  It kind of bothers me to hear people say that God cannot do something, for after all God can do whatever He wants to do as long as it does not go against His character or attributes.  God is a lot larger than many people think He is and God does things that we as humans cannot understand.  ““The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions (Deut. 29:29 (NLT).”

             I have to say that there are more things to look at in this section that I think we will leave until tomorrow as this is pretty heavy stuff to look at.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I trust that the Lord will help me make better sense of what I am studying in this very important verse found in the book of Acts.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “Trust the Lord will help me with this verse.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “God” (Genesis 2:18).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Isaiah live?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/26/2017 9:02 AM

 

           

PT-2 "The Life of Christ" (Acts 2:22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2017 8:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  PT-2 “The Life of Christ”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:22

            Message of the verse:  “22  "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”  “22  Men of Israel, give ear to these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man who had the approval of God, as was made clear to you by the great works and signs and wonders which God did by him among you, as you yourselves have knowledge (BBE).”  “"Men of Israel, I beg you to listen to my words. Jesus of Nazareth was a man proved to you by God himself through the works of power, the miracles and the signs which God showed through him here amongst you—as you very well know (Phillips).”

            We have been talking about miracles in our last SD and I want to continue on this subject as John MacArthur gives us the Greek words that speak of miracles, wonders, and signs.

“Miracles, wonders, and signs all describe God’s miraculous works.  Miracles is from dunamis, a term that describes the powerful, supernatural character of the works.  Wonders is the plural form of teras.  It describes the marveling that takes place in the mind of the one who witnesses a miracle.  Sings derives from semeion and gives the intent of God’s miraculous works: to point to spiritual truth.  It should be noted that ‘throughout Acts the term ‘wonders’ only occurs in conjunction with ‘signs,’ a testimony to the fact that mere marvels have no value in themselves except as they point beyond themselves to the divine power behind them and so lead to ‘faith.’ (John B. Polhill.)”

            Now as we look back on the miracles that Jesus did while on earth they were thus mighty manifestations of God’s power which were designed to get the attention of people which would then point them to spiritual truth.  As we look back at the feeding of the 5,000 from John’s gospel we can see that in doing this Jesus showed His divine power to produce food which pointed to the fact that He was God the creator, but not many who were there understood this truth as we can see later on in John’s gospel.

            God performed the miracles through Jesus as He did not do them on His own even though He certainly had the power to do them on His own.  Jesus spoke in Matthew 12 about the unpardonable sin stating that it was the Holy Spirit who was doing the miracles through Jesus, and yet those who believed that the devil was doing had committed a sin so grievous that they could never be forgiven for it.

            Peter tells the crowd that these miracles, signs, and wonders were “in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”  They certainly cold not claim ignorance, as their rejection of Jesus was certainly not based on the lack of information, but it was on hatred and their love for sin.

            We can site different miracles that Jesus did and talk about the response that the people had like when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and some of those there went to the Pharisees to tell them.  The Pharisees wondered what they were going to do since they all agreed that Jesus did might miracles.  John MacArthur writes “Perhaps the clearest statement of this truth comes from our Lord’s words in John 15:24-25 ‘24 "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ’THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’”

            These works that Jesus did gave proof that He was the Messiah that God sent into the world, there is no other way to understand them.  John 3:19 says “"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There have been times in my life when I spoke the truth of the gospel to people that I know or people that I just meet, thinking that I may never see them again and they reject it as if it were some kind of story that was not true.  This does not deter me from telling others though.

My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will give me many more opportunities to tell others of His great salvation offered to them.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Herod” (Matthew 2:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘It is not good that man should be alone?’”

Answer in our next SD.

7/25/2017 9:25 AM

PT-1 The Life of Christ (Acts 2:22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2017 8:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-1 The Life of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:22

            Message of the verses:  “22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-“

            Peter confronts the “men of Israel” and asks them to listen to him as he speaks of Jesus the Nazarene and then tells them what God did through Him while He was on earth.  Jesus of Nazareth had died in their place for their sins and even though He had been rejected by most of Israel they could find salvation through what He did for them on the cross.

            Jesus of Nazareth is the name that Jesus went by and it was even found on His cross.  Jesus the Nazarene came from heaven to a small Galilean village to live as He grew up there helping His earth father in his carpenter shop until the time when He began His ministry.  Jesus of Nazareth who at this time when Peter was preaching about Him was now at the right hand of His Father interceding for His own as their High Priest.

            We want to look at the next phrase Peter uses here “a man attested” to them “by God.”  John MacArthur writes “Apodeiknumi (‘attested’) has various shades of meaning.  It is used in 1 Corinthians 4:9 to speak of exhibiting something. In Acts 25:7 it conveys the idea of proof.  Second Thessalonians 2:4 uses it in the sense of proclamation to high office.  All those shades of meaning are applicable to Jesus.  He was exhibited as God in human flesh, and that was confirmed by ‘many convincing proofs’ (Acts 1:3).  Finally, God ‘highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name’ (Phil. 2).  There is no higher office that that of Messiah, God’s anointed King.”

            Peter goes on to describe the means that God “attested” Jesus:  “miracles and wonders and signs.”  There are two things that critics of the Bible cannot deal with and therefore try to explain them away.  Miracles are the first one and prophecies are the second one.  John writes at the end of his gospel that if all that Jesus did would be recorded in books that there would not be enough paper to write it on.  Now I do believe John uses hyperbole when writing this, but the fact remains that not all of the miracles that Jesus did were recorded and we have many, many miracles that were recorded in the Word of God.  The people of His day could not deny the miracles that He did.  Now as far as prophecy I have said in an earlier SD that it is said that the odds of all of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled at His first coming were like spreading silver dollars six feet high throughout the entire state of Texas and asking someone to find on particular silver dollar.  Not going to happen for sure. 

            John MacArthur writes “It should come as no surprise if the God Who supernaturally created the universe should choose at times to supernaturally intervene in it.  Yet it is the claim of miracles that many in our culture find most objectionable in biblical Christianity.  The many attempts by rationalistic critics to invent the ‘historical’ (that is, nonmiraculous) Jesus have inevitably ended in frustration.  If the miracles are removed from His life, there is very little left.

            “Many would agree with the eighteenth-century British philosopher David Hume, who rejected the possibility of miracles.  Hume argued that since the laws of nature are uniform, and a miracle is by definition a violation of the laws of nature, miracles are impossible.  There is a fatal flaw in Hume’s argument, however.  C. S. Lewis writes,

‘Now of course we must agree with Hume that if there is absolutely ‘uniform experience’ against miracles, if in other words they have never happened, why then they never have.  Unfortunately we know the experience against them to be uniform only if we know that all the reports of them are false.  And we can know all the reports to be false only if we know already that miracles have never occurred.  In fact, we are arguing in a circle.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I happen to know of a miracle that happened to me on the 26^th of January, 1974 and that miracle was the miracle of the new birth.  God is still doing miracles each and every day as His Spirit calls spiritually dead people to become alive in Christ Jesus.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will use me to tell others about the great miracle of salvation as He leads people onto my path so I can talk to them.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “At the time of Jesus’ birth who was the king of Juda?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/24/2017 9:23 AM

Intro to Acts 2:22-36

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/23/2017 7:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Acts 2:22-36

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:22-36

            Message of the verses:  “22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know- 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ’I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. 26 ’THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; 27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. 28 ’YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’ 29 "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ’THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, 35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified."”

            In Today’s SD we will begin to look at the second part of Peter’s sermon, the very first sermon that was preached in the church age.  John MacArthur entitles his chapter for this section:  “The First Christian Sermon—Part 2 The Theme: Proclaiming the Risen Lord.” 

            God told Abraham that He was going to bless the nation of Israel by bringing to them their Messiah (Gen. 12:1-3), and since that time the people of Israel had been looking forward to the time when the Messiah would come to set them free from their enemies and make all wrongs right.  In this first sermon Peter tells them that Messiah had already come in the Person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  The Messianic times had indeed begun.

            We who live in the 21^st century probably have a difficult time in understanding just how difficult this was for the Jewish people to understand this, but when you have two different descriptions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, one showing a humble Man who would come and die for the sins of the people, and One who is a conquering King who would slay all Israel’s enemies, then probably most people would over look the suffering Messiah and look for the Conquering King Messiah, which is what they did and why it was difficult for them to realize that their Messiah had already come in the Person of Jesus Christ.

            John MacArthur concludes his introduction by writing:  “For Peter to proclaim Jesus as Israel’s Messiah was to raise the most dynamic, powerful and forceful issue possible.  By so doing, Peter showed a boldness and courage that he had previously lacked.  That is once again evidence of the transforming power of Pentecost in his life.

            “Knowing that his hearers would demand compelling evidence before accepting such an audacious claim, Peter proceeds to provide it.  Having explained the miracle of Pentecost in his introduction, he now launches into his theme, namely that Jesus of Nazareth is the divine Messiah.  Peter establishes Jesus’s credentials by demonstrating how His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation prove Him to be the Messiah.  As his sermon unfolds, Peter flows through those four elements in chronological order.  In keeping with apostolic custom, however, he focuses primarily on the resurrection of Christ (cf. Acts 3:15; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 33, 34, 37).”

            I look forward to begin to better understand this first ever sermon that Peter gives in the church age.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “As a snare unto us” (Exodus 10:7).

Today’s Bible question:  In the resurrection, our bodies shall be fashioned like unto what?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/23/2017 7:39 AM

PT-2 Conclusion to Philemon

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/22/2017 1:40 PM

“[Fuchida] heard two stories about prisoners of war that filled him with excitement.  They seemed to illustrate the principle for which he was searching.

“The first report came from a friend—a lieutenant who had been captured by the Americans and incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in America.  Fuchida saw his name in a newspaper, in a list of POW’s who were returning to Japan.  He determined to visit him.  When they met, they spoke of many things.  Then Fuchida asked the question uppermost in his mind.  ‘How did they treat you in the POW camp?’  His friend said they were treated fairly well, although they suffered much mentally and spiritually.  But then he told Fuchida a story which, he said, had made a great impression upon him and upon every prisoner in the camp.  ‘Something happened at the camp where I was interred,’ he said, ‘which has made it possible for us who were in that camp to forego all our resentment and hatred and to return with a forgiving spirit and a feeling of lightheartedness instead.’

“There was a young American girl, name Margaret ‘Peggy’ Covell, whom they judged to be about twenty, who came to the camp on a regular basis doing all she could for the prisoners.  She brought things to them they might enjoy, such as magazines and newspapers.  She looked after their sick, and she was constantly solicitous to help them in every way.  They received a great shock, however, when they asked her why she was so concerned to help them.  She answered, ‘Because my parents were killed by the Japanese Army!’

“Such a statement might shock a person from any culture, but it was incomprehensible to the Japanese.  In their society, no offense could be greater than the murder of one’s parents.  Peggy tried to explain her motives.  She said her parents had been missionaries in the Philippines.  When the Japanese invaded the islands, her parents escaped to the mountains in North Luzon for safety.  In due time, however, they were discovered.  The Japanese charged them with being spies and told them they were to be put to death.  They earnestly denied that they were spies, but the Japanese would not be convinced, and they were executed. 

“Peggy didn’t hear about her parents’ fate until the end of the war.  When the report of their death reached her, her first reaction was intense anger and bitter hatred.  She was furious with grief and indignation.  Thoughts of her parents’ last hours of life filled her with great sorrow.  She envisioned them trapped, wholly at the mercy of their captors, with no way out.  She saw the merciless brutality of the soldiers.   She saw them facing the Japanese executioners and falling lifeless to the ground on that far-off Philippine mountain.

“Then Peggy began to consider her parents’ selfless love for the Japanese people.  God had called them to love and serve.  Then it occurred to her that if her parents had died without bitterness or rancor toward their executioners, why should her attitude be different?  Should she be filled with hatred and vengefulness when they had been filled with love and forgiveness?  Her answer could only be, ‘Definitely not.’  Therefore she chose the path of love and forgiveness.  She decided to minister to the Japanese prisoners in the nearby POW camp as a proof of her sincerity.

“Fuchida was touched by this story, but he was especially impressed with the possibility that it was exactly what he had been searching for: a principle sufficient to be a basis for peace.  Could it be that the answer for which he was seeking was a forgiving love, flowing from God to man, and then from man to man?  Could that be principle upon which the message of his projected book, No More Pearl Harbors should be based?

“Shortly after this, Fuchida was summoned by General Douglas MacArthur to Tokyo.  As he got off the train at Shibuya station, he was handed a pamphlet entitled, ‘I was a Prisoner of Japan.’  It told about an American sergeant, Jacob DeShazer, who had spent forty months in a Japanese prison cell and who, after the war, had come back to Japan to love and serve the Japanese people by helping them to come to know Jesus Christ.

“Fuchida read the story with interest.  DeShazer had been a bombardier on one of the sixteen Army B-25 airplanes which, under the leadership of General Jimmy Doolittle, had been launched on 18 April 1942 from the deck of the USS hornet to bomb Tokyo.  None of the planes were shot down, but all of them ran out of gasoline before they could be landed properly.  The crew of five  they were captured and incarcerated for the duration of the war.

“DeShazer notes that all prisoners were treated badly.  He said that at one point he almost went insane from his violent hatred of the Japanese guards.  Then one day a guard brought him a Bible.  They were all in solitary confinement, so they took turns reading it.  When it was DeShazer’s turn, he had it for three weeks.  He read it eagerly and intensely, both Old and New Testaments.  Finally, he writes, ‘the miracle of conversion took place June 8, 1944.

“DeShazer determined that if he lived until the war was over, and if he were released, he would return to the United States, devote a period of time to serious Bible study, and then return to Japan to share the message of Christ with the Japanese people.  That is exactly what he did…Great crowds came to hear his story, and many responded to his invitation to receive Christ.

“Fuchida was deeply impressed.  Here it was again: a second example of love overcoming hatred.  He sensed the power of forgiveness to actually change the hearts and lives of people…Excitedly; he sensed that it could be a principle strong enough to be the basis for his projected book.  He determined to learn all he could about DeShazer and his beliefs.

“At the train station on his way home, he obtained a copy of the New Testament in Japanese.  A few months later, he began to read two or three chapters a day in the Scriptures…Then in September 1949, Fuchida read Luke 23.  This was the first time he had read the story of the crucifixion.

“The Calvary scene pierced Fuchida’s spirit. It all came alive in St. Luke’s starkly beautiful prose.  In the midst of the horror of His death, Christ said, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’  Tears sprang to Fuchida’s eyes; he had reached the end of his ‘long, long wondering.’  Surely these words were the source of the love that DeShazer and Peggy Covell had shown…As Jesus hung there, on the cross, He prayed not only for His persecutors but for all humanity.  That meant He had prayed and died for Fuchida, a Japanese man living in the twentieth century. (What Happened to the Man Who Led the Attack on Pearl Harbor?’ Command, Fall/Winter 1991, pp. 6-8.  Used by permission.)

            By the time Fuchida finished reading Luke, he had received the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did end up writing his book and entitled it From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha.  His life verse, which he signed under his every signature, was Luke 23”34: ‘Father, forgive them for they know what they do.’

            Forgiveness has a tremendous power to affect the world.  God knew it, Paul knew it, and Philemon needed to know it.  The Holy Spirit knew that all men and women needed to know it, and that’s why this wonderful little letter was included in Scripture.  May we take its message to heart.