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
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