SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/15/2017
12:18 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Messiah will
Return
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:20-21
Message
of the verses: “20 and that He may
send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the
period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His
holy prophets from ancient time.”
We truly have to understand that
there will be no kingdom without a King to rule over the kingdom, and we have
learned in our study of Revelation that during the Millennial kingdom the Lord
Jesus Christ will rule over it from David’s throne in Jerusalem. John MacArthur writes “Peter told the crowd
that if they would reverse the verdict of Passover evening, God would ‘send
Jesus, the Christ appointed for’ them.
Our Lord expressed that truth in Matthew 23:39 when He said to the
unbelieving city of Jerusalem, ‘From now on you shall not see Me until you say,
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord1’’ He will not return until
after repentant Israel acknowledges Him as their Messiah (Rom. 11:26; Zech.
12:10-14:9).”
I suppose that some have wondered
why it was that Jesus did not just set up the kingdom right after He arose from
the dead, but there were still many prophecies about Israel that had not yet
been fulfilled, prophecies that go all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy,
and of course prophecies found in Daniel, and Zechariah to mention a few. Jesus would return when Israel repents of not
recognizing their Messiah and then as Paul says “All Israel will be saved.”
Peter uses the term for the
millennial kingdom “the period of restoration of all things.” This is similar to what Jesus spoke of in
Matthew 19:28 “And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who
have followed Me, in the
regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The regeneration and the restoration are
similar indeed. John MacArthur writes It
is then that the apostles’ question in Acts 1:6 will be answered (cf. Mark
9:12). The kingdom will be marked by
peace, joy, holiness, the revelation of God’s glory, comfort, justice,
knowledge of the Lord, health, prosperity, and freedom from oppression. The universe will be dramatically altered in
its physical form (Joel 2:30, 31; 3:14-16; Rev. 16:1-21) as the curse of man
and his world is reversed.”
These truths that Peter spoke to his
audience are not new but he says that “by the mouth of His holy prophets from
ancient time.” We have spoken earlier that
the Old Testament prophets wrote of these truths, and as stated many haven’t
been fulfilled, but surely will be fulfilled beginning when the Antichrist
signs a peace treaty with the nation of Israel for seven years as Daniel spoke
of and this will begin the last seven years on this earth before our Lord will
return, a time of tribulation which was promised by Daniel and other prophets,
a time when at the end the world will be much different than it is now.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am
thankful for the Word of God which cannot change, and thankful that all the OT
prophecies concerning Israel will be fulfilled despite what those of the
Covenant Theology think.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord to enable me to teach things in our Sunday school class that will make a
difference in the people who hear it and will bring glory to the Lord.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Merab”
(1 Samuel 18:17).
Today’s
Bible question: “For whom was the
Epistle to Philemon written?”
Answer
in our next SD.
9/15/2017
12:44 PM
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