SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2017
9:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Prince of Life
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:15-17
Message of the
verses: “15 but put to death the
Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are
witnesses. 16 "And on the basis of
faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom
you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this
perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 “And now, brethren, I know that
you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”
These people who very well could have been screaming “crucify
Him, crucify Him,” are now feeling the guilt of what they did as they were
partly responsible for putting to death the Prince of Life as Peter speaks of
in verse fifteen. However Jesus is now
alive as He was resurrected through the power of the Holy Spirit and the
miracle that they see just happened was done through His power as Peter goes on
to talk about. Peter speaks of “the
basis of faith in His name,” and John MacArthur writes “The faith in view here
is not that of the beggar but of Peter and John. Although occasionally the faith of the one
healed is noted (cf. Acts 14:9), the New Testament gift of healing operated
through the faith of the healer, rather than the one healed. To tell those who are not healed that it is
because they lacked the faith to be healed is another misrepresentation of the
biblical nature of apostolic healing. As
in verse 12, Peter, in spite of his strong faith in the risen Christ, refuses
to take credit for the healing. ‘It is
the name of Jesus,’ he tells them, ‘which has strengthened this man whom you
see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect
health in the presence of you all.’ The
healed beggar was living proof that the nation’s evaluation of Jesus was wrong.” I have to say that a long time ago when I was
working at my regular job I spoke with a nurse who had cancer in her foot and
because she was going to a church that believed that God was obligated to heal
her if she had enough faith she took a very long time to have this dealt
with. She told me, and I cringed at what
she said, that her pastor asked her why she had to be operated on, and her
answer was that she did not have enough faith.
This to me was a lie right from our arch enemy and that answer still
bothers me to this day. All she got out
of that was a guilty conscience of not being in control of what God would do
for her. I have stated that God still
does healings today, but there is no one with the gift of healing like the
Apostles had at the beginning of the church age.
Peter brings forth a transition in his sermon in verse 17
““And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers
did also.” He first convicted them for
rejecting the Messiah as they took part in His death, and then beginning with
verse 19, he proclaimed the necessity of repentance as we will see when we get
to that verse. Peter is offering them
hope in between verses 17-18. He
addresses them as “brethren,” as he is talking to them as fellow Jews showing
his love and concern for them.
John MacArthur concludes this section: “Peter offers them the possibility of
forgiveness because they had ‘acted in ignorance’ (cf. Acts 13:27). He may be alluding to the Old Testament
distinction between willful sins and sins done in ignorance (Num.
15:22-31). Jesus prayed for those who
crucified Him, saying ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are
doing’ (Luke 23:34). Paul wrote that if
the rulers had understood who Jesus was, ‘they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory’ (1 Cor. 2:8). Their
ignorance was certainly inexcusable, since the evidence that Jesus was the
Messiah was clear from the Old Testament, the words and works of Jesus, and His
death and resurrection. Yet, none of
them were beyond the reach of God’s grace, if they would repent and turn to
Christ. Even the rulers who incited the
people to cry for the death of their Messiah are indicted for the less heinous
motive of ignorance. There is a note of
mercy in the fact that Peter focuses on the blindness and ignorance of the
unregenerate (cf. 2 Cor. 4:3-4).” “3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is
veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in
whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It truly is all
about the grace of God, for without the grace of God no one would ever come to
understand that Jesus Christ died for them, took their place on the cross
becoming sin for them in order to give them His righteousness. God is still in the business of doing
miracles today as everyday someone comes to know the truth of what Christ had
done for them and the miracle of the new-birth comes to those whom the Spirit
of God calls.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to use me to tell others about
His saving faith.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jordan” (2 Kings 5:14).
Today’s Bible
question: “Give the name of Moses’
mother”
Answer in our next SD.
9/7/2017 10:01 AM
SS Hope you had a very
happy birthday!
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