SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/19/2018
10:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Jesus: The Culmination of History
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:17-22
Message of the
verses: “17 “The God of this people
Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the
land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. 18 “For a
period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 “When He
had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as
an inheritance-all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. 20 “After
these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 “Then they asked
for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, for forty years. 22 "After He had removed him, He raised up
David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ’I HAVE
FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’”
I think we know the story of how Israel ended up in Egypt
as found in the book of Genesis where there was a famine in all the Middle-East
and God had sent Joseph down to Egypt in order to become second in charge of
Egypt so that he could make sure that there would be enough grain to sustain
not only Egypt but those who came to buy grain from Egypt during the
famine. Jacob sent his sons to buy grain
and Joseph knew who they were and eventually the entire family of Jacob ended
up in Egypt so they could be preserved throughout the famine. After the death
of all the patriarchs Israel began to grow so much that Egypt feared them and
made them slaves, but God had promised to bring Israel out of Egypt way back in
Genesis chapter fifteen and even told Abraham how long they would be there, 400
years. Exodus 1:8 tells us “Now a new
king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” This is when Egypt made slaves out of the
Hebrew people and so they were looking for a redeemer to bring them out of
Egypt, which was Moses. Paul goes on to
say “and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.” Paul is moving rapidly through the history of
Israel which the people whom he was preaching to probably all ready knew
about. As we look at what Paul said
about God bringing Israel out “with an uplifted arm” we can see the power that
God has in order to do that. God’s power
is seen throughout the entire Bible beginning with the creation of the earth
and all the universe, and in the New Testament God showed His power by raising
our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
John MacArthur writes “After the Exodus, God continued to
care for the nation, as ‘for a period of about forty years He put up with them
in the wilderness.’ The manuscript
evidence is evenly divided between etropophorasen
(‘He put up with them’) and etropophorasan
(‘He cared for them’) (Bruce M. Metzger, A
Texual Commentary on the Greek New Testament)…Both statements are
true. God cared for His people in spite
of their rebellion, enduring their sin because they had a key role to play in
His plan for history.”
Next Paul talks about what happened after the forty years
of wondering in the wilderness “And when He had destroyed seven nations in the
land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took
about four hundred and fifty years.” I
mentioned about God telling Abraham what He was going to do with his offspring
and I would like to quote where He told Abraham this because if follows along
with what Paul is preaching about. “13
God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be
strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and
oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they
will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for
you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old
age. 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite
is not yet complete’ (Gen. 15:13-16).”
This is a prophecy that God gave to Abraham about what would happen to
he and his family, and by the way Abraham had no children at that time and both
he and his wife were past the age of having children. Notice also the highlighted portion of the
text above as it tells us that God knew when the Amorites iniquity would go so
far that God would have to destroy them.
I have often looked at this as God having a bottle in heaven with the
iniquities of nations in it and when it get full He will act to destroy that
nation. I have also wondered how full
that bottle is for our country. We will
continue looking at the remaining portion of the Scripture in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I see in this
section God’s power, God’s grace and forgiveness, God’s patience, and God’s
plan.
My Steps of Faith for Today: With all of the things that pertain to God in
our passage I can say that I need to continue to trust the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Solomon” (1 Kings 8:22).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which prophet was a shepherd
and dresser of sycamore trees and a native of Tekoa?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/19/2018 11:23 AM
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