Tuesday, January 29, 2019

PT-2 "The Purpose of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:10-11)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2019 11:09 AM



My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “The Purpose of the Mystery”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Eph. 3:10-11



            Message of the verses:  10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,”



            What I am about to write is difficult to understand, as I am not sure that I understand all of it myself.  We have been talking about how the “good” angels bring glory to God in our last SD.  Now as we move on I have to say that even the fallen angels bring glory to the Lord, however it is not their intentions to do so.  John MacArthur writes “It was their very rejection of His glory and the seeking of their own glory that caused them to be cast out of heaven in the first place.  Yet Jesus said, ‘I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it’ (Matt. 16:18).  God is glorified through the fallen angels by continually frustrating their rebellious plans and showing the futility of their even intentions to destroy His church.  His holy wrath also displays His glory, sine it is a revelation of who He is (Rom. 9:19-22).”  Now with this said I have to tell a brief story about when my wife’s mother died.  She never wanted to have anything to do with any kind of religion and was upset with me when I because a believer.  She said that if I still believed what I did once I became a believer that she would listen to me.  She never did.  After her death in 2009 it was very difficult on my wife and me because we saw no evidence that she was a believer and feared as to where she was.  While listen to a sermon on Romans which I had my wife listen to I learned that even if she was not a believer that her death would bring glory to the Lord.  I have to admit that it did not bring a lot of comfort to us, but knowing that all things bring glory to God, even though I don’t understand all of it did bring some comfort to me and to my wife.  How does the death of an unbeliever bring glory to God?  I think the answer has to do with His attributes.  Justice and wrath are a part of His attributes and all of His attributes are holy, even justice and wrath.



            The angels can see all that God has done and is still doing.  They saw His power at creation, they saw His wrath at Sinai, and His love at Calvary.  Above all of this they see His “manifold” [multi-colored, multi-faceted] “wisdom” that is now and has been seen in the church.  When they see is taking Gentiles, and Jews, along with slave and free, and making them into one body, as all of those who are saved are worthy of the fires of hell.  We also read in Luke 15:10b “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’”



            John MacArthur writes “When Paul admonished the Corinthian women to show submission to their husbands through the custom of wearing long hair, he reinforced the command by saying it was given ‘because of the angels’ (1 Cor. 11:10), so as not to offend their sense of submissiveness and to give them greater cause to glorify God by the obedience of the church in the matter of proper male and female responses.”  This is something else about the angels and the church that I did not really understand, but understand it better now.



            MacArthur goes on to write “They are led to praise the Lord when they see the right relationship in the church overruling the perversion of man’s relationship engineered by Satan and sin.  After Paul had stated certain principles regarding elders in the church, he wrote, ‘I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias’ (1 Tim. 5:21).  Angels are exceedingly concerned about the leadership (vv. 17-25).  After all, says the writer of Hebrews, ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?’ (Heb. 1:14).  They minister to and watch over the church.



            “In the classroom of God’s universe, He is the Teacher, the angels are the students, the church is the illustration, and the subject is ‘the manifold wisdom of God.’”



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to be a good illustration to the students in order to bring glory to the Lord. 



My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn and grow as I think about Romans 12:3, and to remember that truth is more important than emotions, even though at times emotions over the truth is good too.



Verse that goes along with yesterday’s quote:  “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed…But with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles (2 Chronicles 32:7a-8b).”



1/29/2019 11:39 AM




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