SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/31/2019
11:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Man”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 3:1
Message of the
verse: “1 Now
in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
saying,”
As we look at “Now in those days” we
see that this is a transition between chapter 2 and three. I believe that it is also about thirty years
later after the event so chapter two. As
we look at the different gospel accounts we only see from the gospel of Luke
something about the life of Christ when he was around 12 years ago but the rest
of the gospels mostly pick up the life of Christ later on in his life, with
Matthew only giving a brief background of what went on when Jesus was born and
then his move to Egypt and then back to Nazareth.
John is a very common Jewish name in
the New Testament and is the Greek form of the Hebrew Johanan. I see the word in 28 verses in the Old
Testament, and many of them in 1 Chronicles which is a book of genealogies for
the most part. Now when we look at the
last part of what John is called, “the Baptist,” this could be translated as “John
the Baptizer,” for that is what he did as a part of his going before the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have a friend who has in-laws
who live in West Virginia and who say that the Baptist church began with John
the Baptist. Well we know that is not
true, but in a sense we could say that the job of John the Baptist and what
most Baptist churches is to immerse those converts who have accepted Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior.
We know the history of John’s
parents as this is spoken of in the first chapter of Luke and so other than
saying that they were righteous people who followed the Lord we will not make
any further comments. If you want more
info on them read through the first chapter of Luke.
John would be filled with the Holy
Spirit even from birth and I believe that when the pregnant Mary came to meet
Elizabeth that could surely be when her unborn baby John was filled with the
Holy Spirit. John’s father stated that
he “will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you [John] will go on
before the Lord to prepare His ways (Luke 1:67, 76).
John MacArthur writes “That was
John. His conception was miraculous, he
was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born, he was great in the sight
of God, and he was to be the herald of the Messiah, announcing and preparing
the people for His coming. It is
therefore not strange that Jesus said, ‘There has not arisen anyone greater
than John the Baptist’ (Matt. 11:11).
That great man was a sovereignly designed and chosen herald of for the
great King.”
We
will end this SD with MacArthur comments on the word “Came:” “Came is from paraginomai, which often was used to indicate an official arrival,
such as that of the magi (Matt. 2:1), or the public appearance of a leader or
teacher (Matt. 3:13). For thirty years
both John and Jesus had lived in relative obscurity. Now the coining of the herald signified the
coming of the King. The beginning of
John’s ministry signaled the beginning for Jesus’ ministry (see Acts 10:37-38).” “37 you yourselves know the thing which took
place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John
proclaimed. 38 "You know of
Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power,
and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by
the devil, for God was with Him.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I suppose that many of us do not think about
John the Baptist a lot; however in the scheme of things he was a very important
part of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Jesus had stated that if the Jewish nation had accepted Him as their
Messiah then John the Baptist would have been Elijah, however we know that they
were not going to do this and so Elijah, as we studied in the book of
Revelation, will be one of the two witnesses, as he is prophesied to come
before the Lord who comes at the end of the Tribulation Period seen in the 19th
chapter of Revelation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As you may know it has been learning humility
that has been the major purpose for me this year of 2019, and as we leave this
year behind that will still be a focus in my life, however what I want to focus
for the year 2020 is having joy in my study of God’s Word.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from Habakkuk 3:17-18.
Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor
the fruit be on the vines;
though the labor of the olive may fail,
and the fields yield
no food; though the flock may be cut off
from the
fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will
joy in the God of my salvation.
12/31/2019 12:31 PM
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