SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/14/2019
10:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Chief
Priests”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
2:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 And when Herod
the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And gathering
together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to
inquire of them where the Christ was to be born.”
When
we studied the book of Exodus a very long time ago, and also from Leviticus we
learned that all Jewish priests were of the priestly tribe of Levi and, even
more particularly, descendants of Aaron, who was the first high priest. We have been looking at the magi, and in some
ways the priests were like them, having considerable political as well as
religious power, although this is not what God had called them to be involved
in.
First
among the chief priests was the high priest, and according to the Old Testament
law, there was to be but one high priest at a time, and he was to serve for
life. He had a special duty once a year
as he went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to offer the blood
of an offering onto the Ark of the Covenant for the people. When Christ came into the world there was
great problems with the office of High Priest as it had became completely
political, as the High priests were removed from office on a whim, as this was
not at all done like the Old Testament described how it was to be done, and
again they were to be there for life.
John
MacArthur writes “Another of the chief priests was the captain of the Temple,
who was appointed by and responsible to the high priest. Among his powers, approved by the Romans, was
that of arrest and imprisonment. He
therefore was allowed to have a rather large contingent of soldiers, all
Jewish, at this disposal, who acted as the Temple police. He ranked second to the high priest in
authority.”
There
were more chief priests in a lower position than the high priest and also the captain
of the Temple, and they were like the others, were more of a political part of
the Jewish leaders at the time of Christ.
MacArthur adds “By the New Testament times they had become little more
than a group of corrupt, religiously oriented politicians. From the time of Jesus’ birth to His
crucifixion they are shown by the gospel writes to have been in opposition to
the true revelation and work of the Lord.”
In my Bible reading this morning I read trough the 23rd chapter
of Matthew and there were some things said by the Lord that showed how, not
only the priest and Pharisees how sinful they were acting but also others who
were in control of the Jewish people at His time.
Our quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from David Jeremiah’s comments on 1 Cor. 15:17.
“Cleopas and his friend had been
discussing how their hopes had been dashed by Jesus’ crucifixion. At that very moment, the Topic of their
discussion joined them on the road and entered into their conversation. The men confessed their knowledge of
Jesus. They believed He was a
prophet. They talked about His mighty
works. They called Him a Redeemer. But they had not yet processed the one thing
they needed to believe—that He had risen from the dead. It is possible to be a Christian and not
understand the resurrection. Yet it’s
not possible to be a Christian and disbelieve in the resurrection. If Jesus Christ did not come out of the grave
victorious over death, then He did not tell the truth; and if He did not tell
the truth, He cannot be God.”
12/14/2019 10:44 AM
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