SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/1/2020
1:05 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Man”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 3:1
Message of the
verses: “1
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
saying,”
We begin this first SD for 2020 by
looking at a quote from John MacArthur as he writes about “Preaching is from kerusso, the primary meaning of which is
‘to herald.’ It was used of the official
whose duty it was to proclaim loudly and extensively the coming of the
king. Matthew also uses this term with
reference to Jesus and the apostles.”
John the Baptist knew what his
position was in relations to the Messiah:
"He must increase,
but I must decrease” (John 3:30). I can imagine
that while John was growing up that his parents had told him many times about
the angel’s announcement of his birth and what his position would be when he
grew up. John handled himself well when
he was questioned by the priests as when they asked him whether he was the
Messiah or not he stated “I am not the Christ” as seen in John 1:19-20. He also denied being Elijah and also the
prophet which would be the one that Moses spoke of. "The LORD your God will raise up for you
a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him”
(Deu. 18:15).
In the orthodox Passover ceremony
even today we see that there is a place setting for Elijah. We have talked about this in previous SD’s
that John the Baptist would be considered Elijah if the Jew would have accepted
Jesus as their Messiah, but of course that did not happen, so Elijah will, in
my opinion, be one of the two witnesses seen in Revelation chapter eleven. He will be preparing the way for the second
coming of Christ seen in the middle of Rev. 19.
John MacArthur writes “Because the
Jews rejected John the Baptist as the true Elijah who was to come, they
prevented the complete fulfillment of the prophecy as God had originally given
it through Malachi. ‘If you care to
accept it, ‘Jesus explained about John, ‘he himself is Elijah, who was to come’
(Matt. 11:14). But John not only was not
accepted, he was ridiculed, imprisoned, and beheaded. Because he was not received by the great body
of God’s chosen people, he was not able to be the Elijah and there is therefore
an Elijah yet to come. Some interpreters
believe he will be one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11, but we cannot be
certain. In any case John the Baptist
was rejected as the coming Elijah. And
just as the herald was rejected, so was the King he heralded. John was beheaded, and Jesus was
crucified. Israel therefore was set
aside, and the kingdom was postponed.” I
like it when the things that I write go along with what MacArthur writes.
We will continue looking at this
section in our SD for tomorrow, Lord willing.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: One of the things that I happen to believe is
that God does not have a plan B. With
that being said I believe that it was always in the plan of God for John the
Baptist to do what he did, and that he would not be a resurrected Elijah.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It is my goal for the year 2020 to have joy
in my heart as I read and study God’s Word.
Today’s quotation from “Love
in Action” is the commentary that David Jeremiah writes about Habakkuk 2:17-18.
“David also used son to
lift his spirit during the discouraging times.
And Habakkuk put an intense conflict aside and worshipped his God in
song. Some scholars think Habakkuk was a
Levite responsible for leading the temple choir and that this was his song of
worship to a sovereign God. In a moment
of deep discouragement, Habakkuk used music to lift himself up.”
1/1/2020 2:03 PM
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