SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/8/2020 8:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Affirmed by
the Prophets”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:17
Message of the
verse: “17 "Do
not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to
abolish but to fulfill.”
In today’s SD we will be looking at
a very short section as some sections are very long and some sections are very
short, however all sections are meaningful.
As we look at the title of this
section we can see from our verse that it is easy to understand where the title
came from as indeed the law of God was affirmed by the prophets. Not only was it affirmed, but the law is also
preeminent because of that affirmation of the prophets. What the prophets did was reiterated and
reinforce the law. MacArthur adds “All
of their warnings, admonitions, and predictions were directly or indirectly
based on the Mosaic law. God’s revelation to the prophets was an extension of
His law. The prophets expounded the
moral, the judicial, and the ceremonial law.
They spoke on idolatry, adultery, lying, stealing, and all the other Ten
Commandments. They warned the kings, the
nobles, and the people in general about keeping the laws God had given for
their government, their lifestyle, and their worship.”
As we look at the prophet Jeremiah
we see that God did touch his mouth Jer. 1:9 Then the LORD stretched out His
hand and touched my mouth,
and the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth” We don’t see that of the other prophets but we do know that there were
tests of the prophets in the OT to make sure that they were really appointed by
the Lord to speak His truth to the people.
The test was that if one of the things that he spoke about did not come
true, only one, then he was supposed to be killed by the people. Let us look now at Hebrews 1:1 for more
thoughts on this truth: “God,
after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in
many ways,” The writher of the book of
Hebrews affirms this truth.
I
want, now to take a look at a section from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18
and verses 15-22, a section of Scripture that speaks of prophets, and the
beginning Moses talks about the coming Messiah that God will raise up, and then
talks at the end of this section about how to tell if a prophet is really a
prophet: “15 "The LORD your God
will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen,
you shall listen to him. 16 "This
is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of
the assembly, saying, ’Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let
me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 “The LORD said to me, ’They
have spoken well. 18 ’I will raise up a prophet
from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and
he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 ’It shall come about that whoever will not
listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it
of him. 20 ’But the prophet who speaks a
word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or
which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 “You may
say in your heart, ’How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come
about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The
prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” I remember that when I first became a
believer back in January of 1974 that the first Christian book that I read was “The
Late Great Planet Earth” which was written by Hal Lindsey and from that book
all those years ago I remembered the chapter that talked about prophets.
MacArthur
concludes this short section by writing “Clearly, the work of the prophet was
to preach the law of God. Exodus 4:16
gives an excellent definition of a prophet when it records the word of the Lord
to Moses regarding the service of Aaron:
‘He shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be as God to him.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Thinking back of the time when I read that
book I can think of many wonderful memories, but the best one was certainly
when the Holy Spirit gave me an effectual call to believe that Jesus Christ
died in my place on the cross to pay for all of my sins and to make me a child
of the King.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To continue to trust the Lord to teach me
from His Word each day so that I can share what I have learned with those who
read my Spiritual Diaries on my blogs.
7/8/2020 9:06 AM
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