SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/24/2021 10:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Possession By the Demons”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
8:28-31
Message of the verses: “28 When He came to
the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were
demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were
so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. 29 And they cried out,
saying, "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You
come here to torment us before the time?" 30 Now there was a herd of many
swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 The demons began to entreat
Him, saying, "If You are going to cast us out, send us into the
herd of swine.’”
I
have mentioned many times how I set up my Spiritual Diaries by looking at main
points from the outline of the author that I am following at this time and the “Focus”
of this one is a main point with sub-points or sub-sections under it. So what we will look at today is the intro to
this section and then begin to look at the different sub-sections as we proceed
through these verses.
John
MacArthur writes in this introduction “After the miraculous stilling of the
storm, Jesus and His disciples continued across the Sea of Galilee ‘to the
other side.’ By now it was daylight and
the group of boats (see Mark 4:36) landed in the ‘country of the Gadarenes.’ Those whom Matthew calls ‘Gadarenes’ were
also called Gerasenes (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) or Gergesenes, as found in some
Greek texts. The small town of Gerasa,
or Gergesa (from which come Gerasemes and Gergesenes. Respectively) was on the
northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, about six miles across the water from
Capernaum, and the steep cliffs nearby fit the geographical setting described
here. The town of Gadara (from which
comes ‘Gadarenes’) is located farther south and is inland; but the general
region, including Gerasa, was often referred to as ‘the country of the
Gadarenes.’”
As
we look at this introduction we find some rather technical things in it, and
perhaps the reason is because there are at times people who want to pick apart
the Word of God. They will compare the
different gospels and see different words in them that speak of the same
subject and instead of digging in and trying to find what they are written a
bit differently in each gospel writing, they will simply say that the Bible
cannot be trusted. Let me say with assuredness
that the Bible can be trusted as it is, in the original language perfect, and
if you look at scrolls that were found in 1948 which are thousands of years old
they say the same as what you read in your Bible today.
4/24/2021 10:51 AM
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