SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2021 9:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Intro to “Jesus Power over Death”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
9:18-26
Message of the verses: “18 While He was
saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down
before Him, and said, "My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your
hand on her, and she will live." 19 Jesus got up and began to
follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been
suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched
the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, "If I only
touch His garment, I will get well." 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her
said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." At once
the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw
the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, "Leave; for
the girl has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at
Him. 25 But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the
hand, and the girl got up. 26 This news spread throughout all that land.”
I
just wanted to mention that Matthew gives a very short version of this story
and we will probably look at some of the other views as we move through this
story. One thing for sure Dr. Luke will
add some more details to it, and why he being a doctor wouldn’t.
We
are focusing in on sin as we begin this SD this morning, and sin was not God’s
purpose for man as we all know. I
mentioned in another SD that I posted on my other blog page this morning about
how God created man last in His creation week, making sure everything was
perfect for man once He created him, and so it was all perfect, but we know
from Genesis chapter three how things turned out. Now sure why they turned out that way, but
that must have been in the overall plan of God, not that God created anything
sinful or evil. I believe that Romans
8:28 has to be looked at here to better understand this.
All
things in the world were created for good and the blessing of man as we have
stated but sin has corrupted that goodness and blessing and brought a curse in
its stead. MacArthur may be answering
the question I posed as he writes: “In
God’s time sin will one day have run its course and be forever destroyed. ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men,
and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself
shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and
there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or
crying, or pain; the first things have passed away’ (Rev. 21:3-4).” Now that is the time that we all certainly
look forward to, but only if we are truly children of God, washed in the blood
of the Lamb.
I
want to list a number of verses from the Old Testament to show that the OT
prophets predicted that the Messiah would have power to bring back wholeness to
life: (Isa. 30:26; 35:5-6; 53:5; Mal.
4:2 as this is just a small sample). Now
we can see as we look at verses like we are looking at this morning that Jesus
came into the world to demonstrate that power.
What we see in this section and also in many other NT sections from the
gospels is only a sample of what will happen in the future, as Jesus fully
proved His ability to fulfill them during His ministry in Palestine—where He
virtually banished disease, changed water into wine, multiplied food, calmed
storms, cast out demons, forgave sins, and raised the dead writes John
MacArthur. This was just samplings of
the great and glorious future kingdom in which there would no longer be need
for healing or food or calming of storms, or even raising the dead. We have looked at the ministry of John the
Baptist in earlier SD’s when we went through Mark and John, and I am not sure
if just before John was about to die that he lost some faith that Jesus was
truly the Messiah or not, but he did send some of his disciples to ask Him if
He was truly the Messiah. Jesus replies
the following to them from Matthew 11:4-5 “4 Jesus answered and said to them,
"Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.” You can notice that the NASB95 puts the
quotes from the Old Testament in all caps, so that is what Jesus was quoting
from in giving John’s disciples His answer.
I
will quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary and then I want to do
one more SD from this introduction.
“Jesus’
miracles were the verification of His divine might that He would reveal some
day to reverse the curse and to restore righteousness, harmony, and peace in
all of His creation. Already the people
had ‘brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits
with a word, and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through
Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘He Himself took our
infirmities, and carried away our diseases’ (Matt. 8:16-17; cf. Isa.
53:4). ‘Just as the Father raises the
dead and gives them life, ‘Jesus said, ‘even so the Son also gives life to whom
He wishes’ (John 5:21).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: What a mighty God we serve.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord in times when things don’t
seem to be going my way, knowing He is in charge.
5/28/2021 10:11 AM
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