SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2021 9:27 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Forensic”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
9:4-6a
Message of the verses: “4 And Jesus
knowing their thoughts said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 “Which
is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6 “But
so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’”
We
have just a little bit to finish looking at this subject and then we will move
onto the next one, “Force.”
Jesus
continues in saying to this group of unbelieving scribes and Pharisees “But in
order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins.” Jesus in effect says “I will
demonstrate again My power to heal disease.
You cannot see the results of My forgiveness, but you can easily see the
results of My healing.” Now in effect a
person who has been forgiven of all his sins from the Lord will certainly be
seen in their new way of living. It is
kind of like a young child at first, but as they grow in the Lord then things
will be seen more and more that they are a child of the Lord, but this man’s
story is not yet complete, and we don’t know all the things that he did for the
cause of Christ, but I believe that he did do things for the cause of Christ
because his sins were forgiven.
MacArthur adds “So in order that they might know He could forgive sin,
which they could not see, He did what they could see—by dealing with sin’s
symptoms.” We know that sin’s symptoms
were certainly illness and disease.
Since
the scribes and the Pharisees did a lot of OT study they should have known that
when the Messiah came that healing would certainly be a part of His
ministry. MacArthur adds “If all He said
were, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ not on proof for everyone to se—just as seeing
the two thousand pigs run off the cliff to their deaths gave proof that the
demons had indeed gone from the two possessed men into the animals, just as
Jesus gave them permission to do (8:32).
“Many
individuals and groups through the centuries have claimed the power to absolve
sins, but they have had no proof. Any
pretender can utter the words, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ but only God’s divine
power can both tell a paralytic to walk and then make it happen.”
Force
Matthew 9:6b-7: “then He said to the paralytic—‘Rise, take up
your bed, and go home.’ And he rose, and
went home.”
Now
as we look at this story it seems that Jesus was the only one who was speaking,
as we hear nothing from the four friends of this man nor the man himself, and
we only hear from Jesus what was on the minds and hearts of the scribes and
Pharisees. Perhaps these scribes and Pharisees
dig begin to mumble, but the text does not say so.
It
was as soon as Jesus gave the orders for the man to get up and take up his mat
and go home that this was exactly what he did.
MacArthur writes “The command to ‘rise’ suggests that when Jesus spoke
the healing had already taken place. No description
of this act of healing is recorded, only the command to the paralytic to take
advantage of it.
“At
Jesus’ word, the man ‘rose, and went home.’
Mark adds that he ‘immediately took up the pallet and went out in the
sight of all’ (Mark 2:12), a living testimony to Jesus’ power both to heal and
to forgive sins.” The work “immediately”
is used 39 times in the book of Mark, showing that Mark’s gospel account was to
move very rapidly.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The miracle of having my sins forgiven can
now be seen in the work that God for-ordained for me to do spoken of in
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” I am so thankful that God has allowed me to
do work for the cause of Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It is my desire to continue each day to do
what Christ has ordained for me to do in order to give glory to my Savior and
Lord.
5/10/2021 9:52 AM
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