SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2021 11:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Incomplete Revelation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
11:2-3
Message of the verses: “2 Now when John,
while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his
disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look
for someone else?’”
In our Spiritual Diary for today we want to look at
a second cause of doubt and that is incomplete revelation. As we look at this section that talks about
John, we learn that John had “heard of the works of Christ,” as his information
was secondhand and not complete. The
reason is because he had been in prison for a year; however even while he was
preaching he had no direct contact with Jesus after he baptized Him. Here is a thought; now if Jesus’ disciples
failed to understand Him fully as we see the term “little faith” come from the
lips of Jesus directed to them for three years then it is easy to understand
why John had doubts. John was not an
eyewitness to the things that Jesus did like His disciples were, as he only
heard about them.
John
MacArthur writes “John did not experience the full truth about the Messiah he
was sent to proclaim. He was in a
position not unlike that of the Old Testament prophets. ‘As to this salvation,’ Peter explains, ‘the
prophet who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search
and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within
them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to
follow’ (1 Peter 1:10-11).
We
have talked earlier that John’s disciples were following Jesus and then they
would report back to John, but this was not firsthand. They had seen many miracles that Jesus did
and told John about them.
Now
here is the part that talks about believers today and again I quote
MacArthur: “Many believers today also
doubt certain truths about God because of incomplete information, because they
have inadequate knowledge or understanding of His Word. The Christian who is immersed in Scripture
has no reason to stumble. When God is
allowed to speak through His Word, doubt vanishes like mist in the sunlight.” So we see here that a key in not having doubt
is to study the Word of God, and allow the Holy Spirit of God to speak to us
through His Word.
One
of my all time favorite passages in the Word of God comes from the 24th
chapter of Luke where Jesus speaks to two “disciples” while walking on the road
to Emmaus. These two men had great
doubts as the Lord had just been crucified and all their hopes of Him being the
Messiah brought great doubt to them.
Jesus speaks the Word of God to them to show them that the Messiah had
to die. He went through different
passages from the OT to show them this truth.
They walked for seven miles and if they were walking, say three miles an
hour then they heard a very long sermon from the Lord. The point here is that the Word of God caused
them not to doubt like they did before.
MacArthur
concludes: “We all need the continual
truth of His Word to protect us from doubt and to dispel doubt when it
comes. The Bereans were noble-minded and
‘received the word with great eagerness’ because they examined ‘the Scriptures
daily, to see whether’ the things Paul preached were true (Acts 17:11).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I study the Bible each and every day and yet
there are times when I have doubts about certain issues that I go through from
time to time. I pray that they will be
conquered.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to get me through these issues
that I have struggled with for many, many years.
11/23/2021 11:41 AM
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