SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/19/2021 9:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Context”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 11:25a
Message of the
verse: “25 At that time Jesus said, "I
praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” (11:25a).”
As we look at the first three words in verse 25 we
cannot be sure as to when this happened.
It could have happened right after Jesus spoke about the three different
cities from Galilee, or it could have happened a bit later on. It is my opinion that this happened right
after Jesus spoke about Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. I believe that this ends the Lord’s ministry
in Galilee.
John MacArthur writes “After Jesus’
performing countless miracles to attest His divinity and His messianic
credentials (4:23-24), after His preaching in detail the message of the gospel
and the Christian life (5-7), and after His having sent out the Twelve (10:5-15)
and then the seventy (see Luke 10:1-16), the people of Galilee had the greatest
opportunity to learn of God and of His way of salvation than any people in
history, before or since. Yet in spite
of that great opportunity, the majority willfully rejected Christ and His
message, either by hostility or by indifference.”
The Bible speaks a fair amount of
times of what is the “remnant” and this speaks a lot about Israel, for from the
time that God called Israel through Abraham, all the way unto this very day,
God has always had a remnant of those who would believe in Him and His plan for
salvation through their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
We have been focused on Jesus’
period of popularity, for much of Matthew thus far, but that period is beginning
to end, and opposition was growing in amount and in intensity. Jesus would soon make clear, the only
possible alternatives are acceptance or rejection, as a person is either for
Christ or against Him as seen in Matthew 12:30 and we could also compare Mark
9:20 to make this point. Consequently,
Jesus’ teaching became more and more specifically directed either to those who
accepted or those who have rejected Him.
MacArthur writes “Side by side are messages of judgment and of
compassion, or warning and of encouragement, just as we see here. Jesus had just presented the God of judgment
and wrath (Matt. 11:20-24), and now He presents the God of love and mercy.”
With that we will end our SD for
today, but please think about Jesus as being the only way of salvation, and not
be thinking about other ways to get to God, as there are no other ways to get
to God except through Jesus. “Jesus said
to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father but through Me.”
12/19/2021 9:23
AM
No comments:
Post a Comment