SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/14/2021 8:53 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-2
“The Response of Unbelieving Indifference”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
11:20-24
Message of the verses: “20 Then He began
to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they
did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the
miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 “Nevertheless I say to you, it shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for
you. 23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall
descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in
you, it would have remained to this day. 24 “Nevertheless I say to you that it
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than
for you.’”
I believe that it is without doubt that most of the
people of Chorazin and Bethsaida had seen some of the miracles of Jesus while
He was in the area, or at least heard of them, but the problem was they did not
respond to Him and what He did. I have
mentioned many times in these Spiritual Diaries that the Jews could have know
the exact time line as to when the Messiah would be coming, as it was written
in the Old Testament. They could have
read over the 9th chapter of Daniel to know when the Messiah would arrive
and it also tells them that He would die.
A time period that begins in the 2nd chapter of Nehemiah and
lasts for 173800 days to when the Messiah would be “cut off” meaning when He
would die, and how He would die is seen in the 22nd Psalm, as that
psalm describes the crucifixion. Isaiah
52-53 also describes the “Suffering Servant,” the Messiah and the fact that He
would come the first time to die in order to pay for the sins of the world,
which He certainly did. Yes, if
interested, the people could have known.
John
MacArthur writes: “When people have
great opportunity to hear God’s Word, and even to see it miraculously
demonstrated, their guilt for rejection is intensified immeasurably. It is far better to have heard nothing of
Christ than to hear the truth about Him and yet reject Him. ‘For if we go on sinning willfully after
receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and fury of a fire
which will consume the adversaries’ (Heb. 10:26-27). The greater privilege, the greater
responsibility; and the greater the light the greater the punishment for not
receiving it.”
The
wonderful works that our Lord did should have shaken to the foundation every
Jew in Galilee, even more than the preaching of Jonah shook every person in
pagan Nineveh, from the King all the way down to the least servant as seen in
Jonah 3:5. However most Galileans did
not respond to Christ at all, much less repent.
The
small village of Chorazin was nestled in the hills about two and a half miles
north of Capernaum. This city has been
gone for many, many years and it ruins are known today as Charaza, a variation
of Chorazin. Now we have heard of Bethsaida as it was the hometown of Philip,
Andrew, and Peter, and it was located still farther north and to the east,
found in the plain of Gennesaret. These
were only two of the many towns and villages that Jesus visited as He
ministered out of His headquarters in Capernaum. There is evidence that Jesus stayed in Peter’s
house while in Capernaum.
Lord
willing in our next SD we will begin to look at Tyre and Sidon as we begin that
SD.
12/14/2021 9:18 AM
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