SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/17/2021 8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The
Response of Unbelieving Indifference”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
11:20-24
Message of the verses: “20 Then He began
to denounce 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 will 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 will 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 will be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for
you.’”
We
continue to talk about what our Lord spoke about Capernaum in today’s SD. Notice the end of verse 23 “for if the miracles
had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this
day.” This is quite a statement for when
we think about the sins that caused the Lord to destroy Sodom we know that they
were very terrible sins. God sent two
angels to Sodom to rescue Lot and the citizens of Sodom tried to rape the
angels as they were in human form then.
Even the word “Sodom” is used to describe homosexual activity and
sin.
Now
as we look at the people of Capernaum it is not believed that there were any
homosexual activities that were going on, so one may ask what was their great
sin, as it had to be worse than that of Sodom.
They ignored and rejected the Son of God, their fate on the day of judgment
will be worse than that of Sodom.
MacArthur
writes “Capernaum exceeded Chorazin and Bethsaida in privilege, and Sodom
exceeded Tyre and Sidon in wickedness.
In these striking and sobering contrasts, Jesus makes plain that people
who are the most blessed by God will receive the worst punishment if they
reject Him. Judgment against the moral
abominations of Sodom will be exceeded by judgment against the spiritual
indifference of Capernaum. For the
respectable and upright unbelievers of Capernaum, ‘Hades’ will be hotter than
for the crude and immoral unbelievers of Sodom.
The self-righteous orthodox person is even more repulsive in God’s sight
than the idolatrous and immoral pagan.”
What this quotation indicates is that there are different degrees of
punishment in hell, which is exactly what our Lord is showing us in this
section of Matthew.
While
living in Capernaum our Lord was not persecuted by the people there, and we don’t
see evidence that they even criticized Him, or mocked Him or even ridiculed
Him, they never ran Him out of town like the people of His home town tried to
do, In the 25th chapter of
Matthew Jesus tells a parable that will happen during the Tribulation Period,
and in this parable it shows some people helping others and Jesus then says
that in helping others they were actually doing service to Him. He then talks about those who saw these
people in need and they would not help them, so they were not doing service to
Him. The people of Capernaum were doing
nothing at all, either good or evil to our Lord and this was their problem. In Revelation chapter three Jesus tells the
church at Laodicea that they were lukewarm, not hot, not cold, and it would
have been better for them to be one or the other, especially hot, but they too
were indifferent to the Lord, and this is a great sin according to what we have
been looking at in verses 20-24 of Matthew 11.
At the end of this section Jesus says “I say to you that it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As a believer I desire to pray for those who
think that they are believers, but are not, those who have had great light, and
are in danger of going too far past the longsuffering of God’s grace.
12/17/2021 9:10 AM
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