SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2022 11:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “Conformed to God’s Plan”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
12:15-17
Message of the verses: “15 But Jesus,
aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed
them all, 16 and warned them not to make Him known, 17 in order that what was
spoken through Isaiah the prophet, might be fulfilled, saying,”
We have been talking about why Jesus had told those
whom He did miracles for not to make Him known, and so we want to begin this SD
with another possible reason as to why He did not want them to make Him
known. This possible reason was not to
make Him known is the possibility of making too much and exaggerate what was
going on. These miracles that He was
doing were evidence of His divine power and His rightful claim to messiahship.
Jesus did not perform them in order to become popular or famous or to build up
a popular base of power and influence—as many of His followers expected Him to
do. MacArthur writes “An although He had
great compassion for the physical afflictions of the people, His primary work
was to save souls, not bodies. Not only
enthusiasm for Him as a military and political deliverer, which most Jews
expected the Messiah to be but which Jesus refused to be. It was for that reason that He withdrew from
the crowds after the feeding of the 5,000.
‘Jesus therefore perceiving that they were intending to come and take
Him by force, to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone’
(John 6:15).”
As
Jesus continued to do these miracles they would continue to insight the rage of
the “religious” system in Israel, the ones who would be used by Lord to put Him
to death in order that while on the cross, in those hours of darkness, that
Jesus would pay for the sins of the world, including my sins and yours.
We
will look at one more reason, and it may be the most important reason to not
want His miracles to be too highly acclaimed was that this was not the time of
His exaltation but of His humiliation. One
must remember that as noted here that Jesus came the first time to bring about
salvation, but the next time He will be the lion of Judah, and not the lamb.
I
am sure that many of the people around Jesus were wondering if He was the
Messiah why He didn’t take on Rome. Well
the answer is in the above paragraph.
As
Matthew continue his gospel he will assure his readers that Jesus is indeed the
Messiah, just as this was foretold by Isaiah the prophet. “17 in order that what was spoken through
Isaiah the prophet, might be fulfilled, saying.” Jesus did not come to fulfill the confused
and the unscriptural expectations of the people. He came to fulfill His divine mission as was
predicted in His very own Word. Jesus
was to make sure that every divine prediction about His mission written in the
OT would be fulfilled.
As
we will be taking a look soon at Matthew 12:18-21, we will see in the NASB95
version that it is in all caps and this is because it is a modified quotation
of Isaiah 42:1-4 and this is one of the most striking beautiful descriptions of
Jesus Christ that is found anywhere in Scripture. It is here we will see that Jesus was
commended by Father and that He was commissioned by the Holy Spirit, that He
communicated His Father’s message, and that He was committed to meekness and to
the comforting to the weak, and then also that He would consummate the victory
over sin and Satan. Here are these
verses to look at “18
18 "BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED
IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL
PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. 19 “HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR
WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. 20 "A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF,
AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. 21
"AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE."
“18 Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; My beloved in
whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, And he shall
declare judgment to the gentiles. 19 He shall not strive, nor cry aloud; Neither
shall anyone hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed shall he not
break, And smoking flax shall he not quench, Till he send forth judgment unto
victory. 21 And in his name shall the gentiles hope” (Phillips).
1/24/2022 11:39 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment