SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2022 10:14 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Challenge”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
12:38b
Message of the verse: “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
I want to begin this SD with a quotation from a parallel
passage from Matthew chapter sixteen where we learn the following from verse
one: “The
Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them
a sign from heaven.” Perhaps they forgot
that they had already asked Jesus for a sign, or perhaps these were different
Pharisees than were there from chapter twelve.
We know that there no Sadducees there in chapter twelve, and probably
because the Sadducees and Pharisees did not get along in their spiritual
thinking. MacArthur writes “A sign from
heaven’ would be a vast and spectacular sign, one that came from heaven and
perhaps could be seen in the heavens, such as those just mentioned relating to
the sun, moon, and stars.” (We mentioned
this in our last SD.)
As we read through the history of
the Old Testament, and that part of the Old Testament goes from Genesis to
Nehemiah we find that there were rarely many miracles that were done by the
prophets. We know Moses did miracles and
then in the era of Elijah and Elisha we saw miracles done, but other than those
two eras there were not many miracles done.
The question then is why do these Pharisees and later on the Sadducees
want to see a miracle. “For indeed Jews
ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom” is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians
in 1 Cor. 1:22, the Jews must have come
to the conclusion at some point that they wanted to see a sign from their
prophets.
MacArthur
writes “According to fallacious Jewish tradition, a certain Rabbi Eliezar was challenged
in regard to the authority of his teaching.
To prove his genuineness, he is said to have made a locust tree move 300
cubits and a stream of water flow backward.
When he caused the wall of a building to lean forward, it was returned
upright only by the bidding of another rabbi.
Finally Eliezar exclaimed, ‘If the law is as I teach let it be proved
from heaven.’ At that moment, the story goes;
a voice came out of the sky, saying, ‘What have you to do with Rabbi
Eliezar? The instruction is as he
teaches.’”
I don’t know whether or not the scribes and Pharisees had
heard this story, but it sounds like they did and so this may have been the reason
that they were asking for a celestial sign from Jesus—a spectacular,
sensational demonstration of supernatural power. Perhaps they were looking for one that Joel
wrote about ‘”The sun will be turned into darkness And the
moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes’” (Joel
2:31). Perhaps they wanted Jesus to
bring a great procession of angels to descend a heavenly stairway into the
temple heralding Him with anthems of praise as they came. The point in all of this is that even if
Jesus would have done these things, and make no mistake He certainly could have
done them, the scribes, Pharisees would not have believed in Him, as remember
that they had just committed the unpardonable sin.
The Jewish leaders really did not
expect Him to perform any such sing, and the reason is because their very
purpose was to prove He could not do such a thing and thereby all they wanted
to do was discredit Him in the eyes of the people. As one searches the Old Testament they will
not find that the Messiah would perform a sign of the type they demanded, the
leaders gave the impression to the people that such was the case.
Lord willing, we will look at the
reply from our Lord in our next SD, at least begin to look at it.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I
certainly did not see any sign from the Lord when He saved me, but I did
receive a new language from Him as He caused me to not want to say anymore of
those four letter curse words again.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord to continue to give me wisdom in my teaching through the book of Hebrews,
and I can say that after I was put onto the Wednesday night prayer list asking
for wisdom to teach this wonderful book that I truly believe that the Lord is
answering those who are praying for me.
2/28/2022 10:43
AM
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