SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/14/2022 9:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The
Anathema”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
12:31-32
Message of the verses: “31 “Therefore I
say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy
against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of
Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it
shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
In today’s SD we want to begin by looking at Isaiah
had to say about Israel from his book.
We will look at Isaiah 5:1-6 “1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A
song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a
fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with
the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out
a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But
it produced only worthless ones. 3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. 4 “What more was there to
do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it
to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 5 “So now let Me
tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it
will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled
ground.”
This section of Isaiah’s book speaks of Israel as a
vineyard, one He had carefully planted, cultivated, and tended, and as seen in
the passage He built a tower in the middle of it, which represents Jerusalem,
and a wine bat in it, and this represents the sacrificial system. God expected good grapes but only got
worthless ones and so He asked the question in verse four ““What more was there
to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it
to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?’” Then in verse five He gives His answer, and
answer that I am sure they did not want to hear: “5 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and
it will become trampled ground.” “Now
after the people had been blessed with every blessing and had every opportunity
but still turned their backs on God, there was nothing left for Him to do but
turn His back on them” writes John MacArthur.
He
goes on to write “During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the unbelieving Pharisees and
all the others who blasphemed the Spirit cut themselves off from God’s mercy,
not because it was not offered but because it was abundantly offered yet
rebelliously and permanently rejected and ridiculed as satanic.”
History
shows us that within 40 years of this time that God would allow the prophecy
found in Isaiah 5:6 to come to pass as Titus and his Roman legion would come
into Jerusalem and level it to the ground.
Titus really did not want to destroy the Jewish temple, but when he
found that there was gold between the large foundation stones he had to destroy
it to get the gold, thus also fulfilling the prophecy from Isaiah, and even as
far back as in Deuteronomy chapter 28 where Moses spoke of Israel being
destroyed two times. Titus would
slaughter over a million of Jerusalem’s inhabitants, and all but obliterate
nearly a thousand other towns and villages in Judea. God’s own chosen people had said no to Him,
and He said no to them. Now until He
returns, and regathers a remnant of His people to Himself in the last days,
except for a few faithful, they are as a nation totally apart from God.
We
will, Lord willing complete this section in our Next SD as we continue to
chronicle the very sad events of what would happen to Israel because of their
great pride and unbelief.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I suppose that there are times when I look
down my nose when I think about the Jewish leaders of this time period when
Jesus was on planet earth, and in particular the Pharisees. Then there are times when in doing this that
I realize that I am acting in a similar way that they acted. I remember a song by the late Roger Miller in
singing about “Husbands and Wives” where in those lyrics he sang “Pride is the
chief cause in the decline of the number of husbands and wives.” The Pharisees were very prideful and when I
act like them that is also true of me, something that I would rather replace
with humility.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Praying that the Holy Spirit will continue to
teach me humility.
2/14/2022 10:19 AM
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