SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2022 9:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Last Sign”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 12:38-40
Message of the verses: “38 Then some of
the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign
from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and
adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given
to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS
AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
What we will actually be looking at in today’s SD is
an introduction to these verses and then we will move onto two sub-points as we
move through them. “The Challenge” is
the first sub-point which, Lord willing, we will begin tomorrow, and then the
last one is “The Reply.”
As
we look at the words “some of the scribes and Pharisees” in verse 38 it is
possible that this refers to a special committee delegated to present this
final challenge to Jesus. A “scribe” had
to be at least thirty years old and he had to have spent many years in
intensive study of the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the Torah, or law, and of
the rabbinic traditions as set forth in the Talmud is how John MacArthur
explains this. Scribes were known as the
supreme interpreters and teachers of the law.
“One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him” (Matt.
22:35). “And a lawyer stood up and put
Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?’” (Luke 10:25). MacArthur writes “Although
some scribes belonged to the party of the Sadducees, most of them were
Pharisees, which explains their frequently being mentioned together in the
Gospels. They were the authorized
interpretive scholars and lawyers of Judaism and were generally held in great
honor.
“That
they answered Jesus’ scathing accusations by asking Him a seemingly forthright and
nondefensive question indicates they were biting their tongues, as it were,
determined to give the impression of civility and patience until the
appropriate moment to condemn Him.”
2/26/2022 9:42 AM
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