SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2022 10:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Last Sentence”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
12:41-42
Message of the verses: “41 “The men of
Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it,
because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than
Jonah is here. 42 “The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment
with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to
hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.”
In our last SD we talked at length about Jonah, but
now as we begin to look at verse 41 we see the results of Jonah’s preaching at
Nineveh, and that result was that many had their lives changed by what the
prophet Jonah preached to them about. I
have to believe that Jonah told them the message about the God of Israel, and
as one reads through the book of Jonah they can find that the king ordered the
whole city to fast, to put on sackcloth and put dust on their heads which means
that they were repenting of their sins.
Our Lord is telling these Jewish leaders what had happened to the people
of Nineveh and then tells them that those people will rise up in the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, and the reason was, was because of the preaching of Jonah, but then
Jesus tells them that someone greater than Jonah was there speaking to
them.
John
MacArthur writes: “Despite Johan’s
reluctance to preach God’s message to the wicked, corrupt, idolatrous Assyrians
of Nineveh, when the prophet finally began to preach, God effected and
unprecedented awakening. ‘Then the
people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth
from the greatest to the least of them.
When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne;
laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the
ashes’ (Johan 3:5-6). Covering oneself
with sackcloth and sittine in ashes was an Oriental way of showing genuine
repentance and sorrow for wrongdoing.
Because of their sincere repentance and belief, ‘God relented concerning
the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it’ (V.10).”
I
am teaching the book of Hebrews in our Sunday school class and am studying
about the New Covenant found in the 8th and 9th chapters
of Hebrews. In the 8th
chapter the author gives a quotation from Jeremiah chapter 31:31 and following
as Jeremiah speaks about the New Covenant.
I have learned that both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant are
covenants between God and Israel, but because of what the Lord said to Abraham
in Genesis 12:1-3 Gentiles also have a part in both covenants, because of the
fact that God told Abraham that all “And in you all the families of the earth
will be blessed.” This is how Gentiles
can be a part of the Covenants of God, because we are being blessed through
what God had told Abraham. After all it
is the Word of God and which is what the Nineveh’s believed in. So these people as mentioned were Gentiles
and were pagans and were very ruthless in how they treaded their enemies, and
they were apart from God’s covenants and law, but they were especially wicked
and brutal, even by pagan standards, something we mentioned in our last
SD. These people had no previous
knowledge of the true God or of His will, yet their repentance of sin and their
belief in God brought them spiritual salvation and spared them physical
destruction. MacArthur writes “Johan did
not preach a message of hope but of judgment: ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will
be overthrown’ (Johan 3:4). The prophet despised the Ninevites and preached to
them only under the Lord’s compulsion.
He performed no miracles and gave no promises of deliverance, but on the
basis of that brief, direct, and confrontative message of doom from the
loveless prophet, the people of Nineveh threw themselves on God’s mercy and
were saved.”
Now
on the other hand Israel was the chosen covenant people of God, who were
privileged to have been given His law, were given His promises, His leading,
His protection, and His special blessings in ways to numerous to list. But her people
would not repent and turn from their sin even when God’s own Son, who was
something greater than Jonah was the One preaching to them in gentle humility
and gracious love, and He was the One who performed thousands of miracles which
were attesting sings that He was their Messiah, unlike no signs produced by
Jonah. Jesus offered God’s gracious forgiveness
and eternal life with Him in heaven, yet they, because they thought they were
already good enough to go to heaven turned down what they really needed, which
was salvation through Jesus Christ.
These Jewish leaders would stand under the condemnation of former pagans
at the Judgment, as Jesus told them.
Lord
will we will talk about the Queen of the South in our next SD as we want to
finish up these verses from the 12th chapter of Matthew.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Humility is something that all true believers
need, and something that I need as I remember that it was nothing that I did to
receive the salvation that I received on the 26th of January, 1974,
but it all came from my Lord who through His Spirit and His Word gave me an
effectual call that I could not say no to, something I am eternally thankful
for.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that
the Lord will give me wisdom to teach our small Bible Study at my friend’s
house this afternoon as we conclude our study on the 8th chapter of
John.
3/4/2022 10:51 AM
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