The Place: The Seashore

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/17/2022 8:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “The Place:  The Seashore”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 13:1-2

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea. 2  And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.”

 

            I have to say that as I was listening to John MacArthur’s sermon, the second one on the introduction to Matthew chapter thirteen that I really liked how he brought things out of this verse that I don’t think that I would have ever thought of, but then that is why I listen to his sermons and read his commentaries.

 

            Now the first thing that we want to talk about is that day.  This refers to the day on which Jesus’ mother and brothers came looking for him as seen in Matthew 12:46-47.  We remember that we thought that the probably came to persuade Him to stop the preaching and teaching they knew could cost Him His life, which if finally did, and at that time His family would have realized that was why He came.  Now it was on this day that Jesus had healed many people of various unnamed diseases, which explained the true character of the promised Messiah, as He healed and cleansed the blind and dumb demoniac, with which Jesus would tell them after they had accused Him of doing it with the power of Satan that they had just gone to far and thus had committed the unpardonable sin.  It was also at this time the Jesus warned them against the deceptive danger of moral reform without having a spiritual rebirth.  We spent a lot of time looking at chapter twelve and this was just a few things that we learned from that long and very important chapter as it marked the turn in the ministry of our Lord as He would pretty much give up on Israel and as we have talked about He would then speak to them in parables and only explain these parables to the ones who belonged to Him.

 

            Now as we think about Jesus ministry in those early years of it we can remember that He spent much time inside, in places like houses and in synagogues.  Then as His ministry progressed, however, and we see that His ministry was being more and more rejected by the Jews, that He began to spend more and more time ministering outdoors, places like the seashore and mountainside and in the country side, highways, and streets.

 

            Even though the religious leaders had rejected Jesus, He remained immensely popular with the common people, and great multitudes still gathered to Him in fascination to hear Him speak and to see Him heal, and some of those in the crowd who had been following Him were also healed by Him.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Perhaps pushed by the crowd to the water’s edge and seeking to put some distance between the people and Himself in order to address the crowd better, Jesus got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.  The fact that He sat down in typical rabbinic fashion was necessary because of the moving of the boat in the water; and because the beach sloped sharply upward from the water, the people were enabled to see and hear Him best while He was seated in the boat.” 

 

            The following is a quotation from MacArthur’s first introductory sermon on Matthew chapter thirteen that I found very interesting as He talks about verses one and two and why he found them interesting.  We will kind of pick up in the middle of what he was saying:  “Well, I think its important if for no other reason than just as an interesting way to remember the transition here.  If we can extend ourselves a little bit and use this as an illustration or a symbol…though that is not its purpose or intention…it can serve as an illustration for us.  We could liken the house to what group of people?  Israel. 

            “And throughout Scripture the sea is likened to what group of people?  Gentiles.  And we can remember the chapter’s transitional nature by remembering that as Jesus went out of the house and to the sea, at this point He turns from Israel to the Gentiles.  Something new is happening.  He’s left the house.  This serves as an illustration, a symbol of a sort.

            “And it’s also interesting, I think, to note that at the beginning of His ministry He seemed to be in houses quite a lot, whereas, as you begin to see His ministry from here on, toward the end of His ministry He seems to be outdoors a lot.  And you see Him teaching by the seaside, you see Him teaching on the highways and the byways, in the village streets.  You see Him on the hillsides.  You see Him in the countryside.  It’s almost as if there’s some sort of a subtle statement being made, isn’t it?  This is a new dimension.  The kingdom is preached to the nations.”

            I hope you see the point between preaching to Jewish people and then moving on to the sea which has represented Gentiles in the Scripture, and this was the transition as Jesus begins to speak in parables that will actually prophesy what will happen during the church age.

3/17/2022 9:31 AM