SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2022 9:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 13:53-58”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
13:53-58
Message of the verses: “53 And it came
about that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. 54 And
coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so
that they became astonished, and said, "Where did this man get
this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? 55 “Is not this the carpenter’s
son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and
Simon and Judas? 56 “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did
this man get all these things?" 57 And they took offense at Him.
But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home
town, and in his own household." 58 And He did not do many miracles
there because of their unbelief.”
In his commentary John MacArthur talks about the
giving of the parables that we have just gone over since we began looking at
this 13th chapter on the 15th of March ends the disciples’
basic instructions. The nation of Israel
through the Pharisees and other leaders has given up on their Messiah, and this
was the reason that Jesus was teaching in parables. Parables had two purposes, that is hiding the
truth from the unbelievers and making the truth to those who were believers,
and so as we have been learning the disciples stated that they knew the truth
of the parables that Jesus was using to teach with. Jesus said to His disciples “To you it has
been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has
not been granted…Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing
they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand”
(Matt. 13:11, 13). Just think about the
truth of what Jesus said and if you are a true believer in Him then you too
have been granted to understand what these parables mean, as they speak of the
Kingdom of Heaven. What a privilege!
MacArthur
writes “As far as preparation of the disciples was concerned, the two most
important parables of Matthew 13 were those of the sower and the wheat and tares. The story of the sower made clear that some
people would believe the gospel but many would not; and it prepared them to
anticipate the four basic responses men would make to the gospel. The vivid story of the wheat and tares made
clear that, for the present period of Christ’s kingdom, the saved and the
unsaved would coexist side by side. The
Twelve—and all succeeding witnesses of Christ—would carry on their ministry in
a time of both belief and unbelief and of both good and evil.” I have to say that when I was much younger
while being raised in this country (USA) that there surely was not nearly as
much evil as I see now, which makes me believe that our Lord is ready to return
to planet earth very soon to take His bride back to heaven to be with Him
forever. Evil will still exist, in fact
the tribulation period, the last seven years of history on planet earth as we
know it will be the greatest evil shown since the world began. Jesus stated that if He did not return to
stop the wars that were going on that there would not be anyone left. However the good news is that Jesus Christ is
in total control of the things that are gone on, on planet earth even though it
seems at times the evil is in control.
Here
is how MacArthur actually begins his introduction to our verses seen above and
we will only quote one short paragraph and then, Lord willing, we will begin
looking at a more extensive look at the introduction to Matthew 13:53-58
beginning tomorrow.
“Beginning
with 13:53 and continuing through the first part of chapter 16, Matthew records
eight incidents in the life of the Lord that correspond to and demonstrate the
truths presented in the two parables just mentioned.”
5/17/2022 10:19 AM
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