SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2022 9:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Proof of
His Divine Power”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 14:32
Message of the verses: “32 And when they
got into the boat, the wind stopped.”
If we think back to the other time when the
disciples were in a storm, the time when Jesus was sleeping in the boat while
the storm was raging we then remember that Jesus spoke to the storm to make it
stop. That is not the case here as soon
as Jesus got into the boat the storm stopped, stopped with Him saying a
word. The moment He and Peter got into
the boat with the other disciples, the wind stopped. It is as if the wind was simply waiting for the
miracle to be finished; and when it had served its purpose, it stopped.
Now I am coming to a portion in this miracle that I
am not sure how to handle, and the reason is what is said in John 6:21 “So they
were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they
were going.” John
MacArthur writes “They had been three or four miles out to the sea and storm
was still raging as fiercely as ever, but in an instant it stopped and the boat
was at its destination. On the basis of
normal human experience, it is hardly surprising that the disciples ‘were
greatly astonished’ (Mar, 6:51). But the
disciples had been having astounding displays of Jesus’ miraculous power for
two years, and for them these remarkable events should not have been
astonishing. We learn from Mark that their
amazement resulted form their not having ‘gained any insight from the incident
of the loaves’—or from Jesus’ earlier stilling of the storm or from any other
great work He had done—because ‘their heart was hardened’ (Mark 6:52).” Could one say that the disciples were getting
use to Jesus miracles and so that is the reason they were not as astounded as
they were when He began doing miracles in their sight?
MacArthur
seems to answer this question: “Yet in
that moment those same hearts were softened and those eyes opened as they had
never been before, and those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You
are certainly God’s Son!’ They were now
more than simply amazed, as the crowds and they themselves had always
been. They were taken past amazement to
worship, which is what Jesus’ signs and miracles were intended to produce. At last they were beginning to see Jesus as
the One whom God highly exalted and on whom He bestowed the name which is above
every name, and at whose name ‘every knee should bow of those who are in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil. 2:9-11).”
As
I think about this miracle story I am thinking about the fact that Judas was in
that boat and it seems that Judas was in agreement to the fact of who Jesus
really was. This seems to go along with
what I am teaching in our Sunday school class about apostasy, as an apostate
knows the truth that Jesus is God’s son, but will not go the next and most
important step in inviting Him into his heart in order to receive
salvation. Judas was the worst apostate
because he lived with Jesus for three years seeing all of His miracles, but
Judas was looking for an earthly kingdom before Jesus would die on the cross in
order to save people from their sins.
We
begin a new section in our next SD, a section that will finish up the 14th
chapter of Matthew and actually take us into the first twenty verses of chapter
fifteen. I listened to the two sermons
that go along with this section and some of the things that I learned about
different books that were used by the Jews, mostly after they had went into
captivity, and when they returned back to the Promised Land. These books were mostly what caused the
Jewish religion to get so far off track.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: To fight the good fight.
6/29/2022 9:39 AM
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