SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/29/2022 11:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Examination”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
16:13b-15
Message of the verses: “He began
asking His disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man
is?" 14 And they said, "Some say
John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the
prophets." 15 He said to them,
"But who do you
say that I am?’”
The disciples go on in answering the Lord’s question
about who others think that He is by saying first of all “Some say John the Baptist.” Remember when we were looking at the 14th
chapter of Matthew and we saw “1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news
about Jesus, 2 and said to his servants,
"This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why
miraculous powers are at work in him.’”
This is where the disciples got this information about who others said
that Jesus was. It was like Herod that
those people recognized that Jesus’ miraculous power was unexplainable on a
human basis.
Next
answer from the disciples is Elijah and this comes from the book of Mal. 4:5 “"Behold,
I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
terrible day of the LORD.” In modern
Jewish Passover celebrations people would leave an empty place hoping that
Elijah would come and sit there. One
more thought on this and that comes from the book of Revelations chapter 11 and
verses 3-13 where one of these witnesses is expected to be by many people who
study this to be Elijah and the other Moses so we have the Law and the prophets
represented there. Neither of these men
had actually finished their ministry as Moses had sinned and so he could not
finish his ministry and Elijah was take alive to heaven and so he did not
finish his ministry. Both men are seen
also when Jesus was transformed on the mountain “1 Six days later Jesus took
with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high
mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face
shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared
to them, talking with Him” (Matt. 17:1-3).
John MacArthur explains on why Jeremiah would be
mentioned here. “Still others said Jesus
was Jeremiah, another of the most revered prophets. In the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees
(2:4-8), Jeremiah is said to have taken the Ark of the Covenant and the altar
of incense out of the Temple and hidden them on Mount Nebo in order to preserve
them from desecration and destruction by the Babylonians. Some Jews thought that before the Messiah
returned to establish His kingdom, Jeremiah would return to earth and restore
the Ark and the altar to their proper places in the Temple. The same apocryphal book pictures a
white-bearded Jeremiah handling a golden sword to the great Jewish hero Judas
Maccabaeus to us in overthrowing the Greeks (15:12-16).”
He
goes on to explain: “Some of the people perhaps
saw in Jesus something of the character and message of John the Baptist. Some saw in Him the fire and intensity of
Elijah; and still others saw in Him the lament and grief of Jeremiah. In all three of those identities, however,
Jesus was thought to be only the Messiah’s forerunner, who had come back to
life with God-given miraculous powers.”
In
the book of Luke we see that still others thought Him to be one of the prophets
(Luke 9:19).
I think that it is odd, as far as I’m concerned that
these people only saw Jesus as a forerunner of the Messiah, but not the Messiah
Himself. So what about the
miracles? They certainly could not deny
them, and I don’t remember John the Baptist doing any miracles, although we do
see Moses and Elijah doing miracles in their ministry while on planet
earth.
Now
here is a problem that MacArthur addresses in his commentary: “Since Jesus’ day, much of the world has
similarly wanted to speak highly of Him without recognizing His deity and
lordship. Pilate said, ‘I find no guilt
in this man’ (Luke 23:4). Napoleon said,
‘I know men, and Jesus was no mere man.’
Diderot referred to Jesus as ‘the unsurpassed,’ Straus, the German
rationalist, as ‘the highest model of religion,’ John Stuart Miss as ‘the guide
of humanity,’ the French atheist Renan as ‘the greatest among the sons of men,’
Theodore Parker as ‘a youth with God in His heart,’ and Robert Owens as ‘the
irreproachable one.’ Some in our own day have called Him the ultimate
Superstar. But all of those titles and
descriptions fall short of identifying Jesus as He fully is—Messiah, God in
human flesh.”
Now
the question for all who have been led to read this is who do you think that
Jesus of Nazareth is? In the Word of God
Jesus is not seen as a mad man or even a really good man without being the Son
of God. Jesus Christ is the God man and
He said to Philip “"Have I been so long with you, and yet you have
not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father;” (John
14:9b). That is who Jesus is, and we
know that the Father sent Him to be the savior of the world, but that has to be
made personal in everyone’s heart as they realize that they are sinners because
that is the way all people are born, and that they can do nothing on their own
to get into heaven. If you are still in
that state then take time to tell the Lord that you are a sinner, born that way
and live that way and that you can do nothing about it. This is called confession, agreeing with God,
and next ask the Lord to come into your heart to forgive your sins and save
you. You will become a new person, old
things will pass away and all things will become new. No one who has ever done this has regretted
it as once this is done your eternal address is changed from hell to heaven.
After
the disciples reported what others had said about Him Jesus then asked “But who
do you say that I am?” This will be the subject of our next few SD’s.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I trust that the Lord will continue to show
me more and more about who the Lord is for knowing more about Him is knowing
more about God and His attributes.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting that the Lord will use these
Spiritual Diaries to bring not only growth to believers, but bring
non-believers who read them salvation.
8/29/2022 12:14 PM
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