Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Looking at Matt. 16:18-20

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2022 9:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  More from Matt. 16:18-20

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matt. 16:18-20

 

            Message of the verses:  18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.”

 

            Jesus and His disciples were staying out of the limelight as it was His desire to spend a lot of time with them teaching them things that they will need to know after He has left them. If one looks at this situation that they were in they would see that the Jewish leaders were becoming more and more adamant in their opposition to Jesus and also the multitudes were becoming more and more skeptical and disillusioned.  It will not be long before the multitudes will cry out “crucify, crucify Him,” and the Jewish leaders will beg Pilate to give the order to put Jesus to death.  Understand that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who was the One who was in control of all that happened to Him including the time that He would die for the sins of the world, which would be exactly when the Passover Lambs would be slain by the children of Israel.

 

            The disciples had just confessed that Jesus was their Messiah through their statesmen, Peter and yet because of what they had been taught about what the Messiah would do they themselves were still in disillusionment.  I have mentioned that if there was a desire for the Jewish people to know when their Messiah would be born and when He would be crucified then all they would have had to do is study the ninth chapter of Daniel as I believe some of them had, for I can see this in what we call the Christmas story and much can be seen in both Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels.  There were a few who knew including those Mejia’s who came to Jesus when He was probably around two years old giving to Him gifts that would be needed for them to leave and go to Egypt until Herod was dead.

 

            As mentioned it would not be too long until Jesus would go to Jerusalem the final time in order to die on the cross, and even a shorter time when He would tell His disciples that this would happen, but before revealing those heartrending truths, He assured the Twelve that His program was on schedule, that He was indeed in control, and that they had every reason to continue their unreserved trust in Him.  What these men saw on the surface did not reflect the reality of what God was doing.  I get the same feeling about what is going on in our country today, as I know for sure that God is in control, and yet it seems to me at times that Satan is in control, but then again I know Satan is not in control and in the end will burn in hell.

 

            Just as Jesus was teaching His disciples that they had no reason to doubt or fear, so that is the lesson that all believers need to know as we go through what is the beginning of the most horrible time that this planet will ever go through, but as my old Pastor said while he was alive “I’m looking for the Uppertaker, not the undertaker.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sometimes in the days that we are living in that it is hard to understand that God is truly in control of what is going on in our country and also around the world, but He is, and in the end all the plans that He has for His people will come to pass, and all the plans that He has for this wicked generation will also come to pass.  In the mean time it is my desire to tell as many of this wicked generation the way that they can receive peace through the blood of the cross as they come to the Lord in repentance trusting that He will save them from their sins.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will put on my path people who are in need of trusting the Lord for salvation.

 

9/7/2022 10:25 AM

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