SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/21/2022 10:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Plan of God”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
16:-21
Message of the
verse: “21 From that time Jesus Christ began to
show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on
the third day.”
Let us begin by looking at Psalm 137:5-6 “5 If I forget
you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill. 6 May my tongue
cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt
Jerusalem Above my chief joy.” I believe
that this Psalm was written after the Babylonian captivity and the point here
is that even though the Jews were not in Jerusalem they still considered it
their place because of the spiritual things that are attributed to
Jerusalem. Before the Jews were given
back their land in May of 1948, for almost 1900 years when the celebrated the
Passover they would always say “next year in Jerusalem.” That happened during the June 1967 war when
Israel again had Jerusalem in their control.
We
know from the gospels that when Jesus came to earth that Jerusalem was far from
living up to its title of the city of God.
It was during the first Passover after Jesus began His ministry that He
took a whip and drove out the money changers and the animals from the temple
area as seen in John 2:13-16 “13 The
Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found
in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money
changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and
drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He
poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and
to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop
making My Father’s house a place of business.’”
Now in the next Passover that took place during His ministry He did
something that was against the Jewish “religion” but maybe I should say
“tradition.” During the third Passover
Jesus stayed away because of the hatred of Him there. Later, when He attended the Feast of Booths,
the Jewish leaders again tried to arrest Him and have Him put to death as seen
in John 7:1-19, 44-45.
John
MacArthur writes “Because of its rejection of Jesus, Jerusalem was given a new
and pagan name, ‘the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt,
where also their Lord was crucified’ (Rev. 11:8)…One day the city will deserve
the name Jerusalem, because ‘it will come about in that day that living waters
will flow out of Jerusalem,…[it] will rise and remain on its site from
Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and
from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. And people will live in it, and there will be
no more curse for Jerusalem will dwell in security’ (Zech. 14:8, 10-11).”
It
was determined before the world began that Messiah would die in Jerusalem, and
we know that is exactly what happened.
Now
we want to look at the second “must” in God’s great plan was that His Son, the
Messiah would suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes. It was those three groups of
religious leaders who comprised the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council, whose
headquarters was in Jerusalem. The
elders were primarily the leaders of the various tribes scattered throughout Israel,
then the chief priests were largely Sadducees, and the scribes were largely
Pharisees, which means that these two groups rarely got along. It was because of their unbelief and
rejection, as well as their political power, Jesus would “suffer many things’
at the hands of those men.
We
conclude with the third “must” in God’s plan, and that was that Jesus “be
killed.” MacArthur writes “The Greek
word behind killed was used of legal executions, and in this context the
meaning is that of murder. Jesus was not
legally tried or proved guilty of any wrongdoing but was sentenced to death on
the false and vindictive charges of the Jewish leaders, who were determined to
be rid of Him at any cost. It was in
God’s plan that at the hand of man He was to be murdered (Acts 2:22-23).”
There
is one more “must” which is the last and it was that Jesus would be raised up
on the third day. The disciples did not
seem to really hear this last must as they were greatly distressed because of
the other three musts. However this was
truth that made the others bearable, and that was because it was the truth of
victory that would conquer those seemingly defeats. This was the “must” of triumph and glory.
It
was Peter’s reply (v-22) that makes clear that he and his fellow disciples had
not really heard Jesus’ words about His being “raised up on the third day,” any
more than they had really heard Him say that “the gates of Hades,” that is
death, would not overcome His church as seen in verse 18. They had see Him raise the daughter of Jairus
and the son of the widow of Nain.
However if he Himself were to die, they probably reasoned, who would
raise Him? How could a dead Messiah
deliver and rule His people? Well we
know the answer to that question as Jesus did arise on the third day, and then
a bit later on at Pentecost the Holy Spirit would begin to reign into all
believers so that they could understand these truths as seen in Peter’s first
sermon.
9/21/2022 11:19 AM
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