PT-2 "The Promise" (Matt. 16:27a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/11/2022 8:22 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Promise”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 16:27a

 

            Message of the verse:  “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels.”

 

            I mentioned that we will be looking at the word “glory” as we begin this SD, and probably the best way is to quote what John MacArthur writes about it in his commentary.  “In Scripture, the word glory is often used to represent the totality of God’s nature, character, and attributes.  When He came to earth as a man, Jesus’ deity was veiled (cf. Phil. 2:6-8), and there was nothing in His human appearance to mark Him as being different from other men (cf. Isa. 53:2).  That very fact made it difficult for many Jews to acknowledge Him as the Messiah, whose divine power and glory they thought would be immediately manifest.  But that was not God’s plan.

 

            “When Moses asked God ‘I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!’ the Lord replied, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion’ (Ex. 33:18-19).  To witness God’s attributes is to have a glimpse of His glory, all that the fullness of His name implies.”

 

            Now we want to look at a rather long quotation from what is called “The Olivet Discourse” which comes from the 24^th and 25^th chapter of Matthew, something we will look at in great detail once we get there.  This took place days before the Lord was crucified and these two chapters actually go along with what we read about the tribulation period found in Revelation chapters 6-19.  We will only look at Matthew 24: 29-31 at this time.  “29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, 30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”  Jesus will then come in blazing, unveiled glory, and the entire earth will be filled with that glory, just as in Isaiah’s vision (Isa. 6:3; cf. Ps 72:19).  “And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."  “And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.”

 

            Perhaps this part of Messiah’s coming to earth was most familiar with the Jews of Jesus’s day that is coming in glory.  Jesus now affirmed and gave a more complete perspective to that truth, a truth that His disciples thought was being contradicted and frustrated both by His rejection by the Jewish leaders and by His own failure to assert His divine power and glory. 

            The following comes from Son of Man to Thee I Cry an old hymn that MacArthur quotes in his commentary.

 

He who wept above the grave,

He who stilled the raging wave,

Meek to suffer, strong to save,

He shall come in glory!

 

He who sorrow’s pathway trod,

He that every good bestowed-

Son of Man and Son of God-

He shall come in glory.

 

He who bled with scouring sore,

Thorns and scarlet meekly wore,

He who every sorrow bore-

He shall come in glory.

 

Monarch of the smitten cheek,

Scorn of Jew and scorn of Greek,

Priest and King, divinely meek-

He shall come in glory

 

He who died to set us free,

He who lives and loves e’en me,

He who comes whom I shall see, Jesus only—only He-

He shall reign in glory!

 

            For those of us who know and love the Lord Jesus this is a comforting promise, and one that I have been looking forward to every since I first became a believer, many years ago.  Similarly the disciples of our Lord needed some good news as some of the truths that Jesus had given them in this last part of Matthew chapter 16 were difficult for them to understand, and they will not fully understand these truths until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then when the Holy Spirit comes upon them on the Day of Pentecost they will understand these truths more fully.

 

10/11/2022 8:58 AM