SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/21/2022 9:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Reasons;” Believers’ Relation to
Angels”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
18:10b
Message of the verse: “for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
I am in one of those sections in my study of Matthew that
as I follow the outline from MacArthur’s commentary that there is a main point “The
Reasons” and then there are several sub-points beginning with “Believers’
Relation to Angels.” After this there
will be two more sub-points which will finish up the chapter from his
commentary. MacArthur writes “After
stating the negative rule regarding care for God’s children, Jesus gives three
reasons for the rule: believers’ relation to angels, their relation to Himself,
and their relation to the Father.” As
mentioned we will begin with the first one “Believers’ Relation to Angels.”
Believers’ Relation to Angels: “for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10b).
When we look at the statement “I say to you,” it is
emphatic, pointing up the importance of what the Lord is about to say, and the
idea is, “With all My authority I solemnly affirm to you.” He then gives the first compelling reason
Christians should never despise other Christians: and that reason is their relation to their
angels in heaven. I would have to say
that this is a very good reason.
John MacArthur writes “The writer of Hebrews explains
that the holy, elect angels are ‘all ministering spirits, sent out to render
service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14). Their purpose is to serve God by attending to
the care of His people. These angels in
heaven live in the very presence of God, where they wait attentively for His
commands to serve the people of His love.
‘They continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven,’ Jesus
said. The implication is that the holy
angels never take their eyes off God, lest they miss some direction from Him
regarding a task they are to perform on behalf of a believer.”
MacArthur goes on to point out that he does not believe
that neither of these texts, nor any other Scripture teaches the idea of an
individual guardian angel for every believer, as Jewish tradition in Jesus’ day
taught and as many people still believe and teach. Now I have to say that this is what I must
have been taught, for it was what I believed, but now I have to say that what
MacArthur writes about this is convincing to me that I really don’t have a
guardian angel, but I do have the resource of having an angel helping me when
the Lord sends one to aid me, but I probably will not realize this until I get
to heaven. I do know that the Scripture
teaches that we will entertain angels unknowingly, and I guess I will find out
about this once I get to heaven too.
There
was a time when Peter was in jail seen in the 12th chapter of Acts
and an angel came and got him out and so after that He went to John Mark’s
house where people were praying for him to be released. Let us look at the text from Acts 12:12-15 “12 And when he realized this, he went to the house
of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered
together and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, a
servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice,
because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that
Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, "You are out
of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, "It is his angel.’” You can see at the end of verse fifteen in
the highlighted words that they thought that Peter had an angel. MacArthur writes “But that superstitions belief
is merely reflected in this text; it is neither taught nor substantiated here
or anywhere else in Scripture.”
Maybe
it will be best to finish this section in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to say
that I am being more and more convinced that I really don’t have a guardian
angel watching over me, but if needed, the Lord will send one to give me the
aid that I need whenever I need it.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to give me help and aid when
He knows that I really are in need of it.
12/21/2022 11:16 AM
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