SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/27/2023 9:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “Jesus Loves the Little Children”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 19:13-15
Message of the verses: “13 Then some
children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray;
and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, "Let the children
alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these." 15 And after laying His hands on them, He
departed from there.”
The
SD’s in this section of Matthew 19 are a bit different than other SD’s I have
been writing because there is a lot of commentary as we look at how Jesus loved
the little children. Sometimes I have
written one SD on an entire chapter, (mostly from the OT), and sometimes there
is more than ten SD’s for only one verse.
At any rate we want to continue looking at these three verses and will
be doing this for some time.
There
is nothing in these verses to indicate that, as some claim, Jesus was isolating
these supposedly elect children from others who were nonelect. We have gone over the term elect in many of
the SD’s that I have written, but just a refresher on this subject and that is
that I believe that before the foundation of the earth, before even angels were
created that God chose people who would become believers. I can’t explain this, as no one can, but I
believe this is what the Bible teaches.
Looking at Ephesians one can see this truth along with passages in
Revelation and other NT books. Jesus
makes no mention of baptism, parental covenant, parental faith, or
ecclesiastical rite. He does not mention
personal faith on the part of the children, who were probably too young to have
exercised such belief. What is happening
here is the Lord was simply saying that those children, representative of all
children, were a picture of the humility, dependency, and trust of those of any
age who enter His kingdom.
MacArthur writes:
“The kingdom of heaven is the sphere of God’s rule in Christ through
gracious salvation. For those who have
reached the age when personal saving faith can be exercised, the kingdom is
entered only by a divinely illuminated understanding of what it means to trust
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The
implication of such as these is that for those who, because of young age or
mental deficiency, are incapable of exercising saving faith, God grants them,
in the event of death, entrance into the kingdom by the sovereign operation of
His grace. When children die before they
reach the age of decision, they go into the presence of Jesus Christ, because
they are under the special protection of the sovereign King.”
When
I was growing up I went to a Methodist church and the belief there was that the
“age of accountability” was 12 years old. I thought that I could do what I wanted to do
before 12 years of age, and then after that I would have to behave or I would
be lost. In the first place the age of
accountability is when a person knows that he is lost and in need of a Savior
in order to save them, and this varies between individuals as some can
understand this truth at a very young age, and some as MacArthur writes never
reach that knowledge because of mental issues that prevent them from
understanding it.
When
David sinned with Bathsheba and she became pregnant God told David through
Nathan the prophet, which is seen in 2 Samuel 12, that David had sinned against
God in doing what he did and that four of his offspring would die because of
this sin. In truth there was no sacrifice
that could be offered to cover David’s sins and so it was by God’s grace that
David was not killed. The point of this
story that I want to make is that pretty soon after the baby was born it got
sick and died. David put on sackcloth
and prayed that the baby would live to no avail. David said in 2 Samuel 12:23 “But now he has
died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he
will not return to me." David was
saying that when I die then I can go to heaven and see him. Peter writes about the confident that David
had in his sermon from Acts chapter 2 as we read: “25 “For David says concerning Him: ‘I
foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may
not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover
my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have made known to
me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence’” (Acts
2:25-28). “8 I have set the LORD
continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore
my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. 10
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to
undergo decay. 11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence
is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Ps.
16:8-11). I believe that this is where
Peter quoted from in his sermon found in Acts chapter two.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look again at these verses in Acts and
in the Psalms I think about just how unworthy that I am to receive the
salvation that God has provided for me through Jesus Christ my Lord. Perhaps in heaven I will get a better
understanding of what it was on that warm January day while in Florida that the
Holy Spirit gave me an effectual call that I could not say no to, and at that
moment I became a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. I am thankful for that gift of salvation that
was bestowed on me that day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will allow me times
where I can share my faith with someone so they too can experience the wonders
of salvation.
2/28/2023 10:16 AM
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