SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2023 9:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The
Riches of Poverty”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 19:27-29
Message of the verses: “27 Then Peter said
to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will
there be for us?" 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you,
that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit
on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel. 29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers
or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will
receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
I want to continue to talk about the eleven
disciples as I begin this SD this morning.
When Jesus was about to be crucified and told the twelve that one of
them would betray Him the disciples did not realize who He was talking about,
even when Jesus told Judas to do what he had to do. They still did not get it, but would later
on. The point is that even the eleven
despite their small faith and slowness to understand Jesus’ teaching, had truly
given themselves to Him. They shared
with Judas many of the common Jewish misconceptions about the Messiah and His
kingdom. The truth is that they may
still have been expecting Him to establish the kingdom during their own
lifetime, and therefore could not bring themselves to accept the idea that
Jesus had to suffer, and then die. Even
after Jesus was resurrected from the dead and was about to go back to heaven
that these same eleven disciples asked Him when the kingdom would start up,
when would He return and He answered them:
"It is
not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own
authority” (Acts 1:7b). The disciples continued to follow and obey
Jesus even though they did not truly understand all that was going on. The truth of what was going to happen was
actually written in the OT prophets and Psalms, as they told exactly what was
going to happen to the Messiah. As
mentioned the disciples only knew what the Jewish leaders, that is the scribes
and Pharisees had taught them, and it was not all the truth that is found in
the Old Testament. These eleven
disciples, even though they did not realize all that was going to happen still
had great faith in the Lord as Peter had said in John 6:68-69 “68 Simon Peter
answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69
“We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”
John MacArthur writes: “Although Peter and the others were still
confused about much of Jesus’ message and mission, they knew they truly
belonged to Him and that He truly loved them and would not forsake them. They were certain He had something divinely
good in store for them, even if they had a distorted idea of what it was. Peter therefore asked to hear from Jesus’ own
lips concerning what then will there be for us?
‘What are the benefits of Your kingdom for us?’ they wanted to know ‘What
do we have to look forward to as Your disciples?’
“Some
have criticized Peter for his expectation of blessing and reward. But Jesus gave no hint of dissatisfaction
with the question. Instead, He
acknowledged that they were indeed His true and sincere disciples, referring to
them as you who have followed Me. The
Greek aorist participle characterizes them as His followers.”
I
don’t really want to get into the next section today as it will take some time
to explain, but I can say that it is very important and actually looks to the
future when after the tribulation period of seven years is over and then the
one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ is on the earth Jesus will explain the
role of the disciples during that time.
3/27/2023 10:02 AM
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