SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/25/2023 9:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The
Proportion and Power of His Suffering”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
20:19b
Message of the verse: “to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
The first thing that I wish to say is that I realize
that I have been writing a lot about the sufferings of Jesus Christ in the past
week or so, and I make no apologies for doing this as His sufferings, His life,
death, and resurrection are the very heart of the gospel message. Without His sufferings and death and
resurrection there would be no gospel and every human being, everyone born on
planet earth, would end up in the fires of hell.
One more thing I wish to say and that is that I know that I have been
quoting from John MacArthur’s sermons and his commentaries a lot in the past
week or so, and for that I also make no apologies because after quoting from
them, after listening to his sermons I have learned many things and it is my
desire to pass on what I learn to anyone who takes the time to read my
Spiritual Diaries. With that said I will
continue quoting from MacArthur’s commentary and will try and finish with this
very important section today.
“Jesus
also suffered the pain of rejection.
He was turned over to the chief priests and scribes, who, in the name of
all Israel, God’s own chosen people, rejected His messiahship and treated Him
instead as a criminal worthy of death.
He was the Stone the builders rejected.
The redeemer of Israel ‘came to His own, and those who were His own did
not receive Him’ (John 1:11). His
disciples fled from Him ashamed even to be called His friends, much less His
servants. He had to endure the rejection
even of His own Father, who could not look upon the sin borne in the body of
the Son.
“Jesus
suffered the pain of humiliation.
He was mocked by the leaders of His own people and then mocked by the
Gentiles to whom they sent Him. Those
pagans humiliated Him with a mock crown, a mock scepter, a mock robe of
royalty, and mock obeisance. They scorned
Him, spat on His face, and nailed Him naked to a cross for the world to behold.
“Jesus
suffered the pain of unjust guilt.
The guilt He took upon Himself and for which He suffered and died was
not His own. It was for the sins of
others that He paid the penalty. All the
guilt of all the people who had ever lived and who would ever live was placed
on Him. It was perhaps the prospect of
bearing that guilt and shame that caused the sin-despising Christ to sweat
great drops of blood as He prayed that last night in Gethsemane.
“Jesus
suffered the pain if Injury. As
already noted, Roman scourging was done with a whip tipped with sharp bits of
bone and metal that tore deep gashes into the flesh and even into the organs
and bones of the victim. The customary
ordeal consisted of forty lashes, administered with such intensity that it
often required a second man to finish the beating. Because of the extreme shock and profuse
bleeding, victims frequently died before the full number of lashes could be applied.
“Finally, Jesus suffered the pain of death itself. Physiologically, it may have been from suffocation that He died. But the most painful suffering that killed Him was the cumulative grief He had to endure as penalty for the sins of mankind. To save the lost whom He loved with infinite love, He had to become for them the sin He hated with infinite hatred. God ‘made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Cor. 5:21).
“But contrary to what both His friends and His
enemies thought, Jesus’ death was not the end.
The Father would never allow His ‘Holy One to undergo decay’ (Ps.
16:10). Therefore, on the third day Jesus
would be raised up, never to face suffering or death again. He died to conquer sin and its penalty, which
is death. He died that those who believe
in Him would never have to die.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am very
thankful for this study on the sufferings of my Lord, as I now have new insight
into what His sufferings were all about.
I realize that this is a hard subject to write and to think about, but I
know that it was much, much more difficult to live through, and for that I am
thankful. To think about each time that
I sin, that it is what caused all the sufferings of my Lord, and that is in its
self very sorrowful for me.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
(a thought)
My sin, not in part, but the whole (every bit, every bit, all of it)
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more (yes)
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.
4/25/2023 9:45 AM
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