SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2023 8:25 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Their
Persistent Plea”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
20:29-31
Message of the verses: “29 As they were
leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the
road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on
us, Son of David!" 31 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they
cried out all the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!’”
I wish I had a map to show the places where Jesus
had just been ministering, but I guess that I will try and describe it. Jesus had just finished His ministry in
Galilee, ministered on the east side of the Jordan River in a place called
Perea. He now had to re-cross the Jordan
back into Judah, which was just above the Dead Sea near Jericho. Now as He and His disciples were going out of Jericho there was a great multitude that was following them.
One
of things that happened in Jericho which Matthew does not write about was the
salvation of the tax collector Zaccheus which is seen in the 19th
chapter of Luke and verses 1-10. Let me
just quote those verses to show how this happened. 1 He entered Jericho and was passing through.
2 And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax
collector and he was rich. 3 Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was
unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and
climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass
through that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him,
"Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. 7 When they saw it,
they all began to grumble, saying, and “He has gone to be the guest of a
man who is a sinner." 8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord,
"Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I
have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." 9
And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because
he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to
save that which was lost.’”
This was another man who came to know the Lord as
their Savior and Lord as we will see that these two blind men also came to a
saving knowledge of Jesus while there.
Notice what Zaccheus did after Jesus called Him, and was telling the
Lord that he would pay back those he had cheated. When we look later on in Matthew 20 we will
see that after these two blind beggars were healed that they began to follow the Lord. Evidences of salvation are what we see in
both cases.
I
can tell you that Jericho is a city in Israel that I would love to visit some
day. It seems that the climate is very
good there, especially during the winter time.
There could be snow in Jerusalem, but sunny and warm in Jericho in the
winter time. It is only 15 miles apart
as the crow flies, but Jericho is below sea level and Jerusalem is above sea
level. I think that the difference is
about 4000 feet.
I
will end with the following quote from John MacArthur: “The city of Jericho was a jewel in the
barren wilderness that surrounded the Dead Sea, an oasis of fresh water, beautiful
trees, and productive crops of figs, citrus and other fruit. Among other things, it was known as the city
of the palms. Herod built a fort and
winter palace there, and Josephus reports that, when there was snow in
Jerusalem, only fifteen miles away, Jericho was warm and pleasant.” Looks like MacArthur agrees with me on this,
but actually I remember this from his sermon.
5/21/2023 8:47 PM
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