SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2023 9:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The Epitome of Praise”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
21:8-9
Message of the verses: “8 And most of the
multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches
from the trees, and spreading them in the road. 9 And the multitudes going before
Him, and those who followed after were crying out, saying, "Hosanna to the
Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the
highest!’”
We continue to look at what is called Psalm Sunday, but
as earlier stated MacArthur believes it was held on a Monday, and I have
actually heard of other days of the week that it was held, but the point of the
matter is that it did happen in fulfillment of prophecy.
There
is no doubt that the multitudes knew who Jesus was, but they really did not
understand or truly believe the things that they knew, this is sorry but it is
true. A person today can understand who
Jesus is, but knowing who He is and having Him as your Savior and Lord are two
different things. These people were
right in their belief that He was the Messiah, the Son of David, and that He
had come in the name of the Lord. The
problem was that they were wrong in their belief about the sort of Deliverer He
was. They knew that He was a king;
however they did not understand the nature of His kingship or even His
kingdom. The problem was that as earlier
stated, they did not realize any more than Pilate that the kingdom He came then
to bring was not of this world as seen in John 18:36. That is why it dawned on them a few days
later that Jesus had not come to deliver them from the Romans, they turned
against Him. It was later on when some
of these same people were clamoring before Pilate for the release of Barabbas
instead of Jesus (John 18:40), they were shouting in effect, the words Jesus
had predicted in the parable of the nobleman:
We do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14).
The problem back then is the same problem people
have today, and that is that they want Jesus on their own terms, and they would
not bow to a King who was not of their liking, even though He the Son of
God. These people wanted to have their
messiah destroy Rome but they did not want Him to destroy their cherished sins
or their hypocritical, superficial religion.
Jesus would not deliver them on their terms, after all His is God come
in the flesh and has His own “job” to do in delivering them from sin, something
they did not believe they had a problem with.
Jesus did not come the first time to offer a panacea of external peace
in the world but to offer the infinitely greater blessing of internal peace
with God.
I
will conclude this SD with a quotation from MacArthur’s commentary. “Many people today are open to a Jesus who
they think will give them wealth, health, success, happiness, and the other
worldly things they want. Like the
multitude at the triumphal entry, they will loudly acclaim Jesus as long as
they believe He will satisfy their selfish desires. But like the same multitude a few days later,
they will reject and denounce Him when He does not deliver as expected. When His Word confronts them with their sin
and their need of a Savior, they curse Him and turn away.”
6/5/2023 9:45 AM
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