SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/9/2023 7:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The
Counter Question”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
21:24-27
Message of the verses: “24 Jesus said to
them, "I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also
tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 “The baptism of John was from
what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning
among themselves, saying, "If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then
why did you not believe him?’ 26 “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the
people; for they all regard John as a prophet." 27 And answering Jesus,
they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will
I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
I think it best if I begin with a quotation from
MacArthur’s commentary. “When He was on
trial before the high priest Caiaphas, ‘Jesus kept silent,’ refusing to give a
single further word of testimony (Matt. 27:14).
And when Pilate asked Him to respond to the accusations of the chief
priests and elders, Jesus ‘did not answer him with regard to even a single
charge’ (27:14).
“When a person steadfastly refuses to hear God’s
truth and to receive His grace, God may choose to withdraw Himself. In face of the unrelenting wickedness of
mankind in Noah’s day, the Lord declared, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man
forever’ (Gen. 6:3). The Lord finally
said of Ephraim, ‘Ephraim is joined to idols; let him along’ (Hos. 4:17), and in
relation to rebellious Judah, ‘He turned Himself to become their enemy, He
fought against them’ (Isa. 63:10).’”
There are more examples that MacArthur writes
about: “Even as Jesus approached
Jerusalem during His triumphal entry, He had wept over the city saying, ‘If you
had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they
have been hidden from your eyes. For the
days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and
surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground
and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon
another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation’ (Luke
19:41-44). And soon after Jesus’ severe excoriation of the scribes and
Pharisees, He lamented, ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and
stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were
unwilling. Behold, your house is being
left to you desolate! For I say to you,
from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the
name of the Lord!’ (Matt. 23:37-39).”
With
those quotations the commentary on our verses is complete. Tomorrow, Lord willing we will begin looking
at “The Characterization.”
7/9/2023 8:14 AM
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