SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2023 9:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The
Astonishment”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 22:33
Message of the
verse: “33
And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His
teaching.”
I have mentioned in our last SD that it along with
the one today will be very short. Well
this one will actually be shorter than the one from yesterday, as we will be
wrapping up our study of Jesus confronting the Sadducees, and then in the next
SD I will be talking about the “lawyer” that the Pharisees sent to confront
Jesus in verses 34-40.
The
following is the meaning of the word “astonished”
1) to strike out, expel by a blow, drive
out or away
2) to cast off by a blow, to drive out
2a) commonly, to strike one out of
self-possession, to strike with panic, shock, astonish
3) to be struck with amazement,
astonished, amazed
The truth of this verse is that the
crowds were used to be astonished by the teaching of Jesus. Luke writes the following in his comparative
passage of Luke 20:39 “Some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher,
You have spoken well.’” Luke goes on in
verse 40 to write: “For they did not have courage to question Him any longer
about anything.” Verse 40 is speaking of
the Sadducees not having the courage to question Jesus any longer. The truth is that if they would have believed
Jesus then they would have been convinced of who He really is.
MacArthur concludes his comments on
this verse by writing “In the Temple that day Christ again magnificently
demonstrated His deity, giving an answer to the unanswerable that could have
come only from the omniscient mind of God.
Christ demonstrated His absolute commitment to Scripture, and infinitely
greater commitment than the biased and self-deceptive commitment of the
Sadducees. And our Lord divinely affirmed
the reality and glory of the resurrection that awaits those who belong to Him.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
When Jesus came to earth He talked to many people about their need to
trust Him as their Savior and Lord, and yet when we look at the beginning of
the book of Acts we only see 120 people sitting in the upper room waiting for
the Holy Spirit to come upon them. My
point is that there were many who rejected the Savior when He was right in
front of them speaking to them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
trust the Lord when it comes to witnessing to a number of old friends that I
have become reacquainted with and have been praying for. I spoke to one of them, Bill yesterday and he
told me that it was none of my business of how he believed. I told him it was my business and it seems
that he appreciated that comment.
8/31/2023 9:59
AM
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