SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/7/2023 9:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 "Judgment was
Inevitable"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 23:34-35
Message of the verses: “34 Therefore,
behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you
will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues,
and persecute from city to city, 35 that upon you may fall the guilt of
all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the
blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple
and the altar.”
The following characteristics of Matthew’s gospel
are found in verse 34 where we read prophets and wise men and scribes as they
were uniquely Jewish. Matthew was
speaking of the apostles and other teachers, preachers, and writers of the New
Testament age, Jesus used Old Testament terms that His hearers would be sure to
understand. The ones that He is talking about,
the Spirit-endowed leaders would be used of God to minister His gospel to the
world and to complete what His written Word would say, and that would not end
until the apostle John would finish the book of Revelation around 95 A. D. God’s written Word was thus written so that
men might accurately hear the full message of His grace and so would be saved.
MacArthur
adds “But those men would also fulfill another purpose, less consciously but as
divinely ordained as that positive one.
Just as they would be ministers of salvation they would also be
ministers of judgment. Just as they
would lead many to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, they would also lead others
to confirm their rejection of Him as Savior and Lord. ‘I am sending them to you
‘Jesus said to the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees, ‘that upon you may fall
the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth.’ While others were having the opportunity to
receive Him, they would have further opportunity to reject Him—which they would
do. They would have additional chances to reject Him in order that they might
pile upon themselves an even greater weight of guilt, which would earn them
even more severe judgment (cf. Rom. 2:5).”
“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing
up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God.”
I want to now look at how MacArthur explains the
word “that” in verse 35. He writes Hopos (that) relates to purpose, meaning
‘In order that’ or ‘for the purpose of.’
It was fully within God’s purpose that the wicked leaders of Israel,
along with all other Jews who rejected Christ, have the guilt of all the
righteous blood shed on earth come down on their heads. As far as the hardened scribes and Pharisees
were concerned, the only gain they would
receive from hearing more of the gospel would be more guilt and greater
judgment.” As I look at this quote I go
back to when my father-in-law was still alive and my wife would say that we had
told him the gospel message many, many times and she felt that if we continued
to share Christ with him that if he did not become a believer that he would
receive greater punishment in hell. I
will never forget him asking me a question two days before he died as he asked
me what was going to happen to him after he died, as I believe that he knew his
life was almost over at 102 plus years on earth. I told him that he had to accept Jesus Christ
as his savior, just what he had heard many times before. He said yes, but to this day I don’t know if
he was ever saved.
It
seems that MacArthur addresses this in his next paragraph of his commentary
which I will quote and end this SD with it.
“It is not that God desires for men to reject His grace and be condemned
(2 Pet. 3:9) but that when they persist in rejecting Him, they bring upon themselves
the righteous outpouring of His wrath.
The more they hear of His truth, the more accountable and guilty they
become if they continue to reject it.” “9
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2
Pet. 3:9).
11/7/2023 9:51 AM
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