SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/9/2023 8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “Judgment Was Inevitable”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
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.”
I want to begin this last SD on these verses by
looking at Revelation 22:11 “"Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong;
and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous,
still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.’”
In this last portion of the last book of the Bible we see God’s final word to
mankind. As men are in the end, so they
will be forever. And whether in His
gracious saving of those who receive His Son or in His holy judgment of those
who do not, He will be glorified forever.
Now
I have to admit that I probably should have included that paragraph in my SD from
yesterday, but if you missed looking at yesterday’s SD (11-08-2023) then go
back and look at it and perhaps you will see why it would have fit well in that
SD.
Now
we come to the last part of verse 35 in this SD and I have to say that there
has been some controversy as to which Zechariah that Jesus is referring to in
this section: “from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah.” Before we look at the controversy let me
begin by saying that the Jews had been killing God’s people and storing up
greater and greater wrath and judgment for a very long time as seen in this
portion of verse 35. I have to say that
because of my study of Zechariah which began on April 7, 2016, and because I am
now teaching Zechariah in our Sunday school class which began in late June of
this year I have become friends with Zechariah and when I first studied this
book in 2016 Warren Wiersbe stated that the Zechariah Jesus was speaking of was
not the Zechariah whose book I am teaching through now. I since have changed my mind about this and
the reason is that Jesus it seems to me is giving a timeline from the beginning
of the Old Testament to the end of the Old Testament there have been
unrighteous people killing righteous people and it still goes on today. One of the reasons that I did not think it
was the Zechariah whose book is named after him is because the Jews had just
returned from captivity and it seemed that there was a revival going on once
they returned. However things can change
in a hurry as evidenced in what is going on in my country at this time and so
it is not that surprising to me that the Zechariah Jesus is talking about is
the one that I am studying at this time for our Sunday school class.
John
MacArthur writes “Unrighteous Cain slew righteous Able, his brother. He could not tolerate his brother’s purity
and godliness, because righteousness itself is a type of judgment on sin,
exposing it for what it is.” The truth
is that all people are born sinners, which means that all people sin because
they are born with Adam’s sin as we are all children of Adam. We sin because we are sinners, and the only
way that we can be accepted by the Lord is to accept the fact we are sinners,
confess it to the Lord, and then as the Lord to forgiveness based on what
Christ did on the cross. We cannot
become righteous on our own and when people see believers who are righteous as
MacArthur says it is a judgment on them and they can’t stand it and like Cain
killed Able these unrighteous people want to kill the righteousness
people. It still goes on today as these
unrighteous people are now making laws in order to kill unborn babies. One day if they don’t repent and come to
Christ they will face the fires of hell.
I
want to now quote the last paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary in this
section as in his commentary before this he wrote similar things that I have
already written about who was the Zechariah was and believed that it was the
Zechariah who wrote the book of Zechariah.
“It
is significant that Jesus said, whom you murdered, speaking directly to the
scribes and Pharisees but including all unbelieving Israel (v.36). Although the murder of the prophet had been
over 500 years earlier, the wicked leaders the Lord now addressed had
participated in it. By their murdering
Jesus, the incarnation of righteousness, they proved their complicity in and
solidarity with the persecution and murder of every righteous person who had
ever suffered at the hands of evil men.”
Lord
willing we will begin to look at verse 36, the verse referenced by MacArthur in
his quote in our next SD. “Truly I say
to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Jesus was angry over the acts of the scribes
and Pharisees, but Jesus can handle anger perfectly because He is God. I have to say that I can’t handle anger,
especially over the fact that our stated put into its constitution the murder
of unborn babies up unto they are ready to be born. I should be angry over this, but I have to
let the judgment of their sin be taken care of by God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord when it comes to judgment
as his judgment is perfect.
11/9/2023 9:13 AM
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