PT-2 "The Inheritance of the Saved" (Matt. 25:34-40)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2024 7:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-2 “The Inheritance of the Saved”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:34-40

 

            Message of the verses:  “34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37  "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

 

            I want to begin with the words “prepared for you” found in verse 34 which accentuates the selectivity of salvation.  It was before the time that the world was created, that God sovereignly chose those who will belong to Him.  Let us look now at Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”  MacArthur writes “The source of salvation is the Father’s blessing, the reception of salvation is through faith, and the selectivity of salvation is in the advance preparation of the Father made in ages past.  Stressing the same truth, Peter declared, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy he causes us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:3-5).”

 

            Now in the last SD we talked about the good deeds that were seen in Matthew 25:35-36, and some have thought wrongly that these good deeds were what saved these people in the Tribulation period.  Let us look at Ephesians 2:8-10 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  Notice that verses 8-9 show us how we were saved, by grace through faith, and then notice what a believer is to do after they are saved which is seen in verse ten as we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.  Then notice that it is God who prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  The works come after salvation, not before, and the works that a believer is to do have been prepared by God for the believer to do.  I have mentioned this in earlier SD’s and believe that the word that was prepared for me to do in eternity past was the writing of my Spiritual Diaries which are then put onto my two blogs and as Jesus said to the disciples just before He ascended into heaven that they were to give out the good news of the Gospel in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."  I was watching an Easter movie entitled “Risen” and it was a story about the man who was a part of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was instructed by Pilate to find the body of Jesus Christ, and yet when he found the Lord He had been raised from the dead.  At the end of the movie when Jesus was about to go back into heaven He quoted what is found in Acts 1:8, and my thoughts immediately went to my blogs, praising the Lord that the Holy Spirit is using them to go all around the world with the good news of the Gospel. Lord willing we will talk more about what MacArthur has to say about this salvation that is offered in my next SD.

 

            I want to take time to wish everyone a Happy Easter and for them to remember that He has risen, He has risen indeed.

 

3/31/2024 8:16 AM

 

PT-1 "The Inheritance of the Saved" (Matt. 25:34-40)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2024 9:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-1 “The Inheritance of the Saved”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference: Matthew 25:34-40

 

            Message of the verses:  “34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37  "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

 

            I will say as we begin looking at this first of two sub-points that we will be camping out on these verses for a few days, as there will be a fair amount of commentary on them, but we are actually coming to the end of chapter 25 as the next sub-point will be the last in this great sermon that Jesus gave to His disciples not long before He would go to the cross to pay for our sins.

 

            We have seen Jesus call Himself the Son of Man at the beginning of this section in Matthew 25, but now Jesus here reveals unequivocally that the Son of Man who sits on the glorious throne as seen in verse 31 is also the Son of God, the divine King.  Then after his subjects are separated, “the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” You may ask who these believers are, and you must remember that we are talking about the end of the Tribulation period when according to Revelation chapter 19 Jesus has now returned to planet earth and the first thing that He will do is to separate the sheep from the goats which is where we are at now in Matthew 25.  These will be the believers who have survived the holocaust of the Tribulation, and then they will be ushered alive into the millennial kingdom, which has been prepared for them from the foundation of the world.  Now think for a moment about that last part of the previous sentence which I have highlighted, think about what that means and you must come up with the sovereignty of God as He graciously chose those who are being talked about even before the world came into existence.  Don’t ask me to explain it, for I certainly cannot, but I can read it and believe it and be thankful for it, for it has happened to me a little more than fifty years ago and I am still in awe that it did, and I still desire to serve the Lord in the way that He has called me to serve Him.

 

            John MacArthur writes the following to clarify some important issues:  “Doubtlessly anticipating the salvation-by-works interpretations that would be made of verses 35-45, the Lord made clear that believers will not inherit the kingdom based on good deeds they will have or will not have performed on earth.  Their inheritance was determined countless ages ago, even from the foundation of the world.  Those who enter the kingdom will not do so on the basis of the service they have performed for Christ but on the basis of their being blessed by the Father because of their trust in His Son.  They will in no way earn a place in the kingdom.  A child does not earn an inheritance but receives it on the basis of his being in the family.  In exactly the same way, a believer does not earn his way into the kingdom of God but receives it as his rightful inheritance as a child of God and a fellow heir with Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:16-17).”  Now let us look at these very important verses from Romans:  “16 The Spirit Himself testifies with

our spirit that we are children of God,17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at what the Lord has for us as we continue to look at these verses from the 25^th chapter of Matthew tomorrow.  Thanks for visiting the place where I write my blogs and the Holy Spirit then sends them out into all the world to be a witness to the grace of God just as Jesus told His disciples right before He was on His way back to heaven.  but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”  I know that I am not one of His disciples, but I am one of His children and I believe with all my heart that according to Ephesians 2:10 that He has called me to write these Spiritual Diaries so that I can grow in grace, and for the Holy Spirit to send them around the world where over 630,000 have ben read, and all I can say to that is Praise the Lord.

 

3/30/2024 9:39 AM

 

 

The Process of Judgment (Matt. 25:32b-46)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2024 10:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “The Process of Judgment”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  Matthew 25:32b-46

 

            Message of the verses:  “and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 "The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44  "Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 "Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”

 

            Well we are getting closer to end our studies on what is called “The Olivet Discourse” as we begin to look at these verses.  Now this is the second main point in this 10^th chapter of John MacArthur’s commentary which covers chapters 24-28 of Matthew, and so I will again quote from his introduction to these verses and then we will begin tomorrow (Lord willing) begin to look at the different sub-sections under this main section.

 

            “The process of Christ’s judgment will include the absolute and unerring separation of the saved from the unsaved.  When all the nations and peoples of the earth will have been gathered before Him at His return, the Lord Jesus Christ will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

 

            “In the ancient Near East, as in much of the land still today, sheep and goats are frequently herded together.  But sheep are docile, gentle creatures, whereas goats are unruly and rambunctious and can easily upset the sheep.  Because they do not feed or rest well together, the shepherd often separates them for grazing and for sleeping at night.

 

            “IN a similar way the Lord Jesus Christ will separate believers from unbelievers when He returns to establish His millennial kingdom.  He will put the believing sheep on His right, the place of favor and blessing.  But the unbelieving goats He will put on the left, the place of disfavor and rejection.

 

            “In ancient biblical times, a father’s blessing was extremely important, because it determined who would receive the major part of the inheritance.  When Jacob was about to bless his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, he was careful to place his right hand on the one who would receive the inheritance.  Because the major blessing normally went to the eldest son, Manasseh was placed on Jacob’s right and Ephraim on his left.  But when the time for blessing came, Jacob crossed his hands so that his right hand was on Ephraim’s head rather than Manasseh’s. Against Joseph’s objection, Jacob insisted on giving the major blessing to Ephraim, because God had chosen him over his brother (Gen. 48:8-20).

 

            We have two sub-sections which are under this main section and then once we are done with those two we will be done with “The Olivet Discourse” something that began on the 19^th of November 2023.

 

3/29/2024 11:18 AM

PT-3 "The Subjects" (Matt. 25:32a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2024 11:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-3 “The Subjects”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:32a

 

            Message of the verse:  “And all the nations will be gathered before Him;”

 

            In today’s SD I want to continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary, as he is writing about a book that Erich Sauer wrote, who is a German theologian.  Sauer suggests five compelling arguments for a literal and historical future kingdom, and in the last SD we looked at the first one and will continue to look at these beginning with the second argument.

 

            “Second an earthly millennial kingdom is the only explanation of the end times that corresponds to Jesus’ teaching in the gospels.  For example, His promise to the apostles that one day they would ‘sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (Matt. 19:28) would be meaningless apart from a literal, historical restoration of Israel.

 

            “Third, and earthly millennial kingdom is the only consistent interpretation of Messianic prophecy.  It is obvious from the gospel records that a great many of those prophecies were literally fulfilled during Jesus’ live-time.  He was born in Bethlehem, just as Micah predicted (5:2).  He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, was betrayed for thirty pieces of silvers, and was pierced in the side, just as Zechariah predicted (9:9; 11:12; 12:10).  His hands and feet were literally pierced, precisely as the psalmist predicted (22:16; cf. 16:10), and He literally died, was buried, and was resurrected just as Isaiah predicted (53:8-12).

 

            “Those fulfillments were so obviously literal that no one suggests the predictions of them were merely symbolic or spiritual truths.  Yet many other equally specific and detailed predictions about the Messiah, such as His establishing an eternal throne over the kingdom of David, were just as obviously not fulfilled during Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Therefore, to reject the idea of a literal Millennium is to maintain that some of the Old Testament prophecies were literal and some were not. And to take that position is to assume arbitrarily that all prophecies not literally fulfilled by New Testament times are to be spiritualized.

 

            “At the time they were written, Old Testament predictions obviously pertained to the future.  By logic or authority, then, does one take some of their fulfillments to be literal and others to be only figurative?

 

            “Fourth, an earthly, visible kingdom is the best possible way for Jesus Christ to demonstrate that He is the supreme ruler over His creation.  How else could He prove Himself to be King of kings and Lord of lords?  How could He verify that His rulership is superior to that of all other monarchs if He had no opportunity to rule an earthly kingdom?  How better could He prove Himself to be the supremely just King than by personally meting out justice to His subjects?  How better could He prove Himself to be the infinitely merciful Lord than by personally showing mercy on His subjects?  To do those things He would have to have an earthly kingdom, because in heaven there is no need either for justice or for mercy.

            “Could it be that, besides the brief time between the creation of Adam and the Fall, the world will know no dominion but Satan’s. Could it be that God will literally destroy but not literally restore this vast creation, all of which longs to ‘be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ and in that longing ‘groans and suffers the pains of childbirth’ (Rom. 8:21-22)?

 

            “The perfect millennial kingdom will testify through all eternity that Jesus Christ is the supreme sovereign, who alone can bring absolute harmony and peace to a world even while it is still infected by sin.

 

            “Fifth, an earthly millennial kingdom is the only and necessary bridge from human history to eternal glory.  Paul declares that in the end Christ will deliver ‘up the kingdom to God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power’ and that ‘He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet’ (1 Cor. 15:24-25, emphasis added).  What other kingdom could Christ deliver to His Father but an earthly kingdom?  The Father already possesses the kingdom of heaven.  The Millennium could not refer to the church as a spiritualized form of the kingdom, because the kingdom that Christ will deliver to the Father will include His subjected enemies, of which there are none in the redeemed church.  And it will be a kingdom over which Christ exercises total authority, which could not apply to any kingdom the world has known thus far, including the ancient theocracy of Israel during its most faithful days.

 

            “The thousand-year reign of Christ can only refer to a literal, earthly kingdom that Jesus Christ could present to the Father in the way Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15.  It is the kingdom of a literal earth, which righteousness for a literal one thousand years.  And at the end of that time, after Satan is released for a brief period and then permanently defeated and cast into the lake of fire, Christ will present that earthly kingdom to His heavenly Father.”

 

            I am very happy to quote what was written in John MacArthur’s commentary on this subject.  Now remember “When the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.”  Example is from these verses in Revelation chapter 20: Re 20:2  And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

Re 20:3  and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

Re 20:4  Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Re 20:5  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Re 20:6  Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. Re 20:7  When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison”

3/28/2024 12:17 PM

PT-2 "The Subjects" (Matt. 25:32a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2024 11:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Subjects”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:32a

 

            Message of the verse: “And all the nations will be gathered before Him;”

 

            II have mentioned in times past that when I run into a long series of paragraphs in MacArthur’s commentaries that has no Scripture references in it that I usually just quote what he has to say so that everyone who the Lord brings to these Spiritual Diaries on my blogs will have a better understanding of what the subject is about.  We have been talking about what the Bible has to say about a literal Millennial Kingdom and that is what the subject will be about as we continue looking at MacArthur’s quotes from his commentary.

 

            “Those who reject a literal Millennium must do one or more of three things.  The first is to confuse Israel and the church, taking the church to be a spiritualized form of the ancient nation of Israel.  In that case, the Old Testament curses were for literal Israel, being already fulfilled, and the promises of blessing to Israel would be fulfilled in the church, but in a spiritual, not literal, way.  That kind of divided, inconsistent hermeneutics is unacceptable.  The second is to make present or past what is clearly future, assuming that all the promises to the literal nation and people of Israel have already been fulfilled, making the earthly kingdom unnecessary.  The third is to arbitrarily spiritualize certain Old Testament prophecies, taking the predicted places, events, or persons as being merely symbols of spiritual ideas or truths instead of physical and historical realities.”  Now let me just jump in here to give me a view as to why these people who believe this nonsense are really trying to do.  From the time when the Lord began the children of Israel through Abraham way back in Genesis chapter twelve there has been a battle and that battle goes on today with even members of the church today.  People in the church who believe these things hate Israel, and yet they think that church is pure.  I got news for them the church is not pure and probably has done some things that has caused judgment upon it in a similar way that Israel brought upon themselves.  If one looks at the seven church mentioned in Revelation chapters 3-4 they can see the sinfulness that goes on in them.  In my opinion these churches are in historical order, that is the main church in the world will be similar to the order of these churches in Revelation 3-4.  Look for instance as to what the Lord has to say about the last church, the church where He is not even welcome, and as you read over this think about whether or not you think that is what is going on in most churches today.  “14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’" Rev. 3:14-22).  Now we will go back to MacArthur’s quotations.

 

            “In the book just mentioned above (pp. 144-153) (in yesterday’s SD), Erich Sauer suggested five compelling arguments for a literal and historical future kingdom.  First of all, such a kingdom would be the only adequate confirmation of the truthfulness and reality of God’s promises.  Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would establish an everlasting kingdom on the throne of David (Isa. 9:6-7).  Paul declared that ‘the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,’ referring specifically to His promises to ancient Israel (Rom. 11:29).  But those promises were merely figurative, their fulfillments could never be verified and would be meaningless.  In particular, the prophecies about the Messiah would have no clear meaning and could never be verified.  But Isaiah himself declared that the Lord’s promises are more unshakable than the mountains (Isa. 54:10) and Israel’s endurance as a nation will be as permanent as the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord will one day create (66:22).  Jeremiah affirmed that God’s covenant promises are more secure than the pattern of night following day (Jer. 33:20) and more stable than the courses of the sun, moon, and stars (31:35-36).”

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at the rest of these points that we are looking at today beginning with number two.

 

3/27/2024 12:20 PM

PT-1 "The Subjects" (Matt. 25:32a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2024 11:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1 “The Subjects”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:32a

 

            Message of the verse:  “And all the nations will be gathered before Him;”

 

            In this first part of verse 32 we see the subjects of Christ’s judgment and it will be “all the nations.”  MacArthur writes “Ethna (nations) has the basic meaning of peoples and here refers to every person alive on earth when the Lord returns.  Although He will have taken all believers into heaven at the Rapture, during the following seven years of the Tribulation many other people will come to believe in Him.  During that dreadful time, multitudes of Gentiles (see Rev. 7:9, 14), as well as all surviving Jews (Rom. 11:26), will be brought to faith in Christ.”

 

            Jesus has made it clear that when He returns to planet earth that there will be believers and non believers alive, (sheep and goats).  Here is the issue, and that is that there will be two different destinations as to where these people will go, two destinies.  The believers will be ushered into the kingdom and the unbelievers into eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46).

 

            The believers who are alive at the end of the Tribulation period, when Christ returns will go directly into the earthly kingdom which will last for 1000 years.  As one studies the Scriptures concerning these people there is no indication that those saints will experience any sort of transformation at that time.  However mingling with them and ruling over them will be the glorified saints of all ages who will then be reigning with Christ as seen in Rev. 20:4.  “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”  MacArthur writes about these “Although their bodies will be of vastly different orders, those two groups of saints will be able to communicate and interact with each other just as Jesus communicated and interacted with the disciples in His glorified body after the resurrection.”

 

            Ah millennialists do not believe Christ will reign in a literal, thousand-year kingdom on earth.  I guess they can read Revelation 2:4.  What they consider the Millennium to be is a figurative, spiritualized picture of Christ’s reigning on earth through the hearts of His redeemed people.  It is difficult to see what purpose that all these resurrected believers will do in their glorified bodies.  I have always had trouble with people who cannot understand what the Bible is saying when it is right in front of their noses.  I have heard that when the plain sense of Scriptures makes sense, seek no other sense.  You can’t just make Scripture say what you want it to say you have to look at what it says and then believe it.

 

            I will close this SD with a fairly long quote from MacArthur’s commentary.  “The final rebellion against the glorified Christ and His kingdom of perfect love, wisdom, justice, and righteousness gives final and irrefutable testimony to man’s natural depravity.  Although their environment will be perfect in every respect and Satan will be bound and unable to tempt or in any other way influence men, some people will nevertheless reject Christ even during the Millennium.  The only possible source of their sin and rebellion will be their own corrupt hearts (cf. Jer. 17:9).

 

            “Contrary to what some Bible teachers and theologians claim, the idea of a literal, physical, earthly Millennium did not originate in modern times.  As the astute German theologian Erich Sauer had well documented, belief in such a literal thousand-year earthly kingdom was the common and orthodox view of the early church, from New Testament times through the middle of the third century (see his Triumph of the Crucified [Grand Tapids:  Eerdmans, 1951]).  Early church Fathers such as Papias, Justin, Tertullian, and Hippolytus all affirmed a literal and earthly future kingdom ruled directly by Christ.  It was only later, as allegorical hermeneutics became fashionable, that literal millennialism was reject in favor of a spiritualized interpretation.”

 

3/26/2024 12:28 PM

The Place (Matt. 25:31c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2024 11:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  “The Place”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:31c

 

            Message of the verse:  “then He will sit on His glorious throne.”

 

            The question that is asked here is where will Christ’s judgment take place?  The answer is that it will happen on earth where He will sit on His glorious throne.  Isaiah 9:7 says “7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore.” This is another example of looking at both comings of Jesus Christ to the earth, as verse six is very often used as a “Christmas Verse” and now in verse seven Isaiah talks about what will happen at His second coming.  The reason that this is true is that the OT authors had no idea of the church age which is sandwiched between the two comings of Christ.

 

            The following is what the angel said to Mary before she became pregnant with Jesus:  “31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.’”

 

            The throne of David was in Jerusalem so therefore this is where Christ’s throne will be.  Zechariah tells us in 14:4 the following “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”  MacArthur writes “From that passage it becomes obvious that the Jerusalem then in existence will be cataclysmically transformed to be made suitable as the place of Christ’s divine, glorious throne.”

 

            The following verses tells us what will happen when the Lord returns:  “12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”  These decisions will not be made by men in that day but will be made by God.  As Christ returns to planet earth as described in Revelation chapter 19 there will be no time left for a person to accept the forgiveness that He has to offer, as that will run out for those who will be alive at that time, the time when the Tribulation period will end.  Now we want to look at some more verses from Joel chapter three: 16 The LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel. 17 Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass through it no more.”

 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing the following “At the ascension, an angel made clear that Jesus’ return would be bodily and historical, not figurative or merely spiritual.  He told the astonished disciples, ‘This Jesus, who had been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11).  When He returns to earth He will reign personally on a literal throne, in a literal Jerusalem, and over a literal people.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that this section is not talking about the church age, but living in the church age, and I believe that last part of the church age that I am to be ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ as He comes in the clouds to call His Bride home to be with Him, where we will ever be with the Lord. Those who are living in the Tribulation period, which is what we are looking at in these verses will have an idea of when He will return but they should still be looking out for His coming.  Be ready!

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Live my life like Jesus Christ will return today.

 

3/25/2024 12:24 PM

The Time (Matt. 25:31b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2024 7:50 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  “The Time”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:31b

 

            Message of the verse:  “comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him.”

 

            We have been talking about judgment, and the time for judgment will happen after Christ returns to planet earth bringing his angels and also the raptured church with Him.  We don’t know the time but we do know that if God says this will happen that it will happen.  Now I have written about this subject when studying different prophetic books of the Bible like Revelation, Daniel and it is also in Joel and I suppose many other prophetic books of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

 

            I believe that His judgment will happen as soon as He puts His foot down on the Mount of Olives, as it will split and make a large valley which will go for miles.  Now we have looked a parables while going through this 25^th chapter of Matthew and the parable about the virgins where five did not bring oil and five did shows that the five who did got into the wedding feast and the five who did not were shut out, showing judgment came very fast.

 

            Now I have studied both the books of Daniel and Revelation and in the 19^th chapter of Revelation we can see the return of Jesus Christ with His angels and raptured saints.  The tribulation is 7 years long, seven three hundred and sixty days long which makes the last half 1260 days the same as the first half, but the second half will be by far the worst time in human history.  In the 12^th chapter of Daniel he writes the following “11 “From the time that

the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 13 “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.’”  My understanding is that the extra days will be used to judge the sheep and the goats, with the goats going into punishment, and the sheep into the Millennial Kingdom.  I believe that the other days will be used for Christ to redo the planet into something similar to what it was when He created it so that people will live much longer during the Millennial Kingdom.

 

            All this work will be done with the help of the angels and the saints who came back with the Lord, as there will actually be judgment throughout the Millennial Kingdom.  Paul talks about angels judging in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 “5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7  and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8  dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

 

            Matthew 24:29-31 speaks of this also “29  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

 

            MacArthur concludes “The Lord will come not only with His angels but with His saints.  ‘When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,’ Paul assured the Colossians believers, ‘then you also will be revealed with Him in glory’ (Col. 3:4).  The Old Testament saints, the saints of the church who will have died, the saints who will have been raptured, and the saints who will have been martyred during the Tribulation will all accompany Christ and join the saints still living on earth when He descends to earth to establish His millennial kingdom.”  Can’t wait for that day!

 

3/24/2024 8:14 AM

PT-2 "The Judge" (Matt. 25:31a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2024 12:21 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus: “The Judge”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:31a

 

            Message of the verse:  “But when the Son of Man”

 

            When we look at the gospel records we will find out that in the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ that He was always judicious in the way He made claims that He was the King.  He did not want to needlessly incite the ire of His enemies.  When we go back to what is called Psalm Sunday, (celebrated tomorrow) the people who saw Jesus ride into Jerusalem really thought that He was their Messiah, but the reason that most of them thought this was because they wanted Him to be King and take care of the Romans who were ruling over them at that time.  When this did not happen they would be the first to yell Crucify Him.

 

            Now in this 24^th and 25^th chapter of Matthew Jesus is out of the public eye and only with His disciples and so He unambiguously declared that He, the Son of Man, would one day take His rightful place as the great King and Judge, and that would happen when He returns from Heaven with His raptured saints and with the angels to end the war of Armageddon, separate the sheep from the goats, send Satan, Antichrist, and the false prophet into hell, (I believe) recreate the world that was greatly destroyed from the Tribulation Period, and set up His Millennial Kingdom in Jerusalem to rule from David’s throne. 

 

            MacArthur writes “The certainty of God’s ultimate judgment of the wicked was prophesied even by ‘Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam.’  Through divine revelation, that ancient man of God declared, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him’ (Jude 14-15).

 

            “In light of the utter and perfect holiness of the Almighty and the persistent sinfulness and ungodliness of man that Enoch pointed out, it is not the Lord’s coming in wrath to render judgment that is amazing but rather His first coming in grace to offer salvation.  The wonder is not that Jesus will some day come in glory to judge the world but that He first came in humility to save sinners.  The marvel is not that God promises to condemn sinners for their sin but that He first offers them deliverance from it.  In coming to save those who trust in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated His great love for the unlovely by bearing the penalty of their sin, dying the death they deserve.  What is remarkable is that He came to redeem sinners who are worthy only of His judgment.”  To which I say AMEN!!!

 

3/23/2024 12:40 PM

PT-1 "The Judge" (Matthew 25:31a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2024 10:41 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  PT-1 “The Judge”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 25:31a

 

            Message of the verse:  “But when the Son of Man”

 

            I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that there are several main points with sub points attached to them as we finish this last part of the 25^th chapter of Matthew.  The main point connected to this sub point is entitled “The Setting of Judgment” and it covers Matthew 25:31-32a “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.  And all the nations will be gathered before Him;”

 

            The first thing that we need to understand that Jesus used the name “Son of Man” 29 times in the book of Matthew, and Jesus Christ is the sovereign judge over the separation of the sheep and the goats.  Let us look at John 5:22 “"For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.”  God the Father has delegated all judgment authority to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            Let’s talk a bit about what this title “Son of Man” means.  MacArthur writes “That title affirmed His incarnation, His identity with mankind, His time of humiliation and sacrifice.  It reflected His condescension, His submissiveness, His humility, His meekness, and His gracious love for fallen humanity.

            “That title also tended to be less offensive than “Son of God.”  To have referred regularly to Himself as the Son of God would have aroused additional and needless hostility from the Jewish religious leaders, and they would have given even less heed to His teaching than they did.

            “In addition to those reasons, for Jesus regularly to have used any such exalted title of Himself would have tempted His followers to be presumptuous and arrogant, missing His message of spiritual salvation.  Messiah, He would soon overthrow the Roman yoke and establish His earthly kingdom on the throne of David.”

 

            MacArthur writes that there is one more reason “In addition to shoes reasons, His referring to Himself as Son of Man provided a profound contrast with the titles and roles He will have when He comes in glory.  It suggested a clear distinction between His two comings.”

 

            In verses 34 and 40 we see the following “34  "Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  “40 "The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”  Notice the highlighted portions of these two verses and we can see that Jesus went from calling Himself The Son of Man to The King because even thought He surely was the King while on earth the first time, He was humble and came to save us from our sins.  In the Millennial Kingdom He will be both King and Judge, and that is why the name changes. Jesus had never directly referred to Himself as King up until this point.  Jesus had told a parable about a king who represented God the Father (Matt. 22:1-14); but not until now talking privately to the Twelve as seen in Matt. 24:3, did He speak of Himself as King.  In Matthew 27:11 Jesus answered Pilate who ask Him “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied simply “It is as you say” (Matt. 27:11).  But Pilate did not take that claim seriously, at least not in a political sense, as evidenced by the fact that he offered the Jews and opportunity to secure Jesus’ release, knowing “that because of envy they had delivered Him up” (vv. 17-18).

 

3/22/2024 11:15 AM  

PT-3 "Intro to Matthew 25:31-46

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/21/2024 9:42 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-3 “Intro to Matthew 25:31-46”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:31-46

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44  "Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 "Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

            I have to say that I did not really end the last SD at a good place, and so I want to continue talking about Jesus talking about judgment as we begin this SD. 

 

            One of the things that I have on my prayer list that I use most is praising the attributes of God and when one looks at the attributes of God they will find that God is love, something that most people believe, but God is also just, and we as human beings have a hard time in combining those two attributes.  I have to say that if you are a parent of smaller children, even teenage children that you probably have a good idea of how to combine these two attributes and there are times that what is called tough love comes into play when raising children as you have to discipline your children because it is the best thing that can be done for them at certain times, and that love is combined with judgment.  I know we can never do this like the Lord does it but I think that parental love illustrates this. 

 

            John MacArthur writes about His love in which he says “Yet nothing Jesus said or did was inconsistent with His gracious love.  He wept at the impending punishment coming on Jerusalem’s people (Luke 19:41-44).  His warnings of judgment and punishment were acts of live, divine appeals for men to turn from their sin in order to escape the condemnation that would otherwise be inevitable.  One of love’s supreme desires is to protect those it loves from harm, and Jesus therefore spoke so much of judgment because, in His infinite love and grace, it was not His wish nor the Father’s ‘for any to perish but for all to come to repentance’ (2 Pet. 3:9).  What more important and loving warning could there be than warning about the eternal damnation every human being faces apart from Jesus Christ?  Jesus sought to draw men to Himself not only through the attractiveness of salvation but through the horrors of its only alternative.”

 

            I have mentioned that what we have been looking at since the 19^th of November of 2023 is a sermon which is called “The Olivet Discourse,” and it is named that because Jesus preached this sermon to His disciples about the tribulation period while on the Mount of Olives.  We now want to consider Jesus’ closing words in this sermon on His second coming as at the end of the tribulation period He will return to planet earth, and this time not as a Savior, but as a judge as we will see.  Now at the end of this sermon Jesus gives one of the most severe and sobering warnings of judgment in all of Scripture.  MacArthur writes that this is “Pictured as the divine separation of the righteous sheep from the unrighteous goats, that judgment will occur just before Christ establishes His millennial kingdom on earth.  Not only will it determine the ultimate, eternal destinies of everyone living at the end of the Tribulation but will also determine who will and will not enter the kingdom.  Only those who belong to the King, believers who have been born into God’s spiritual family and been made citizens of His kingdom, will enter His glorious kingdom.”

 

            Now it is my practice to quote the last paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary in order to see the direction that will take place as we look at the verses we will be looking at.  “The judgment of the sheep and the goats is not mentioned in any of the other gospels, no doubt because they do not focus on Christ’s kingship, as does Matthew.  For that same reason Matthew places much greater emphasis on all aspects of the Lord’s second coming than do the other gospels, because it is at His return that He will manifest Himself as King of kings and Lord of lords in consummate regal glory and power (Rev. 19:11-16).” 

 

I will now give the different subjects and verse that pertain to them as we move through these verses.  1) “The Setting of Judgment” (25:31-32) Subsection to this main section (The Judge 25. 31a); (“The Time” 25:31b); (“The Place” 25:31c); (“The Subjects” 25:32a).  2) “The Process of Judgment” (25:32b-46).  Sub-sections to this second main point:  (“The inheritance of the Saved” 25:34-40); (“The Condemnation of the Unsaved” 25:41-46).  As you can see we will be in this 25^th chapter of Matthew for some time yet, but I believe will be blest as we look at these subjects.

 

3/21/2024 10:15 AM