SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/25/2024 11:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Shocking
the Twelve”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
26:21b-24
Message of the verses: “He said,
"Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me." 22 Being deeply grieved,
they each one began to say to Him, "Surely not I, Lord?" 23 And He
answered, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will
betray Me. 24 “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him;
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good
for that man if he had not been born.’”
We begin by looking at the word “betray.” MacArthur writes that this word in the Greek
is Paradidomi, and “literally means
to give over and was often used to delivering a prisoner over to prison or
punishment. Jesus had mentioned His
impending death to the disciples several times, but this was the first time He
mentioned His betrayal. And it was
especially painful for the disciples to hear Jesus say that the betrayer would
be “one of you.’”
I suppose that there are times when I read over this
section that I just kind of read it and not think too much about what it
means. Jesus knew that it was prophesied
that someone would betray Him, and because He knows all things He knew it would
be Judas, but as we dig more and more into this passage we will see that all of
the disciples, excluding Judas, were surprised that someone in their group
would betray Jesus. I wonder if they
knew what Jesus would be betrayed to and for what reason He would be
betrayed. I think that what affects me
the most about His betrayal is that Jesus deeply loved Judas and so I have to
believe that it was very hard on Him.
Now think about the fact that Judas’ punishment in hell will most likely
be one of, if not the most severe punishment given out, and then think about
Jesus’ love for Him knowing what his outcome would be. I am not saying that he did not deserve what
did and will happen to him, but we all deserve the same punishment in hell,
maybe not the most severe but we all deserve to be punished for our sins. Jesus loves all people, but knows that not
all people will accept the payment that He made for them and accepting that
forgiveness that Jesus offers is the difference between spending eternity with
Him, or spending eternity in the place where Judas will spend eternity. Read the following wonderful verses and think
deeply about them: “1 Now I make known
to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received,
in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the
word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to
you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was
buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1
Cor. 15:1-4). Paul was writing to
believers in Corinth and was about to write about the resurrection to them in
the next 54 verses, but first he takes the time to remind them of what happened
to them when they first became a believer, and this happened after Paul
preached the gospel to them, and then Paul goes on to tell them what the gospel
message is about and what they did in order to become believers.
This
is the most important thing that will ever happen to any person who has, is, or
will be born on planet earth, the biggest decision one can make so take some
time to ask the Lord to show you the things that are in these highlighted
verses and then if you are not a believer, a born-again believer take the time
to tell the Lord that you know that you are a sinner, that you were born a
sinner and in need of salvation. You
also know that there is nothing on your own that you can do to become a
believer, but there is something that Jesus Christ did for you which will give
you eternal life, eternal life that begins with salvation and will never ever
end. The gospel song says “Jesus paid it
all, and all to Him I owe” and living for Him after you become a believer in
Him is what you owe to Him for dying for you.
4/25/2024 11:52 AM
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