SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2024 7:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “Setting the Time”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
26:17-19
Message of the verses: “17 Now on the
first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked,
"Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" 18 And
He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher
says, "My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house
with My disciples."’" 19 The disciples did as Jesus had directed
them; and they prepared the Passover.
I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s
commentary, and because it is Sunday this will be shorter than other days of
the week. I mentioned in the last SD
that this subject takes up a lot in his commentary.
“That
clandestine approach to securing a meeting place was necessary to prevent Jesus’
premature betrayal. Had the Lord
announced the place earlier, Judas would surely have told the chief priests and
elders (see. Matt. 26:14-16), who would have arrested Jesus secretly there
after dark and before the meal and the vital instruction He planned as part of
it. Even when the instructions were given
to Peter and John, Judas had no way of knowing the location. He and the other nine would not find out
until they arrived that evening.
“In
God’s redemptive plan it was necessary for Jesus to keep the Passover…with His disciples. It would be His last opportunity to teach them
(see John 13-17) and to have intimate fellowship with them. But more importantly even than that, it would
be the time of His transforming the Passover supper of the Old Covenant, marked
by the shedding of lamb’s blood, into the Lord’s Supper of the New Covenant,
which would be marked by the shedding of His own blood (Luke 22:20). He therefore eliminated any possibility of
His arrest before that crucial task could be accomplished.
“Because
Jesus told Peter and John to identify Him as the teacher, it seems probable
that the servant carrying the water pitcher, and certainly the owner of the
house, were believers in the Lord.
Likely Jesus secretly had prearranged for the room with the owner, who
is nowhere identified by name. In any
case, the Lord knew in advance that the accommodations would be large, located
on an upper level, and be fully furnished for the meal (Mark 14:15).
“Jesus
statement, ‘My time is at hand,’ was perhaps more for the sake of the disciples
than the two men whom Peter and John would encounter. Time does not translate chronos, which refers to a general space or succession of time, but
rather to kairos, a specific and
often predetermined period or moment of time.
Jesus’ time was also, of course, the Father’s time, the divinely
appointed time when the Son would offer Himself as the sacrifice for the sins
of the world (cf. 1 John 2:2). Until
now, that monumental time had not come and could not have come (see John 7:6), but
at this particular Passover it could not fail to come, because it was divinely
ordained and fixed. That last Passover
supper would set in motion the final, irreversible countdown, as it were, for
the crucifixion.” 4/21/2024 8:14 AM
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