SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2024 11:43 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Disciples’ Ignorance”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
26:33-35
Message of the verses: “33 But Peter said
to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never
fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very
night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said
to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All
the disciples said the same thing too.”
I have to say that there are times when I look at
what Peter says as found in the gospel’s that I have to shake my head, and then
there are times when I see myself in what Peter does and says. Peter missed something that Jesus had said,
and that was He said that in three days that He would rise from the dead. Perhaps he was thinking about defending his
loyal character, and that is why he blurted out "Even though all
may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.’” MacArthur adds “Proud, self-confident Peter,
convinced of the strength of his love for Jesus, presumptuously proclaimed
himself to be the truest of the true.”
One
of the things that I want to talk about here is the great love that the Lord
Jesus has for Peter, as He knows what will happen to Peter in the future, and
what Peter will become in the Church, and so He is dealing with Peter in a
loving way even though Peter was acting in a way that was not pleasing to the
Lord. As I was listening to a sermon,
actually a sermon and a half on the 12th and 13th
chapters of Zachariah, the love of God was seen in these two chapters. As one looks at the history of Israel from
the time that God called Abram all the way until the end of the tribulation
period one can see an uphill and downhill relationship with the Lord. In all His dealings with Israel one can see that
God loves them very much even though He knows what mistakes that Israel has and
will continue to make. It will be at the
end of the Tribulation period when Israel will finally realize what they had
done to their Messiah and will mourn very much and will finally come to the
point where as Paul writes “All Israel will be saved.” This happens because of God’s great love for
His chosen people, and as we go through this section in Matthew and see all the
things that Peter and the rest of the disciples will do, God still loves them
and will cause them to be a great part of the beginnings of the Church as He
will use them to begin the Church. I,
for one who is a believer, am very thankful for the love of God as He knows me
better than anyone else, and still loves me and I hope that He is not done with
me yet and will keep me alive until He comes in the clouds to take me to be
with Him forever.
Back
to Matthew chapter 26:33-35. Peter seems
to be like a self-willed child, that is hearing what he wanted to hear and
believing only what he wanted to believe.
It was during the Last Supper, which took place only an hour before
these verses we are looking at that Jesus had given the disciples a similar
warning. Speaking specifically to Peter
Jesus said “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like
wheat” (Luke 22:31). MacArthur writes “Though
directed right at Peter the ‘you’ in this verse is plural (humas), indicating that the warning extended to the other disciples
as well. They would all be so severely
tested by Satan that it would seem as if they were being shaken violently like
a tray of wheat in the harvester’s hand.
‘But I have prayed for you [singular],’ Jesus went on to say, ‘that your
faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your
brothers’ (v. 32).”
I
think that it would have been better for Peter to have listened to what the
Lord had said and be thankful that He was going to protect Him, but instead
Peter boasted, “Lord, with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death”
(v. 33). Jesus was unimpressed with that
claim and responded to Peter “I say to you, Peter the cock will not crow today
until you have denied me three times that you know Me” (v. 34). With those compassionate but stinging words,
Jesus singled out Peter as one who not only would desert Him but would even
deny Him.
Tomorrow in the USA it is mother’s day
and so I want to take this time to wish all the mothers who will read this a
Happy Mother’s Day.
5/11/2024 12:14 PM
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