SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/13/2024 11:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Defection of the Disciples”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
26:55-56
Message of the verses: “55 At that time
Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to
arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the
temple teaching and you did not seize Me. 56 “But all this has taken place to
fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets." Then all the disciples left Him and fled.”
As we begin to look at this section one must wonder
if what Jesus is saying to the multitude was sarcasm. He may have been saying something like
this: “Am I so dangerous, that you have
to come out in such great numbers and with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you
would against a robber? Am I so
elusive that you had to capture Me by stealth in the dead of the night? You know very well that Every day I used to
sit in the temple teaching. How come you
did not seize Me then?”
I
think we know the answer to this question and the answer is that prophecy had
to be fulfilled. MacArthur writes “Jesus
knew that no amount of truth or logic would dissuade His enemies from executing
their plot against Him. They knew their
charges were spurious and unjust and that they had had countless opportunities
to arrest Him publicly. But when evil
men are determined to have their way, they will not be deterred by such
considerations as truth, justice, legality, or righteousness.”
In
verse 56 we read the answer to the question, something that I have already
written about “But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the
prophets." I did not really have to
do with their personal reasons and motivations were, prophecy had to be
fulfilled. They were unwittingly
accomplishing what their own Scriptures have said through the prophets what you
would do to your Messiah. This was
completely apart from their own evil intentions as God is sovereignly using
them to accomplish His righteous and gracious purposes. So in doing this He will demonstrate that His
infallible Word through the prophets would be fulfilled.
These men who are doing this to Jesus were not mere
robots in following the prophecies that they were helping to full, this was
what was in their own hearts and without salvation they will suffer great
consequences in hell for doing this.
Now
when we come to His disciples this brought little comfort to them as they had
forgotten what the Lord had just spoken to them, telling them that they would
all flee. “Then Jesus said to them,
"You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I
WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED’”
(Matt. 26:31). Let us also look at John
18:4-5 which helps explain why they really did not have to run away “4 So
Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to
them, "Whom do you
seek?" 5 They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them,
"I am He." And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing
with them.”
MacArthur adds “It is easy to criticize the
disciples for their faithlessness and cowardice. But every honest believer knows that at times
he has run from possible embarrassment, ridicule, or mockery because of his association
with Christ. We have to confess that we,
too, have left our Lord and fled when the cost of discipleship has seemed to
high.”
6/13/2024 11:56 AM
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