Tuesday, June 11, 2024

PT-2 "The Presumption of Peter" (Matt. 26:50b-53)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/11/2024 9:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “The Presumption of Peter”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  Matthew 26:50b-53

 

            Message of the verses:  Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him. 51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 53 “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?’”

 

            I want to continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary:  “The church has never made advances by physical warfare, and every time it has tried, the cause of Christ has been severely harmed.  There are no holy wars.  Every war fought in the name of Christ has been utterly unholy, contradicting and undermining everything His Word teaches.  The kingdom of God does not advance with fleshly weapons or by fleshly strategy.  The battleground is spiritual, and it makes no sense to fight with physical weapons.

 

            “Jesus told Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm’ (John 18:36).  Wars such as the Crusades that are fought in the name of Christ are an affront to Christ.  In reality, they are crusades against the very One who is claimed to be served.”

 

            Now we want to look at two important reasons that Jesus gave to Peter and these explain why the use of physical weapons cannot be used to defend, much less extend His kingdom. First of all, to do so is fatal as seen in verse 52 where Jesus tells Peter "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.”  Now Jesus was not philosophizing by declaring that everyone who takes up arms will himself be killed by arms or that a person who uses violence will be killed violently.  Here is His point: that those who commit acts of violence to achieve personal ends will face punishment by civil authorities, the sword representing a common means of execution in the ancient world.  Jesus was simply reiterating the divine standard that was set up in Genesis:  “Whoever sheds mans blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (9:6).  In order to protect the sanctity of human life, God declares that the one who wantonly takes the life of another person is subject to capital punishment.”  The problem through history is that this was not followed, and because of that great problems came about.  In fact when society gets so bad usually the “righteous” ones will be killed and the “unrighteous” ones will go free. 

 

            MacArthur goes on to say that “God has given human government the right to execute murders.  ‘It does not bear the sword for nothing’ Paul said; ‘for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil’ (Rom. 13:4).  The apostle willingly applied that law to himself.  In his defense before Festus he said, ‘If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything wrong of death, I do not refuse to die’ (Acts 25:11).”

 

            Jesus in telling Peter to put his sword back into its place He was saying something like “No matter how wicked and unjust My arrest is, you have no right to take vigilante action.  If you take a life while doing that, your own life will justly be forfeited as punishment.”

 

            MacArthur adds “Jesus’ arrest and subsequent trials were clearly unjust, but they were nevertheless carried out within the framework of the legal systems of that day.  Although it exercised its power only by the permission of Rome, the Sanhedrin was a civil as well as religious governing body in Israel.  Pilate was the duly appointed Roman governor.  Jesus’ point was that personal violent action against even an unjust governing body is wrong.  God has the sovereign right to overrule human governments as He has done frequently throughout history, but no individual has such a right.

 

            “Jesus was not speaking about self-defense or the defense of loved ones or friends from an attacker.  Nor was He talking about fighting in the armed forces of one’s country.  He was referring to violently taking justice into one’s hands.  Under no circumstances does a Christian or anyone else have the right to dispense personal justice, even to defend Christ’s name or Word.”

 

            Now we move onto the second point, the second of two important reasons that explain why the use of physical weapons cannot be used to defend His kingdom.  “Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  MacArthur adds that “trying to defend Christ with a sword not only is morally wrong according to God’s law but s also pointless. After having seen Jesus’ divine power demonstrated hundreds of times, why did Peter think his Lord needed the puny help of one sword, or even a thousand swords?”

 

            I want to end this section by talking about how many angles that Jesus was talking about as compared to looking at the Roman legion which is 6,000 soldiers.  More than twelve legions of angels would therefore be in excess of 72,000.  If a single angel of God could slay 185,000 men in one night, which is seen in 2 Kings 19:35 then the power of 72,000 angels is unimaginable.  Jesus was explaining to His impulsive disciple that He had immediate access to supernatural forces that easily could destroy the entire Roman army, and that is not to mention the mere cohort of 600 soldiers (John 18:3), which they were not facing.  Peter’s demonstration of self-willed bravery was therefore unnecessary and it was also absurd.  The truth is that the Lord’s battles are won in His power alone, and any human efforts on His behalf that are not made in submission to His divine will and strength are presumptuous and futile.

 

            This ends this section and Lord willing we will look at a short section in tomorrow’s SD entitled “The Fulfillment of Prophecy” from verse 54. 

 

            I mentioned a few weeks ago about an unknown problem that my wife had with rapid hearing loss in her left ear, which was upsetting to us, especially when one looks at the internet in trying to answer why this can happen.  My son and also her doctor both give good advice and that is not to look at the internet to find out what is going on.  At any rate the doctor’s visit yesterday gave us great news as to the severity of her problem and she has fluid behind her eardrum which can be drained to not only take care of the problem but will restore her hearing.  We are both very thankful to find this out.  PRAISE THE LORD!!

 

6/11/2024 10:16 AM

 

 

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