SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/8/2024 9:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Kiss of the Traitor”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
26:48-50a
Message of the verses: “Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” And immediately he when to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.”
I want to talk more about the word “kiss” or “kissed”
as it translates and intensified form of the verb used in verse 48 (see above),
and it carries the idea of fervent, continuous expression of affection. Luke used this word of the woman who came
into the Pharisee’s house and kissed Jesus’ feet, and she wiped her tears with
her hair and anointing them with perfume as seen in Luke 7:38, 45. Luke also used this word to describe the fathers’
reception of the repentant son in the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke
15:20 and of the grieving Ephesian elders who were on the beach when Paul was
saying goodbye to them as seen in Acts 20:37.
MacArthur adds “It was just such intense affection that Judas feigned
for Christ.”
Now once again remember that Judas had been filled by
Satan once he left the upper room and so he was so caught up in his deceitful
display that even the sobering words of Jesus when He said “Judas, are you
betraying the Son of Man with a kiss” did not deter him from doing what he was
doing in betraying Jesus. MacArthur
agrees as he writes “It is probably that Judas was no so much under Satan’s
domination that his actions were no longer voluntary.”
MacArthur goes on “In deep sadness, but with perfect
composure in the face of Judas’s perfidy, Jesus said simply, ‘Friend, do what
you have come for.’ The Lord did not use
the usual word (philos) for friend,
which He used of the Twelve in John 15:14.
Instead He addressed Judas merely as hetairos,
which is better translated ‘fellow’ ‘comrade,’ or ‘companion.’ Jesus had offered Himself to be Judas’s
friend, and more than that, to be his Savior.
But the opportunity for salvation had passed, and in light of Judas’s
unspeakable treachery, even fellow was
a gracious form of address.”
One of the
things that I know is going on here has to do with the attributes of God, and
because Jesus was 100% man and 100% God the attributes were perfectly working
in Him when He was on the earth. As a
human being I cannot do what He does. I
am going to give you a list of the attributes of God which I have on my prayer
list which I read most every day. “Praise the Lord
for His attributes, for who God is: God
is HOLY, and all of His attributes are holy.
God is good, glorious, pure, sovereign, gracious,
merciful, long-suffering, truth,
measureless, omnipresence, omnipotent, omniscience, all wise, unchangeable,
eternal, God is wrath, God pardons, God is Jealous, faithful, God is love and
just.” Now as I think about attributes I
see some things in them such as “wrath” and “love” and these seem to be
opposite to me. I know that God can be
angry and loving in a perfect way. I
will try and give an example of this from what is going on in Israel at this time. Hamas, who is fighting against Israel has it
in their code for all of them to kill Jews, and so I have no problem with
Israel killing those who are trying to kill them, in fact they are fulfilling
what is found in Genesis 12:3 where God says “I will bless those that bless you
and curse those who curse you.” Now in
our church our Pastor says that he has no problem of Israel killing Hamas
because they are trying to kill them. There
is in our church a friend of mine who use to be our Pastor who is upset that
Hamas is being killed, and why he is upset is that he would love to see them
come to salvation through Jesus Christ.
I would love for them to be saved too, because if they were saved they
then would love Israel and would not be trying to kill them. I do believe that the Lord will save some of
the Hamas because I have heard testimony of that happening. I pray for the salvation of those in Israel
and pray that the Lord will also save those in Hamas, but at the same time I
have no problem with them dying, those who will not come to Christ because they
are harming the apple of God’s eye, and I have loved the people of Israel ever
since the Lord saved me a little over fifty years ago. I pray for the people of Israel on a regular
basis.
6/8/2024 10:46 AM
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