Thursday, August 15, 2024

PT-3 "The Fickle Wicked" (Matt. 27:39-40)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/15/2024 9:26 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  PT-3 “The Fickle Wicked”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:39-40

 

            Message of the verses:  39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."

 

            I did not intend to do all of that writing in the last SD, but it seemed to me that what I wrote was what the Lord desired me to write, and so it seemed very important to write about all of the prophecies that were being fulfilled, and others that I think in the near future will be fulfilled.

 

            MacArthur continues in his commentary on these verses by writing “As they passed by beneath the cross they were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads.  The verb behind hurling abuse is in the imperfect tense, indicating repeated, continuous defamation.  To emphasize their disdain, they were also wagging their heads in mockery, and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days save Yourself!”  Just as David had predicted some thousand years earlier, those who looked on the Messiah sneered at Him, mocked Him, and wagged their heads, saying, in essence, ‘Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him’ (Ps. 22:7-8).”  Now let me quote those verses from the NASB95 “7 All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him."

 

 

            Now back to MacArthur’s quotation from his commentary:  You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days referred to the testimony of the false witnesses during the hearing before Caiaphas.  Misusing a statement Jesus had made almost three years earlier referring to His death and resurrection (see John 2:19-21), those witnesses accused Him of claiming power to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple in three days (Matt. 26:61). ‘If You could really do such a miraculous thing as that,’ His tormentors were saying, ‘surely You can save yourself from death now.  If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’”  Now just a personal note about building the Jerusalem Temple, I think that it is possible the when the Millennial kingdom begins that Jesus Christ may indeed build that Millennial temple in three days.  Ezekiel 40-48 gives a description of the city and the temple and all of that kind of things but I must say that it is difficult to understand all of it, but worth reading and studying it.

 

            Back to MacArthur’s commentary:  “While Pilate was listening to the warning sent by his wife, the chief priests and elders had been inciting the multitude to demand the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus, perhaps telling them of His claims to rebuild the Temple and to be the Son of God (see Matt. 27:19-20).  Some of those people were now throwing the accusations in Jesus’ face as He was suspended on the cross.  It was not enough that He was dying in agony.  The wicked, mindless, heartless, and fickle crowd had changed in a few days from acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah to condemning Him as a blasphemer.”  Now I wrote a bit about this earlier stating that the reason that many of those people who were cheering Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem on what we call Psalm Sunday were looking for the Messiah who would take over Rome, which He will do when He returns seen in the 19th chapter of Revelation, but missed the fact that the suffering Messiah was now here to die for their sins so that they could be saved by accepting His suffering and death as in three hours of darkness on the cross the Father would turn His back on His Son and punish sin so that all who accept what Jesus did could be saved from their sins and live with Him in eternity.

 

            MacArthur goes on:  “Many people today are like them.  They may have been raised in the church, heard the truths of the gospel many times, and know that Jesus Christ claimed to be the Son of God.  They may have been baptized, made a profession of faith, and attended church regulary for a while.  But because Jesus does not fulfill their worldly, selfish expectations they lose interest in the things of God.  They may be quite willing to have the church attack evils in society but are quite unwilling to be confronted with their own sin and need for repentance and forgiveness.  In effect, they mock and sneer at Jesus as they turn their backs on His truth, His righteousness, and His lordship.  The world is full of passers-by who once praised Jesus but now ridicule Him.”

 

            We have one more section in this chapter, this difficult chapter which speaks of the sufferings that the Lord Jesus Christ went through in order to pay for my sin and your sin.

 

8/15/2024 8:41 AM

 

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