SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/9/2024 7:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Hope”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 28:10
Message of the verse: “10 Then Jesus said
to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee,
and there they will see Me.’”
Jesus repeated the angel’s message, saying, “Do not be
afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee.” I can understand why John MacArthur entitles
this section hope, for despite the disciples’ lack of faith, their cowardice,
and their defection, the Lord graciously spoke of them as His brethren. God is a forgiving God who desires to forgive
us so that we can have fellowship with Him, and so we can learn and grow in our
faith and in our walk with Him. He even
gives us challenges to make us stronger, something that I believe I am going
through at this time and really not likening it but willing to trust the Lord
to see me through it so that I can grow in my faith and walk in the Lord. Now when His disciples arrived in Galilee, they
would see Him again, and there they would experience a great convocation and
commissioning by their Lord.
I
know that one of the things about Matthew’s gospel writing is that he has a
brief glimpse of the resurrection which “is artless and unadorned, completely
lacking pretense or exaggeration. He
does not argue or beg the issues but simply places the truths before the reader
to be accepted for what they are” writes John MacArthur.
He
goes on to write “The basic truth of the resurrection undergirds a number of
other truths. First, it gives evidence
that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. Jesus rose from the dead precisely when and
in the way He had predicted (see Matt. 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23).
“Second,
the resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to
be, and that He has power over life and death.
Third, the resurrection proves that salvation is complete, that on the
cross Christ conquered sin, death, and hell and rose victorious. Forth, the resurrection proves that the
church has been established. Jesus had
declared, ‘I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower
it’ Matt. 16:18). ‘The gates of Hades’ was
a Jewish colloquialism that represented death.
His resurrection proved that death itself could not prevent Christ from
establishing His church.
“Fifth,
the resurrection proves that judgment is coming. Jesus declared that the heavenly Father ‘has
given all judgment to the Son’ (John 5:22), and since the Son was now risen and
alive, His judgment is certain. Sixth,
the resurrection of Christ proves that heaven is waiting. Jesus promised, ‘In My Father’s house are
many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to
prepare a place for you’ (John 14:2). Because Christ is alive by the
resurrection, believers have the assurance that He is no preparing a heavenly
dwelling for them.”
I
can say that as I have been studying this last chapter of Matthew’s gospel that
the resurrection of Jesus Christ has had greater meaning to me that before as
the Lord is the One making this meaning grow and for that I am thankful.
10/9/2024 8:04 AM
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