Wednesday, October 23, 2024

PT-4 "Intro to Matthew 28:16-20"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/23/2024 9:01 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-3 “Intro to Matthew 28:16-20”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 28:16-20

 

            Message of the verses:  16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

 

            I wish to began this SD with the same way that I ended the last SD as it gives us the purpose for the church and for all believers.  “All of those emphases are thoroughly biblical and should characterize every body of believers.  But neither separately nor together do they represent the central purpose and mission of the church in the world.  The supreme purpose and motive of every individual believer and every body of believers is to glorify God.”  (Italics added)

 

            OK I now move on in quoting this introduction to these verses from the commentary of John MacArthur.  “The mission that flows out of our loving fellowship, our spiritual growth, and our praise is that of being God’s faithful and obedient instruments in His divine plan to redeem the world.  That plan began in eternity past, before the foundation of the world.  But it did not go into effect until Adam chose to sin, fell from fellowship with God, and was spiritually separated from Him.  Since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden, fallen, natural man has been trying to hide from God, and God has been redeeming men back to Himself.  From that first time of sin, it has always been God who, solely out of His own gracious love, has taken the initiative to restore men to righteousness.  God has always taken the initiative for man’s salvation and restoration, from His first call to Adam, ‘Where are you?’ (Gen. 3:9), to His last call in Revelation:  The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’  And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’  And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost’ (Rev. 22:17).

 

            It was not until sinful mankind persisted in withdrawing further and further from God that He divided them into separate nations.  When He needed a witnessing nation to the world, He called out Israel as His chose people through Abraham. When Israel failed in that calling, God chose a remnant from among them to do what the nation would not.  When the nation of Israel rejected her Messiah and King, Jesus Christ, God called out the church, His new chosen instrument to redeem the world.

 

            God has been drawing, is not drawint, and, until the final judgment, will continue to draw sinful men back to Himself and to restore the world that sin has corrupted—all for the purpose of bringing glory to Himself.  When sinners are saved, God is glorified, because their salvation cost Him the death of His own Son, the immeasurable price the His magnanimous grace was willing to pay.

            “The Supreme way in which God chose to glorify Himself was through the redemption of sinful men, and it is through participation in that redemptive plan that believers themselves most glorify God.  Through Christ, God was ‘reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them,’ Paul declares, ‘and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19).  That is a work of such magnitude and graciousness that even the heavenly angels long to look into it (1 Pet. 1:2).  

 

            “Nothing so much glorifies God as His gracious redemption of damned, hell-bound sinners.  It was for that ultimate purpose that God called Abraham, that in him ‘all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ (Gen. 12:3).  It was never the Lord’s intention to isolate Israel as His sole focus of concern but rather to use that specially chosen and blessed nation to reach all other nations of the world for Himself.  Israel was called to ‘proclaim good tidings of salvation from day to day’ and to ‘to tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples’ (1 Chron. 16:23-24; cf. Ps. 18:49).  Like her Messiah, Israel was to be a light to the nations so that [the Lord’s] salvation may reach to the end of the earth’ (Isa. 49:6; cf. 42:10; 66:19; Jonah 3:1-10).

 

            It looks like to me that I will have at least two more Spiritual Diaries on this introduction to these last verses in the book of Matthew.  I have to say that in writing Spiritual Diaries on the book of Matthew has probably taken me longer than any other book of the Bible that I wrote my SD’s on, and also it has been a great experience for me, especially looking at these last few verses in Matthew.  These last verses, at least to me, were something that I wondered if Matthew left something out as his writings on what happened after the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead are very short and if you compare them to the other gospels things seem to be missing.  God’s Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture and what He had Matthew write is what He wanted written, and as I begin to study these verses with the aid of MacArthur’s commentary I am amazed at how much I am learning.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at how the Lord has planned things on this earth, plans that He will fulfill in His time, I have to trust Him with what is going on in our world today, and there is much going on in our world today that if you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord then you have reason to be frightened.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to accomplish what He desires for me to do for the cause of Christ, and I believe that one of the things that He has called me to do is to spread His Word around the world through the Spiritual Diaries that I put onto my blogs each day.  To Him be all the glory.

 

10/23/2024 9:36 AM

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