PT-2“The Case of the Fallen Angels” (2 Peter 2:4)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/04/2025/6:45 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: PT-2“The Case of the Fallen Angels”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  2 Peter 2:4

            Message of the verses: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”

            We begin this evening’s SD by first of all talking about the phrase “cast them into hell” which is actually the translation of a single word, tartarosas.  “The verb, used only here” writes MacArthur who goes on to write “in the New Testament, is derived from Tartarus, which is in Greek mythology identified as subterranean abyss that was even lower than Hades (hell).  Tartarus came to refer to the abode of the most wicked spirits, where the worst rebels and criminals received the severest divine punishment.  Much like Jesus used the term Gehenna (the name for Jerusalem’s garbage dump, where fires burned continuously) to illustrate the inextinguishable torments of eternal anguish (Matt. 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 19:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5), Peter used a familiar word from popular Greek thought to designate hell.  The pseudepigraphal book of 1 Enoch, a well-known work to most New Testament Jews (cf. Jude 14), also mentions Tartarus (1:9).  Peter must have been confident that his readers understood exactly what he meant, since he offered them no additional explanation of the term.” I for one am happy with the research that MacArthur did on this subject so that I can better understand it myself and also pass the information along to all those who read my Spiritual Diaries on my blogs.

            “Further, Peter describes this demonic incarceration by saying that God committed the fallen angels to pits of darkness.  Committed (paredoken), as in Acts 8:3; and 12:4, means to turn over the imprisonment. Pits of darkness (cf. Matt. 8:12) is the best translation, even though some ancient manuscripts read ‘chains’ (hence the King James translation).  Whether the rendering is pits or ‘chains,’ the idea is the same—it refers to loss of freedom in a place of confinement, a fate demons feared (cf. Matt. 8:29; Luke 8:31).  Those who were sent there were reserved for judgment, like guilty prisoners awaiting final sentencing and execution at the las day (cf. Rev. 20:10).

            “But two important questions still arise from the text:  To which fallen angels does this action refer?  And what did they do to deserve such severe imprisonment? What Peter does not expand on, Jude does:

            “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 6-7).

Those demons ‘did not keep their own domain,’ meaning that they moved out of their proper sphere of existence and behavior—‘their proper abode.’ Jude 6 is a reference to the events of Genesis 6:1-4 in which certain fallen angels possessed mortal men and then cohabited with women.  The egregious transgression of those demons was a clear violation of the boundaries God had set for them.  Jude 7 compares their ‘gross immorality’ to that of Sodom and Gomorrah who ‘went after strange flesh’ (i.e. , practiced homosexuality, a perversion which God wholly condemns—Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9).”  Now recently I studied the book of Jude before moving onto the book of 2 Peter and I wrote some similar things that are in this portion above while studying Jude.

            “Of course, Peter’s primary purpose here was not to get lost in the details of this account about fallen angels, especially since his readers were apparently already familiar with it.  Instead, he used this illustration to emphasize the main thrust of his argument—namely, that God severely judges all those who oppose Him and His truth.  Like those angels, rebellious false teachers will face divine wrath.”

I have discussed this issue with demons cohabitating with women, which MacArthur states happened before the flood, and he also states that this is one of the reasons that God destroyed the earth by a flood saving only Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives, seven in all.  The reason he makes this issue is that if demons were really cohabiting with women then their offspring would not be a part of the human race, and therefore Christ would not have been able to save these beings because He is both God and Man.

12/4/2025 7:20 PM

 

 

 

“Author & Date of Nahum”

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/04/2025/9:30 AM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus: “Author & Date of Nahum”

            This morning I continue to quote from the introduction to John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Nahum.  I have just finished a couple of days ago on my study of Jonah and have mentioned that Nahum is written about the same city, the city of Nineveh, but some 100 years later, and things have changed a lot since Jonah visited that city.  I begin this morning’s SD by quoting from MacArthur’s commentary where he writes about the author.

 

AUTHOR

            “The author of the book is God’s prophet Nahum the Elkoshite (Nah. 1:1).  Nahum came from Elkosh, a town whose location is unknown.  Three possible locations have been proposed: 1) Al Qosh, located in Northern Iraq, and potentially suggesting that Nahum came from a city taken captive by Assyria in 722 BC; 2) Capernaum (ie., “Village of Nahum”), which is mentioned in the New Testament (e. g., Matt. 4:13; 8:5; 11:23; 17:24); and 3) a general geographical location in Judah, important to the prophet since he mentioned it in Hahum 1:15. The reference to Nahum as an Elkoshite indicates that Nahum was a specific historical figure, associated with his hometown, and therefore having a distinct identity.  Scripture similarly refers to Amos of Tekoa (Amos 1:1), Jeremiah of Anathoth (Jer. 1:1), and Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27:57; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:51; John 19:38).  By introducing himself with such specificity, Nahum demonstrated that he was willing to be held accountable for the message he preached (cf. Deut. 18:22).  His prophecy reveals that he was zealous to see the Lord’s righteous justice prevail against the wickedness of God’s enemies.”

 

DATE

            “The prophecy of Nahum is typically dated to a time between 663 BC and 627 BC.  Since the destruction of Thebes (No-amon) in 663 BC was fresh in Nahum’s mind (cf. Nahum 3:8-10), he must have received this prophecy not long after that date.  Inasmuch as Nahum envisioned Assyria to be a prominent nation still, his message would have been most relevant prior to the weakening of the empire with the death of Ashurbanipal around 627 BC.  Most notably, because Nahum made no mention of the restoration of Thebes in 654 BC, he likely delivered the prophecy between 663 BC and 654 BC.  In light of this Nahum would have preached long after the fall of Nineveh took place in 612 BC, which demonstrates that his prophecy was indisputably predictive.

Spiritual Meaning for My life Today: It is important to understand the background of the books in the Bible that I am studying and I appreciate that John MacAruhur takes the time to set the stage of the books that he writes to include the background of those books.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust that the Lord’s will will be done in my wife’s fighting of her battle with cancer.  She is a very brave woman who can handle the Kemo she is receiving and I am proud of this and thankful that the Lord is using this to help rid her body of cancer.  My prayer for both of us is that we will learn what the Lord desires for us to learn as we go through this difficult trial.

12/4/2025 9:54 AM

 

 

PT-1 "The Case of the Fallen Angels" (2 Peter 2:4)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/03/2025/8:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus: “The Case of the Fallen Angels”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  2 Peter 2:4

            Message of the verses: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”

            We begin this evening with what will be a fairly long section that may take at least a couple of days to get through.  I have to say that this is one of my favorite parts of 2 Peter to look at.

            Now the short phrase for if introduces a conditional sentence that extends all the way through verse eight.  If, however, does not imply uncertainty here and probably should be rendered “since.”  Now since God did not spare the angels of heaven when they sinned against Him, and it should be noted that God did not provide any means of salvation for them, as humans who pervert His truth should not expect to escape His vengeance either.  Now angels, like mankind (mankind (Matt. 23:45-51; 25:48; 16:1-8; 19:12-27; 1 Cor. 4:2), were responsible to honor God and obey His truth, and those who rebelled were sentenced to eternal punishment.

            Now let me take a moment to talk about the fact that angels who had fallen could never be restored again, while humans who have fallen can receive forgiveness from the Lord.  Now not all humans will receive the forgiveness, but the ones who have received forgiveness have it because of what Christ did for them on the cross, as He died to take their place.  You see the second person of the godhead became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, and that made Him both man and God in one body.  This is why humans can receive forgiveness, however there is no substitute for angels who have fallen.  If I am correct there were about one third of the angels who followed Satan when he rebelled against God, and so that one third of the angels will all spend eternity in hell along with their leader, Satan.  I hope this short paragraph gives enough information to understand this topic.

            John MacArthur writes “The spiritual dynamics of how and why angels sinned remains, in many ways, a theological mystery.  The highest ranking of all the angels, Lucifer, wanted to exalt himself to a position of equality with God.  As depicted in the dramatic language of Revelation 12:3-9, one-third of the angels joined Lucifer’s heavenly revolt, arrogantly opposed God, and were expelled from heaven (cf. Isa. 14:12-21; Ezek. 28:12-19; Luke 10:18).”  The two passages, Isaiah, and Luke give great information about the fall of Satan and the angels.

            “But Peter is probably not referring here to the angels who originally fell, since t hey were not immediately incarcerated in hell nor confined permanently to pits of darkness to await their final judgment.  In fact, they are the demons who are now loose in the world, securing Satan’s unholy purposes.  The apostle Paul identified them when he wrote, ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (Eph. 6:12; cf. 2:1-2;1 Peter 5:8).  When the Lord returns, the demons (along with Satan) will be bound during Christ’s millennial reign (Isa. 24:21-23; Rev. 10:1-3) and eventually cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10).”

12/3/2025 9:10 PM

 

PT-1 “Intro to Nahum”

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/3/2025 8:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Nahum”

            This SD and the following ones will be a bit different as I quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on Nahum which I promised I would do in my last SD after I finished looking at the book of Jonah.

            “More than a hundred years after Jonah preached to Nineveh, God raised up the prophet Nahum to pronounce judgment on the same city.  Though the Assyrians repented in Jonah’s day and received mercy, later generations presumed upon God’s grace and returned to their wicked ways.  So, Nahum prophesied woe against them, demonstrating that although God is merciful and gracious, He is also righteous and holy.  In promising to pour out His wrath on wicked Nineveh, God also His people by reminding them that He will bring evildoers to justice.

            “Nahum’s message parallels that of his predecessor in at least eight ways.  First, just as Jonah declared that God is longsuffering and gracious (Jonah 4:2), so Nahum acknowledged divine grace while affirming that the Lord is also jealous and avenging (Hahum 1:3).  Second, in Jonah God orchestrated a storm and then calmed the sea (Jonah 1:4, 15-16; 2:10-3:5), and in Nahum God directed the rivers to flood Nineveh in order to destroy the city (Nahum 1:8; 2:6).  Third, in Jonah God allowed the prophet to reach dry land (Jonah 2:10), and in Hahum God rebuked the sea and made it dry in judgment (Nahum 1:4).  Fourth, in Jonah the common people were spared (Jonah 3:5-10), but in Nahum all the people were scattered (Nahum 1:2; 3:18).  Fifth, in Jonah the message reached the king and he repented (Jonah 3:5-10), but in Hahum God addressed the king and described his demise (Nahum 3:18-19).  Sixth, in Jonah both the sailors and the prophet offered vows to God (Jonah 1:6; 2:9), so Nahum called Israel to pay their vows and give praise to the Lord for His judgments (Nahum 1:15).  Seventh, the book of Nahum ends with a question (Nahum 3:19), the only two books in Scripture to do so.  Finally, Nahum’s description of the Ninevites mourning at the fall of their city intended to evoke the prophet Jonah and his ministry.  Nahum expressed that the women moaned like doves (cf. 2:7), recalling the prophet Jonah since his name is the Hebrew word for ‘dove’ (jonah).

            “The parallels demonstrate that the book of Nahum is the sequel to the book of Jonah, though with vastly different conclusions.  The city that received divine grace became the city that was destroyed by divine wrath.  Nineveh serves as a memorial to both the mercy and wrath of God.  While the Lord gives grace to the worst of sinners who repent, He also executes judgment on those who refuse to turn from their sin (cf. 2 Peter 3:3-9; James 5:7-9). Nahum’s prophecy demonstrates that God will avenge His people by punishing the wicked and preserving the righteous (Nahum 1:15; cf. Isa. 52:7).

TITLE

            “The book is titled after the name of the prophet Hanum (i. e., ‘comfort’ or ‘comforter’), which is related to the name (‘Nehemiah’ (i.e., “Yah[weh], comforts”).  Despite the prophet’s name, the message Nahum preached was one of judgment.  This tension indicates that God intended Nahum’s prophecy to communicate both comfort and judgment—comfort to Israel that the Lord was zealous for the protection of His people, and judgment against Nineveh that God would destroy the nation of her wickedness.”

            Lord willing I will continue the different phases of the introduction to Nahum in John MacArthur’s commentary in tomorrow’s SD.

12/3/2025 8:57 AM

 

“The Precedent for Judgment” (2 Peter 2:4-8)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/02/2025/6:20 PM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus: “The Precedent for Judgment”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  2 Peter 2:4-8

            Message of the verses:  “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds).”

            Here is what we will be doing this evening in this Spiritual Diary.  This is an introduction to these verses, and MacArthur gives this introduction to it which I will quote, and then we will see that after this introduction that these verses will be looked at in different sections.  Tonight’s  SD will just be composed of the introduction.

            “Peter continues his denouncement of false teachers by referencing three well-known accounts of divine judgment from the book of Genesis.  It my have been tempting for some of Peters’ original readers to doubt whether or not the false teachers doubt whether or  not the false teachers would really ever be punished.  For the moment, they seemed to be flourishing—circulating their spiritual lies and basking in their popularity, sensuality, and wealth.  So Peter reminded his readers of biblical history, noting that just as God judged faithfully in the past, so He will also uphold justice in the present.

            “As the apostle gives an overview of three Old Testament examples, he highlights the height of God’s wrath (in the case of fallen angels), the breadth of God’s wrath (in the case of the ancient world at the time of the Flood), and the depth of God’s wrath (in the case of Sodom and  Gomorrah).  In other words, there are no creatures too lofty, too numerous, or too base to escape divine judgment—His vengeance will be meted out on all who oppose Him.  And, as Peter points out in this passage, the false teachers of his day were no exception.”

            In tomorrow evening’s SD will begin to look at “The Case of the Fallen Angels”, Lord willing.”

12/2/2025 6:38 PM

PT-6 “The Final Admonition” (Jonah 4:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/02/2025/10:15 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus: PT-6 “The Final Admonition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Jonah 4:9-11

            Message of the verses: ““Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?  And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”  Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight.  So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

            I mentioned in my last SD on the book of Jonah that today’s SD will be the last one from the book of Jonah.  I have to say that this fourth chapter of Jonah has taught me many different things that I did not know before, and for that I am grateful.  I also mentioned that in tomorrow’s SD that I will begin to look at the introduction of the book of Hahum, and I believe we will see that this book also deals with the Ninevites, but in a far different way.  I will begin looking at this book in the same way that I did with Jonah, and that is to quote what John MacArthur has to say about it in his introductory comments.  Now back to the fifth point that MacArthur brings out as he ends his commentary on Jonah.

            “Fifth, the scores of animals in Nineveh made the city more valuable than Jonah’s cherished plant.  God point out that the city had many animals.  Animals are obviously of higher value than plants.  While this may refer to the way the Ninevites included their animals in their display of repentance (Jonah 3:7-8), the statement ought to be viewed in light of God’s ordering of creation.  In Genesis 1, God made animals superior to plants (Gen. 1:30).  If Jonah could justify his compassion on a plant, which was lower in the created order, he could not deny that God was justified in showing compassion toward creatures who were higher on that order.  And if the Lord was right to have pity on the animals, how much more on the people of Nineveh.

            “In this way, God demonstrated that His pity for the city was reasonable while Jonah’s pity for the plant was not. If the prophet appreciated the goodness of God’s grace in providing a temporary shade bush, then he also had to acknowledge the goodness of God’s grace in sparing a city full of eternal souls.

            “In the face of such an irrefutable argument, the prophet remained silent.  The Lord’s last words served as a final admonition to His prophet.  God’s rhetorical question left Jonah speechless in light of his flagrant hypocrisy.  Jonah’s rejoiced when divine grace was applied to him, but he resented that same grace when it was extended to others, even though he was just as undeserving as they were.”  Here is a wonderful point that we as believers need to understand, that none of us are deserving of God’s saving grace for “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

            “Did Jonah ever learn his lesson?  Throughout the book the prophet often remained silent as his defiant actions spoke louder than his words (Jonah 1:3; 4:5).  Though silent once again, this time he responded differently.  Having been confronted by the Lord and shown his hypocrisy, the prophet returned to Israel where he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the book that bears his name, recounting his foolishness and offering his testimony as an object lesson to all.  This book is Jonah’s repentance.  It not only recounts the great measures God took to draw the Ninevites to Himself but also testifies to the great work of God to restore His wayward prophet.

            “The story of Jonah is a marvelous revelation of God reaching down in His grace to save sinners, both Jew and Gentile.  All those whom the Lord draws to Himself will come to Him in repentant faith (cf. John 6:44; 10:11-16; Romans 8:31-39; 11:1-36).  In the end, the book of Jonah displays God’s desire to save sinners who have egregiously transgressed His Law.  In His grace, He will forgive all who turn from sin and turn to Him (cf. 1 Thess. 1:9).  Because of His abundant grace, He offers forgiveness and eternal life to undeserving sinners through the One who fulfills the sign of Jonah—The Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead!

            Matthew 12:38-41 states:

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”  But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  This last section of Jonah that was explained in John MacArthur’s commentary shows me that I should never give up, for just as I did not understand that Jonah who is the author of this book came to realize the grace of God was what saved him, and also the Ninevites, which to me is the most important part of this book.  It took Jonah a while to get this point, but he got it.  Sometimes it takes me a while, but by God’s grace I surely desire to learn what the Lord desires to teach me.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to teach me the lessons that I need to learn.

12/2/2025 11:00 AM

 

 

“The Promise of Judgment” (2 Peter 2:3b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/01/2025/7:45 PM

My Worship Time                                                                   Focus: “The Promise of Judgment”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  2 Peter 2:3b

            Message of the verses:  “their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.            

            We are looking at the first sup-point in John MacArthur’s commentary on his sixth chapter of his commentary on 2 Peter, and this second chapter is different from the first and third chapter as Peter talks more about the judgments that will come upon those who are not following the Lord, but going against the Lord.

            Although false teachers will not face their eternal judgment until death, their sentence was decreed by God from long ago, and this translates one word which is the Greek word ekpalai, and this simply means “from a long time.”  Now throughout history, from the very first pronouncement of judgment on the serpent which took place in the Garden of Edon seen in Genesis 3:13-15, God has condemned all those who distort divine truth (cf. Isa. 8:19-21; 28:15; Jer. 9:6-9; 14:14-15; Zeph. 3:1-8; Rev. 21:8, 27).  Since I began to use my new laptop I do not have all of my older programs yet transferred to it from my old laptop, so I am unable at this time to quote a lot of verses yet.  The expression from long ago strengthens the sobering reality of divine retribution; God’s sentence against every lying teacher is actively accumulation wrath until each perishes in hell, so I guess it is safe to say that the longer they live and continue to sin that they will have a great deal of judgment in the future. 

            With the words destruction is not asleep, we that Peter personifies eternal damnation as if it were an executioner, who remains fully awake, ready to administer God’s just sentence of condemnation on those who falsify His Word.  That is a very bad thing to do, falsifying God’s Word, but that is what many false teachers do.  I try to correctly quote the Word of God in my Spiritual Diaries because the Word of God is God breathed meaning there is no mistakes in it, that is in the original writings which to my understand that in the NASB they do the upmost to make sure their translation is correct. I have used the NASB translation for almost 50 years, and still believe it is the best translation one can read.

12/1/2025 8:08 PM

 

PT-5 “The Final Admonition” (Jonah 4:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/01/2025/10:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus: PT-5 “The Final Admonition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Jonah 4:9-11

            Message of the verses: ““Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?  And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”  Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight.  So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

            John MacArthur writes the following “The Lord reinforced His indisputable case by providing five features that reveal His compassion on Nineveh as far superior to Jonah’s pity for the plant.”  Now in this morning’s SD I will pick up the third and fourth feature by quoting them from MacArthur’s commentary, and then, Lord willing I will do the fifth feature in tomorrow's SD, which will be the very last SD on the book of Jonah, and then I will begin my study on the book of Nahum, which is the second study in MacArthur’s book which he has entitled “The MacArthur Old Testament Commentary” “JONAH & NAHUM.”

            “Third, the eternal souls of the people made them inherently more valuable than a plant.  The Hebrew word for persons is adam, which is the term for man and the name given by God to the first man.  The word adam alludes back to creation when God uniquely made man in His image and according to His likeness as the crown of creation (Genesis 1:26-28).  As the Creator and Sustainer of every human life (cf. Acts 17:28), the Lord placed value on a city full of people who He created in His image.  Jonah was indicted for prioritizing a plant over immortal souls.

            “Fourth, the state of Nineveh’s children elicited divine compassion.  The Lord explained that 120,000 of the city’s inhabitants do not know the difference between their right and left hand.  This refers to the youngest children who could not differentiate between right and wrong.  This language points back to Deuteronomy  1:39 and Isaiah 7:16 which describe moral authority and the ability to make reasoned ethical decisions (cf. Gen. 3:22; Isa. 5:20; Amos 5:14; Mic 3:2). Little children do not have such ability.  Though not innocent of sin (Ps. 51:5; Ecc. 7:70; Rom. 3:9-18), the children would not have committed the deliberate acts of violence and immorality for which God threatened to destroy the adults.  Nahum later declared that God punished Assyria’s capital for sins like harlotry and sorcery—evils that young children would not have knowingly committed (cf. Nah. 3:1, 4).  Certainly, such children were more in need of mercy than Jonah’s plant.  If the Lord had been willing to show mercy on Sodom and Gomorrah for as few as ten righteous people (Gen. 18:16-33), it is not surprising that He chose to show mercy on Nineveh for the sake of 120,000 little children.  God’s love for Gentile sinners went far deeper than Jonah’s superficial and selfish affection for a shade bush.”

            I had mentioned in an earlier SD that this number of 120,000 would be explained and this is found in this section that we are going over this morning. 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  The book of Jonah shows God’s great mercy as He dealt with the people of Nineveh, and I certainly am thankful for the mercy that God shows to me each and every day.

 My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is and always has been my desire ever since I became a believer over 51 years ago to not take advantage of the mercy that God has and continues to shot to me each day.

12/1/2025 10:22 AM

  

 

PT-4 “The Final Admonition” (Jonah 4:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11//2025 :15 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus: PT-4 “The Final Admonition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Jonah 4:9-11

            Message of the verses: ““Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?  And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”  Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight.  So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

            I ended yesterday’s SD with the following: “The Lord reinforced His indisputable case by providing five features that reveal His compassion on Nineveh as far superior to Jonah’s pity for the plant.”  I will not begin to look at these five features through the pen of John MacArthur.

            “First, the significance of the city far surpassed that of the plant.  By reminding the prophet that Nineveh was the great city, God declared to Jonah that Nineveh had far greater value than any plant.  Earlier in the book, the Lord described Nineveh as “the great city” to declare His intention to reach the Gentiles (1:2) and to assert the value He placed on the souls residing there (3:3).  If Jonah, who did nothing to nurture the plant, could have pity on a piece of vegetation, then surely God who created the inhabitants of this great city was entitled to show pity for their eternal souls.  Unlike Jonah’s pity, which was based on what the plant had done for him, God took pity on the Ninevites despite their actions against Him.

            “Second, the size of Nineveh’s population was numerically far greater than a solitary plant. Jonah was distressed over a single shrub, but God declared that there are more than 120,000 people in the city.  Since the 120,000 referred specifically to children (see below), the population of the city was actually far higher, likely around 600,000.  In terms of sheer quantity, God had far more warrant to take pity on Nineveh than Jonah had to show sympathy for one plant.”  

            I will have to wait to find out how MacArthur explains that there were 120,000 children in the city with a total population of around 600,000 in Nineveh.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life today: God cares for all people, and saves those He has chosen to save, something hard for my mind to understand, but God cares for all people by giving them food to eat, and air to breathe, and we can see that He certainly cared for the people of Nineveh.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I continue to trust the Lord in the way that He is handling the treatment that my wife in receiving, knowing that He is in control.

11/30/2025 8:29 AM

 

“Their Sustaining Motive” (2 Peter 2:2c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2025 6:10 PM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  “Their Sustaining Motive”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                           Focus:  2 Peter 2:3a

            Message of the verse: “and in their greed they will SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  “Their Stigma”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                           Focus:  2 Peter 2:2c

            Message of the verse:  you with false words;”

            One may think that false teachers are ultimately motivated by a fascination with false doctrine, rebelliousness, or even a penchant for sexual immorality, however that is not the truth at all.  Now to be sure, they actively participate in each of those activities.  But people can do all such sins without being teachers.  Instead, the primary motivation driving false teachers is an unbridled love for money.  You can see this on the television when certain so-called ministries ask you for money.  I remember when I was a very young believer and had a physical problem that I will not mention, but wrote to one of these televangelist ministries and they wrote back to me and wanted me to send them money.  Weill I was a very young believer, but old enough to not send them any money.  There was one ministry that I did send some money to, and when the head of the ministry came to our small town he asked me to help his people bring some books into the place where he was to speak he did some things to my wife that she later told me about and he never got another penny from us.  I even went and talked to him about this and he denied it.  The term for greed (pleonexia) connotes an uncontrolled, covetous desire for money and wealth.  That is my experience with these so-called ministries.  Later in this chapter Peter describes false teachers as “having a heart trained in greed” (v. 14).  They crave as much money as possible (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3-5, 10) and are experts at bilking people in the church out of their wealth.  This is a standard biblical indictment and characterization of religious charlatans, and here is a list of them, but because I am using my new laptop and don’t have a Bible apt on it yet I will leave it up to those who read this to look them up on their own:  (Jer. 6:13; 8:10; 1 Tim. 6:3, 5 9-11; Titus 1:7, 11; 1 Peter 5:1-3; Jude 11, and 16).

            Now to accomplish their materialistic goals, false teachers will exploit people with false words.  MacArthur writes “exploit (emporeuomai) means ‘to traffic in,’ or ‘to realize gain from.’  Such men want to get rich from the people to whom they ‘minister.’  Although they claim to serve others, they are only interested in serving themselves, using false words to enrich their own pockets.

            “Interestingly, the English word plastic is derived from the term false (plastos).  In keeping with its etymological roots, plastic originally had the connotation of something not completely authentic.  After all, plastic items often look as if they are manufactured from another substance, such as wood, metal, china, and so forth.  Thus plastic at first glance ‘deceives’ consumers.  In a similar way, false teachers deal with phony doctrine.  Their theology is not really based on biblical truth, but only molded by false reasoning to appear genuine (cf. Col. 2:8, 20-23; 2 Tim. 2:14-18).

            “Satan’s goal, then, is to deceive as many people as possible, both inside and outside the church, by means of false teachers.  In contrast, God’s goal is to identify and expose such hypocrites.  Through Peter’s warning, the Holy Spirit makes it clear that false teachers are everywhere and have been since the dawn of redemptive history.  In response, believers need to be vigilant and discerning, taking to heart the apostolic admonition of Paul to the Ephesians elders:

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.  I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.  Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and ay for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.  And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts. 20:28-32)

11/29/2025 6:45 PM

 

 

PT-3 “The Final Admonition” (Jonah 4:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2025 10:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus: PT-3 “The Final Admonition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Jonah 4:9-11

            Message of the verses: ““Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?  And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”  Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight.  So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

            I have to make a confession, and that is that I have bought a new laptop and in order to write my Spiritual Diaries on it I am using a new word processor which is sort of similar to the one I have been using, but there are many updates from the one I was using before, and so it takes me a lot longer to write my Spiritual Diaries that before.  Getting old and then trying something new causes problems for me.  I pray that the Lord will give me His grace to understand these new technologies.

            With that said I think that because I am behind this morning I will quote from John MacArthur’s commentary this morning.

            “But God pointed out that the prophet’s compassion for the plant was superficial and selfish.  It was superficial because Jonah hand not personally invested in the plant; he did not work and did not cause the plant to grow.  The term work conveys the notion of toil, referring to the arduous labor required to cultivate agriculture.  Jonah exerted no such effort to care for the plant, nor did he cause it to sprout up and flourish.  Likewise, the plant touched very little of Jonah’s life, for it came to be overnight and perished overnight.  Though it came and went in a very short time, roughly twenty-four hours, Jonah was nonetheless furious that it perished.  Incredibly, he did not care that the sailors (Jonah 1:6, 14) or the Ninevites (3:9) were about to perish, yet he cared deeply about a transitory sheltering bush.  The irony exposed the nature of Jonah’s selfishness and hardhearted hypocrisy.

            “Based on Jonah’s pity for a passing plant, God declared, “So should I not have pity on Nineveh?” The expression pity on Nineveh captures the entire theme of the book—the great care of God for undeserving sinners who are perishing, including those outside of Israel.  In familiar Hebrew fashion, God moved from the lesser to the greater.  Since the prophet insisted that his pity for a fleeting bush was reasonable, he was compelled to acknowledge that God’s pity on the immortal souls of people was far more significant.  The Lord reinforced His indisputable case by providing five features that reveal His compassion on Nineveh as far superior to Jonah’s pity for the plant.”

            This looks like a good place to stop as, Lord willing, we will begin to look at those five features that God’s compassion on Nineveh was much superior to Jonah’s pity on the plant.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life today:  I have to say that I am learning things, a lot of things about the book of Jonah that I did not really know were in this book, and one of the things that I am learning is that Jonah’s heart was hard, hard over the salvation of Gentiles.  That really is not an issue for me as I pray that the Lord will use my Spiritual Diaries to bring many to the Lord.  However there are other issues that this book has caused me to think long and hard about.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will continue to use the book of Jonah to search my heart so that I can draw closer to the Lord.

11/29/2025 10:37 AM

 

 

 

“Their Stigma” (2 Peter 2:2c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2025 3:16 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  “Their Stigma”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                           Focus:  2 Peter 2:2c

            Message of the verse:  “and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;”

            The Way of the truth refers to right doctrine and the accurate proclamation of the gospel (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 14, 22; cf. Matt. 7:14; John 14:6; Acts 16:17; 18:25-26).  But because of false teachers, and the spiritual wreckage they leave behind, the biblical message has often been reproached in the eyes of the world. As Lenski wrote:

“True Christianity is blasphemed, reviled, cursed, condemned by outsiders who see professed Christians running to all manner of excesses.  ‘If that is Christianity,’ they will say, ‘curse it!’  When many follow such excesses, outsiders are unable to distinguish and so blaspheme the whole ‘way.’ These false exponents seem true products of the way to them. (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude [reprint, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966], 307).”

By their deceptive teaching and immoral behavior, false teachers have maligned (literally “blasphemed,” or “defamed”) the gospel.  Of course, their mode of operation is consistent with Satan’s mission.  On the one hand, he seeks to undermine the church from the inside, by introducing deceptive heresies and false doctrines.  On the other hand, he seeks to tarnish the church’s reputation from the outside, by periodically unmasking false teachers before a watching world. When unbelievers associate the conduct of false teachers with the practice of the true church, the name of Christ is inevitably defamed.

            To counter these relentless, satanic efforts, the church must be doctrinally pure, and Christians must live the kind of righteous lives that make the transforming power of Christ believable.  With this in mind, the apostle Paul exhorted the Philippians, Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15; cf Matt. 5:16; Eph. 2:10; 5:8; 1 Thess. 2:12; Titus 2:5, 7, 14; 1 Peter 2:9-12).

11/28/2025 3:39 PM

 

PT-2 “A Final Admonition” (Jonah 4:9-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2025 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-2 “A Final Admonition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Jonah 4:9-11

Message of the verses:  “Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?  And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”  Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight.  So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

            Now in response to the question that God asked in Jonah he replied “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”  Now previously when God has asked Jonah if he had good reason to be angry on account of His grace toward Nineveh, Jonah did not respond as seen in Jonah 4:4 “4 The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" Here is that question, but as stated there is no response from Jonah.  Now in this case, Jonah openly claimed to have good reason for his anger.  He had greatly needed the plant, and he was deeply incensed when the Lord took it away.  The problem was that Jonah assumed his anger was justifiable—both when God extended His grace to Nineveh and when God removed His grace by destroying the plant that Jonah enjoyed to keep him cooler in the hot sun.  Blind to his inconsistency, the prophet was so convinced his position that he boldly declared he had the right to be angry at the grace given to his enemies and the grace removed from him, even to death.  As we compare Jonah 1:12, and 4:3 which both speak of Jonah’s desire to die they evidenced his sinful folly.  “12 He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.”  “3 “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."

            Now as I look at Jonah 1:12, the thought came to me that I wonder if Jonah would have said that he had sinned by running away from the Lord and confessed that sin to the Lord and was willing to go to Nineveh, would God have calmed the sea and then the sailors took Jonah back to where he left from.  I don’t know the answer to that question, but it did not happen so I just have to believe that Jonah’s heart was not in the right place.

            Now having heard these words from Jonah’s mouth, the Lord proceeded to explain all that Jonah had acknowledged.  The prophet not only confessed the goodness of God’s grace (since he was angry when it was removed) but also revealed that he had pity on the plant.  Now the term pit carries the notion of compassion and concern for another as can be seen in Nehemiah 13:22, especially toward those who are needy or destitute as can be seen in Deut. 7:16; Ezek. 7:9 and Joel 2:17.   We will look at all of these verses in a moment.  Now although arising from selfish motives and a skewed mindset, Jonah felt sympathy for the wilted plant.  Now as I go through this last chapter of Jonah it is easy for me to be upset with Jonah over his not wanting to see the Ninevites saved, but I also see the love of God as he is dealing with Jonah and not just causing some kind of judgment on him.  This is one thing that I can learn from his chapter, that God is patient and God is kind.  Now I will quote these verses mentioned above as I close out this Spiritual Diary for today.

Nehemiah 13:22 “And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.”

Deut. 7:16 “16 “You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.”

Ezek. 7:9 “‘My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, do the smiting.”

Joel 2:17 “Let the priests, the LORD’S ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’’”

11/28/2025 10:20 AM