SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 7/20/2025 8:18 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-1“The Present: The Close, For Which He is Ready”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
2
Timothy 4:6
Message of the verse: For I
am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure
has come.”
John MacArthur
begins his commentary on this verse by writing “Like ‘but you’ at the beginning
of the previous verse, For I is emphatic. There was a special urgency for Timothy to
perform his ministry with steadfastness, because Paul’s ministry was about to
end.” Now as I look at the situation
that is explained here, and that is that the Apostle Paul was about to enter
into heaven as he will be martyred for the cause of Christ in a short time, and
now it was his desire for Timothy to take over the ministry that he had begun,
and I know that this was the desire of the Lord for this to happen, and yet
when I look at the life of Timothy I can see that there was appreciation in
this rather young man, and yet I also see that he was the one that God chose to
pick up where Paul had left off. There
are times when I see in myself a lot of Timothy, and yet this gives me hope
that the Lord will also use me to do what the Lord has called me to do, and so
this gives me comfort as I look at the life of Timothy.
Being
poured out as a drink offering is a figure taken from the Old Testament
sacrificial system. MacArthur writes: “As
commanded in the book of Numbers, the people of Israel, as well as Gentiles who
lived among them, were first to give a burnt offering of one of the prescribed
animals, then a grain offering, and finally a drink offering (15:1-0). While writing Timothy, Paul already was being poured out as a drink offering, his final offering to the
Lord who had sacrificed Himself for the apostle and for all people of all
ages. And just as he had offered himself
to the Lord as ‘a living sacrifice,
acceptable to God’ (Rom. 12:1) while he was alive, he now offered himself
to the Lord in his death. He was ‘ministering as a priest the gospel of God,
that [his] offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the
Holy Spirit’ (15:16).” Now I am not
going to quote the entire fifteenth chapter of Numbers, but it would be good
that anyone who reads this SD would take the time to go over that chapter that
Paul got his information from in order to write what he is now writing to
Timothy.
Now
it is possible that Paul’s speaking of his death as a drink offering also may have referred to the type of execution
he expected to suffer, and I’m sure that Paul knew the kind of execution he
would suffer, and that is because Roman citizens could not be crucified, and so
the form of execution the Romans used on their own citizens was beheading. MacArthur then adds “literally pouring out
his own blood for the Lord.” Five years
earlier Paul wrote to the Philippians in Philippi “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the
sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with my joy
with you all” (Phil. 2:17). Paul
would write more to the Philippians that it was his desire to die and go to be
with the Lord, but he knew that his time had not yet come, and that he would
stay alive longer in order to continue to aid in helping the Philippians, and
not only them but many others would be helped through Paul’s life and through
the letters he wrote that are now a part of Scripture.
A
few days ago when I began the introduction to this section of Scripture I wrote
about Paul’s battle scars which are written in 2 Corinthians chapter eleven,
and to summarize what I wrote then I will again quote from that passage, but not
as long a quotation as I did earlier. I
will just quote 2 Corinthians 11:22-27 “22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? — I
speak as if insane — I more so; in far more labors, in far more
imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five
times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was
beaten with rods, once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked, a night and
a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in
dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen,
dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness,
dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in
labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often
without food, in cold and exposure.” MacArthur writes “But the supreme mark of the
faithful soldier is to give his life in battle; and that mark the apostle was
now willingly prepared to receive.”
Now at this time I want to go back
to Acts chapter nine where we read of Paul’s conversion to Christianity. Paul was on his way to Damascus in order to
bring back Christians to be persecuted and on his way the Lord confronted and
called Him by His bright appearance.
Paul was then led into the city where he did not eat or drink for three
days, and at the end of those three days the Lord called Ananias and so I will
pick up the story form Acts 9:10 and following.
“10 Now there was a disciple at
Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision,
"Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said
to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the
house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he
has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so
that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I
have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at
Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who
call on Your name." 15
But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to
bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I
will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake." 17 So
Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said,
"Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which
you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled
with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes
something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was
baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.”
I
have underlined verse 16, a verse for a long time I think that I had the wrong
idea about, as I was thinking that the Lord said that suffering would come upon
Paul because of his persecution of the church, but I do not believe that was
correct, and the reason is that Jesus Christ died to take away our sins,
including Paul. This was the calling
that the Lord gave to Paul, and this calling of suffering for the cause of
Christ has been given to many, many believers since the Church began. We have read about his sufferings in 2
Corinthians 11 and now we are studying about what Paul wrote to Timothy near
the end of his life here on earth as Paul has said “I have fought the good fight.” He
certainly did as he did not stop telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ
even though he fulfilled the calling that God gave to him, and that was much
suffering.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I don’t know if suffering for my faith will
be a part of what God called me to do, but I suppose that all true believers
suffer during their lives through illnesses, and other things like that, and it
is my desire to continue to do what I believe the Lord has called me to do, and
that is to spread His Word through the Spiritual Diaries that I write each day
and put them onto my blogs so that the Holy Spirit of God can use them to bring
honor and glory to my Lord Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the
Lord will continue to use the Spiritual Diaries that I write each day to bring
glory to Him.
7/21/2025 10:26 AM
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