EVENING
SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2025 7:44 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Their
Irreverence”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Jude 8d-10
Message of the verse: “and revile angelic
majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and
argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing
judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But
these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the
things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things
they are destroyed.”
“defy authority,
and scoff at supernatural beings. 9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of
the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The
Lord rebuke you!” (This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil
about Moses’ body.) 10 But these people scoff at things they do not understand.
Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so
they bring about their own destruction.”
I
want to continue to look at these verses in this evening’s SD. I pick this up where Jude writes about the
seriousness of the apostates’ irreverence as he contrasts their behavior with
that of Michael the archangel. Now according to what I read in John
MacArthur’s commentary Michael is God’s most important angel and the protector of God’s people as seen in (Dan. 10:13-21;
and 12:1). Michael did not demonstrate
irreverence when he disputed with the
devil and argued about the body of Moses.
Michael knew that God could grant him power over Satan (Rev. 12:7-9),
yet he also understood that he was not to act beyond God’s prescribed
limits. Now I want to look at Revelation
12:7-9; “7 And there was war in heaven,
Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels
waged war, 8 and they were
not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the
great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and
Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his
angels were thrown down with him.” Not to get too far off the track, but
before this Satan and his angels did have access to heaven. Note the first two chapters of Job, and then
there was a place in 2 Chronicles where we see that too. This came to an end after a battle between
Satan and his angels, and Michael and his angels during the tribulation
period. John MacArthur writes “Out of
respect for Satan’s status and power as the highest created being, Michael did not dare pronounce against him (Satan)
a railing judgment as if he possessed sovereign dominion over him. In fact, he did nothing more than utter the
words, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”
Now
Michael’s response anticipated the example of the Angel of the Lord in
Zechariah 3:2: “The LORD said to Satan,
"The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem
rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" Now in the prophet Zechariah’s vision, Joshua
the high priest—who along with Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews back from
Babylonian captivity—was standing in heaven before the Angel of the Lord, now I
think that could be the Lord Jesus Christ as this was used in the Old Testament
at times to describe the pre-incarnated 2nd Person of the Godhead,
but I am not positive this is who is described here. Now the devil was also there, at the right
hand of Joshua, accusing Joshua and the
nation of Israel whom he represented.
Now the argument that Satan was
giving was based on Israel’s sinfulness, and that was that God should break His
covenant promises (now compare this with Gen. 12:3, 7; 26:3-4; 28:14; Deut.
5:1-21; 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalm 89:3-4; cf. Rom. 9:4; Gal. 3:16). Now in response, the Angel of the Lord which
John MacArthur describes Him as the preincarnate Christ, defended Israel by
deferring to God the Father and then asking Him to rebuke Satan (cf. 1 John
2:1), “1 My little children, I am
writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” And the Father honored the preincarnate
Son. Now instead of breaking His
covenant with His chosen people, God reaffirmed His commitment to Israel’s
future justification, promising to forgive Israel’s sin and then clothe Israel
with garments of righteousness as seen in Zechariah 3:3-5. “3 Now
Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He
spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, "Remove the
filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken
your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes." 5 Then
I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a
clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the
LORD was standing by.”
Lord
willing I will continue to look further at these verses from Jude in tomorrow
evening’s SD.
7/31/2025 8:17 PM
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