EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/27/2025
7:11 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: “Intro to “The certainty of the Second Coming”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Peter
3:1-10
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ Beloved, I now write to you this second
epistle, in which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, 2 to be mindful of the words which were
spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles
of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the
last days, walking after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from
the beginning of creation.” 5 For
this, they are willingly ignorant: that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the
water and in the water, 6 by
which the world that then was, perished, being flooded with
water. 7 But the heavens and the earth, which
now are kept by the same word, are reserved for fire until the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not be
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should
perish but that all men should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a
great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; also the
earth and the works in it will be burned up.”
I begin this evenings Spiritual
Diary with one of my favorite passages that are found in the Word of God, and
that portion actually begins with verse ten, which we will not get into for a
while yet. I will not begin to quote the
introduction from John MacArthur’s commentary, perhaps adding some comments of
my own and also will add the actual verses that he makes reference to, which
will probably mean that this may take a couple of days to finish this
introduction.
“Jesus Christ is coming back.
“Throughout the centuries, the
reality of that wonderful promise has formed the crux of Christian
expectation. It is the church’s blessed
hope (Titus 2:11-14),
her utmost longing (cf.
Rom. 8:23), and the great climax of salvation history (Matt. 25:31-46)—a time
of redemption for believers (Eph.
4:30) and a time of judgment for God’s enemies (2 Thess. 2:1-12).” Now I will quote these verse references in
the order that they are mentioned in this rather long sentence.
(Titus 2:11-14)
“11 ¶ For the grace of God
that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present
world, 13 looking for the blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify for himself his own special people,
zealous for good works.”
(cf. Rom. 8:23)
“23 And not only that, but
we also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, eagerly awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body.”
(Matt. 25:31-46)
“31 ¶ And when the Son of man
comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the
throne of his glory. 32 And before him
all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them from each other, as
the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will set the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on his left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right
hand, ‘Come, you blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was
thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36
I was naked and you clothed me; I
was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
a drink? 38 And when did we see you a
stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick, or in prison,
and come to you?’ 40 And the King will
answer and say to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, since as you did it
to one of the least of these brethren of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will also say to those on the
left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you did not give me to
eat; I was thirsty and you did not give me a drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take
me in; naked and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison and you did not
visit me.’ 44 Then also they will
answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I
say to you, since as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you
did not do it to me.’ 46 And
these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life.”
(Eph. 4:30) “30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by
whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
(2 Thess. 2:1-12)
“1 ¶ Now, brethren, we ask you,
concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to
him, 2 that you not be quickly
shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from
us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Do not let anyone deceive you by
any means; for that day will not come unless a falling away comes first,
and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is
called God or is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was
still with you, I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may
be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness already works;
only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the
way. 8 And then the lawless one
will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and
destroy with the brightness of his coming. 9 The coming of that lawless one is
according to the working of Satan, with all power, and signs and lying
wonders 10 and with all unrighteous
deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love
of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason, God will send them a
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not
believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Now I realize that there are a lot
of verses here to look at, and I believe that it is important to add the verses
that MacArthur references in his commentary and that is why I have decided to
add them to my Spiritual Diaries.
However it does take me a lot longer to do these Spiritual Diaries but
in the end I believe it will be well worth it, and will bring glory to the Lord
Jesus Christ.
12/27/2025
7:39 PM
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