“God’s Sign” (Luke 1:36)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/7/2026 9:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  “God’s Sign”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                        Reference: Luke 1:36

            Message of the verse:  And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

            This morning’s SD, like yesterday morning’s SD will be short as this section in MacArthur’s commentary is a short one.

            Gabriel, in this verse is giving a sign to Mary, for I have to believe that Mary knew the situation that Elizabeth and Zachariah went through because they could not have any children.  I have mentioned in an earlier SD that for a Jewish girl they wanted to have children of their own, and if they could not then it was like a curse to them. 

            Now speaking of signs we really don’t see that Mary was asking for one, but Gabriel gave her one anyway and if there was any doubt in Mary’s heart then this sign will help her get rid of it for Mary probably knew that Elizabeth was too old to have children, as she was past childbearing age.

            John MacArthur writes about the Greek word relative, “Sungenis (relative) is a non-specific term for a kinswoman or female relative, and the exact relationship between Mary and Elizabeth is not spelled out.  According to Luke’s record of her genealogy (3:23-38), Mary was a descendant of David (v-31) and through him of Judah (v-33).  Elizabeth, on the other hand was a descendant of Aaron (Luke 1:5), and through him Levi (Numbers 26:59).”

(Luke 3:23-38)

“23  Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24  the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25  the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26  the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27  the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28  the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29  the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30  the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31  the son of, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32  the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33  the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34  the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35  the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36  the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37  the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38  the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

(Luke 1:5)

“5 ¶  In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.”

(Numbers 26:59)

59  The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.”

            “The shocking news (introduced by the exclamation, behold), which Mary was undoubtedly hearing for the first time, was that her kinswoman had conceived a son in her old age.  Mary was well aware that Elizabeth was barren,” (something I was asking about earlier), “and past childbearing age.  She must have been amazed and overjoyed to hear that she who was scornfully, derisively called barren (cf. 1:25; Gen. 30:22-23; 1 Sam. 1:6) was now in her sixth month of pregnancy.”  Now the verse list above speaks of those women who could not but then did have children. 

            “The miracle that occurred for Elizabeth was one of conception in old age, not the virgin conception that Mary would experience.  Nevertheless, Elizabeth’s conception was a sign for God to Mary that He was still able to perform miracles, that He could do the humanly impossible (cf. Jer. 32:17, 27; Matt. 19:26).  God gave the sign, not because Mary doubted the angel’s words, but to provide an anchor (cf. Heb. 6:19) for her faith.”

(cf. Jer. 32:17, 27; Matt. 19:26)

“17  ’Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

“27  "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”

“26  But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

(cf. Heb. 6:19)

“19  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,”

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I remember years ago on the day before we had to take our 18 month son to the hospital to get an operation on his heart, a serious operation.  The day before I was watching a baseball game in which our home team was losing very badly.  It seemed to me that the Lord began to speak in my heart that He was going to give me a sign, to which I said that I really did not need a sign because I was trusting Him for the outcome.  In an amazing way our team came back in an unbelievable way to win.  That was a long time ago as our son is now 57 years old and has three children of his own, one in college.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord in a difficult situation that my wife is going through, trusting that the Lord’s will, will be done, and the grace to be given to us as we go through this very difficult situation.

3/7/2026 9:59 AM

“God’s Strategy” (Luke 1:35)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2026 7:46AM

My Worship Time                                                                                     Focus: “God’s Strategy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 1:35

            Message of the verse: “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

            We know from the previous verse that Mary wanted to know what exactly was going to happen to her. Gabriel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”  There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit plays a prominent role in Luke’s narrative of the Lord’s birth as seen in Luke 1:15, 41, 67; 2:25-27.  The Holy Spirit would also be the power source throughout  His earthly life and ministry as seen in Luke 3:221-22; Matthew 3:13-17; and John 1:32-34.  MacArthur writes: That the Holy Spirit would be involved in the creative miracle of the conception of the God-man is not surprising, since He is God and was involved in the creation of the world.  When ‘the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep,…the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).  The Holy Spirit, the original agent of creation, would again become an agent of creation, this time in Mary’s womb.  There is not the slightest suggestion in this text or anywhere else in Scripture of human sexual activity involved in the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  That my fellow blog readers helps me to understand the conception of the God-man Jesus Christ.

            “Restarting the profound reality of the Spirit’s involvement to underscore its significance, Gabriel said to Mary, The power of the Most High will overshadow you.  The familiar Old Testament title Most High (Heb. El Elyon) depicts God as the sovereign, omnipotent ruler of heaven and earth.  The God who made and upholds the universe (Ps. 104:30; Col. 1:16-17) through His Spirit (Job 33:4) would create life in Mary’s womb.”

(Ps. 104:30; Col. 1:16-17)

“30  When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.”

“16  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

(Job 33:4)

“4  The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

            “The verb translated will overshadow (episkiazo) is also used in the accounts of the transfiguration (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34) when the glory cloud descended on Peter, James, and John.  It means ‘to surround,” ‘to encompass,’ or in a metaphorical sense, ‘to influence.’  The creative influence of the Spirit of God would overshadow Mary to produce a child in her womb.”

            Now the divine creative miracle guaranteed that there will be two things that would be true of Mary’s Son.  First, He would be a holy Child, which would be unlike any other infant ever born.  Everyone who has ever lived, with the sole exception of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been born a sinner (Job 15:14; 25:4; Eccles. 7:20; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 5:12; Gal. 3:22; cf. Gen. 3:6-13). 

(Genesis 3:6-13)

“6 ¶  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  9 ¶  But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10  And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." 11 ¶  He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12  The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." 13  Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”

David illustrated that truth when he wrote, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5).  David was not saying that he was an illegitimate child, but that from the time of his conception he was a sinner.  But Christ has always been the sinless Son of God (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5; cf. John 8:46)

            MacArthur goes on to write “Some have erroneously suggested the reason that Jesus was sinless was that He had no human father.  But there is no biblical evidence that the sin nature is passed on genetically only through the father.  All men and women are born sinners because ‘in Adam all die’ (1 Cor. 15:22), since ‘through the one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience the many were made sinners’ (Rom. 5:19).  In a manner beyond human comprehension, Jesus was fully human, yet completely sinless from conception.  The explanation of how that could be is shrouded in the unfathomable mystery of the incarnation.      

            “Jesus had to be the perfectly holy Son of God because His nature is that of the Holy One Himself, God the Father.  That rich title is uniquely appropriate for Him, and Jesus Himself 22:70; cf. 2:49; 10:22), God the Father (3:22; 9:35), Satan 4:3, 9), the demons (4:41; 8:28), and Paul (Acts 9:20; 13:33) all applied it to Him.  The title has profound implications concerning the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. John 1:49; 3:18; Rom. 1:4; 1 John 5:20). Here, however, the term is used in a more restricted sense, signifying that Jesus is by nature the Son of God manifested in human flesh.  In the words of the writer of Hebrews, Christ ‘is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature’ (1:3; John 1:14; Phil. 2:6).”

3/6/2026 8:26 PM

“Mary’s Supplication” (Luke 1:34)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2026 9:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus: “Mary’s Supplication”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 1:34

            Message of the verse:  “Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

            This morning’s SD will be a rather short one as we will just look at this verse this morning. 

            Mary heard this astonishing announcement from the angel Gabriel, the angel of God that she was to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah (1:30-33), and this left Mary shaken and confused (cf. vs 29).

(1:30-33)

“30  And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’”

“29  But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

Mary was overwhelmed by the implications of his announcement, and wondering how it would be practically implemented, Mary asked Gabriel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”  Mary knew that no woman had ever given birth to a child without being impregnated by a man, and so she thought what the angel said was inconceivable.  MacArthur adds “But Mary’s question did not reflect doubt or incredulity (unlike Zachariahs’s [1:18-20]).; she believed what the angel told her, but did not understand how it could happen.”

            MacArthur concludes this very short section by writing: “It must be remembered that miracles were extremely rare in history, as the record of the Old Testament shows.  By Mary’s day there had been no divine revelation or miracles for four centuries.  No one had seen an angel during that time either, until Gabriel’s appearance to Zacharias which Mary probably did not know about since the angel had to tell her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy [v. 36]) a few months earlier Mary realized that the angel did not mean that she would become pregnant naturally, after she consummated her marriage to Joseph.  She understood that he was saying she would become pregnant while she was still a virgin; her question was not an expression of doubt, but a request for an explanation of the means for that impossibility.”

            Now as I look ahead in this chapter, and into chapter two after Jesus was born, and when His mother and father took Him to be circumcised we will see that there were two people who knew that it would be time for the Messiah to be born.  Now the reason that they had a good idea of when the Messiah was to be born was from the great prophecy found in the ninth chapter of Daniel.  I like to explain this prophecy by looking at a giant stopwatch which began at a certain time and ended when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey found in the 19^th chapter of Luke.  The prophecy is for 490 years and it is broken up into different parts and at the end of the first part. “25  Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.”  Seven weeks means 49 years and the sixty-two means 434 years for a total of 483 years.  So to sum it up after the 49 years there would be nothing coming to Israel generated by a prophet as all was silent.  After the 481 years were done, which happened when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, a young donkey it would stop again awaiting the time of the beginning of the tribulation period for the antichrist to begin this last seven years of this prophecy.  At the end of that time, as seen in Revelation 19 the Lord Jesus Christ will return with His saints to stop the battle of Armageddon. 

Spiritual Meaning for My life Today:  Just as the birth of Jesus Christ happened like it was prophesied, so will the rapture, which ends the church age, along with the second coming will all happen just as the Bible tells us it will.  I can take comfort in this, awaiting the rapture of the church to take me and all other saints to the clouds where the Lord will be there to take us all into heaven.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to make sure that as I write these Spiritual Diaries that the truth is given out to all of those around the world who read them that the Holy Spirit will use them for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3/6/2026 10:20 AM

PT-2 Intro to “The Virgin Birth: A Divine Miracle” (Luke 1:34-38)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2026 8:14 AM

My Worship Time                             Focus: PT-2 Intro to “The Virgin Birth: A Divine Miracle”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:34-38

            Message of the verses:  34  And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35  And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37  For nothing will be impossible with God." 38  And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” (ESV)

            I begin where I left off this morning:  “Highlighting the crucial, indispensable role of the doctrine of the virgin birth John M. Frame writes:

“The consistency of this doctrine with other Christian truth is important to its usefulness and, indeed, to its credibility.  For Matthew and Luke the chief importance of the event seems to be that it calls to mind (as a ‘sign,’ Isa. 7:14) the great OT promises of salvation through supernaturally born deliverers, while going far beyond them, showing that God’s final deliverance has come.  But one can also go beyond the specific concerns of Matthew and Luke and see that the virgin birth is fully consistent with the whole range of biblical doctrine.  For example, the virgin birth is important because of : (1) The doctrine of Scripture.  If Scripture errs here, then why should we trust its claims about other supernatural events, such as the resurrection? (2) The deity of Christ.  While we cannot say dogmatically that God could enter the world only through a virgin birth, surely the incarnation is a supernatural event if it is anything.  To eliminate the supernatural from this event is inevitably to compromise the divine dimension of it. (3) The humanity of Christ.  This was the important thing to Ignatius and the 2d-century fathers. Jesus was really born; he really became one of us. (4) The nature of grace.  The birth of Christ, in which the initiative and power are all of God, is an apt picture of God’s saving grace in general of which is a part.  It teaches us that salvation is by God’s act, not our human effort.  The birth of Jesus is like our new birth, which is also by the Holy Spirit; it is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).  (‘Virgin Birth of Jesus,’ in The Concise Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed.  Walter A. Elwell, abridged by Peter Toon [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991], 540, emphasis in original.)

            Now if you want to look more into this subject you can see John MacArthur’s book Nothing But The Truth.

            “Though fully revealed in the New Testament, the virgin birth is foreshadowed in the Old.  In Genesis 3:15, God declared that the seed of the woman (Christ) would crush Satan’s head.  Psalm 2 predicts that at a specific time (‘today’; v. 7) the eternal second person of the Trinity would be born into the world.  The only way for that to happen, as previously noted, would be through a virgin birth.  Isaiah 7:14 records the startling prediction that ‘a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel’ (God with us’ [Matthew 1:23]). Some translations render the Hebrew word alma (‘virgin’) ‘young woman.’  But the common, everyday occurrences of a young woman becoming pregnant in the normal manner could hardly constitute the sign from the Lord promised earlier in verse 14.  Further, ‘There is no instance where it can be proved that alma designates a young woman who is not a virgin’ (R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, eds., The Theological Workbook of the Old Testament [Chicago:  Moody, 1980] s. v., ‘alma’).  Noted Old Testament scholar Edward J. Young agrees: ‘We may confidently assert that the word’ almah is never employed of a married woman’ (The Book of Isaiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985], 1:287).  Matthew’s inspired translation of Isaiah’s prophecy places the issue beyond doubt; it translates alma using the Greek word parthenos, which can only mean ‘virgin’ (Matt. 1:23; cf. 1 Cor. 7:28, 34, 36-38; 2 Cor. 11:2)  The Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) also uses parthenos to translate alma.

            “Despite the virgin birth’s solid biblical foundation, there have always been false teachers, purveyors of ‘doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1) who, for the purpose of rejecting the deity of Jesus, deny it.  In John 8:41, the Jewish leaders scornfully said to Jesus, ‘We were not born of fornication,’ thus implying that He was.  Later Jewish writings propagated the blasphemous lie that Jesus’ real father was a Roman soldier who slept with Mary.  Others throughout history have maintained that Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and Mary, ignoring the Bible’s explicit statement that Joseph ‘kept [Mary] a virgin until she gave birth to a Son (Matt. 1:25).  The biblical evidence clearly gives the lie to any teaching that denies the virgin birth.

            “This passage may be summarized under five points:  Mary’s supplication, God’s strategy, God’s sign, God’s sovereignty, and Mary’s submission.”

3/5/2026 8:54 PM

 

PT-1 Intro to “The Virgin Birth: A Divine Miracle” (Luke 1:34-38)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2026 8:03 AM

My Worship Time                             Focus: PT-1 Intro to “The Virgin Birth: A Divine Miracle”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:34-38

            Message of the verses:  34  And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35  And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37  For nothing will be impossible with God." 38  And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” (ESV)

            This morning I will begin to quote the introduction to these verses from John MacArthur’s commentary:  “History has recorded some amazing births.  Born near a small town in Ontario, Canada, on May 28, 1934, the Dionne sisters became the first known set of quintuplets to survive infancy.  For the first decade of their lives they were Canada’s biggest tourist attraction—bigger even than Niagara Falls—generating several hundred million dollars in tourist revenue.  Jan11, 1974, saw the birth of the Rosenkowitz sextuplets, the first recorded set of sextuplets to have survived to adulthood, in Cape Town, South Africa.  The seven children born to Bobbi and Kenny McCaugthey of Des Moines, Iowa, on November 19, 1997, are the first set of septuplets to survive infancy.  Another notable birth involved only one child.  On Jul 25, 1978, Louise Brown was born in Oldham, England.  What was noteworthy about her however, was not her birth, but the manner of her conception; she was the world’s first ‘test-tube-baby,’ conceived by means of in vitro fertilization.  And in 2008 a single woman gave birth to octuplets by means of in vitro fertilization.  All currently alive. 

            “The Bible also records some amazing births.  Isaac’s birth was nothing short of miraculous, since his father (Abraham) was one hundred years old and his mother (Sarah) was ninety years old and barren (Rom. 4:19).  The Lord also miraculously opened the womb of Manoah’s wife (Judges 13:2), and she gave birth to Samson.  Similarly, God allowed Hannah, who had also been barren (1 Sam. 1:2, 5) to become pregnant with Samuel.  Only a few months before Gabriel’s appearance to Mary, the Lord enabled an elderly, barren couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth, to conceive a child (Luke 1:7, 24).  That child, John the Baptist, was called by God to be the forerunner of the Messiah, and was the greatest man who had ever lived up to his time (Matt. 11:11).

            “But the most remarkable birth of all was that of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, incarnate; the eternal ‘Word [who] became flesh, and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14); supernaturally conceived in a virgin without a human father.  Jesus’ virgin conception cannot be explained away as an example of parthenogenesis (lit., virgin creation’ or ‘generation’), which is found in some lower forms of life.  Parthenogenesis in humans, even if it were biologically possible, could only result genetically in a female child, since women do not have the  Y chromosome necessary to produce a male child.

            “The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is foundational to Christianity, since it is the only way to explain how He could be the God-man.  To deny the virgin birth, then, is to deny the biblical truth that Jesus Christ is both God (cf. John 1:1; 10:30; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; Col. 2:9; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Peter 1:2; 1 John 5:20) and man (cf. John 1:14; Rom. 1:3; Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:7-8; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 7), and to affirm another false Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4),  For if Jesus had a human father, He was just a man.  And if He was just a man, He could not be the Savior.  And if Jesus is not the Savior, there is no gospel, no salvation, no resurrection, no hope beyond this life.  As Paul notes, ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied’ (1 Cor. 15:17, 19).  We may as well ‘eat drink, for tomorrow we die’ (v. 32).  The serious implications of viewing Jesus as mere man led Paul to pronounce a curse on those who propagate that satanic lie (Gal. 1:8-9). “8  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I suppose that the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, and how the second person of the Godhead became a man is something that I will never fully understand, however I do believe it and will always believe it because the result of this in my life is that He changed me, brought me from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive with the hope (noun) of eternal life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will bring me out of this spiritual difficult time, to trust Him to do this and to trust how He will do this.  To trust the Lord to have His perfect will for what is going on in my wife’s illness. 

3/5/2026 8:41 AM

 

PT-2 “The Divine Child” (Luke 1:31-33)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2026 7:33 PM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  PT-2 “The Divine Child”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:31-33

            Message of the verses:  “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

            I want to continue from where I left off this morning.  Now the true measure of Christ’s greatness may be seen in His sharing of God’s glory—of which God declared, “I will not give My glory to another” (Isa. 42:8).  Now referring to Isaiah’s vision of God’s majesty and glory (Isa. 6:1-10), the apostle John wrote, “These things Isaiah said because he saw His [Christ’s] glory, and he spoke of Him” (John 12:41).  John could say that when Isaiah viewed God’s glory in the temple, he saw the glory of Christ, and the reason is because He shares the Father’s glory.  That glory, though veiled in His human flesh, was nonetheless manifested during Christ’s earthly life.  The apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  And for a brief moment on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus’ majestic glory was unveiled to Peter, James, and John (Matt. 1:17 1-8).

            John MacArthur writes “Christ possesses the glory of God because as the Son of the Most High (cf. 1:35, 76; 6:35; Acts 7:48) He possesses the nature of God.  Most High (hupsistos) is the Greek equivalent of the frequently used Old Testament title for God El Elyon (Gen. 14:18-20; Deut. 32:8; 2 Samuel 22:14’ Psalm 17:17; 9:2; 21:7; 46:4; 47:2; Isa. 14:14; Lam. 3:35, 38; Dan. 4:17, 24; 5:18, 21).  It is a title that refers to His position as the supreme sovereign ruler.  To identify Jesus as the Son of the Most High is to affirm that He is of the same essence as God.  In the words of the writer of Hebrews, ‘He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature’ (Heb. 1:3; cf. Matt. 1:23; John 10:30; Phil. 2:6-9; Col. 2:9).

            This amazing Child would be God incarnate, perfectly righteous in everything He thought, said, and did.  He would die as a sinless sacrifice, providing Himself as a substitute for sinners, offering His atoning death to save them from their sins.  But that is not the end of the story.  He would not remain dead, but would rise to reign.  The culmination of Christ’s work will come when the Lord God gives Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.  As noted above, the Lord Jesus Christ was the rightful heir to the throne of His father David through His legal father, Joseph.  Gabriel’s words emphasize both the Jewish character of Christ’s kingdom, since He will rule over the house of Jacob (Isa. 65:17-19; Zeph. 3:11-13; Zech. 14:16-21, as well as the rest of mankind; cf. Dan. 7:14, 27), and its eternality, since His kingdom will have no end (Rev. 11:15).  “15  Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’”

            MacArthur goes on to write:  “The promised kingdom is not limited to Christ’s present spiritual reign, as amillennialists advocate.  The Bible teaches that Satan will be bound during the millennium (Rev. 20:1-3); yet now, as Peter warned, he ‘prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8).  Therefore, the present age cannot be the millennium.  Nor does the church usher in the millennial kingdom, at the end of which Christ returns, as postmillennialists postulate.  Jesus Himself posed the rhetorical question, ‘When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?’ (Luke 18:8). 

            “The Lord Jesus Christ clearly did not establish His kingdom at His first coming.  As John noted in the prologue to his gospel, ‘He came to His own [Israel], and those who were His own did not receive Him’ (John 1:11; cf. 11:53; Matt. 9:34; 12:14; 21:37-43; Mark 6:3; 16:14; 1 Thess. 2:14-16).  The Jewish people (particularly their leaders), ‘recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.  And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed’ (Acts 13:27-28; cf. 2:23; 7:52; Matt. 27:22-23; Luke 23:13-24; John 19:12-16).

            “Jesus Christ rules spiritually in the heart of every believer (cf. Col. 1:13), and that spiritual rule will last forever because salvation is forever.  But that does not preclude the future literal, earthly, millennial kingdom.  During that blessed time, Jesus Christ, ‘the root and the descendant of David’ (Rev. 22:16; cf. Isa. 11:1, 10; Matt. 1:1; Rom. 15:12), the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), will sit on His glorious throne, judging the nations with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9; Rev. 12:5; 19:15) for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4-5).  At the end of that time, God will uncreate the universe and create a new heaven and earth that will last for all eternity.  The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28,

“24  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26  The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27  For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28  When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” (ESV)

            “Gabriel’s message to Mary introduces the pivotal point in redemptive history.  How people respond to the Child of whom Gabriel spoke will determine their eternal destiny.  As Simeon would later say to Mary, ‘Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel’ (Luke 2:34), and the rest of the world as well.  And as the Child Himself would warn, ‘Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins’ (John 8:24), since ‘there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 3:12).”

            This section ends the fourth chapter in MacArthur’s commentary on Luke, the first of four commentaries on Luke’s gospel.  Lord willing we will begin looking at the introduction of the fifth chapter in tomorrow mourning’s SD, which as I look at it is fairly long so it may take both the morning and evening SD’s to complete it.

3/4/2026 8:22 PM

           

 

PT-1 “The Divine Child” (Luke 1:31-33)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2026 8:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  PT-1 “The Divine Child”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:31-33

            Message of the verses:  “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

            This morning I begin what is a rather long section which speaks of what the angel Gabriel said to Mary concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, as she would be the mother of the Lord, a privilege that no one else had or ever will have.  As Mary heard after Gabriel’s greeting for the first time she heard what the gracious work of God in her life was going to be, and as mentioned she will be the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now we can be sure that Mary knew of only one way that she could ever conceive a son—through sexual relations with a man.  Mary also knew that she had not had such relations, as her question in verse 34, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” indicates.  The concept of a pregnant virgin was utterly inconceivable to her, an impossibility, a contradiction in terms like a married bachelor, or a square circle.

            Now let me quote a verse for you from the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis 3:15 “15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’”  This verse actually speaks of the virgin birth all the way back to when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, and God immediately shares about the seed of a woman which will eventually be fatal to Satan, and that seed of the woman is Mary’s seed, Jesus Christ.

            John MacArthur writes:  “Nevertheless Gabriel’s stunning announcement, in words fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of Messiah’s virgin birth (Isa. 7:14; cf. Matt. 1:23), was that Mary without the seed from a man would conceive in [her] womb and bear a son.  The staggering promise of a divine miracle was far beyond her understanding or any human comprehension.

            “Then, with breathtaking brevity, in one vast, glorious relation Gabriel succinctly summarized the entire ministry of the Lord Jesus  Christ: His saving work, righteous life, deity, resurrection, ascension, glorious return, and kingdom rule.  He began with the command to name Him Jesus, the name that was the Greek form of the common Hebrew name Yeshua (‘Yahweh saves’), which introduced the reality of Messiah’s saving work.  God is a saving God, and it was ‘to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10; cf. 2:11, 30, 38; Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 1:15; cf. John 12:27; Rom. 8:3-4; 2 Cor. 8:9) that Jesus Christ came into the world.  His saving work is the central theme of the New Testament (cf. Matt. 11:28-30; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 5:31; 13:23, 38; Rom. 5:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 1:5).  In obedience to the angel’s command, Mary and Joseph named their newborn Son Jesus (Luke 2:21).”

“‘to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10; cf. 2:11, 30, 38; Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 1:15; cf. John 12:27; Rom. 8:3-4; 2 Cor. 8:9)

“10  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’”

“11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

“30  for my eyes have seen your salvation”

“38  And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

“21  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:”

“15  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

“27 ¶  "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

“3  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

“9  For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

            The next thing that Gabriel told Mary that her son Jesus will be great.  Megas is the Greek word for great.  Now once again the understatement is striking.  But all the synonyms that could be added, such as extraordinary, splendid, magnificent, noble, distinguished, powerful, or eminent, would be equally inadequate, so I guess that there is not any human words to describe how great our Lord Jesus Christ is.  MacArthur adds “Adjectives and superlatives are not used because they are superfluous.  His life will define great. And worshiping believers are always aware that language is inadequate to express the honor and glory of His person.

            “Unlike John the Baptist, whose greatness was qualified as being in God’s sight (1:15), Jesus’ greatness is unqualified.  He is great in and of Himself; His greatness is intrinsic to His very nature as God, and is not derived from any source outside of Himself.  Jesus Christ is ‘far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come’ (Eph. 1:21).”

            Lord willing I will continue where I am leaving off this evening in my Evening Spiritual Diary.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Being reminded of the greatness of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ causes me to desire to live for Him each and every day, knowing that is the best way to live my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to think about the greatness of my Lord and Savior ,Jesus Christ.

3/4/2026 9:17 AM

 

PT-2 “The Divine Blessing” (Luke 1:29-30)

 

Evening SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/3/2026 5:20 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “The Divine Blessing”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:29-30

            Message of the verses:  “And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.”

            I continue looking at these verses in this evening’s SD, by continuing to look at some of the false things that were and are written about Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Now John MacArthur was writing about the false things that the Roman church is using to talk about Mary.  MacArthur goes on to write “That false, unbiblical view of Mary is an integral part of the Roman Church’s practice of Mariolatry (the veneration and worship of Mary), which blasphemes the Lord Jesus by worshiping another.  In reality Mary was a humble, redeemed sinner.  She was not sinless from her conception until her bodily assumption into heaven, as Catholic dogma maintains, since as Jesus Himself declared, ‘No one is good except God alone’ (Luke 19:19; cf. Rom. 3:10). Nor is Mary the co-redeemer of the human race, since sinners are ‘justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 3:24; cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:13-14; Heb. 9:12).  She does not hear and answer prayers or intercede for anyone, since there is ‘one mediator…between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim. 2:5).  The teaching of Roman Catholicism that ‘there is no surer or more direct road that by Mary for uniting all mankind in Christ and obtaining through Him the perfect adoption of sons, that we may be holy and immaculate in the sight of God’ (Pope Pius X, Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum) is utterly false and blasphemous. The exalted, quasi-deified Mary or Roman Catholic dogma is far removed from the humble, unassuming ‘bondslave of the Lord’ (Luke 1:38) revealed in Scripture.  Gabriel’s pronouncement to Mary, ‘the Lord is with you,’ speaks of God’s enabling of her (cf. Judg. 6:12).”  “12  And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.’”  “It reinforces the truth that Mary was a recipient of God’s grace, not the dispenser of it to others.  Only God gives grace to sinners, as Scripture indicates continually (cf. Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:4; Eph. 2:8, and the repeated use of the phrase ‘the grace of God’).”

(cf. Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:4; Eph. 2:8)

“24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

“4  I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,”

“8  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

            John MacArthur then goes on to write “Realizing that she was an unworthy sinner (in verse 47, she called God her Savior, and only sinners need a Savior), Mary was very perplexed at Gabriel’s statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  It was not just his appearing to her that caused Mary’s consternation, but what he said to her. Very perplexed translates a form of the verb diatarassomai (‘greatly troubled, disturbed, or confused’), a more intense form of the verb translated ‘troubled’ in verse 12, where it described Zacharias’s reaction to Gabriel’s appearance. Mary was perplexed because she knew that she knew that she was a sinner, and did not understand why God had favored her.  But Mary’s genuine humility manifested her true righteousness (cf. Pss. 34:2; 138:6; Prov. 3:34; Isa. 66:2; Matt. 18:4; 20:26-28; Luke 14:11; James 4:6).  All genuinely righteous people are distressed and terrified in God’s presence (or, as in this case, one of His holy angels), because they are acutely aware of their sin (cf. the reactions of Isaiah [Isa. 6:5]; nothing in her brief life could have prepared her for this astonishing event.”   [Isa. 6:5]  “5 ¶  And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’’”

            “Seeking to calm her, Gabriel said to the frightened girl, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary.’  His explanation, for you have found favor with God, reassured Mary that she had nothing to fear; Gabriel had come to her with a message of blessing, not judgment.  Like Noah, Mary had ‘found favor in the eyes of the Lord’ (Gen. 6:8).  God had sovereignly chosen to use her to help carry out His redemptive purposes.  The issue was not her merit or worthiness, but God’s sovereign grace which, like all His ways, is ultimately beyond human understanding (cf. Deut. 29:29; Ps. 36:6).”

(cf. Deut. 29:29; Ps. 36:6)

“29  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

“6  Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.”

3/3/2026 6:05 PM

 

 

“The Divine Blessing” (Luke 1:29-30)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/3/2026 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “The Divine Blessing”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 1:29-30

            Message of the verses:  “And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.”

            I begin by writing about the phrase coming in, as this clearly implies that Mary was in her house, apparently alone, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her.  Mary was undoubtedly doing the normal domestic chores of a girl who was perhaps 12 or 13 years old, and being Jewish and what we know about Mary we know she was doing exactly what she was suppose to be doing.  Gabriel gave Mary the standard introduction of that time “Greetings.”  Now since Zacharis panicked when Gabriel appeared to him, his low-key introduction and immediate statement of blessing was likely intended to calm and to reassure Mary.

            Now by addressing Mary as favored one, Gabriel indicated that May had nothing to fear, but was to become the recipient of God’s grace.  MacArthur writes: “There was nothing intrinsically worthy about her that set he above other believers, as if she were perfectly holy; like all people, she was a sinner (cf. Job 25:4; Psalm 14:1-3; Eccles. 7:20; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 3:12, 23) in need of God’s grace (Acts 15:11; 18:27; Rom. 3:24; 5:15, 17; Eph. 1:7; 2:5, 8; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:7).  The salutation was best confiscated from the basis of the familiar Roman Catholic prayer known as the Ave Maria (‘Hail Mary’).  The erroneous premise of that prayer, based on the Latin Vulgate’s rendering of favored one as gratia plena (‘full of grace’), is that Mary has been granted and possesses fullness of grace, which she then bestows on others.  In his encyclical Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum, Pope Pius X, in a bizarre distortion of truth, has called Mary not the recipient of grace, but the ‘Dispensatrix [dispenser] of all the gifts that Our Savior purchased for us by His death and by His Blood; the supreme Minister of the distribution of graces; the distributor…of the treasures of His merits.’  Pope Leo XIII agreed, declaring in his encyclical Octobri Mense that ‘Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us the immense treasure of the Catholic Church’s belief that Mary is ‘the seat of all divine graces…adorned with all gifts of the Holy Spirit…an almost infinite treasury, and inexhaustible abyss of these gifts.’  Summing up the Catholic view that Mary is the mediator of all graces Ludwig Ott writes, ‘Since Mary’s Assumption into Heaven no grace is conferred on man without her actual intercessory co-operation’ (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma [St. Louis; B. Herder, 1954], 209).”

            I want to go back to some of the verse references that MacArthur has in his commentary that we are looking at, beginning with the ones that follow the statement “like all people she (Mary) was a sinner.”

(cf. Job 25:4; Psalm 14:1-3; Eccles. 7:20; Isa. 53:6; Rom. 3:12, 23)

“4  How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?

1 ¶  «To the choirmaster. Of David.» The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. 2  The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3  They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”

“20  Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”

“6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned— every one— to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

“12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’”

“23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

The next set of verses we will look at comes after MacArthur’s statement “in need of God’s grace.”

(Acts 15:11; 18:27; Rom. 3:24; 5:15, 17; Eph. 1:7; 2:5, 8; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:7)

11  But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’”

“27  And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,”

“24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

“15  But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”

“7  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”

“5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

“8  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

“9  who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”

“7  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

            These are very important verses to look at showing us that we are all sinners and we are all in need of God’s grace in order for us to be saved.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life today:  I could never do anything on my own in order for God to allow me to come into His presence, only through the blood of Christ can I be saved, and the Holy Spirit opening my heart to receive the forgiveness that God offers to me through His Son, Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Holy Spirit of God to get this message out to He brings onto my blogs to read it and be saved.

3/3/2026 10:39 AM