MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/30/2026
7:56 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Intro to ‘The
Messiah’s Divine Confirmation’”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
3:21-22
Message of the verses: “Now when all the people were
baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,
and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice
come out of heaven, “You are My Beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
I will continue to quote from John MacArthur’s
introduction to these verses in this morning’s SD.
“But of all the historic New
Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ the most significant was God the Father in
John 5:37, Jesus said to the Jewish
leaders, ‘The Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me,’ and in 8:18, He
added, ‘The Father who sent Me testifies about Me.’ Concerning the Father’s testimony to the Son,
the apostle John wrote,
“The
testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has
the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His
Son. And the testimony is this, that God
has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:9b-11)
“At the
transfiguration the terrified disciples heard the Father’s ‘voice out of the
cloud [saying], This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to
Him! (Matthew 17:5).
“The Father also testified audibly concerning
Jesus at His baptism. That testimony,
recorded in verse 22, is the main point of this powerful majestic passage. Though brief, it opens up a wide panorama of
truth, as it reveals the Spirit’s and the Father’s confirmation of Jesus as
Messiah and Savior.
“These verses also mark the final
transition from the story of John the Baptist to Jesus. Everything up to this point has set the stage
for the ministry of Jesus Christ. That
ministry, launched here at His baptism, will be the theme and focus of the
remainder of Luke’s gospel.
“This
passage is also one of the most significant Trinitarian texts in the New
Testament, as the Father speaks, the Holy Spirit descends, and Jesus is
baptized. That all appear simultaneously
refutes the heresy know as modalism (or modalistic Monarchianism. Modalism is also known as Sabellianism after
Sabellius, its most prominent advocate in the early church). In modern times, it is the teaching of the
so-called ‘oneness’ groups, the largest of which is the United Pentecostal
Church. Modalism denies the biblical
teaching that God exists eternally in three persons. It views Him as one person, the Father, who
also manifests Himself at various times as the Holy Spirit, and on other
occasions as the Son. That view is
untenable in light of this and other passages where the members of the Trinity
are clearly distinguished from each other (e.g., Matt. 10:32-33; 11:25-27;
17:1-5; 26:39, 42; 28:19; Luke 23:46; John 5:17-26; 11:41; 12:28; 16:28;
17:1-26; 20:17; Acts 7:55-56; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter
1:17; 1 John 2:1).
“This text may be approached by
looking at it in relation to each of the persons of the Godhead; the Son’s
baptism, the Spirit’s anointing, and the Father’s testimony.”
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life today: Looking at this last paragraph in
MacArthur’s commentary I read about things that had words in it that were new
to me, and what I saw in parts of that paragraph are workings of Satan who has
to be behind the thinking that there is no trinity. There is a trinity, for MacArthur gives many
verse references to prove that the Bible teaches that.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to get me to Columbus tomorrow
without any problems with my IBS, and most of all that the doctors who will see
my wife will have some things that will help her fight this battle with this
aggressive cancer that has invaded her body.
4/30/2026
8:21 AM
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