EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/23/2026 8:54 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-2
“Jesus Is The Source Of Truth”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
5:1-3)
Message of the verses: “1Now it happened that
while the crowd was pressing around Him and
listening to the word of God, He was standing by the
lake of Gennesaret; 2and He
saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the
fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their
nets. 3And He got into one of
the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a
little distance from the land. And He
sat down and continued teaching the
crowds from the boat.”
I want to continue to look at these verses in this
evening’s SD.
Now on this occasion, the crowd
was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God as He was
standing by the lake of Gennesaret. Now
the lake, more commonly known as the Sea of Galilee as the Old Testament
refers to it as the Sea of Chinnereth found in Numbers 34:11; Josh. 13:27 or
also in John 6:1; 21:1, the name by which it was known when he wrote), is a
lake nearly 700 feet below sea level, that is the dominant geographical feature
of the entire region of Galilee. Now let
me take a moment to quote the two verses from John’s Gospel.
John 6:1; 21:1
“1 ¶ After this Jesus went away to the other side
of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.”
“1 ¶ After this Jesus revealed himself again to
the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.”
The name Gennesaret derives
from the fertile plain of that name to the northwest of the lake. The primary source of water for the Sea of
Galilee is the Jordan River, which arises from several sources near Mount
Hermon which is 9,200 feet above sea level, and it flows into the lake from the
north. The enlarged Jordan River exists
the southern end of the lake, and flows south into the Dead Sea.
As I study the different gospels I
find that the crowds were always eager crowds that surged around Jesus, pushing
Him toward the water’s edge. What
captured their attention was Jesus’ preaching of the word of God, but
also the chance to see one of His many miracles done. MacArthur writes “The term is not here a
synonym for the Bible as it commonly is in Christian circles today. The phrase of
God is a subjective genitive in the Greek, indicating source; the people
were listening to Jesus speak the word that came directly from God. When Jesus spoke, they literally heard
God speaking. The subject was the good
news of salvation; the truth about entering the kingdom of God. It was the glorious truth that the
spiritually poor could be made rich; the spiritual prisoners set free; the
spiritually blind given sight; and the spiritually oppressed delivered from
their bondage…It was the good news of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal
life. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘Jesus
declared, ‘he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life’
(John 5:24).
“Jesus’ teaching and preaching was
strikingly different than that of the rabbis, whose authority was connected to
quoting other rabbis.” (Perhaps like the blind leading the blind!) “But Jesus,
being God spoke the long-awaited divine revelation of the kingdom, which could
be entered through faith in Him. Jesus
did not speak as an Old Testament scholar or as a rabbinic tradition; it was
the voice of God. Jesus was the Son of
God; God in human flesh, and when He spoke He spoke with personal divine authority
(Matt. 7:29; Mark 1:27).”
(Matt. 7:29; Mark 1:27)
“29 for he was teaching them as one who had
authority, and not as their scribes.”
“27 And they were all amazed, so that they
questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with
authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’”
“Jesus is truth incarnate, since God
is true (Ps. 31:5; Isa. 65:16). His word
is an expression of His truth (Ps. 138:2).”
(Ps. 31:5; Isa. 65:16)
“5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have
redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.”
“16 So that he who blesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and
are hidden from my eyes.”
(Ps. 138:2)
“2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give
thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have
exalted above all things your name and your word.”
“In John
14:6, Jesus declared ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life.’ Earlier in his gospel the apostle John wrote
of Him, ‘And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the one begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth….For the
Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ’
(1:14, 17).
“Jesus repeatedly taught that He had
been sent by God and thus spoke the truth.
In John 7:16, He ‘answered [the Jewish religious leaders] and said, ‘My
teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.’”
Later ‘Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you
continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know
the truth, and the truth will make you free’’(John 8:31-32). ‘Because I speak the truth,’ He told the
Jewish leaders, ‘you do not believe Me.
Which one of you convicts Me of sin”
If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?’ (John 8:45-46). In John 12:49-50, Jesus again affirmed that
He spoke exactly `as the Father commanded Him: ‘For I did not speak on My own
initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to
what to say and what to speak. I know
that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak
just as the Father has told Me.”
5/23/2026
9:30 PM
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