“The Selecting” (Luke 6:13a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/12/2026 8:27 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  “The Selecting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  “Luke 6:13a”

            Message of the verse:  “And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them,”

            “In answer to our Lord’s fervent, night-long intercession, God revealed His will as to which of the disciples were to be selected for special training and apostolic commissioning.  Therefore when day came Jesus called His disciples to Him.  Disciples translates the plural form of mathetes, which means, ‘student,’ ‘follower,’ or ‘learner.’  In Greek and Jewish culture prominent rabbis, orators, philosophers, or teachers would attach followers, who would travel with them from place to place.  Because His powerful, unparalleled teaching (John 7:46; Matt. 7:28-29), ability to heal any disease, cast out demons, raise the dead, and perform other miracles (e. g., 5:4-9; Matt. 14:14-21, 25-32; 15:32-38; John 21:5-11), the Lord Jesus Christ attracted a large number of disciples.  Those with Him in the grain fields (6:1), for example, would have included more than merely the Twelve, who had not yet been chosen.  The miraculous feedings of the five thousand and four thousand men (which would also have included thousands of women and children) indicate the vast size of the crowds that followed Jesus (cf. 12:1).  Not all, of course, were genuine followers.  Unwilling to accept the demands of following Christ (John 6:53-65).  ‘many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore’ (v. 66).

            “Out of the large group of disciples, some of whom came to Him on their own and others that He specifically called to follow Him (5:8-11; 27-28), Jesus chose twelve of them.  As He would later remind them, ‘You did not choose Me but I chose you’ (John 15:16; cf. 6:70; 13:18).  Although Jesus chose the Twelve at this time, He did not officially commission them and grant them authority to heal and cast out demons until later (Luke 9:1)

            “That the Lord chose twelve men is not random, because that number was symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The  importance of the number was underscored by the addition of Mattias to take Judas’s place (Acts 1:23-26).  Since Israel and its leaders were apostate, the Twelve were to serve as the leaders of the new, true Israel of God—the redeemed, believing remnant.  Jesus made the connection clear in Luke 22:29-30) when He told the Twelve that they would reign over Israel in the millennial kingdom: ‘Just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’

            “There are four lists of the twelve apostles in the New Testament (cf. Matt. 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Acts 1:13).  The names on all the lists appear in three groups of four, always in the same order, though the names in each groups are arranged in order of decreasing intimacy with Christ.  The first group consists of two pairs of brothers: Peter and James, and John and Andrew; the second of Philip, Bartholomew (Nathanael), Matthew, and Thomas; the last of James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot.  Peter’s name is always first in all four lists, and Judas Iscariot’s last (except in Acts).  The order of the names within each group sometimes varies, but Peter’s name, as noted, is always first in group one, Philip’s is always first in group two, and James the son of Alphaeus’s always heads group three.  Those in group one, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, were the first four called by Jesus to be His disciples (John 1:35-42), the most intimate with Him, and those about whom the most is known.  While there is some information about those in group two, very little is known about group three.

            “The Twelve were a diverse group, not only in their occupations, as noted above, but also in their political views. Matthew and Simon, for instance, could not have been further apart. Matthew was a tax collector, a traitor who served the Roman occupiers by exploiting his own people.  Simon, on the other hand, was a member of the zealots, a faction radically opposed to Rome.  Some of them, known as the Sicarii for the concealed daggers they carried, were terrorists.  They resorted to kidnapping or even murdering Romans and Jews they suspected of being loyal to Rome.  Were it not for their common devotion to Jesus Christ, Simon may well have murdered Matthew.  It was the same devotion that molded all twelve men, different as they were in occupation, temperament, and political views, into a cohesive unit.”

6/12/2026 9:02 PM

“The Setting” (Luke 6:12)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/12/2026 9:27 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  “The Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 6:12

            Message of the verse:  It was at this time that He went off to the mountains to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

            There are time when I think Satan gets  involved with me writing my Spiritual Diaries, or perhaps it is just me who can do some very dumb things.  At any rate last evening, and this is not the first time it has happened to me, instead of clicking on save to save by SD, I put copy which makes the entire SD go away, and so this morning I had to rewrite last evening’s SD.  I waited to this morning to do it because I was a little, or a lot upset last evening.  At any rate this morning’s SD will be a short one.

            “The word time does not refer to calendar time, such as a specific day, week, or month, but is a general term for season, era, or period.  It describes here the time of Christ’s intensifying conflict with the scribes and Pharisees.  They first appeared in Luke’s account in 5:17, and their hostility toward Jesus quickly manifested itself (v. 21).  Since that first incident, their opposition to Him had been steadily escalating (v. 30; 6:2, 7, 11).  In view of that mounting hostility, which would culminate in His execution less than two years later, the time had come for Jesus to choose the men who would carry on His earthly ministry after His death.  He knew that they needed intensive preparation and training in the time remaining before the cross for their roles as His official representatives.

            “Recognizing the critical importance of His choice of them men Jesus went off to the mountain alone to pray (cf. 5:16).”

(cf. 5:16)

“16  But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

“The specific mountain of which the Lord prayed is not known, but there were many in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee.  In His humanity, having set aside the independent use of His divine attributes (Phil 2:5-8), Jesus sought the Father’s will in choosing the Twelve.”

(Phil 2:5-8)

“5  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

“So important was this decision to the future course of redemptive history that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer to God.  Dianuktereuon (meaning, ‘to spend the whole night’) appears only here in the New Testament.  It denotes an activity that continues throughout an entire night.  The Greek phrase translated in prayer to God is an unusual construction, and could be translated ‘in prayer of God.’  Jesus spent the long hours of darkness in unceasing, fervent, persevering, inter-Trinitarian prayer to the Father before selecting the twelve apostles.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  First I would have loved to hear that prayer conversation that Jesus had with His Father.  Wonder if they had different choices to go over, but probably not.  Perhaps the prayers for the Apostles were about getting them ready to do this all important job of getting the Church started.  This was an awesome responsibility and certainly was in good hands. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have heard of people spending the night in prayer before and one of them, I don’t remember his name was involved in a prayer meeting in Russia right before the Soviet Union was to collapse were out in the woods hiding and praying the entire night. 

            I was praying for an hour about getting money for our church members to pray that we get enough money to pay the loan off for the church, and also giving $100,000 collected to get they Dye translation of the Bible translated.  Praying is difficult work, and yes it is work because one’s mind can wonder when you are praying.  I am  trying to be more consistent in praying for my wife’s cancer problem and as stated it is hard work. 

6/12/2026 9:55 AM

“Introduction to Common Men, Uncommon Calling” (Luke 6;12-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/11/2026 8:41 PM

My Worship Time                          Focus:  “Introduction to Common Men, Uncommon Calling”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 6:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.  And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles.

            “Throughout redemptive history, God has chosen ordinary people to do extraordinary things, a truth that the apostle Paul emphasized in 1 Corinthians 1:20-29:

20  Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22  For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23  but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24  but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

God chose Abraham, an idolater (Josh. 24:2), to be His friend (Isa. 41:8) and the father physically of Israel (Isa. 51:2; Luke 1:73; John 8:56) and spiritually of believing Gentiles (Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:7).  Joseph entered Egypt as a slave, rose in God’s providence to be the prime minister (Gen. 41:39-44; 45:9, 26), and was used by God to preserve His people (Gen. 45:5; 50:20).  After spending forty years in exile in the land of Midian (Acts 7:23, 30), Moses, the murderer, was used by God to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt.  A harlot named Rahab from the destroyed Canaanite city of Jericho became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5) and an example of a faithful believer (Heb. 11:31).  David went from being a lowly shepherd to delivering Israel from the Philistines by killing Goliath, and eventually became Israel’s greatest king.  And despite living in the wilderness (Luke 1:80), wearing rough clothing, and eating a wile diet (Matt. 3:4), John the Baptist was declared by our Lord the greatest man who ever lived (Matt. 11:11).

            “Consistent with that pattern, when Jesus chose twelve men to be His official representatives, He chose common, ordinary men.  The Twelve were not from the established religious elite; none were Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, Levites, rabbis, or scribes.  None were exceptionally wealthy (with the possible exception of Matthew, who gained what he had by extorting his fellow Israelites).  Nor were the    apostles chosen from the intellectual elite—the Old Testament scholars; the literate; highly educated; the theologically astute.  Instead, they were ‘uneducated and untrained men,’ noteworthy only for ‘having been with Jesus’ (Acts 4:13).  Several were fishermen, one was a tax collector and hence a traitor to his people, another was a political revolutionary.  All except for Judas Iscariot were Galileans, scorned as unsophisticated and uncouth by the more cultured Judeans.  Yet the lives and ministries of these men (Minus Judas Iscariot and including Paul) would change the course of history.

            “Before examining each of these men in detail in the next few chapter, some general background information is in order.  This introductory chapter will therefore discuss the setting for the Lord’s choosing of the Twelve, His selecting them, His sending of them as His official representatives, and conclude by looking at their significance.”

6/11/2026 9:16 PM

 

 

PT-4 “In a Synagogue” (Luke 6:6-11)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/11/2026 10:22 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus: PT-4 “In a Synagogue”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  Luke 6:6-11

            Bible Reading & Meditation “⁶ On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him ^[closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.”

            It is my desire to finish this section, and thus finish the first chapter in John MacArthur’s second commentary on the Gospel of Luke.  I have written about how I will be doing the next few chapters that MacArthur writes about the apostles of Jesus as he dives pretty deep in writing about each of Jesus’ apostles.  I also mentioned that while studying the book of Matthew he did something similar, and so that means that I have already written about the apostles, and it could be that I may quote from what I wrote a few years ago when I studied Matthew.  The point is that we will be looking at these men who after Jesus was crucified and then arose from the dead and then 40 days later went back into heaven that it would be these men who God will use to begin the Church age and be used by God to give out the gospel so that many people will be saved.  This first happened in the second chapter of Acts where Peter gave the first sermon in the Church age and many people were saved from their sins, so as stated these men are very important in Christ building His Church.

            John MacArthur writes the following: “The real issue was not the healing of the crippled man; Jesus was not concerned primarily with their attitude toward him, or whether it  was right to do good to him.  The deeper question was who was honoring God: Jesus, who wanted to show mercy to a needy individual, or the scribes and Pharisees, who wanted only to destroy Jesus?  Sabbath observance was as they defined it—a litmus test of faithfulness to God.  Paradoxically, these religious erroists scrupulously observed the minutiae of their Sabbath laws while at the same time plotting to murder the Lord of the Sabbath.  As David Gooding observes,

The religious mind is a curious thing.  It is not necessarily interested in common morality; still less in relieving human misery and affliction. It is interested in keeping rules; particularly the rules which spring from its own cherished interpretations of Scripture or tradition; and to these interpretations it will attribute the inflexible authority of God himself.  Let God incarnate, contrary to its interpretations, imterpose with a miracle of divine goodness to relieve human misery, then instead of revising its interpretations it will plan to stop miracles happening again. (According to Luke [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987], 116)

            “There was a long pause while the Lord waited for a reply.  But the scribes and Pharisees, shocked into silence, said nothing.  Finally, after looking around at them all ‘with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart’ (Mark 3:5), Jesus said to the crippled man, ‘Stretch out your hand!’  And he did so; and his hand was restored.  Jesus deliberately brok their Sabbath restrictions.

            “After witnessing this astonishing creative miracle, one would expect the next verse to read, ‘And the scribes and Pharisees believed.’  Such was not the case, however.  Instead, they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus to destroy Him (Matt. 12:14).  Anoia (rage) literally means, ‘folly,’ or ‘foolishness.’  It denotes in this context an irrational rage; they were out of their minds with fury at Jesus’ direct assault on their hypocritical religion.  Amazingly, the Pharisees even enlisted the help of their bitter enemies the Herodians (Jews loyal to the Herodians) in their search for a way to eliminate Jesus (Mark 3:6).  Such an alliance was highly unusual, since about the only thing the two parties had in common was their hatred of Jesus.”  This shows to me that just being “religious” dose not mean that you are a true believer in Jesus Christ.  Paul said “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and this means that we are all sinners in the eyes of God, and the only way to have that changed is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross in order to save you soul. 

            “The Pharisees’ irrational hatred of and fury toward Jesus was motivated by self-preserving fear.  The Lord was striking monumental blows at the very heart of their religious system.  Here, long before Passion Week, the religious leaders were already plotting Jesus’ death.  Their hatred would drive their continued opposition to Christ until they finally succeeded in having Him arrested and executed.

            “These two incidents bring out the stark contrast between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders.  It is the contrast between the representative of God’s truth, and the representatives of false religion; between divine truth and human tradition; between profound knowledge and madness; between goodness and wickedness; between compassion and cruelty; between open honesty and hidden deception; between divine power and human impotence; between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

            “Yet God’s grace can penetrate even the most hardened heart.  Not all of the Pharisees permanently rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.  Acts 15:5 notes that there were ‘some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed.’  One of those believing Pharisees, Saul of Tarsus, became the great apostle Paul.  The self-proclaimed foremost sinner (1 Tim. 1:15), he was called by the risen Lord to preach the gospel throughout the Roman world.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Looking back at the time when the Lord Jesus Christ saved me had some similarities of when the Lord saved Saul of Tarsus as I was not at home, traveling to visit a friend in Florida to do something that was good.  Paul was on the road to Damascus to do something very wrong too.  Neither Saul nor myself were looking to be saved, but to do wrong.  God stopped Saul and myself in our tracks and saved us, and I have to say that was actually the best day in my life, and I am sure that was what Paul would have said.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to write my Spiritual Diaries to bring glory to my Savior and my Lord, Jesus Christ.

6/11/2026 11:03 AM

 

PT-3 “In a Synagogue” (Luke 6:6-11)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/10/2026 9:38 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus: PT-3 “In a Synagogue”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  Luke 6:6-11

            Bible Reading & Meditation “⁶ On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him ^[closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.”

            I will pick up from where I left off in this morning's SD by continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary, and I will let you know that there is a fairly long quote from the book of Isaiah in this part of his commentary.

            “The scribes and Pharisees knew the correct answer to Jesus’ question, which the book of Isaiah records.  In two passages in Isaiah God indicted Israel for their superficial, shallow, false religion—the very issue Jesus was addressing:

Isaiah 1:11–17 (NASB95):

11“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”

Says the LORD.

“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

And the fat of fed cattle;

And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.

12“When you come to appear before Me,

Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?

13“Bring your worthless offerings no longer,

Incense is an abomination to Me.

New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—

I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.

14“I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts,

They have become a burden to Me;

I am weary of bearing them.

15“So when you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will hide My eyes from you;

Yes, even though you multiply prayers,

I will not listen.

Your hands are covered with blood.

 

16“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.

Cease to do evil,

17Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Reprove the ruthless,

Defend the orphan,

Plead for the widow.”

Now we will look at Isaiah 58:6-14.

6 Is this not the fast that I choose: To release the bonds of wickedness, To undo the ropes of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke?
7 Is it not to break your bread with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will spring up quickly; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say, “Here I am.” If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10 And if you offer yourself to the hungry And satisfy the need of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday.
11 And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
13 If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot From doing as you wish on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word,
14 Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

“As those two passages indicate, God rejected religious ritual divorced from compassion, mercy, and doing good.  The Sabbath above all days was a day to express goodness; to show mercy and kindness to the needy.  But the rabbinic restrictions had so strangled the Sabbath as to render such kindness forbidden.”

I think that I will do the rest of this section in the Morning SD as I  really don’t want to make this evening’s SD too long.

            Now there is another issue that I need to think about and that will happen in the second chapter of MacArthur’s commentary.  In the next chapters which is about 70 pages long John MacArthur dives deep in writing about the twelve apostles and while I was studying the book of Matthew he pretty much did the same thing, and so I am thinking about using what I wrote from my commentary on the gospel of Matthew.  Which ever way I go it is going to take a great deal of time, but it is important too look at these disciples, and the reason is that God used these 11 men (not counting Judas) to spread the Word of the Gospel around the world.  If it were not for these eleven men along with the apostle Paul then we today would not know about the gospel of Jesus Christ, so it is very important to look at their lives.

6/10/2026 9:56 PM

 

PT-2 “In a Synagogue” (Luke 6:6-11)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/10/2026 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus: PT-2 “In a Synagogue”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference:  Luke 6:6-11

            Bible Reading & Meditation “⁶ On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him ^[closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.”

            I want to pick up from where I left off in last night's Spiritual Diary, and as I mentioned in it this section is a fairly long section so perhaps I will be able to finish it this evening.  Now remember we are writing about a second conflict in the life of our Savior, a conflict should not have taken place because if the Jews of Jesus’ day would only have look at the pages of the Bible instead of their traditions that they were going by then they would have realized who the Lord Jesus Christ was for there are many Old Testament prophecies that speak of Jesus coming the first time, and then many more of when He will come again, which is in two phases, as He will come to the clouds above the earth to call His Church home to be with Him, and then at the end of the Tribulation period He will come back to planet earth in order to end the tribulation period and then set things up for the Millenium, the last 1000 years of history on planet Earth.  I certainly look forward to what is called the rapture of the Church to go to heaven and be forever with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I also look forward to working in the Millenium for the cause of Christ in that long period of human history, but perhaps most look forward to the eternal state which happens after the earth and all the other planets are destroyed.  God has a wonderful plan for His people, and I am so thankful that I and all those who believe in Him are a part of that plan.

            MacArthur writes “Needless to say, ministering to a sick person was by no means a violation of the Old Testament regulations concerning the Sabbath (cf. Matt. 12:7).”

(cf. Matt. 12:7)

“7  And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”

“The rabbis, however, had decreed that no one, whether a physician, friend, or family member, could treat a sick person on the Sabbath.  To do so, they taught, would be work and hence a violation of the Sabbath.  The only two exceptions they allowed were cases when a person might otherwise die before the Sabbath ended, or a pregnant woman who gave birth on the Sabbath.  Other than those two situations, showing compassion and mercy to a suffering person made on a blaspheming lawbreaker.”  The more I read and study about how these so called leaders of Israel were doing the more angry it makes me.  I can surely see that Satan had a very large part in what these people were doing.  God wrote in His Law something that was completely different than what these leaders were doing and yet they missed it and the reason they missed it was because they though that their plans were better than God’s plan, and it seems to me that the same thing is going on in our world and country today.

            Back to MacArthur’s commentary “As He had earlier done (5:22) and would later do (11:17), Jesus in His omniscience knew what they were thinking.”

(5:22)

“22  When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts?”

(11:17)

“17  But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.”

“The Lord was fully aware of their vicious hateful thoughts toward Him; that they were waiting for Him to heal so they could accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath.  Ignoring their legalistic, merciless regulations and intentions, Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Get up and come forward!’  He was the perfect candidate to help the Lord stage His assault on their twisted view of the Sabbath.  His condition was clearly not life threatening, so there was no possible justification under the death exception for helping him.

            The crippled man got up and came forward and stood before the synagogue audience.  It was a dramatic movement, as the people waited to see what Jesus was going to do. Addressing the scribes and Pharisees, who no doubt had front-row seats (11:43; 20:46; Matt. 23:6; Mark 12:39), Jesus asked the self-proclaimed experts on the law a pointed question.”

(11:43; 20:46; Matt. 23:6; Mark 12:39)

“43  Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.”

“46  "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,”

“6  and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues”

“39  and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,”

“I ask you, “He demanded, “is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”  As was often the case, the Lord’s question impaled His opponents on the horns of a dilemma.  On the one hand, answering that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath would officially authorize Jesus to heal the man.  They could not then indict Him for breaking the Sabbath.  On the other hand, answering that it was not lawful to do good would reveal their wicked, merciless hearts.  That would tear down their veneer of self-righteousness and piosity and expose them as the hypocrites they were.”  I think it best that I stop here for after this section there will be a very long quote which will include many, many verses, and so not to make this SD too long I will stop here.  By the way the quotation of Scripture comes from the prophet Isaiah.

Spiritual meaning for my life today: Now as I write these Spiritual Diaries, it is very important for me to write the truth as I study the different books of the Bible.  I have great respect to the commentaries that John MacArthur wrote while he was on planet earth, and also respect for others like the late Warren Wiersbe, and also a few others, and I trust them to write and speak the truth.  One has to be careful when studying the Word of God and not put things into it that are not there as the scribes and Pharisees did in the time of Christ, while He was on planet earth. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting the Lord as my life and especially my wife’s life is on a rollercoaster at this time with different emotions as she continues to battle cancer.  I know that the Lord is in control of her life and also my life and so I desire to trust the Lord for He knows all things and is full of grace and mercy.

6/10/2026 10:39 AM

 

 

PT-1 “In a Synagogue” (Luke 6:6-11)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2026 7:59 PM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus: PT-1 “In a Synagogue”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 6:6-11

            Bible Reading & Meditation “⁶ On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him ^[closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.”

            I begin this evening with what is a longer section than the last one, but as always, I will take my time so that what I write will be used by the Spirit of God to speak to those who read it.

            On another Sabbath, Jesus again confronted the Pharisees over the exact same issue of the Sabbath. Now we don’t really know where this incident took place because Luke does not identify it, however he does write that this took place in a synagogue perhaps in Capernaum.  However Matthew , Mark, and Luke all place it immediately after the incident in the grainfields, which suggests it happened soon afterward, perhaps even on the next Sabbath, but we don’t know for sure.  Now in keeping with the priority of His ministry Jesus was teaching (cf. 4:14-15, 31, 44; 5:15, 17).

(cf. 4:14-15, 31, 44; 5:15, 17)

“14 ¶  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

“31 ¶  And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,”

“44  And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

“15  But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.”

“17 ¶  On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.”

The content of His message was not recorded, but He would have been preaching the gospel (3:18; 4:18; 7:22; 20:1; Mark 1:14)—the good news that the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed could be freed from their sin and the heavy burden of a false, damning, legalistic religion (4:18-21).

(3:18; 4:18; 7:22; 20:1; Mark 1:14)

“18  So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.”

“18  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”

“22  And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”

“1 ¶  One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up”

“14 ¶  Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,”

            John MacArthur writes: “In the synagogue on that particular Sabbath was a man…whose right hand (only Luke, with his careful attention to medical detail, notes that it was his right hand) was withered; that is, atrophied due to paralysis.  This man was the main object of Jesus’ attention, and his healing was another assault on the Pharisees’ restrictions for the Sabbath.

            “As always, the scribes and the Pharisees were there, hoping to find something for which they could condemn the Lord.  As always, these zealous legalists were watching  Jesus closely translates a form of the Greek verb paratereo, which means, ‘to observe carefully,’ ‘to be on the lookout,’ or ‘to pay heed to.’  Often, as it does here, the word takes on a sinister tone, and could be translated, ‘to lurk’, ‘to watch for an opportunity,’ or ‘to lie in wait’ (cf. 14:1; 20:20; Mark 3:2).  The scribes and Pharisees were by no means neutral observers, but rather spies.”

(cf. 14:1; 20:20; Mark 3:2)

“1 ¶  One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.”

“20 ¶  So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.”

“2  And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.”

            “Specifically, they were watching Jesus to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.  Ironically, these self-appointed guardians of the Sabbath system did not want to stop Jesus from breaking their Sabbath rules; they actually wanted Him to perform a healing, so they would have cause to indict Him.  Christ’s performing a healing would thus best suit their heinous hatred.  Interestingly, never throughout His entire ministry did they doubt His ability to heal (cf. 5:17-26), which proved His ability to forgive sin (5:24).”

(cf. 5:17-26)

“17 ¶  On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18  And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19  but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20  And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22  When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts? 23  Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he said to the man who was paralyzed—" I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home." 25  And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26  And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.’”

(5:24)

“24  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he said to the man who was paralyzed—" I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’”

“Yet the convoluted reasoning in their sinful, prideful, obstinate hearts was that if Jesus did heal, the consequence would be that they could charge Him with breaking the Sabbath.”

            Now I want to end this SD by again looking at a part of the Ten Commandments that speak of the Sabbath. 8  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

6/9/2026 8:38 PM

PT-2 “In The Grainfields” (Luke 6:1-5)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2026 9:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “In The Grainfields”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 6:1-5

            Message of the verses:  “1Now it happened that Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 3And Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” 5And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

            This morning I want to continue to look at these verses from the sixth chapter of the gospel of Luke, and continue from where I left of in yesterday’s evening SD.

            Now it was this particular Sabbath that found the Lord and His disciples passing through some grainfields.  Sporimos (grainfields) literally means, “sown fields”; the crop being grown in these particular fields was probably either wheat or barley.  Since the grain was already ripe enough to eat, it was probably spring or early summer.  Now as they walked along the paths between the rows of grain, the disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain.  They had to get the chaff off of the grains in order to eat the grain.  To do so was not wrong in itself; travelers were permitted by the Mosaic law to pick grain from their neighbors’ fields to satisfy their hunger, but of course were not allowed to harvest it as seen in Deut. 23:25 “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain.

            An illustration of this is found in the book of Ruth as she was instructed to go out into a field during harvesting time to pick the corners of the crop that was being harvested in order to get food for Naomi, her mother-in-law and for herself.  If you have a moment today read the short book of Ruth.

            John MacArthur writes “But to do so on the Sabbath was a violation, not of the Mosaic law, but of the rabbinic restrictions described above,” (earlier in this section that was written in yesterday’s SD).  Specifically, the disciples were guilty in the eyes of the Pharisees of reaping (picking the grain), threshing 9rubbing the husks together to separate them from the grain), threshing (rubbing the husks together to separate them from the grain), and winnowing (throwing the husks away), and thus preparing food.  The self-appointed guardians of the Sabbath were quick to pounce on the blatant violation of their silly regulations.  ‘Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’ they demanded.  Although they addressed their question to the entire group, the Pharisees’ rebuke was directed primarily at Jesus, since His disciples were surely following His teaching and example.  They viewed the incident as a direct attack on their whole religious system to which, as noted earlier, the Sabbath was central.  Obviously, their presence in the grainfields indicates the constant scrutiny to which the religious leaders subjected Jesus, as they dogged His steps looking for an excuse to condemn Him.”  Now as I read over this passage and have learned how far a person was to walk on the Sabbath, I wonder how far these Pharisees had to walk in order to condemn Jesus and His disciples.

            Jesus assumed responsibility for His disciples’ actions, and He responded with a mildly sarcastic rebuke of the Pharisees’ ignorance, and ignorance is a good word when it came to describe the Pharisees.  They of course, knew the history He was about to relate, but had ignored its true significance.  As He frequently did (cf. 5:23; 10:26; 20:3-4, 24) Jesus read (cf. Matt. 19:4; 21:42; 22:31; Mark 12:10) what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”

            Now the incident that the Lord referred to is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-6, which I will now quote “1 ¶  Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you?" 2  And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3  Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here." 4  And the priest answered David, "I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread— if the young men have kept themselves from women." 5  And David answered the priest, "Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?" 6  So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.”

MacArthur states “Fleeing Saul’s relentless pursuit of him, David came to Nob, about a mile north of Jerusalem.  David was hungry, as were those who were with him. Seeking food, they entered the house of God (the tabernacle), and asked Ahimelech the priest for five loaves of bread.  The tabernacle, of course, was not a bakery, and the only bread available there was the consecrated bread.  Also called the ‘bread of the Presence’ (Ex. 25:30), it consisted of twelve loaves, placed each Sabbath on the golden table in the Holy Place.  After the bread was replaced with fresh loaves, it could be eaten, but only by the priests (Lev. 24:9).  Ahimelech was willing to give some of the consecrated bread to David and his men, on the condition that ‘they young men [had] kept themselves from women’ (1 Sam. 21:4) (i.e., were ceremonially clean).  After David assured him that they had done so, Ahimelech gave them the bread and they ate it.

            “The point of the account, which was lost on the Pharisees, was that mercy, compassion, and human need were more important than rigid adherence to even biblical ritual and ceremony.  (Mark 2:27 records that Jesus also said to them,’ The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,’ while Matthew records His rebuke, ‘But if you had know what this means, I desire compassion and not a sacrifice,’ you would have not condemned the innocent’ (12:7).  If a human priest could permit David to violate part of God’s ceremonial law (perhaps even on a Sabbath, since the old bread being replaced had not yet been eater by the priests), how much more could the Son of God allow His disciples to violate unbiblical human traditions?”

            MacArthur then concludes this section by writing “Then Jesus stunned and outraged the Pharisees by declaring, ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’  As such, He along had the right to decide what behavior was appropriate on the Sabbath; He is the interpreter of God’s will, law, and word.  Since the Sabbath was established by God (Ex. 20:8-11), He, the Son of God had authority over it.”

(Ex. 20:8-11)

“8  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

“Thus, by claiming authority over a divinely instituted ordinance, Jesus was claiming full equality with God.  Compare John 5:9-17, where our Lord was again confronted over His Sabbath activity and replied, ‘My Father is working…and I Myself am working’ (v. 17).  Here again He clearly declared His equality with God, as evidenced by His sovereignty over the Sabath.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  “Man was made for the Sabbath, and not the Sabbath for Man.”

My Steps of Faith for Today: I’m trusting the Lord to give pain relief to my wife today as she and our daughter are going to the zoo, and she needs grace to be able to do this.

6/9/2026 10:04 AM