MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/7/2026
9:47 AM
My
Worship Time
Focus: “The Interpretation”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
5:34-35
Message of the verses: “And
Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast
while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come; and when
the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days”
It can be seen in this passage that Jesus
defended His disciples’ failure to fast, interpreting their behavior in its
true light. Using a familiar experience,
Jesus reminded them that the attendants, who are the close friends of
the bridegroom involved in a wedding, could hardly be expected to fast
while the bridegroom was with them.
For after all, no one fasts at a wedding; that would be completely
inappropriate. A wedding is a time for
joyous feasting, not mournful (cf. Matthew 9:15) fasting. “15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding
guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when
the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” It is a time to laugh, not to weep; a time to
dance, not to mourn (Ecc. 3:4). The Old
Testament never refers to Messiah as a bridegroom (though it refers to
Israel as the bride of the Lord; e.g., Isaiah 62:4-5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hos. 2:16-20); that
is a New Testament concept introduced here by Jesus (cf. Matt. 9:15; Mark
2:19-20 and John the Baptist’s use of a similar analogy in John 3:29). Later in Revelation, the church is depicted
as the bride of Christ (19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17).
Now I will quote the verses from this section in the order that they are
seen starting with the highlighted list of verses.
Isaiah 62:4-5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hos.
2:16-20)
“4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and
your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight
Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land
shall be married. 5 For as a young man
marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom
rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
“2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of
Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not
sown.”
“16 "And in that day, declares the LORD, you
will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from
her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that
day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping
things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the
land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will
betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in
mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in
faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.”
(cf. Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19-20
“15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding
guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when
the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
“19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding
guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the
bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then
they will fast in that day.”
(John 3:29)
“29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.
The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the
bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.”
(19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17) (Revelation)
“7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the
glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself
ready;”
“2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband.”
“9 ¶ Then came one of the seven angels who had the
seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I
will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’”
“17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let
the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one
who desires take the water of life without price.”
John MacArthur then writes: “So it was equally ridiculous to expect Jesus’
disciples to fast and mourn while He was present with them. But the bridegroom would not always be with
them. The days will come, Jesus
said, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, they then they will fast
in those days. The time of joy would
end when the bridegroom was suddenly taken away in the midst of the celebration. In the future, the Lord pointed out, He would
be executed, and the disciples would lose Him. (This is the first time in Luke’s
gospel that Jesus referred to His death.)
When that happened they would be overcome with fear and grief; the
prophecy of Zechariah 13:7, ‘strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be
scattered’ would be fulfilled (cf. Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:50).”
(cf. Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:50).
“31 ¶ Then Jesus said to them, "You will all
fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the
shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
“50 And they all left him and fled.”
“The
disciples did not understand Jesus’ repeated predictions of His death (cf. Mark
9:31-32), since it did not fit into their preconceived notion that the Messiah
would conquer Israel’s enemies and set up His kingdom. Even their leader, Peter, missed the point.
When
Jesus began
to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on
the third day. Peter took Him aside and
began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You’’ (Matt.
16:21-22).
But what
Isaiah had predicted centuries earlier concerning the Messiah, ‘By oppression
and judgment He was taken away’ (53:8), would come to pass. After Jesus was taken from them, His
disciples did fast (cf. Matt. 6:16-18; Acts 13:2-3; 14:23).”
(cf. Matt. 6:16-18; Acts 13:2-3; 14:23)
“ 16 ¶
"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I
say to you, they have received their reward. 17
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others
but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will
reward you.”
“2 While they were worshiping the Lord and
fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work
to which I have called them.” 3 Then
after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”
“23 And when they had appointed elders for them
in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in
whom they had believed.”
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life Today: Fasting is something that I have
done before and actually am doing it now to help me focus in on what I can be
doing for my wife who has cancer and it is a very difficult situation we find
ourselves in, so I thought about fasting will help clear my mind to focus
better on what I can do for her.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give grace to my wife who
is in a great deal of pain at this time, for something that will help her pain
but not be too hard to take as there are side effects on some pain medicine.
6/7/2026
10:34 AM
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