MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/18/2026
8:18 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The
Answer of Human Opinion”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
9:18b-19
Message of the verses: “and He questioned them, saying, “Who
do the people say that I am?” They
answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijay; but others, that
one of the prophets of old has risen again.”
I will pick up where I left off in
last nights SD: “John 12 reveals two
significant reasons for the crowd’s perplexing inability to correctly identify
Jesus. Even during Passion Week, just
days from His death, the crowd was still asking Him, ‘Who is this Son of Man?’
(v. 34). Jesus replied that they were
not lacking information; they already had the light, and needed to believe the
truth that had been revealed to them (vv. 35-36).”
(vv. 35-36)
35 So Jesus said to them, "The light is
among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest
darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he
is going. 36 While you have the light,
believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Jesus had
said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.”
“Having
said that, Jesus ‘went away and hid Himself from them (v. 36). The people knew the truth and rejected it,
and as a result God judicially abandoned them:
37 ¶ Though he had done so many signs before them,
they still did not believe in him, 38 so
that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has
believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been
revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not
believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He
has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” (John
12:37-40)
“Tragically,
their persistent rejection of the truth eventually brought God’s judicial hardening
so that they could not believe.
“Another statement in John 12
reveals the second major reason that people fail to affirm Christ’s true
identity: Nevertheless many even of the
rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing
Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the
approval of men rather than the approval of God’ (vv. 42-43). Here is a sobering illustration of the power
of false religion—they knew the truth, but refused to act on it. Maintaining their façade of self-righteousness,
being accepted by the Jewish religious authorities, and avoiding the trauma of
being put out of the synagogue was more important to them than the truth. Like the fickle crowd, because they would not
believe they eventually could not believe.”
10/18/2026
8:32 AM
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