MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/11/2026
8:57 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Mercy
Made Available”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
9:51
Message of the verse: “When the days were approaching for
His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;”
This morning I will continue to look at what John
MacArthur has to say about this verse, and he has many verses to help us
understand what this verse has to say.
“Immediately after the revelation of
His glory and majesty at the transfiguration, the Lord warned His disciples. ‘Let
these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered
into the hands of men’ (9:44). From the
exaltation of the transfiguration, Jesus took the Twelve through the valley of
humiliation that culminated in His death.
Although Jerusalem was only a couple of days’ walk from Galilee, Jesus
did not go directly there. But although
He took months to traverse the region of Judea with a final stop in Perea (Luke
18; cf. Matt. 19-20; Mark 10), all the while He was inexorably on arriving in
Jerusalem at Passover—the appointed time for the Lamb of God’s sacrificial death.” There will be no verses quoted here as the
verses seen are chapters. “Along the
way, Christ’s primary focus was not on the crowds, but on training the first
generation of gospel preachers, the apostles whom He had chosen to carry on His
ministry after He departed for heaven.
“Sumpleroo (approaching )
literally means, ‘to be fulfilled,’ or ‘completed.’ God’s plan of redemption
was to be fulfilled by Christs going to Jerusalem to die as a sacrifice for
sin, and He always operated on a divinely prewritten timetable (cf. Luke
13:31-33; John 7:8, 30; 8:20).”
(cf. Luke 13:31-33; John 7:8, 30; 8:20)
“31 ¶ At that very hour some Pharisees came and
said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 And he said to them, "Go and tell that
fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the
third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless,
I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be
that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’
“8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to
this feast, for my time has not yet fully come."
“30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no
one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”
“20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he
taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet
come.”
“In Gethsemane
Jesus rebuked Peter for his valiant but wrongheaded attempt to prevent His
arrest, asking him, ‘How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that
it must happen this way?’ (Matt. 26:54;
cf. v56; Luke 22:37).”
(Matt. 26:54; cf. v56; Luke 22:37)
“54 But how then should the Scriptures be
fulfilled, that it must be so?"
“56 But all this has taken place that the
Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples
left him and fled.”
“37 and then as a widow until she was
eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and
prayer night and day.”
“On the
road to Emmaus after His resurrection, Jesus reminded two of His disciples, ‘All
things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the
Psalms must be fulfilled’ (Luke 24:44).
Peter declared to the Jewish people that ‘the things which God announced
beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He
has thus fulfilled’ (Acts 3:18), while Paul told the Gentiles in Pisidian
Antioch, ‘Those will live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither
[Jesus] nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath,
fulfilled these by condemning Him’ (Acts 13:27).
“Some limit ascension (lit., ‘lifting
up’) to Jesus’ death on the cross, connecting this passage with His
declaration, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Many be lifted up’ (John 3:14; cf. 8:28; 12:32).”
(John 3:14; cf. 8:28; 12:32)
“14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,”
“28 So Jesus said to them, "When you have
lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do
nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”
“32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself."
“But while
the noun analambano is used of Christ’s (ascension) appears only
here in the New Testament, the related verb analambano is used of Christ’s
ascension in Acts 1:2, 11, 22, and 1 Timothy 3:16). It seems that Luke’s use of the term here
encompasses the entire sequence of events from the cross, through the
resurrection, to the actual ascension into glory (Acts 1:9-11).”
(Acts 1:9-11)
“9 And when he had said these things, as they
were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
10 And while they were gazing into
heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking
into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in
the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
“Sterizo (determined)
describes something that is fixed, immovable, or firmly established. It expresses Christ’s unshakable, unwavering
resolve to to Jerusalem and endure the shame of the cross with its
suffering, rejection, and bearing of God’s wrath against sin. In the words of the writer of Hebrews, Jesus ‘for
the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Heb. 12:2; cf. Phil. 2:9-11).”
(Heb. 12:2; cf. Phil. 2:9-11)
“2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
“9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
“The heart of the Lord Jesus Christ’s
mission was mercy, which Jude described as ‘the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
to eternal life’ (Jude 21). He was on a
mission of mercy to Jerusalem to die as the only way undeserving sinners could
receive divine mercy to redeem them from sin and eternal hell.”
Spiritual
Meaning for my life today: I am not sure that I understand all of how
God chose to do the work of saving sinful men, but I do understand enough of it
to know that for God’s reason He chose me in eternity past and then sent His
Son to take my place on the cross in order be pay for my sin and then the Holy
Spirit of God called me on January 23 of 1974 for salvation.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I am trusting the Lord to continue to give me
the grace needed each day to continue living for my Lord as I continue to morn
the death of my late wife, Sandra.
11/11/2026
9:40 AM
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