SPIRITUAL
DIARY
Date: 01-20-04
My
Worship Time Focus: Preaching of Noah
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: 1Peter 3:19-20
Message
of the verse:
“19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in
prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in
the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is,
eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” (NASB95)
“19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20
who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the
ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through
water,” (NIV)
As
I stated in yesterday’s “Spiritual Diary,” this section from verses 18-22 are
difficult to understand so what is given in this diary is only one viewpoint,
and may not be the perfect interpretation of the verses. Between the death of Christ on the cross and
His resurrection from the dead He visited spirits who were in prison, and these
spirits were disobedient to God at the time before the flood that Noah and his
family went through. This was an
extremely wicked time on planet earth, for the Bible says that Noah preached
for 120 years, and no one believed his message except the seven other people in
his family. The word for preached does
not mean that Jesus preached the gospel, but the word means to proclaim. It could be that Jesus was proclaiming His
victory over Satan to these evil spirits who may be the ones spoken about in
Revelations who come up out of the pit as one of the judgments during the
tribulation period. These could also be
the angels that Jude was writing about in verse 6 of his letter where he
states, “And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of
authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept
them chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the day of judgment.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: God judges sin is the message
that I get out of these two verses, for in them I see that God judged my sin on
the cross where Jesus paid it all for me, and I also see that God will judge
all sin one day and make every wrong right, just as He will do during the time
of trouble that will come upon the earth, and also when He justly sends people
to hell for not accepting the payment for their sins that was paid for by
Christ on the cross.
The Word of God is a challenge to
my heart as I read it this morning.
My
Steps of Faith Today: I want to continue to trust the Lord with our
investments, and pray that He will work in the heart of His servant Andrew Lech
to confess his sins and to reveal where the money is so that this trial will be
over. I want to continue to trust the
Lord with the trial that is going on at our church, and ask Him what I
personally am to do about this, and what our Bible Study group is to do about
this sin that has been revealed to all of us.
I want to trust the Lord to bring back Jessica from her rebellion.
Memory verse for the week: 1Peter 3:15
But sanctify Christ as Lord in
your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to
give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence.”
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