SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
7/26/2012 7:22:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Confusion
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
8:31-38
Message
of the verses: We will continue to
look into Mark’s Gospel, chapter eight in Today’s SD. Mark chapter eight is one of the most
critical chapters in the book of Mark, for in it we see a great turning point
in the ministry of our Lord as for the first time in the book of Mark we see
humans testifying that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and as it
says in Matthews Gospel, the Son of the Most High. Jesus will spend much time with the twelve in
the last days of His life on planet earth as He prepares them for life when He
returns to heaven.
Confusion
(vv. 31-38): 31 And He began to
teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the
elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three
days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him
aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples,
He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting
your mind on God’s interests, but man’s." 34 And He summoned the crowd
with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 "For whoever wishes to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save
it. 36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his
soul? 37 “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 "For
whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His
Father with the holy angels.’”
This section is packed with many
things that are very important to those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their
Savior and Lord and those who may be considering taking this most important
step. We see in verses 31-32 Jesus
preparing His disciples for His death and then His resurrection from the grave,
His victory over death becoming the first fruits of many who will one day have their
bodies raised again. This surely brings
about confusion to His disciples, for they were looking for a conquering King
to defeat the Romans and make Israel the most powerful nation on earth. This is surely prophesied in the OT, but
there are also prophecies that tell that the Messiah must suffer and die for
the sins of the world and bring in a spiritual kingdom before He returns to set
up His 1000 year reign on earth from Jerusalem.
The 1000 years of His reign is seen in the NT book of Revelations, but
His reign from Jerusalem is clearly seen in the OT.
Peter decides to rebuke our Lord
stating that He must be mislead, but Jesus in turns rebukes Peter stating that
he was doing the will of Satan and not the will of God. We know from the reading of the Gospels that
Peter often stuck his foot into his mouth, but we also know from reading the
book of Acts that Peter became the kind of man that the Lord knew he would
become as Peter is the first to preach the gospel after the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why was what Peter said in league
with Satan’s plans? The answer is that
Jesus Christ had to die in order to satisfy the justice of God. His death on the cross would pay for the sins
of all who would accept God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ and Peter did
not realize this at that time.
Dr. Wiersbe writes about Peter’s
confession and then his rebuke to Jesus:
“This is a warning
to us that when we argue with God’s Word, we open the door for Satan’s
lies. Peter began rebuking his Master,
and Mark used the same word that describes our Lord’s rebuking of the demons
(Mark 1:25; 3:12).
“Peter’s protest was born out of his
ignorance of God’s will and his deep love for his Lord. One minute Peter was a ‘rock,’ and the next
he was a stumbling block! Dr. G. Campbell
Morgan said ‘The man who loves Jesus, but who shuns God’s method, is a
stumbling block to Him.’ Peter did not
yet understand the relationship between suffering and glory. He would eventually learn this lesson and
would even emphasize it in his first epistle (Note 1Peter 1:6-8; 4:13-5:10).”
I can see at this point that I will
have to continue this SD tomorrow as we take up then the important subject of
how Jesus gives an evangelistic message that would not be too popular in
certain circles in today’s world. Before
that there is one more important quote from Warren Wiersbe that needs to be
made to tie up this section: “Note,
however, that when Jesus rebuked Peter, He also ‘looked on His disciples,’
because they agreed with Peter’s assessment of this situation! Steeped in Jewish tradition interpretation,
they were unable to understand how their Messiah could ever suffer and die.”
This shows us the importance of
studying the Word of God to make sure that some of the traditions that we have
lines up correctly with the Word of God, and this is where Peter and the other
disciples missed the mark as they took the word of tradition and not the Word
of God to be the truth.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: The
importance of reading and studying the Word of God is seen clearly in this
section of Scripture.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to study the Word of God, and continue to abide in the Vine to
get my marching orders from the Spirit of God.
Memory
verses for the week: 2Peter 1:1-7
1 ¶
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who
have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God
and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and
peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has
granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true
knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 ¶
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith
supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness,
and in your brotherly kindness, love.
7/26/2012
8:11:13 AM
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