SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
2/9/2013 8:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Servant’s Death PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
15:34-41
Message of the
verses: In today’s Spiritual Diary
we will look at the last sub-point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on the Gospel
of Mark from the 15th chapter of Mark. We have been looking at the crucifixion of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which John MacArthur calls the Holy of Holies from the
New Testament. We are looking at the
fulfillment of many different prophecies that were given in the OT concerning
what would happen to the Messiah, something only God could have foretold.
The ninth hour (vv.
34-41): “34 At the ninth hour Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is
translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" 35 When some
of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for
Elijah." 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a
reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come
to take Him down." 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.
38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the
centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His
last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" 40 There were
also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and
Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. 41 When He was in
Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other
women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.”
In our church services when we partake of the Lord’s
Supper our Pastor has been going over the seven statements that Jesus spoke
while on the cross of which three of them came before the darkness came upon
the place where Jesus was crucified and four after the darkness went away. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they
do” (Luke 23:34); “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43); and
“Woman, behold thy son!...Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26-27). During the darkness there was silence from
the cross, for this was the time when the Father was pouring out His wrath upon
the Son for the sins of those who would come to know Him as Lord and
Savior: “He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him
(2Cor. 5:21).”
Dr. Wiersbe points out that “At the ninth hour, Jesus
expressed the agony of His soul when He cried out from the cross ‘My God, My
God, why has thou forsaken Me?’ (See Ps. 22:1)
The darkness symbolized the judgment Jesus experienced when the Father
forsook Him. As was so often the case,
the people did not understand His words; they though He was calling for Elijah
the prophet. There was not only darkness
over the land, but there was darkness in the minds and hearts of the people
(2Cor. 4:3-6; John 3:16-21; 12:35-41).”
Jesus’ next words came were to fulfill the prophecy given
in Psalm 69:21 which reads, “They also gave me gall for my food And for my
thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
Jesus said “I thirst” and a kind soldier gave Him a drink of
vinegar. Next we see two wonderful
statements “It is finished” and “Father into Thy hands I commit My Spirit (Luke
23:46; see also Psalm 31:5): “Into Your
hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.”
I want to go back to the first Words recorded by Jesus
that we find in the Scriptures and they came while He was in the temple at the
age of twelve when His mother and father were looking for Him. They were very upset parents as they searched
the city of Jerusalem looking for the twelve year old Jesus. Jesus however, was in the temple sitting
among the teachers and talking to them.
When His parents came in to the temple they expressed how worried they
were and Jesus told them that He was about His Father’s business. Now as we come to the cross we see that the
words from His lips that it is finished means that He had finished His Father’s
business and so He gave up the ghost and died.
The word’s “It is finished” come from John 19:30 and the Greek word, for
there is only one word in the Greek is “teleo tel-eh’-o” and in the Greek/English
dictionary we read “"It is finished or paid" #John 19:30 Christ
satisfied God’s justice by dying for all to pay for the sins of the elect.
These sins can never be punished again since that would violate God’s justice.
Sins can only be punished once, either by a substitute or by yourself.” When a person was in prison during that time
paying for his crimes, and then was released they would mark that word on the
papers they gave him when released, meaning that his crime was paid for and he
could not be charged for it again.
Next we look at the last words Jesus spoke while on the
cross and that was “Into thy hands I commit My spirit.” One thing we have to realize is that Jesus
was not murdered, for He was willing to lay down His life for His sheep as He
spoke in John ten. Let’s look at these
statements that Jesus spoke from John ten:
“"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for
the sheep. (vs. 11) “even as the Father
knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (vs.
15) “17 “For this reason the Father
loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it
down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have
authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My
Father.’” So how did Christ die? After listening to a sermon by John MacArthur
on the verses we are looking at today he stated that it was possible that the
heart of Jesus burst. There must have
been something dramatic that happened to Him for the centurion stated that this
man was the Son of God just by seeing how He breathed His last. Psalm 38:8 says “I am benumbed and badly
crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart.” Perhaps this was prophesying how the Messiah
would die.
We also know that as soon as the Lord Jesus Christ died
that the veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. This was the veil that separated the holy
place from the holy of holies. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “The veil had separated man from God, but now, through His
death, Jesus had opened for the whole world a ‘new and living way ‘(Heb.
10:12-22; also see John 14:6).
We also know from the book of Matthew that there was an
earthquake and it opened the graves of those who had died and they came to life
again: “50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His
spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to
bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened,
and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming
out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared
to many (Matthew 27:50-53).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I look at the
death of my Lord Jesus Christ and have been looking at it for some time now, I
surely have mixed emotions. I am
saddened that He had to die such a horrible death, but glade that His death was
not in vain, for by His life, death, and resurrection I have become one of His
children. It is important to me to be able to spread the good news of the
Gospel, to tell others how they too, can receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their
Savior and Lord. Paul writes to the
Corinthians these words: “1 Now I make
known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you
received, in which also you stand, 2 by
which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain. 3 For I
delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4
and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures, (1Cor. 15:1-4).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Spread the good news of the Gospel to those
that the Spirit of God brings into my path.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:1
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgive, whose
sin is covered.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “Fear knocked, faith answered, no
one was there.” (Author Unknown) “For God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
2Tmothy 1:7)
2/9/2013 10:28 AM
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