SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2014 9:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Jew’s Punishment in Suffering
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1
Thessalonians 2:16b
Message of the
verses: “with the result that they always fill up the
measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.”
This is the last SD on the main section from John
MacArthur’s Commentary in which he entitles it “A People to be Sad For.” I certainly have to agree with the title that
MacArthur gave to this section, for the children of Israel have certainly gone
through some very difficult times in their lives. I can’t help but to think of the movie
“Fiddler on the Roof” as that move very accurately describes the events of the
children of Israel since after they were kicked out of their land in 70
AD. Daniel chapter ten speaks to this as
we see from that chapter that the problems that resulted in God taking them out
of their land in 586 BC would not end when they were allowed to go back to
their land 70 years later, but would last all the way up to the second coming
of their Messiah. Paul writes about what
will happen to the remnant during the seven year tribulation period when he
addresses the church in Rome by saying that “all Israel will be saved.” Paul was very upset with how the Jews in
Thessalonica were causing trouble for him and his missionary friends but at the
same time had a deep love for the Jews.
It surely was a sad situation.
Let me at this time use some quotes from John MacArthur’s
commentary from 1 Thessalonians to help us better understand what we read in
this half of verse sixteen. Before we do
that let me say that what I am about to write is very difficult to write for it
has to do with the wrath of God, and although the wrath of God is a part of His
attributes it is not pleasant to write about.
I think of the passage in the book of Revelations where John is told by
an angel to eat a little book which will be sweet in his mouth, but very bitter
when it gets to his stomach. God’s Word has sweet things in
it, and it also has bitter things in it.
To know the future according to how God has written about it in His Word
is both sweet and bitter and what Paul was writing about in this half of verse
sixteen was as if it had already happened, that is the wrath of God on these
unbelieving Jews.
MacArthur writes about the phrase “always fill up the
measure of their sins” literally means “They always heap up their sins to the
limit.” “There is a well-defined point at which people reach the
limit of their sins.” I have
mentioned a verse in the 15th chapter of Genesis that makes this
point on several other SD’s but it surely fits in here: “"Then in the fourth generation they
will return here, for the
iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’” God was telling Abraham that the children of
Israel would come into the Promised Land after 400 years to destroy those who
were now living there. God’s wrath would
be complete for these people in four hundred years. We surely can see the “longsuffering” of God
in this verse. However His longsuffering
was done with the unbelieving Jews that Paul writes about for MacArthur writes
the following on the verb tense of “has come” as follows “The verb translated has come is in the aorist tense, which
affirms that Paul was so certain that divine wrath would come that he expressed
the notion as if it had already occurred.
And historically, it had occurred—in the Babylonian exile (Eze.
8-11). His expression likely includes
the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, although then nearly twenty years off,
and it denotes the eschatological wrath to come when Jesus returns to earth in
judgment (Rev. 19).”
MacArthur writes “Today, as in Paul’s day, the choice
between God’s blessing and His cursing (cf. Deut. 28:1, 15) remains. Those who believe and obey the Word and honor
other believers by imitation their lives will persevere to eternal glory, which
is good reason to be glad for them. But
those who reject the Word and hinder those who preach it will ultimately suffer
eternal condemnation, which is a good reason to be sad for them.” There is a choice to make here, and that
choice is to believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and accept His
forgiveness or not to believe and suffer the wrath of God.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I surely have a
desire to reach as many for the Lord as He gives me the grace to reach, one
soul at a time.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I pray that the Lord will bring someone onto my path today to be able to tell
them about the good news of the Gospel.
Memory verse for the
week: Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with
Christ; and yet it is no longer I who live, but Christ live in me; and the life
which I now live I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Obadiah.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What was the Arc of the
Covenant?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/22/2014 10:56 AM
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