SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2019 9:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Purpose of the Mystery”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians 3:10-11
Message of the verses: “10 so that the
manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers
and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in
accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our
Lord,”
We
can see the purpose of the mystery in verse ten, and the authorities in the
heavenly places according to John MacArthur refers to angels. He goes on to say
that angels are also referred to in Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16. Then in Ephesians 6:12 we will see Paul use
similar words as he writes there about fallen angels. Chapter six of Ephesians is one I am looking
forward to studying again as it contains the believer’s spiritual armor and in
that section as noted there are fallen angels that are mentioned. MacArthur writes that “God has brought the
church into being for the purpose of manifesting His great wisdom before the
angels, both holy and unholy. The New
Testament emphasis is on the holy angels’ concern with the church, but it is
obvious that the fallen angels can also to some extent see what is going on,
through they have no desire or capacity for praise.”
In
verse eleven we can see that all of this mystery that we have been talking
about for some time no will bring glory to the Lord as it was all in “accordance
with the eternal purposes which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Let us look at Colossians 1:16 which will
help us to better understand the truth of it and is the ultimate purpose of God
to bring glory to Himself: “For by Him
all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things
have been created through Him and for Him.”
1/28/2019 9:52 AM 1/28/2019 12:52
PM
If one would ask you the question
“Why does the Church Exist?” Some may
think that it exists to evangelize the world in order for souls to be saved,
and although that is a good reason that is not the correct answer. The answer comes from the Westminster shorter
catechism which states “Man’s chief ends is to glorify God and to enjoy Him
forever.” So that means that this is
what the purpose of the church is. In
order to better understand this answer one has to understand God, and to
understand God one must study His attributes.
We are created by God and so that means that we owe everything we have
to God, and so certainly as believers we are to glorify God in all that we
do. John MacArthur writes “The supreme
purpose of the church, as Paul makes explicit here, is to glorify God by
manifesting His ‘wisdom’ before the angels, who can then offer greater praise
to God. The purpose of the universe is
to give glory to God, and that will be its ultimate reality after all evil is
conquered and destroyed. Even now, ‘The
heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the
work of His hands’ (Ps. 19:1). The
church is not an end to itself, but a means to an end, the end of glorifying
God. The real drama of redemption can
only be understood when we realize that the glory of God is the supreme goal of
creation. Holy angels are especially
made and confirmed in purity and praise as creatures who will forever give God
glory (Ps. 148:2; Heb. 1:6), and the redemption of fallen men enriches their
praise. Redeemed people, then, are to
enhance angelic praise and some day in heaven to join in it (Rev. 4:8-11;
5:8-14; 7:9-12; 14:1-3; 10:1-8).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I find
this extremely interesting as far as looking at the angels in this
section. I did not realize that Paul was
writing about angels when he writes about “the authorities in heavenly places,”
as I don’t think I actually knew before what he was writing about. As a believer I can then enhance angelic
praise to the Lord. This is some great
news.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that
the Lord will give glory to Himself as He answers the man new prayer requests
that are not on my spiritual plate.
Today’s quote
from Winston Churchill: “Success is
never final; failure is never fatal; it is courage that counts.”
Scripture
reference to this quote in our next SD.
1/28/2019 1:16
PM
No comments:
Post a Comment