SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2019 11:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Purpose of the Mystery”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 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,”
What
I am about to write is difficult to understand, as I am not sure that I
understand all of it myself. We have
been talking about how the “good” angels bring glory to God in our last
SD. Now as we move on I have to say that
even the fallen angels bring glory to the Lord, however it is not their
intentions to do so. John MacArthur
writes “It was their very rejection of His glory and the seeking of their own
glory that caused them to be cast out of heaven in the first place. Yet Jesus said, ‘I will build My church; and
the gates of Hades shall not overpower it’ (Matt. 16:18). God is glorified through the fallen angels by
continually frustrating their rebellious plans and showing the futility of
their even intentions to destroy His church.
His holy wrath also displays His glory, sine it is a revelation of who
He is (Rom. 9:19-22).” Now with this
said I have to tell a brief story about when my wife’s mother died. She never wanted to have anything to do with
any kind of religion and was upset with me when I became a believer. She said that if I still believed what I did
once I became a believer that she would listen to me. She never did. After her death in 2009 it was very difficult
on my wife and me because we saw no evidence that she was a believer and feared
as to where she was. While listen to a
sermon on Romans which I had my wife listen to I learned that even if she was
not a believer that her death would bring glory to the Lord. I have to admit that it did not bring a lot
of comfort to us, but knowing that all things bring glory to God, even though I
don’t understand all of it did bring some comfort to me and to my wife. How does the death of an unbeliever bring
glory to God? I think the answer has to
do with His attributes. Justice and
wrath are a part of His attributes and all of His attributes are holy, even
justice and wrath.
The
angels can see all that God has done and is still doing. They saw His power at creation; they saw His
wrath at Sinai, and His love at Calvary.
Above all of this they see His “manifold” [multi-colored, multi-faceted]
“wisdom” that is now and has been seen in the church. When they see is taking Gentiles, and Jews,
along with slave and free, and making them into one body, as all of those who
are saved are worthy of the fires of hell.
We also read in Luke 15:10b “there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner who repents.’”
John
MacArthur writes “When Paul admonished the Corinthian women to show submission
to their husbands through the custom of wearing long hair, he reinforced the
command by saying it was given ‘because of the angels’ (1 Cor. 11:10), so as
not to offend their sense of submissiveness and to give them greater cause to
glorify God by the obedience of the church in the matter of proper male and
female responses.” This is something
else about the angels and the church that I did not really understand, but
understand it better now.
MacArthur
goes on to write “They are led to praise the Lord when they see the right
relationship in the church overruling the perversion of man’s relationship
engineered by Satan and sin. After Paul
had stated certain principles regarding elders in the church, he wrote, ‘I
solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and His chosen
angels, to maintain these principles without bias’ (1 Tim. 5:21). Angels are exceedingly concerned about the
leadership (vv. 17-25). After all, says
the writer of Hebrews, ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to
render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?’ (Heb.
1:14). They minister to and watch over
the church.
“In
the classroom of God’s universe, He is the Teacher, the angels are the
students, the church is the illustration, and the subject is ‘the manifold
wisdom of God.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my desire to be a good illustration to
the students in order to bring glory to the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn and grow as I think about Romans 12:3, and to remember that truth is more
important than emotions, even though at times emotions over the truth is good
too.
Verse that goes along with yesterday’s
quote: “Be strong and courageous; do not
be afraid nor dismayed…But with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight
our battles (2 Chronicles 32:7a-8b).”
1/29/2019 11:39 AM
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