SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2017 10:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Holy and Righteous One
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:14
Message of the verses: “14
“But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be
granted to you,”
I want to remind
everyone, and myself too of what we are looking at here in our recent Spiritual
Diaries by quoting the last paragraph of John MacArthur’s introduction on this
section we are looking at: “So Peter
takes as the theme of his sermon the matchless name of Jesus Christ. He presents five of the many names of our
Lord, all of which have messianic implications.
As he did in his first sermon, Peter presents Jesus as the Messiah,
approved by God, yet rejected by the people.
By so doing, he again stresses to them that they were in the disastrous
condition of being at odds with God.
Peter describes his Master as Servant, Jesus, Holy and Righteous One,
Prince of Life, and Christ.” In our SD
for this morning we will be looking at the Holy and Righteous One from Acts 3:14.
Peter is working on
the hearts of his listeners by showing them that they are guilty, something
that all people have to realize if they are going to be saved. I have said on different occasions that in
order to have a person get saved they have to realize that they are lost. If one is to realize they are lost they will
realize that they are guilty. Peter
calls Jesus in this verse “The
Holy and Righteous One” and tells his audience that they rejected Him
and asked instead for a murderer to be released and Christ crucified.
John MacArthur writes
“Hagios (‘Holy’) means to be
separated to God. Jesus is not only holy
by nature but separated to God to do His will.
‘Holy One’ is also a messianic title.
Psalm 16:10, a messianic passage quoted by Peter in his sermon on the
Day of Pentecost, reads, ‘For Thou will not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither
wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.’
Speaking for the rest of the disciples, Peter said, ‘We have believed
and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God’ (John 6:69). Even the demons knew the truth that Jesus was
the Holy One (Luke 4:34). ‘"Let us alone! What business do we have with
each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You
are-the Holy One of God!"’ Israel’s
guilt in rejecting Him was both monumental and inexcusable and placed them in
open rebellion against God.
“Dikaios (Righteous) carries the idea of being innocent of any
crime. Faced with the choice between
Jesus, their innocent Messiah, and the guilty ‘murderer’ Barabbas, they chose
the latter. ‘Barabbas’ means ‘son of the
father,’ an interesting earthly contrast to Jesus, who was the ‘Son of the
Father’ in heaven. Even pagans, such as
Pilate’s wife (Matt. 27:19) and a Roman centurion (Luke 23:47), recognized what
Israel could not—that Jesus was innocent and righteous. Peter’s indictment of them was devastatingly
direct.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I found it very interesting to realize the
name of Barabbas and the name of our Lord were similar, but also worlds
apart. I am thankful that the One I
worship and try to bring glory to is “The Holy and Righteous One.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will give me wisdom as I
work on my lesson for Sunday school class this up coming week.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“Even the sparrows are not forgotten by Him.”
Today’s Bible question: “Who
said to Daniel, ‘Seven weeks are determined upon thy people…’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/5/2017 11:06 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment