SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2017 10:22
PM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Violent Hostility”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 5:33
Message of the verses: “33
But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill
them.”
I remember when my
mother passed away in late July of 2012 and before that happened I asked her if
she wanted me to speak at her funeral.
Mom, like me and many believers are looking for the rapture of the
church and so I entitled the message I gave at her funeral “Mom’s Hope.” There was a clear presentation of the gospel
in that message and I also spoke briefly about Mom’s Hope, which was the
rapture and I invited our new pastor to come and to close the service in
prayer. Sometime later he spoke to me
and told me that some of the people who were sitting near him were complaining
about the message, the message of hope, and the message on how to make sure
that when life is over on this earth that you can be assured to go to heaven to
be with the Lord. People can get very
hostile towards the gospel as seen in our verse for today, as these Jewish
leaders who were in the Sanhedrin wanted to kill the apostles because of the
message they were telling. Our verse
states that “they were cut to the quick” and John MacArthur writes “Diaprio (‘cut to the quick’) appears
only here and in Acts 7:54. It literally
refers to cutting something in two—and apt metaphor to describe the power of the
Word of God (Heb. 4:12). Instead of
yielding to the truth the authorities hardened their heart. As they had done to Jesus (cf. John 5:16;
7:32; 8:59; 10:21; 11:57) in spite of the abundant evidence, they rejected the
apostles’ teaching and violently opposed them as blasphemers.”
The following are some
of the reasons that the high priest and his fellow Sadducees were enraged with
the apostles. First of all the apostles
had denied their doctrine by proclaiming the resurrection. Then they had defiled the Sanhedrin’s
authority by preaching after they had given them orders not to preach in Jesus’
name. Finally, because they won a large
number of converts for the cause of Christ this also threatened the Sadducees’
domination of the people. I guess you could
say that they were jealous, jealous enough to want to kill them.
MacArthur concludes by
stating “Our gospel presentations must be definitive enough that the world must
take note, even if they reject our message.
If the gospel we preach is not convicting enough to make some men angry,
is it convicting enough to bring them salvation?”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“The cubit.”
Today’s Bible question: “Under
what conditions did God promise Solomon long life?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/22/2017 10:42 PM
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