Saturday, June 24, 2023

"God is the Controller" (Acts 17:26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2018 10:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  God is the Controller

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 17:26

            Message of the verses:  “26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

            The first thing that I want to do is to pay tribute to my mother who was born on this date back in 1922, and she died in July of 2012 a bit over ninety years old.  I have to say that I miss her and look forward to one day seeing here when the Rapture of the Church comes.

            I also want to say that this will be a rather short SD, and I suppose those who read these will be happy about that.  I follow the outline that is in John MacArthur’s commentaries and this happens to be a short one.

            I want to also say that people in today’s world who don’t know the Lord, and even some who do know the Lord will have a difficult time with what Paul is saying in this verse, especially those who believe in evolution.  Paul states that “from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.”  That one man of course was Adam and if it were not for sin, the sin he committed things on this earth would be perfect, but that is not the case as we can see.  Adam and Eve had children and when their children got older they married each other and had other children and so on.  The same was true after the flood when there were only eight people on the Ark and so Noah’s sons and daughter-in-laws had children who married either their sisters and brothers or their cousins.  How could this happen and not have problems with their children like would happen today if a brother had children with his sister.  The answer is what we could call de-evolution.  What is de-evolution?  Well evolution teaches that things are going up and getting better, while de-evolution teaches the opposite, things are getting worse off.  The problem is in the gene pool.  It was during the time when Moses was leading the people out of Egypt and then giving the law to them that God instructed Moses to not have people marry in their immediate family up to a distant cousin.  “6 ’None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the LORD (Lev. 18:6).”  As you look at the following verses you will see more about this subject.  If it was not for sin then the gene-pool would not be a problem, but because of de-evolution, things continue to get worse off.

            John MacArthur writes the following on verse 26:  “God is not only the sovereign ruler of the universe but also the controller of the affairs and destinies of men and nations, Paul declares that He made ‘from one’ (Adam) ‘every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.’  That statement was a blow to the national pride of the Greeks, who scornfully referred to non-Greeks as ‘barbarians.’  All men are equal, because all were created by God.  He ‘determined their appointed times;’ the rise and fall of nations and empires are in His hands (cf. Dan. 2:36 ff.; Luke 21:24).  God also set ‘the boundaries of their habitation,’ placing certain nations in specific geographical locations (Deut. 32:8) and determining the extent of their conquests (cf. Isa. 10:12-15).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  By learning and better understanding the attributes of God, one has no problems in understanding verses like this from the Word of God.  “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do” is what the children sing.  Too bad when they get older they forget the truth of this song.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as He, through His Spirit, and His Word led me each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Cornelius” (Acts. 10:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which two books tells of David as a king?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/21/2018 10:57 AM

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