SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/8/2018 7:54 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  PT-3 “Content”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 17:2b-3, 11

            Message of the verses:  “and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ."… 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

            Now we come to one of the verses in the book of Acts that has always been very meaningful to me, and that is verse 11 of this 17^th chapter.  As we look at verse eleven we can be assured that when Paul got to Berea and spoke to the Jews there that he would use the same approach as he did to the Jews in Thessalonica, but as we see Luke notes that the Jews in Berea were more noble-minded that those in Thessalonica for these Jews in Berea were actually looking into their Old Testaments to find out if Paul was telling them the truth or not.  Now we read in the 13^th verse that it was the Jews from Thessalonica that were causing the persecution, and not the Jews from Berea, so evidently the Jews at Berea had no problem with Paul’s teaching. 

            We see in verse four the word “examining” and John MacArthur writes that this word “is from anakrino, a word sometimes used of a judicial investigation.  The noble Bereans carefully sifted the evidence and concluded that the gospel Paul proclaimed with the truth that fulfilled Old Testament promise.  Those who honestly examine the Scriptures will always come to that conclusion.”  When Jesus was on planet earth He told the Jews in John 5:39 “"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.”  The Scriptures testify about Jesus, but the Jews whom Jesus was speaking of missed that point altogether.  One’s heart has to be open in order to receive what the Scriptures say about the Lord Jesus Christ, and this was true of His disciples for in Luke 24:25-27 Jesus Himself used these OT Scriptures to convince the disciples:

25 And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

            This highlighted 27^th verse of Luke 24 has always made me wish that I could have been there walking and listening to Jesus as He opened up the Old Testament to cause those disciples to understand what they said about Him.  He may have looked into the books of Moses as Moses said that someday the Lord would raise up a prophet like him.  He may have taken them to Psalm 22 to see that that Psalm actually described what just had happened to Him on the cross.  Isaiah 53 is another chapter that speaks of Jesus and perhaps He took them there.  I’m sure that there were many other chapters that the Lord took His disciples to as the Old Testament is all about Jesus.  Now since we have at this time both Old and New Testaments we can better understand the truths about our Lord. 

            I think that it is true that most people that reject the gospel have very little knowledge of what the Bible has to say about it.  John MacArthur writes that “the primary duty in evangelism, then, must be to demonstrate the truth of Christianity from the Scriptures.”  There are three prerequisites for Bible study that he gives in his concluding comments on this second main point of content, and I will go over them, Lord willing, in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The theme of my blog is 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  This is my desire as I look into God’s Word each day, then write about it as I try to learn what is shows me, and then share it as I put it onto my blogs.  

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to look to the Lord for His grace as He, through His Spirit teaches me from His Word each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Joshua.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What sign was given to Hezekiah that he would be healed?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/8/2018 8:24 AM