MARCH 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

 MARCH 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#11 “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, Lord, my God, my Redeemer Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Only Begotten of the Father, the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the earth! O Blessed Thought — THOU ART MINE!! Jesus, the Name above all names, have mercy on this sinner saved by Your Grace, guide me each day as I look for Your Daily Manna to “reign” down from Heaven for my daily “spiritual” bread!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS moves from one Question to another in a way that keeps us focused on the “Spiritual Lessons” needed for us to live our lives in a manner pleasing to God “our Father in heaven” by building “precept upon precept, line upon line” — St. Matthew who was led by the Holy Spirit, divinely documented these “logical transitions” from one JESUS Question/Lesson to the next; for example, Matthew starts Chapter 11 with “Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.” (Matthew 11:1)  Recall that JQ#10 was themed “What is your spiritual value?” (Matthew 10:29) because Jesus asked JQ#10 by referring to two sparrows and a copper coin and remember Jesus asked this Question in the middle of equipping His twelve disciples to go out into the world as we read in Matthew 10:1 “…[Jesus] gave them power..” (Matthew 10:1) before sending them out “…as sheep in the midst of wolves…” (Matthew 10:16) and then Jesus assured His disciples of their “spiritual value” in verses Matthew 10:30-42 where Jesus states “…[My disciples] shall by no means lose [their] reward!” — essentially telling His disciples that if we go in His Name that we will never lose our “spiritual value”! Now Jesus transitions to His next Lesson/Question as He asks JQ#11: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”  (Matthew 11:7) There is no doubt that the Lesson Jesus is going to Teach is about our “spiritual expectations” and the Lesson is meant for all generations; because in verses 1-6 preceding the Question, Jesus refers Himself to the disciples of John the Baptist as the “Coming One” [recall that John’s mission was] to point to “…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) and as soon as Jesus explained to John’s disciples why He declares Himself to be the “Coming One” that Matthew 11:7 states: “And as [the disciples of John the Baptist] departed [with the revelation that Jesus is the Coming One], Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning [the message of] John [the Baptist]…” (Matthew 11:7A)  “What did you go into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7B) Therefore Jesus establishes the fact that He is moving from equipping the disciples and Teaching about our “Eternal Spiritual Value”  in JQ#10 in Matthew Chapter 10 to a new Lesson in Matthew Chapter 11 about our “Spiritual Expectations” as He establishes clearly the fact that JESUS IS THE COMING ONE and we should evaluate our individual “spiritual expectations” of who we believe is the “Coming One” and what are our “spiritual expectations” of the “Messiah”? Jesus revealed Himself as the “Coming One” first to the disciples of John because they had read the Holy Scriptures and were “expecting” the "Messiah" spoken of by the prophet Isaiah and John the Baptist had borne “witness of Him and cried out saying, ‘This is He’ [the Messiah]…”.  (John 1:15) John the Baptist had clearly stated that his personal mission was to “Make straight the way of the Lord” (John 1:23) and then as John the Baptist first laid eyes on Jesus, John made his famous declaration “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) There is no room for doubt, in the JQ#11 Question that Jesus is Teaching that He IS the Messiah and we should evaluate our “spiritual expectations” of Him --- the Divine Truth of God is that God sent His Only Begotten Son to the world as the Messiah — the Truth of God is not based on our “physical expectations” — but The Truth of God is based entirely and singularly on God’s Declarations! Did you ever stop to consider your personal “spiritual expectations” of Jesus Christ?    SPIRITUAL FACT:

             ***THERE IS NO TRUTH BUT WHAT GOD HIMSELF DECLARES!!!***