Its Compelling Urgency (Rev. 1:3b-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/6/2015 8:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Its Compelling Urgency

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelations 1:3b-6

            Message of the verses:  “for the time is near.”

            When we look at these words we must realize that they go along with what is taught in verse one where we see the word “soon.”  There are two words for time in the Scriptures and we have looked at this before in our study of 1 Thessalonians where we read from 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.”  In the case of our section from Revelation 1:3b the word for time is the Greek word kairos, and this refers to epochs, and this is talking about the next great era of God’s redemptive history that is near.  No were does Revelation tell us when all of these events will take place as far as what year, but the prophetic events that are seen from chapters 4-22 are the next events that are on God’s time table as far as the era of redemptive history.

            We can look at Luke 12:35-40 which is a parable of Jesus that will tell us that this is true, and also look at a verse in Titus to show us that this has always been the “hope” of the church.

            “35 “Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. 36 “Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."”  “Tit 2:13-looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”  Now remember that the word “hope” in this verse is used as a noun, it is a sure thing and not as a verb like “I hope the rain will stop.”

            I have mentioned earlier that the apostles who wrote letters in the Scriptures thought that they would be alive when the Lord returned, and we know that that is our hope as believers today almost 2000 years later.  We also that Peter wrote that people will wonder and even make fun of those who believe that the Lord is going to return:  “3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4  and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation’ (2 Peter 3:3-4).”

            Its Trinitarian Benediction (Revelation 1:4-5a):  4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

            This greeting as far as grace and peace being included is pretty much standard in many of the letters that are found in the NT writings.  Paul tells us the importance of grace in Ephesians 2:8-9 where he writes “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  We are all who are saved, saved by grace through faith, faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us when He died on the cross to pay for our sins, as God had taken His holy wrath out on His Son before His death on the cross.

            Now we have seen that the first three verses were actually John’s introduction to this letter, and not he is writing his greeting, as I said it is similar to many other NT greetings stating the name of who is writing at the beginning of the letter, and by the way this makes much more sense that the way we write letters today, signing our names at the end of the letters we write.

            I have highlighted the three persons of the trinity in this section but I want to quote what John MacArthur has to say about “the seven Spirits who are before His throne,” as this “refers to the Holy Spirit.  Obviously, there is only one Holy Spirit; the number seven depicts Him in His fullness (cf. 5:6; Isa. 11:2; Zech. 4:1-10).  The Holy Spirit I all His glory and fullness sends grace and peace to believers: He is the spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29) and produces peace in believers’ lives (Gal. 5:22).  Here He is seen in the glory of His place in the Father’s presence in heaven.”

            I am kind of doing this in reverse but it is important to understand how God the Father is described here from the phrase “Him who is and who was and who is to come.”  At first glance one would think that this is a description of the Son, but it is the Father.  MacArthur writes that this description “identifies the first Person of the Trinity, God the Father, described here in anthropomorphic terms.  Because it is the only way we can understand the threefold description (cf. 1:8; 4:8) views of God in time dimension (past, present, and future), although He is timeless.  The eternal God is the source of all the blessings of salvation, all grace, and all peace.”  I know want to give a biblical definition of the word “anthropomorphic.”  “Anthropomorphism comes from two Greek words:  anthropos (man) and morphe (form).  Therefore, an anthropomorphism is when God appears to us or manifests Himself to us in human form or even attributes to Himself human characteristics.  We see this all over the Bible -- and rightly so.  After all, we cannot ascend to where God is, but He can descend to where we are.”

            We have already learned that Jesus Christ is the theme of this book, and so John describes Him last, and he describes Him in with three titles. The first is “faithful witness, and this is one who always speaks and represents the truth.  When we look at a court theme and in many court themes there are witnesses, and these witnesses are suppose to tell the truth, tell what they say or heard, and one of the attributes of Jesus Christ is truth:  “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6.)  Next we see Him described as “the first born of the dead.”  MacArthur writes that this “does not mean He was chronologically the first one to be raised from the dead.  There were resurrections before His in the Old Testament (1 Kings 17:17-23; 2 Kings 4:32-36; 13:20-21), and He Himself raised others during His earthly ministry…Prototokos does not mean firstborn in time sequence, but rather first in preeminence.  Of all who have ever been or ever will be resurrected, He is the premier one.”  Now the third and last title of Christ is “the ruler of the kings of the earth,” and this speaks of Christ’s absolute sovereign over the affairs of the world, to which He holds the title deed.”  I once heard the following statement about leadership:  “A good leader always realizes that he is second in control.”  If our leaders in government today would realize that Jesus Christ is the only true leader and that they were put there because He wanted them there to bring about His plan then they would probably lead better.

            Its Exalted Doxology (Revelation 1:5b-6):  “To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood- 6  and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

            We truly see the gospel message in the last part of verse five for God truly loved us and released us from our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ as He died on the cross.  This was pictured in the Old Testament right from when Adam and Eve committed the first sin as they attempted to cover up their nakedness with leaves; God killed an animal to give them clothes.  I have to say at this point that my belief is that they ended up with wool clothes as I believe that God killed a lamb to cover them with. Jesus Christ was 100% human and that is why He had blood and it was through His blood that we are saved from our sins for Jesus willingly shed His blood to satisfy God’s payment for our sins.  We get the word propitiation from this act, and the Greeks used this word to describe “the satisfaction of an angry god,” and thus God was satisfied with Christ offering for our sins and so He raised Him from the dead.

            John MacArthur concludes his commentary with these words:  “John concludes his doxology with the only proper response in light of the magnitude of the blessings Christ has given believers:  “To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” That is to be the response of all who read this marvelous book in which that future glory and dominion is clearly presented.”

1. Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The words to the following song are my steps of faith for today:  I hear the Savior say,
   “Thy strength indeed is small;
   Child of weakness, watch and pray,
   Find in Me thine all in all.”
• Refrain:
  Jesus paid it all,
  All to Him I owe;
  Sin had left a crimson stain,
  He washed it white as snow.
2. For nothing good have I
   Whereby Thy grace to claim;
   I’ll wash my garments white
   In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
3. And now complete in Him,
   My robe, His righteousness,
   Close sheltered ’neath His side,
   I am divinely blest.
4. Lord, now indeed I find
   Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
   Can change the leper’s spots
   And melt the heart of stone.
5. When from my dying bed
   My ransomed soul shall rise,
   “Jesus died my soul to save,”
   Shall rend the vaulted skies.
6. And when before the throne
   I stand in Him complete,
   I’ll lay my trophies down,
   All down at Jesus’ feet.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and to believe and act like the Lord loves me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-8.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours and increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfaithful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The golden rule.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Isaac tell Jacob to do at Padan-Aram?”

Answer in our next SD.

 

 

Revelation’s Supernatural Delivery (Rev. 1:1f-3a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/5/2015 10:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                       Focus:  Revelation’s Supernatural Delivery

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 1:1f-3a

            Message of the verses:  We are in the midst of looking at eleven different characteristics of this book which come from the first six verses of chapter one.  Today we will begin sixth characteristic and see how far we can go today.

            Revelation’s Supernatural Delivery (Rev. 1:1f):  “and sent and communicated it by His angel.

            In yesterday’s SD we looked at how many times angels are mentioned in the book of Revelation and mentioned that one fourth of the times angels are mentioned in the Bible are seen in the book of Revelations.  In the Old Testament we saw that it was angels who were used in giving the Law of Moses (Acts 7:53 “you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."), but the book of Revelation is the only book that was “sent and communicated” by an angel, the Lord’s angel.  Now at the end of the book we see that Jesus reaffirmed this by saying in Rev. 22:16 “"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."”  In one of his sermons on this section of Revelation John MacArthur stated that in studying the book of Revelation we will learn much about angels, and as far as I am concerned that is something that I am looking forward to.  Angels do appear in every chapter of the book with the exception of chapters 4 and 13, so we will see much about them.

            Revelation’s Human Author (Rev. 1:g-2):  “to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

            The Apostle John has written much of the New Testament as He has written the gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and also the book of Revelation.  We see here that John is a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and this means that John was a slave of Jesus Christ.  One of the meanings of this title “bond-servant” from my English/Greek dictionary is “metaph., one who gives himself up to another’s will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men.”  Those who were classified as being a bond-servant of Jesus Christ lived their lives to serve Him and to complete His will through their service to Him.  Another note on John is that he did not even mention that he wrote the other books that he wrote that are recorded in the Word of God. 

            John MacArthur writes “The enormity of the visions John received on that barren island staggered him.  Throughout his gospel, John never directly referred to himself.  Yet here he bookends his vision with the statement ‘I, John’ (1:9; 22:8)—an exclamation that expressed his amazement that He was receiving such overwhelming visions.”

            When we read through the Gospel of John we see that John loyally testified of the first coming of Jesus Christ and now in the book of Revelation he will do the same for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as He sees all of this through the vision of “what must take place,” and that is the testimony about the coming glory of Jesus Christ. 

            Revelation’s Promised Blessing (Revelation 1:3a):  “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it.” 

            We see another unique characteristic of the book of Revelation as we look at this portion of verse three from chapter one and also we look at verse 22:7 which reads “"And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book."”  Now when we read what is called the “beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew we see something similar, but this blessing is for the entire book of Revelation. 

            John MacArthur writes “But those are only two of seven promises of blessing the book contains, the rest are equally wonderful ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ‘Yes, says the Spirit, so they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.’ (14:13). ‘Behold, I am coming like a thief.  Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame’ (16:15); ‘blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ (19:9); ‘blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection’ (20:6); ‘blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city’(22:14).’”

            MacArthur adds that the words “reads, hear, and heed” are all in the present tense so as we read, hear and heed what is found in this book (and this applies to the rest of Scripture) are to be a way of life for believers.  MacArthur goes on to write “The change from the singular ‘he who reads’ to the plural ‘those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it’ depicts a first-century church service.  It was common practice when the church gathered for one person to read the Scriptures aloud for all to hear (cf. 1 Tim. 4:13).  Dr. Robert L. Thomas explains that ‘because writing materials were expensive and scarce, so were copies of the books that were parts of the biblical canon.  As a rule, one copy per Christian assembly was the best that could be hoped for.  Public reading was the only means that rank-and-file Christians had for becoming familiar with the contents of these books.

            “The book of Revelation is God’s final word to man, the culmination of divine revelation.  Its writing marked the completion of the canon of Scripture (cf. 22:18-19), and its scope encompasses the entire future sweep of redemptive history (1:19).  Therefore it is imperative that believers pay diligent heed to the truths it contains.”  As you think about this statement for a while it will give great meaning for the book we are studying is what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say to us, and He will not send us anymore. Something else is that as I think of all of the Bibles that I have and ways of listening and other learning tools that believes like me have it makes me think of how hard it was for the early church members to grow, and yet as we will read in chapters two and three we will find out that there were people in those early churches that truly did grow in a wonderful way.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I truly desire to receive the blessing that are offered in this book, and truly desire to receive the rewards that are also described in this book for serving the Lord Jesus Christ in this life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, and strength and also to believe in my heart how much the Lord loves me and live like I know this truth.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-8.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, an in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Benjamin” (Genesis 42:4).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is Matthew 7:12 often called?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/5/2015 12:02 PM

Central Theme of Revelation

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/4/2015 9:02 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  It’s Central Theme

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Rev. 1:1b

            Message of the verse:  As we look at the first six verses of the first chapter of Revelations we will find that we will be looking at ten more sub-points from these verses.  These verses represent the introduction to the book of Revelations and so before we get into the second part of verse one I want to think about some more things that will help us as we look at the introduction of Revelations.  Revelation is the last book of the Bible and that is no surprise to anyone who has looked at a Bible, but Revelation is the last words that God has for us in the entire Bible and so perhaps it will be good for us to look at some of the things that began in the book of Genesis that will be completed in the book of Revelation.

First of all we learn in the book of Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth, and in the book of Revelations we read that God will “un-create” the heavens and the earth.  (Again see 2 Peter 3:10-12).  We also see that sin began in the book of Genesis and it will end in the book of Revelation.  Next we see that Satan is the one who brings sinfulness to the world from the book of Genesis, but in the book of Revelation we see that Satan will be put into the lake of fire forever.  Genesis shows us the beginning of the curse and Revelation shows us the end of the curse.  We see the tree of life that is relinquished in Genesis, but in Revelations we see the tree regained.  In Genesis (3:15) we see a Savior promised and in Revelation we see the Savior preeminent. 

There are a couple of more things that I want to go over before we look at verse 1:1b of Revelation.  As I listen to and have read the book of Revelation many, many times I notice in two places a promise given that gives a blessing to those who read and those who heed what is written in this book, and this is unique to Scripture.  Next I see the words “like” and “as” written many times in the book and so I want to do a word search on these two words because they are both similes, words John uses to describe things that perhaps he has difficulty in describing due to the fact that he had never seen things like this before.  Like is used 45 times in Revelation and as is used 34 times.  Next we want to look at the number seven and how many times it is used in Revelation, for seven is the number of completeness.  I find that the number seven is used 331 times in the book of Revelation.  Next let us look at how many times the word angel is used.  Angel is used 50 times in the book of Revelation.  Next I want to look up the words “blessed” and “blessing.” Blessed is used 3 times and blessing is used 7 times and this shows that there are many blessings found in the book of Revelation. 

Jesus Christ is the central theme in the book of Revelation for we see in the very first verse that this is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”  We looked at the word “revelation” and what it meant in our last SD, but I want to bring up one more point and that is because the word means revealing, that this book should not be a closed book, but people who are believers should study this book for as I said the one who does this receives a blessing.  Now when we were studying the book of Daniel we saw in the last chapter that Daniel was instructed to close up the book until the time of the end, but now we see that the book of Revelation is not to be closed up but to be read and studied for John goes on to say that the things he writes about must soon take place, and we will get into the meaning of that word “soon” in a later SD.

We not only see that this book is a revelation from Jesus Christ but it is a revelation about Jesus Christ and this makes it unique, as there are many unique things found in this book.  Other books in Scripture use the same phrase “revelation of Jesus Christ” however the ones seen in the book of Revelation are all about His majesty, power and glory, while the others spoke of His humiliation, for that speaks of His first coming when His glory was clothed in humanity.

The following is a rather long quote from the former Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, Dr. W. A. Criswell.  1/4/2015 9:36 AM  1/4/2015 6:18 PM

            “The first time our Lord came into this world, He came in the veil of our flesh.  His deity was covered over with His manhood.  His Godhead was hidden by His humanity.  Just once in a while did His deity shine through, as on the Mount of Transfiguration, or as in His miraculous works.  But most of the time the glory, the majesty, the deity, the wonder and the marvel of the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, were veiled.  These attributes were covered over in flesh, in our humanity.  He was born in a stable, He grew up in poverty.  He knew what it was to hunger and to thirst.  He was buffeted and beaten and bruised.  He was crucified and raised up as a felon before the scoffing gaze of the whole earth.  The last time that this world saw Jesus was when it saw Him hanging in shame, misery and anguish upon the cross.  He later appeared to a few of His believing disciples, but the last time that this unbelieving world ever saw Jesus was when it saw Him die as a malefactor, as a criminal, crucified on a Roman cross.  That was a part of the plan of God, a part of the immeasurable, illimitable grace and love of our Lord.  ‘By His stripes we are healed.’

            “But then is that all the world is ever to see of our Savior—dying in shame on a cross?  No!  It is also a part of the plan of God that some day this unbelieving, this blaspheming, this godless world shall see the Son of God in His full character, in glory, in majesty, in the full character, in glory, in majesty, in the full-orbed wonder and marvel of His Godhead.  Then all men shall look upon Him as He really is.  They shall see Him holding in His hands the title-deed to the Universe, holding in His hands the authority of all creation in the universe above us, in the universe around us, and in the universe beneath us; holding this world and its destiny in His pierced and loving hands.  (Expository Sermons on Revelation [Grand Rapids; Zondervan, 1969], 1:16-17)”

            The following is a list compiled by John MacArthur which gives us a glimpse through the pages of Revelation as to why this book of Revelation reveals that our Lord Jesus Christ is its main theme.

1 He is “the faith witness” (1:5); 2 “the firstborn of the dead” (1:5); 3 “the Alpha and the Omega” (1:8; 21:6); 4 the one “who is and who was and who is to come” (1:8); 5 “the Almighty” (1:8); 6 “the first and the last” (1:17); 7 “the living One” (1:18) 8 “the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands” (2:1); 9 “the One who has the sharp two-edged sword” (2:12); 10 “the Son of God” (2:18); 11 the One “who has eyes like a flame of fire, and…feet…like burnished bronze” (2:18); 12 the One “who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1) 13 the One “who is holy, who is true” (3:7); 14 the holder of “the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens” (3:7); 15 “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness” (3:14); 16 “the Beginning of the creation of God” (3:14); 17 “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah” (5:5); 18; the Lamb of God (e.g., 5:6; 6:1; 7:9-10; 8:1; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1; 15:3; 17:14; 19:7; 21:9; 22:1); 19 the “Lord, holy and true” (6:10); 20 the One who “is called Faithful and True” (19:11); 21 “The Word of God” (19:13); 22 the “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (19:16; 23 Christ (Messiah), ruling on earth with His glorified saints (20:6); and 23 “Jesus…the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (22:16).”

Its Divine Source (Rev. 1:1c):  “which God gave Him.

            Now we come to a section in this very first verse of Revelation that I don’t believe that I have ever thought about and that is “In what sense is the book of Revelation a gift from the Father to Jesus Christ?”  Now there are some who believe that this phrase is answered from what Jesus said in Mark 13:32 “"But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”  Now at the time when Jesus spoke these words He was in His human body, and as we learned from what W. A. Criswell writes that Jesus had set aside His attributes in order to become a man and to die for our sins on the cross, so Jesus did not know the answer to this question at the time He spoke this.  However we can be assured that the way we see Jesus Christ in chapter one He knew the answer to this question so we have to look for another answer to this question. Let me add one more verse to show that this possibility of answering this question this way is not a good option:  “John 17:5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”  Jesus is asking that He return to the same glory He had before He became a man.  

            John MacArthur writes “In reality, the book of Revelation is the Father’s gift to the Son in a far deeper, more marvelous sense.  As a reward for His perfect, humble, faithful, holy service, the Father promised to exalt the Son.  Paul explains,

            5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Now we have already looked at Psalm 2: 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"”  I believe that this too is a part of the answer to this question as to why the book of Revelation is a gift to the Son from His Father.

            Now when we look at Philippians 2:9-11, we will be able to see this unfolding as we continue our study of the book of Revelation, we will see God highly exalting His Son in the pages of the book of Revelation, and this is truly going to be exciting to witness.

Its Prophetic Character (Rev. 1:1e):  “the things which must soon take place.

            Anyone who has even desired to look at the book of Revelation will soon realize that this book is a book about what is going to happen as the world comes to an end, however we will soon learn that this book is written to the church, specifically seven churches, and that means that it is written to believers, and believers have the Holy Spirit in them who will help them understand the contents of this book.  As we mentioned Revelation means something concerning things before unknown, and that makes it about prophecy.  We have also seen in the outline given in our last SD that chapters 4-22 are about future things, even future to us, for we will now learn that the words “soon take place” means that the events from chapters 4-22 are the next events on God’s prophetic calendar.  I promised to take a look at this word “soon,” and I can tell you that after listen to John MacArthur’s sermon a few times I am beginning to understand what this word “soon” means.  Now before we look at his explanation of this word I want to give some more details as to why this book is a prophetic book.

            MacArthur writes “As in all prophetic literature, there is a dual emphasis in the book of Revelation.  It portrays Jesus Christ in His future glory along with the blessedness of the saints.  It also depicts the judgment of unbelievers in Jesus Christ leading to their eternal damnation.”  He now quotes Charles Erdman:  “This is a book of judgments and of doom.  The darker side of the picture is never for a moment concealed.  God is just.  Sin must be punished.  Impenitence and rebellion issue in misery and defeat.  Here is no sentimental confusion of right and wrong.  Here is no weak tolerance of evil.  There is mention of ‘the Lamb that has been slain,’ but also of ‘the wrath of the Lamb.’  There is a ‘river of water of life,’ but also a ‘lake of fire.’  Here is revealed a God of love who is to dwell among men, to wipe away all tears, and to abolish death and sorrow and pain; but first his enemies must be subdued.  Indeed, The Revelation is in large measure a picture of the last great conflict between the forces of evil and the power of God.  The colors are lurid and are borrowed from the convulsions of nature and from the scenes of human history, with their battles and their carnage.  The struggle is titanic.  Countless hordes of demonic warriors rise in opposition to him who is ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords.’  Upon them ‘woes’ are pronounced, ‘bowls’ of wrath are poured out, and overwhelming destruction is visited.  A brighter day is to come, but there is thunder before the dawn. (The Revelation of John [Philadelphia; Westminster, 1966], 12)

            As I listened to MacArthur sermon on the word “soon” I learned that there are different meanings to this word, quickness and speed are two of them.  We get the English word “tachometer” from this Greek word, a devise that measures revelations per minute from an engine in a car.  What I learned from the definition of this word is that this word actually speaks of the next thing on the prophetic calendar, something I all ready mentioned.  Peter writes that a day to God is a thousand years on earth, and I think that when we look at when this book was written that there have been nearly 2000 years past then that is only two days in heaven.  As we read Paul and Peter’s writing we will see that they expected that the Lord would return while they were still alive, and this gives us something else to think about, and that is that when we look at what the Lord said to His disciples in Acts chapter one we see these word:  “6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.”  Jesus is actually saying that this is none of your business, in fact when Peter writes about this in 2 Peter 3:10-12 he is actually saying that a thousand years is like a day to the Lord he is trying to show his readers that it is important that they live their lives to please the Lord “what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, (2 Peter 3:10b).”  That is the best I can do in explaining what this word “soon” means.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:   “What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”  What sort of a person should I be?

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and strength, and also to believe that God loves me, and act like He does, for He does.

Memory verses for the week: 2 Peter 1:5-8.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Answer to yesterdays Bible question:  “Samaria” (John 4:3-4).

Today’s Bible question:  “The first time Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, which brother did not come?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/4/2015 7:57 PM

 

Intro to the Book of Revelation

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS

It has only been in the last few weeks that I truly believed that the Lord wants me to take another look at the book of Revelations.  I was all set to begin in a study on the book of Colossians until I was listening to the book of Revelations a couple of weeks ago and it was then that I decided to do this study.  It was all the way back on the 17^th of January in 2005 that I first studied the book of Revelations as far as putting it in my Spiritual Diaries.  It took to the end of December of 2005 to finish my study the first time and it was at the end of my study of the entire New Testament which I really don’t remember when it began.

As I begin this study of Revelations I want to begin in this introduction with a passage all the way back in the book of Genesis, a passage that I have looked at many times in my Spiritual Diaries.  “15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel’ (Genesis 3:15).”  This verse is the first prophecy of the coming Messiah, and as I have mentioned before it is the only time that the term seed of the woman or her seed is used in the entire Bible.  I firmly believe that this is a prophecy of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ who will be the one who defeats Satan, the one who tempted Eve to sin by eating of the fruit from the tree of good and evil.  Now why is it important in a study of Revelations to bring this verse up?  My answer to that question is that this begins a long road of prophesies that will actually end in the book of Revelation.  John MacArthur states that there is actually no quotations from the Old Testament that are in the book of Revelation, however he states that “278 of the 404 verses in Revelation allude to the inspired Old Testament Scriptures.”  That is another answer to the question that I brought up earlier.  I once heard Hal Lindsey state that the best way to study the book of Revelation is by using a good concordance, and I suppose that is one way to study this wonderful book for if 278 verses allude to the Old Testament then a concordance would be a good way to study this book.

I want to take us back to Psalm 2 and verse 7 ““I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’” And this verse is seen three times in the book of Hebrews too.  Why do I want to look at this verse?  This verse is fulfilled after the resurrection of our Lord, as that is when it is told that God the Father has begotten His Son, and that is part of what the book of Revelations is all about as the first verse reads “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John.”  God gave this book to His Son and this book is all about His Son, and not the Son who the last time the world saw Him was dead on a Roman cross, but His Son whom He raised from the dead after He had paid for our sins on the cross and was in the grace for three days, and then raised again to life, a life in which He was the firstfruits of those who have believed in Him for salvation will someday do the same.  Yes this book is not about Christ in His humiliation, but Christ in His glorification as we will see. 

The human author of the book of Revelation is the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee who as we will see was living on the island of Patmos when He received instructions on what he was to write down.

I believe that this book was written in or around 96 AD, and no earlier, and there is a reason as to why I believe that and it has to do with how this book is interpreted.   In his introduction to Revelation John MacArthur gives a number of interpretive approaches of this book.  I will list them, but there is only one way that I believe is the proper way to interpret this book and I will state that after I mention the other ways.  “The preterist approach views Revelation not as future, predictive prophecy, but as a historical record of events in the first-century Roman Empire.”  “The historicist approach finds in Revelation a record of the sweep of church history from apostolic times until the present.”  “The idealist approach sees depicted in Revelation the timeless struggle between good and evil that is played out in every age.”  Now I will give the approach that I have believed is seen in Revelation since I first became a believer.  As a matter of fact the first book that I read after becoming a believer was the book of Revelation, and I must say that I got little out of it.  “The futurist approach sees in chapters 4-22 predictions of people and events yet to come in the future.  Only this approach allows Revelation to be interpreted following the same literal, grammatical-historical hermeneutical method by which no-prophetic portions of Scripture are interpreted.”

John MacArthur quotes John F. Walvoord in his introduction in the same section that he addresses this futurist approach of interpreting Revelation.  John F. Walvoord is a noted author and speaker on the study of Eschatology, as he has written several books on this theology.  I once listened to him speak in 1978 at the first Moody Founders Week that I attended.  He spoke on the eschatology that is found in the letters of First and Second Thessalonians.  “Much of the prophecy of the Bible deals with the distant future, including the Old Testament promises of the coming Messiah, the prophecies of Daniel concerning the future world empires, the body of truth relating to the coming kingdom on earth as well as countless other prophecies.  If the events of chapters 4 through 19 are future, even from our viewpoint today, they teach the blessed truth of the ultimate supremacy of God and the triumph of righteousness.  The immediate application of distant events is familiar in Scripture, as for instance II Peter 3:10-12, which speaks of the ultimate dissolution of the earth; nevertheless the succeeding passage makes an immediate application:  ‘Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent.’”  I will at this time quote all of 2 Peter 3:10-12 “10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”  Now remember that Peter would shortly be crucified upside-down after writing these words as this was his last letter recorded in the Bible, so when you are about to die you want to things that are most important to you.

John MacArthur finishes his introduction with the following words:  “Anything other than the futurist approach leaves the meaning of the book of human ingenuity and opinion.  The futurist approach takes the book’s meaning as God gave it.”  Now this is the way we will look at this book, for I truly believe that the things that take place from chapters 4-22 are still future.

Let me give the best outline, although it is a very short one, but comes from Revelation 1:19 “"Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”  Now we will look more closely at this verse when we later study it, but briefly what we see here is that John had seen things as recorded in the first 18 verses of Revelation which he was not suppose to write down, but in chapters 2-3 we will see the next part of this outline as he is told to write down the things which are, and this speaks of what will be said of the seven churches who will receive this letter, and then the last part of verse 19 he is to write the things which will take place, and this speaks of what will happen from chapters 4-22.

We are going to take our time as we go through this wonderful, insightful book, a book where we will learn much about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as He is now in His glorified body.  We will see Him as Lord of lords, and King of kings.   

"The Essential Nature" (Rev. 1:a-b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2015 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The Essential Nature

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Revelation 1:1a-b

            Message of the verse:  In today’s SD we will actually begin our study of the book of Revelation by looking at a part of the first verse.  I believe that it is essential to take our time in the first part of any book that we study because we will better understand the book if we understand it’s beginning, and this is especially true in this study.

            One of the things that people want to know is what is going to happen in the future, and so they go to different places, and do different things to find out what the future holds.  God has warned us in His Law about doing some things that people now do to try and find out what the future holds.  Way back in the book of Genesis we find that in what would become Babylon that they built a tower into the heavens that some think was to reach heaven, but many Bible scholars call it a “ziggurat.”  This was used to chart the stars and today in newspapers and on the internet we see astrological descriptions of what will happen to people who were born under a particular astrological sign.  This was the beginning of something that we will look at in the 17^th and 18^th chapters of Revelation as we will see the destruction of “Religious” and what I will call “Governmental” Babylon.  God destroyed the beginnings of Babylon by confusing the languages, and this slowed mankind down from doing these things for a while, but because of computers and other technological advances we are almost back in the same place as mankind was then.  My point in all of this is the one of the reasons for doing things like this was to know what the future holds and people still want to know what the future holds.

            When I was a little boy my mother told me what she knew about the end of the world, and what she told me was only partly true as far as what the Bible has to say about the end of the world.  She said that winter would turn into summer and summer would turn into winter and then after that the whole world would burn up.  You can imagine that this frightened me very much, and I have never forgotten what she said.  2 Peter 3:10-12 tells us that the earth will be burned up and we will also be looking at this at the end of Revelation. 

            As we begin to look at the book of Revelation we will see that God will show us what will happen in the future.  As John did what the Lord told him to do and that is to write down the things that he saw in the visions he actually saw exactly what will happen in the future, and this will happen exactly as he saw it happen.  John MacArthur calls his sermon on the first verses of Revelation “Back to the Future.”  I actually think that movie title was popular when he preached through the book of Revelation.

It would probably help us to see the outline that is in MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Revelation because I will probably follow it as se study this book.

Outline

I.                    The Things Which You Have Seen (1:1-20)

a.       The Prologue (1:1-8)

b.      The Vision of the Glorified Christ (1:9-18)

c.       John’s Commission to Write (1:19-20)

II.                 The Things Which Are (2:1-3:22)

a.       The Letter to the Church at Ephesus (2:1-7)

b.      The Letter to the Church at Smyrna (2:8-11)

c.       The Letter to the Church at Pergamum (2: 12-17)

d.      The Letter to the Church at Thyatira (2:18-29)

e.       The Letter to the Church at Sardis (3:1-6)

f.        The Letter to the Church at Philadelphia (3:7-13)

g.      The Letter to the Church at Laodicea (3:14-22)

III.              The Things Which Will Take Place After This (4:1-22:21)

a.       Worship Before God’s Heavenly Throne (4:1-5:14)

b.      The Tribulation (6:1-18:24)

c.       The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (19:1-21)

d.      The Millennium (20:1-10)

e.       The Great White Throne Judgment (20:11-15)

f.        The Eternal State (21:1-22:21)

Now we will look at the first two words in the book of Revelation which will tell us about its essential nature.

The Revelation (Rev. 1:1a):  “The Revelation.

Many people have been afraid to look at and study and many pastors have been afraid of preaching from the book of Revelations.  Afraid is a key word here as these people are afraid of what they think is symbolism that is found in this book.  However as we look at these first two words we will see that the word “Revelation” is the Greek word “Apocalypses” and this word is “seen eighteen times in the New Testament, always, when used of a person, with the meaning ‘to become visible.’”  Let us take a look at Luke 2:32 “A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."”  These words were spoken by Simeon to the parents of Jesus as he had been waiting to see the Lord’s Salvation, the Messiah for he was promised he would not die until he saw Him.  What Simeon is saying in this verse is that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ would be made visible to men.  Let’s look at Romans 8:19 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”  This verse speaks of creation longing for those who have been born-again to receive their glorified bodies, and this will happen at the Rapture of the Church for those who are in the Church.  Both Paul and Peter speak of the revelation of Jesus Christ in their writings and this is the same word used as the title of Revelation.  I want to take a moment to quote what the English/Greek dictionary has to say about this word:  “1) laying bear, making naked

2) a disclosure of truth, instruction

2a) concerning things before unknown

2b) used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all

3) manifestation, appearance

            Now as we look at the meaning of “things before unknown” we will see this as we study the book of Revelation as it contains “truths that had been concealed, but have now been revealed.”  We mentioned that out of the 404 verses in Revelation 278 relate to things written in the Old Testament.

            As we study this book we will see that the Apocalypse reveals a lot of divine truths, and a sample of them is that it reveals the danger of sin in the church, and it also instructs believers to live a holy life.  Of course it also speaks of things that will happen in the future and if you look at the outline you will see some of those things.  John MacArthur writes “But supremely, overarching all those features, the book of Revelation reveals the majesty and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It describes in detail the events associated with His second coming, revealing His glory that will one day blaze forth as strikingly and unmistakably as lightning flashing in a darkened sky (Matt. 24:27).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that one of the most wonderful things for me to find in the Bible is to know what will happen to me in the future, and I don’t mean everyday future, but what will happen at the “end of the world” future.  However as I look at the book I will also see a wonderful picture of our glorified Christ and this is something that will last longer than living on this earth.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand His love for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-7.

5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Mark 2:27).

Today’s Bible question:  “At the time of Christ what was the country between Judea and Galilee called?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/3/2015 11:24 AM    

 

 

Psalm 150 PT-2

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/18/2012 8:08:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Psalm 150-PT-2

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Ps. 150:1b-6

 

            Message of the verses:  We will continue our look at the last psalm, Psalm 150, which is a psalm of praise as the last six Psalms have been, and this is a wonderful way to conclude the book of Psalms.  At the end of his introductory commentary Dr. Wiersbe wrote the following, “Like the previous psalm, it gives us a summary of some essentials of true worship.” 

 

            The Place of Worship:  Heaven and Earth (v.1b):  “Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.”

 

            The psalmist has mentioned two places where the worship of the Lord is done from, the expanse, which is the heaven above, where we read from Hebrews 12:23 the following to show this truth, “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”  The other place where worship is conducted is from the earth and the psalmist mentions the sanctuary, which of course is speaking of the temple that is in Jerusalem.  Now we know that this temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and that now the temple of the Lord is in the hearts of true believers where the Holy Spirit of God lives and this should cause all believers to worship and praise the Lord for the wonderful works that He has accomplished on our behalf.  Since the Church age began in Acts chapter two believers have set aside places where they come to corporately worship the Lord, at first it was in the homes of the believers, and now it is in buildings where the church meets that we call church buildings.  The word “church” in the Greek is the word “ekklesia ek-klay-see’-ah,” and this word means “an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting.”  Believers are those who have been called out by God for salvation and because of this we desire to worship the Lord together in a corporate setting.  The writer to the Hebrews gives this command to believers, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

 

            The Themes of Worship:  God’s Acts and Attributes (v.2):  “2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.”

 

            I mentioned a couple of days ago that I am reading a book by A. W. Tozer entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy,” and also mentioned that in this book Tozer writes about knowing God and knowing Him through His attributes.  He has a chapter in this book explaining exactly what attributes means and I wish to quote a number of passages from this chapter so we can better understand what an attribute means when we are speaking of the attributes of God.  Tozer entitles this chapter “A Divine Attribute: Something True About God.”  He states, “It would seem to be necessary before proceeding further to define the word attribute as it is used in this volume.  It is not used in its philosophical sense nor confined to its strictest theological meaning.  By it is meant simply whatever may be correctly ascribed to God.  For the purpose of this book an attribute of God is whatever God has in any revealed as being true of Himself.”

            “If an attribute is something true of God, it is also something that we can conceive as being true of Him.  God, being infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know nothing.  An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental concept, an intellectual response to God’s self-revelation.  It is an answer to a question, the reply God makes to our interrogation concerning Himself.”

 

            “An attribute, then, is not a part of God.  It is how God is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go, we may say that it is what God is, through, as I have tried to explain, exactly what He is He cannot tell us.  Of what God is conscious when He is conscious of self, only He knows.  ‘The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.’  Only to an equal could God communicate the mystery of His Godhead; and to think of God as having an equal is to fall into an intellectual absurdity.”

 

            When we look at some of the mighty acts that the Lord performed in the OT we have many to choose from.  We would have to begin with creation which is the way that the OT begins.  The flood was also a mighty act of God.  When God called Abram to begin the nation of Israel and giving he and his wife a child after they were past the age of childbearing is also a might act preformed by God.  The Exodus from the land of Egypt and the ten great miracles that God performed to accomplish this along with the drying of the Red Sea so Israel could cross on dry land.  The conquering of the Promised Land and the call of David and his line in which the Messiah would be born into are also mighty acts performed by God.  As we move into the NT we see the miracles and more miracles, and that is found in the four Gospels where we see the second person of the Godhead becoming a man so that He could complete the will of the Father which was to provide salvation for all who believe in Him.  The first words that we hear Jesus speak in the Gospel of Luke is that He was going about His Father’s business and the last words He speaks are “It is finished,” which means paid in full.  As we move into the book of Acts we see more mighty works that are done by the Lord as the Church age begins and the calling of those whom the Father had chosen in eternity past begins, and is still going on to this day.  Dr. Wiersbe states “The acts of God reveal the character of God, His holiness, love, wisdom, power, grace, and so on—what the psalmist called ‘His excellent greatness’ (NASB).

 

            “We cannot plumb the debts of all that God is or all that He has done (106:2; 145:4 11, 12).  This is why our eternal worshiping of God will never become boring!”

 

            The Means of Worship:  Musical Instruments and Human Voices (vv. 3-6):  “3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”

 

            It seems that the psalmist is describing an orchestra with the instruments that he speaks of here, and he also is speaking of using our voices to praise the Lord.  He states at the end that everything that has breath should be praising the Lord and ends the psalm and also the book of Psalms with the words, “Praise the LORD.” 

 

            Now if the sun, the moon, the stars all praise the Lord even though they have no breath, then all of us who have breath should praise the Lord, especially all of the true believers who have been chosen by the Father, had their sins paid for by the Son, and called by the Holy Spirit to eternal salvation.  As we ponder these truths let us Praise the LORD!

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are a number of reasons that I am studying the book “The Knowledge of the Holy,” and one of them is that it is my desire to know God better, and by knowing Him better I will then be able to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and to have a part of my worship praising the Lord.

 

            There is some emotion within me as I finish the study of the book of Psalm, a book that has taken nine days more than a year to complete.  My prayer is that God will be glorified with the things that I have learned and shared from this great portion of Scripture, a portion of Scripture that has great meaning to all believers from every age who have named the name of Christ and have known the God of the Bible.  This book has brought much comfort to those who have read it and it also helps us to come better acquainted with our Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to have a desire to learn contentment, to continue to have my mind transformed by the Word of God, and to continue to praise and know my Lord.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Psalm 121:1

 

            1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?

 

12/18/2012 9:30:52 AM