From and Before the Throne (Rev. 4a-6a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2015 1:00 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  From and Before the Throne

Bible Reading and Meditation                                                     Reference:  Revelation 4:5a-6a

            Message of the verses:  We will be looking at two different sub-points in this SD because they are both rather short, the first one is what John saw coming from the Throne and this covers verse Rev. 4:5a “Out from the throne come flashes of lighting and sounds and peals of thunder.”

            Let us back up a bit and review that when we are speaking of the throne that John saw that he is speaking of the presence of God, and it is in the temple in heaven that John was carried up to.  John sees flashes of lighting and sounds and peals of thunder coming from the throne.  This is not like some kind of a thunder storm that we see here on earth, but this is the furry of God who is about to bring judgment on this earth.  Let’s look at a couple of OT verses to help us better understand what is going on here.  First let us look at Exodus 19:16 “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.”  Next we will look at Ezekiel 1:13 “In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.”  On October 25^th of 2014 I looked at this verse along with others from the book of Ezekiel and I concluded by writing “What Ezekiel saw is similar to what John saw in heaven as he described in the book of Revelations, and what they both saw was the glory of God.”

            Before the world went through the flood during the time of Noah there was not thunder of lightening storms, but now they are very common to see and also very dangerous.  God judged the world through the flood so to me this reminds me what I am seeing in this verse from Revelation four is all about judgment.  This is just the prelude to the coming judgment that we will be looking at when we study chapters 6-19.  A preview of this is seen in Revelations 8:5 “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”  Next we look at Revelation 11:19 “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”  Revelation 16:18 “And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.”  I have stated before that the book of Revelation can be studied by using a concordance to see where passages like the one we are looking at today are found elsewhere in the Scriptures and this helps us to understand what we are looking at.

            Now we will look at what was before the throne as seen in Revelation 4:5b-6a “And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was, something like, a sea of glass like crystal.”

            John is seeing two things that are before the throne in heaven, the first were seven lamps of fire, and the second is the seven Spirits of God.  Have we been over these two things before in the vision of Christ from chapter one or from the churches we studied in chapters 2-3 of Revelation?  Well if you are thinking of the seven golden lampstands seen in the vision of chapter one, that is not what John sees here, but these are like burning torches, not lampstands with lamps on them.  Now as far as the seven Spirits of God we have looked at this at least one time before and this speaks of the fullness of the Holy Spirit that we saw in Isaiah 11:2 “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”  We also looked at Zech. 4:1-10 “1 Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3 also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side." 4 Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, "What are these, my lord?" 5 So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." 6 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. 7 ’What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"’" 8 Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. 10 “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel-these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth."”  This vision that Zechariah saw represents the power of the Holy Spirit while the one Isaiah saw represented the Spirits wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, reverence, and deity.  John MacArthur writes “Torches are associated with war in Judges 7:16-20 and Nahum 2:3-4.  John’s vision depicts God as ready to make war on sinful, rebellious mankind and the Holy Spirit as His war torch.  The Comforter of those who love Christ will be the Consumer of those who reject Him.”

            One more thing to look at and that is the sea of glass that is like crystal.  We know that there is no sea in heaven so this is metaphorical in description.  The sea is the floor or base of the throne and was a vast pavement of glass which was shining brilliantly like crystal.  Let us again look to the book of Exodus to see another description that relates to this.  Exodus 24:10 “and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.”  Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel saw this sight.  We have seen, in our study of Ezekiel something similar in Ezekiel 1:22 and 26 “Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads.  Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man.”    I hope that these descriptions of heaven will wet your appetite to one day go there and be with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  One may ask how this can happen.  The Bible teaches us that because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden that all people are born into sin, thus all people sin for that is their nature.  The book of Romans tells us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  The word Gospel means good news and the good news of the Gospel is that the second person of the godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth as the God-man to live a perfect life and then die on the cross to pay for our sins.  Because God was satisfied with His payment for our sins He raised Him up from the grave three days later.  We must admit we are a sinner and believe that Christ died for our sins and then invite Him to live in you in the person of the Holy Spirit so that you can serve Him.  Doing this will make you His child of God, and will make it possible for you to see what John saw in heaven for that will be where you will live with Christ.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Heaven is wonderful news for those who know Christ as their Savior and Lord, but as we have seen in this section the judgment and furry of God’s wrath is about to come upon those on the earth who are sinners and for three and a half years it will go on.  The good news is that I can tell others about this so that they will not have to go through these three and a half years of terrible judgment.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand the love of the Lord so that I can live in that love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He was a tanner” (Acts 9:43).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which Gospel book does not record stilling the storm?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/6/2015 1:51 PM

Around the Throne (Rev. 4:3b-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2015 10:02 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Around the Throne

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Revelation 4:3b-4

            Message of the verses:  “and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.”

            Let us take a look at what I wrote about these verses on the 11^th and 12^th of April in 2005, and then we will go on and add to what we see here:  “The last part of this verse describes a rainbow, resembling an emerald that circles the throne.  The rainbow is first spoken of in Genesis 9:11-17 which is what the Lord put into the air after the flood to show that He would never destroy the world again by a flood.  The first rainbow was seen after the judgment and this one is seen before the judgment.”

            “Verse four continues to explain more of the scene in heaven.  The verse tells of twenty-four thrones that surround the throne of God the Father, and seated on these twenty-four thrones are twenty-four elders.  The question arises as to who these twenty-four elders are or who do they represent?  It is not likely that they are angels; for one thing the word “elder” from the Greek does not mean an angel.  Most likely these are men who represent the Church age, as they are clothed in white and have crowns upon their heads.  Believers are told that they will be dressed in white garments and also believers can earn crowns for their work done on earth for the cause of Christ.  It is possible that the number twenty-four means that these could represent the two groups of those who belong to God, for there were twelve tribes of Israel, and there were twelve apostles in the New Testament.”

            We see that the rainbow is like an emerald in appearance.  As I stated in my SD in 2005 John must had had a hard time describing this rainbow for he uses the simile “like” to help in his description of it.  Green must have been the dominant color for the emerald is green.  MacArthur writes “This again is introduced to show the many-splendored glory of God (cf. Ezek. 1:28).  The rainbow provides a comforting balance to the fiery flashings of judgment earlier seen emanating from God’s throne.  According to Genesis 9:13-17, a rainbow symbolizes God’s covenant faithfulness, mercy, and grace.  God’s attributes always operate in perfect harmony.  His wrath never operates at the expense of His faithfulness; His judgments never negates His promises.  God’s power and holiness would cause us to live in abject terror were it not for His faithfulness and mercy.”

            Now we want to address the twenty-four thrones and who it was sitting on these thrones.  There has been much debate as to who these are who are sitting on these thrones, but it seems best to see them as representatives of the church something that is seen above in my Spiritual Diary from April 12, 2005. 

            We will look at some different reasons that John MacArthur has in his commentary as to why these represent men from the church age.  We see first of all that these are reigning with Christ and no where do we find that angels reign with Christ, but we will, as believers reign with Christ.  “26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 ‘He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’— just as I have received authority from my Father (Rev. 2:26-27).”  And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28).”

            As mentioned in my 2005 Spiritual Diary the word elder is never used in Scripture to refer to angels.  It can be used of older men as being elderly or leaders in Israel and in the church. 

            Angels have been seen in what as in Acts 1:10, but more commonly this is the dress of believers, and we did go over this when we were looking at the different churches in chapters 2-3 of Revelation.

            Next we see that these elders had golden crowns on their heads and this provides us with more evidence of them being human as we don’t see angels with crowns.  MacArthur writes “Stephanos (crowns) is the victory’s crown, worn by those who successfully endured the train, those who completed and won the victory.  Christ promised such a crown to the loyal believers at Smyrna:  ‘Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life’ (2:10).”  There are other references to crowns worn by believers in the New Testament. 

            As we look through the Scriptures we see that numbers mean things and the number 24 according to what John MacArthur represents completeness, but this still does not tells us who they are.  From my first study of the book of Revelation I have though that these represent men from the church age and nothing has changed my mind about this, although John MacArthur writes that these come from the glorified saints that have been raptured and he points to Revelation 5:8-10 “8  When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."”  He writes “They have their crowns and live in the place prepared for them, where they have gone to be with Jesus (cf. John 14:1-4).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Looking at this I can say that when times are not so good on this earth and I read promises like this one then I can be nothing but encouraged and for that I am thankful.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Seven good years would be followed by seven years of famine” (Genesis 41:25-27).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was the occupation of the man with whom Peter stayed in Joppa?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/5/2015 10:44 AM

"On the Throne" (Rev. 4:2b-3a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2015 2:52 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  On the Throne

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 4:2b-3a

            Message of the verses:  “and One sitting on the throne.  And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance;”

            Now as we look at this verse we can get a picture of the One who is ruling this universe, it is not run by chance or run randomly, but by God, and this verse sees Him sitting on the throne.

            Let us take a look at a couple of verses from the book of Hebrews, Heb. 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” and now Heb. 10:12 “but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,” and lastly Heb. 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  As we look at these verses and compare them with our verses in Revelation there is a difference in what Christ is doing, and that difference is that He is not resting, but sitting in a posture to begin to judge, for the judgment of sin was taken care of on the cross, but now the judgment that will soon take place on the earth is being readied. 

            John does not mention who the One sitting on the throne was, but when we look at Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6:1 we will see who this is:  “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”  Let us also look at what is a relatively unknown prophet has to say in 1 Kings 22:19 “Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand on His left.”  Let us also look at Daniel 7:9-10 “"I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.”  This also reminds me of the first three chapters of Ezekiel, but we will only look at Ezekiel 1:26-28 “26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. 27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. 28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”  These visions that were seen by these prophets brought fear into the hearts of some of them, like Isaiah, Daniel, and also Ezekiel, and when John saw the risen glorified Christ in chapter one he too fell down as a dead man, unlike those who claim to have gone to heaven and seen God in our day and age.

            John MacArthur describes what John saw when he wrote “like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance.”  “That description is reminiscent of the flashing light, blazing fire, and vivid colors in Ezekiel’s vision.  Revelation 21:11 describes jasper as ‘crystal-clear’; therefore, it is best to identify this stone as a diamond.  All the shining, flashing facets of the glory of God are compared to a diamond, brilliantly refracting all the colors of the spectrum.  A sardius, from which the city of Sardis got its name, is a fiery, bloodred ruby. It too expresses the shining beauty of God’s glory, and may also symbolize God’s blazing wrath, about to be poured out on the sinful, rebellious world (chapters 6-19).”

            The high priest wore a breastplate which had on it twelve stones which representing the different tribes of Israel.  On that breastplate the first stone which represented Reuben was a sardius, and the last stone was jasper which represented Benjamin the last son.  It may be possible that since these stones represent God’s covenant relationship with Israel.  The judgment that was about to come upon the earth will not negate the covenant that God has with Israel.  We know that because in the 7^th chapter of Revelation we will see 144,000 Jewish evangelists going out into the world to tell the world that salvation comes through what Christ did on the cross and in the tenth chapter we also see the two Jewish witnesses.  Paul writes in Romans 11:26 that “all Israel will be saved,” and this will happen in the tribulation period. 

            MacArthur finishes by writing “John’s vision of God’s throne is not one of peace and comfort.  Its flashing, glorious, splendorous magnificent reveals the terrors of God’s judgment.  Truly, ‘Our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb. 12:29; Deut 4:24).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In my prayers that I pray every day I think about the fear of the Lord and then try and realize how I am to fear the Lord.  Seeing this description of the Lord and the others and knowing the reaction that these different prophets had I truly can fear the Lord.

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

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

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Joseph say was the meaning of the kings dream?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/4/2015 3:28 PM       

 

"The Throne" (Rev. 4"2a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/3/2015 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  The Throne

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 4:2a

            Message of the verse:  “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven.”

            In our first SD on Revelation chapter four we mentioned the outline that we are going to follow as we go through this chapter and all of the elements of this outline had to do with the throne, and today we will look at the throne that John saw when he was in the Spirit and in his vision was taken to heaven where he would see things that he records in this last book of the Bible.  Remember the meanings of the word Revelation, unveiling, “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.”  The Greek word is “apokalupsis,” for our English word Revelation.”

            We also mentioned in our last SD that chapter four and five show us what true worship really is as we see it happening in heaven from the vision that John gives to us.

            As in chapter one we saw that John was in the Spirit, meaning that the Holy Spirit had control of him, which is something that the OT prophets would experience when they received visions from the Lord.  We have seen this happen in the book of Ezekiel which we are also studying.  The first thing he sees in this vision is a throne which is standing in heaven.  This brought amazement to John and that truly is understandable as I am sure all the things he saw in his visions brought amazement to him.  John MacArthur writes on this throne John saw “This was not a piece of furniture, but a symbol of God’s sovereign rule and authority (cf. Pss. 11:4; 103:19; Isa 66:1) located in the temple in heaven (cf. 7:15; 11:19; 14:15; 15:6-8; 16:17).  According to Revelation 21:22 the heavenly temple is not an actual building:  ‘the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb’ are the temple.  The use of the term temple symbolizes God’s presence.  The throne was said to be standing because God’s sovereign rule is fixed, permanent, and unshakable.  A vision of God immovable throne reveals He is in a permanent, unchanging, and complete control of the universe.”  As we think about this in relations to what John would see in his remaining visions this had to have brought comfort to him, and as we look around the world and see things that can cause us to at times fear, we too can be comforted by this truth that God is on the throne and is in complete control of His world.

Let me take the time to look at the verses that MacArthur references in the above quote.  We will begin with Psalm 11:4 “The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”  Psalm 103:19 “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.”  Isaiah 66:1 “Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”  Next we will look at the verses he mentions from the book of Revelation beginning with 7:15 “"For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”  11:19 “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”  14:15 “And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe."”  15:6-8 “6  and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”  16:17 “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done."”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at these verses showing that God is in His temple on His throne which shows that He is in complete control of all that goes on in this world, but also all that is going on in my life I can take time to praise His Holy Name.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Mary” (Acts 12:12).

Today’s Bible question “What city was the capital of Judah, the southern Kingdom?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/3/2015 10:29 AM

" Introduction to Rev. Four" (Rev. 4:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/2/2015 4:30 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Introduction to Rev. Four

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 4:1-3

            Message of the verses:  The first thing that I want to do is to quote a portion from my earlier SD dated 04/09/05.  “Most people that have studied this wonderful book have come to the conclusion that Revelations 1:19 is the outline for this book and it divides the book up into three parts:  “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”  Chapter 4 and verse one seems to be the dividing point for the last part of the outline and it has been subjected that chapter 6 and verse one could also fit into this division, yet it seems to fit into 4:1 better for in this portion of this book it is possible that the rapture is being described in this first verse and thus the things “which will take place after this” seem to begin.  The Church, which is what was being written about in chapters two, and three is not mentioned again, and it could be that the reason that it is not mentioned again is that the “Church Age” is over at this point of the book, for “she” is now in heaven, and the description that is given in chapters four and five tell us what the church will be doing after it has been taken to heaven at the event most scholars call the “rapture.”  Rapture is not found in the Scriptures, yet the idea of it is there.  Rapture is a Latin word that means to “snatch away.”  To snatch away is a good description of what this event does, and this verse in Revelations four also describes this event.  The verse starts out by saying “after these things,” which goes along really well with the “outline verse” in Revelations 1:19.

            “Revelations chapters four and five give a wonderful description of what real worship is all about, and this real worship is going on all of the time in heaven, even at this time.”

            Now there are some who think that John going through an open door into heaven is a picture of the Rapture of the Church as seen in my Spiritual Diary of ten years ago, however after listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on this section he seems to think that this is not a picture of the Rapture, but just John receiving another vision from the Lord.  I am not going to argue one way or the other, but one thing is certain as stated in the quote the church is not mentioned in the book of Revelation again and so I conclude that beginning with chapter four we find the church in heaven.  I do like the quote from above that chapters four and five are a picture of true worship.

            If one looks at a concordance for the word “throne” in chapter four they will find it eleven times, and if one looks for the word “throne” in the entire book of revelation they will find it thirty-five times, so needless to say this word is important in the book of Revelation.  In fact in John MacArthur’s commentary on Revelation he actually breaks up his outline by using the word throne and because we are following his outline we will do the same thing.  He writes at the end of his introductory commentary the following:  “The central theme of John’s vision is the throne of God, mentioned eleven times in this chapter.  All the features of the chapter can be outlined based on how they relate to that throne of divine glory.  After describing the throne, John tells us who is on the throne, what is going on around the throne, what comes from the throne, what stands before the throne, who is in the center and around the throne, and what is directed toward the throne.”  You see here his outline from this quote.

            We see in this chapter John’s vision of heaven, as to whether or not He was actually in heaven is not certain, but we remember Isaiah’s vision of heaven in chapters 5-6 of his book, and Ezekiel saw things that were from heaven in the first three chapters of his book.  Of course Paul tells of his journey to heaven in 2 Corinthians, and we can be assured that Paul was actually in heaven.  Now as for others, who have recently reported that they were in heaven for a while and then came back, well all I can say is that I doubt that it happened and leave it at that.  When Paul was in heaven he could not talk about it, but John, as we will see gives a pretty detailed account of what he saw.  What we see in chapters four and five are John second vision, his second revelation as the first one was in chapter one.

            We first see the words “after these things” MacArthur writes this “relates to John’s personal chronology.  It notes that his second vision followed immediately after John’s vision of the risen, glorified Christ (1:9-20) and the letters to the seven churches (2:1-3:22).  The phrase “after these things is used throughout Revelation to mark the beginning of a new vision (cf. 7:9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1).”  This is seen in Revelation 1:19, which gives us the outline of the book of Revelation.  Now in 4:1 we are looking at this second occurrence of “after these things,” and this is the chronology of the Lord, as its use marks an important transition in the book of Revelation which goes from the end of the church age to the beginning of the third great division of the book which is described in 1:19 as “the things which will take place and this goes all the way from chapter four to the end of the book, chapter 22.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This is exciting to me as from almost the first day after I became a believer I was taught about the Rapture of the church, the end of the church age, and I have looked forward to it since that time.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Babylon” (Revelation 18:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was the name of John Mark’s mother?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/2/2015 5:08 PM

 

 

"Christ’s Counsel to the Laodiceans" (Rev. 3:21-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/1/2015 8:46 PM

My Worship Time                                                       Focus:  Christ’s Counsel to the Laodiceans

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:21-22

            Message of the verses:  “21 ’He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"”

            What a wonderful promise that Christ gives to this church, a church that as far as we can determine has no believers in it.  The promise is to “he who overcomes,” and the word “overcome” has been in each of the letters, speaking of being a true believer in Jesus Christ, so Christ is offering salvation to these unbelievers, something they truly need as do all unsaved people need.  He also offers to them to grant to sit down with Him on His throne, as He “also overcame and sat down with the Father on His throne.”  MacArthur writes “To enjoy fellowship with Christ in the kingdom and throughout eternity is sufficient blessing beyond all comprehension.  But Christ offers more, promising to set believers on the throne He shares with the Father (cf. Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:29-30).  That symbolizes the truth that we will reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; 20:6; cf. 1 Cor. 6:3).”

            The following is a list of the many promises made to those who are called overcomers in the book of Revelation:  1 The privilege of eating from the tree of life (2:7), the crown of life (2:10), protection from the second death (2:11), the hidden manna (2:17), a white stone with a new name written on it (2:17), authority to rule the nations (2:26-27), the morning star (2:28), white garments, symbolizing purity and holiness (3:5), the honor of having Christ confess their names before God the Father and the holy angels in heaven (3:5), to be made a pillar in God’s temple (3:12), and to have written on them the name of God, of the new Jerusalem, and of Christ (3:12).

            In each of the letters we have seen this phrase:  “22 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"”   It is our job as true believers to tell those in the apostate church to come to the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation.

            With this SD we have finished looking at the first three chapters of the book of Revelation and are moving on to the things that shall take place from Rev. 1:19, which gives the outline for this book.  Chapters four and five will get us ready to look at what will happen in chapters 6-19 which will be the end of the tribulation period, and then we will look at the millennial Kingdom where Christ will reign from Jerusalem for those 1000 years and then we will look at the un-creating of planet earth and the New Jerusalem where all those who have overcome will live and serve the Lord for eternity.  I have learned many new things in this study of Revelation 1-3, and pray that the Lord will open my eyes to see new things as we continue to look at the rest of the book.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wish to be open to share the gospel with those who are in apostate churches, praying that the Lord will bring them onto my path.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I continue to desire to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and also desire to better understand the love that Christ has for me and live in that love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Adam” (Genesis 3:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “In Revelation what city is said to have fallen?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/1/2015 9:11 PM

"Christ’s Commands for Laodicea" (Rev. 3:18-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2015 7:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Christ’s Commands for Laodicea

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:18-20

            Message of the verses:  “18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ’Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

            As we have looked at this church over the last few days we have seen that there were no believers in it, and so Christ could have destroyed this church, but that was not what He desired to do at this time so He gives them a threefold appeal which are played on the three features that the city of Laodicea was most noted for, and most proud of, and that was its wealth, its wool industry, and its eye salve.

            He speaks of buying gold refined by fire from Him, and this in no way is speaking of buying one’s salvation.  “5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? 6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away (Isa. 64:5-6).”   Now we will look at Isaiah 55:1 “"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.”  Isaiah writes that you can buy without even having any money to buy with, and this speaks of the free gift of salvation.  So what are they going to offer in exchange for the righteousness of Christ?  They must offer themselves, their wretched and lost condition in exchange for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  This does not seem like a fair exchange, and that would be true, however that is the gift of God because of His great love, mercy, and grace.  So we see when Christ tells them to buy gold that has been refined by fire He is offering them the free gift of Salvation, but they must turn from their sins, repent and accept that free gift from Him.  They said they were rich, but Christ tells them that they were poor.

            Next we see that Christ advises them to buy white garments in order to clothe themselves so that their nakedness would be covered.  They were famous for black wool, but Christ wants them to have white garments which represent the righteousness of the saints.  Now when I say saints I am speaking of all of those who are born-again believers in Jesus Christ, and all will one day be clothed in white garments showing that they are righteous before the Lord.

            Next He offered them eye salve in order to anoint their eyes so that they could see.  They prided themselves on their false righteousness, one like the Pharisees boasted about, that is their good works, but they were blind and could not see that they could not work their way to heaven, but must rely on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

            John MacArthur writes “Some argue that the language of Christ’s direct appeal to the Laodiceans in verse 19 “those whom I love, I reprove and discipline,” indicates that they were believers.  Verse 18 and 20, however, seem better suited to indicate that they were unregenerate, desperately in need of the gold of true spiritual riches, the garments of true righteousness, and the eye salve that brings true spiritual understanding (v. 18).

            “Christ has a unique and special love for His elect, Yet, such passages as Mark 10:21 and John 3:16 reveal that He also loves the unredeemed.  Because the Laodiceans outwardly identified with Christ’s church and His kingdom, they were in the sphere of His concern.  To reprove means to expose and convict.  It is a general term for Christ’s dealings with sinners (cf. John 3:18-20; 16:8; 1 Cor. 14:24; Titus 1:9; Jude 15).  Discipline refers to punishment (cf. Luke 23:16, 22) and is used of God’s convicting of unbelievers (2 Tim. 2:25).  Thus, the terminology of verse 19 does not demand that Christ be referring to believers.  The Lord compassionately, tenderly called those in this unregenerate church to come to saving faith, lest He convict and judge them (cf. Ezek. 18:30-32; 33:11).”

            And now a word on true repentance from C. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound.  It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form.  You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ.”  Christ gave a message to this lost church in the same way He does to all unbelievers, and that is their need to repent of their sins and turn to Him for salvation:  “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’ (Acts 11:18).”

            If you have been a believer for some time you probably have heard that verse 20 is speaking to those who are unbelievers and since we have said that this church was full of unbelievers we can say that Christ is offering salvation to those inside this church.  I have seen pictures of Christ standing at the door knocking and what is unique is that there is no door handle on His side of the door, meaning that the person on the other side of the door is the only one who can open it to receive the salvation He is offering.  So we see Christ offering a personal invitation for salvation to this unbelieving Church the same way He offers salvation to all unbelievers.  The question is will you let Him in?

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at what has been written about repentance I know that as a believer when I sin I am to confess my sin to the Lord and then repent and turn from it. 

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “To put in on a candlestick” (Matthew 5:15).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/28/2015 8:11 AM