Prayer for Vengeance: Fifth Seal PT-1a (Rev. 6:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2015 9:33 AM

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Prayer for Vengeance:  Fifth Seal PT-1a

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 6:9-11

            Message of the verses:  “9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

            I want to continue to look at the introduction to these verses which tell of what the fifth seal is about. 

            Let us look at Isaiah 34:1-3 and verse 8 to see what one of God’s prophets wrote on the subject of God’s vengeance:  “1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. 2 For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. 3  So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood… 8  For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”   Now we look at Isaiah 59:17-18 “17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. 18 According to their deeds, so He will repay, Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; To the coastlands He will make recompense.”

            We have mentioned in our study of Ezekiel when the prophet was speaking of judgment against some of Israel’s enemies that even though the Lord had punished Israel for the many sins she committed it was like a Father disciplining His own children with the purpose of causing them to repent, while the enemies of Israel were destroyed because of the way that they treated Israel, God’s own.  God will always have a remnant of Israel and even though He has punished them in the past both in the time of their great idol worship and also when they rejected their Messiah, He always had a remnant and the prophet Malachi speaks of this in 4:1-2 “1 "For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch." 2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”

            I believe that many of those who we are speaking of in our verses from Revelation who are under the altar may very well be from the nation of Israel, and so it is important for us to look at some of these OT passages that speak not only of God’s judgment on Israel, but also His lovingkindness for Israel.  In the NT the apostle Paul wrote three chapters in the book of Romans about God’s plans for Israel, and he poured out his heart for his nation because of their hard hearts.  I don’t want to get too far off the track, but many people do not believe that God does have and will bring about His vengeance upon those who deserve it, and when we look at the judgments from the book of Revelation we can see that one of the reasons that God brings judgment upon the world is because of the way that they treat the Jews, which is a part of His covenant with His people that goes all the way back to Genesis 12:1-3 ground we have covered before:  “   1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."  We see here that anytime a person does wrong to a Jew because they are a Jew that God will curse them, and we must remember that all of the hatred for the children of Israel is from Satan.  I am not saying that if a child of Abraham does you wrong that you cannot do something about that, but if they are persecuted because of who they are then God will take care of the one or the nation who does this.

            John MacArthur writes “The knowledge that God will one day execute vengeance on those who reject Him does not justify any personal vengeance on the part of believers.  Proverbs 25:21 commands, ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.’  Paul echoed that thought in Romans 12:19-20:  ‘Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.  ‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for I so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’  Neither Jesus (Luke 23:34), Stephen (Acts 7:60), nor Paul (1 Cor. 4:12) sought personal vengeance on their oppressors.  Even God Himself declares, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live’ (Ezek. 33:11), because ‘The Lord…is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance’ (2 Pet. 3:9).

            “The realization that the Day of the Lord is coming in which God will take vengeance on the wicked is a bittersweet one for believers.  On one hand we rejoice, because God’s glory will be put on display, sin will be done away with, the world will be taken back from the usurper, Satan, and God will be vindicated.  But on the other hand, that day will bring about the destruction of the ungodly and their sentencing to eternal punishment.”

            All of this is seen pictured in Revelation 10:8-11 where we read “8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, "Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land." 9 So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he *said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." 10 I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11 And they said to me, "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings."”

            MacArthur writes “John’s initial reaction to the judgment described in the little book was the sweet realization that God will be vindicated and His glory put on display.  But the sobering realization of the horrors that would be inflicted on unbelievers nauseated him.”

            While studying God’s attributes and looking in particular at the long-suffering of God which has to do with God being patient with sinners we know that one day that will come to an end as we are seeing in our study of the book of Revelation, but it is still here now and if anyone reading this does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord there is still time to care for this by acknowledging that you are a sinner, and then also knowing that in and of yourself you can do nothing to care for that.  Then realize that Jesus Christ has cared for that if you will accept that Jesus paid for you sins and then ask Him to come into your heart and forgive your sins.  This will be the very best day of your life.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  More than ever I am thankful for the books that I have read to help me better understand the attributes of God so that I can accept passages like we are looking at in this chapter, and also in this book.

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

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

Today’s Bible question:  “Who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/24/2015 10:17 AM

Prayer for Vengeance PT-1 (Rev. 6:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2015 7:20 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Prayer for Vengeance PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 6:9-11

            Message of the verses:  “9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

            As the fifth seal is opened we do not hear anything from the four living beings, but only see what John had to write and what he writes is that he sees underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain and the reason that they had been slain is for the cause of Christ, and then he goes on to write what these slain believers are asking Christ to do for them and that is what we will be discussing as we look at this fifth seal.  What we are about to look at is not popular with many people, and for that matter not many Christians, but what we will be discussing is the truth and we will show different verses from the Word of God to show this truth.  As the focus shows we are going to be talking about God’s vengeance, and the fact that the prayers of these slain believers are asking for is that God will bring about His vengeance on those who are killing believers on the earth.

            I like the way that John MacArthur begins his commentary on this section where he writes “It has been observed that God created man in His image and man has returned the favor.  People have created God in whatever form pleases them and accommodates their sinful lifestyles.  In the cynical words of British author D. H. Lawrence, ‘God is only a great imaginative experience’ (cited in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Copyright 1993, 1995 by Columbia University Press).  God rebuked such foolish people in Psalm 50:21:  ‘You though that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.’  God is who He has revealed Himself to be in Scripture and not what people imagine Him to be.”  I think that this is a good way to begin our discussion of what we are going to see when this fifth seal is opened by the Lord.  As I listened to the message, or at least part of it this morning by John MacArthur on these verses I learned that he had not totally figured out exactly what to call this fifth seal.  He was going between calling it “Prayer for Vengeance” or calling it just “Vengeance.”  I see in his commentary that he had decided to call it “Prayer for Vengeance:  The Fifth Seal.”

            I have mentioned in many of my Spiritual Diaries that it is very important for believers to learn what the attributes of God are in order to better know who the God that true believers worship is, and what the Bible shows us what He is about.  I don’t think that Scripture tells us all about God, but what it does tell us about God we need to learn so we don’t end up creating Him in our image.  I have mentioned in the past some of the books that I have read over the last several years in order to better see what the attributes of God are according to the Scriptures.  “The Knowledge of the Holy” by A. W. Tozer is a very short book, but well worth ones reading.  “The Attributes of God” by Arthur Pink is another worthwhile read.  “Knowing God” by J. I. Packer is also one worth reading.  Chip Ingram has written a book and also has a study guide out with the book he entitled “God as He Longs for You to Know Him.”  My favorite book that I have read two times is entitled “The Joy of Knowing God,” and it is written by Richard Strauss, as in that book he lists many attributes of God and does a wonderful way of explaining them that makes it easy to understand.  It has been said that Christianity is a relationship and not a religion, and in a relationship one has to know the person who is in that relationship with you.  God knows us better than we know ourselves, and it is up to us and the working of the Holy Spirit to get to know Him.  When we get to know God we will see that there are many Scriptures that show that not only is God love, but that He is a God of vengeance.  However it is okay for God to have vengeance for He is the only one who can do it properly.  Look what Paul wrote “Ro 12:19  Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.”  We cannot handle vengeance, only God can and as in everything He does it perfectly.

            Let us look at some of what are called the imprecatory Psalms and to refresh your memory about these I want to go back to when I was writing my Spiritual Diaries on the Psalms and at the time I spoke of the different kind of Psalms that we find in the Word of God.  We will be looking at a quote from Dec. 20, 2011 and in that SD I wrote about what I learned from the fifth Psalm which is the first imprecatory Psalm and we will look at what Warren Wiersbe wrote about the imprecatory Psalms:  “:  “Because of the prayer in verse 10, Psalm 6 is classified as one of the ‘imprecatory psalms’ (see 12, 35, 37, 58, 59, 69, 79, 83, 109, 139, and 140).  In these psalms, the writers seen to describe a God of wrath who can hardly wait to destroy sinners.  The writers also seem to picture themselves as people seeking terrible revenge against these enemies.  But several facts must be considered before we write off the psalmist as pagan brutes who cannot forgive, or God as a ‘dirty bully.’  To begin with, the enemies described are rebels against the Lord (5:10), and in some instances, against the Lord’s anointed king.  The Jews were a covenant people whom God promised to protect as long as they obeyed Him (Lev. 26; Deut. 27-29).  In His covenant with Abraham, God promised to bless those who blessed Israel and to curse those who cursed them (Gen. 12:1-3).  When the Jews asked God to deal justly with enemies, they were only asking Him to fulfill His covenant promises, He must deal with sin.  Ever since the fall of man in Genesis 3, there has been a battle going on in the world between truth and lies, justice and injustice, and right and wrong; and we cannot be neutral in this battle.  ‘If the Jews cursed more bitterly the Pagans,’ wrote C. S. Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms, ‘this was, I think, at least in part because they took right and wrong more seriously.  For if we look at their railings we find they are usually angry and not simply because these things have done to them but because these things are manifestly wrong, are hateful to God as well as to the victim’ (P.30).

            “Those who have difficulty accepting the ‘imprecations’ in The Psalms must also deal with them in Jeremiah (11:18ff; 15:15;17:18; 18:19ff; 20:11ff) and in the preaching of John the Baptist (Matt. 3) and Jesus (Matt. 23), as well as in the requests of the martyrs in heaven (Rev. 6:9-11). However, no one will deny that these servants of God were filled with the Spirit and wanted the Lord’s will to be accomplished.  Perhaps our problem today is what C. S. Lewis pointed out:  we don’t hate sin enough to get upset at the wickedness and godlessness around us.  Bombarded as we are by so much media evil and violence, we’ve gotten accustomed to the darkness.”

            We will look some more at this subject before we delve into these verses in an outline form and perhaps finish the introduction in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to agree with the statement in my above quote:  “we don’t hate sin enough to get upset at the wickedness and godlessness around us.  Bombarded as we are by so much media evil and violence, we’ve gotten accustomed to the darkness.”

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In Sodom” (Genesis 14:12).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was Jacob’s youngest son?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/23/2015 9:24 PM

  

"The Fourth Seal: Death" (Rev. 6:7-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2015 10:25 PM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  The Fourth Seal:  Death

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Revelation 6:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." 8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

            Let us begin with some of the things that I wrote on the 5^th of May, 2005 when I also looked at these two verses.  “This is the forth horse and rider that have been identified and it seems interesting that the four living beings have been the ones to tell these riders to come and to do what they are told to do upon the earth.

            “Death and Hades are spoken of in verse 8 and they are two enemies of mankind and it is Jesus Christ who had come to conquer both of these enemies, yet there are many who do not believe this and have rejected it forever and the result of this will be when they die they will not be in the presence of the Lord.  Revelations 1:18 shows that Jesus Christ has the keys to both death and Hades:  “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”  (Rev. 1:17b-18).  In the last part of this book both will be cast into hell.  Rev. 20:14 “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”

            “The last part of verse eight tells how death and Hades will accomplish their task and that is by killing one-fourth of the population upon the earth with the sword and with famine and pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

            As I mentioned it has been the four living beings who have called the riders of the horses, and also the horses, and this is the fourth living being that has done this.  However there are no more living beings to call out the orders so that is the last we will see them do this.  Then next seal that is broken we will see the souls of those who had died for the cause of Christ over the first part of the Tribulation Period.

            Let us talk about the color of the horse as it is an unusual color, and the word “ashen” is only used a few times in the New Testament, in Rev. 8:7; 9:4 and also in Mark 6:39.  John MacArthur writes that the Greek word for this color is “Chloros,” and we get the English word ashen, chlorine and also chlorophyll from this word.  It is a sickly pale green color and it depicts death. 

            What I am about to write comes from a while back, and it comes from a former Pastor of mine and what he said helps to explain what the numbers of those who die are according to the time when he said it.  He use to hold up his hand and said that there are now at this time five billion people in the world and suppose one billion go in the Rapture of the Church, and then he would put one finger down, and that leaves four billion people and on fourth of them die in this judgment that we are looking at so that leaves three billion people and then in another judgment we see that one third of the earth’s population dies, and this leaves two billion people left.  How they die is a part of the ravages of war, but this is still a judgment from God.  What about the wild beasts who kill some of the population?  John MacArthur has said that the possibility of rats could be how this is done, for rats eat food supplies and they also carry diseases that have killed millions of people in the past.  So we see in this judgment that one fourth of the population of the world dies and mankind has the war tools to accomplish this without the aid of God using some kind of supernatural judgment, but He may do that too.  As we move along in our study of Revelation we will see the following verse:  “Re 11:18 Re 11:18  "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."”

            John MacArthur finishes up his commentary on what we have seen in these first four seal judgments with the following words:  “The first four seals clearly describe awe-inspiring, frightening judgments without parallel in human history.  There is nothing that has happened since John had this vision that could be the fulfillment of these judgments.  These doomsday prophecies cannot be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (which was before John hand these visions, since he wrote Revelation about AD 96) or any other event since that one.  Nothing this devastating has happened, yet these first four seal judgments are just the beginning of the horrific, worldwide woes that the sinful, rebellious world will experience.  Far worse is still to come in the remainder of the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls.  At that time the world of sinners will realize that ‘it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Heb. 10:31).  There will be no escape for impenitent unbelievers from the terrors of the Tribulation, or from the infinitely worse terrors of hell.  In the words of the writer of Hebrews, ‘How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?’ (Heb. 2:3).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Not just for today, but is important for me to get the message of the Gospel out to those whom the Lord brings into my path, and it is also important for me to tell others what is going to happen in the future as seen in the book of Revelation.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Leper” (Mark 1:40).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Lot live?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/22/2015 11:02 PM 

The Third Seal: Famine (Rev. 6:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/21/2015 8:10 PM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  The Third Seal:  Famine

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Revelation 6:5-6

            Message of the verses:  “5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine."”

            What is it that we associate the word black with famine?  I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that one of the best ways to study the book of Revelation is to use a concordance in order to look of different words and how they are used elsewhere in the Bible.  “Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine (Lam. 5:10 KJV).”  Whenever there is a war going on famine is sure to follow because of the cost of the war that is being fought and also because very little crops will be growing during a war.  Food supplies can be destroyed by those fighting in the war especially with the type of equipment that is available for war efforts today.  Let us now look at Matthew 24:7 to see that Jesus predicted the same thing that is found in Revelation 6:5-6:  “"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”  As we look throughout the Old Testament and even into the New Testament we will see that God used famine as a means of judgment, but there has never been a famine like the one that this black horse and rider will bring about during the tribulation period.

            While studying the book of Revelation in the past my thoughts were different a bit when I looked at the part in verse five where John wrote about a pair of scales and then wrote about a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, which is probably spoken of by God since John hears the voice coming from the center of the twenty-four elders.  My thoughts were that since the average wage earner earned a denarius in a day he would have to work all day in order to get enough food to sustain himself, but when I read in John MacArthur’s commentary about this subject he believes that this is talking about food rationing something that went on during the depression in the 1930’s and also after WWII in places like Europe and Japan.  This may be the right way to understand this because I don’t suppose that there will be many people holding down a job during this period of future history.  However those who do have work will have to spend the day working for enough food to live on.  Barley is a less superior grain than wheat.

            MacArthur writes “In light of those extreme conditions, God cautions people not to damage (waste) the oil and the wine, used in the preparation and cooking of food, as well as the purification of water, will need to be carefully protected.

            “A deceptive peace followed by worldwide wars and a resultant devastating global famine will combine to escalate the universal chaos.  All this will take place during the first half of the Tribulation, while the worse will be yet to come.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Many people will find it hard to believe that God would cause something like this to happen, but with sin comes judgment, and with more sin comes more judgment.  However with repentance comes forgiveness and many people will turn to the Lord during these difficult days of the Tribulation period.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him.” 

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean?’”

Answer in our next SD.

3/21/2015 8:41 PM

"The Second Seal: War" (Revelation 6:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/20/2015 10:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  The Second Seal: War

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Revelation 6:3-4

            Message of the verses:  “3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”

            The false peace that we looked at in yesterday’s SD is now taken away by the second rider who is on the red horse.  Red would mean bloodshed.  I am watching a drama that was made for TV back in the 1980’s entitled “The Winds of War.”  The book by the same title was written by a Jewish man named Herman Wouk, and the story centers around a military family who was involved with many world leaders before the United States got into the war.  The reason that I have watched this on different occasions is because it shows how World War II begins, and it actually began with the promise with peace by Adolf Hitler who as John writes in his first letter that there are many antichrists, but then there will come The Antichrist, of which Hitler was not him.  In Hal Lindsey’s book “The Late Great Planet Earth,” he entitles the chapter on the Antichrist “The Future Fuehrer,” showing that the Antichrist will be like Hitler was only much worse.  There has been much written about how Hitler was probably possessed with a demon, and how he loved being involved with the occult, and this again is similar to what will happen to the Antichrist.

            Now as far as the timing of when this second seal will be broken in relationship with the seven year period of the tribulation it is believed that this will happen in the first three and a half years of it.  We can be sure that this is a judgment on those who are on planet earth even though there are many at this point who have become believers. 

            I have highlighted “it was granted to take peace from the earth,” that is the one who rides on this horse.  God was the One who granted this to happen.  God is in complete control of this happening unlike what some people believe.  We have just seen God on the throne in chapters 4-5 and again this scroll is the title deed to the universe, and when it is completed Christ will rule over the universe as Satan and the Antichrist, and also the false prophet will be in the lake of fire along with all those who are alive at the end of the tribulation period who were not believers.  As I just said this is not the wrath of Satan or men, but the wrath of God that causes these judgments to happen.  The following is what Jesus, while on earth said about this time:  “6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.” 

            John MacArthur writes “John also noted that ‘a great sword was given to’ the rider.  Machaira (sword) refers to the short, stabbing sword a Roman soldiers carried into battle.  It was a weapon used by assassins.  The vision depicts a ‘great’ sword to describe the extent of the war.  Antichrist’s false peace, then, will dissolve in a maelstrom of battle, assassinations, rebellion, revolt, and massacre. Just as Hitler desired peace and then turned to war so the Antichrist will do the same.  We will see that Antichrist will be as skillful at war as he was in promoting the false peace.  Let us look at Daniel 8:24 “"His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.”

            John MacArthur quotes Daniel 11:36-45 in reference to the Antichrist setting up the abomination of desolation, and he writes this “will touch off a massive conflict, described in detail in Daniel 11:36-45.”

            36  "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. 38 “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. 39 “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price. 40 “At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. 41 “He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. 42 “Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43  "But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. 44 “But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. 45 “He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.”

            MacArthur writes “As the head of a Western confederacy, Antichrist, as noted above, will initially portray himself as a champion of peace.  He will even appear to do what no one has been able to do, bring peace to the troubled Middle East.  He will make a treaty with Israel, posing as their protector and defender.  But all too soon his true colors will show, and his desire for dominance will provoke rebellion.  Antichrist’s attempts to crush his enemies and rule them with an iron hand will touch off wars that will last through the remainder of the Tribulation.  Finally, when earth’s true King, the Lord Jesus Christ, returns, Antichrist will be case into the lake of fire forever (20:10).”

            Probably for three and a half plus years the earth will be at war even to the point of destroying the earth, but Christ said in Mt 24:22 “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I keep going over something that is repeated in the book of Ezekiel many times that will be true during the end of the Tribulation “then they will know that I am the LORD.’"”  Those like John Kerry who are trying to destroy Israel will one day know the truth of that statement in Ezekiel.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He was forbidden by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 16:6).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the promise of Christ’s coming in Revelation 1:7?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/20/2015 11:51 AM

The First Seal: False Peace (Rev. 6:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/19/2015 10:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                   Focus:  The First Seal:  False Peace

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 6:1-2

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

            I want to begin with some of the things that I wrote about this passage on May 4, 2005, and one reason that I want to do this is because there have been some changes in my thinking a bit which I will explain after I make this quote:  “In this chapter Jesus Christ will begin to open the scroll that He has in His hand, and this scroll describes the wrath of God and when the things in this scroll are worked out on the earth the wrath of Almighty God will be complete.  There are seven seals on the scroll and after the first seal is broken the four living beings said with a loud voice, “Come.”  I think this means that this part of the judgment of God should come, and this first seal is a description of the Antichrist who is seen on a white horse and he has a bow in his hand, but there are no arrows for the bow so it seems he does his conquering through means of peace.  Some think the rider on the horse is Jesus Christ, but there are reasons as to why this is not so, and one of them is that as you compare the description of Jesus Christ in Revelations 19, where the rider on that white horse is identified as Jesus Christ, and the crown on the Lord’s head is a different Greek word for crown.

            “There are many verses in the Scriptures that speak of Antichrist and one of them is in Daniel’s book where he is identified as a prince.  (Daniel 9:26-27)  This Antichrist will come upon the scene and will become popular all over the world in a very short time and the Jews will think of him as their protector, but in fact he will be their persecutor in a very short time.  He will sign a peace treaty to protect Israel for seven years, and this will be the beginning of the period in the Bible know as the “Tribulation.”  Jesus Christ, while He was upon the earth spoke of these events in what is called the Olivet Discourse, which is found in Matthew 24, and many of the events in this run parallel with the events in Revelations.  Once such passage is from the 5^th verse in Matthew 24, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. “  I hope to look at more of these parallels in some of the proceeding verses.”

            Some of the things that I have quoted in my earlier SD on these verses I have already written about in earlier SD’s from this section, but the thing that perhaps is a bit different here is that I have always thought that the rider on this white horse is none other than the antichrist.  As I was listening to John MacArthur’s message on this section he mentioned that he feels that this white horse represents peace, and also mentions that the antichrist will be the one to offer this false peace which many will believe.  It will be a trap set by Satan and many around the world will fall into it. 

            Last Friday my wife and I attended a Bible Study that we have gone to in the past and we begin to look at the book of Zechariah, studying the first two chapters.  Now in chapter one beginning with verse seven we see a vision that Zechariah saw and in the vision he saw four horses of different colors, and there were riders on these horses.  The next day we were discussing this and so I went to the message that John MacArthur has on this section of Zechariah and as in the message in Revelation he says that the horses mean different things.  I did not agree with that at first but as I began to think about it this seemed to me that it is not the rider of the horses in these two books that are so much important but what the horse represents is important.  As I stated I always thought that the white horse in Revelation was the antichrist, but when you look at the rest of the colored horses in Revelation it is the horse that represents what is going to happen.  My conclusion is that the white horse represents peace, false peace, but it is the antichrist who will bring about this false peace when he signs a treaty with the nation of Israel for seven years.  Think about how much this would affect the world today if the enemies of Israel would stop wanting to destroy Israel, for what is going on right now in the Middle East is news around the world.  Israel the size of New Jersey seems always to be in the news.  Even today I see that the United Sates is in favor of allowing a Palestine State near Israel. I guess our leaders have forgotten about 911 and who was behind it.

            As we begin to look at verse one we see that the Lamb breaks the first seal and before this scroll is unrolled many people on planet earth will have died, as mentioned only 25% of people will be alive at the end of the tribulation period who were alive at the beginning.  One of the four living creatures says come and in response to that a white horse appears, and as I have stated it is a sign of peace. 

            John MacArthur writes of this white horse:  “Others identify the rider as Antichrist.  But since the other three riders represent not individual persons but impersonal forces (war, famine, and death), it is bet to view the first one as a force as well. That force is best defined as a worldwide peace, shattered during the second seal by the second rider; 6:4).  However Antichrist, as will be seen, will play a leading role in promoting this worldwide obsession with seeking peace.”

            What we can see is that the tribulation period, the last week in Daniel’s 490 years prophesied in Daniel nine, will begin with peace and people will think that they will never see any war again.  Wrong! 

            Perhaps this would be a good time to talk about Muslim eschatology, for they do have their own version of what will happen in the end times.  In fact the political situation in Iran is based on their eschatology.  Reading Joel Rosenberg’s novels he brings this point up, in fact one of the titles of his books is “The Twelfth Iman,” and it is about a person who Muslims believe will come again to earth in the last days, but the earth must be in chaos before he returns.  Interestingly this person identified as the twelfth Iman is similarly identified as none other than the antichrist in the Bible. They seem to be looking for the antichrist while we believers are looking for the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            John MacArthur writes of this rider:  “That the rider had a bow but no arrows, and that he was honored with a crown that was freely given to him, reveals that his conquering will involve bloodless victories.  His crown (stephanos) is a winner’ crown.  He is no real king and has no real monarch’s crown (diadema), but has won a crown from the world for his triumphant achievements leading to world peace.  He will not conquer by military force, but by cunning and deceit (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).  His conquest will be a ‘cold war’ victory, a peace won by agreement, not conflict (Dan. 9:24-27).  Even as the final doom of the world approaches, Antichrist will promise golden age of peace and prosperity.  In gratitude, the world will honor him and elevate him to the position of supreme leadership.  But both the accolades and the peace will be short-lived.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jesus said the following in Mt 24:24  "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  I am thankful that even today when all sorts of bad things are going on in our government that I have the Bible to weigh them against these terrible things.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “You shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:17).

Today’s Bible question:  “Why did not Paul preach in Asia on his second missionary journey?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/19/2015 11:21 AM          

"More Introduction to Rev. 6"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/18/2015 7:59 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  More Introduction to Rev. 6

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 6:1-8

            Message of the verses:  It seems to me that even though we have already written two introductions to chapter six that a third is necessary to set the stage for what will happen in this very important chapter from the book of Revelation.

            The world is rapidly heading for a climax that has been written in the pages of Scripture, both the Old Testament and also in the New Testament.  When one reads the Gospels they will find what Bible students have called the Olivet Discourse, and this can be found in Matthew chapter 24, Mark chapter 13, and Luke chapter 21.  We will be looking mostly at the 24^th chapter of Matthew in today’s SD and compare it with what is going on in this 6^th chapter of Revelation.  As we look briefly at these passages, along with some found in the OT we can see that the Lord surely has a plan for how this world will end as far as how we know it today.  We have touched upon the different roles that Christ has had throughout history remembering His role as the One who has provided redemption on the cross and now He is the One who intercedes for His children in heaven, but as we look at chapter six of Revelation we see that when Christ opens the first seal of the scroll which is the title deed to the universe, something that He took part in creating, that His role becomes judge and when this seven year tribulation period ends He will come back to earth to separate the sheep from the goats, cast the goats into the lake of fire along with the devil and the antichrist and the false prophet.  After that He will return the earth into something like it was when He created it and then begin His rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords from His rightful throne in Jerusalem.  This sixth chapter of Revelation is the turning point in the book of Revelation as the judgment begins.

            John MacArthur writes “The Bible teaches that the world is headed inexorably not toward peace and unity, but toward a final, cataclysmic war, the battle of Armageddon (16:14-16).  Until that climactic holocaust, things will continue to deteriorate as the world falls deeper and deeper into chaos, confusion, and sin.  As the end approaches, wars will increase, crime will escalate, there will be economic upheavals, and unprecedented natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, famines, and disease (cf. Matt. 24:6-8).  All those calamities will mark the outpouring of God’s wrath on the fallen, rebellious world.”

            Let’s look at a couple of OT Scriptures to see what has been said about all this many years ago:  “Jeremiah 30:7 “’Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.”  The following is a quote from my Spiritual Diary dated June 24, 2014 “We can see much trouble that will come about for Israel as described in verses 4-6, however in verse seven we read that the whole world will experience trouble “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”  This is what Bible scholars call the second half of the tribulation period which will last for three and a half years.  In verse eight we see that God will remove the yoke from Israel’s neck “8 ’It shall come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ’that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.”  He uses the term “that day” a term that Warren Wiersbe has written an endnote which I will quote here:  “Isaiah used the phrase ‘in that day’ at least forty-four times by Jeremiah only seven (4:9; 20:8; 39:16-17; 49:22, 26; 50:30).  In chapters 12-14 of Zechariah ‘in that day’ is used nineteen ties with reference to end-time events relating to the restoration of Israel and the return of the Lord.”  With this endnote we cans better understand the significance and importance of those three words.  We can look at our Lord’s words in the 24^th chapter of Matthew in what is known as His Olivet Discourse, the following which also speaks of not only “that day” but also “Jacob’s trouble.”  “21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ’Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ’There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 “Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 “So if they say to you, ’Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ’Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31  "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

            Now let’s look at what Isaiah 34:1-4 have to say:  “1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. 2 For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. 3 So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. 4 And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree.”  Again notice all the “and” that are seen in this section. 

            Now as we go through the first four “seal judgments” we will look at them both through was is seen in Revelation six and also Matthew chapter twenty-four.  Chapter twenty-four of Matthew, as mentioned is what is called the “Olivet Discourse” was spoken by Jesus during the last week of His life on planet earth.  His discourse is an answer to a question that was asked by His disciples.  They were looking at the beautiful temple, and history tells us that this temple was very beautiful especially when the sun rose on it.  Jesus told His disciples that very soon this temple would be torn down and totally destroyed.  To that His disciples ask him:  “3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"”  I would think that His disciples thought that this even was going to happen very soon as they still did not realize the reason that Christ came the first time, thinking He would establish His kingdom at that time.  Not the case as we can see it still has not happened, but we know for sure that it will happen and as we begin to look at these first four seal judgments in our next few Spiritual Diaries we will begin to see how all of this will work out. 

            One more thing I want to remind you of and that is the scroll and what it looked like, and this is probably a review, but necessary.  We mentioned that the scroll is the title deed of the universe, and only Christ had the right to open it.  Scrolls back in John’s day were both written on the outside and the inside and were to be opened after certain events happened, like someone’s death as the scroll would then tell what was needed to do.  When we look on the inside of this scroll all we see is what Christ will do to take back control of the universe, and what that is will be a series of judgments as already mentioned.  This scroll is surely different from any other scroll that has been written.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at all of the chaos that is going on in our world today I am thankful that Jesus Christ is on His throne in heaven.

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

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

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the ninth commandant?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/18/2015 8:47 AM