The Unfolding of the Vision PT-1 (Rev. 1:12-13a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/11/2015 8:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Unfolding of the Vision PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Revelation 1:12-13a

            Message of the verses:  As we begin to unfold this vision we will be following the outline that is in the commentary that John MacArthur has written on Revelation and before we jump into what this vision means I want to quote his introductory comments on this vision found in Revelation 1:12-16, 20.  He writes “Having described the circumstances in which he received it, John then related the vision itself.  The revealing and richly instructive look at the present work of the glorified Son of God discloses seven aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ’s constant ministry to His church:  He empowers, intercedes for, purifies, speaks authoritatively to, controls, protects, and reflects His glory through His church.” 

            Christ Empowers His Church (Revelation 1:12-13a; 20b):  “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me.  And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man…the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

            I have mentioned that right after I was born-again in January of 1974 that I was extremely interested in prophecy, mostly how the world would end and so only days after I was saved I read through the book of Revelation, and as you can imagine I did not understand a lot about what I was reading, but one thing happened that has become a wonderful habit to me and that is I still read God’s Word each day, and I love reading from the book of Revelation.  I have probably read or listened to the book of Revelation more than any other book in the Bible and when you do that you kind of get meanings of certain passages that you are reading, you fix meanings to them and that is the case of some of these verses that we are looking at today.  For instance I thought that the golden lampstands were like the one that were used in the tabernacle or the temple, but John MacArthur says that these were the kind of lamps that were used to light up a room, but these were made of gold, the most precious metal on earth.  We know that the church is suppose to be the light of the world and we only use lamps or in our case lights to light up a room when it is dark which symbolizes that the world is a very dark place and that the church is to light it up so that they can see.  Paul writes in Philippians 2:15 “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.”  The lampstands were the first thing that John saw when he turned around facing the voice that he had heard. 

            MacArthur writes “The church is to God the most beautiful and valuable entity on earth—so valuable that Jesus was willing to purchase it with His own blood (Acts 20:28).  Seven is the number of completeness (cf. Ex. 25:31-40; Zech. 4:2); thus, the seven churches symbolize the churches in general.  These were actual churches in real places, but are symbolic of the kinds of churches that exist through all of church history.”  Perhaps this is a good time to talk about something that I have learned many years ago about these seven churches and that is that there are some who believe that these churches are prophetically in order of the dominant church throughout church history.  For instance those who believe this believe that the dominant church in the time we are now living in is the church at Laodicea, but they are careful to say that there are all of the types of the churches we see here in parts of the world today, but the dominant one today would be the last one, Laodicea.  I am not sure if I go along with this or not, but just though that this would be a good time to mention it.

            Next we look at the section that reads “In the middle of the lampstands” John “saw one like a son of man.”  First we will look at Daniel 7:13 “"I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.”  This title is used some 90 times in the book of Ezekiel, and also here in Daniel and Jesus used this to speak of Himself on many occasions too so we know that this is a Messianic title.  We see the Lord Jesus in His glorified state moving among the churches and this is something that He promised He would do.  Matthew 28:20 tells us “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Let us look at Matthew 18:20 “"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."” This statement comes at the end of a section where we see how church discipline is to be used and so this tells us that Christ is with His church in the difficult times when there is sin in the church.  Next we look at John 14:18 and 23 “"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  “"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”  Next Hebrews 13:5b says “"I will never leave you nor forsake you."” 

            Let us end with another quote from John MacArthur “Christians do not worship a well-meaning martyr, a dead heroic religious leader.  The living Christ indwells His church to lead and to empower it.  Believers personally and collectively have the inestimable privilege of drawing on that power through continual communion with Him.  Paul wrote of the Lord’s Supper, ‘Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?  Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?’ (1 Cor. 10:16).  The presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in His church empowers it, enabling believers to say triumphantly with the apostle Paul, ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me’ (Phil. 4:13).”  This is truly a new and wonderful way for me to look at these verses in the book of Revelation.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to remember and live like the Lord Jesus Christ is walking among His church, and He is there to empower it, and continue to pray that He will empower it as He has promised us. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, mind, and strength, and to believe and live like He loves me.

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Judah” (2 Kings 16:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “What Old Testament saint married his father’s sister?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/11/2015 9:35 AM

"The Setting of John’s Vision" (Rev. 1:9-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/10/2015 11:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  The Setting of John’s Vision

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 1:9-11

            Message of the verses:  I think that I mentioned that there are a total of 404 verses in the entire book of Revelation, and we are not on the tenth day looking at the marvelous book and hopefully we will finish the first eleven verses of chapter one.  It is very important to understand this first chapter so that we can then build upon what we have learned from it as we progress through the book.  Now the rest of this chapter verses 9-20 speak of the vision that John has, and this vision really begins the book as the first part was John’s introduction to this book.  John MacArthur entitles his chapter on these verses “The Vision of the Glorified Son,” and I am hoping that we will be able to finish these twelve verses by the end of next week, as there are many important things in them that we must learn before we proceed into chapters 2-3 which speak of the seven churches that this book originally went to.

            Before we begin looking at these verses let’s take a brief look at the history of the Church up until the time when John received this vision so that we can set up why it was so important that he got this vision at the time that he got it.  In the 21^st chapter of John which takes place after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but before He ascended into heaven we have a scene that takes place at the Sea of Galilee where we see several of our Lord’s disciples fishing all night but catching nothing.  They see a “man” on the beach who asks them if they had caught anything which they reply no, so He tells them to fish on the other side of the boat to which they caught so many fish that their boat began to sink.  John tells Peter it is the Lord and so Peter jumps in the water to talk to Jesus, which was one of the purposes of this visit to them.  We see in this section that Jesus restores Peter from the sin of denying Jesus three times and then He tells Peter how his death will glorify Him to which Peter asks Jesus how John would die.  Jesus in essences tells him that was none of his business and if He wanted John to live until He returned that was up to Him.  Now why do I bring this up?  Several reasons, first of all when we look at the history of the church from the time it began in Acts chapter two up until around 64-65 AD we see that both Paul and Peter were martyred for the cause of Christ, but John was still alive, just as Jesus had said, and we can believe that the reason John was still alive was to receive the vision that we are studying, the book of Revelation. 

            When the church began most people thought it was a sect of Judaism, but after the Jews began to persecute the church that theory went out the window.  Most of the people in the Roman Empire worshiped idols, and there came a point when all people were to offer sacrifices to the emperors of the Roman Empire, something that the Christians could not do, and so many were killed.  Nero blamed the church for the fire that burned in Rome on July 19^th AD 64 and so the tribulation of the believers began from the Romans.  The next emperor who caused so much trouble for the church was Domitian and this brings us to the time when John’s tribulation for the cause of Christ comes along.  We will see more of this when we begin to look at the verses.  God is never in a hurry, but God is never late is a saying that is true and you can look at the life of Jesus while on earth to see that that statement is correct.  The church needed to be lifted up by the Lord at this time in its history and that is one of the reasons for the timing of this book that comes from a vision given to John, as John did as he was told and sent it to the seven churches and thus it spread further after they got this book until we who own a Bible have a copy of it too.

            I used a quote from a book that I am reading, written by Warren Wiersbe in our last SD, and I want to use that book to give another quote today.  One may wonder what those who are not true believers many times do not like those who are and as we have taken a very brief look at the persecution of the church in the early part of it today this question is worth asking and hopefully this quote I give will help us understand it.  “Satan is ‘the ruler of this world,’ and you and I are rebellious aliens living in his territory.  Because we are citizens of heaven, we obey heaven’s laws and submit to heaven’s Lord.  Satan wants us to worship and serve him; he wants our will submitted to his will.”  The title of the book from where this quote came from is “The Strategy of Satan” and the chapter it is quoted from is about the will of the believer. 

            As we look at these verses we are going to see the humility of John and this got me to thinking about humility, something that, at times, is difficult for us as believers to have because we have been given so much from our Lord.  Our example is that of Jesus Christ and the text that shows this greatly is Philippians 2:5-8 “5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  There is our example to follow, so let us think about this for a moment as we look back at the quote from Warren Wiersbe.  We, those who are true believers, were once in the same place as unbelievers, we were ruled by the ruler of this world system, that is Satan, but then one day the Holy Spirit of God gave us an offer we could not refuse and we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and our Lord and we were changed.  This was a free gift to us and Paul writes all things in 2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  This was a free gift from the Lord, something we could never earn if we worked for it for a million years.  What do we as believers have to be proud about as if we did something to receive eternal life on our own?  “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  This comes from Ephesians 2:8-9.  When we look at the life of the apostle John we see that in his gospel he did not even use his name one time, and only in one of the letters he wrote and this shows us a picture of his humility.  Now in the book of Revelation we do see his name and that is probably due to the fact that he could not figure out why he was so blessed to see what he was seeing as we see “I, John” in many of the places we see his name mentioned, not all, but many.

            The following is a quote from the end of John MacArthur’s introduction to the chapter in his commentary that verses 9-20 come from:  “the vision of Jesus Christ that begins the book does not describe Jesus in His future glory, but depicts Him in the present as the glorified Lord of the church.  In spite of all the disappointments, the Lord had not abandoned His church or His promises.  This powerful vision of Christ’s present ministry to them must have provided great hope and comfort to the wondering and suffering churches to whom John wrote.  Verses 9-20 provide the setting for the vision, unfold the vision itself, and relate its effects.”  I find the highlighted portion of this quote very interesting.

            This was the introduction and now we will look at the verses.

            “9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11  saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

            Part of John’s humility comes up as we look at “your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus,” after all John was one of the three that were in the inner circle of Jesus’ ministry while on earth.  Peter says something similar “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:” And when we look at Jude and also James who were the half brothers of Jesus we don’t see them bragging about this at all.  We see from these verses that John suffered just like the rest of those who he is writing to at this time, and this is the reason that we find John on the island of Patmos, a rock small island “located some forty miles offshore from Miletus (a city in Asia Minor about thirty miles south of Ephesus; cf. Acts 20:15-17).”  There was a prison there and John was there because he was a criminal because of his belief in Jesus Christ which is what the text tells us. 

            Now we look at the statement “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” and perhaps this becomes a mystery to us.  John MacArthur writes “his experience transcended the bounds of normal human apprehension.  Under the Holy Spirit’s control, John was transported to a plane of experience and perception beyond that of the human senses.  In that state, God supernaturally revealed things to him.”  I am studying the book of Ezekiel along with studying Revelation and in the first and third chapters of Ezekiel we see that this same thing happened to Ezekiel.  Daniel also had this happen to him. 

            Now some believe that the word’s Lord ’s Day means the day of the Lord, but this is not true because of the words that are in the original Greek.  We have looked at that phrase “day of the Lord when we were studying 2 Thessalonians and found out that the ultimate meaning of that means what we will be looking at as we continue on in the book of Revelation, especially the parts that describe the last three and a half years of the tribulation and also the last battle, for this will be the time when the wrath of the Lord will come upon those who reject His offer of salvation and continue to sin.  The phrase “Lord’s day” means Sunday, for that is the day that the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.

            Now when we continue to look at verse ten we see that John heard a voice and he describes it as being loud and like a trumpet.  Let us look at Ezekiel 3:12 “Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, "Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His place."”  The voice that John heard was the same voice that Ezekiel heard, that of the Lord Jesus Christ.  MacArthur writes “Throughout the book of Revelation, a loud voice or sound indicates the solemnity of what is about to be revealed (cf. 5:2, 12; 6:10; 7:2, 10-8:13; 10:3; 11:12, 15; 12:10; 14:2, 15, 18; 16:1, 17; 19:1, 17; 21:3).”  Similar was what happened when the Lord gave the Law as described in 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.”

            This voice of whom we have already identified as the voice of Jesus Christ told John to write in a book “what you see.”  MacArthur writes “This is the first of twelve commands in the book of Revelation for John to write what he say (cf. v 19; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14; 14:13; 19:9; 21:5); on one other occasion he was forbidden to write (10:4).”

            Next we see to who John is to send this letter to and then he gives the names of the churches.  One more quote from MacArthur and we will be done with the part of the SD.  These seven churches were chosen because they were located in key cities of the seven postal districts into which Asia was divided.  They were thus the central points for disseminating information.

            “The seven cities appear in the order that a messenger, traveling on the great circular road that linked them would visit them.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I guess getting your toes stepped on is a good thing when you are reading the Word of God, and the little lesson on humility was important for me to listen to and to write.

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

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Joseph” (Genesis 37:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “Of what country was Jotham king?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/10/2015 1:08 PM

              

The Certainty of the Second Coming (Revelation 1:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/9/2015 11:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  The Certainty of the Second Coming

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Revelation 1:8

            Message of the verses:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Revelation 1:8)

            God is putting His approval of all of what we saw and learned from verse seven in this eighth verse.  He begins by saying that He is the Alpha and the Omega, and these are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Now what does that actually mean?  John MacArthur writes “All knowledge is conveyed through the letters of the alphabet; thus God’s designation of Himself as the Alpha and the Omega affirms that He has all knowledge.  He knows, therefore, the certainty of this promise.”

            As we look at the next statement “who is and who was and who is to come” we see that God is eternal, and His eternal presence is not confined by time or space.  Why is that true?  Well God created time and space, thus He is in control of it.  God knows all about the future and He knows that His Son will return to planet earth exactly when He determined it to happen. 

            Lastly we look at the words “the Almighty.”  This refers to the fact that God is all powerful, as one of His attributes is being omnipotent.  This is why I continue to stress that all believers study the attributes of God, and the overall reason is that we cannot know Him without studying His attributes, and once we know His attributes we will be in a better position to worship Him in a more intellectual way.  The following are the attributes that I praise the Lord for most every day in my prayer time:  “God is holy, glorious, pure, sovereign, good, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, truth, measureless, omnipresence, omnipotent, omniscience, all wise, immutable (unchangeable), wrath, God who pardons, God who is Jealous, faithful, who is love & just and peace. 

            John MacArthur writes “Jesus came the first time in humiliation; He will return in exaltation.  He came the first time to be killed; He will return to kill His enemies.  He came the first time to serve; He will return to be served.  He came the first time as the suffering servant; He will return as the conquering king.  The challenge the book of Revelation makes to every person is to be ready.

            “John Phillips writes,

“One of the most stirring pages in English history tells of the conquests and crusades of Richard I, the Lion hearted.  While Richard was away trouncing Saladin, his kingdom fell on bad times.  His sly and graceless brother, John, usurped all the prerogatives of the king and misruled the realm.  The people of England suffered, longing for the return of the king, and praying that it might be soon.  Then one day Richard came, He landed in England and marched straight for his throne.  Around that glittering coming, many tales are told, woven into the legends of England. (One of them is the story of Robin Hood.)  John’s castles tumbled like ninepins.  Great Richard laid claim to his throne, and none dared stand in his path.  The people shouted their delight.  They rang peal after peal on the bells.  The Lion was back!  Long live the king!

“One day a King greater than Richard will lay claim to a realm greater than England.  Those who have abused the earth in His absence, seized His domains, and mismanaged His word will all be swept aside.”

“Only those ‘who have loved His appearing’ (2Tim.4:8), who love Him and acknowledge Him as the rightful king, will enjoy the blessings of His kingdom.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jesus spoke some parables that spoke of His return and one of the points was that we are to be ready, we are to be busy doing His work while He is gone, for one day He will return and will ask each true believer what they have done for the cause of Christ while He was in heaven caring for His church, His bride.  I want to be about His business so that He will be pleased with what I have done, things that He has planned for me to do from before the earth was formed (See Eph. 2:10).

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have been writing down in this space something that one of our Pastors preached on for what we should be doing in this new year, and that one thing that I chose was to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, and strength, along with responding to the Lord that He has for me in the correct manner.  One of my favorite authors is Warren Wiersbe and I have been reading a book by him entitled “The Strategy of Satan.”  I want to quote from this book now about the subject of loving the Lord.   “The Christian life is basically a matter of the will.  We are to love the Lord with all of our heart (the emotions) and our mind (the intellect) and our strength (the will).  The Holy Spirit wants to instruct the mind through the Word, inspire the heart with true holy emotions, and then strengthen the will to do the will of God.  A dedicated Christian prays whether he feels like it or not.  He obeys the Word of God regardless of his own feelings.  The believer who lives on his emotions is repeatedly up and down; he lives on a religious roller coaster.  But the believer who lives on the basis of ‘spiritual will power’ has a consistent Christian life and a steady ministry that is not threatened by changing circumstances of feelings.” 

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The devil” (Luke 4:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Behold, I have dreamed a dream more and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me’?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/9/2015 12:49 PM

The Glory of the Second Coming (Rev. 1:7b-7d)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/8/2015 8:23 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  The Glory of the Second Coming

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 1:7b-d

            Message of the verses:  I would like to finish up looking at the rest of the seventh verse of the first chapter of Revelation in today’s SD.

            The Glory of the Second Coming (Revelation 1:7v):  “with the clouds.” 

            In order to see why clouds are a part of the glory of the second coming we will have to look at a few different verses from Scripture to see how clouds were used to show the glory of God.  In the books of Exodus and also Numbers we see that as the children of Israel were traveling out of Egypt to the Promised Land that they were covered by a cloud in the day time to keep the heat off of them and also a fire at night to keep them warm.  (Ex. 13:21-22; 16:10; Num. 10:34.)  When the Law was given at Mt. Sinai the mountain was covered in a thick cloud which symbolized God’s presence.  When the Lord was speaking to Moses in the Tent of Meetings it was covered in a cloud.  After both the Tabernacle and the Temple were built they were filled with the glory of the Lord in a cloud, so much so that no one could enter either of them.  In Acts chapter one we see that Jesus left the earth in a cloud:  “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight (Acts 1:8).”  The Rapture of the church is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” 

            MacArthur adds “The clouds picture Christ’s descent from heaven.  More significantly, they symbolize the brilliant light that accompanies God’s presence—a light so powerful that no one could see it and live (Ex. 33:2).  The appearance of the blazing glory of Jesus Christ, ‘the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature’ (Heb. 1:3), and the lesser brilliance of the innumerable angels and the redeemed who accompany Him, will be both an indescribable and terrifying pageant.”

            The Scope of the Second Coming (Revelation 1:7c):  “and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.” 

            We have mentioned before that when Christ came the first time to planet earth His glory was veiled as He came as a baby and grew up to be a man just like all of us.  We read about a glimpse of His glory showing when He was on the Mr. of Transfiguration where Peter, James, and John saw this unfold along with Moses and Elijah who came down from heaven to be with Him representing the Law and the Prophets. 

            As we look at this portion of verse seven we see that John divides up the people who will see Christ when He returns into two groups: “those who pierced Him” and this does not refer to the Roman soldiers, but to the unbelieving Jews.  Zechariah 12:10 “"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.’”  When Peter gave his first sermon on the Day of Pentecost he charged the Jews with killing Jesus and then in another time from Acts 3:14-15 we read “14  "But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15  but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”   Now as we look again at the passage in Zechariah we see true repentance from the Jews as they mourn over what their ancestors did to their Messiah and many will be saved.  Many Jewish people will be saved in the Tribulation Period as we will later see John speak of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will spread the good news of the Gospel during the Tribulation Period.  Paul writes in Romans that “all Israel will be saved,” and this refers to a time in the Tribulation Period. 

            Now John describes a second group “all the tribes of the earth,” and this is a reference to the unbelieving Gentile nations.  Not unlike the Jews they too “will mourn over” Christ.  MacArthur writes the following “Mourn is from kipto, which literally means ‘to cut.’  The word became associated with the mourning due to the pagan practice of cutting themselves when in extreme grief or despair.  First Kings 18:28 records that the frenzied, panicked prophets of Baal, ‘cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out of them’ in a desperate attempt to get their god’s attention,” but the Jews were forbidden to do this when they were mourning.  He writes this to show that many of the Gentiles of that day will not have believed on the Lord and so they will mourn when they see him.  Now there will be many, many Gentiles saved during the tribulation period. 

            The Response to the Second Coming (Revelation 1:7d):  “So it is to be. Amen.” 

            This response actually comes from the apostle John after giving the response to both the believers and the unbelievers.  He is using the strongest response of affirmation from the Greek language.  MacArthur writes “(nai; so it is to be) and Hebrew (amen), John pleads for the Lord Jesus Christ to return.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I was a little boy I decided to run away from home, and one of the things that I wanted to take with me was a Bible.  I wanted to take a Bible so that I could read about what happened in the gospels to Jesus after he was raised from the dead.  Now when we read the gospels about this we don’t see a whole lot, mostly we see from John’s gospel about this, but all in all there is not too much.  Now as I am looking again at the book of Revelation I can see much more to what has and will happen to Jesus Christ after He was raised from the dead for the theme of the book of Revelation is the second coming of Jesus Christ and so as we read through and continue to study this book we will see what the Lord is doing after His resurrection from the dead.

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

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “well doing “ (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who tempted Jesus?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/8/2015 9:17 AM

The Necessity of the Second Coming (Revelation 1:7b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/7/2015 3:18 PM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  The Necessity of the Second Coming

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 1:7a

            Message of the verse:  As we read through the book of Revelation we will see that there is a lot of drama in it, and there is a lot of other things in it that make up for a good book to read.  When we read books today we will sometimes see that the author gives a little bit of information at the beginning of the book that he will bring to light as the book goes on.  John does that in verses 7-8 of chapter one and he will preview the theme of this book in these two verses which is the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

            Revelation 1:7a:  “Behold, He is coming.”  As we look at these words we see the first prophecy found in this book, and this comes right after John’s introduction to the book.  Now as we look at this section or verse seven we see that John chooses the word “behold” to begin this verse, and this is a word that will get our attention which is what John wants to accomplish.  We will see this word “behold” twenty-four more times as we study this book.  John uses this word to catch our attention to tell us most wonderful news, and that news is that Jesus is coming again.  John MacArthur writes the following about these words:  “The present tense of erchomai (is coming) suggests that Christ is already on the way, and thus that His coming is certain.  The present tense also emphasizes the imminence of His coming.”

            When John the Baptist was in prison he wondered if Jesus was truly the messiah and so he sent some of his disciples to Jesus and asked this question:  “2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"”  MacArthur continues “Encomia is used nine times in Revelation to refer to Jesus Christ; seven times by our Lord in reference to Himself.  Thus, the theme of the book of Revelation is the coming One, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            There are many prophecies that speak of the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus fulfilled all of them.  There are many prophecies that speak of the second coming of Jesus Christ and we can be assured that just as He fulfilled the prophecies of His first coming, He too will fulfill the prophecies of the second coming. 

            Now we will look at several reasons why the Lord has to return to planet earth.  First we have already touched on and that is that the prophecies of God tell that this will happen.  There are many prophecies in the OT that predict the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Here is the first one and it is found in Genesis 49:10 “"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”  I will mention some more from the OT, but will not quote all of them.  Psalm 2:6-9; Isaiah 9:6-7 Jeremiah 23:5-8.  Let us look at Psalm 2:6-9 as it is what is called a Messianic Psalm:  “6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"”  This is not an exhausted list from the OT by any means. 

1/7/2015 6:06 PM

            The second reason that MacArthur gives for the return of Christ is that Jesus Christ has promised that He would return.  Again I won’t go into all of the Scripture references for as far as I am concerned on reference would be enough for after all we are talking about the Lord  saying that He would return and that is good enough for me.  John 14:2-3 says “2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”  Now don’t think that it will take Him 2000 years to complete our new dwelling place.  Everything we see around us was created in six days. 

            For the third reason we move to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and we know from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Truth” as we see in John 15:26 and 16:13.  It was the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of Scripture to write what they wrote and as we have seen they wrote many times about the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth.

            Revelations 3:10 gives us the fourth reason:  “’because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”  The Church demands the return of Jesus Christ.  We know that the Church began on the day of Pentecost and will end at the rapture of the Church which is the first part of Christ’s second coming.  Then at the end of the seven year tribulation period the church will return with the Lord to planet earth as seen in Revelations 19:14, as we are a part of the armies of our Lord.  MacArthur writes “God’s program for the church—to rescue it from the terrors of the Tribulation, reward it for faithful service, and vindicate it in exaltation in His kingdom before the world—requires that Christ return.”  1/7/2015 6:19 PM 1/7/2015 9:31 PM

            The next reason that Christ must return is found again in the second Psalm which tells us that the nations must be judged by Him.  In this Psalm we find a promise from His Father that He will someday rule over the nations and this did not happen when He first came to earth.  This however was what many of those close to Him desired for Him to day.  In the book of Acts we read the following question from His disciples:  “6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"”  Where do you suppose that His disciples came up with this question?  Well they knew the prophecies that the Messiah would someday rule the whole world from Jerusalem.  Here are some more verses that show this truth:  Joel 3:1-2, 9-17 (Cf. Isa. 11:1-5; Mic. 4:1-8; Zeph. 3:8; Matt. 25:31-46).

            The sixth reason that Christ must return is because God’s program with His people Israel is not yet complete.  Paul speaks of this in the 11^th chapter of Romans and Jeremiah also speaks of this in Jeremiah 33:25-26 “25 "Thus says the LORD, ’If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, 26 then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.’"”  This is a very interesting two verses as we can see that God’s promises will always be fulfilled.  Daniel was wondering something similar as we read from the 9^th chapter of his book and he receives an answer that went from his time all the way to when Messiah came and was killed, to then speak about the Tribulation period and beyond.  As I have mentioned in other SD’s this is perhaps the greatest prophecy found in the Scriptures.

            Number seven reason has to do with Christ’s humiliation as that demands His return, and we spoke earlier that the last time that the world say Jesus was when He was dying on the cross, and so because of that He must come back to earth to show all that He truly is the Son of God having all the power He had before He came to earth in His humiliation.  Paul writes “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).”

            Number eight reason is to judge Satan as this also demands the return of Christ.  As we go through the end chapters of Revelation we will see how this happens as Satan is put in chains by Christ when He returns and then let out of his fiery home after the 1000 years are done, the thousand years when Christ is ruling the world from Jerusalem.  Satan is let out to lead a quick war which he will lose and then put back into hell where he will be for eternity.

            The ninth and last reason that John MacArthur speaks of:  “the expectation of believers demands that Christ return.  ‘If we have hoped in Christ in this life only,’ wrote Paul to the Corinthians, ‘we are of all men most to be pitied’ (1 Cor. 15:19).  Believers are those who are constantly ‘looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus’ (Titus 2:13); those ‘who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).  The hope that Christ will one day return and take believers to heaven to live forever in His presence provides hope and comfort (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:18).”

            As I think about the second coming of Jesus Christ I can’t help but go back to almost 41 years ago when I went to Florida and that is where the answers to many of my questions began to be answered when I learned about many of the end time prophecies that are in the Word of God.  I had never heard of the Rapture of the Church, never knew that my body would be changed to an immortal body as Paul speaks of in 1 Cor. 15, and never knew much about the nation of Israel and how God had some many great plans for that nation.  Every since that wonderful day I have had the hope that Paul writes to both Titus and Timothy about and I still have that same hope and as we go through this study on the last book of God’s Word hopefully those who do not have this hope will learn how they can have it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Continue to share this hope with others.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Love the Lord with all my heart soul and strength and also to understand how much God loves me and live that way.

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Get himself a wife” (Genesis 28:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “In what should one not be wear?”  (2 Thess. 3:13)

Answer in our next SD.

1/7/2015 10:06 PM    

 

           

           

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

 

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

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Its Compelling Urgency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer in our next SD.