"Silence" (Rev. 8:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/17/2015 11:15 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  Silence

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 8:1

            Message of the verses:  “1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”  Question:  Do you suppose that John had a watch on so he could tell how long a pause there was before these judgments begin?  I suppose that many people will have different ideas as to how John knew how long the silence was.  I wrote the following on the 31^st of May of 2005 “As far as the half hour silence in heaven that John writes about, this could very well be how long it seemed to him that this silence was.  This was definitely the lull before the storm, for when these judgments began there surely would not be silence upon the earth.” 

            We have written earlier about all of the noise that was going on in heaven as seen in earlier passages like 4:5; 4:8; 4:11; and 5:2.  Loud is used ten times in the Book of Revelation in the NASB, silence only once in this verse we are looking at today.  As stated before God must like loud noises and talking for we see it a lot. 

            In response to all of the verses that John MacArthur references’ he writes the following:  “But after all that loudness, as the full fury of the final judgments is about to be released, ‘silence’ falls on the heavenly scene.  The implication is that when the judgment about to happen becomes visible as the seventh seal is broken and the scroll unrolled, both the redeemed and the angels are reduced to silence in anticipation of the grim reality of the destruction they see written on the scroll.  The ‘half an hour’ of silence is the calm before the storm.  It is the silence of foreboding, of intense exception, of awe at what the Lord is about to do.”

            As we are about to look what unfolds after this seventh seal is unrolled is something that when we read about it we surely don’t want to be here to experience it.  I am amazed as I study the attributes of God and better get to know them that I can see them as I study the Scriptures.  God has every right to do to planet earth what He wants to do to it, which is in the characteristic of His character and attributes.  We tend to think that God owes us something, but in fact He does not owe us anything at all, but through His grace, mercy, and love He has provided a way for us to escape hell, and the Tribulation period.  We should be thankful everyday for the grace, love, and mercy that God gives all who live on planet earth in what is called “common grace,” that is giving us food to eat, water to drink, and things like this, but there is also God’s saving grace as he calls His children to salvation and they accept the salvation that He offers.  This what we are looking at today is a very sobering time as all heaven goes silent for a short period of time before all hell is unleashed on planet earth.

            Psalm 76:8-9 says “8 You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still 9 When God arose to judgment, To save all the humble of the earth. Selah.”  Habakkuk declares “"But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him’ (Hab. 2:20).”  Zephaniah writes “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests (Zeph. 1:7).”  Finally we read in Zechariah 2:13 “"Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.’”

            In our noisy and fast passed world we need to take time to be silent before the Lord so that He can speak to us through His Word and through His Spirit.

            MacArthur finishes this section with the following words “While eternal heaven has no time, the apostle John who is seeing the vision does.  Each minute of that half hour of silence must have increased the sense of agonizing suspense for John.  Heaven, which had resounded with loud praises from the vast crowd of redeemed people and angels, became deathly still.  The hour of God’s final judgment had come—the hour when the saints will be vindicated, sin punished, Satan vanquished, and Christ exalted.  The greatest event since the Fall is about to take place and all heaven is seen waiting in suspenseful expectancy.”  These are very fitting words to end this section as all heaven was waiting for judgment and we will begin to look at that in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As stated earlier I need to take time to be silent before the Lord to better understand what He has planned for my life each day.  This has caused me to think of a song that I once studied the lyrics to and reported my findings to a church group as we were going through a very difficult time.  I took the liberty to adding a word to the song title by saying “It Takes Time to be Holy.”  The lyrics go as follows: 

1. “Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
   Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
   Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
   Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
2. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
   Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
   By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
   Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
3. Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
   And run not before Him, whatever betide.
   In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
   And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
4. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
   Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
   Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
   Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.”

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Seven years old” (2 Kings 11:21).”

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Peter do when Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/17/2015 12:11 PM

 

Introduction to Revelation 8 (Rev. 8:1-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/16/2015 8:48 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Introduction to Revelation 8

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 8:1-5

            Message of the verses:  “1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

            We will be looking at the seventh seal over the next few days and as we look at the first verse we see that just as the other seals had been broken by the Lord Jesus Christ so this one is also broken by Him.

            A little review is always good so we will do that as we begin to look at chapter eight.  We have learned that what we are now looking at is what the Bible describes as “The Day of the Lord,” and we believe that this began with the opening of the sixth seal.  As the seals were opened we first saw false peace, then war, then famine, then death, and then we saw vengeance.  All of these judgments were horrifying, but these are only the beginnings of what we will begin to see as we look at the seventh seal being opened.  As we studied the last chapter and read about the Tribulation Saints who were then in heaven we saw that the Lord gave comfort to them and then listed a number of things that they had to endure before their deaths in order for them to get to heaven.  "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat (Rev. 7:16).”What we have been seeing is that the Lord is about to take back the earth in a final holocaust of wholesale destruction and will end Satan’s and man’s rule on planet earth and will then replace it with the Millennial Kingdom headed up by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Man actually figured out that is was the Lord who was responsible of what was going on as we read when the sixth seal was opened, but all many of them wanted to do was to die so that they would not see any more of what was going on with these judgments.  The problem was that if they died they were still going to face His judgment in hell.

            Now remember that this scroll that we were introduced to in chapter five is the title deed to the universe including planet earth and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb that was slain is the only One who can open up the seals on this scroll.  This scroll contains the judgments that will take place in the Day of the Lord, and as we will see they will continue to get worse and worse in intensity.  Jesus called this last three and a half years of the Tribulation Period the Great Tribulation, and it is also known as the Time of Jacob’s trouble. 

            What is contained in this last seal judgment?  Well that is what we are about to see in these first five verses of chapter eight, but the answer is that this last seal will open a series of seven more judgments called the Trumpet Judgments, and then the last Trumpet Judgment will open up the Bowl or Vial Judgments.  John MacArthuto understandugh some believe the events of the trumpet and bowl judgments happened simultaneously with those of the sixth seal, it seems better to understand them as telescoping out of each other sequentially.  That the seventh seal contains the seven trumpet judgments seems clear, since there is no description of judgment in the seventh seal, but an anticipation of severe judgment followed immediately in the next by the seven trumpet judgments.  In a similar manner, the seventh trumpet does not describe a judgment (10:7; 11:15-17), but rather contains the anticipation of heavenly rejoicing over the judgment to come, which will lead to the final destruction of Satan and establishment of the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ.  As 10:7 indicates, the seventh trumpet is the ‘finish.’  Chapter fifteen and verse one makes clear that the seventh trumpet, which finishes the work of judgment, contains the final fury of God’s wrath, which the pouring out of the seven plague judgment pictures:  ‘Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.’  Chapter 16, verse 1, identifies these seven plagues as ‘seven bowls of the wrath of God.’  They are then described in detail in the remainder of chapter 16 (vv. 2-21).”

            Chapter fifteen and verse one is a favorite verse because it speaks of the wrath of God being complete after these judgments are finished, and that is a good thing.

            John MacArthur concludes “Four key words may be used to describe the events associated with the opening of the seventh seal: silence, sounding, supplication and storm.”  We will begin to look at these four different words in our next SD as we continue on our journey through this wonderful and final book of God’s Word.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The simple fact of Revelation 15:1 is that God’s wrath will be done once the last seven plagues are finished, however when our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross He cried out “It is finished,” and this means paid in full.  God’s wrath was done for those who will accept the forgiveness that Christ has for us as He paid for our sins, however for those who decide not to accept this gracious offer His wrath is not finished yet.  Think about this truth.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Paul left town.”  As I looked over that question this is the only correct answer.  I misread it in my mind and that is why I said there was two correct answers.

Today’s Bible question:  “How old was Jehoash when he began to reign in Jerusalem?

Answer in our next SD.

4/16/2015 9:34 AM

Function, Protection and Provision (Rev. 7:15-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/15/2015 9:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Function, Protection and Provision

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 7:15-17

            Message of the verse:  We will look at verse 15 of Revelation chapter seven for two more key words that help us better understand this group of Tribulation Saints found in chapter seven.

            Function (Revelation 7:15a):  “"For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple;”

            We know that a person has to be perfect before they can stand before the throne of God, and these were indeed made perfect through the Lamb of God who paid for their sins on the cross and so what is their purpose at this point?  The verse says that they can serve Him day and night in His temple.  As we look at the term “day and night” we have to realize that there is no night in heaven as this is an idiomatic way to show that there is continuous occupation in their ministry.  Now the word temple is used here in this verse and also used other times in the book of Revelation showing where the Lord is at.  John MacArthur writes “There is currently a temple in heaven, and there will be one on earth during the millennial kingdom of Christ on earth (cf. Ezek. 40-48).  In the eternal state, however, there will no longer be a temple (Rev. 21:22).  The heavenly temple currently is the holy domain where God’s presence dwells outside the fallen universe, but that will be unnecessary in the new heavens and the new earth were sin has been forever  done away with.  There will no longer be a temple building, because God will occupy all places, and all believers everywhere throughout the eternal state will continue to worship and serve Him forever.” 

            Next we look at the last portion of this verse as we look at the protection of these saints:  “and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”

            Now the NASB uses the word “tabernacle” in this verse while other translations use the word tent or they say that “God will shelter them.”  The idea is that God will protect them as they have been through a lot as they were living on the earth during the Tribulation period.  John MacArthur says that this word is a word that John has used before and must like the word.  He writes “the related verb translated dwelt appears in John 1:14 which reflects the sheltering presence of the Lord.  It corresponds to the Old Testament promises of God’s protective presence (cf. Lev. 26:11-12; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 2:10-11; 8:3, 8).”

Provision (Revelation 7:16-17):  “16  "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17  for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."”

            Since these last three key words were not too long I have decided to finish this chapter so that in our next SD on Revelation we can begin to look at chapter eight where we will see that the last seal will be opened and that will bring on a whole new set of judgments called the “Trumpet Judgments.”

            As we look at these two verses we can determine what exactly these believers went through when they were on planet earth for it speaks of being hungry, and also being thirsty, and being burned by the heat of the sun.  This was all a part of the judgments from what we looked at in the sixth chapter of Revelation and they were severe judgments, but now they are in heaven where they will not have any of these things happening to them anymore. 

            Let us look at a similar passage from the OT “"They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water (Isaiah 49:10).”

            Why is it that they will not have to go through any of these things anymore?  “for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."”  We again see the shepherd picture in this verse and we have seen it before and it reminds us of Psalm 23 and also John chapter ten, but now I want to look at another passage that too has this concept in it.  “1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2  shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3  nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:1-4).”  Now where do you suppose that Peter got this idea from?  “15  So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs." 16  He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep (John 21:15-17).”  I realize that this is a little off the track from the verses we are looking at in our study today, but the shepherd concept is used throughout the entire Bible at different places and one of them describes not only the Lord being a Shepherd, but also a Pastor being one and Peter was not only an Apostle but also a Pastor and this portion from John shows us that the Lord went after Peter to reassure him that he had been forgiven for denying Him and thus the Lord wanted him to continue in the ministry that He had given to him.  Being a shepherd comes with a lot of responsibility and being a Pastor comes with responsibility too and not all pastors fulfill their obligations but Christ will always fulfill His as seen in this section of Scripture. 

            One more thing we need to look at and that is tears for we see here and is that “God will wipe every tear from their eyes,” so we have to ask the question how much crying will there be in heaven.  There is one more reference to tears in the book of Revelation:  “Re 21:4  and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."”  Perhaps the tears that were shed in chapter seven are a little different than the ones referenced in chapter twenty-one, let me explain.  Perhaps the tears shed in chapter seven have to do with the pain that these people went through and the tears spoken about in chapter 21 speak of missed opportunities and guilt that people were going through.  Perhaps there will be tears shed in heaven until we come to chapter twenty-one as one pastor said when he spoke in this issue.  To be honest I am not sure of the answer to this question will there me much crying in heaven.  All I know that if there is it will end and there then will be no more tears shed in heaven.  When Jesus was on earth we saw him cry several times, once at the death of Lazarus, and another He cried over Jerusalem knowing what would soon happen to it.  Both times had to do with sinful man which caused death and also war. 

            We now leave the interlude between the first two sets of judgments and we go back into more of God’s judgments that will surely happen someday soon on planet earth, but the question arises are you going to go through these terrible judgments or do you have a ticket out of here before these judgments begin?  While in the third chapter of Revelation and the tenth verse we read “’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.”  Explaining this verse John MacArthur said in his sermon on this section that when he was in seminar that after taking a course and doing so well on it that he did not have to take the final exam for his teacher said that since he knew the material there was no need in taking the final exam.  That is similar with believers in the church age as all true believers will miss the final exam of what we are studying in these later chapters of Revelation, and in order to miss that exam one must admit that they are a sinner, and confess that to the Lord, and then one must realize that Christ made a great exchange for you by dying on the cross for you and then you will receive the great exchange which is spoken of in 2 Cor. 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  Christ takes our sin and gives us His righteousness.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: Seeing what I have seen that will happen to these believers from the Tribulation period causes me to look forward to the Rapture and being with my Lord in heaven where I will not have a sin problem and where I will be completely righteous and thus be able to serve Him day and night.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Solomon” (1 Kings 9:26).

Today’s Bible question:  “Paul’s preaching had great success in Thessalonica among the Greeks; however, because the Jews were envious, Paul compelled to do what?”  I think that there are two things that he did and either one will be accepted as the correct answer.

Answer in our next SD.

4/15/2015 10:28 AM

 

 

"Key Word Five, Origination" (Rev. 7:13-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/14/2015 8:52 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Key Word Five, Origination

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 7:13-14

            Message of the verses:  “13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" 14 I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

            In this section we see that John becomes involves in the vision as the angel asks him a question “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?"”  Now we can be sure that the angel knew the answer to this question and so one may wonder why the angel asked this question.  John MacArthur quotes Dr. Robert Thomas to help us out with why the angel asked this question, and if memory serves me correct he was working at the Master’s Seminar when this quote was given, and that Seminar is a part of the ministry where John MacArthur preaches at.  He writes “This exemplifies the dialogue format used from time to time to convey an explanation of a vision (cf. Jer. 1:11, 13; Amos 7:8; 8:2; Zech. 4:2, 5).  This tool shows that visions were not given for the purpose of spectacular displays, but to convey revelation, the details of which were not to be missed.”  Let’s take a look at some of these verses that Dr. Thomas quoted:  “The word of the LORD came to me saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree." The word of the LORD came to me a second time saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north." (Jer. 1:11, 13.)  The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer (Amos 7:8)”  “He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord’ (Zech. 4:2, 5).”  This is something that I never thought about too much, but as we look at these different verses we can understand what Dr. Thomas means in his quotation.

            What can we see from the answer to this question when the elder says “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  What we can see is that there will be people saved during this time period called the Tribulation.  We have already stated that this time period will be the worst ever to happen on planet earth, and that God’s wrath is taken out on sinful men as the time for His wrath has arrived and so as we think about this in terms of God’s attributes we can better understand it.  We know that God is love as this is the most popular attribute that God has, but He is also a God of wrath, and of justice, and we can see both of these along with others during this time period.  God is a saving God as He is a God who pardons.  God is long-suffering and He certainly been long-suffering with the people on earth.  God is sovereign and He was doing what He wanted to do at this time on planet earth.  Now let’s focus in on the fact that God is saving many people during this terrible time on planet earth and the proof of it is that all the souls we see in this vision have come out of the great Tribulation as the elder said, and as we stated this will be the greatest harvest of souls since the world began which is something we should praise the Lord for.

            Now let us look at Revelation 9:20-21 “20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”  This comes after the end of the trumpet judgments which we will look at later, but what we see here is that perhaps not too many people will come to know the Lord as the Tribulation wanes on, as we see from these verses that man’s heart can become very hard to the truths of the gospel until there is no hope for him at all.  Next we will look at Revelation 16:9 where we read something similar:  “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”  Now let us go back to something we learned in our study of 2 Thessalonians and look at chapter two and verses ten to twelve:  “10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”  There are some that teach that these verses are speaking of people who have heard the gospel before the rapture takes place and since they have not accepted it then they will not be able to, but these verses seem to better fit in the later part of the Tribulation when men’s hearts are very hard.

            John MacArthur writes “John’s bewildered reply to the elder is emphatic: ‘My lord, you know,’ and is both a confession of ignorance and a request for further revelation. John’s calling the elder lord did not ascribe deity to him; he was using the word kurios (lord) in the common manner as a title of great respect.  This is the sort of respect John shows heavenly beings in 19:10 and 22:8-9.  John had been taught by the Lord that few would be saved (Matt. 7:13-14; 22:14) and had seen the churches in decline, so that this great crowd of the redeemed may have been incomprehensible to him.  The heavenly elder’s reply confirmed the identity of these believers as ‘the ones who come out of the great tribulation’ (cf. Matt. 24:21).  They lived into it, were redeemed during it, and have now come out of it through death by violence, natural causes, and martyrdom.  The phrase ‘the ones who come out’ translates the present durative participle of the verb erchomai.  It depicts a prolonged process; this group will keep growing as people keep dying during the Tribulation (especially the last half the great tribulation).  Therefore the Rapture of the church is not in view in this verse, since it is single, instantaneous, and sudden event (cv. 1 Cor. 15:51-52).  The elder’s description of these believers as having ‘come out of the great tribulation’ clearly distinguishes them from any other group of redeemed people in history.  The term ‘great tribulation’ refers to a specific time in the future that is unique in all of human history.  It refers to the future eschatological day of divine judgment immediately before Jesus Christ return to establish His earthly kingdom.  All the judgments described during this time, form the sixth seal through the trumpet and bowl judgments, have no parallel in human history.  Never has such worldwide devastation happened.  The term ‘great tribulation’ cannot describe the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 or any other historical event.  This term must describe a future time of divine punishment on the whole fallen world; the ‘treat day of [the] wrath’ of God and the Lamb (6:17) Jesus Himself coined the phrase ‘great tribulation’ (Matt. 24:21) and  limited it to the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Matt. 24:13-22; Mark 13:14-20; cf. Dan. 9:27).  Its limit will be forty-two months or 1,260 days (11:2-3).  Of this period Thomas writes,

            “It is the superlatively great crisis of trial through which all rebels against God must pass just before Christ’s second coming.  The servants of God will not suffer the direct effects of God’s wrath.  They will be untouched by (Caird).   The saints on earth will not be exempt from the ire of God’s enemies during this period, however.  During both the Great Tribulation and the three-and-one-half years of tribulation before it, they will bear the brunt of suffering caused by anti-God animosities.  The intensity of persecution will be a marked increase over the experienced before this end-time arrives and will increase again when the seven-year period reaches it midpoint.  Some will have already been martyred by the end of the sixth seal (cf. 6:9-11) and many more secured in other ways.”

            The elder describes these people as having been clothed in the white robes as they had been washed and were made white in the blood of the Lamb.  We have already spoken about the word white and how that word does not describe very well the brightness of their robes.  Being washed in blood in a human perspective would not make you white, but in a spiritual perspective that is exactly what happens when a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, as the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin and as you receive His righteousness you are seen by God as perfectly pure and righteous. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I was very happy to better understand that the verse in 2 Thessalonians does not speak of those who have heard that truth of the Gospel and then could not be saved after the Rapture.  It is comforting to me that if in fact the rapture is near and I am telling people the truth of the Gospel and then the rapture comes that I am not telling them in vain.

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 the Lord as I better understand it.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Crete” (Acts 27:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “What king of Israel had a navy?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/14/2015 10:16 AM

"Association" (Rev. 7:11-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/13/2015 9:49 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                            Focus:  Association

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Revelation 7:11-12

            Message of the verses:  “11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."”

            The following is what I wrote on May 24, 2005 on these two verses:  “It seems to me that after these Tribulations Saints began to praise the Lord, as seen in verses nine and ten, that the rest of those who were around the throne echoed the praise of these new saints as they too began to praise God, who is worthy of all praise forevermore.  Amen.  In the original language of the NT the word Amen means I believe, so by saying Amen they were concurring with the Tribulation Saints.”  I hope to add more from my study today.

            In speaking of “association” we will look at who is also with these Tribulation Saints and the first ones we see is all of the angels who were standing around the throne of God which is in heaven.  We have innumerable Tribulation Saints along with innumerable angels as we saw in the fifth chapter of Revelation when John referred to them when he wrote “myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands.”  Let us look at Deuteronomy 33:2 “"The LORD came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.”  We can be sure that when God created the angels that He created many of them.  Daniel writes in 7:10 “"A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.”  Hebrews 12:22 says “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels.”  Jude also speaks of many angels “"Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones (Jude 14b).”  Now what we are seeing here is that the angels joined the Tribulation saints in praising God and we will see that the angels were created for this very purpose:  “Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! (Psalm 103:20).”  “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16).”  We see here that all things were created to praise the Lord and that is what is happening in the scene we have before us today.

            John MacArthur writes:  “That wretched, unworthy sinners can freely mingle with the pristine, holy angels is a triumph of God’s grace that makes the angels glorify God all the more.  These people had turned their backs on God, rejected the gospel (or in some cases never heard it), and not being part of the church, they had missed the Rapture.  So in the midst of God’s wrath and judgment during the Tribulation, He will remember mercy and gather them to Himself.  The wonder of God’s gracious salvation (a subject about which angels are curious, having never experienced it themselves; cf. 1 Peter 1:12) displayed before the angels stimulates them to praise and worship Him (cf. Eph. 3:8-10).  Though angels do not experience salvation, they rejoice at the salvation of humans (Luke 15:7, 10).”

            As we continue to look at this passage we see that others are associated with the angels and the Tribulation Saints.  We also see the elders and the four living creatures.  Now at this time I want to say something that is a differences of opinion between two men that I look to for a great deal of help in my study of the Word of God, John MacArthur and Warren Wiersbe, and the subject of disagreement is who the twenty-four elders are.  In my Spiritual Diary on which I studied about the twenty-four elders in May of 2005 I read that Dr. Wiersbe believes that these elders represent both the church and also Israel.  I wish to say that I don’t disagree with Warren Wiersbe very often, but in this case, in my opinion I believe that they only represent the church as God is still dealing with Israel during the Tribulation Period.  Now as we look at the city of The New Jerusalem we will find out that the gates and the foundation stones are named after the twelve tribes of Israel and also the Apostles of Christ all of whom are children of Israel.  I thought that this was worth mentioning as we again see the twenty-four elders in our text for today.  We also see the four living creatures in our passage for today so what we have here is an extension of the worship service we saw in chapter five of Revelation. 

            As we look at this “worship service to the Lord” I can’t help but think about how all of this became possible and that it became possible because of the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ who was obedient to the Father in becoming a man, living on earth for 33 years, and then dying on a cross and becoming sin for those who would believe in Him for their salvation.  He exchanged His righteousness and took on our sin, my sin and everyone else who admits that they are a sinner and received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. 

            We conclude this portion of this SD by repeating the last portion of our text for today:  “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”  And I would also like to quote the last part of John MacArthur’s words from this section:  “Worship is the constant occupation of those in heaven.  There was praise in chapters 4 and 5, before the seals were opened and judgment began.  Now, as the final climactic judgments approach, there is praise again, praise not for judgment anticipated but for judgment realized.  The mounting crescendo of praise began with the four living creatures, then grew as the twenty-four elders, the angels, and the ever-increasing number of tribulation martyrs joined in.  Finally, all heaven rings with praise to God.

            “The phrase ‘forever and ever’ indicates, as did the doxology of 5:13ff., that this praise is not temporary or momentary, but will continue eternally.  What is described here is worship that well never cease through all the endless eternity.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The more that I grow and better understand what worship is about and how it will continue in heaven the more I want to participate in it.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Elisabeth” (Luke 1:60).

Today’s Bible question:  “Name the island where Paul wanted to spend the winter on the way to Rome.”

Answer in our Next SD.   4/13/2015 11:31 AM

 

 

Location and Action (Rev. 7:9b-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/12/2015 6:28 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Location and Action

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Revelation 7:9b-10

            Message of the verses:  We will look at two key words in our Spiritual Diary for today as stated above we will look at the words “location” and “action.”

            Revelation 7:9b:  “standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”  We are speaking of the location of these saints which John speaks of in Rev. 7:9-17.

            In the fifth chapter of Revelation and verse nine we read “"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”  As we look at this group of believers who are now in heaven we can see that this promise has been fulfilled in their lives for this group is from every tribe and nation and now they are standing before the throne of God and also before the Lamb of God.  In his commentary on this partial verse John MacArthur writes that these are the same group that we meet earlier, those who were praying for God to bring His wrath on those who had slain them for the cause of Christ.  God’s wrath is now being poured out on some of those who have committed these crimes.

            Action:  Revelation 7:10 “and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."” 

            We see a lot of loud things happening in heaven as we read through the book of Revelation, especially loud voices:  “Revelation 5:12 “saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."”  Rev. 6:10 “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?"”  Rev. 11:12 and 15 “And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.  Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."”  Rev. 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.”  Rev. 14:7 “and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters."”  Rev. 16:1 “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."”  Rev. 19:1 “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;” Rev. 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”  Now as we look at Psalms 66:1 and 100:1 we will see that the Lord likes loud praise:  “Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! (NLT) “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth (NIV).”

            The last time we saw this group they were asking for vengeance, by now we see them praising the Lord with loud voices and bringing glory to His name.  John MacArthur writes “Salvation is the theme of their worship, as it is throughout Revelation.  In his vision of God’s throne recorded in Rev. 5:8-10 John noted:  “8  When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."”

            We can see through this short study that there will be a lot of giving praise with loud voices in heaven, for our Lord is worthy of all the praise and glory given to Him for He is the One who has made salvation possible.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that I pray daily for after I put my Spiritual Diaries onto my blogs is that the Lord will receive honor and glory from them, that people may be saved through this ministry, that believers may grow as a result of this ministry, and that believers may have revival in their hearts as a result of this ministry, and as a result of all of this that the Lord would receive glory.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to learn more about the love that the Lord has for me and live in that Love.

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

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘Not so, be he shall be called John?”  Watch out for this one.

Answer in our Next SD.

4/12/2015 7:05 AM

 

"Description" (Rev. 7:9a, c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/11/2015 8:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  Description

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Revelation 7:9a, c

            Message of the verses:  “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues…clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;”

            Before we begin to look at this verse I want to provide a website for more information about what I was talking about in our last SD about where different people groups came from.  This video from Youtube is by Ken Ham and I found it very interesting and as you can see from the verse we are looking at John mentions different “tribes, nations, and peoples, and tongues.”  Where did all of this begin?  Ken Ham gives a great answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyrAD-dKvVs     Now back to Revelation.

            We have written about the phrase “After these things” in the past and just a reminder that this phrase means that John is seeing another vision.  He moves from seeing the vision of the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists to seeing a scene in heaven that has an untold number of souls in it.  This must be a very large number of people he sees.  Another thing he adds is the word “behold” and this reveals this vision to be shocking and even startling to John.  John was very old when he wrote this book and had seen many things, for he had walked with Jesus, had seen many miracles performed by Jesus, saw Him die and buried, and then he saw the resurrected and glorified Christ, and now he is seeing many visions to be able to write this wonderful book and this vision seems to be something that he is a bit shocked over.  John was an Apostle, the last living one, and John was also a preacher of the Gospel and perhaps one of the reasons he was shocked was because of the sheer number of people he sees that he realizes are believers that came out of the Tribulation Period.  I believe that one of the most exciting things that a person can do in this life other than themselves becoming a believer in Jesus Christ is to lead someone else to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and then the next thing would be to find out about others who have become believers and this is what John was seeing in a huge number.

            Now we can be sure that this group is different than that of the 144,000 that were listed at the beginning of this chapter for they were all Jews and this is even a larger number and they are from different tribes, nations, tongues, and peoples as verse nine says.  When we looked at the 144,000 Jews we mentioned that these who were sealed by God would all come out of the Tribulation Period alive, while this group is a part of those believers who had died for the cause of Christ and for His Word.  I am not sure but perhaps John is seeing all the people who would die for the cause of Christ in the entire Tribulation Period, perhaps a look ahead. 

            We see that these redeemed were clothed in white robes.  John MacArthur writes “Leukos (white) describes a dazzling, brilliant, shining white.  In ancient times, such clothing was worn for festivals and celebrations.  ‘Robes’ is from stole, which depicts a long, full-length robe.   These long, radiant white robes are the same ones worn by the martyrs in 6:9-11.  That fact suggests that the group in view in this passage is part of that earlier group of martyred beliers.  As the Tribulation wears on, the number of martyrs will increase, as will the number of believers who die naturally or violently, eventually accumulating into the vast, uncountable multitude depicted in heaven in this passage.”  I guess I got my answer to the question I raised earlier.

            Lastly we will look at the Palm branches they were holding.  Palm branches are mentioned three times in the Bible from the NASB.  I am not saying that they are only spoken of these three times but when I put that exact phrase “palm branches” in a search the following verses came up, and these tell us a lot of what they were used for:  “Le 23:40 ’Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.  Ne 8:15  So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written."  Re 7:9  After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;”  They were used for joyous occasions and one of them was they were used in the feasts of booths.  This feast remembered how the children of Israel had to live in the wilderness and so later on after going into the land and in the case of Nehemiah after returning to the land they all made these little booths to live in and praise the Lord for His deliverance from the times when they lived in the wilderness.  When Jesus came into Jerusalem in what we call “Palm Sunday” the people put these palm branches onto where He was riding into the city which is another use of them.  The people at that time were also waving them and this too was a joyous occasion although it certainly turned into a mob scene a few days later.  John MacArthur concludes by writing “The palm branches in the hands of these redeemed saints are a fitting celebrative symbol of the unequaled provision of salvation from the word, Satan, Antichrist sin, death, and hell provided for them by the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is hard to imagine the joy that these saints had as they waved these palm branches celebrating their complete salvation in heaven after going through the horrific situation on earth as they died for the cause of Christ.  The Bible teaches that they will receive a martyrs crown and I have always been impressed to learn that those who have overcome temptations will receive the same crown.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to learn more of living in the love that Christ has for me each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “None” (Acts 28:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “John 1:14 states that the Word was made what and dwelt among us?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/11/2015 8:57 AM