2nd Angel: Pronouncing Judgment (Rev. 14:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/18/2015 8:26 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  2nd Angel: Pronouncing Judgment

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 14:8

            Message of the verse:  “8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality."”

            Let me begin with a brief statement that I had on my SD on 08/30/2005 “In verse 8 we hear another angel speaking and this time he is speaking about Babylon.  Babylon has different meanings to it from the Scriptures, as there is an actual city named Babylon that still exists today.  This verse gives a prelude to chapter 18 where there will be much more said about this subject, but for now it is good to realize that this system that the antichrist is setting up is a display of Babylon and one of its system.  It is good to remember that it was at Babylon or Babel that mankind rebelled against God and formed a system in which to do this and that system is still around today and will also be around when antichrist rules.”

            With that said we will look at this section in perhaps more detail to help us understand it better, for this verse not only speaks of what will happen during the Tribulation period, but is relevant for today.

            I am not sure as to the timing of this second angel, but for sure his message is that of judgment and perhaps because there were not many if any people listening to the first angel’s message of salvation that the second angel then gives his message of judgment.  He first says “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.”  Saying this twice causes us to believe the finality of his message, and the certainty of what he is saying to the judgment of Babylon.  The angel’s message speaks as if it already happened, and we have looked at this kind of thing before calling it to be in the prophetic tense for since God says this will happen it is viewed as if it has already happened in His mind.  Babylon in this case is the empire of the Antichrist and the angel’s message will be a shock to those who have mistakenly put their trust in Antichrist by having been marked with his number, 666, as they have sold out completely to him.  Let us look again at Revelation 13:4 “they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?"”  This will be the most powerful empire in human history, and I believe it is safe to say that this empire is the culmination of when man rebelled against God back in the book of Genesis in a place called Babel, where God confused the languages.  Let me say some more about what happened back then and how it has affected the world since that time.  At that time there was only one language in the world and it was because of being able to communicate with each other that mankind set out to set up a kingdom that was totally against God.  I have to say that mankind had greater ability to think and do things back then as we could say that man was smarter than they are today.  You might say that this cannot be true because of the things that we see man producing today and that is a fair argument, but man has the ability to accumulate knowledge and build upon what they have already learned.  Scrambling the languages set man back to be able to advance as rapidly as man was advancing when there was only one language, and so because of this man was not able to build the things we have today, but when one thinks of the invention of computers that has caused man to be almost able to advance as fast as they could when there was only one language.  I write my Spiritual Diaries in English, yet people around the world can look at them in their own language because of the computer software that is available at this point.  The following is a quote from “Industry Tap:”                “Knowledge Doubling Curve

Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today things are not as simple as different types of knowledge have different rates of growth. For example, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.  According to IBM, the build out of  the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.”  The website for this info is: http://www.industrytap.com/knowledge-doubling-every-12-months-soon-to-be-every-12-hours/3950

            Now as far as to where this empire will be headquartered at there are different people who have different ideas.  Some have said it could be Rome, while others say it has to be in the ancient city of Babylon.  John MacArthur writes “But Babylon in this passage refers not just to the city, but to Antichrist’s worldwide political, economic, and religious empire.” 

            I mentioned that Babylon from the time first mentioned was evil and rebellion against God as found in Genesis chapters 10-11.  Nimrod was the one who founded Babylon and he was a proud, powerful God-rejection ruler.  This is the portion of Scripture where people built a tower to reach into the heavens and I have mentioned what that tower was in earlier SD,’s but to review it was called a ziggurat, and John MacArthur writes of this “an edifice designed to facilitate idolatrous worship.”  I have also read that this was the first time that man began to chart the stars in what is called astrology, and this is a false religion that is still around today. 

            MacArthur writes “As humanity was united in idolatrous false religion at Babel, so will it again be united in the end times under the aegis of the final Babylon.  History will thus come full circle.  The final Babylon, personified as a harlot (cf. 17:1-5), is described as ‘she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.’  The world will be intoxicated, deceived, and seduced by the Babylonian false religion headed by Antichrist.  Thumos (passion) describes strong, consuming lusts and desires.  As a result of their passion, sinners will engage in an orgy of rebellion, idolatry, and hatred of God.  While sexual sin will be rampant, the ‘immorality’ spoken of here is spiritual prostitution to Antichrist’s false religion; it pictures unfaithfulness to God.  Having imbibed the wine of the seductive harlot, the nations of the world will continue on their course of spiritual defection from God and end up drinking the ‘wine of the wrath of God’ (vs. 10).  As the third angel reveals, this will prove disastrous. This judgment will be detailed in the discussion of 16:17-19 and chapters 17 and 18.”   This was written in the early 1990’s and as we look at our country and the world we can see how this is advancing.  I site the last democratic convention where they wanted to take belief in God out of their platform as an example of how this is advancing.  This would not have been heard of years earlier.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When the world around me becomes darker and darker it is my responsibility and the responsibility of all believer to shine brighter, for when a person is in a dark room light is what is needed to be able to see.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be a bright and shining light in a dark world.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Isle of Patmos” (Rev. 1:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “Whose dream did Joseph interpret while in prison?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/18/2015 9:16 AM

 

 

PT-2 of The First Angel: Preaching the Gospel (Rev. 14:6-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/17/2015 10:18 AM

My Worship Time                                    Focus:  PT-2 of The First Angel: Preaching the Gospel

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 14:6-7

            Message of the verses:  “6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 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."”

            As we continue our look at the angel who will be preaching the gospel during the Tribulation period we see the phrase “to those who live on the earth,” and this is not an unfamiliar phrase as we have looked at it in the past noting that it speaks of unbelievers, unbelievers who live on the earth, as these are the ones that the angel is giving the message to.  I remember listening to a tape a very long time ago from Hal Lindsey on this section of Scripture and he said in that message that because believers have fumbled the ball so much in giving out the gospel that now the angels are involved in it.  As I think back on that I am not so sure that I agree with that statement, although I believe that all believers could do a better job in giving out the gospel.  We next look at the phrase of who the angel is speaking to “every nation and tribe and tongue and people,” and I went over this a bit in our introduction to this section, but we can believe that every person on the earth will hear the gospel.  With this said I want to go to a verse from the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew chapter twenty-four where Jesus is speaking of what will happen during the end times, the Tribulation period is what He is telling His disciples about.  He says in Mt 24:14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  I believe that the fulfillment of this verse will happen during the Tribulation period, and we know that it very well could be fulfilled with the angel flying in mid-heaven giving out the good news of the gospel.  How long this will go is something we do not really know, but I believe it will go on for an extended period of time so that all people who live on the earth will hear the message of the gospel.  Many people have looked at the verse in Matthew 24:14 saying that we as believers have to get the news out to all people and in all languages so that this will cause the Lord to return.  I agree that as believers we are to make every effort to get the gospel out to all peoples in all languages, but I also believe that this verse will be totally fulfilled during the Tribulation period.

            We see that the angel is speaking in a loud voice and we have spoken about loud things that will happen during the Tribulation period in an earlier SD, and this is one we can add to the list of loud things happening during the Tribulation period.  Now for all peoples, nations, and languages to hear the gospel by this angel we have to believe that they will all hear it in their own language, and I will leave that up the Lord to figure that one out, but it has to happen that way.

            Next we look at the angel’s message to the sinners which is “Fear God and give Him glory.”  Now let us look at a verse from Romans chapter one, a section that describes the downward spiral of man and one of the things that causes this downward spiral is “and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”  We see here that those Paul is speaking of in this section of Romans exchanged the glory of God for idols, which is what is being written about here.  God is a jealous God and He wants and deserves all glory to be given to Him.  Being jealous is not like a person being jealous as we have spoken of in an earlier SD, but God deservers all glory be given to Him for who He is as this is one of God’s attributes.  I suggest that if anyone has a problem understand this that they look up a book by Richard L. Strauss entitled “The Joy of Knowing God” and in this book he goes over many of the attributes of God in a very understandable way.

            The angel is saying to the unbelievers that they are to fear God and not fear the Antichrist or Satan but fear the Lord as God is the only One who deserves our worship.  I did a quick look in my online Bible on “Fear God,” Fear the Lord,” and “The fear of the Lord” and found over seventy times it was found in the Bible, so we must understand that as believers we are to fear the Lord. 

            Next we see that in addition to the fear of the Lord men are to give glory to the Lord which is something we have already gone over so no need to repeat it.

            John MacArthur writes “Unbelievers will be called to fear and glorify God immediately ‘because the hour of His judgment has come.’  Opportunity is fading fast; the bowl judgments are about to be poured out, to be followed shortly by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge the unbelieving world (Matt. 25:31-46).  This is the first occurrence of the word krisis (judgment) in Revelation.  It will appear again in 16:7, 18:10, and 19:2. (A Greek synonym for krisis, krima, appears in 17:1, 18:20, and 20:4.)  Up to this point in Revelation, the word wrath has been used to describe God’s interchangeably (cf. 6:16-17; 11:18); the two terms will continue to be used interchangeably (cf. vv. 10, 19, 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19; 19:15).  God’s righteous judgments are the outpouring of His wrath against the stubborn and unrepentant world.”

            When the angel gives the message we have learned that many terrible judgments from the Lord have come upon the earth, and I want to remind you that this is all done because of the great sinfulness of mankind and also because God is in the process during the Tribulation period to take back control of planet earth so that His Son can come back to reign on Planet earth heading up His kingdom that has been promised to the nation of Israel many thousands of years ago.  People have to realize at this point in time that the things that are going on have to be from the Lord, and yet many millions will refuse to fear God and give Him glory, so as we see the angel giving out the gospel we see an element of the grace of God being given to those who dwell on the earth one more time.

Anyone who has read any of my Spiritual Diaries knows that I have a passion to let others know that it is God who created the heavens and the earth, and it was not done through evolution, for evolution is a false religion that has caused much harm with its false message.  Let’s look at Psalm 19:1-4 “1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world.”  The following is a quote from Jan. 16, 2012 from my SD on Psalm 19:  “Warren Wiersbe writes the following in his introduction to this psalm:  “The emphasis in the Psalm is on God’s revelations of Himself in creation, Scripture, and the human heart.”

Next we want to look at Isaiah 40:21-26, as we remember that beginning with chapter 40 that there is a great division from the fist 39 chapters of this book.  “21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. 25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.” 

We have already looked at Romans chapter one earlier but I want to quote from there again in verses 18-20 which says “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

John MacArthur concludes:  “The angel’s stern warning is that the Creator is also the Judge; He is the on people should fear and worship, rather than Satan and Antichrist.  As the world teeters on the brink of final disaster, God graciously offers people another chance to repent.  He will snatch those who heed the warning from the fire of judgment (cf. Jude 23), and transfer them from Satan’s kingdom of darkness into the soon to be manifest kingdom of His Son (Col. 1:13).”  Jude 23 “save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”  Colossians 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today: 

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Saul” (1 Samuel 17:33).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where was John when he received the Revelation?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/17/2015 11:38 AM

 

The First Angel who preaches the Gospel PT-1 (Rev. 14:6-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2015 8:13 AM

My Worship Time                                    Focus:  The First Angel who preaches the Gospel PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 14:6-7

            Message of the verses:  “6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 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."”

            In order for us to understand the phrase “another angel” I wish to quote John MacArthur who writes “The specific angel or group of angels that John saw another angel distinct from is not specified.  While angels appear in every chapter from chapters 4-12, the nearest antecedent is the reference to Michael and his angels (12:7).  The phrase could also point back to the seventh angel (11:15).  In any case, another of the countless myriads of angels (5:11) is selected for a very special purpose.” 

            I also want to quote from my Spiritual Diary dated August 29, 2005 on what I wrote briefly on these two verses:  “It is hard to know for sure how much angels are involved in the process of salvation here on earth at this time, but I would think that angels have a lot to do with it especially in the area of “circumstances.”  At this point in the tribulations period, just before the last judgments are to be sent upon planet earth and it’s inhabitants an angel will fly in the midheaven to give out the eternal message of the Gospel to all those who are on the earth.  The midheaven is where the sun is at noon, or the highest point in heaven.  Verse seven gives part of his message and it is about not fearing, not fearing Satan, the Antichrist, or other circumstances that are going on at this time because the time of God’s judgment is about to unfold on planet earth and one may not be able to save his body, but if one accepts the message of the Gospel their soul will be delivered to be with Jesus Christ forever.  The angel appeals to the people to worship the God of creation, the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of water.  To understand that God did in fact create the heavens and the earth is a step closer to realizing what one needs to know concerning how to be saved.”

            Now we will look into this text a bit more thoroughly at this time.  As stated in the above quote the word “midheaven” which is Mesouranema In the Greek refers to the point in sky where the sun reaches its meridian, apex, or high point at noon.  Now the reason for this is so that all will be able to see this angel in the sky.  Now we have learned from chapter twelve that Satan and his demons, or fallen angels have been kicked out of heaven and are on planet earth so the battle that goes on in the heavens is over at this point in the tribulation period and this will give this angel free access to fly uninhibited in the sky.  Let us briefly look at Daniel 10:12-13 to see how this battle went on during Daniel’s time, and we can rest assured that it still goes on in today’s world “12 Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13  "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”  I also want to quote from Paul’s writing to the Ephesian church from chapter six and verses 10-12 where Paul speaks of the battles going on “10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

            Now we have just reviewed some of the things that we have learned as far as what went on, on planet earth during the Tribulation period up to just before the seventh trumpet is blown which brings about the seven last judgments, the bowl judgments and we know that this will be the worst time ever on planet earth, but during this time God was not without His witnesses as He had the two witnesses, along with the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists, and also those who have been saved were telling others about the saving grace of the Lord, but now we see that God gives unsaved man another chance to hear the gospel preached, and this time by an angel.  The problem that we have seen thus far is that after the judgments of God came upon the earth that men actually knew that they were from God, but rejected the good news of the gospel.  “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 (Rev. 9:20-21).”  “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.  and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds (Rev. 16:9 and 11).”

            John MacArthur writes “As he flies through the sky, the angel will have ‘an eternal gospel to preach.’  This is the only occurrence of the noun euangelion (gospel) in John’s writings, though the related verb translated ‘to preach’ also appears in 10:7.  Like a multifaceted jewel, Scripture describes the gospel in various terms, each looking at it from a different viewpoint.”  The following are some verses which speak of the gospel “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23.”  “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1).” “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, (Mark 1:14).”  "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).”  “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).”  “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, (Eph. 1:13).”  “and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; (Eph. 6:15).”  “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted (1 Tim. 1:11).”  As we look at these different facets of the gospel in the different areas of the NT we can see that what this angel was preaching was the true gospel of Jesus Christ in order for men to listen to it and be saved.  He will be proclaiming the same thing that the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists are proclaiming and this is the same gospel that has been proclaimed throughout history, even in the OT times.  When we see it in the OT we know that people were looking ahead to the Messiah to come to pay for their sins.  John MacArthur writes “That message of forgiveness was given even in Old Testament times based on new covenant terms (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-27).  Its benefits were applied to all who truly repented and sought forgiveness and grace from God, even though the Savior had not yet died.  In the purpose of God, the merits of the Lamb slain at Calvary have been granted to all true repenters in all ages.”  We will continue looking at these verses in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The gospel that is seen in the Bible is the most important thing in all of the world, for in it we find the truth that God, in His mercy, and grace, through faith has provided a way for sinful man to become the children of God.  There is nothing more important in all the world. 

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.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Martha” (John 11:24-25).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him:  for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth’?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/16/2015 9:04 AM

 

The Celebration PT-2 (Rev. 12:10-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/11/2015 10:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  The Celebration PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 12:10-12

            Message of the verses:  “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. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.   12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”

            In verse eleven we see that the celebration had effects on earth as it mentions believers which are described by the word “overcomers” something we saw earlier from the 2^nd and 3^rd chapters of Revelation when we were looking at the seven churches.  The problem becomes more difficult for those who are on earth though as Satan and his demons will come to earth as seen in verse 12:  “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  Let us look at Rev. 12:13-17 for a preview of this “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

            Even though we see all of these terrible things happening on earth when Satan and his demons come to earth in the end they will be soundly defeated and put into the lake of fire, but while they are all on earth, the believers of Jesus Christ will have great trouble along with all of the Jews who may or may not be believers at this time.

            It is good to look at how the believers defeated Satan which is seen in verse eleven which I have highlighted above.  We can never defeat Satan on our own, as only Jesus Christ has done this through His birth, life, death and resurrection from the grave as defeated him.  Paul wrote the following to the believers in Corinth:  3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

            John MacArthur writes “The apostle John gave the only basis for victory over Satan when he wrote, ‘You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).’  It is only through God’s power that any believer in any age can defeat Satan.  Accordingly, the Tribulation believers ‘overcame’ Satan first of all ‘because of the blood of the Lamb.’  Like their martyred brethren already in heaven, they ‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ (Rev. 7:14).  ‘You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,’ wrote Peter ‘but with  precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ’ (1 Pet. 1:18-19).  These suffering believers knew the forgiveness that Paul wrote of in Romans 4:7-8 ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.’  The truth that ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1) applied to them.  No accusation against the suffering saints of the Great Tribulation will stand, just as no accusation against any believer in any age will stand, because the Lamb’s blood was shed for all their sins.  The first and most important key to defeating Satan’s assaults is to ‘take the helmet of salvation (Eph. 6:17; cf. 1 Thess. 5:8).  The unshakeable foundation of all spiritual victory is Christ’s purchase of redemption at Calvary.”

            Now we look at a second way that these Tribulation saints overcame Satan’s assaults and that was “and because of the word of their testimony.”  These Tribulation saints were similar to what Job went through as Job did not give up, and they will not give up either, for God will give them the strength they need to even die for the cause of Christ, and that is the last way that they defeated Satan “and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”  Many of the Tribulation saints will die for the cause of Christ for when you look at all of the people that will be killed during the Tribulation period only one out of four will be left alive at the end and some of those that are still alive will go into the lake of fire when Christ returns and separates the sheep from the goats as seen in “Mt 25:32  "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;  Mt 25:33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

            Now we will look at the last portion of these verses:  “"For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  What we see here is a joyous note followed by a sobering warning “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  John MacArthur writes “Thumos (wrath) refers to a violent outburst of rage.  The word depicts a turbulent, emotional fury rather than a rational anger.  John Phillips wrote, ‘Satan is now like a caged lion, enraged beyond words by the limitations now placed upon his freedom.  He picks himself up from the dust of the earth, shakes his fist at the sky, and glares around, choking with fury for ways to vent his hatred and his spite upon humankind’ (Exploring Revelation).” His rage is all the more violent because as the text says “that he has only a short time."”    We know that he only has three and a half years for this is the time when antichrist reigns over the earth “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him (Rev. 13:5).”

We conclude with the words of Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:    

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo, his doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We are living in a world that is growing increasingly darker and darker.  John 3:36 says “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."”  John is saying that there are only two kinds of people on planet earth, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and those who do not.  As the world grows increasingly darker the ones that do not believe in Jesus Christ are going to be more and more against those who do.  In the past we have seen that this separation of believers and those who are not do not always fight against each other, but now it seems that all around the world there is becoming less tolerance for those who name the name of Jesus Christ and because of this believers need to learn what we have been writing about in this section, knowing that one day the ‘ruler of this world’ will be put in the lake of fire.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Being very thankful for the fact that my 97 year old father-in-law got through his surgery yesterday, and also for my three year old grandson who is on the mend after breaking two bones in his arm.  God is good.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Give Caesar what belongs to him and give God what belongs to Him” (Matthew 22:15-22).”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Go and wash in the Jordan River seven times’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/11/2015 11:07 AM

           

           

Introduction to Rev. 11:6-11 (Rev. 11:6-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/15/2015 1:01 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Introduction to Rev. 11:6-11

Message of the Verses                                                           Reference:  Revelation 11:6-11

            Message of the verses:  “6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 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." 8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality." 9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."”

            We perhaps need to relax and take a breath before we continue on in this 14^th chapter of Revelation by looking back to see where we have come from and then where we are going from here.  First of all let us think about what most people on earth desire to have and that is peace on earth, but the problem is that there is no peace other than when it comes through the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we look back on history it has been said that of all our recorded history there have been less than 300 years of real peace in the world.  I heard that when there is peace in the world that it is actually just a time for men to reload their weapons for the next war to come, and what we have been studying in the book of Revelation is that there will be the greatest war of all since the history of man during the end of these seven years of tribulation.  Politicians cannot stop it, for they have never been able to stop a war yet since time began.

            Let us look at another quote from John MacArthur to help us understand this review a bit better:  “Revelation has much to say about the coming judgments; as already noted, they are the primary focus of chapters 6-11 and 15-19, with chapters 12-14 forming a brief interlude in the unfolding revelation of God’s judgmental wrath.  Chapters 12-13 have been seen to recount the events of the Tribulation from Satan’s perspective; chapter 14 returns to what God is going to do.  In three visions, this text previews the remaining judgments of the Tribulation and the return of Christ.  The first vision (vv. 1-5) was of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will appear with the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Zion at His second coming.  Before us in verses 6 through 11 is the record of the second vision, in which judgment is proclaimed by three angelic messengers.”

            A while ago Billy Graham wrote a book on angels as they are a very important subject in the Word of God.  The Greek word for angels is “angelos” and it actually means messenger, for angels are God’s messengers and are seen throughout the Bible doing things that God has for them to do.  We remember from earlier chapters in Revelation and other OT passages that Satan was the highest of these angels and he fell soon after he was created and he took one third of the created angels with him to do evil and to do harm on the earth.  The remaining 2/3rds of the angels are loyal to the Lord and do His bidding here on earth and even in the heavens that surround the earth.  Angels were instrumental in the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai as seen in Acts 7:38, 52 and also Gal. 3:19 and then in Hebrews 2:2 also.  We see from the book of Daniel that angels gave messages to Daniel and from the NT we see them giving a message to Zacharias and also to Mary announcing the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  While Jesus was on planet earth the angels ministered to His needs as seen in the fourth chapter of Matthew after Jesus had been tempted by Satan.  Angels will deliver the “nonelect” for judgment as seen in Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50.  They will accompany the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to planet earth as seen in Matthew 25:31; and also 2 Thessalonians 1:7.  John MacArthur writes “In Revelation, angels are involved in the outpouring of God’s wrath (8:6ff; 11:15ff; 16:1ff.)  Unlike those angels, however, the three angels described in verses 6-11 do not bring judgment.  Instead, they bring astounding proclamations from God concerning the consummation of the age.

            The three angels do not appear in sequential or chronological order.  Instead, the address issues and events that stretch across the Tribulation period.  Their messages anticipate the judgment of the seventh trumpet (11:15; chaps 15, 16), which includes the final, climactic, rapid-fire bowl judgments at the end of the Tribulation.  The messages they bring are designed to produce a remedial fear (cf. Luke 12:5; Heb. 10:31) leading to saving faith.  God will graciously offer sinners another opportunity to repent before unleashing the terrifying bowl judgments (16:1ff.).  The first angel preaches the gospel, the second pronounces judgment, and the third promises damnation.”

            This is what we have to look forward as we continue our study from the 14^th chapter of the book of Revelation. It is difficult to totally understand the chronological order of the events that we study in the book of Revelation, but with the help of the Holy Spirit and also the different commentaries that I look at hopefully we will be able to get a grasps on this subject.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the unfolding world around me, especially what is happening in our country and also in the country of Israel and the other countries in the Middle East, and as I continue to study the book of Revelation it helps put things into perspective, the perspective that God is totally in control, and God has a plan, and nothing will prevent His plan from being executed in the time frame He wants it to happen.  We know what the end will be, and for believers it may be difficult times ahead, but we need to look forward to the end when we will be with our Lord forever.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to trust the Lord and His plan for my life, knowing that He is completely in control.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Holiness” (Romans 6:22).

Today’s Bible question:  “To whom did Jesus say, ‘I am the resurrection and the life…believest thou this’?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/15/2015 1:48 PM

The Characteristic of Perfection (Rev. 11:5b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/14/2015 9:32 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  The Characteristic of Perfection

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 11:5b

            Message of the verse:  “They were blameless.”

I want to just say that being a perfectionist is a losing battle as far as I am concerned, for there is no one who is perfect, except for the Lord and so if you are always trying to be perfect you will be disappointed most of the time.  However when we look at the perfection of these 144,000 Jewish Evangelists we see that John reports through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that they are blameless.  John MacArthur writes “Because they will trust in God’s power and lead lives characterized by praise, purity, devoted loyalty, and singleness of purpose, the 144,000 will be blameless.  That does not, of course, mean that they will be sinless (1 Kings 8:46; Job 15:14-16; Ps. 143:2; Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20: 1 John 1:8-10), but they will be sanctified.  They will be above reproach, leading godly lives before all who see them.”

We can look at several verses to show us that God desires us to lead holy lives, and to live in holiness:  “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Eph. 1:4).”  “yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach (Col. 1:22).”  “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin (2 Cor. 11:2).”  “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Eph. 5:27).”  “15  but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16  because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY’ (1 Pet. 1:15-16).”  “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy (Jude 24).”

I am putting some older Spiritual Diaries onto one of my blogs, as both blogs are named “2 Timothy 2:15,” from the book of Hebrews and I am currently posting from the eleventh chapter of Hebrews which is commonly been called “God’s Hall of Fame,” or “God’s Hall of Faith” as the theme of chapter eleven is faith.  With this said I have stated that this is one chapter in the Scriptures that is not finished for the writer actually says that he did not have time to continue looking at the characters from the Word of God who belonged in this chapter, and so I think we can truly say that the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists rightfully belong in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews, for if there is one thing that they will do during the Tribulation Period they will walk by faith one step at a time trusting the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit in their lives. 

We have now come to the end of our study of the 144,000 and I believe that they are a great example for us to follow, to live our lives patterned after the characteristics that we have been studying about in their lives.  It is because of these characteristics that they will have that the greatest spiritual revival in the history of mankind will take place as it will be the best of times and the worst of times, best because souls, many souls will be saved, and the worst for it will be the darkest hour ever to come to planet earth.

We will continue looking at the 14^th chapter of Revelation in our next studies as we begin to study about “Angelic Messengers.” 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to follow the things that I have been learning about the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists in my life.  I know that I cannot have the same ministry that they will have, however it is my desire to do the things that the things that the Lord has planned for me to do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be a light in an ever darkening world.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “A ram” (Genesis 22:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Being made free from sin, one has fruit unto what?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/14/2015 9:59 AM

Characteristic of Precision (Rev. 14:5a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/13/2015 7:32 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Characteristic of Precision

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 14:5a

            Message of the verse:  “And no lie was found in their mouth”

            We begin the next to last look at the different characteristics of the 144,000 men from Israel, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel who are meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ on Mt. Zion as seen in the first five verses of chapter fourteen of the book of Revelation.  I believe that we can all learn many things from these characteristics that we find in these five verses, things that we can implement into our lives as we continue to serve the Lord in difficult times that are now going on in different places around the world.

            In our evening service last night at First Baptist church our pastor spoke of what the Supreme Court Decision on same sex message had to do with the Word of God and even looking into the future of what it will mean to be a Christian in the days to come.  He went to a verse from 2 Timothy 4:3-5 that we can also look at as we look at the characteristic of precision for these 144,000 Jewish evangelists.  “3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”  We are now living in a time when people want to only have their ears tickled, and not look at what the truth of Scripture is.  The 144,000 did not have this problem as they did not listen to the lies of Satan as the prophet Zephaniah wrote “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths” (Zeph. 3:13).  People today want to feel good even if it takes lies to be believed so that they will feel good, but the truth of God’s Word does not always make us feel good, but when applied, in the end it will give peace to us.  The 144,000 did as Paul wrote to Timothy in the passage from above as they certainly did the work of evangelists and they also fulfilled their ministry, and this is a good example for us to follow in the days we are living in.

            John MacArthur concludes his commentary on this section by writing “In all generations, triumphant Christians are characterized by ‘speaking the truth in love’ (Eph. 4:15) and ‘laying aside falsehood [and] speak[ing] truth’ (Eph. 4:25).  Knowing the vital importance of ‘accurately handling the word of truth’ they will ‘be diligent to present [themselves] approved to God as [workman] who [do] not need to be ashamed’ (2 Tim. 2:15).  They will never be guilty of ‘walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God’; rather, ‘by the manifestation of truth [they will commend themselves] to every man’s conscience in the sight of God’ (2 Cor. 4:2).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We live in a world that is fast falling into the hands of the lies that Satan is telling, and so one of the things that I need to and want to do is to fulfill what Paul writes to Timothy and that is to do the work of an evangelist as the world will only be changed through the preaching of the Gospel as souls are saved one at a time.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray that God will bring onto my path someone that I can talk to about what Christ has done for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Psalm 100.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Abraham finally offer instead of Isaac?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/13/2015 7:55 AM