"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

 

"Introduction to Tribulation Saints" (Rev. 7:9-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/10/2015 9:47 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  Introduction to Tribulation Saints

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 7:9-17

            Message of the verses:  “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; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 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."

    “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. 15  "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 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."”

            I have been following much of this study of Revelation from the teaching of John MacArthur, listening to his sermons and reading his commentary, while when I first studied the book of Revelation in 2005, I followed the commentary of Warren Wiersbe.  The first time through I did not write as much as I am doing this time and therefore it is taking me longer each day to go over the passages that I am looking at.  John MacArthur begins chapter seventeen in his commentary by entitling the chapter “Tribulation Saints.”  I found it very interesting and informative to look at the introduction to this chapter and want to share some of the things that I learned from that introduction.  Now I can’t tell you why I do things the way I do, but one of the strange things that I do is whenever I look at a magazine there are many times I begin at the back and then work my way to the front.  I told my daughter this and she replied that she did the same thing too.  At any rate I want to begin with what MacArthur wrote at the end of his commentary because it helped me out to better understand what this last part of Revelation chapter seven was saying.  He wrote:  “Revelation 7:9-17 describes that vast multitude of people from all the nations of the world who will be saved during the coming time of tribulation.  This could include those of Israel who are saved during the preaching of the 144,000.  There is nothing in the terminology of the passage that excludes Jews.  Rather, the phrase ‘every nation’ could include them.” 

            I will give the upcoming outline that we will be looking at over the next few days at the end of this SD, but now I want to go over something that to me, is important and is eluted to in this passage where John writes about all of the nations where people will be saved during this time of tribulation.  In my devotions I have been reading two chapters of Revelation and at times one chapter of Ezekiel in the morning and today I began with Revelation chapters one and two which I will now quote one of the verses:  “Re 1:7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”  The highlighted part is what I want to write briefly about as it is something that has become near and dear to my heart.  John uses the word “tribes” and not races and as Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis says believers have dropped the ball when it comes to this issue of race.  The truth of this is we are all one race, the human race and in one of his lectures that I have seen on Youtube he explains where the different “tribes” or color of people came from.  I will not have the time nor the intelligence to talk about this as he does, but he does say that when Adam and Eve were created by God that every tribe and color of people came from them.  Some people mistakenly believe in evolution while I think the truth is that de-evolution is what is going on as we are getting worse off and not better off.  This is all because of sin and the effects of sin.  Ham speaks of dogs and says that all forms of dogs have come from the two that were on Noah’s ark.  He then goes on to say that after the dogs began to multiply when getting off of the ark that some of them would have gone to a colder climate where the dogs with shorter coats would then begin to die off and only the ones with longer coats would survive and all of this has to do with the genes that are inside the dogs.  He then brings this into humans and speaks of the genes that are in people of which we see the different shades of people come from different tribes of people.  He states that we are all one color, but there are different shades of people.  Believers need to understand that we are all from the human race and that is the only race that is on earth other than animals and we did not come from animals as the evolutionists claim.  At some time later when I listen to Ken Ham’s lecture I will take notes and better understand what he talks about and then will put more of this on a Spiritual Diary, but for the meantime remember that we are all one race.  Now back to Revelation chapter seven.

            As we look back at the history of mankind we first see that God created Adam and Eve and they sinned so as stated above sin entered the universe which can be seen in many different ways.  God destroyed the earth in the way He had created with the flood that Genesis six describes and so we live in a different kind of earth than was created.  Next we see in Genesis 12:1-3 these words:  “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."”  God has promised to Abram who later became Abraham that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed.  Jesus Christ came from the loins of Abraham as he is in the bloodline of Christ as seen in the books of Matthew and Luke.  It is through Jesus Christ that the entire world has been blessed.  John MacArthur writes “In 1 Timothy 4:10 God is designated as the “Savior of all men, especially of believers.’  He is the ‘Savior of all men’ in a temporal, physical (common grace) sense; that is, He allows sinners deserving of instant death and hell to continue to live on earth.  The fact that He does not destroy them in hell immediately when they sin indicates His saving disposition.  He is the Savior of believers, however, in an eternal and spiritual sense.  To those who receive the gospel He gives eternal heaven and existence in the glories forever.” 

            The problem is that when God called Abram and thus began the people of Israel through them that they were suppose to tell others of the truth that God saves, but they failed in doing this as they only seemed to care for themselves and not tell the other nations (Gentiles) of this truth which as stated is why God called them.  In Revelation chapter seven we will see the results of God’s salvation and much of it will come through the spreading of the word by these 144,000 Jewish evangelists that we saw at the beginning of the chapter.  Israel will get another chance, and this time they will not blow their opportunity as in this most horrible time that will ever happen a time when our Lord said in “Mt 24:22  "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”  It is during this time that the greatest revival will happen that ever happened on this earth and the result of that is seen in Revelation 7:9-17 which is what we are about to study. 

            Now at the end of John MacArthur’s introductory commentary he writes what we will be looking at over the next several days.  Now some of these topics are short and I will try and do more than one of them in a day.  “Eight key words introduce this group:  their description location, action, association, origination, function, protection, and provision.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The things that I wrote about as far as the human race is very important to me as I am one who believes that evolution comes right from the pit of hell and the truth of where we come from is written in the pages of Genesis.  The truth of where we are going is written in the book of Revelation and that is why I study the entire Bible as I want to tell all who read my Spiritual Diaries the truth that is found in the Word of God.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “A prophetess” (2 Kings 22:14).  This was a very difficult question.

Today’s Bible question:  “What information had the Jews in Rome heard about Paul before he came?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/10/2015 11:08 AM

 

"The Israelites Identified" (Rev. 7:4-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/9/2015 9:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  The Israelites Identified

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 7:4-8

            Message of the verses:  “4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6  from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 7  from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8  from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.”

            I wish to begin this SD with a quote, an important quote from John MacArthur:  “Despite the plain and unambiguous declaration of the text that the ‘one hundred and forty-four thousand’ who are to be ‘sealed’ will come ‘from every tribe of the sons of Israel,’ many persist in identifying them as the church.  They cite several New Testament passages that allegedly identify the church as Israel to support that interpretation.  But the identification of Israel with the church in those passages is tenuous and disputed.  Thus, they can offer no support for such an identification in the present passage.  The fact is that ‘no clear-cut example of the church being called ‘Israel’ exists in the NT or in ancient church writings until AD 160…This fact is crippling to any attempt to identify Israel as the church in Rev. 7:4’ (Robert L. Thomas).  Further, ‘such and attempt becomes even more ridiculous because it necessitates typological interpretation that divides the church into twelve tribes to coincide with the listing of Rev. 7:5-8, even with all the irregularities in that list’ (Thomas, Revelation 1-7, 476).  The term Israel must be interpreted in accordance with its normal Old and New Testament usage as a reference to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Nor is there any exegetical reason not to interpret the numbers 144,000 and 12,000 literally.”  I think that after the reading of these quotes that we can now move on to talk about these 144,000 Jewish evangelists without begin bogged down with who they are.  When the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.

            What we see in this passage is the electiveness of God in action, for it is God who is choosing these men to be sealed and to serve Him in the Tribulation period.  We can look at this in no other way for we have the text right in from of us which tells us that these men are sealed with a seal from the Lord.  This is not random chance; this is God in His elective purpose at work.  When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD the tribal records were destroyed, but to say that we have no record of who is in what tribe of Israel certainly does not mean that God does not know who belongs to what tribe.  Some say that when the Kingdom of Israel was divided into ten tribes in the Northern Kingdom and two tribes in the Southern Kingdom that there are now no people left from those ten tribes.  However after the division of the kingdom many people left the Northern Kingdom and moved to the Southern Kingdom because the temple was in the Southern Kingdom and a false religious system was set up in the Northern Kingdom.  There are no lost tribes of Israel as some say today, for we can see in this passage that none of the tribes were lost.  Let us look at some verses to give more evidence of this fact.  Rev. 21:12 “It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”  Matthew 19:28 “And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”  Luke 22:30 “that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” 

            In the Old Testament there are several lists of the tribes of Israel, from the time that each of the Patriarchs were born to when Jacob was about to die is an example of the listing of the twelve tribes.  We know that when Jacob was about to die that he divided Joseph’s sons, making them equal with his sons, and then we also have Levi listed in our passage in Rev. 7 and he was not counted when the land was divided up as seen in Joshua for the Levites were the tribe where the priests came from and so they were not given an inheritance like the other tribes.  So we see that there are some issues that need to be cleared up as we look at these twelve tribes listed in our text for today.  The following is a quote from a man named Thomas whom we looked at earlier in this SD as John MacArthur quoted from his writings as seen in my quote from John MacArthur earlier.  Thomas writes:  “In the Old Testament lists, sometimes the order of birth is followed (Gen. 29:32-35:18).  At other times, it is the order of Jacob’s blessing them (Gen. 49:3-27), the order of encampment (Num. 2:3-31), the order of the census before the invasion of Canaan (Num. 2:3-31(, the order of blessing and cursing (Deut. 27:12-13), the order of Moses’ blessing (Deut. 33:6-25), the order of ‘the princes’ (Num. 1:5-15), the order of inheritance (Josh. 13:7-22:34), the order by the wives and concubines (1 Chron. 2:1-8:40), and the order of the gates of the city (Ezek. 48:31-34).”

            In our text from today’s SD we see that Judah was listed as first while Ruben who was actually the first born was listed second.  Let us look at Genesis 49 to help clear this up:  “3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it-he went up to my couch.”  Now the following is a list of Scripture verses that speak of the section from the end of verse four where it says “Then you defiled it-he went up to my couch” “Ge 35:22  It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob- De 5:21 ’You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ De 27:20 ’Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ’Amen.’ 1Ch 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. 1Co 5:1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.”  What we see here from these verses is that something that God has made holy is often used by people to make something awful out of it.  As I look over where my Spiritual Diaries are read throughout the world and then look at which ones are looked at the most there has been one SD that in recent times has been looked at a lot and it comes from January 14, 2013 and the title of it is “Sexual Sin is Gradually Destructive PT-1” and the text is from Proverbs 6:20-24.  I bring this up because Sexual sins are prominent not only in our world today, but also since man first sinned in the garden.  It was because of Ruben’s sin that he lost his birthright which affected every one of the people that were born from his tribe.  I am sure that sexual sin has caused problems in every family in our world as Satan uses this temptation to cause many to have great troubles in our world today.  Now back to our test in Revelation.

            There are other issues that we need to look at and the next one is that the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in our text, and also the priestly tribe of Levi is mentioned.  MacArthur writes “Dan was evidently omitted due to the tribe’s penchant for idolatry (cf. Deut. 29:18-21)—which was even worse than that of the rest of the nation (cf. Judg. 18; Amos 8:14).”  This is probably the reason that Levi is mentioned and Dan is not, however Dan will share in the millennial blessings (Ezek. 48:1-2, 32).  God surely has His reasons for what He does and perhaps the reasons that we have listed here shows why the tribes in the passage we are looking at were the one’s God chose. 

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on this subject with the following:  “This critical passage reinforces the biblical truth that God is not through with the nation of Israel (cf. Rom. 9-11).  Though Israel failed in its mission to be a witness nation in the Old Testament, that will not be the case in the future.  From the Jewish people will come the greatest missionary force the world has ever known.  The result of their effort will be a redeemed Israel, as promised by God, and innumerable redeemed Gentiles.”  For that I can only say Praise the Lord!

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for this passage from the book of Revelation for the Lord has given me a great love for the people of Israel and even though our nation is showing signs of turning their backs on Israel I will always support them for they truly are the apple of God’s eye.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to have a better understand of how to live in the love of the Lord each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Three (son of Zebedee, son of Alphaeus, Brother of Jesus).”

Today’s Bible question:  “What was Huldah’s occupation?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/9/2015 10:43 AM

 

"Saints Sealed" (Revelation 7:2-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/8/2015 9:43 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  Saints Sealed

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 7:2-3

            Message of the verses:  “2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads."”

            I want to begin by saying how much I am enjoying this study of the book of Revelation, and as I said before I truly believe that this is in the will of God for me to be looking at this book at this time.  I have also mentioned that hours after accepting the Lord as my Savior and Lord I began to read through this book.  My earlier years being a believer I also spent much time looking at the book of Revelation and then in 2005 I also took a year to study this book again.  However as I go through this book at this time with the help of John MacArthur’s sermons and commentary I am learning many things that I did not realize were in this book.  As we continue to study chapter seven there are some things in the section that we are first studying (vv. 1-8), that have always caught my attention, and that is something we will probably go over in our next SD which speaks of where these 144,000 Jewish evangelists came from.  In today’s SD we will look at how these saints were sealed by the Lord and this is quite interesting too. 

            First let’s look at what I wrote on the 19^th of May, 2005:  “These two verses speak of God sealing His people for a specific job that He has for them, and because they are sealed by God this could very well mean that they will be protected from the plagues that are about to come upon the earth.

            “In Ephesians 1:13-14 Paul speaks of the believers being sealed by the Holy Spirit when they are born into the family of God, and this sealing means that they will go to heaven when their work on this earth is done.  “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, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

            “Being sealed by the Holy Spirit means ownership, ownership by God because Christ paid the price to redeem all who believe in Him for their salvation.”

            Now we are in a temporary quiet period between the last seal judgment which brings about the trumpet judgments so that God can seal these men and then John will also speak about some of the Tribulation saints at the end of chapter seven.  Now remember what we learned yesterday that there were four angels holding back the winds from each corner of the earth, something that we do not need to take lightly as these winds were ready to continue to blow and with them the next set of judgments.  God’s plan was to seal these men from the twelve tribes of Israel, and so we will look at more of what this means in today’s SD.

            We read that John sees another angel from verse two and some have speculated that this could be the Lord Jesus Christ but as MacArthur writes:  “but that is unlikely because allos (another) means another in numerical sequence, another of the same kind as the first four angels.”  We have mentioned that Jesus Christ was seen in the OT as “the Angel of the Lord” in different places, but this is not believed to be Him in verse two.

            John sees the angel ascending from the raising of the sun and that would be the East and if John were on Patmos then to his East would be Jerusalem where salvation was paid for when Christ died on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem, and this too is where the twelve tribes of Israel had come from, those who would be eventually sealed for this purpose.

            John MacArthur writes about the word seal:  “Sphragis (seal) often referred to a signet ring.  Kings or other officials would use such rings to stamp into wax on documents or other items, thereby affirming their authenticity and guaranteeing their security.”  Joseph received the signet ring of Pharaoh to care for the affairs of Egypt when he became second in command there.  MacArthur goes on “A seal thus denoted ownership and protection.”  Every one of these men would surely need God protection to go through the Tribulation doing what they were about to do, that is tell others of the Gospel and what was going on and what would happen during this terrible time on earth.

            What the angel would seal these men with is the seal of the living God, which is used in many different parts of Scripture such as Rev. 4:9-10 “9  And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10  the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying.”  Let us look at one from the OT book of Psalms 42:2 “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”  I looked this phrase “the living God” up and found 56 times it is seen in the entire NASB.  John said it this way so that no one would be confused as to who was sealing these men, for it surely was not some kind of idol.  It will be during this time of the Tribulation period when antichrist will have those who follow him to also be sealed. 

            In our study of Exodus we saw that God marked the children of Israel with actually blood from a lamb that was made on the door posts, and this actually made a sign of a cross.  He did this so that the death angel would not kill anyone who was protected by the blood of the lamb, certainly a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ’s blood which protects all that are His. John MacArthur in his commentary sights a portion of Scripture from Ezekiel 9:3-6 which also speaks of marking of people, and those who have followed our study of Ezekiel may have seen this:  “3  Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. 4  The LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst." 5 But to the others He said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. 6  "Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders who were before the temple.”  Men were to be marked if they were saddened over the idolatry that was going on in the temple of God.  We learn from this and other passages that it is very special to have the seal of God, and the men who receive this mark during the Tribulation period will actually go through that time being protected by the Lord and go right into the Millennial Kingdom alive which they will also be leaders in that promised Kingdom of God and Christ.

            We see from verse three that the cry of the angel was an urgent cry to hold things up, things that will continue to bring judgment upon the earth, to stop them until these men were sealed, for these men will be a huge part in the evangelism of planet earth during the Tribulation Period. 

            Let us look ahead to Revelation 14:1-5 to see what has happened to these men:  “1   Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3  And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have a new appreciation for what is seen in Ephesians 1:13-14 “13 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, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”  It was on Jan. 26, 1974 when this happened to me and this seal means that one day I will be with the Lord in heaven, which is a precious promise from the Lord that I am thankful for.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and also it is my desire to live in His wonderful love this day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Anna” (Luke 2:21-22).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many of Christ’s disciples were named James?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/8/2015 10:39 AM