The Dragon (Satan) (Rev. 12:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/2/2015 8:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Dragon (Satan)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 12:3-4

            Message of the verses:  “3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.”

            I wrote the following short section about these verses on 08/06/2005 “These verses are surely speaking of Satan, and as far as the seven heads and the ten horns this will be brought up again and will be dealt with then.  It has always been the desire of Satan to destroy the way for the Messiah to come, but he failed at that and even though He may have thought he succeeded  when he had Christ killed in reality that is what sealed his eventual fate of spending eternity in hell. Verse four seems to be speaking about a time in the past when Satan rebelled against God and took a third of the angels with him. There are times when it is difficult to understand all of the symbolism that John wrote about in this book; however the best commentary for the book of Revelations is the rest of the Scriptures.”  I want to expand on what I wrote then in the rest of today’s SD.

First of all we want to be reminded that John saw another sign and this sign is the emergence of a new character that is called the “great red dragon.”  John says that this sign appeared in heaven.  Now we realize that Satan is not a dragon, but as we learned earlier these signs represent different things and in this case the sign represents Satan as the first sign, the woman represents the nation of Israel.  John MacArthur writes “The symbolic language used to describe him pictures the reality of his person and character.  Only in Revelation is Satan referred to as a dragon; before that he is called (among other names) a serpent (Gen.3:1ff; 2 Cor. 11:3).  A dragon is a far more terrifying symbol.  In the Old Testament the same Hebrew word translated dragon (Isa. 27:1; 51:9) is also translated monster or sea monster (Gen. 1:21; Job 7:12; Pss. 74:13; 148:7; Jer. 51:34; Ezek. 29:3; 32:2).  It pictures a large ferocious and terrifying animal.  Red, the color of fiery destruction and bloodshed, further stresses Satan’s ferocious, deadly, destructive nature.  In the words of Jesus, ‘He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).  The Hebrew word for ‘serpent’ (nachash) used in Genesis 3:1 is used interchangeably in some texts with the Hebrew word for dragon (tannin) (cf. Ex. 7:9, 15).  So the animal Satan used in the Garden of Eden was a reptile, but one not yet cast down to its belly (Gen 3:14).  Likely, it was more upright—a dragon standing on two legs, cursed to walk on four legs close to the ground, or slither like a snake.  Red is a fitting color for the dragon, since he attacks both the woman and her child.”  I never thought of the term “cast down” to the animal that Satan used to speak to the woman, but that does make sense when you think about it as that animal was cast down to the ground and we will see later in our text that Satan will be cast down to the earth never to return to heaven again, for when he will be cast down to earth the next step will be the lake of fire shortly after that, but we are getting ahead of ourselves as we will speak of this later.

In the book of Ezekiel and chapter twenty-nine, verses 1-5 we read of Pharaoh who was the enemy of God, and as we read this section we will see that it captures the essence of the frightening imagery which is used to describe Satan:

“1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh King of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 "Speak and say, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, That has said, ’My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’ 4 “I will put hooks in your jaws And make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales. And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales. 5 “I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; You will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together or gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.”

Let us now speak of the dragon having seven heads and ten horns and also on those heads were seven diadems.  In order to understand this we have to understand that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden Satan has been allowed by God to rule the world.  Now he will continue to do so up until the sounding of the seventh trumpet which we saw in Revelation 11:15.  Now remember that once we began to study chapters 12-14 we have gone back in time looking at the Tribulation Period through the eyes of antichrist who will be led by Satan.  The word diadem speaks of royal crowns which symbolize power and authority.  Satan has headed up seven consecutive world empires beginning with Egypt, and then Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Antichrist’s future empire which will take place during the Tribulation Period. This final kingdom headed up by antichrist will be a ten-nation confederacy and this is seen by the ten horns.  Let us look at Daniel 7:23-25 “23  "Thus he said: ’The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 ’As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25  ’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”  For more on these verses in Daniel you can look at my Spiritual Diaries dated 09-06-2013 and 09-08-2013.

I mentioned that God has allowed Satan to be the ruler of the world since the fall of man, and we also must realize that God is the One who is completely in control, but when we look at the temptations of Jesus in both Luke and Matthew we see that He did not argue with Satan when Satan offered Him his kingdom.  Satan has been allowed to get into the governments of the world over time and will surely get into the government of the rule of Antichrist during the Tribulation Period.  We will look at this more in detail as we continue our study of this 12^th chapter of Revelation.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord Jesus provided me a way to get out of the kingdom of darkness and be brought into the Kingdom of Light through His life, death, burial, and resurrection from the dead.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord, with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to understand more of His love and thus live in the love of the Lord today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “His eyes were put out” (2 Kings 25:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened to Saul of Tarsus near Damascus?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/2/2015 9:34 AM

 

The Woman PT-2 (Rev. 12:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/1/2015 12:07 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  The Woman PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 12:1-2

            Message of the verses:  “1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2  and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”

            We have gone over the fact that the Bible teaches that Israel will play a key role in the Tribulation Period from our study in the book of Daniel.  Daniel chapter nine teaches that there will be seventy weeks of years or 490 years in order for the Lord to accomplish certain things that are found in verses 24-27 of the ninth chapter of Daniel.  The prophecy has a certain starting point and ends temporarily with one week left on the prophecy, and that one week computes to seven years, exactly how long the Tribulation Period is.  The gap between the end of the 483^rd year and the beginning of the last seven years is where the church age fits into, the age we are now living in at this time.  Once the church is taken out by the Rapture there will arise a man whom the Bible calls among other things the antichrist and he will make a covenant with Israel for seven years which begins the Tribulation Period.  God then begins again to deal with the nation of Israel, just as He did in the Old Testament times.  Let us look at Jeremiah 31:35-37 to give some more light to this subject:  “35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36  "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD.”  This is a wonderful series of verses to show that God is still dealing with Israel.  Amos 9:8 says “"Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob," Declares the LORD.”

            God will continue to deal with Israel as we have seen and His focus will again be on them during the Tribulation Period, but that will not be the end of His dealings with Israel for there are many OT promises and even in the NT that show that Israel will receive their promised Kingdom and Christ will rule the world from Jerusalem.  We have gone over Romans 11:26 before but it bears repeating at this time: “and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB."”

            Satan has been the one who has caused the nation of Israel to be persecuted and there are many examples of this in the OT.  From the time that it was learned that God would the Messiah through the nation of Israel Satan has tried to stop that from happening.  The line went through Jacob’s son Judah and then it went through King David’s line and all the way Satan tried to stop this from happening.  When Jesus was born Satan tried to kill Him but only succeeded to kill many innocent babies, while Joseph and Mary escaped to Egypt.  Satan tempted Jesus as seen in both Matthew and Luke gospels, both of them in chapter four, but Jesus did not succumb to those temptations.  Satan wanted Christ to be crucified after the Passover Feast, but God planned for Christ to die at the same time the Passover lambs died and so He did.  Satan continues to be behind the persecution of the Jews to this day for God has promised to protect them and as we have seen the nation of Israel was formed on May 5, 1948 and lives today.  Satan continues to try and destroy Israel as they are surrounded on all sides by enemies.  This persecution will continue in the Tribulation Period as Satan will try once again to destroy Israel.

            John MacArthur writes “John say that the woman was clothed with the sun, and had the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.  That fascination description reflects Joseph’s dream, recorded in Genesis 37:9-11:  ‘9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, "Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.’  In the imagery of Joseph’s dream, the sun represents Jacob, the moon Rachel, and the eleven stars Joseph’s brothers.  The allusion to Joseph’s dream is fitting, since his life parallels Israel’s history.  Both endured the indignity of captivity in Gentile nations, yet were in the end delivered and exalted to a place of prominence in a kingdom.”

            In seeing the woman clothed with the sun this reflects that Israel will one day be redeemed, thus showing glory, brilliance and also dignity, and the reason for this is because they are God’s chosen nation.  Now when we look at the reference of the moon under her feet MacArthur writes that his “may be a further description of Israel’s exalted status.  It could also include the concept of God covenantal relationship with Israel, since the moon was part of the cycle of Israel’s required times of worship (cf. Num. 29:5-6; Neh. 10:33; Ps. 81:3; Isa. 1:13-14; Col. 2:16).  The crown (stephanos; the crown associated with triumph in the midst of suffering and struggles) of twelve stars (Joseph being the twelfth) on the woman’s head refers to the twelve tribes of Israel.”

            We next see that the woman is with child, she is pregnant and this further confirms her identity as Israel, for the church cannot be a mother since the church is yet to be married, which will happen in Rev. 19:7-9: “7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, "Write, ’Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’" And he said to me, "These are true words of God."”   2 Corinthians 11:2 says “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.”  The phrase “the woman cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth,” shows that just as a pregnant woman in labor feels pain, in the same way Israel was in pain because of the persecution that Satan is given to them, as he attempts to destroy Israel once again.  John MacArthur writes “No nation in history has suffered as long or as severely as Israel has—both from God’s chastening, and also from Satan’s furious efforts to destroy the nation through whom the Messiah would come.”

            Next we will look at the woman’s cause for her suffering.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When we look at pain and suffering from the Word of God we see that after it is over, as long as the suffering is of the Lord for doing what is right, then the glory will come.  Jesus Christ it the perfect example of this for after His great suffering on the cross He was resurrected to glory.

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 Christ, and to remember that “the successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Twelve”

Today’s Bible question:  “What physical punishment was given to Zedekiah when Jerusalem was destroyed?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/1/2015 12:54 PM

The Woman PT-1 (Rev. 12:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2015 8:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  The Woman PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 12:1-2

            Message of the verses:   “1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2  and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”

            The following is a quote from my SD from 08/05/2005 from these two verses:  “There have been different interpretations of this verse throughout history, but most of them are wrong because the person was trying to make his own point and was not looking at other Scriptures to make the correct interpretation.  There are many cross-references in the rest of the Bible that will help one understand what this book is talking about.  If you go back to Genesis 37:9-10 to read about the dream that Joseph had it can be seen that this verse in Revelations is speaking of the nation of Israel.  Isaiah 54:5 speaks of the nation of Israel as a woman, along with Isaiah 66:7-9, and also Jeremiah 3:6-10 and Micah 4:10 and 5:2-3. In verse 2 it can be seen that this woman is with child and she is in great pain.  For sure it was very painful for the nation of Israel, (in the person of Mary), to give birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, for Satan, who will be introduced in the following verses, has been her (Israel’s)enemy ever since Israel had begun as a nation for anti-Semitism began with Satan and he uses it to try and destroy the nation of Israel, but he never will for God is in control and He has a plan for the nation of Israel.”

            Now I want to talk briefly about the first few words of verse one “A great sign.”  This is the first of seven signs that are found in the last half of Revelation.  John MacArthur writes “Mega (great) appears repeatedly in this vision (cf. vv. 3, 9, 12, 14); everything John saw seemed to be huge either in size of in significance. Semeion (sign) describes a symbol that points to a reality.  The literal approach to interpreting Scripture allows for normal use of symbolic language, but understands that it points to a literal reality.  In this case, the description plainly shows that the woman John saw was not an actual woman.  Also, the reference to ‘the rest of her children,’ those ‘who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus’ (v. 17), shows that this woman is a symbolic mother.” 

            There are some who read and study the book of Revelation that think that the entire book is symbolic, but as MacArthur writes when we get to the last part of Revelation we see the word sign seven times indicating that what John sees is a sign of something that is important for us to understand.  When we see this word we can then understand that with the absence of this word that what we are reading in Revelation is literal and will happen one day in the future.

            There are four symbolic women who are identified in Revelation.  We looked at the first one who was named Jezebel in Revelation 2:20 and although this was an actual woman she was probably not named Jezebel, but she represented the things that the original Jezebel had done.  Jezebel was the wife of Ahab and she was the one who brought Baal worship into Israel.  Next in chapter seventeen and verse one through seven we see another woman who is depicted as a harlot.  This woman represents the apostate church.  The last woman is described in Revelation 19:7-8 as the bride of the Lamb and she represents the church.  MacArthur writes “Some argue that the woman in this present vision represents the church, but as the context makes clear (cf. v. 5), she represents Israel.  The Old Testament also pictures Israel as a woman, the adulterous wife of the Lord (Jer. 3:1, 20; Ezek. 16:32-35; Hos. 2:2) whom God will ultimately restore to Himself (Isa. 50:1).  A reference to the Ark of the Covenant (11:19) adds further support for identifying the woman as Israel.”  Now for those who are following my blog posts from Hosea, they will have seen something similar.

            I just was to say again that there are those who believe that the Lord is done with Israel, and also there are those who say that the church began in the OT.  I truly have trouble with these statements as the beginning of the church is seen clearly in Acts chapter two.  There are many OT verses that show that God is not done with Israel, and Paul makes this very clear in Romans 9-11 even stating in chapter eleven that one day “all Israel will be saved.”

            We will continue with these verses in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Judah” (Genesis 44:18-34).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many books of the Old Testament are considered to be historical?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/31/2015 9:26 AM     

 

           

Introduction to Revelation 12 (Revelation 12:1-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2015 8:54 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Introduction to Revelation 12

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 12:1-6

            Message of the verses:  “1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2  and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

            These are the verses that we will be looking at over the next few days as we begin the second half of the book of Revelation.  John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary “The War of the Ages PT-1:  The Prelude.”  I can say that I am excited to begin this twelfth chapter because I have learned where this chapter and also chapters 13-14 fit into the chronological part of the book of Revelation.  We learned that chapters 12-14 are a review of what we have been seeing happen through the eyes of the Antichrist, while chapters 6-11 were seen through the eyes of the Lord.  We are now going to be looking at the “beast” or the “Antichrist” and see more about him and also more about Satan, and I believe that we will also be looking at the “False Prophet” which is the sidekick of the Antichrist.

            Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”  We then read in the 14^th chapter of the book of Isaiah “12  "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”  This of course is speaking of Lucifer who after the sin recorded with these five “I wills” became Satan as he committed the first sin against God.  Lucifer was the highest Cherub, but he forfeited that position because of His sin.  Ezekiel writes in 28:14 “"You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.”  All of these things that we are reading about that concern the fall of Satan happened before man was created on planet earth.  Now I must say that this is my opinion, but my opinion also is that it did not happen too far in advance of the creation of man.  The timetable for these events is not exact but there can be made some conjectures as to when this happened by studying the Word of God.

            After man was created the fallen Lucifer, now Satan brought his temptation to Eve in the garden of Eden and we learn that Adam also fell, and in fact was responsible to God for this sin as we see from New Testament writings. 1Ti 2:13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.  1Ti 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”

            As we look at “The War of the Ages” we see that it began in heaven as we saw when we looked at the chapters from both Isaiah and Ezekiel and with that war one third of the angelic beings followed Satan.  This left two thirds of them to be with God.  God created many angels as we can see from the numbers given in the book of Revelation.  We saw two hundred million demons come on to the earth “Re 9:16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.” 

            Next this war came to earth and Satan claimed the kingdom of earth from man when he caused the first couple to fall into sin.  And thus the war of the Ages was off and running. We are now going to begin to look at the final battle, which will end with Satan, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and all the demons along with unregenerate man to be cast into hell, a place where God said was created for the devil and his angels.  John MacArthur writes “The sounding of the seventh trumpet will proclaim the triumphant victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over the usurper, Satan:  ‘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’ (11:15).  There will be joy I heaven because Christ has defeated Satan and established His eternal kingdom.  Thus, the outcome of the war between Satan and God is not in doubt.  Christ ultimate triumph is certain.”

5/30/2015 9:22 AM    5/30/2015 12:52 PM

            MacArthur concludes and also previews what we will be looking at in these six verses:  “Before describing that final war, the inspired apostle John first introduces the main characters involved in it:  The woman (Israel), the dragon (Satan), and the male child (Jesus Christ).”  In the next few days we will be looking at these different characters to see what their roles will be in the Tribulation Period.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the prophetic truth that is found in the Word of God.  While putting the spiritual armor one of the pieces is the “helmet of the hope of salvation” which is actually spoken of in “1Th 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”  Putting on that helmet is saying that we understand that Jesus Christ is coming again and that will help me throughout the day by knowing this.  “Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,”

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 Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Elim” Exodus 15:27.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who pleaded with Joseph in behalf of  Benjamin, when the silver cup was found in Benjamin’s sack?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/30/2015 1:04 PM

             

 

           

Promise of Communion (Rev. 11:19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2015 8:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Promise of Communion

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 11:19

            Message of the verses:  19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”

            We have reached a milestone in our SD for today as this one is the last SD for the first half of the book of Revelation.  As you know I have been following the outline from John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Revelation and with this SD we end the first commentary from him all 321 pages of it and then we will move into chapter twelve and the next half of his commentary on Revelation.

            MacArthur writes “Bound up in the seventh trumpet is the promise to believers of unbroken fellowship with God forever.  That fellowship is symbolized by the imagery of verse 19.  The opening of ‘the temple of God which is in heaven’ (the place where His presence dwells; cf. chapts. 4, 5) revealed ‘the ark of the covenant.  The ark symbolizes that the ‘covenant’ God has promised to men is now available in its fullness.  In the midst of the fury of His judgment on unbelievers, God, as it were, throws open the Holy of Holies (where the ark was located; (Ex. 26:33-34; 2 Chron. 5:7) and draws believers into His presence.  That would have been unthinkable in the Old Testament temple, when only the high priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year (Heb. 9:7).” 

            When we look at the Ark of the Covenant we see that this is where the High Priest put the blood on it once a year as seen in the OT and also in the book of Hebrews.  There are two cherubim on the top of the Ark of the Covenant and they look at each other.  Now here is something that I have heard a long time ago and still believe that this could very well be true.  One of the cherubim may in fact represent the wrath of God while the other represents the love of God and when the blood is placed on the ark then God is satisfied that sin has been covered.  Perhaps the Lord Jesus Christ did this after His resurrection to the one in heaven.  I wrote in an August SD the first time that I studied Revelation that I did not believe that there was a temple in heaven, but then added a note saying that I have changed my mind and now believe that there is a temple in heaven.

            MacArthur concludes by writing “But along with the ark in the heavenly temple ‘there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.’  Similar events are associated with God’s majestic, glorious heavenly throne in 4:5.  In 8:5 and 16:17-18 they are associated with judgment.  Heaven is the source of vengeance on unbelievers, as well as covenant blessings for the redeemed.

            “The message of the seventh trumpet is that Jesus Christ is the sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords.  He will one day take the rule of the earth away from the usurper, Satan, and from earth’s petty human rulers.  History is moving inexorably toward its culmination in Christ’s earthly reign.  When He returns, He will bring covenant blessings to the redeemed, but eternal judgment to those who reject Him.

            “In light of that sobering truth, Peter exclaims, ‘What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness’ (2 Peter 3:11)!”

            I mentioned that looked at my SD on this verse in August of 2005 and after I read it I learned that I truly did not have much to say about this verse as I could not find out from different commentators what this verse meant.  I am thankful for the teaching and preaching ministry of John MacArthur who has made many things clear to me in this wonderful book of Revelation including Revelation11:19.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Trust the Lord to see me through this day of things that I find difficult to do, that God will continue to give me His wonderful grace and mercy to accomplish what He has for me to do today.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “John the Baptist” (John 1:29).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did the children of Israel find twelve wells and seventy palm trees?”  (Hint:  The answer is in Exodus.)

Answer in our next SD.

5/29/2015 8:41 AM

  

Plan for Judgment PT-2 (Revelation 11:18b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2015 11:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Plan for Judgment PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Revelation 11:18b

            Message of the verses:  “and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."”

            In our last SD on this topic we looked at how the OT and even some of the NT verses spoke of the judgment that was going to come upon the world because of the sinfulness of mankind and because of their failure to understand the simple truth of the Gospel.  Now remember what we said about where we are at in the Tribulation Period as we look at this 11^th chapter of the book of Revelation.  We are actually very near the end of the Tribulation Period as what we see here is the angel sounding the seventh trumpet which brings on the last seven judgments called the bowl judgments, but then we will look at the career of the antichrist in chapters 12-14 before we again catch up with when these bowl judgments will happen.

            John MacArthur writes “Not only will the seventh trumpet signal the outpouring of God’s wrath on earth; it will also indicate that ‘the time’ has come ‘for the dead to be judged.’  Time translates kairos, which refers to a season, era, occasion, or event.  The establishing of Christ’s kingdom will be a fitting time for the dead to be judged.”  Now we are not talking about the “Great White Throne Judgments” in this section as that is in chapter 20:11-15, but instead we are talking about what our Lord speaks of in the 25^th chapter of Matthew where we read:  “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 this will happen soon after the Lord returns to set up His kingdom for 1000 years on planet earth.  John MacArthur writes on this judgment from Rev. 11:18b “It is best to see the reference to judgment here as a general reference to all future judgments.  The elders in their song make no attempt to separate the different phases of judgment as they separated in the closing chapter of Revelation.  They simply sing of future judgments as though they were one event, in the same way that other Scriptures do not distinguish future judgment from each other (cf. John 5:25, 28-29; Acts 17:31; 24:21).”  Now this statement does not conflict with the judgments mentioned in Matthew 25:32-33.  I also believe that this will be the time when the OT saints will be resurrected as seen in Daniel chapter 12, and they will also be judged for their good works that they did as believers in the salvation that God would provide when their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ would suffer and die for their sins as well as ours in the church era, and for that matter in the Tribulation Period and also in the Millennial Kingdom.

            We see the phrase “the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints” which speaks of all who have proclaimed the truth of God throughout redemptive history even from the tome of Moses and including the two witnesses that we saw at the beginning of this chapter. 

            Next we look at the saints which are mentions after the prophets in verse 11:18b and further defined as “and those who fear Your name, the small and the great.”  Now I don’t want to pick on any established religion here but I want to define the word “saint” so we know exactly what John is speaking of here. 

            “AV-holy 161, saints 61, Holy One 4, misc 3; 229

 

Holy, characteristic of God, separated to God, worthy of veneration

1) Its highest application is to God himself, in his purity, majesty and glory. {#Lu 1:49 John 17:11 Re 4:8}

1a) Of things and places which have a claim to reverence as sacred to God, e.g. the Temple: {#Mt 24:15 Heb 9:1}

1b) Of persons employed by him, as angels: {#1Th 3:13 marg. } prophets, {#Lu 1:70} apostles, {#Eph 3:5 }

2) Applied to persons as separated to God’s service:

2a) Of Christ: {#Mr. 1:24 Ac 4:30 }

2b) Of Christians: {#Ac 9:13 Ro 1:7 Heb 6:10 Re 5:8 }

3) In the moral sense of sharing God’s purity: {#Mr. 6:20 John 17:11 Ac 3:14 Re 3:7 }

4) Of pure, clean sacrifices and offerings: {#1Co 7:14 Eph 1:4}” This comes from my Online Bible dictionary.  Every person who has been born again from the OT to all of those in the NT church age are called saints.  Let us take a look at a few of the many verses that have the word saint in them at the beginning of some of the letters that Paul writes and we will see that he calls those who are true members of the church, those who have been born-again saints, even those who were a part of the churches that were have problems like the Corinthian church.  “Ro 1:7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  “1Co 1:2  To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”  “2Co 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia.”  “Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.”  “Php 1:1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.”  “Phm. 1:7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”  Okay I think that we understand that when Paul uses the word “saints” or “saint” that he is speaking to believers, all believers.

            The last part of verse eighteen says “and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”  Now I mentioned in an earlier SD that when I studied this book using Hal Lindsey’s commentary and way back in the 1970’s when I would listen to his tapes on his sermons on the book of Revelation that he would use this portion of verse 18 to say that God would use mankind in the judgments and thus that is why John writes this portion of the verse.  I am not saying that God cannot use man and man’s weapons to bring about some of these judgments, but the more that I study this my thoughts have changed and I believe that God is the one who will bring about these judgments the way He wants to, for we have seen that men curse God for bringing these judgments on planet earth.  With that said this portion of the verse is about judgment, judgment for those who have destroyed the earth in sinful ways.  This verse in not something that the environmental people can cling to, but I am not saying that believers should not care for the earth that God created, but in the end God will destroy or perhaps “un-create” planet earth along with the entire universe and we have learned this truth from the second letter that Peter wrote.

            John MacArthur writes “Given stewardship and dominion over the earth (cf. Gen. 1:28), man instead fell into sin and throughout his history has continually corrupted the earth (cf. Rom. 8:19-21).  When that corrupting reaches its apex, God will destroy the earth and create a new one (21:1; Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet. 3:12-13).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The reason that Peter writes what he writes in 2 Peter 3:12-13 is that he is telling his readers that we are to live in a way that glorifies the Lord while we live in these temporary bodies on this temporary planet.  Take time to tell others what is going to happen in the future so that they can be taken out of the mess that the tribulation will bring.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to say that the stressfulness of yesterday for me was full of answers to God’s people who had prayed for me, and the day, as I look back on it, I believe brought glory to my Lord Jesus Christ, which in the end is what I wanted it to be.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Seventh” (John 4:52).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world’?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/28/2015 12:19 PM

 

Plan For Judgment PT-1 (Rev. 11:18b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2015 11:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  Plan For Judgment PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Revelation 11:18b.

            Message of the verses:  “and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

            Do you remember the term “proleptic aorist” that we looked at in verse fifteen?  We said that even though the event has not already happened the verb shows that in the mind of God it has already happened.  I mentioned earlier that I had heard of this as being in the prophetic tense.  What we are speaking of as already happened in the mind of God is His wrath, and it is just as sure of coming as His Kingdom coming.  You know many people have difficulty with the fact that God’s wrath is coming.  One of the attributes of God is His wrath, and we have been looking at this since the sixth chapter of Revelation as we looked at the different judgments that have been given out by the Lord.  Remember we looked at Revelation 15:1 which states “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.”  I am not sure why people think that God does not demonstrate His wrath on sinful people when this verse makes it clear that it will happen.

            The fact that God’s wrath will be seen during these end times is spoken of in different verses by different OT authors.  Let us look at a few of them beginning with Isaiah 24:17-23 “17 Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. 19 The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. 20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again. 21 So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. 22 They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. 23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.”

            Isaiah 26:20-21 “20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its course. 21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain.”

            Isaiah 30:27-33 “  27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from a remote place; Burning is His anger and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation And His tongue is like a consuming fire; 28  His breath is like an overflowing torrent, Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin. 29 You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, To go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the LORD will cause His voice of authority to be heard, And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And in the flame of a consuming fire In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones. 31 For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified, When He strikes with the rod. 32 And every blow of the rod of punishment, Which the LORD will lay on him, Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them. 33 For Topheth has long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire with plenty of wood; The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire. “

            We have already looked at Ezekiel 38-39 in our study which was recently completed from the book of Ezekiel and these chapters depicts the gathering of unbelievers to fight against Israel in what is called the battle of Gog and Magog.  We learned in these chapters that God will actually cause these nations to come against Israel so that He can destroy them for they have not been kind to Israel and so God will punish them for what they have done to Israel.  Many believe that this will happen during the Tribulation Period.  Ezekiel 38:16-23 says “You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog." 17  ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? 18 “It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger. 19 “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 “The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 “I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord GOD. "Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 “With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. 23  "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."’”

            John MacArthur writes “The sounding of the seventh trumpet marks the fulfillment of the great judgment event that the prophets foresaw and saints of all ages have longed for (cf. Pss. 3:7; 7:6; 35:1-8; 44:26; 68:1-2).  It will be the time when God pours out His wrath on His enemies.”

            We will continue looking at the rest of verse eighteen in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that it is hard for many to look only at God as a God who is love, and He is that, but He also is a God of wrath and because of His holiness He has to punish sin, and He has done this on the cross when He took out His wrath on His Son, but people have to admit that they are sinners and confess that they are sinners to the Lord and then accept the fact that Christ died for them and then they will be saved.  Otherwise God’s wrath will come upon those who have not accepted His free gift of salvation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to trust fully upon the Lord to be able to do His will as I speak to our church family this evening on praying for our Pastors.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Spirit which is of God” (1 Cor. 2:12).

Today’s Bible question:  “At what hour of the day did the fever leave the nobleman’s son?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/27/2015 12:16 PM