SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/13/2015 7:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 of Introduction to War of the Ages PT-3 (War on Earth)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Rev.
12:13-17
Message of the
verses: “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he
persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of
the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the
wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time and times and half
a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like
a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be
swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth
opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his
mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war
with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.”
It is interesting to me that a few days ago I picked up a
book from my bookshelf to read that has been there for some time and I had
never read it before. The book is by
David Jeremiah and he entitles “I Never Thought I See the Day,” and in this
book he goes through different things that he never thought that he would see
in his lifetime. One of the things he
writes about is that he never thought he would see the day when Christians did
not know that they were in a spiritual battle.
This is the second chapter of the book and I just began it last
night. That chapter has a lot to do with
what we are looking at in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation
as we have been looking at battles between Satan and God, Satan and God’s
angels, and now looking at Satan and the Jewish people along with believers on
earth as the battle now comes to the earth since Satan and his angels have been
kicked out of heaven. I certainly agree
with David Jeremiah about many believers who do not know that they are in a
spiritual battle, for the signs are all around the world that we are in a
spiritual battle as the world seems to grow darker by the day, especially in
our own country.
We will not continue to look at the introduction to the
War of the Ages (War on Earth) as we pick it up where we left off in our last
SD.
As I was listening to the message from John MacArthur
that goes along with this chapter in his commentary he said that he was at the
Holocaust Museum which is located in the state of Israel and one of the reasons that the Jewish people made
this Museum was the hope of there would never be another holocaust like there
was in WWII, but the plain truth of Scripture shows that there will indeed be
another one, and this one will actually be far worse than the one from
WWII. Let us look at Jeremiah 30:7 “’Alas!
for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s
distress, But he will be saved from it.”
The KJV of the Bible calls it “Jacob’s Trouble.” Jesus speaks of this trouble in Matthew 24:21
“"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred
since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.’” He goes on in verse 22 to say “"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.”
We see from verse 22 that even though this will be the worst time ever
on planet earth for God’s people that God still is in control and will care for
His own. After the trials and
tribulation comes the glory.
There are two reasons for this to be the worst time on
planet earth. The first one is something
we have been looking at that is that the judgments that we have been looking at
are from the Lord and we still have seven more very fast judgments to look at
that will come from the Lord to judge the unrepentant sinners. The second reason is seen in this 12th
chapter of Revelation which speaks of Satan, the antichrist, and later on the
false prophet causing great troubles on the Jewish people and also on those who
are true believers. Satan will also do
all possible to cause great trouble on the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and God’s
two witnesses that we looked at in chapter 11 of Revelation. However we know that his efforts will not
succeed. John MacArthur writes “His
worst fears will be realized when the Jews ‘look on [the One] whom they have
pierced; and…morn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and…weep bitterly
over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn’ (Zech. 12:10). The believing remnant of Israel will be saved
(Rom. 11:25-29), and their promised kingdom will be established (cf. Hosea
2:14-23).”
We will now look at a fairly long passage from the 12th
chapter of the book of Daniel which foresaw this tragic and triumphant time for
the people of Israel:
“1 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who
stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time
of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time;
and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will
be rescued. 2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake,
these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
3 “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the
expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars
forever and ever. 4 “But
as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of
time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."
“5 Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two
others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank
of the river. 6 And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the
waters of the river, "How long will it be until the end of these
wonders?" 7 I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of
the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by
Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and
as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these
events will be completed. 8 As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I
said, "My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?" 9 He said,
"Go your way, Daniel,
for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. 10 “Many
will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and
none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.
11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination
of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.” The book of Daniel was written sometime
around 5 centuries before Jesus Christ came to earth, and the book of
Revelation was written around 70 years after Jesus went back to heaven and
Daniel is closed and concealed but the book of Revelation is open. My personal belief is that we can better
understand the book of Daniel because we are very close to the events that he
speaks of, and as we compare them to the book of Revelation we also see the
same thing. Now as far as Daniel’s
speaking of 1290 days which is 30 days longer than three and a half years it is
believed that it will take those extra 30 days to prepare the earth for the
Millennial Kingdom to begin. The things
that are spoken of in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel have to take place
along with the judgment between the sheep and the goats as spoken of in Matthew
25 have to take place too along with I’m sure other things that we probably
don’t know about at this time.
Now we can see that Jeremiah, Daniel, and our Lord saw
the same things happening that we are studying about in the book of Revelation,
each from a different time period, and they all saw a future time of
unparalleled distress for the people of Israel.
I personally pray for the people of Israel at least five times per week
as I believe that even though we know these things are going to happen that God
desires us to pray for the completion of what He has promised similar to what
Daniel did in the 9th chapter of Daniel, and we will see that John
prays for the Lord’s return even after writing the entire book of Revelation
with its theme of the 2nd coming of Christ to planet earth.
John MacArthur previews what he goes over in this last
chapter of his commentary for chapter 12 of Revelation by writing “This passage
describes three attacks that Satan’s forces will mount against Israel during
the Tribulation.” We will begin to look
at these three attacks in our upcoming Spiritual Diaries.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can learn from
what we have been looking at today that God is always in charge even though
difficult times are approaching God is still in charge. God took the worst thing that ever happened
on planet earth, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and made it the best thing
that has ever happened on planet earth as Jesus Christ took my place and anyone
else who accepts the forgiveness that He provides from His crucifixion along with
His 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 be ready to tell others whom God brings into my path
the truth that will set them free and save their souls.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Upon the seat of the beast”
(antichrist).
Today’s Bible
question: “What king was hidden in the
Temple for the first six years of his life?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/13/2015 9:01 AM
