" The Song of the Worthy One PT-2" (Rev. 5:8-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/14/2015 12:09 PM

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  The Song of the Worthy One PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 5:8-14

            Message of the verses:  “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." 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 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." 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

            We will continue where we left of in our last SD on this section of verses where we had just quoted Dr. Barnhouse talking about four things that are out of place.

            Today we want to begin by addressing what the twenty-four elders had in their hands which were a harp and also golden bowls full of the prayers of the saints.  First thing we say is that harps have been associated with OT worship and as John MacArthur says they were also closely associated with prophecy.  You can look up a couple examples from this, the first being in 1 Samuel 10:5 and following, the second is found in 2 Kings 3:15 “But now bring me a harpist." While the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha (NIV).”

            Now we look at the bowls that were full of incense and the prayers of the saints.  John MacArthur writes “These wide-mouthed bowls were used in the tabernacle and temple, where they were connected with the altar.  They symbolized the priestly work of intercession for the people.  Scripture elsewhere associates the burning of incense with the prayers of the saints in Psalm 141:2; Luke 1:9-10; and Revelation 8:2-4 (cf. 6:9-10).  The incense in these bowls represents the prayers of believers through the ages that God prophesied and promised redemption of the earth might come.  Taken together, the harps and the bowls indicate that all the prophets ever prophesied and all that God’s children ever prayed for is finally to be fulfilled.”  Perhaps a good example is the prayer that we commonly call “The Lord’s Prayer” for at the end Jesus said “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”

            When the elders brought the desires and prayers before God we read that “they sang a new song.”  I don’t want to open a can of worms here, but there have been church splits over whether or not angels sing.  You might think this foolish, but some believers believe that because angels were never redeemed that therefore they should not be able to sing.  John MacArthur writes the following “Since (with the possible exception of Job 38:7) the Bible nowhere records angels singing, it is best to see only the elders as singing here.  (Adopting the variant reading found in many manuscripts ‘You…have redeemed us to God,’ as the New King James Versions does, further reinforces that point, since the four living creatures are holy angels who had no need to be redeemed.)  That is consistent with rest of Scripture, which pictures the redeemed singing praise to God (cf. Judg. 5:3; 2 Chron. 5:13; Neh. 12:46; Pss. 7:17; 9:2; 6:18; 104:33; 146:2; Acts 16:25; Eph. 5:19) and angels speaking it (cf. Luke 2:13-14).  Throughout Scripture the ‘new song’ is a song of redemption (Pss. 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isa. 42:10; Rev. 14:3).” 

            We will look further into this song in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that my Lord is able to open this scroll, the deed to planet earth because after the contents are fulfilled the people on earth will be able to live in a world without war, without sin like we know it today, and to have the King of Kings and Lord of Lords sitting on His rightful throne in Jerusalem.  What a day that will be.

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

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Palsy” (Luke 5:18) “And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him (Luke 5:18 NASB).”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men. Whereby we must be saved?’”

Answer in our next SD.3/14/2015 12:44 PM

"The Song of the Worthy One PT-1" (Rev. 5:8-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/13/2015 11:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  The Song of the Worthy One PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 5:8-14

            Message of the verses:  “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." 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 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." 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

            As I was reading over these verses I saw the word “and” many times in them, which caused me to say that there were a lot of things added to what John was saying in them.  If my count is correct there are 32 “ands” total in these verses.

            When the Lamb begins to move and take this scroll worship begins from those who are in heaven, and probably everywhere in the universe, for as we learned from looking at Paul’s writing to the Romans we saw that the whole universe is in morning because of the curse of sin that is upon it and it is all about to change, for in seven short years the curse will be done.  I have to say that when I studied this in the past that this moment did not mean as much to me as it does now while looking at it again.  The following is what I wrote in my Spiritual diary on April 25, 2005 “After the Lamb took the book the four living beings and also the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, and this certainly is worship, and not only were they worshiping the Lamb, but they held in their hand a golden bowl that was full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  Worship and prayer certainly do go together as seen in this scene.  There was also music involved in this worship service for the twenty-four elders also had harps in their hands.  So as we again look at this scene we see God the Father, God the Son, the four living beings, and the twenty-four elders along with John.  The prayers of God’s people who are on earth are also represented at this worship service.”

            In verses 9-10 we see the song begin and again I want to quote from another Spiritual Diary dated April 28, 2005 in which I write about this song and what kind of song it is: “These two verses continue the worship service that is going on in heaven, and the way that it is continued is by song, and the song is about the Lord Jesus Christ who is worthy of all worship and praise.  The song starts out as a worship song, for the first words are “Worthy are you to take up the book and to break its seals.”  The song goes on to be a gospel song for it next talks about the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.  Next it is a missionary song for it goes on to say that Jesus died “to purchase for God men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”  The next part of the song is a devotional song because it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ making a kingdom of those who were save “to be a kingdom and priests to our God.”  Lastly it is a prophetic song for it tells about the believers one day reigning with God upon the earth, speaking of the 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth.  There are a lot of things packed into this song.”

            It is important to note that the worship that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God receives is the same worship that the Father receives in Revelation 4:10 showing that Christ is indeed God, and always has been and always will be.

            We have mentioned that the first thing that Christ accomplished was redemption for those who will accept Him as Lord and Savior, and now He ministers in heaven as an intercessor for His children, which are children that are accused by Satan.  Jesus has this ministry because the Father accepted His sacrifice and showed this by raising Him from the dead.  Jesus Christ, at this time is not ready to be fully reigning as this will happen when the wrath of God will be completed and the curse will be removed.  Psalm 2:6-12a is something that I have been quoting, and in our last SD I believe I quoted the first part of that Psalm, but today I want to quote verses 6-12 to show of that future day when Christ will reign  “6  "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."  7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"  10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. 11 Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. 12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled.”

            I will close this SD with a quote from John MacArthur:  “Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse once observed that there are four things out of place in the universe:  the church, which should be in heaven; Israel, which should be living in peace occupying all the land promised to her; Satan, who belongs in the lake of fire, and Christ, who should be seated on His throne reigning.  All four of those anomalies will be set right when Christ takes the scroll from His Father’s hand.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Once again that prayer is an interrogate part of worship, prayer where we line up our wills with the will that the Father has for us, prayer where we are taught patience as at times God will answer yes or maybe no, and then there is that answer we usually don’t really want to hear and that is to wait for a while before I answer it. I have been thinking about prayer, and in particular prayer for our pastors for many weeks, and as I think and pray about this God is showing me things that are very exciting to me, things I want to better incorporate in my prayer life. 

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The Nazarenes” (Acts 24:1-5).

Today’s Bible question:  “What disease had the man that was let down through the roof to get to Jesus?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/13/2015 11:57 AM

             

 

 

The Selection of the Worthy One (Rev. 5:5-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/12/2015 10:41 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  The Selection of the Worthy One

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 5:5-7

            Message of the verses:  “5 and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."  6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

            I am not sure if I mentioned in our last SD that the prayers of John were inappropriate or now but they were.  Why you may ask were these tears of John inappropriate?  An example from the life of our Lord on earth will give us a good idea why they were:  “12 Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, "Do not weep." 14 And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!" 15  The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother (Luke 7:12-15).”   Jesus was saying to her that there was no need for tears, and the reason was that Jesus was there and would take care of the problem.  When Jesus raised the 12 year old daughter of a man who was head over a Synagogue the same thing happened.  Now we can see why John did not need to cry, but as we saw in our last SD his tears meant much, but Jesus would care for the need of John’s tears even though he did not need to shed them.  A bit confusion, but true. 

            We see our Lord described as a lamb in verse six, and also as a lion from the tribe of Judah, and also from the root of David.  All of these are OT prophecies that speak of God’s Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Genesis 49:8-10 we see that Jacob was about to die but before he died he called all of his sons to him and gave them a blessing, and with that blessing he told them about what was going to happen in the future with each son’s tribe.  In verses 8-10 we see what he said about Judah:  “8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. 9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”  Now we know that Jesus came out of the tribe of Judah, and also out of the family of Judah, the root of David and this too is a Messianic prophecy of our Lord.  One only has to look at the genealogies of Jesus in both Matthew and Luke to see that He came from the root of David.  Both Joseph and Mary came from the bloodline of David, Joseph through the bloodline of Solomon and Mary through David’s son Nathan, but both from David.  I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that it was necessary for Mary to come through the line of Nathan. 

            Now we know that when Jesus first came to earth He came as a Lamb, for John writes “John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  John 1:36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"”

            Jesus Christ came the first time to die on the cross for the sins of those who would accept Him as their Savior and Lord.  The problem is that the Jews were looking for a lion as they knew the prophecies of the lion, but did not pay attention to the prophecies of Jesus being the Lamb of God.  When we look at John 1:29 we see Jesus as a Lamb and that word is Arnion, and that means a little pet lamb, and this little pet lamb was seen in the Passover celebration when the father of a family would bring into the house a little pet lamb to stay in the house with his family for four days and then have to violently kill the lamb, which surely pictures our Lord who first came as a Lamb and allowed the people of Israel and also the Romans to kill Him by hanging Him on a cross for our sins.

            A feature of this lamb was that he had horns, and horns signify power for that is how an animal with horns defends itself.  John MacArthur writes “In imagery drawn from the animal world, horns is Scripture symbolize strength and power.  Seven, the number of perfection, symbolizes the Lamb’s complete, absolute power.  The Lamb in John’s vision also had seven eyes, again denoting perfect omniscience and complete understanding and knowledge.  Those eyes, John noted, represented the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.  As noted in the discussions of 1:4 and 4:5 earlier…the phrase seven Spirits of God describes the Holy Spirit in all His fullness.  Here as in 4:5, the Holy Spirit’s fullness is seen in relation to judgment, as He goes out into all the earth searching for guilty, unrepentant sinners to judge (cf. John 16:8).”

            We know that when Jesus ascended into heaven that He was there to make intercession for His children, all those who had accepted Him as Savior and Lord.  It is Satan who would accuse them before the Father and Jesus would intercede for them because they now had His righteousness.  There will come a day when His intercession will come to an end and He will judge those who are on the earth and those on earth will not see the Lamb, but the lion.  I am not saying that people will not be saved in the tribulation period, for many will.  The Lion that the Jews sought in Christ’s first appearance will be seen during the tribulation period.

            We mentioned the scroll in our last SD, and this scroll is the title deed to the universe, and what we will begin to see is God taking back His universe and the way He will do that is written on this Scroll.  I also mentioned that we don’t know who the strong angel was in our last SD, but I want to say now that the meaning of the name Gabriel is “strength of God,” so it is possible that he was the one who spoke in verse two.

            When we look at verse seven we see the final, monumental act in the heavenly scene.  It began in 4:1 when John was taken into heaven describing the vision that he recorded in chapter four and a now chapter five, and was building to the moment when the Lamb would take the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the Throne. 

            MacArthur writes “This is the same scene described by Daniel in Daniel 7:13-14, although Daniel does not mention the scroll:  ‘13  "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.’

            “The worthy One has arrived to take back what is rightfully His.”

            In tomorrow’s SD we will probably only be able to look at half of the last verses in chapter five.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to look at some verses in the second Psalm as they too have to do with this moment of Jesus beginning to rule:  “1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!" 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."”  Jesus will one day rule and let me tell you those kings of the earth will not be laughing anymore mocking Him as they do now.

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 He has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “His birthright” (Genesis 25:29-34).

Today’s Bible question:  “Tertullus said Paul was a ringleader of what sect?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/12/2015 12:40 PM

               

           

The Search for the Worthy One (Rev. 5:2-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/11/2015 9:25 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  The Search for the Worthy One

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 5:2-4

            Message of the verses:  “2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”

            We may ask the question “Who is this strong angel that is spoken of in verse two?”  I suppose that one may guess that this is Gabriel or even Michael, but if the text does not say who it is then I suppose that it is not important for us to know his name or perhaps God does not want us to know who he is so we will leave it as a strong angel.  We do know that this angel had a strong voice and how far it carried could be as John MacArthur speculates to the end of the universe.  His quest was to find someone who is worthy to open the book that is mentioned in verse one, and also able to break its seals.  As we looked at different OT prophets we have seen that they were presented books and then asked to eat them, but there is one book that is spoken about where the prophet was not asked to eat the book and that book is found in the 12^th chapter of Daniel where we read:  “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. 12 “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 13 “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age."”  Now I won’t get into all of this prophecy, but will look at a few things from it.  I think that the One standing above the river is the preincarnate Christ who is speaking to Daniel.  Next we see that the book is sealed up until the time of the end, so could this possibly be the book that is sealed up in the verses we are looking at today?  The other times I have read this I thought that the book of Daniel was spoken of, but now I think it could possibly be the book in Rev. 5.  It does make sense to me, but I surely cannot be sure of it.

            As we continue to look at Revelation 5:2-4 we see that there came no answer from the angel so this was very upsetting to John as he did not get an answer to the question.  He may have been thinking about people like Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel, David, John the Baptist, Peter, or Paul, but none of these were able to open this book and he wondered who was.  He began to weep and John MacArthur writes of this word “weep is from klaio, the same word used to describe Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and Peter’s bitter weeping after betraying the Lord (Luke 22:62).  It is thus a word that expresses strong, unrestrained emotion.  This is the only time in Scripture that tears are seen in heaven (cf. 7:17; 21:4).  W. A. Criswell explains why John wept:  ‘[John’s tears] represent the tears of all God’s people through all the centuries.  Those tears of the Apostle John are the tears of Adam and Eve, driven out of the Garden of Eden, as they bowed over the first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground with their tears over the silent, still form of their son, Abel.  Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their affliction and slavery.  They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried upon heaven.  They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience in the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable.  Such is the curse that sin has laid upon God’s beautiful creation; and this is the damnation of the hand of him who holds it, that usurper, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan-devil.  ‘And I wept audibly,’ for the failure to find a Redeemer meant that this earth in its curse is consigned forever to death.  It meant that death, sin, damnation and hell should reign forever and ever and the sovereignty of God’s earth should remain forever in the hands of Satan.’”

            We know the rest of the story, so we know that John’s tears were premature for John was with our Lord on earth when He saw people crying over a dead 12 year old girl and Jesus told them not to cry and then He raised her from the dead, something He did many times while on planet earth.  How many times have we wept for reasons that W. A.  Criswell spoke of and it all comes down to sin and the curse that God has put upon this earth because of sin, every tear that has fallen has to do with sin and the curse, for if there were no sin there would be no curse, and there would be no tears. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to say that I was moved by the truthfulness of Criswell’s writings as I never thought about John’s tears having so much meaning, but it now makes sense to me.  It makes me have a greater degree of thankfulness for what Christ did to eventually take away the curse of sin as He was nailed to a cross to accomplish that for me, and I am ever thankful for that.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to be thankful for the love He has for me.

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

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Esau sell to Jacob?”

 Answer in our next SD.

3/11/2015 10:20 AM 

             

"Introduction to Revelation 5"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2015 8:02 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Introduction to Revelation 5

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Revelation 5

            Message of the verses:  I thought it best to do this SD on the introduction of Revelation chapter five, a chapter that will led us into the first judgments that God will bring upon the whole world with His emphasis still on the people of Israel to bring them back to a saving knowledge of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.  I have mentioned that I am also studying the book of Ezekiel at the same time I am studying the book of Revelation, and I want to quote a portion of Ezekiel chapter 37 to show that God will bring Israel to a point where they will be saved, after all Paul writes in the eleventh chapter of Romans that there will come a time when “all Israel will be saved.”  We live in a time where Israel has been a nation for most of our lives, I was a little over one year old when Israel became a nation and so it seems normal to me to see the Jewish people back in their land.  God used the prophet Ezekiel to write about Israel becoming a nation again and we will look briefly at what he wrote about this and then comment on it a bit.  “1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." 4 Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ’O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’ 5 “Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ’Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6  ’I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’" 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9  Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."’" 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ’Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12 “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 “Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.’"”

            As we look at these verses we can see that Ezekiel was being told by God that one day Israel would become a nation again, and this happened in May of 1948, so the bones became alive and then the body became alive, and at the end of these verses God says that He will put His Spirit within them and they will know that He is God.  I believe that verse fourteen goes along with what Paul wrote to the Romans that all Israel will be saved, and that this will happen near the end of the tribulation period.  Another passage from the Old Testament book of Daniel shows that God would deal with Israel for 490 years, but at the end of 483 years the Messiah would be cut off, that is that He would die, and then Daniel writes when this last seven years would begin, and it would begin with the signing of a peace treaty between the antichrist and the nation of Israel for seven years.  The seven year period is what we call the tribulation period and it is yet in the future.  The problem that we face now is that Satan has taken over what we call the world system, and what we will see in Chapter Five of Revelation is that God is preparing to take back control of planet earth and what we are looking at in the first part of chapter five is a scroll that has seven seals on it, and this scroll is the title deed of planet earth and once this scroll is opened and the things written on it are complete then God will take back His earth and then the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God will set on David’s throne for 1000 years as promised to the Jewish people in many OT prophecies with the length of it added in the book of Revelation.

            Over the course of history there have been many men who want to take over and rule planet earth, but none will be completely successful.  We mentioned Satan, who was the first to do this and he will one day have two men who will aid him in trying to accomplish this feat, the Antichrist and the False Prophet and along with Satan make up the unholy trinity.  Before this happens we can look back at human history and see men like the rulers of Rome, Hitler, Stalin, and the likes of them who have tried and failed to rule planet earth.  Jesus Christ the Lamb of God as I stated will do this because He is the One who created all that is seen and has the right to rule over it.

            John MacArthur writes “The events of chapter 5 occur right after those of chapter 4.  The scene, as in chapter 4, is the throne of God in heaven.  Present are the cherubim, the twenty-four elders (representing the raptured, glorified church), and the Holy Spirit in His sevenfold glory (4:5).  The events described in these two chapters anticipate the holocaust of divine judgment about to be poured out on the sinful, rebellious, cursed earth (chapters 6-19).  Awestruck by the indescribable majesty of God’s throne, and the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder that proceed from it, the cherubim and elders begin a series of hymns of praise to God.  Those hymns celebrate God as creator and redeemer, and rejoice that He is about to take back what is rightfully His.  This is the moment that all Christians (Eph. 1:14) and the entire creation (Rom. 8:19-22) long for.”

            I have mentioned that there is a scroll that has to be opened and to better understand about this scroll John MacArthur quotes Dr. Robert L. Thomas:  “This kind of contract was known all over the Middle East in ancient times and was used by the Romans from the time of Nero on.  The full contract would be written on the inner pages and sealed with seven seals.  Then the content of the contract would be described briefly on the outside. All kinds of transactions were consummated this way, including marriage-contracts, rental and lease agreements, release of slaves, contract-bills, and bonds.  Support also comes from Hebrew practices.  The Hebrew document most closely resembling this scroll was a title-deed that was folded and signed, requiring at least three witnesses.  A portion of text would be written, folded over and sealed, with a different witness signing at each fold.  A larger number of witnesses meant that more importance was assigned to the document.”

            In our recent study of the book of Jeremiah we saw this kind of thing in action.  July 1, 2014 I wrote on the 32^nd chapter of Jeremiah and it tells about how Jeremiah bought a piece of property from his nephew, and he bought it when the Babylonians were about to defeat Israel, so in a human view this was not too smart, but in God’s eyes this was very important because it showed that Israel would once again return to the land.  The document was set up in the way that Dr. Thomas explained in the quote seen above.

            As we look into chapter five of Revelation we will see this scroll and we will also see worship, worship to the Lamb of God, worship because He will begin to have this scroll opened in order to take back planet earth which is rightfully His. 

            John MacArthur writes “The chapter divides naturally into three sections:  the search for the worthy one, the selection of the worthy one, and the song of the worthy one.”  God willing we will begin our study in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What is see in the things written above is that God is fully in control of planet earth even though Satan is the head of the world system he can only do what the Lord allows him to do, and one day God will cast him into the lake of fire which was created for Satan and his fallen angels.

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 or Christ today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Hannah” (1 Samuel 1:9-11).

Today’s Bible question:  “To what individual did Paul write two epistles?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/10/2015 8:57 AM

"Toward the Throne PT-2" (Rev. 4:8b-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/9/2015 10:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Toward the Throne PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 4:8b-11

            Message of the verses:  When we finished yesterday’s SD we were in the middle of writing about the worship of God through the element of Him being the Almighty God which is seen in the eight verse.  We stated that there were five hymns of praise beginning in the last part of chapter four and going through chapter five.  We also mentioned that this mighty oratorio of praise could be divided into two movements which were creation which is seen in chapter four and then the hymn of redemption which is seen in chapter five.  This element of worship to God as Creator has several elements and we looked at the first one, that of his holiness and then began the second one, that of He being Almighty or we could describe it as one of His attributes, omnipotent.   We now continue on this element.

            “and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." 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, 11  "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."”

John MacArthur writes “The phrase ‘He is able’ expresses God’s power toward His elect, redeemed children.  In Ephesians 3:20 Paul praises God for being ‘able to do [far more] abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,’ adding in 2 Corinthians 9:8 ‘God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.’   Paul wrote to Timothy expressing his confidence in God’s power working on his behalf:  ‘I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day’ (2 Tim. 1:12).  Hebrews 2:18 reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ ‘is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted,’ while Hebrews 7:23 reassures believers that ‘He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.’  Jude closes his brief epistle with a doxology of praise:  ‘Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen’ (Jude 24-25).”

            We stated when looking at the holiness of God that when looking it through this passage that it had to do with His righteous judgment and the same is true with His power.  Examples of His power for judgment as seen in His judging Satan and his angels, expelling them from heaven; when He drowned the world’s population during the flood; destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and when He drowned Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea which destroyed the most powerful army of the world at that time.  As you read through the Old Testament you can find others, and now in the NT book of Revelation we see a multitude of God’s power in judgment about to come upon the whole world.

            The prophet Nahum writes “Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire And the rocks are broken up by Him (Nah. 1:6).”  Malachi adds “"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap (Mal. 3:2).”  Here is one from the Psalms that I like because of our leadership in this country at this time:  “2  The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3  "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!" 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."”  Yes all the rulers of who think that they can stand against the Lord will all have to answer one day.  Remember that the best type of ruler is one who realizes that he is second in command. 

            We next see that the twenty-four elders praise and worship the Lord because of His eternality saying “who was and who is and who is to come.”  This is not the first time we have looked at this in our study of Revelation for it also was seen in chapter one.  Who lives forever is also a part of His eternality.  The following are a list of verses that speak of God being Eternal:  “Isa. 9:7; Dan 2:44; Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 1:32, 33; 2 Peter 1:11; Rev. 11:15).”  I realize that the truth of God is difficult for us humans to totally understand, but as other truths about God we must take them by faith for God is the God of truth.  As humans living on this earth we see things begin and then end, but God is without beginning and has no end, for He is eternal.  As believers we gain comfort from this truth for we know just as God cannot change, He will never end, and so the promises that He gives to us are forever.

            Now as the four living creatures give glory to the Lord, so then the twenty-four elders also do the same.  “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.”  We will see this falling down before the Lord five more times as we continue our study in the book of Revelation. 

            MacArthur then writes “Amazingly, after prostrating themselves the twenty-four elders ‘cast their crowns before the throne.’  They are not preoccupied with their own excellence.  They are not concerned about their own holiness, honor, or reward.  All those things pale into insignificance and become meaningless in light of the glory of God.” 

            Next we see the elders add their own not to the chorus of praising the Lord which was initiated by the four living creatures as they cry out “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”  MacArthur points out that the word worthy is Axios.  He writes that this word “was used of the Roman emperor when he marched in a triumphal procession.  The focus of the elders’ song is on God’s glory manifested in creation; He is presented as Creator throughout Scripture.  The elders are acknowledging that God has the right both to redeem and to judge His creation.  Their song anticipates paradise lost becoming paradise regained.”

            In this first song we see that the praise pictures God about to judge Satan, demons, and also sinners and then take back His creation.  Then the following will happen as Paul wrote of in Romans 8:19-22 “19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”  When our Lord returns to planet earth as seen in Rev. 19, He will not only reclaim the world for the glory of God but will also redo the earth itself in preparation for the millennial kingdom.  Some of this can be seen when we get to the last part of Ezekiel, chapters 40-48. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to praise the Lord in these specific ways of being holy, and also being all powerful, but also to praise Him for the fact that He created all things, and will one day reclaim them as promised in His Word.  That will be a wonderful day indeed.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in His love as I learn more about it from the study of His Word.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In the bulrushes in the river” (Exodus 2:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who promised the Lord that if he would give her a son, she would give him back to Him?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/9/2015 12:03 PM

"Toward the Throne PT-1" (Rev. 4:8b-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/8/2015 7:38 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Toward the Throne PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 4:8b-11

            Message of the verses:  “and day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty who was, and who is and who is to come.” 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, 11  "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."”

            Again I want to begin this SD with a quote from my earlier Spiritual Diary dated 04/18/2005:  “In verse ten there is a description of God the Father when it says of Him that He lives forever and ever.  The verse also tells about four living creatures giving honour and thanks to God the Father the One sitting on the throne.  While this is going on the twenty-four elders are falling at the feet of God the Father in worship by casting their crowns before the throne and while they are doing this they say “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”  This is the quote of the 11^th verse in this 4^th chapter of Revelations and it is one of the most meaningful verses in all of the Scriptures when it comes to real worship of God.  God is worthy to receive all glory and honor and also power because He is the One who created all things and it is because of His will that they were created and have their being.  This verse is about worshiping God the Father because of His wonderful act of creation.”

            John MacArthur points out that in this section of chapter four and into chapter five we have five great hymns of praise, “during the singing of which the size of the choir gradually increases.”  In verse eight we see a quartet which consist of the four living creatures, and then in verse ten we add the twenty-four elders and then in chapter five and verse eight harps are added to give more music.  In chapter 5:11 the rest of the angels added their voices and then finally in 5:13 every created being in the universe join in this mighty chorus in order to praise the Lord.  We know that worship is only for the Lord alone even though it is something that Satan has always wanted.

            MacArthur writes “This mighty oratorio of praise and worship may be divided into two movements:  the hymn of creation (chap. 4), and the hymn of redemption (chap. 5).  The hymn of creation, the first movement, may be divided into several elements.”  We will try to get through a few of these movements and then pick the rest of it in our next SD.

            The first element is found in the last part of verse eight which contains the threefold singing of the word holy, and this speaks of God’s holiness.  This is seen in other parts of the Word of God like Isaiah 6:3 which says “And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."”  Holiness is a part of God’s attributes and in the books that I have read on the attributes of God it is mostly listed as the first attribute.  “God’s holiness is his utter and complete separation from evil in any and every form.”  In my Greek/English dictionary it records the following in the first section of the word “holy.”  “Holy, characteristic of God, separated to God, worthy of veneration  1) Its highest application is to God himself, in his purity, majesty and glory.”

            Let us look at Habakkuk 1:13a “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”  (NIV)

            In our verse in Revelation chapter four the holiness of God is exhibited through judgment.  God hates sin so He has no alternative but to judge sin and evil.  Now one may ask what about us, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  When we look at the cross, when God caused darkness to fall on the land while Christ was on the cross we learn that at this very time God was taking out His wrath on His Son for us, and in exchange for that we receive His righteousness, that is those who accept Him as Savior and Lord.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).”  It is because of His grace and mercy that God restrains from judging all unbelievers at once, but there will come a day when all will be judged and we will read about that later on in the book of Revelation. 

            The next element of worship is His power and this is seen in His name “the Almighty” and this is the title that God identifies Himself to Abraham as found in Genesis 17:1 “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”   This also speaks of one of God’s attributes and that is His omnipotence, meaning that nothing is stronger than the Lord, and if anything was then He would stop being God Almighty, but that cannot happen.  Because His is all powerful He can do whatever His holy will desires to do “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable (Isa. 40:28).”  Psalm 115:3 says “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”  The more you know about God through the study of His attributes the better you can worship Him. 

            In 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 we read these words that speak of God’s power demonstrated in His creation, the fact that He controls it:  “11 “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. 12 “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.”

            We will continue to look at this element of worship in our next SD, but for now remember that God is worthy of being worshiped because of His holiness, and also for His omnipotence.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The better I understand the attributes of God the better I can worship Him and the better I know Him, and this is important to me.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Matthew 22:42).

Today’s Bible question:  In what place did Pharaoh’s daughter discover Moses?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/8/2015 8:25 PM