Introduction to Revelation Nine (Rev. 9:1-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/24/2015 10:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  Introduction to Revelation Nine

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 9:1-12

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4  They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. 6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. 7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. 10 They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. 11 They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12 The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.”

            Revelation 9:1-12 are the verses that we will be looking at over the next few days as they describe the fifth trumpet judgment which as you remember is the first of three “woes” as described by the angel in Revelation 8:13.  As we look at this judgment we will see that the “star from heaven which had fallen to earth” is none other than Satan himself.  Let us first look at Isaiah 14:12-15 which speaks of Satan’s fall “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.’”  I wrote the following about these verses on August 13, 2013 “As far as this passage speaking about Satan I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe:  “The highest of God’s angels tried to usurp the throne of God and capture for himself the worship that belongs to God (Matthew 4:8-10).  The name ‘Lucifer’ (‘morning star’) indicates that Satan tries to imitate Jesus Christ, who is ‘the bright and morning star’ (Rev. 22:16).  ‘I will be like the Most High’ reveals his basic strategy, for he is an imitator (Isa. 14:14; 2 Cor. 11:13-15).  Like the king of Babylon, Satan will one day be humiliated and defeated.  He will be cast out of heaven (Rev. 12) and finally cast into hell (20:10).”

            In the beginning of his commentary on this chapter John MacArthur goes through a brief history of what Satan has done since he fell sometime after he was created by God.  It is not known exactly how long it took for Satan to fall, but I would think that it was in a very short time after his creation as the most beautiful and highest ranking angel that God created.  In my study of the book “The Battle for the Beginning” which was written by John MacArthur he stated that Satan probably fell very quickly after being created and also that his belief was that the angels were all created shortly before God created the earth.  Some have even suggested that God created the earth to show the angels who did not fallen Satan of His goodness and grace, but I am not sure that this was the reason at all as to why God created the earth. 

            Let us look very briefly at some of the things that Satan has done since his fall as described in our Isaiah passage.  The first thing would be that he took one third of the angels with him to following him in his quest to overtake the Lord.  Next we see that he tempted and caused Adam and Eve to fall and the result was that sin entered into the human race.  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).”  After the fall of man we read the following in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."”  This is the first promise that God gives of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.

            In Satan’s tormenting of righteous Job we see that he could not cause Job to fall back into the sinful life that he was before he became a believer.  What I am saying that once God saves a person he will always be saved even though at times he will continue to sin, his salvation stays with him forever. 

            Now the next item that I am going to write is controversial but in many ways makes perfect sense.  I will quote from John MacArthur’s commentary at this time:  “After the fall, God graciously promised a Savior who would come to destroy Satan and deliver people from his power (Gen. 3:15).  Satan countered by sending demons to cohabitate with human women, attempting to produce a hybrid demon/human race of people for whom the God-Man could not atone (Gen. 6:1-4).  In response, God destroyed that race and the whole sinful world in the powerful judgment of the universal Flood—the single greatest catastrophe the earth has yet seen.”  1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.  3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (Genesis 6:1-4).”  As I said this view is controversial but when you add other Scripture verses to it from 2 Peter and also Jude it does make sense to me.

            One of the things that Satan has done is to cause upheaval to the nation of Israel, the nation that God called to bring His Word and also the Living Word into the world.  As we have been studying through the OT we have seen the many things that Satan has tempted Israel to do right from the time when God first called them.  Abraham went to Egypt when he was not supposing to and brought back a handmaid for his wife whom he later fathered a son by thinking that this was God’s way of giving him a son.  That son has trouble to Israel even up to this day as he was the father of the twelve tribes of the Arabs.

            As we fast forward to the time when Christ came into the world we see that Satan tried to have him killed when He was born or at least when He was very young, and then when He grew up and began His ministry Jesus was tempted by Satan for 40 days in the wilderness.  Even though it was the will of God to have Jesus die on the cross Satan played a big part in it as he caused Judas to betray Him.  Satan also was given permission from the Lord to swift Peter like wheat and he betrayed Jesus three times but did repent and became a powerful leader in the church giving the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost.  Satan prompted Ananias and his wife Sapphira to corrupt the church by lying to the Holy Spirit as seen in the fifth chapter of Acts.  Satan hounded Paul hindering him with a “thorn in the flesh.”

            In order to preview what we will be looking at in these first twelve verses of chapter nine as we follow the outline of John MacArthur I want to quote from the last paragraph of his opening comments:  “Each of the first four trumpet judgments affect the physical universe in some way, but with the sounding of the fifth trumpet the focus will shift from the physical to the spiritual realm.  The traumatic events associated with that trumpet vision unfold in four scenes:  the pit unlocked, the power unleashed, the appearance unveiled, and the prince unmasked.”  It does indeed sound exciting to look at this fifth trumpet judgment, the first of three “woes.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I try to every morning put on the spiritual armor that God has graciously provided for every believer as found in Ephesians in order to stand:  “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”  It is very important for believers to know the schemes of the devil, and equally important to put on the spiritual armor.  Warren Wiersbe in his book “The Strategy of Satan writes on the spiritual armor a prayer that is an example to follow, but warns that we as believers must pray as we want to pray:  ““Father, thank you for the provision you have made for victory over Satan.  Now, by faith, I put on the girdle of truth.  May my life today be motivated by truth.  Help me to maintain integrity.  By faith, I put on the breastplate of righteousness.  May my heart love that which is righteous and refuse what is sinful.  Thank you for the imputed righteousness of Christ.  By faith, I take the shield of faith.  May I trust you and your Word today and not add fuel to any of Satan’s darts.  Thank you that I can go into this day without fear.  By faith, I put on the helmet of salvation.  May I remember today that Jesus is coming again.  Help me to live in the future tense.  Protect my mind from discouragement and despair.  By faith, I take the sword of the Spirit.  Help me to remember your Word and to use it today.  Father, by faith have put on the armor.  May this be a day of victory.”  Dr. Wiersbe adds “This is not a routine prayer, and I have not recorded it here so that you can memorize it and repeat it.  Rather, it is here to give you some idea of how we put on the pieces of the armor by faith, by prayer.  This is a private matter between you and the Lord.  I cannot tell you how to pray; but I can tell you that you had better pray.” 

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The walls of Jericho fell” (Joshua 6:20).

Today’s Bible question:  “for how long was Saul without sight?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/24/2015 11:10 AM

 

The Fourth Trumpet (Rev. 8:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/23/2015 9:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  The Fourth Trumpet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 8:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. 13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"”

            On June 16, 2005 I wrote the following in that day’s SD:  “The judgment spoken of in this verse can be explained in a couple of different ways in that God could cause the sun, moon, and stars to be blocked out from being seen for a third of the day and night.  There is another possibility and that is that because of the other judgments there has been a lot of pollution upon the earth and because of that the sun, moon, and stars would shine with less intensity by one-third.  The earth and its people will have been going through many terrible things by this time, yet this is not the end for in the next verse there are three “woes” that are announced and they are the three last trumpet judgments.

            “This judgment will affect not only the light upon the earth, but it will also affect the food supply and the weather in great ways, and this will bring about many more hardships for those who live upon the earth.  This judgment may not last for the rest of the tribulation for in one of the other judgments it is said that the sun will intensify its heat.  (Rev. 6:18-19)”

            Now we have seen that the scene changed from the earth to the oceans and not it shifts to the sky as seen in verse twelve.  Now the following is from the Philips paraphrase Bible:  “The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third-part of the sun, a third-part of the moon and a third of the stars were struck. A third-part of the light of each of them was darkened, so that light by day and light by night were both diminished by a third-part.”  I was interested in the word “struck” and so I looked it up and it could also be translated “smite,” which I thought is interesting too as it gives a whole new meaning to this verse as if it is intentionally done, which of course it will be.  Can you imagine how all of those environmentalists will be ringing their hands as all of the pollution that will be going on during this period of time?  Perhaps they will be trying to save their own skin and will not be worrying about the environment. I don’t think that people are to trash the earth, but unfortunately many people are actually worshiping the earth and they also profit from this and that does not set well with me at all.  This earth belongs to the Lord for He is the one who created it and some day according to Peter’s writing it will all burn up or actually be un-created.  With this in mind as believers we are to get the word out that this is going to happen so that some of those who listen to us will be saved from what we are studying about in Revelation.

            John MacArthur writes on the verb “were smitten” and he says “Plesso (were smitten) is the verb from which the noun ‘plague’ (cf. 11:6; 16:21) derives.  The heavenly bodies are hit with a plague from God ‘so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.’  This partial eclipse, reminiscent of the ninth Egyptian plague (Ex. 10:21-22), is temporary, as God will later increase the amount of heat coming from the sun (cf. 16:8-9).  At this point however, the loss of heat from the sun will cause temperatures to plunge drastically all over the world.  That will severely disrupt the earth’s weather patterns and the seas’ tides, leading to violent, unpredictable storms and tides, the destruction of crops, and further loss of animal and human lives.”

            Both in the Old Testament and the Words of Jesus in the New Testament speak of signs in the heavens.  We will sample from both at this time.  “9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light (Isa. 13:9-10).”  7 “And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud And the moon will not give its light. 8 “All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you And will set darkness on your land," Declares the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 32:7-8).”  25  "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26  men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Luke 21:25-26).”  24 "But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, 25  AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken (Mark 13:24-25).” 

            The news does not get any better after the forth trumpet sounds for the remaining blasts from the angels on their trumpets brings on even more devastation as the last three trumpet judgments are classified as “woes.,” something that will be worse than the other judgments as we will see as we look at them later in our study of Revelation.  John MacArthur writes on these woes and the angel announcing them:  “The imagery is that of a strong bird of prey rushing to consume its victim, in this case referring to the rapid approach of God’s final vengeance (cf. Deut 28:49; Hos. 8:1; Hab. 1:8).  Depicted in the vision as ‘flying in mid-heaven,’ the bird would be at the height of the midday sun, thus visible to all.  His loud voice assures that all will be able to hear his pronouncements.  The eagle’s dire warning is that the last three trumpet judgments will be even more devastating than the final hour.”

            We have to look at what John also said in this verse and that is that God’s wrath and judgment will come upon those who “dwell upon the earth.”   As I look back to some of the judgments that are written in the Scriptures that the Lord has brought upon people it makes me think that they were small in that they just targeted certain people groups other than when God brought on the flood that actually destroyed all peoples with the exception of Noah and his family.  Sodom and Gomorrah was just targeted to those living in those wicked cities.  The plagues against Egypt were only against the Egyptians.  So other than the flood and what we are seeing in the judgments in Revelation it was not a worldwide judgment.  I look at the book of Revelation in a new light as I study it this time, and that new light is that God is taking back planet earth and judging those who have had control including Satan and his demons along with the world system of Babylon in both ecumenical and also “religiously.”  We will continue to see this as we study the book of Revelation. 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Some people have trouble God’s wrath, which is one of His attributes.  What we are seeing and studying about is God’s wrath and I want to point out what His wrath is about by quoting a note from John MacArthur’s study Bible and the verse that it is from is “Ro 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness:”  Speaking of the wrath to of God MacArthur writes:  “This is not an impulsive outburst of anger aimed capriciously at people whom God does not like.  It is settled, determined response of a righteous God against sin (cf. Pss. 2:5, 12; 45:7; 75:8; 76:6, 7; 78:49-51; 90:7-9; Isa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15-16 Jn. 3:36; Rom. 9:22; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:5-6).”  Just as the “jealousy of God,” which is one of His attributes is hard to understand so is the wrath of God hard to understand, and because we are looking at it in this book I think it is best to understand it.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The healing ministry.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened at Jericho when the children of Israel shouted at Joshua’s command?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/23/2015 10:47 AM    

 

"The Second Trumpet" (Rev. 8:8-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2015 9:09 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  The Second Trumpet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Revelation 8:8-9

            Message of the verses:  “8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9  and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

            I want to first of all quote something that I wrote on June 14, 2005 on these two verses which speak of the second trumpet judgment:  “This second trumpet judgment is another judgment that is on the earth, while the latter judgments have demons involved with them.  I have heard different things to help describe this judgment, such as the burning mountain that was thrown into the sea could be a missile with a cobalt bomb on it that would cause the sea to turn red from the cobalt such as seen in “red” tides.  It could also be a meteor that comes from outer space.  At any rate God is in charge of sending these judgments to His earth and this one will be very bad as it will cause a third of the sea to turn to blood, or at least red, and a third of all marine life to die and a third of all ships to be destroyed, and this will have a devastating effect upon those who live on planet earth.”  I have mentioned that it was the end time prophecies that the Lord used to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and that I read and listened to Hal Lindsey in my early years of being a believer.  One of the things that he taught from the book of Revelation was that man is perfectly capable to destroy this planet because of the technology that he has and so he would go through these judgments and write possibilities of how man could be used by God to fulfill these judgments.  He quoted Re 11:18 “And the nations were enraged, 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.”  As I stated in our last SD many people have different ideas on how God will bring about these judgments, but the main thing to remember is that God is in charge and that He will fulfill these judgments as He sees fit, but again it is interesting to listen to different people as they describe how they think that these judgments will be fulfilled by God.  Another thing to remember is that John was writing this around 96 AD and therefore was using language from that time period to try and describe what he was seeing and if he actually did see a missile fall into the sea he would describe it in first century language.  We can’t neglect why all of these judgments are happening as we study Revelation and not get so caught up in how they are going to happen.  God will take back planet earth from evil men and from Satan and his demons and it will be accomplished through these judgments and at the end of these judgments Jesus Christ will return to take over Planet Earth and Satan will be in the lake of fire along with all of the evil men of that time and Christ will rule from Jerusalem for 1000 years as we will learn, but even that is not the end of the book as we will see later on as we continue to study it.

               Notice the words from verse eight “something like” as John describes what this second trumpet entails, as he again uses a simile.  Now we saw the first trumpet fall on the earth while this one falls on the oceans.  If I am not mistaken the Atlantic Ocean is about one third of the oceans, so it is possible that this happens there.  The oceans were given to mankind as a blessing from God and they provide many things for man such as food and oxygen as much of the oxygen comes from the phytoplankton and algae that are in the seas.  Rain comes many times from the sea as water evaporates from the ocean and then is transported by winds to land, so the oceans are very important to man, and this judgment is on one third of the ocean waters.  John MacArthur writes “But people have repaid God’s gracious provision with ingratitude and idolatry, revering the sea as the supposed source of their remotest evolutionary ancestors.  As He devastated the land environment, the true God judges the sea.” 

            The view that John MacArthur has is as follows:  “This is evidently a giant meteorite or asteroid, surrounded by flaming gases set ablaze by the friction of the earth’s atmosphere, on a collision course with the earth.”  If what he speculates happens then this will be like one of the movies that I have seen as mankind watches from afar as the meteorite or asteroid heads toward earth and they can do nothing about it.  Of course this will happen and many people and creatures will die because of this judgment. 

            The red color of the sea could come from cobalt as suggested for after all a red tide comes from cobalt, and or, it could come from the dying animals in it as their blood turns the ocean red.  God did turn the Nile River red as one of the judgments against Egypt so there is no reason to believe that this kind of thing could not happen again.  Another thing this judgment will effect is that a third of the ships on the oceans will be destroyed and perhaps this will come from the giant waves that will happen because of whatever it was that falls into the seas. 

            MacArthur finishes this section on this second trumpet judgment by writing “So the first two trumpets will bring devastating judgment on both the land and the sea, which are the beginning of the final catastrophes God will unleash on the sinful, rebellious world.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is hard to fathom all the devastation that this earth and the people who live on it will have to endure.  One of the reasons that I write these Spiritual Diaries and post them onto the internet is so people can read about these things that are soon to come and realize that they do not have to go through them.  They need a ticket to leave planet earth before these events begin to happen and the price of that ticket has been paid for by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for the sins of mankind and all one has to do is accept the exchange that He has for them.  “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’s a matter of believing faith to receive this gift of salvation and be assured if the Rapture happened today they would not be here for the events we are studying about.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bilhah” (Genesis 35:25).

Today’s Bible question:  As a physician, what particular ministry of Christ does Luke give special prominence?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/22/2015 9:55 AM   

 

"The First Trumpet" (Rev. 8:7)

 

SPIRITUA DIARY FOR 4/21/2015 8:16 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The First Trumpet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 8:7

            Message of the verses:  “7 The first angel blew his trumpet. Hail and fire mingled with blood appeared, and were hurled upon the earth. One-third of the earth was burnt up, one-third of all the trees was burnt up, and every blade of green grass was burnt up.”  (Philips) “7 The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up (NASB).”

            The lull is officially over as we come to the first trumpet being blown by the first angel and the first thing we see is hail, something that is associated with divine judgment in the Scriptures.  We first see this in the 9^th chapter of the book of Exodus.  “18  "Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now (Exodus 9:18).”  God said to Job in 38:22-23 “22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle?”  “2  Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent; As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand (Isa. 28:2).”  “’I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the LORD (Hag. 2:17).”

            Next we look at fire and the first place we see fire as a judgment of God is found in the book of Genesis “24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven (Gen. 19:24).”  Since we are studying the 38^th chapter of Ezekiel let’s look at the 22^nd verse there:  “"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.”

            Joel 2:30 speaks of fire mixed with blood as he describes the Day of the Lord “"I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke.”  John MacArthur writes “The specific cause of hail and fire…thrown to the earth is not revealed, but from a scientific standpoint an earthquake of the magnitude and extent of the one in 8:5 would likely trigger worldwide volcanic eruptions.  Besides spewing vast quantities of flaming lava (which could be bloodred in appearance) into the atmosphere, the atmospheric disturbances caused by those eruptions could trigger violent thunderstorms that would produce large hail.  Such thunderstorms would be in keeping with the imagery of 8:5; after the angel hurled his censer to earth ‘there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning.’  Dr. Henry Morris suggest that the blood may be actual blood, or John may be using descriptive language:  ‘the masses of water vapor blown skyward might well condense in the intense updrafts as hailstones…The blood of entrapped men and animals might be mingled with them, or possibly showers of liquid water drops might be so contaminated with dust and gases as to appear blood-red.’”  This quote and the next one come from The Revelation Record by Henry Morris.

            “It may be possible that angelic hosts will divert the path of one of the many comets with which we are familiar which the solar system abounds so that the earth will pass through its tail.  The most spectacular comet which we are familiar—Halley’s Comet—would not need to stray too far from its normal orbit to envelop Earth in its fiery train.  Whether such an experience would produce the phenomena described in this passage we do not know, since our scientists have no experimental data to go on yet.” 

            We have seen before in my Spiritual Diaries speculations as to how things like this will be made to happen as seen in the book of Revelation, but the most important thing to realize that they will happen just as the Lord says that they will.  Jesus says the following at the end of this book which we will speak more of when we get there “16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." 17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”  We who are a part of the church age have the privilege of reading and studying this book as earlier in that chapter it is recorded that the things in this book are not to be sealed up which is unlike what an angel told Daniel at the end of his book.  However God chooses to bring about the things found in this book, whether He does all of them or whether man is involved in some of these judgments will be up to Him, but take heed they will happen.  I will continue to give my opinion and the opinions of others as to how some of these judgments may take place but take them with a grain of salt as no one can be sure as to how God will cause these things to happen, but in my mind it is a good thing to speculate how it could happen.

            We next see that a third of the earth is burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and then he writes “all the green grass was burned up.”  The environmentalists are not going to be happy at this time, those people that mostly don’t care about the environment only the money they can make by their so called concerned.   What we are reading about in Revelation is that God is judging the people on the earth and it is He who is destroying it, but it is also He who will put it back together again after the Tribulation is done to make it livable again for His Millennial Kingdom. 

            John MacArthur offers one more quote as Robert Thomas comments on the difficulty that is posed by the destruction of all the green grass being burned up:  “This poses a dilemma, because grass still exists when the fifth trumpet arrives (9:4).  It is hermeneutically wrong to see this as an inconsistency retained to preserve artistic effort…Two considerations help to resolve the quandary.  First, a time lapse between the first and fifth trumpets allows time for grass to be regrown after the burning, but before the assault of the fifth [trumpet].  Second, in most parts of the earth grass is not green the year round, but is seasonal.  Burning of all the grass that is green during a particular season would leave the remainder untouched until its season of dormancy is over…whether the affected portion was one-third or some other percentage, the text does not say.  The description simply says ‘all’ that is green at the time of the plague.  Either of these two explanations allows for taking ‘all’ in its literal sense without contradicting 9:4.”  This quote comes from (Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary).

            We can see that this judgment will have devastation effects on planet earth as far as killing men, and also animals.  It will also have devastating effects on the climate and the production of growing food which will cause more death.  We cannot forget why these judgments are happening as we have already discussed and that is to retake the earth from sinful man and also Satan and his fallen angels, and as stated earlier God will put the earth back together again as this will be no problem for Him to do for after all He created it in the first place.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Although it is at times difficult to study about the things in Revelation such as these judgments in the end it is good to know that God is in complete control of all these things and also it is good to know that Jesus is coming again.  As I put on the Spiritual armor in the morning I put on the helmet of salvation and I remember the following verse:  “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.”  This speaks of the return of Jesus Christ and how I am to live, as Warren Wiersbe writes “I put on the helmet of salvation.  May I remember today that Jesus is coming again.  Help me to live in the future tense.  Protect my mind from discouragement and despair.” 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to remember that the successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings, and I also want to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I desire to live in the love of Christ and to better understand it too.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Zarephath” (1 Kings 17:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the mother of Dan and Naphtali?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/21/2015 9:27 AM

 

"The Storm" (Rev. 8:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/20/2015 9:44 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                              Focus:  The Storm

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 8:5

            Message of the verses:  “5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

            Now as we look at what happens it probably surprised John to see that the same angel that had just offered prayers up by offering incense up as the prayers of the saints suddenly takes the same censer and fills it with fire and throws it to the earth where there is a great thunder storm and then an earthquake.  The first thing I want to address is whether or not this was a part of the seventh seal, or part of the first trumpet or neither one.  I have always been taught that the seventh seal was the beginning of the first trumpet and then the seventh trumpet was what brought on the first bowl judgment so my answer is that it is neither, but perhaps this was the answer to the prayers of the people under the altar who had been praying for revenge on those who had killed them and many other believers.  The silence is over the prayers are over and now comes the answer of judgment from God and this will not be the end of the judgments as we will see in our continued study of this eighth chapter of Revelation.

            John MacArthur writes about the peals of thunder and the sounds and flashes of lightning as these “are associated with the awesome majesty of God’s glorious throne in 4:5; 11:19; 16:18 (cf. Ex. 19:16-19).” So I would say that it is safe to assume that this is no ordinary thunderstorm.  Now as far as the earthquake we have no details as to where it was or who it but it could be as strong as the one seen in the sixth seal as the judgments seem to be getting worse. 

            Now we must look at the sad part of what we are reading about and that is that many of the people on earth who according to what we read in chapter six realize that these judgments are coming from the Lord and they will do nothing about confessing the fact that they are a sinner and repent and be saved.  The 144,000 Jewish evangelists are at work, the judgments are at work what come from God, there will be an angel preaching from the heavens, and then also as we see later there will be two witnesses who will preach the gospel, and yet people will continue to love their darkness and not come to the glorious light as we see in the following verses:  “19  "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

            When Jesus came the first time and gave many proofs that he is indeed the Messiah, the promised One from God who would die on the cross and make salvation possible for all who come to Him in repentance, and yet people turned their backs on Him then and are still doing the same now and what will the result be “26  For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27  but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES (Heb. 10:26-27).” 

            The offer of salvation is here now and when a person accepts that offer at this time they will miss all of the horrible things that we have and are about to study that will soon take place on planet earth.  The Rapture of the church can happen at any moment and once it happens those who have rejected the gospel, even if they finally realize that it was the truth will have to go through the Tribulation Period and only one out of four people who begin the Tribulation will end up alive after it is over.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:   One of the things that I see in this section is prayer being answered, and even though it is seen in judgment the prayers were offered sincerely and God answered them.  Prayer is something that gives us a direct contact with the Lord and I want to take better advantage of it.  Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter five that we are to pray without ceasing and Warren Wiersbe’s comment on that passage is that we have to keep the phone off the hook.  I want to do a better job at that.

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 Christ has for me and to live in that love, and also to keep the phone off the hook.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ahab” (1 Kings 22:30).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Elijah go to be fed by a widow woman?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/20/2015 10:29 AM

           

" Supplication" (Rev. 8:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2015 8:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                           Focus:  Supplication

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 8:3-4

            Message of the verses:  “3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

            Let’s begin with what I wrote in June of 2005:  “Verse three speaks of something very Jewish as far as their ceremony and practice goes that was practiced in the OT.  The priests would take fire from the alter, or hot coals, and then start the fire to burn incense to the Lord.  This was done two times a day, in the morning and in the evening.  It is thought by some that Aaron’s sons who died by offering strange fire was doing this procedure the wrong way when the Lord killed them.

            “The incense is a picture of the prayers of the saints that come up to God as a pleasing aroma.”

            There are some who believe that the angel spoke of in this section is the Lord Jesus Christ since of the priestly work that is being done.  MacArthur writes:  “That identification is unlikely, however, for several reasons.  First Christ is already identified in the heavenly scene as the Lamb (5:6; 6:1; 7:17), distinguishing Him from this angel.  Second, while the pre-in carnet Christ appeared as the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, Jesus is nowhere identified as an angel in the New Testament.  Third, the reference in verse 2 to the seven actual angels defines the meaning of the term in this context.  Then angel in verse 3 is described as ‘another’ (allos; another of the same kind; c. 7:2) angel like those in verse 2.  Finally, everywhere He appears in Revelation, Jesus is clearly identified.  He is called ‘the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth’ (1:5), the son of man (1:13), ‘He who is holy, who is true’ (3:7), ‘the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God’ (3:14), the ‘Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of Jessie’ (5:5), the Lamb (6:1; 16; 7:17; 8:1), and Lord of Lords’ (19:16).  If He were the One at the altar, it is reasonable to assume that He  would be specifically identified.”

            In Isaiah 6:6 we see the altar that this angel is standing at, and we know from Exodus 30:3 that the altar is made of gold.  “5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs (Isa. 6:5-6).”  “"You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it (Ex. 30:3).”  God is speaking of the altar of incense in this verse and we need to remember that Moses was told by the Lord to do everything as far as the tabernacle like what God had shown him on the mountain, and this was a copy of what was in heaven, so now we are seeing the original in this section.  In the Jewish Temple and also before that the tabernacle the altar of incense was close to the Holy of Holies, which is where God dwelt.  I have already mentioned how and what the priest did in the earthly tabernacle or temple in the quote from my previous SD on these verses.  This is what the father of John the Baptist was doing when Gabriel told him that he was going to have a son as seen in the Gospel of Luke:  “8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, 9  according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering (Luke 1:8-10).”  The burning of the incense is a symbol of the people’s prayers offered up to the Lord.

            The angel took the incense, which in verse three we are toll that there was much incense, and as we stated it is the prayers of the people and he “add it to the prayers of all the saints.”  We are not told who it was that gave the angel the incense, but according to John MacArthur the word in the Greek for “was given” is didomi and this word is used many different times in the book of Revelation as something that was given by God.  Perhaps that the prayers that were given were the ones that the Tribulation Saints prayed for in the fifth seal judgment and now more prayers were also being offered to God so that He would destroy Satan, and that sin may be defeated, and also that their deaths would be avenged (See Rev. 6:9-11) for a quick review.  There were probably even more saints on earth that were praying that this would happen and this represents the incense that the angel is offering up on the altar of incense. 

            We saw in the fifth seal in chapter six the prayers of those under the altar, and then the sixth seal brought more devastation on the earth, next we saw the four angels stopping the winds from the four corners of the earth so that the 144,000 could be sealed and then we saw another description of the Tribulation saints and now the seventh seal is about to be opened and with it there will be more judgment from the Lord on sin so what we are looking at is the answers to the prayers that were being offered up to the Lord.  I have to believe that many of the believer’s on earth at this time know what is going on and they want sin to be judged and the earth given back to be in control of God as Satan will be defeated and the Kingdom will begin.  In what we know as the “Lord’s Prayer” a part of it a prayer that “Thy Kingdom come,” and this is part of what the believers on earth are praying for at this time.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am learning more things about prayer than I have ever learned before as this passage speaks of prayers and that they go up before the Lord in heaven.  Last year in our study of the letters of 1 & 2 Thessalonians I learned much about how better to pray for my Pastors and I do this each day and even intensify it on the weekends in preparation for the Lord’s day preaching and other activities.  Prayer is something that is a great privilege for believers to participate in and I want to take advantage of it, praying for things that I learn about in the Word of God.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put on my robes’?”

Answer in our next SD.   4/19/2015 8:55 AM

 

             

Sounding (Rev. 8:2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2015 8:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                                Focus:  Sounding

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 8:2

            Message of the verses:  “2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”

            The half-hour of silence is not over in heaven and so John writes what he saw in verse two and what he saw was “the” seven angels, the ones who stand before God, and given to each of them was a trumpet.  Why do I make such a big deal about the word “the”?  It is a definite article so it is speculated that these are what some call “presence angels,” as they are always standing in the presence of God.  John MacArthur writes “The verb translated stand is in the perfect tense, which indicates that they were in the presence of God and had been there for a time.  Scripture describes various ranks and orders of angels, such as cherubim (Gen. 3:24) seraphim (Isa. 6:2), archangels (1 Thes. 4:16; Jude 9), thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities (Col. 1:16), and powers (Eph. 6:12).  These seven appear to be one such order of high-ranking angels.  Gabriel, who appeared to Zacharias and Mary, may have been one of them, since he identified himself to Zacharias as ‘Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God’ (Luke 1:19).”

            The angels were each give a trumpet in preparation for the trumpet judgments that were about to come upon the earth.  Remember when we were in the 7^th chapter of Revelation, right at the beginning we saw that there were four angels who were stand at the four corners of the earth holding the wind back?  The reason they were doing that was to have the things that we saw in Revelation seven taken care of and now another set of judgments are about to come upon planet earth so I believe that these angels will stop holding the wind so that these judgments can begin to take place.  Angels participated in the seal judgments and they will in the trumpet judgments as well as the bowl judgments.  Jesus spoke of the angels participating in the eschatological judgments that would take place in Matthew 13:39-41 “39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.”  Look now at verses 49-50 “49  "”So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50  and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Let us now look at chapter 16:27 “"For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”  Matthew 25:31 “"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”  I want to include a verse here that Paul wrote that helps me put into perspective what we will one day be “1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?”  Paul here was speaking of believer’s in Corinth who were suing other believers and in this section Paul comes down hard on them as he tells them not to do this and then tells them in the future you will be ruling angels. 

            Trumpet is used 58 times in the NASB and trumpets is used 44 times in the NASB.  Trumpets were used in war times, and also in the feasts that the Jewish people celebrated as there is a feast of trumpets.  I once read a book by a Jewish believer who wrote about how the order of the feasts in the Old Testament showed that the rapture would come before the tribulation and it was something that I have since read from other authors and the feast that they spoke of for the rapture was the feasts of trumpets, and if memory serves me correctly that feast comes after the feast of Pentecost, and that is when the Church era began so it does make sense.  But trumpets were used in a verity of ways in the Bible and now they again will be used to bring on judgment. 

            These trumpet judgments are even more severe than the first set of judgments as we will see as we continue our journey through the book of Revelation.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I go back to the verse in 1 Corinthians it helps me to put things into perspective as I have a glimpse of what will take place in the future and I am a bit in awe of it.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He told Cornelius to stand up” (Acts 10:25-26).

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Jesus speak to His disciples in the 40 days after the resurrection?  Look in Acts 1:3 for some help.

Answer in our next SD.

4/18/2015 9:31 AM