"PT-2 of the Sixth Bowl" (Rev. 16:12-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/13/2015 9:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-2 of the Sixth Bowl

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Revelation 16: 12-16

            Message of the verses:  “12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.") 16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.”

            In verse fourteen we see the purpose for the demons that came out of the mouths of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False prophet, and that is to gather the nations to fight against God, but according to Revelation 17:14 it will be over very quickly.  “"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."”

            Now in the fifteenth verse we see an encouraging word, a word we find in parentheses that will give hope to the believers who are alive at that time:  “15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.")”  We can see that this good news for believers comes just before the seventh bowl judgment and it will give encouragement to those believers who are still alive on earth during this awful time.

            I have mentioned several times of how the Lord’s timing for me to study the book of Joel along with the 16^th chapter of the book of Joel and in yesterday’s Spiritual Diary from the book of Joel I mentioned that the commentary that Dr. Wiersbe gave on the verses from the 3^rd chapter of Joel fit perfectly with the study of the these verses we are looking at in Revelation 16.  As we proceed with the study in Joel chapter three God gives a promise to those from Judah, a promise that actually will be fulfilled at the end of the 7^th bowl judgment.  The little encouraging phrase in the midst of all the awfulness is to me something that is seen throughout the prophetic writings found in the Old Testament for in those writings God first of all tells how He will discipline His people and then gives them hope of what will happen to them at the end of the age, and that hope for the end of the age was a kingdom for Israel with their Messiah sitting as King over them and this is about to happen.  A parallel to what is happening  comes from the book of Malachi where Malachi addresses great words of comfort that come from God to those who are righteous and who were frightened by the horrible promises of The Day of The Lord:  “16  Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17 “They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."”  God tells these people and is saying to those who are His today not to be afraid because they and we belong to Him.  Now remember when we looked at another parenthetical passage from Revelation seven which came before the trumpet judgments and just after the seal judgments (7:1-17) and then there is another one between the end of the trumpet judgments and the beginning of the bowl judgments which is seen in Rev. 10:1-11:14.  John MacArthur writes “Because the bowl judgments take place in a short period of time, the respite between the sixth and seventh bowls is very brief.”

            John MacArthur writes the following on the phrase “Behold, I am coming like a thief.”  The imagery of Jesus coming like a thief appears elsewhere in the New Testament.  Earlier in Revelation Jesus warned the church in Sardis, ‘If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you’ (3:3).  In the Olivet discourse He added, ‘Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day you Lord is coming.  But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into’ (Matt. 24:42-43).  The apostle Paul reminded the Thessalonians that ‘the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:2), a truth that Peter also affirmed (2 Pet. 3:10).  Jesus’ sudden, unexpected return will bring fear and dismay to His enemies, but hope and comfort to His people.”

            Now we look at something in the end of verse fifteen which we have written about before and that is that there are seven beatitudes found in the book of Revelation (cf. 1:3; 14:13; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14) and this one found in Revelation 16:14 where Jesus says “Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes on, so that he will not walk about naked and men will see his shame.”  I remember early on in my study of Revelation when I was listening to one of John MacArthur’s messages he spoke of this verse and the people in the congregation kind of got a kick out of it.  Let us take a look at Matthew 25:1-13 “1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ’Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 “The foolish said to the prudent, ’Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the prudent answered, ’No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10  "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ’Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 “But he answered, ’Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”  The prudent ones speak of those who do not walk about naked and the non-prudent speak of those who were ashamed.  MacArthur goes on to say “The imagery here, however, is not that of bridesmaids preparing for a wedding, but of soldiers alert and on duty.  Only soldiers who stay awake and keeps his clothes on is read for combat.  Those caught unprepared when the battle breaks out will walk about naked and men will see their shame—the shame of a soldier derelict in his duty.  Those whom God has ‘clothed…with garments of salvation’ and ‘wrapped… with  robe of righteousness’ (Isa. 61:10), who have ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom. 13:14), will be ready when the judgment comes.  ‘Now, little children, abide in Him,’ urged John in his first epistle, ‘so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming’ (1 John 2:28).  Those whom Jesus finds prepared when He returns will be blessed.”

            Now the brief interlude is over in this section and we have to look at the battle that will take place and it takes place in what the NASB says Har-Magedon and MacArthur says that this “is a Hebrew word meaning ‘Mount Megiddo.’  Since there is no specific mountain by that name, and ‘Har’ can refer to hill country, it is probably a reference to the hill country surrounding the Plain of Megiddo, some sixth miles north of Jerusalem.  More than two hundred battles have been fought in that region, including Barak’s defeat of the Canaanites (Judges 4-5; cf. Judges 6:19), Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (Judg. 7; cf. Judg. 6:33; the ‘valley of Jezreel’ is another name for the Plain of Esdraelon)., and Josiah’s defeat at the hands of Pharaoh Neco (2 Chron. 35:22).  The Plain of Megiddo and the nearby Plain of Esdraelon will be the focal point for the Battle of Armageddon, which will rage the entire length of Israel as far south as the Edomites city of Bozrah (Isa. 63:1).  Other battles will also occur in the vicinity of Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1-3).”

            I may have mentioned that when I was a very young believer that I was speaking to a man that I had not known very long and he told me something that I believe is true that has to do with what we are studying about and that is that there are people today who worship the devil and they know about this upcoming battle at the end of the age, but they believe that Satan will come out victorious.  Well they, according to the Word of God, are wrong, and another thing to realize that this battle will not take long for victory to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and those who will be returning with Him at His second coming.  In our verse from Joel that we studied yesterday we read “The LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel (Joel 3:16).”  Another verse to look at is from Zechariah 14:1-3 “1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2  For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.”  Revelation 14:20 tells what will happen during this battle:  “And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”  MacArthur concludes his commentary “The sixth bowl sets the final stage, but before the brief ‘battle,’ the seventh and final plague will hit.”

            Perhaps this will be better left to Revelation chapter 19, but I remember some things about what I learned from this valley where for 200 miles there will be blood as high as the horses bridle, something we looked at last month while studying Revelation 14, and it has to do with the second coming of Jesus Christ.  When Jesus returned to heaven as seen in the first chapter of Acts an angel told His disciples that He would return in the same way, that is from the very same spot which is at the Mount of Olives, only when he returns there will be an earthquake when His foot touches down and there will be a valley there.  Now while looking for oil in this area it was determined that there is a large fault in the earth which can cause an earthquake, but it is waiting for the foot of our Lord to touch down.  Believers will get into this valley to hide as the Lord completes His victory at the battle of Armageddon.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times in my life when I need a respite from what is going on and when they come I need to be more thankful to the Lord who gives them to me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as the healing of my wife continues, that He will give great comfort to her, and use the pain to draw us closer to each other and to the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “To be born again” (John 3:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?’”

Answer in our next SD.

8/13/2015 11:01 AM 

"The Sixth Bowl PT-1" (Rev. 16:12-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/12/2015 9:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The Sixth Bowl PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 16:12-16

            Message of the verses:  “12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.") 16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.”

            We have now come to the point in the book of Revelation when there is only two more judgments that will happen before the wrath of God is complete and this sixth bowl judgment is different than the other judgments as it has no specific assault on humanity, but this judgment prepares for what is coming.  In the fifth seal judgment we saw it show the souls of those who were in heaven who had been killed for the cause of Christ and were crying out for vengeance upon those who did this to them.  I bring this up because that judgment also did not have a specific assault on humanity.  We see in this judgment the mention of the Euphrates River and this river appeared earlier in the book of Revelation when the sixth trumpet judgment is mentioned:  “"Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates’ (Rev. 9:14b).”

            I think we need to take a look at this important river as it goes all the way back to Genesis 2:10-14 “10  Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”  The Euphrates is called the “great river” “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates’ (Rev. 9:14).”  “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates (Gen. 15:18).”  ’Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates (Deu. 1:7).” “"From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory (Joshua 1:4).”  One of the reason it is called the great river in these passages is because along with the Tigris River the Euphrates River is still the lifeblood of the Fertile Crescent.”  The river begins in the modern country of Turkey, and the place that it begins is on a very high mountain that is famous for being the spot where Noah’s ark landed, Mont Ararat and from there it flows for 1800 miles emptying into the Persian Gulf. 

            Now as we have looked at these different bowl judgments we can believe that the earth is far different than it is today.  We have mentioned the oceans turning to blood, the rivers turning to blood, and believe that when the sun heats the world hotter than it has been before that the polar ice caps will melt raising the oceans some 200 feet higher than they are now, so the Euphrates River will be different then than it is now and when we see that this judgment will dry up that river we must believe that it is a lot wider and deeper than it is today.  We see that the reason for this bowl judgment upon the Euphrates River is to allow the “kings of the east” to make their way towards Israel where the battle of Armageddon will take place.  We see in this judgment that they are drawn there by demons. 

            The kings of the east will be entering into a deadly trap when they head towards Palestine and the land of Israel. John MacArthur writes “The evaporation of the Euphrates will lead them to their doom, just as the parting of the Red Sea led to the destruction of the Egyptian army.  Why they will make the daunting journey that will take them to their doom, through the drought, scorching heat, darkness, and their painful sores is stated in verses 13-14.”  “13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”  We can equate this seen to something that could come out of a horror scene in the movies as we have seen things that come out of people’s and monster’s mouths to be able to possess others, and this is what will happen here as spirit like frogs will come out of the mouths of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet to control these kings of the east so that they will come to their doom in what will be the greatest battle ever fought, and it will be fought on the land that has already seen many battles.  Napoleon looked on this valley and stated that it would be a great place for a battle to take place. 

            These demons will have great power of deception, something that has been going on in our country for the past eight years or so.  I have mentioned a story from the OT book of, I believe 2 Kings that is kind of similar to what these demons will do to these kings from the east.  I was wrong it is in the latter part of 1 Kings: “20 “The LORD said, ’Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ’I will entice him.’ 22 “The LORD said to him, ’How?’ And he said, ’I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ’You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so’ (1 Kings 22:20-22).”  This is a similar story that tells how spirits work to deceive humans, and it is going on today just like it went on during the OT times.  Jesus said in Mark 13:22 “for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”  Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 “9  that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders 10  and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”  John MacArthur writes “In their pride, arrogance, and folly, the demonically deceived nations of the world will converge on Palestine to do battle with God Himself at Armageddon.  According to 17:12-14, ten kings will be involved.”

            I have mentioned that at the same time that I have been studying the 16^th chapter of Revelation that I am also studying the book of Joel as I make my way through the final books of the Old Testament which will conclude my study of the entire Bible.  God must have planned it this way as in my evening Spiritual Diaries as this time I am studying the third chapter of the book of Joel which I want to quote from at this time, verses 3:2, and 9-13.

“2 I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.

“9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up! 10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man." 11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. 12  Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”

            Zechariah also wrote about this:  “2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle (Zech. 14:2-3).”

            We have mentioned Psalm 2 in previous SD’s from our study on Revelation as it is the first of the Messianic Psalms:  “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!’”  God gives His answer in verse four:  “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”

            Now I have been quoting from my last study on the book of Revelation which I did in 2005 and even though this quote is rather lengthy I want to put it here as I looked at these verses on the 17^th or September in the year 2005:  “As I go through this wonderful study of this wonderful book of Revelations the Lord is teaching me more and more about this book, and one of the things that I see is you have to piece things together from one chapter to another in order to see the whole picture that is being painted.  That is what has to be done with these verses, for these verse tell only part of the story of the last battle here on earth, the battle that most people call Armageddon. “The name Armageddon comes from two Hebrew words, har Megiddo.  The word Megiddo means “place of troops” or “place of slaughter.”  It is also called the Plain of Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel.”  (From Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Victorious.)  There have been many battles fought in this area of the world, but the most famous of them is still to come and these verses help to describe what will take place there in what could be not to far off. 

            Verse twelve describes the beginning of this judgment when the sixth angel pours out his vial on the river Euphrates and dries up the river so that the kings of the east can pass through it without any trouble, for you see God is the One who is putting this whole thing into motion, for He is in total control of it.  Verse thirteen and fourteen describes how antichrist gets all of the people to come there and fight as the unholy trinity takes part in this gathering.  They are doing what seems natural and right for them to do, yet God has planned all of this to happen long ago. 

            In verse fifteen the Lord gives a warning to those who will listen, telling His listeners to keep awake and be ready for His soon return. This warning is not just for those who will be alive at this time, but for all generations who have had the privilege of reading this book. 

            Verse sixteen is one of the most read and quoted verses in the Bible as it talks about the men being gathered in a place called Armageddon.  This name Armageddon has come to mean the end of the world to many who have read this and not really understood it, for it may be the last battle, but it is surely not the end of the world, and it is not the last battle either for after the 1000 year reign of Christ upon planet earth Satan will be let out of his captivity to once again entice men to fight again, but this will be a short battle and end quickly. 

            There are parallel passages to this battle of Armageddon in other parts of the Scriptures, for instance Zechariah twelve and fourteen describe this battle from Israel’s point of view.  “Joel 3:9-21 parallels the Zechariah references, and verse 19 there makes clear that God will punish the Gentiles for the way they have treated the Jews.  (See also Zeph. 3:8ff; Isa. 24.)”  “Warren Wiersbe’s book.)

            The outcome of this battle is seen in Revelations 19, which is about the return of Jesus Christ to earth, and at that time He will end this battle even though thoughts who are fighting each other will begin to fight against the Lord, but to no avail.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Deception is something that is continually used in our world today and this is one of the reasons that I need to put on the Spiritual Armor every day to be protected from the deception of those who desire to deceive me.  Charles Stanley wrote the following in a book that he wrote about Satan:  ““I’m putting on the belt of truth.  I ask You to make it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to reject.  Help me to see clearly the motives of others as they deal with me and converse with me.  Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to Your plans and purposes for my life.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will keep me from those who desire to deceive me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Jesus tell Nicodemus was necessary for a man to see the kingdom of God?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/12/2015 10:49 AM 

 

 

"The Fifth Bowl Judgment" (Rev. 16:10-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/11/2015 10:52 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  The Fifth Bowl Judgment

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 16:10-11

            Message of the verses:  “10  Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11  and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.”

            My thoughts from 9/16/2005 on these two verses are as follows: “The fifth vial judgment is poured out upon the throne of the antichrist and then the verse goes on to say it will be dark over his kingdom.  This judgment seems to be only for antichrist and his followers and not for those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is possible that this will happen throughout most of the world, with the possible exception of Israel, or it could just be upon the site where antichrist has set up his headquarters, which will probably be in Babylon.  At any rate this darkness will be the kind of darkness that you can actually feel, for you will not be able to see you hand in front of your face and on top of that all of antichrist’s followers will still be suffering from the first plague of having those Job like sores on their bodies.  One would think that this would cause some of them to begin to think about following the “God of heaven,” but all they will do is blaspheme Him.  The phrase “God of heaven” is used mostly in the OT and one of the times it is used there is in Daniel 2:44:  "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.””

            In the beginning comments on the bowl judgments it was mentioned that some of these judgments would be similar to those that God did when He was judging Egypt and so this is one of those that is similar, with the exception that it is in a larger area, but still on those who are wicked like Pharaoh.  21Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt." 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days (Ex. 10:21-22).”  “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 Rev. 9:2).”  I once heard a story about people going into one of the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky and when they got way into the cave the guide said that for a moment that he was going to turn the lights out and it was so dark that people could actually feel the darkness, and this is probably the kind of darkness that this fifth bowl judgment will bring to those who follow the Antichrist.  As far as who this will affect John MacArthur writes “Commentators disagree  over where specifically this bowl will be dumped.  Some think it will be on the actual throne that the beast sits on; others on his capital city of Babylon; still others on his entire kingdom.  It is best to see the throne as a reference to his kingdom.  Regardless of the exact location of where the bowl is dumped, the result is that darkness engulfs the whole earth, which is Antichrist’s worldwide kingdom.  The beast will be as helpless before the power of God as anyone else.”

            Now along with the book of Revelation as I work my way through the Old Testament I am also studying the book of Joel at this same time and Joel writes some interesting things that seem to go along with this bowl judgment:  A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.  14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness (Joel 2:2 and 3:14-15).”  Zephaniah writes “A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness (Zep. 1:15).”  Jesus says the following from His Olivet Discourse:  “"But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT (Mark 13:24).”  We can compare that with some verses in the books of Isaiah and also Luke, and Acts.  “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. 13:10).”  “Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders (Isa. 24:23).”  “"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 (Luke 21:25).”  ’THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME (Acts 2:20).”

             Now just for a moment let us look back at what the people of planet earth are going through, and I believe that the unbelievers will be going through something worse than the believers: We have seen Job like sores, bad oceans with only blood in them, then rivers and lakes with only blood in them, so the drinking water is minimal at best, and now darkness covers at least a part of the earth, but especially in the kingdom of the Antichrist.  Then we read that the people curse God and will not repent of their sinfulness.  This is very hard to imagine.  Now we mentioned about the Old Testament phrase “The God of heaven” and this was also used in Revelation 11:13 but in this verse after a plague that fell on Jerusalem there were people who did give glory to the God of Heaven.  Old Testament times this is used in my study I found seventeen times this phrase is used from Genesis to Jonah.  As mentioned this phrase in our text today goes along with the fact that there was no one who would repent and this is the last time that we read reference to their unwillingness to repent.  MacArthur writes “The first five plagues were God’s final call to repentance.  Sinners ignored that call, and are now confirmed in their unbelief.  The final two bowls, containing the severest of all judgments, will be poured out on the hardened, implacable impenitents.”  I have to mention that these last two bowl judgments may take longer than one day to look at each of them.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I can see here in this section and the commentary written on it that there comes a time when the Spirit of God stops His call for repentance for unbelievers. Jude writes the following in:  “Jude 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”  A fairly long time ago perhaps at least 30 years ago my former Pastor was preaching through the book of Jude and when he came to this verse he told the story of how he led an older person to the Lord as he said that that person was pulled out of the fire.  It was yesterday that I had to opportunity to talk to my 82 year old neighbor about his need for the Lord and my prayer is that I will have more times to talk to him and that the Spirit of God will call him to repentance and trust in the Lord for salvation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to celebrate 42 years of marriage to my wife today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Five years” (Genesis 45:11).

Today’s Bible question:  “From where does every good gift and every perfect gift come?

Answer in our next SD.

8/11/2015 11:39 AM

"Forth Bowl Judgment" (Rev. 16:8-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2015 12:24 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Forth Bowl Judgment

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Revelation 16:8-9

            Message of the verses:  “8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”

            Once again I wish to copy and paste what I have already written back in September of 2015 when I studied Revelation then, and I must say that what I put here will be similar to what I will be learning again when I look at the commentary from John MacArthur.  This section of Revelation 16 is very interesting to look at and to study.  “The earth will really be in bad shape because of all of the previous judgments, and now comes this forth vial judgment when the angel pours out his vial upon the sun so that the sun will be very hot, hotter that it was before, so hot that it will scorch men with fire.  Again there is no repentance from the sin that these people have committed, and not only do they not repent, but they blaspheme the name of God who has the power over these plagues. 

            “From my study of these verses there are a couple of OT passages that may fit with these verses.  The first one is from Amos, and there has to be made an assumption here for this to fit in, and that assumption is that because of this great heat that comes from the sun because of this judgment that the polar ice will begin to melt causing the oceans to rise, and some have said that it could be as much as 200 feet which will cover much of the costal lands.  Amos 9:5-6 “The Lord GOD of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, And all who dwell there mourn; All of it shall swell like the River, And subside like the River of Egypt.  6  He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth—The LORD is His name.”

“"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch."  (Mal. 4:1)   This verse seems to describe what this judgment will do.  It could be that some who know the Bible somewhat at that time may get this mixed up with 2Peter 3:10, but that verse has to do with how God will completely destroy the earth at the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ, and then the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem will be created by God for His saints to live.”

Now as we have seen the first three bowls have been poured out upon the earth, and bowl number four is poured out on the sun, but will drastically affect what will happen upon the earth.  Let us go back to the book of Genesis and look at the creation of the sun, and since that time the sun has been there to give light, warmth, and energy, but now it becomes a deadly killer.  God said after each creation day “it is good” and it was good when he created the sun, but now because of what happened in the third chapter of Genesis when sin entered the human race things that once were good can become bad because of sin.  “  14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15  and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”  Now I cannot say if the significance of having the sun created on the fourth day has anything to do with this fourth judgment being on the sun, but to say the least it is interesting.

We can turn and look at the book of Isaiah to see this verse:  “4 The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left (Isaiah 24:4-6).”

We have already mentioned that when the people see these judgments, and especially this one that they blame God but do not repent of their sins, for it is because of sinful man that these judgments are now coming upon the earth.  We have already been in the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings and have looked at the creation of the sun and the moon and then God saying that it was good, and have mentioned that sin causes good things to become bad, but sin also causes people to play the blame game as they blame their problems that sinfulness causes on God or on others.  That is what these people are doing here, blaming God, but as James says they should look into a mirror to find out where the problem lies.  Genesis is the book of beginnings and Revelation closes things out as far as this earth is concerned.  We have mentioned many times that in our study of the book of Revelation from chapters 6-19 that God is taking back control of planet earth as He will judge sinful men, the Devil, the Antichrist, and the false prophet and then set His Son on His throne in Jerusalem.  This fourth bowl judgment is a part of that process that we can see began in 15:1 which reads “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.” 

I want to quote a few verses from the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, remembering that in the latter part of chapter one Paul writes about the sinfulness of men, and that is why the word “therefore” begins chapter two as he goes back to what he had just written at the end of chapter one.  “1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 3 But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”  Here we have the story of those who are blaming God for this fourth bowl judgment, and in verse four we also have the story of those who understand their sinfulness, and have repented of it to God and are now saved, and for those who do this before the Tribulation period they will be a part of those that Jesus talks about to the church in Philadelphia where He says “’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”  The choice is yours!

Spiritual meaning for my life today:   It is my job, and the job of all believers to pass the truths of the book of Revelation on to those that God brings into our paths, who are willing to listen to it.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Michael and Gabriel” (Revelation 12:7, Luke 1:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “How long was the famine to last after Joseph revealed himself to his brothers?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/10/2015 1:01 PM

 

           

" Bowl Judgment Number Three" (Rev. 16:4-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/9/2015 10:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  Bowl Judgment Number Three

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 16:4-7

            Message of the verses:  “4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it." 7 And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments."”

            Again we will look at what I wrote on these verses in September of 2005:  “In these verses there can be seen poetic justice, and there are other parts of the Scriptures that also show these types of justice.  The Pharaoh tried to drown the little babies who were from Israel, and all of his army was drowned in the sea.  Haman tried to hang Mordecai as he prepared a great gallows to hang him on and ended up being hanged on it along with all of his family.  And in these verses the third vial judgment is poured out upon all of the rivers of the earth and the angel who is in charge of the waters praises God for sending this plague upon the earth-dwellers because they are the ones who have killed all of God’s children, the saints of God by shedding their blood and now they only have blood to drink. In verse seven there comes a voice from the altar praising God because His judgments are true and righteous.”

            We got a picture of what this will look like on a much smaller scale when God turned the Nile River into blood in the days of Moses as one of the judgments against the nation of Egypt, but this judgment is upon all of the rivers and lakes and streams over the entire world.  The result is that there will be no fresh water and the angel of the waters saying that these unbelievers deserved what this plague would do as they had shed the blood of the saints in the past times and also in the Tribulation Period, and now God would give them blood to drink.

            We have seen the rivers affected by another plague from the third trumpet judgment so the fresh water was already at a low, and now it seems to not exist at all.  Another problem we read about was that the two witnesses had shut off the rain and so in addition to the plague from the trumpet judgment we have this one from the witnesses.  One more problem is scene in Revelation 7:1 which speaks of the four angels stopping the wind, so all in all the fresh water supply will be a huge problem at this point of the Tribulation.

            Think about what it is to have no water, something most of us take for granted.  The people on planet earth are suffering from blood in the oceans, from oozing sores which were caused by the first bowl judgment and now no water to cool them off. 

            John MacArthur writes “Appropriately, it is ‘the angel of the waters’ who defends God’s righteous judgment in an echo of the overcomers’ song in 15:3-4.  In contrast to the curses and blasphemies of men (cf. vv. 9, 11) the angel declares, ‘Righteous are You, who are and who were (cf. 11:17; 1:4, 8; 4:8), O Holy One, because You judged these things.’  God’s judgment of sinners is unquestionably righteous because He is the Holy One.  And although His wrath is terrifying and deadly, it is a just, deserved, and appropriate response to sinners’ rejection of Him.”

            The unbelievers that the angel is speaking to or at least talking about will have to deal with the overwhelming guilt of not listening to those that God has placed in their path to hear the Gospel, something we continue to mention about as they could hear the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, or the people that have come to Christ, or the two witnesses, or even the angel who was flying in the heavens telling of the Gospel. 

            We have spoken of the irony of this judgment, something that has been mentioned throughout Scriptures in different places and so we see that God’s judgment against them is righteousness as His judgments are always righteous. 

            As I was reading this portion of Scripture I had a difficult time understand how the “altar” would speak as John wrote that he “heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments."”  John MacArthur writes “The personified altar echoes the sentiments of the angel with words similar to 15:3.  It may be that the very altar under which the saints were earlier seen praying for vengeance (6:9-11) now affirms that God’s ‘true and righteous judgments’ are the answer to those prayers.” 

            In conclusion I want to copy and paste some verses that speak of God’s judgments being righteousness:  "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?’(Gen. 18:25).”  “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether (Psalm 19:9).”  “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me (Psalm 119:75).”  “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5).”  “1 After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2  BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER’ (Rev. 19:1-2).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As we read of the righteous judgments of God as He takes His wrath out on the unbelieving world through these different judgments found in the book of Revelation we have to remember at least two things:  First these people had an opportunity to hear the good news of the Gospel and they rejected it.  Second we have to remember the cross, for it was at the cross that God took His righteous wrath out on His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He did it for all who will come to the realization that He is the only way to get to God, through His shed blood that was shed on the cross for all sinners who accept His pardon.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  That God will continue to answer my prayers for my wife who had a difficult incident happen to her last night.  God has already answered prayers on her behalf and I praise Him for that, and pray that He will continue to answer my prayers for her.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Moses’ own mother” (Exodus 2:8-9).

Today’s Bible question:  “What two archangels are mentioned in the Bible?”

Answer in our next SD.  8/9/2015 11:47 AM

 

"Second Bowl" (Rev. 16:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/8/2015 10:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  Second Bowl

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 16:3

            Message of the verse:  “The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.”  Now those of us who have read this verse many, many times may not think about what this kind of a thing will do to planet earth and those who live on it.  If we live inland from any ocean, and most people do live inland we may not realize how much the oceans do for us, things like food, like how the weather moves over the earth, travel, and things like that.  This is going to be a terrible plague that will come upon the earth, for all who live on the earth at this time.

            I wrote the following on September 13, 2005 “One of the plagues God used in Egypt was turning the Nile river red like blood, and the second Trumpet judgment God turned one-third of the oceans red with blood, and now in this second vial judgment God will turn all of the oceans red and probably thick like the blood of a corpse, and this will cause everything in them to die.  This judgment will have a huge affect upon the earth as the oceans will certainly give of a horrible smell, and all shipping will be stopped which will greatly affect the buying and selling of goods throughout the entire world.  This is a very short verse, but it certainly says a lot.  This seems to be part of a progression in which eventually all water on the earth will be turned into blood as part of God’s judgment upon the evil people of the world.”  I have to also tell a little story about what happened to our family when I was seventeen as we made our first trip to see any ocean, and it happened to be the Pacific ocean as we visited some relatives on the West coast of our country.  We actually lived closer to the East coast, but I had never seen the Atlantic ocean and I was very excited to see any ocean.  When we got to LA we went to the ocean only to see what is called a “Red Tide” as there was a lot of cobalt in the water which caused what was supposed to be the blue Pacific being the red Pacific.  Why do I bring this up?  Well a couple of reasons and one of them is that this kind of red tide causes death to many fish in the water, and another reason is that there are what are called cobalt bombs that when a layer of cobalt goes around a nuclear bomb it strengthens the power of it and if shot into the sea could cause the seas to turn red like blood and kill things that live in them.  I am not saying that this is what is going to happen as we have already mentioned that God turned the Nile River read during the days of Moses and is perfectly capable to do this to all the oceans, after all He made them.

            We have mentioned that the bowl judgments will happen very fast, how fast we do not know, but faster than the other judgments happened and when the unsaved people are still having trouble with the sores they received from the first bowl the second one come rapidly upon them and this makes it even more devastating to them.  I have mentioned that this plague from this second bowl will be very effective and another reason for this is that planet earth is made up of about 70% oceans.  Can you imagine seeing a satellite view of planet earth and the oceans are all blood red?  I surely will be different than the views we get now as our planet is mostly a beautiful blue.

            John MacArthur quotes John Phillips from his commentary on Revelation: “From time to time, off the coast of California and elsewhere, a phenomenon known as ‘the red tide’ occurs.”  (See he knows about it too.)  “These red tides kill millions of fish and poison those who eat contaminated shellfish.  In 1949, one of these red tides hit the coast of Florida.  First the water turned yellow, but by midsummer it was thick and viscous with countless billions of dinoflagellates, tiny one-celled organisms.  Sixty-mile windows of stinking fish fouled the beaches.  Much marine life was wiped out, even bait used by fisherman died upon the hooks.  Eventually the red tide subsided, only to appear again the following year.  Eating fish contaminated by the tide produced sever symptoms caused by a potent nerve poison, a few grams of which distributed aright, could easily kill everyone in the world.  An unchecked population explosion of toxic dinoflagellates would kill all the fish in the sea.”

            MacArthur writes “The stench from the dead, decaying bodies of every living thing in the sea (only partial death occurred at the second trumpet) will be unimaginable.  Henry Morris writes ‘In this toxic ocean nothing can survive, and soon all the billions of fishes and marine mammals and marine reptiles and the innumerable varieties of marine invertebrates will perish, thus still further poisoning the oceans and contaminating the sea shores of the world.  The oceans will have effectively completed their age-long function in earth’s physical economy, and will die.  As God had created every living soul in the waters (Gen. 1:21), so now every living soul died in the sea.’  The transforming of the world’s seas into putrid pools of stinking death will be graphic testimony to the wickedness of man, and the reverse of the day when God originally gave life to all sea creatures (Gen. 1:21).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Is it no wonder that the little scroll that John had to eat turned bitter in his stomach?  John’s responsibility was similar to Daniel and Ezekiel who had to write and talk about the awful future that faced unregenerate man.  Joel can also be added into this conversation as I am looking at the book of Joel in my other Spiritual Diaries I try to complete each day, as the theme of Joel is “The Day of The Lord” and we are seeing this firsthand in Revelation 16.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to write my Spiritual Diaries and post them on my blog in the hopes that God’s Spirit will use them to show people the way that they can avoid what will happen as they turn their hearts to the Savior and be saved, and then tell others about what will happen so that salvation will continue on from the things that the Spirit of God is prompting me to write and to study, as this will all bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3).

Today’s Bible question:  Who did Pharaoh’s daughter decide to let nurse Moses?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/8/2015 10:54 AM

 

The First Bowl (Rev. 16:2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/7/2015 11:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  The First Bowl

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 16:2

            Message of the verses:  “2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.”

            I want to begin this SD with what I wrote on this verse on September 12, 2005 “The first judgment is very painful sores, but it is only those who have the mark of the beast and have worshiped the image of the beast that will be affected by it.  This judgment is similar to the later judgments that God gave to Egypt in that not all of them affected the children of Israel, only the Egyptians.  The word used for these sores is the same word that is used for Job’s sores, and also affected those Egyptians in Ex. 9:9-11.  The word is also used for the sores that Lazarus had, (See Luke 16:21).  Of course this word in the OT is from the Greek translation of the OT called the LXX.  One more thing of interest is that when the fifth vial judgment is poured out upon the earth it seems that these unbelievers are still suffering with this first one.  (See Rev. 16:10-11)”

            We have mentioned that the bowls are actually shallow saucers and when the angel would dump them on the earth the contents would come out very fast.  John MacArthur writes the following about the words “loathsome” and “malignant” these words are “translated two general Greek words for evil (kakos  and poneros).  Used together translates they stress that the sores will be festering, painful, and incurable.  ‘Sore translates helkos, the Greek eequivalent of the Latin word from which the English word ulcer derives.  It describes inflamed, oozing, ulcerous sores, such as those that affected the Egyptians, and the ones that covered Lazarus the beggar.  They will bring unrelieved physical torment to those who have rejected Christ.”

            We read the following fate of these unbelievers from an angel that is recorded in Revelation 14:9-11 “9  Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10  he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11  "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."”  MacArthur adds “That passage describes eternal judgment; the present one describes temporal judgment.  Antichrist’s followers are suffering the consequences of having rejected the preaching of the gospel and the warning of the angel given in 14:7: ‘Fear God, and give glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.’”  Part of that judgment is now being poured out on those who have rejected Christ and have taken the mark of the beast as they are aligned with Antichrist and will continue to suffer for that decision. 

            I now want to share a verse from the prophet Zechariah that probably has to do with this section, if not this one then surely one that happens during the Tribulation period.  “12 Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.”  A bit graphic to say the least, but I have read or was told that similar things happen to people who have suffered the effects of a nuclear explosion.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at what is going to happen to those who follow the Antichrist I can say that I truly am thankful for the grace that God has given me for salvation and continues to bestow upon me everyday. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord and to tell others the truth of the Gospel and to tell others what will happen in the end.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “A centurion” (Matthew 8:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Jonah try to go instead of Nineveh?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/7/2015 12:21 PM