Introduction to Revelation 15 PT-2 (Revelation 15:1-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2015 9:25 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Introduction to Revelation 15 PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 15:1-8

            Message of the verses:  “1 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. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3  And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! 4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED."

    “5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

            We have been looking at the wrath of God as we look at Revelation chapter fifteen, as this seems to be the theme of this chapter as we read in the first verse that when these last seven plagues are finished, and I might say that the word translated plague is a very interesting word that we will look at later on, when these are finished then we read that “the wrath of God is finished.”  The word “finished” has also been translated as “accomplished” and that may be a better way of looking at that word as once these plagues are finished in a rapid way then it will accomplish what God has planned to do, and that is that His Son will set on the throne in Jerusalem as we have read prophesied in the second Psalm.  “6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."”  Verse five says “5  Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying.” 

            We have been looking at some OT verses that speak of the wrath of God, and mentioned that this also speaks of what the Bible calls “The Day of the Lord.”  Today we will look at different aspects of the wrath of God as John MacArthur writes “The historical outpourings of God’s wrath fall into several categories.  First is what might be called ‘sowing and reaping’ wrath.  People sin and suffer the logical consequences of that sin; ‘Those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it’ (Job 4:8; cf. Gal. 6:7-8).  A second kind of wrath is cataclysmic wrath, when God sends massive, destructive judgment.  That judgment may engulf the entire world, as it did with the Flood (Gen. 6-8), or a smaller region, as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:1-29).  Romans chapter 1 reveals God’s wrath of abandonment when Paul three times used the phrase ‘God gave them over’ to demonstrate God’s judicial abandonment of sinners, removing restraint to the deadly consequences of their sinful choices (vv. 24, 26, 28).  Hosea 4:17 declares, ‘Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.’  As previously noted, God’s terminal judgment is poured out in historical Day of the Lord judgments.  Finally, there is eternal wrath, God’s eschatological wrath that will in the future be poured out on the whole world (1 Thess. 1;5:9).  The ultimate result of eternal wrath will be the sentencing of all unrepentant sinners to hell forever.

            “But throughout the entire historical outpouring of God’s wrath, from Eden to the final explosion of His eschatological wrath, a strange paradox exists:  God is busily working to save sinners from His own wrath.  God’s nature encompasses not only righteousness and holiness, but also grace and mercy.  Even during the devastating judgments of the Tribulation, God will call sinners to salvation.  He will do so using the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (7:2-8; 14:1-5), the two witnesses (11:3-13), a host of redeemed Gentiles and Jews 7:9-17), even an angel flying in the sky (14:6-7).  As the outpouring of divine wrath escalates, God’s evangelistic efforts will escalate as well.  The result will be the greatest harvest of souls in human history (cf. 7:9).  A redeemed Israel and souls from all the nations will be saved, many to survive the Tribulation and enter the millennial kingdom.” 

            We will see as we study chapters 15 and 16 that this will be the final outpouring of God’s wrath before the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth to set up His promised Kingdom.  This final wrath will be expressed in seven “bowl” judgments and they will be rapid-fire judgments, not lasting as long as the other judgments we have already studied earlier.  Remember that God said that the last three trumpet judgments were “woes,” well that last woe brings on these last seven bowl judgments.  Chapter fifteen forms the introduction to these judgments as it is the shortest chapter in the book, only eight verses in all.  Some could conclude that this is here to defend God’s wrath, but God needs no defense in what He does, for after all He is God.  “"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He (Deu. 32:4).”

            As we begin to look at chapter fifteen we see what John describes as “another sign in heaven,” and this chapter describes how God readies to send these last seven plagues that will come from heaven to planet earth, which is similar to when the other judgments were being readied.

            John MacArthur writes the following on the word translated wrath:  “Thumos (wrath) is a strong word, describing rage, or a passionate outburst of anger.  God’s anger must be expressed against all unforgiven sin (cf. 14:8, 10).  In 16:19 and 19:15 God’s final wrath is called His ‘fierce wrath.’  The prophet Zephaniah wrote of this final outpouring of God’s wrath in Zephaniah 3:8:  “"Therefore wait for Me," declares the LORD, "For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal.”

            He concludes with the preview of what we are going to look at by writing “As this chapter unfolds, three motives for the final outpouring of God’s wrath will become evident:  the vengeance of God, the character of God, and the plan of God.”  

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Wrath is as much a part of God as the other attributes that are mentioned in the Word of God, but many do not want to learn about it as they would rather look at the love of God, His grace and mercy, which too are a part of God’s attributes.  However when we look at the world today and see many Christians being killed for their faith in Christ and we look at the many millions of abortions that have happened in our country since 1972 we have to cry out for God’s wrath to come upon the guilty ones, and as we continue to study the book of Revelation we will see that final wrath when God will sentence those who have not trusted in His salvation through His Son Jesus Christ pay or their sins. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to get the word out as far as what the world is about to witnes so that God can use it to call sinners to repentance and believers to growth and revival.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “The prodigal son” (Luke 15:18).

Today’s Bible question:  “Of what country was Evil-Merodach king?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/31/2015 10:20 AM

Introduction to Revelation 15 (Rev. 15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2015 7:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Introduction to Revelation 15

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 15

            Message of the verses:  1 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. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3  And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! 4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED."

    “5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

            John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary on the book of Revelation “The Temple of Doom,” and it covers these eight verses which make up the fifteenth chapter of the book of Revelation.  We spent 24 days looking at the fourteenth chapter of Revelation and I suppose that this 15^th chapter will not take us that long as it is shorter than the 14^th.

            I may have mentioned that I am very slowly reading a book written by Dr. David Jeremiah which he entitled “I Never Thought I Would See the Day,” and in this book he writes about things that are happening in our country that he never thought that he would ever see including what people think about the Word of God.  The Word of God is the most important book that man has and there are probably more Bibles that are in the world than any other book ever printed, however that does not mean that people read it as faithfully as they should.  The Bible tells us all we need to know about where we came from and where we are going, it tells us how we can have a relationship with God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we are learning from the last book in the Bible it tells us what the future holds, for it tells us Who it is that holds the future.  People worry about the future, and with good reason, and people who do not know the Lord have even greater reason to worry about the future for as we will see in this chapter there is coming a time when as the first verse in this chapter tells us that with the seven plagues that the seven angels are about to throw down upon planet earth, which will be described in the next chapter that with them the wrath of God will be complete, but as we will see there is still a lot of wrath from God to come.

            We will look at some other verses which speak about this terrible time that is just over the horizon of human history, verses that were written many hundreds and even thousands of years ago that speak of this awful time that will come upon the whole world.

            As we study the books of the Old Testament we have seen that God has poured out His wrath upon man because of their sinfulness.  Paul writes the following about how Adam and Eve brought the entire human race under God’s judgment “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. (Rom. 5:12).”  Next we see the wrath of God at the flood which covered the entire world and has caused the world to be a different place to live when it was over.  We see this in the book of Genesis 6:5-8 where it reads “5  Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”  God’s wrath through the flood was about to happen as we see in these verses.  God’s wrath seems to be pointed to a time in which the Bible calls “The Day of the Lord,” and that is the theme of the OT book of Joel, a book that I am just beginning to study at this time.  The day of the Lord is seen in different books of the Word of God including OT books along with NT books and we have seen it in the letter to the Thessalonians which we looked at last year and are seeing it in the book of Revelation as it will climax in this book.  Let us take a look at some passages from the book of Isaiah a book we also studied a few years ago.  “6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. 8  They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. 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 (Isa. 13:6-9).”

Next Ezekiel 30:3 “"For the day is near, Even the day of the LORD is near; It will be a day of clouds, A time of doom for the nations.”  Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.” Amos 4:12 “"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."”  Next we will look at Zephaniah as he gives the following frightening account of the Day of the Lord:  “14 Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. 15  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, 16  A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. 17 I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.”  We will look at one more in this SD and then finish up this introduction in our next SD.  “"For the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity; They will be led forth at the day of fury (Job. 21:30).”  Job may be one of the oldest books that we find in the Word of God as many believe that he lived near the time of Abraham.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I continue to study about what the Lord has planned and told from His Word what will happen it has been my desire since I first became a believer to get the message out so that people will not have to go through this time of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, and as far as personal meaning to me I continue to go back to what Peter wrote in his second letter after explaining some things about what will happen in the future of this world.  “10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.  11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness (2 Peter 3:10-11).”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15b).”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He went to the Synagogue” (Luke 4:16).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘I will arise and go to my father’?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/30/2015 8:43 AM

The Reaping (Rev. 14:19-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2015 12:13 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  The Reaping

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 14:19-20

            Message of the verses:  “19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 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.”

            The first thing I want to do is give a rather long quote from Hal Lindsey who became kind of famous from his first book “The Late Great Planet Earth,” and I was listening to some tape messages by him in Jan. of 1974 when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.  He also wrote a book entitled “There Is A New World Coming” which is his commentary on the book of Revelation, and this quote comes from that book.  He entitles this sub-section “Messiah to Jerusalem’s Rescue,” and he writes “The armies of all nations will be gathered in the area of Israel, especially around Jerusalem.  Think of it: at least 200 million soldiers from the Orient, with millions more from the forces of the West headed by the Antichrist of the Revised Roman Empire (Western Europe)!  Messiah Jesus will first strike those who have ravaged His city, Jerusalem.  Then He will strike the armies amassed in the valley of Megiddo, or Armageddon. No wonder blood will stand to the horses’ bridles for a distance of two hundred miles from Jerusalem! (Revelation 14:20).

            “It’s grizzly to think about such a carnage, but just to check all this out I measured from the point where the Valley of Armageddon slopes down to the Jordan Valley.  From that point southward down the Valley through the Dead Sea to the port of Elath on the Gulf of Aqabah measures approximately two hundred miles.  Apparently this whole valley will be filled with war materials, animals, bodies of men and blood!

            “Let the nations of the world be warned!  Let those who attack the believing remnant of Israel in the last days take heed, for the Lord says of Israel, ‘After the glory He has sent Me (The Messiah) against the nations who persecuted and plundered you, for anyone who touches you, touches the apple of God’s eye’ (Zechariah 2:8).”  (End quote)

The things that are in the above quote are the results of what happened when the angel swung his sickle to the earth and as we see it will be catastrophic to say the least.  What we are talking about here is pictured in John’s vision as grapes going into a wine press in order to get the juice out of the grapes and this pictures vividly the splattering of the juice as the grapes are stomped out.  Now again what is being pictured here is what will be going on when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to earth which is described in chapter nineteen of Revelation, and as mentioned He will come back when the full furry of the battle of Armageddon is going on, nations fighting against nation, but when they look up to see the Lord return they will stop fighting against each other and begin to fight against the Lord and the armies that will return with Him.  The following is what is written about this in Revelation 19:11-21 “   11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great." 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

John MacArthur writes “Putting the scene in this chapter together with that of chapter 19, while the angel cuts the grapes, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who crushes out their lives.

“Unregenerate humanity faces a frightening future, as this incredible scene indicates.  Those who refuse to repent, even after repeated warnings, will learn firsthand the sobering truth that ‘it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Heb. 10:31).  They would do well to heed the psalmist’s admonition:  “Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

As we look at what will happen it is still hard to understand all of the carnage that will be going on during this absolutely horrible time on planet a time so horrible that Jesus said in “Mt 24:22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”  We know the truth of this and it is up to us to tell others about this truth so that they will not have the potential of going through this horrible time that is coming soon as we have learned in our study of Revelation, for this is the next thing to happen as far as prophetic truth.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am compelled to tell others of the things that will soon take place as John says in Rev. 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I pray that all who read this will tell others of this truth and they in turn will tell still others of this truth.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Milk” (1 Corinthians 9:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was a custom of Jesus at Nazareth on the Sabbath?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/29/2015 12:54 PM

The Grape Harvest PT-1 (Rev. 14:17-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2015 8:02 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  The Grape Harvest  PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Revelation 14:17-20

            Message of the verses:  “17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18  Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe." 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 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.”

            We mentioned that the sub-sections for this harvest will be the same as those of the grain harvest so we will first be looking at the reaper, then the ripeness, and finally the reaping. It is doubtful we will get to look at all of these in this SD.

            John MacArthur writes the following as a way of introduction to this subject:  “The vision of the grain harvest is followed by the vision of the grape harvest, which does not speak of the bowl judgments but of the judgment that takes place at the battle of Armageddon.  The vintage judgment is more dramatic because of the imagery of the winepress.”

            The Reaper (Revelation 14:17):  “17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.” 

            Unlike the grain harvest the reaper in this vision is not the Son of Man, but is an angel which is the fifth one mentioned in this 14^th chapter of Revelation.  The angel comes out of the temple which is heaven which is like we saw the fourth angel come as described in verse 15.  Just as Christ had a sharp sickle so this fifth angel also has a sharp sickle too.  As we have been studying the book of Revelation we have seen that angels have prominent roles in what is going on in this book.  We will remember that it was angels who summoned the four horsemen, and they also sounded the seven trumpet judgments and also defeating Satan and his demon hosts.  There will be angels who will pour out the last judgments, the bowl judgments as we will see eventually when we study chapter sixteen.  An angel will announce the Battle of Armageddon “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God (Rev. 19:17).”  It will also be an angel who will bind Satan after Christ returns to the earth “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time (Rev. 20:1-3).”  Angels will also assist the Lord Jesus Christ in His final judgment:  “and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels (Matthew 13:39).”  “"So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous (Matthew 13 49).”  “And to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire (2 Thess. 2:7).”

            The Ripeness (Rev. 14:18):  “18  Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.’”

            We now look at the sixth angel that is mentioned in the 14^th chapter and as it is written this angel has power over fire and he came out from the altar.  John MacArthur writes “That title is closely connected with the fact that he came out from the altar.  This heavenly altar has already been mentioned in 6:9-11:  ‘9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.’  It most likely is emblematic of the Old Testament brass incense altar (Ex. 40:5), where twice daily priests burned incense to be offered in the Holy Place as a picture of the people’s prayers, since the martyrs underneath it are view praying and prayer is associated with incense (5:8; Ps 141:2; Luke 1:10).  Those martyred saints are praying for God to take vengeance on their tormenters and send His wrath. 

            “The altar is also described in 8:3-5:  ‘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. 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.’  Every morning and evening the Old Testament priests would take hot coals from the brazen altar (upon which sacrifices were offered) and bring them to the incense altar.  There they would ignite the incense (Ex. 30:7-8; 2 Chron. 29:11), which would rise toward heaven, symbolizing the prayers of God’s people (5:8).  At that same time, the people outside would be praying (Luke 1:10).”

            “Mt 6:10 ’Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  Lu 11:2 And He said to them, "When you pray, say: ’Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.”  Remember these verses as being a part of what we call the Lord ’s Prayer when actually it should be called the Disciple’s prayer, well I think as we look at what is going on in Revelation 14:18 we see that this prayer is being answered as John MacArthur explains:  “That angel had power over the altar’s fire (the definite article is present in the Greek text, which literally reads ‘the fire’) indicates that he had been ministering at the heavenly counterpart to the earthly incense altar.  Unlike the angel in verse 17, this angel does not come from the throne of God, but from the altar associated with the prayers of the saints.  His appearance means that the time had come for those prayers to be answered.  The time had come for God to take fire associated with intercession and use it for the destruction of His enemies and the enemies of His people.” 

            Now as we look at this passage we can see the unrepentant sinners are the grapes that are on the vine mentioned in this passage, and they are cut off with the sharp sickle of the angel.  We mentioned in our last SD about the word ripe as meaning over ripe or even rotten and I gave an illustration from my childhood days of working on the farm.  Well the illustration of that story goes better with this word ripe for this word refers to something fully ripe and in its prime as it pictures the earth’s wicked and unregenerate people as bursting with the juice of wickedness which is ready to come to harvest.

            We will save the last sub-section, the reaping for our last SD in the 14^th chapter of Revelation, a chapter that we began on the 5^th of July, a chapter that is very important in better understanding about angels and also their role in judgment, the final judgment that will come upon this earth when it is ripe for being harvested.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a believer in Jesus Christ and as being a part of His church there are times when my prayers reflect on the Lord saving people as it should, but there are also times on praying like the souls under the altar that God would judge the sinful people who are causing great harm to the people of the Lord.  As I reflect upon some of the things that I have been learning from the book of Revelation I believe that both prayers will be answered.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to give me the wisdom on how to pray.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He struck the rock instead of speaking to it” (Numbers 20:7-13).

Today’s Bible question:  “What does on eat who feeds the flock?” 

Answer in our next SD.

7/28/2015 8:56 AM

PT-2 of the Grain Harvest (Rev. 14:15-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2015 8:22 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 of the Grain Harvest

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 14:15-16

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s Spiritual Diary we will be looking at the second and third sub-sections of the “Grain Harvest.”  We looked at who the Reaper was in our last SD and found out it was the Lord Jesus Christ, and we also found out that these last verses of chapter fourteen contained two different times of harvest, the grain harvest, and the grape harvest.  Next we found out that as we will be looking at these different harvests the grain harvest represents the last judgments or the bowl judgments, while the grape harvest represents Armageddon.  Lastly we found out that each of these harvest can be described with the same sub-points, the reaper, the ripeness, and the reaping. 

            The Ripeness (Revelation 14:15):  “15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’”

            The angel mentioned in this verse is the fourth angel that is mentioned in chapter fourteen as we remember an angel was also mentioned in verses 6, 8, and 9.  As promised we are seeing many of the things that are done in the book of Revelation are done by angels, both good and bad.  When we looked at the first three angels we saw judgment coming while this angel speaks of the execution of that judgment.  Next we see that the angel came out of the heavenly temple, the temple in heaven and he announces the judgment to begin in a loud voice.  We have spoken of loud things happening in the book of Revelation in earlier SD’s, and so this is another thing that happens that is loud, and this conveys both urgency and power, and also the authority that was delegated to this angel from God.  As we further look at the verse the angel cried out “to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’”  Now this messages comes from God the Father and is then delivered to God the Son and that message is to commence the judgment.  I know that when we get to the word “ripe” and explain the meaning of that word that it is a bit different than the example that I am about to give, but I want to give this example anyway.  When I was a teenager I worked on different farms to help the farmers bring in some of their crops, mostly helping with the bailing of hay and then straw at times too.  When the hay is cut it has to lie in the field for a while in order to have it dry out a bit before it can be put into bails, for if it is bailed too early and put into the barn it can actually get so hot in the barn that it can burn the barn down, so it is important for the farmer to know when the hay is ready to be bailed.  As far as the grain the farmer has to know exactly when he can harvest it and he will take a sample of the grain to have it tested to see how much moisture is in it, and when that is right the grain is ready to be harvested.  We will see that the earth is actually past ready to be harvested for it is over ripe which is what the meaning of that word means, and we can attribute that to the grace of God.  I have given the example of what we find in Genesis 15:16 in many of my Spiritual Diaries and that verse says “"Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."”  God is speaking to Abraham telling him that his offspring will go into Egypt and then come back to the land he was living in at that time and one of the reasons that it will take 400 years for them to return is that the iniquity of the Amorite people is not yet complete, we could say it is not yet ripe for harvesting.  God has waited a very long time to judge the world, and as we see in this verse it is time for that judgment to come for the iniquity of those unbelievers living on the earth at that time will be complete or ripe.

            We have mentioned that Jesus came the first time to planet earth as a Savior and as a Servant, but this time He will come as a judge to exercise the right to judge that the Father has delegated to Him.  Let us look at John 5:22 and then 27 and then we will look at Acts 10:42 and 17:31.  “22  "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,”  “27  and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”  “42 “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.”  “31  because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."”

            John MacArthur write the following on the word ripe:  “In fact the verb translated ‘is ripe’ actually means ‘dried up,’ ‘withered,’ ‘overripe,’ or ‘rotten.’  The grain (the earth) pictured here has passed the point of any usefulness and is fit only to be ‘gathered up and burned with fire’ (Matthew 13:40).”

            The Reaping (Revelation 14:16):  “16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.”

            I think that it is best that I quote the paragraph that John MacArthur has written for this verse in his commentary.  “Here is one of the most tragic and sobering statements in all of Scripture.  Simply, and without fanfare, it records the executing of divine judgment.  The frightening details of that judgment are unfolded in chapter 16:  loathsome and malignant sores on the worshipers of Antichrist (v. 2), the death of all life in the world’s oceans (v. 3), the turning of the world’s rivers and springs of water into blood (v 4), the intensifying of the sun’s heat until it scorches people (v 8), painful darkness over all of the Antichrist’s kingdom (v 10), the drying up of the Euphrates River in preparation for a massive invasion by the kings of the east (v 12), and the most powerful destructive earthquake in history (v 18).  Those seven rapid-fire bowl judgments mark the first phase of the final reaping of the earth.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have mentioned the following verse from 2 Peter in this section in other SD’s but it is good to use it for this one too.  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”  (2 Peter 3:11)

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remembering what kind of person I should be as seen in the verse above, I pray that I will be that kind of person.

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

Today’s Bible question:  “How did Moses disobey God when the water came from the rock at Meribah?”

  Answer in our next SD.

7/27/2015 9:05 AM

The Grain Harvest (Rev. 14:14-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2015 9:25 PM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The Grain Harvest

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Revelation 14:14-16

            Message of the verses:  “14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.”

            The following are three verses which have the words “one like a son of man” in them:  Da 7:13  "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.  Re 1:13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. Re 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.”  Now it is interesting that we see this phrase and not the phrase “the Son of man” for that phrase is found in the NT when Jesus walked upon the earth some 80 times in the NASB.

            When we look at the grain harvest we see that it represents the upcoming bowl judgments while the grape harvest represents Armageddon.  And we see that there is a sickle in both of the harvests.  John MacArthur writes “both [harvests] can be described by the same three points:  the reaper, the ripeness and the reaping.”   We will only look at the reaper which is found in verse fourteen in this SD and then will look at the “ripeness” and the reaping in our next SD, and then we will be looking at the grape harvest’s same three points in the SD after our next SD.

            The Reaper:  “14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.”

            We have gone over the fact that when we read “I looked, and behold,” we see that John is introducing a new subject which he is here.  This phrase is seen also in 4:1; 6:2, 5, 8; 7:9; 14:1.  John’s attention was the “white cloud” something he probably was familiar from reading Daniel 7:13-14 “13 "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

            “One like a Son of Man” is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming to establish His kingdom which will fulfill what we see in Daniel’s prophecy.  The white cloud symbolizes His glory and also His majesty as seen in Rev. 1:7 “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”  Matthew 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; and Acts 1:9 also speak of this.  Let’s look at Acts 1:9 “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”  Later on an angel speaks to His disciples and says to them:  “"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."”  As mentioned the Lord Jesus was waiting for His time to come back to earth as prophesized by Daniel and that time will be right after the seven bowl judgments.

            As we go back to wondering why the definite article is not used in the phrase “one like a son of man” John MacArthur writes “Why the text does not use the definite article and read the son of man is not clear.  Yet the phrase also appears without a definite article in its only other appearances in Revelation.”  We have already looked at those from the book of Revelation.  He goes on to write “Perhaps the article was omitted to strengthen the allusion to Daniel 7:13.  In any case, there is no doubt that the one like a son of man is the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the last time Scripture refers to Him by that title, and it presents a marked contrast with the first time the New Testament calls Him the ‘son of man.’  Then He had nothing, not even a place to lay His head (Matt. 8:20); now He is about to take possession of the entire earth.” 

            We also see Him described as having a golden crown on His head, but that crown is not the crown of a king, but the crown of a victor in either war or in an athletic event.  When Jesus returns to earth He will be a conquering hero as He will rid the earth of all sinners including Satan, the Antichrist, the False prophet, and also all those who have not named the name of Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

            The Reaper also had a “sharp sickle” in his hand.  When I was a boy one of our neighbors has a long sharp sickle that I would sometime use to cut down some high weeds.  We also had a smaller one, something I still have, and this was used something like a weed-whacker is used today, with the exception it was a lot harder to use.  Sickles were used in the days when Jesus was on the earth to cut down the wheat or other grain and then it was taken into a threshing floor where the grain was separated from the chaff.  Jesus will be doing this type of harvesting as seen in this section, but this section speaks of harvesting sinful men and not grain.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The prophetic Word from the OT will be fulfilled in this NT passage and this strengthens my faith that God’s plan will be fulfilled as He prophesied in His Word.  This gives encouragement that all things He has prophesied will also come true.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Rahab” (Joshua 6:25).

Today’s Bible question:  “What New Testament book begins with the words ‘In the beginning?’”

Answer in our nest SD.

7/26/2015 10:06 PM

Introduction to Rev. 14:14-20 (Rev. 14: 14-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2015 8:39 AM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Introduction to Rev. 14:14-20

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 14:14-20

                 Message of the verses:  “14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18  Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe." 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 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.”

                 As we look at these verses we will see that they are about the judgment at the end of the Tribulation period, a judgment that is seen in different parts of the Bible, some of them we will look at today.  First let us compare the first coming of Jesus Christ to the earth with the second coming of Him to the earth at the end of the Tribulation period.  First we can look at a section from the book of Philippians, a section that speaks of the humiliation of our Savior when He first came to planet earth:  “6 Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (Phil. 2:6-8)

                 John MacArthur summarizes the two appearances of Jesus Christ to planet earth:  “Jesus came the first time as a servant; He will return as the sovereign King.  In His first coming, He came in humility; in His second coming, He will come in majesty and splendor.  The first time He came to earth, ‘the Son of Man [came] to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10); when He returns, to will be to ‘judge the living and the dead’ (2 Tim. 4:1).  Jesus came the first time as the sower; He will come again as the reaper.”  As we begin to study these verses from the book of Revelation we could say that the theme of them is reaping, reaping the lost who, although they have had time to repent, they have not and now judgment is coming to them.  We can even say that what we are looking at in this passage can be defined as “The Day of the Lord,” and this is not the only place where this is spoken of in the Word of God.

                 Let us take a look at some of the verses in the Word of God that speak of this time of judgment beginning with what John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:7b “"You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  We can see here that John knew of the judgment that would come upon the earth.  Next we can look at some of the things that Jesus said about this coming judgment:  Matthew 10:15 “"Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.’”  Matthew 11:22 and 24 “22 “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”  “24  "Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you."”  Matthew 12:36 and 41-42 “36  "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”  “41 “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42  "The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”  John 5:28-29 “28  "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29  and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”  Romans 1:18 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” and Romans 2:5-6 “5 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, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”  2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 “6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”  Hebrews 10:26-27 “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.”  Next we will look at 2 Peter 2:9 and also 3:7 “9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,”  “7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

                 Now we will look at some OT verses that speak of this judgment:  Isaiah 13:11-13 “light. 11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. 12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.”  Next Isaiah 24:21-23 “21 So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. 22 They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. 23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.”

                 John MacArthur writes that “Two Old Testament passages present striking parallels with Revelation 14.  Isaiah 63:1-6 records a fascinating soliloquy of Messiah as He comes to execute the bloody final judgment of the unbelieving world:  ‘1 Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." 2 Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? 3 “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. 4 “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. 5 "I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. 6  "I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."

                 “This passage, like Revelation 14:19-20, uses the metaphor of trampling grapes in a winepress to depict the devastation of God’s final judgment.”

                 “The prophet Joel recorded the devastation caused in Israel by drought, fire, and a massive invasion of locusts (Joel 1:1-2:11).   Then the prophet used those temporal judgments to warn of even more devastating judgment of the Day of the Lord (2:18-3:21).  In Joel 3:12-13 that judgment is described using the same imagery found in Revelation 14:  ‘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.’”

                 Next we want to look at a parable that the Lord gave in the book of Matthew about the wheat and the tares.  It is found in Matthew chapter 13 and after the parallel is given the disciples asked the Lord to explain it and He said the following in Matthew 13:39-42 “39 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, 42  and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

                 John MacArthur concludes his introductory commentary with the following paragraph which gives us the outline we will follow as we conclude this 14^th chapter of the book of Revelation, a chapter we began to look at on the 5^th of July.  “This passage pictures the final harvest of divine wrath in two agricultural motifs:  the grain harvest (vv. 14-16) and the grape harvest (vv. 17-20), raising the question as to why John recorded two visions of the same event.  There are many depictions of this event by the prophets, including those mentioned above, so it is not unusual for John to record two visions of it.  But there is also a specific situation at this point in the book of Revelation that suggests a purpose behind the repetition.  As the Tribulation nears its climax, two main aspects of God’s eschatological wrath remain to be poured out on the sinful world.  The first aspect involves the seven bowl judgments 16:1-21), a rapid-fire sequence of frightening and deadly worldwide judgments that will destroy the final Babylon—the Antichrist’s empire.  The second aspect in the Battle of Armageddon, at which point Jesus Christ returns to judge and destroy His enemies (19:11-21).”

                 Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can’t help but look again at a verse from the book of Second Peter who after writing that there will come a day when the entire universe will be burned up with fire he writes “11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To live that way that Peter describes.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Italy” (Acts 27:6).

Today’s Bible question:  “What woman and her family were saved when Jericho was destroyed?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/25/2015 10:08 AM