Intro to the Book of Revelation

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS

It has only been in the last few weeks that I truly believed that the Lord wants me to take another look at the book of Revelations.  I was all set to begin in a study on the book of Colossians until I was listening to the book of Revelations a couple of weeks ago and it was then that I decided to do this study.  It was all the way back on the 17^th of January in 2005 that I first studied the book of Revelations as far as putting it in my Spiritual Diaries.  It took to the end of December of 2005 to finish my study the first time and it was at the end of my study of the entire New Testament which I really don’t remember when it began.

As I begin this study of Revelations I want to begin in this introduction with a passage all the way back in the book of Genesis, a passage that I have looked at many times in my Spiritual Diaries.  “15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel’ (Genesis 3:15).”  This verse is the first prophecy of the coming Messiah, and as I have mentioned before it is the only time that the term seed of the woman or her seed is used in the entire Bible.  I firmly believe that this is a prophecy of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ who will be the one who defeats Satan, the one who tempted Eve to sin by eating of the fruit from the tree of good and evil.  Now why is it important in a study of Revelations to bring this verse up?  My answer to that question is that this begins a long road of prophesies that will actually end in the book of Revelation.  John MacArthur states that there is actually no quotations from the Old Testament that are in the book of Revelation, however he states that “278 of the 404 verses in Revelation allude to the inspired Old Testament Scriptures.”  That is another answer to the question that I brought up earlier.  I once heard Hal Lindsey state that the best way to study the book of Revelation is by using a good concordance, and I suppose that is one way to study this wonderful book for if 278 verses allude to the Old Testament then a concordance would be a good way to study this book.

I want to take us back to Psalm 2 and verse 7 ““I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’” And this verse is seen three times in the book of Hebrews too.  Why do I want to look at this verse?  This verse is fulfilled after the resurrection of our Lord, as that is when it is told that God the Father has begotten His Son, and that is part of what the book of Revelations is all about as the first verse reads “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John.”  God gave this book to His Son and this book is all about His Son, and not the Son who the last time the world saw Him was dead on a Roman cross, but His Son whom He raised from the dead after He had paid for our sins on the cross and was in the grace for three days, and then raised again to life, a life in which He was the firstfruits of those who have believed in Him for salvation will someday do the same.  Yes this book is not about Christ in His humiliation, but Christ in His glorification as we will see. 

The human author of the book of Revelation is the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee who as we will see was living on the island of Patmos when He received instructions on what he was to write down.

I believe that this book was written in or around 96 AD, and no earlier, and there is a reason as to why I believe that and it has to do with how this book is interpreted.   In his introduction to Revelation John MacArthur gives a number of interpretive approaches of this book.  I will list them, but there is only one way that I believe is the proper way to interpret this book and I will state that after I mention the other ways.  “The preterist approach views Revelation not as future, predictive prophecy, but as a historical record of events in the first-century Roman Empire.”  “The historicist approach finds in Revelation a record of the sweep of church history from apostolic times until the present.”  “The idealist approach sees depicted in Revelation the timeless struggle between good and evil that is played out in every age.”  Now I will give the approach that I have believed is seen in Revelation since I first became a believer.  As a matter of fact the first book that I read after becoming a believer was the book of Revelation, and I must say that I got little out of it.  “The futurist approach sees in chapters 4-22 predictions of people and events yet to come in the future.  Only this approach allows Revelation to be interpreted following the same literal, grammatical-historical hermeneutical method by which no-prophetic portions of Scripture are interpreted.”

John MacArthur quotes John F. Walvoord in his introduction in the same section that he addresses this futurist approach of interpreting Revelation.  John F. Walvoord is a noted author and speaker on the study of Eschatology, as he has written several books on this theology.  I once listened to him speak in 1978 at the first Moody Founders Week that I attended.  He spoke on the eschatology that is found in the letters of First and Second Thessalonians.  “Much of the prophecy of the Bible deals with the distant future, including the Old Testament promises of the coming Messiah, the prophecies of Daniel concerning the future world empires, the body of truth relating to the coming kingdom on earth as well as countless other prophecies.  If the events of chapters 4 through 19 are future, even from our viewpoint today, they teach the blessed truth of the ultimate supremacy of God and the triumph of righteousness.  The immediate application of distant events is familiar in Scripture, as for instance II Peter 3:10-12, which speaks of the ultimate dissolution of the earth; nevertheless the succeeding passage makes an immediate application:  ‘Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent.’”  I will at this time quote all of 2 Peter 3:10-12 “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, 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!”  Now remember that Peter would shortly be crucified upside-down after writing these words as this was his last letter recorded in the Bible, so when you are about to die you want to things that are most important to you.

John MacArthur finishes his introduction with the following words:  “Anything other than the futurist approach leaves the meaning of the book of human ingenuity and opinion.  The futurist approach takes the book’s meaning as God gave it.”  Now this is the way we will look at this book, for I truly believe that the things that take place from chapters 4-22 are still future.

Let me give the best outline, although it is a very short one, but comes from Revelation 1:19 “"Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”  Now we will look more closely at this verse when we later study it, but briefly what we see here is that John had seen things as recorded in the first 18 verses of Revelation which he was not suppose to write down, but in chapters 2-3 we will see the next part of this outline as he is told to write down the things which are, and this speaks of what will be said of the seven churches who will receive this letter, and then the last part of verse 19 he is to write the things which will take place, and this speaks of what will happen from chapters 4-22.

We are going to take our time as we go through this wonderful, insightful book, a book where we will learn much about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as He is now in His glorified body.  We will see Him as Lord of lords, and King of kings.   

"The Essential Nature" (Rev. 1:a-b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2015 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The Essential Nature

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Revelation 1:1a-b

            Message of the verse:  In today’s SD we will actually begin our study of the book of Revelation by looking at a part of the first verse.  I believe that it is essential to take our time in the first part of any book that we study because we will better understand the book if we understand it’s beginning, and this is especially true in this study.

            One of the things that people want to know is what is going to happen in the future, and so they go to different places, and do different things to find out what the future holds.  God has warned us in His Law about doing some things that people now do to try and find out what the future holds.  Way back in the book of Genesis we find that in what would become Babylon that they built a tower into the heavens that some think was to reach heaven, but many Bible scholars call it a “ziggurat.”  This was used to chart the stars and today in newspapers and on the internet we see astrological descriptions of what will happen to people who were born under a particular astrological sign.  This was the beginning of something that we will look at in the 17^th and 18^th chapters of Revelation as we will see the destruction of “Religious” and what I will call “Governmental” Babylon.  God destroyed the beginnings of Babylon by confusing the languages, and this slowed mankind down from doing these things for a while, but because of computers and other technological advances we are almost back in the same place as mankind was then.  My point in all of this is the one of the reasons for doing things like this was to know what the future holds and people still want to know what the future holds.

            When I was a little boy my mother told me what she knew about the end of the world, and what she told me was only partly true as far as what the Bible has to say about the end of the world.  She said that winter would turn into summer and summer would turn into winter and then after that the whole world would burn up.  You can imagine that this frightened me very much, and I have never forgotten what she said.  2 Peter 3:10-12 tells us that the earth will be burned up and we will also be looking at this at the end of Revelation. 

            As we begin to look at the book of Revelation we will see that God will show us what will happen in the future.  As John did what the Lord told him to do and that is to write down the things that he saw in the visions he actually saw exactly what will happen in the future, and this will happen exactly as he saw it happen.  John MacArthur calls his sermon on the first verses of Revelation “Back to the Future.”  I actually think that movie title was popular when he preached through the book of Revelation.

It would probably help us to see the outline that is in MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Revelation because I will probably follow it as se study this book.

Outline

I.                    The Things Which You Have Seen (1:1-20)

a.       The Prologue (1:1-8)

b.      The Vision of the Glorified Christ (1:9-18)

c.       John’s Commission to Write (1:19-20)

II.                 The Things Which Are (2:1-3:22)

a.       The Letter to the Church at Ephesus (2:1-7)

b.      The Letter to the Church at Smyrna (2:8-11)

c.       The Letter to the Church at Pergamum (2: 12-17)

d.      The Letter to the Church at Thyatira (2:18-29)

e.       The Letter to the Church at Sardis (3:1-6)

f.        The Letter to the Church at Philadelphia (3:7-13)

g.      The Letter to the Church at Laodicea (3:14-22)

III.              The Things Which Will Take Place After This (4:1-22:21)

a.       Worship Before God’s Heavenly Throne (4:1-5:14)

b.      The Tribulation (6:1-18:24)

c.       The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (19:1-21)

d.      The Millennium (20:1-10)

e.       The Great White Throne Judgment (20:11-15)

f.        The Eternal State (21:1-22:21)

Now we will look at the first two words in the book of Revelation which will tell us about its essential nature.

The Revelation (Rev. 1:1a):  “The Revelation.

Many people have been afraid to look at and study and many pastors have been afraid of preaching from the book of Revelations.  Afraid is a key word here as these people are afraid of what they think is symbolism that is found in this book.  However as we look at these first two words we will see that the word “Revelation” is the Greek word “Apocalypses” and this word is “seen eighteen times in the New Testament, always, when used of a person, with the meaning ‘to become visible.’”  Let us take a look at Luke 2:32 “A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."”  These words were spoken by Simeon to the parents of Jesus as he had been waiting to see the Lord’s Salvation, the Messiah for he was promised he would not die until he saw Him.  What Simeon is saying in this verse is that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ would be made visible to men.  Let’s look at Romans 8:19 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”  This verse speaks of creation longing for those who have been born-again to receive their glorified bodies, and this will happen at the Rapture of the Church for those who are in the Church.  Both Paul and Peter speak of the revelation of Jesus Christ in their writings and this is the same word used as the title of Revelation.  I want to take a moment to quote what the English/Greek dictionary has to say about this word:  “1) laying bear, making naked

2) a disclosure of truth, instruction

2a) concerning things before unknown

2b) used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all

3) manifestation, appearance

            Now as we look at the meaning of “things before unknown” we will see this as we study the book of Revelation as it contains “truths that had been concealed, but have now been revealed.”  We mentioned that out of the 404 verses in Revelation 278 relate to things written in the Old Testament.

            As we study this book we will see that the Apocalypse reveals a lot of divine truths, and a sample of them is that it reveals the danger of sin in the church, and it also instructs believers to live a holy life.  Of course it also speaks of things that will happen in the future and if you look at the outline you will see some of those things.  John MacArthur writes “But supremely, overarching all those features, the book of Revelation reveals the majesty and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It describes in detail the events associated with His second coming, revealing His glory that will one day blaze forth as strikingly and unmistakably as lightning flashing in a darkened sky (Matt. 24:27).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that one of the most wonderful things for me to find in the Bible is to know what will happen to me in the future, and I don’t mean everyday future, but what will happen at the “end of the world” future.  However as I look at the book I will also see a wonderful picture of our glorified Christ and this is something that will last longer than living on this earth.

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

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-7.

5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Mark 2:27).

Today’s Bible question:  “At the time of Christ what was the country between Judea and Galilee called?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/3/2015 11:24 AM    

 

 

Psalm 150 PT-2

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/18/2012 8:08:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Psalm 150-PT-2

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Ps. 150:1b-6

 

            Message of the verses:  We will continue our look at the last psalm, Psalm 150, which is a psalm of praise as the last six Psalms have been, and this is a wonderful way to conclude the book of Psalms.  At the end of his introductory commentary Dr. Wiersbe wrote the following, “Like the previous psalm, it gives us a summary of some essentials of true worship.” 

 

            The Place of Worship:  Heaven and Earth (v.1b):  “Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.”

 

            The psalmist has mentioned two places where the worship of the Lord is done from, the expanse, which is the heaven above, where we read from Hebrews 12:23 the following to show this truth, “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”  The other place where worship is conducted is from the earth and the psalmist mentions the sanctuary, which of course is speaking of the temple that is in Jerusalem.  Now we know that this temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and that now the temple of the Lord is in the hearts of true believers where the Holy Spirit of God lives and this should cause all believers to worship and praise the Lord for the wonderful works that He has accomplished on our behalf.  Since the Church age began in Acts chapter two believers have set aside places where they come to corporately worship the Lord, at first it was in the homes of the believers, and now it is in buildings where the church meets that we call church buildings.  The word “church” in the Greek is the word “ekklesia ek-klay-see’-ah,” and this word means “an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting.”  Believers are those who have been called out by God for salvation and because of this we desire to worship the Lord together in a corporate setting.  The writer to the Hebrews gives this command to believers, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

 

            The Themes of Worship:  God’s Acts and Attributes (v.2):  “2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.”

 

            I mentioned a couple of days ago that I am reading a book by A. W. Tozer entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy,” and also mentioned that in this book Tozer writes about knowing God and knowing Him through His attributes.  He has a chapter in this book explaining exactly what attributes means and I wish to quote a number of passages from this chapter so we can better understand what an attribute means when we are speaking of the attributes of God.  Tozer entitles this chapter “A Divine Attribute: Something True About God.”  He states, “It would seem to be necessary before proceeding further to define the word attribute as it is used in this volume.  It is not used in its philosophical sense nor confined to its strictest theological meaning.  By it is meant simply whatever may be correctly ascribed to God.  For the purpose of this book an attribute of God is whatever God has in any revealed as being true of Himself.”

            “If an attribute is something true of God, it is also something that we can conceive as being true of Him.  God, being infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know nothing.  An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental concept, an intellectual response to God’s self-revelation.  It is an answer to a question, the reply God makes to our interrogation concerning Himself.”

 

            “An attribute, then, is not a part of God.  It is how God is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go, we may say that it is what God is, through, as I have tried to explain, exactly what He is He cannot tell us.  Of what God is conscious when He is conscious of self, only He knows.  ‘The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.’  Only to an equal could God communicate the mystery of His Godhead; and to think of God as having an equal is to fall into an intellectual absurdity.”

 

            When we look at some of the mighty acts that the Lord performed in the OT we have many to choose from.  We would have to begin with creation which is the way that the OT begins.  The flood was also a mighty act of God.  When God called Abram to begin the nation of Israel and giving he and his wife a child after they were past the age of childbearing is also a might act preformed by God.  The Exodus from the land of Egypt and the ten great miracles that God performed to accomplish this along with the drying of the Red Sea so Israel could cross on dry land.  The conquering of the Promised Land and the call of David and his line in which the Messiah would be born into are also mighty acts performed by God.  As we move into the NT we see the miracles and more miracles, and that is found in the four Gospels where we see the second person of the Godhead becoming a man so that He could complete the will of the Father which was to provide salvation for all who believe in Him.  The first words that we hear Jesus speak in the Gospel of Luke is that He was going about His Father’s business and the last words He speaks are “It is finished,” which means paid in full.  As we move into the book of Acts we see more mighty works that are done by the Lord as the Church age begins and the calling of those whom the Father had chosen in eternity past begins, and is still going on to this day.  Dr. Wiersbe states “The acts of God reveal the character of God, His holiness, love, wisdom, power, grace, and so on—what the psalmist called ‘His excellent greatness’ (NASB).

 

            “We cannot plumb the debts of all that God is or all that He has done (106:2; 145:4 11, 12).  This is why our eternal worshiping of God will never become boring!”

 

            The Means of Worship:  Musical Instruments and Human Voices (vv. 3-6):  “3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”

 

            It seems that the psalmist is describing an orchestra with the instruments that he speaks of here, and he also is speaking of using our voices to praise the Lord.  He states at the end that everything that has breath should be praising the Lord and ends the psalm and also the book of Psalms with the words, “Praise the LORD.” 

 

            Now if the sun, the moon, the stars all praise the Lord even though they have no breath, then all of us who have breath should praise the Lord, especially all of the true believers who have been chosen by the Father, had their sins paid for by the Son, and called by the Holy Spirit to eternal salvation.  As we ponder these truths let us Praise the LORD!

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are a number of reasons that I am studying the book “The Knowledge of the Holy,” and one of them is that it is my desire to know God better, and by knowing Him better I will then be able to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and to have a part of my worship praising the Lord.

 

            There is some emotion within me as I finish the study of the book of Psalm, a book that has taken nine days more than a year to complete.  My prayer is that God will be glorified with the things that I have learned and shared from this great portion of Scripture, a portion of Scripture that has great meaning to all believers from every age who have named the name of Christ and have known the God of the Bible.  This book has brought much comfort to those who have read it and it also helps us to come better acquainted with our Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to have a desire to learn contentment, to continue to have my mind transformed by the Word of God, and to continue to praise and know my Lord.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Psalm 121:1

 

            1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?

 

12/18/2012 9:30:52 AM  

Ps. 150:1a & 6b

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/17/2012 3:39:46 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Psalm 150-PT-1

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Ps. 150:1a & 6b

 

            Message of the verses:  We will begin to look at the very last psalm in the book of Psalms, the 150^th Psalm.  It has been a journey that has taken me more than a year to complete, but well worth the journey.  We will begin by looking at several introductions from different Bible Commentators in order to better understand this psalm.

 

            “This psalm is of the same kind and upon the same subject with the two preceding ones; and very probably was written by the same hand, and about the same time; and is a very proper psalm to conclude this book with, being all praise. Some say {q} this psalm was sung by the Israelites, when they came with their firstfruits into the sanctuary, with the basket on their shoulders. "Thirteen" times in this short psalm is the word "praise" used; not on account of thirteen properties or perfections in God, as Kimchi thinks: but it is so frequently and in every clause used, to show the vehement desire of the psalmist that the Lord might be praised; and to express his sense of things, how worthy he is of praise; and that all ways and means to praise him should be made use of, all being little enough to set forth his honour and glory. And not the Levites only, whose business it was in the temple service to praise the Lord with musical instruments, are here exhorted to it, as R. Judah the Levite thinks, but all people; not the people of Israel only, as Kimchi; but the Gentiles also, even all that have breath, #Ps 150:6. For, as R. Obadiah Gaon observes, this psalm belongs to the times of the Messiah; to the Gospel dispensation, to the latter part of it, especially when Jews and Gentiles shall be converted; and when all will praise the Lord, as they will have reason for it.”  (John Gill)

 

            “The first and last of the psalms have both the same number of verses, are both short, and very memorable. But the scope of them is very different: the first psalm is an elaborate instruction in our duty, to prepare us for the comforts of our devotion; this is all rapture and transport, and perhaps was penned on purpose to be the conclusion of these sacred songs, to show what is the design of them all, and that is to assist us in praising God. The psalmist had been himself full of the praises of God, and here he would fain fill all the world with them: again and again he calls,

 

         "Praise the Lord, praise him, praise him,"

 

no less than thirteen times in these six short verses. He shows,

 

   I. For what, and upon what account, God is to be praised, #Ps 150:1, 2,

 

   II. How, and with what expressions of joy, God is to be praised, #Ps 150:3-5.

 

   III. Who must praise the Lord; it is every one’s business, #Ps 150:6. In singing this psalm we should endeavour to get our hearts much affected with the perfections of God and the praises with which he is and shall be forever attended, throughout all ages, world without end.”   (Matthew Henry)

 

            “We have now reached the last summit of the mountain chain of Psalms. It rises high into the clear azure, and its brow is bathed in the sunlight of the eternal world of worship, it is a rapture. The poet prophet is full of inspiration and enthusiasm. He slays not to argue, to teach, to explain; but cries with burning words, ‘Praise him, Praise him, Praise ye the LORD.’” (Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “When you read and study the psalms, you meet with joys and sorrows, tears and trials, pain and pleasures, but the book of Psalms closes on the highest note of praise!  Like the book of Revelation that closes the New Testament, this final psalm says to God’s people, ‘Don’t worry—this is the way the story will end.  We shall all be praising the Lord!’  The word ‘praise’ is used thirteen times in this psalm, and ten of those times, we are commanded to ‘Praise Him.’  Each of the previous four Books of Psalms ends with a benediction (41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52; 106:48), but the final Book ends with a whole psalm devoted to praise.  Like the previous psalm, it gives us a summary of some essentials of true worship.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

 

            The Focus of Worship:  The Lord (1a, 6b):  “Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary;   Praise the LORD!”

 

            I am not sure that all versions of the Bible are like the NASB, in that when we see the word “LORD” in all capital letters that it means Yahweh or not, but I do know that that is what it means in the NASB.  In the English we use the word Jehovah to mean Yahweh.  When Moses was up on the mountain looking at the burning bush he was speaking to God and asked God His name so that he could tell the children of Israel who sent him.  “Ex 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ’I AM has sent me to you.’"

            Yahweh it the covenant keeping God, and when we look at the New Testament, which is the New Covenant we must think of what Jesus Christ has done for all of those who believe in Him, and that is He paid the price for our sin, paid it in the way that His Father was satisfied with His sacrifice.  It was not with the blood of bulls and goats that has caused those who believe in Jesus Christ to be saved from their sins, but the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God.

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that the word “God” is the “power name” of God (El, Elohim), and this reminds us that whatever He promises He is able to perform.  “Worship is not about the worshiper and his or her needs; it is about God and His power and glory.  Certainly we bring our burdens and needs with us into the sanctuary (1Peter 5:7), but we focus our attention on the Lord.”  “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1Peter 5:7).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Remember that worship is not about me but about the Lord and His power and glory.

 

12/17/2012 4:16:00 PM

 

 

Psalm 149 PT-3

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/17/2012 7:42:20 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Psalm 149-PT-3

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Ps. 149:6-9

 

            Message of the verses:  This is our third lesson from the 149^th Psalm and again I want to remind all of what Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end of his introductory commentary for this psalm, “This psalm is a primer on worship and gives us the basic instructions we need.”

 

            Worship the Lord Triumphantly (vv. 6-9):  “6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, 7 To execute vengeance on the nations And punishment on the peoples, 8 To bind their kings with chains And their nobles with fetters of iron, 9 To execute on them the judgment written; This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the LORD!”

 

            As true believers in Jesus Christ we must remember that worship and warfare go together, for we are in a battle and Paul tells us that we are to put on the spiritual armor that he describes in Ephesians 6:10-18.  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  Prayer and worship are also a part of our armor along with songs, for when Jesus was about to go to the cross He and His disciples sang a song.  The church has songs like “Onward Christian Soldiers,” showing that the Church is indeed an army and we are in the battle to reach the lost souls and tell them the truth of the gospel in order that they may hear the truth and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

 

            Part of the battle we are in is that Satan has the desire to be worshiped, and he does not care if people are “religious” as long as Jesus Christ is not mentioned and as long as the gospel is not preached.  When we look at Revelations chapter thirteen we can see Satan’s desire to be worshiped.  Satan even tried to entice the Lord Jesus Christ to worship him as seen in Matthew 4:8-11.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this psalm by writing the following:  “Today, the sword belongs to the human government and its agents (Rom. 13) and God’s servants do not wield it (John 18:10-11, 36-37).  But the day of the Lord will come ‘as a thief in the night’ (1Thes. 5:2ff), and then Christ will ‘gird His sword…and ride prosperously (45:3-5).  Until then, the church must take worship very seriously and realize that worship is a part of the believer’s spiritual warfare.  To ignore worship, trivialize it, turn it into entertainment, or make it routine activity is to play right into the hands of the enemy.  It is an honor to serve in the Lord’s army of worshiping warriors!”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I must never forget that the Church is in a battle, and also I must never forget that I am on the winning side.  As I look at what is happening to our country I can see that Satan seems to be having many victories, but I must remember that Satan is a defeated foe, for Christ defeated him at the cross, and time is running short for him for one day soon he will be locked in the pit having an unbreakable chain put on him where he will remain for 1000 years and then let loose to deceive the nations for a short time and then will be put into the lake of fire where he will be forever.

            I must also remember that worshiping the Lord in the correct manner is part of defeating the enemy.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn contentment; continue to have my mind transformed into the image of my Lord through the Word of God.  Worship the Lord in Spirit and truth.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Psalm 121:1

 

            1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come from.

 

12/17/2012 8:12:47 AM

Psalm 149:3-5

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/16/2012 8:08:28 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Psalm 149-PT-2

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Psalm 149:3-5

 

            Message of the verses:  We will look at more of Psalm 149 in today’s Spiritual Diary, but first I want to quote what Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end of his introductory commentary, “This psalm is a primer on worship and gives us the basic instructions we need.”

 

            Worship The Lord Fervently (vv. 3-4):  “3 Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.”

 

            I think it was back in the late 1990’s that I first listened to a CD that was made in Jerusalem by Paul Wilbur who is a Pastor from Chicago.  The CD is entitled “Shalom Jerusalem,” and sometime after I listened to the CD we were able to by a video tape of it.  There was Jewish dancing that was seen while the music was playing, and I would suppose that this dancing was the type that is mentioned in verse three, for Jewish dancing is interpretive dances that point to the Lord and not some person’s talent.  There are examples of dancing spoken of in the Scriptures, Exodus 15:20; Judges 11:34; 1Samuel 18:6; and Jeremiah 31:4).

 

            Now as we move into the Church age we find that the Church patterned itself after the type of worship that was found in the Jewish Synagogues where we find the reading of the Scriptures along with expounding on them and also prayer.

 

            At this point I want to quote some writings from Dr. Wiersbe on this section because of the importance of the topic of worship.  “Spiritual fervency must not be confused with fleshly enthusiasm.  There are false worshiper as well as true worshipers (John 4:22-24; Col. 2:16-23), and some people who think they are filled with the Spirit are really being fooled by the spirits.  Bringing false fire into the sanctuary can lead to death (Lev. 10:1-11).  Our purpose is not to please ourselves or to demonstrate how ‘spiritual’ we are.  Our purpose is to delight in the Lord (147:11), and humility is one virture that brings Him great joy (Isa. 66:1-2). ‘1 Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD. "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.’  The Lord gives spiritual beauty to those whose worship brings Him delight.  Worship ought to be beautiful, for we are beholding the beauty of the Lord (27:4; 29:2; 90:17; 96:9) and becoming more like the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).  Worship must focus on God, not on us, and it must be enrichment, not entertainment.  The experience of true worship can help us experience deliverance from the bondage of sin and the world.”  2 Cor. 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”  Romans 8:29 says “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”

 

            Worship the Lord Gratefully (v.5):  “5 Let the godly ones exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their beds.”  “5 Let the saints rejoice in this honour and sing for joy on their beds.”  (NIV) 

 

            The Hebrew word that is translated “glory” in the NASB is translated “honor” in both the NIV and the NLT.  When looking it up I found that this Hebrew word is translated 32 times in the KJV in different parts of the OT.  Dr. Wiersbe states that “honor” is the privilege of worshiping the true and living God.  We as believers have this wonderful privilege and honor of worshiping the Lord of Glory.  The Word of God came first to the nation of Israel and now it is passed onto the Church as we not only have the Old Testament, but now we also have the New Testament.

 

            I am in the process, the early process of trying to wade my way through a book that is written by A. W. Tozer entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy,” and at this point, because it goes along with the worship of the Church, I would like to take some quotes from it.  Before I do this I want to kind of set the stage:  The book is about knowing God, which is the title of a book by J. I. Packer, and talks about the same thing, that is how we can know God.  It speaks of the attributes of God and both “Knowing God,” and also “The Knowledge of the Holy were written in the mid 20^th century.  Tozer says that the most important question a person can ask is “What comes into our minds when we think about God.”  How are we to learn to worship our God in the way that He desires for us to worship Him if we do not know Him?  Tozer states that in the mid 20^th century the Church was moving away from knowing God in the way that we should know Him, and this great problem has not gotten any better as we entered into the first and second decade of the 21^st century.  Tozer writes in his Preface to “The Knowledge of the Holy” these words “I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind.  The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men.  This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.”  He goes on to state “Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit.”  This statement makes me think of a similar statement that Dr. Wiersbe wrote in his “Be” book that he wrote on Ruth and Ester, where a question was asked “How much difference would it make in the life of the Church today if the Holy Spirit was not present in the believers?”  His answer was very little.  I know that this is not true in all local churches and for all believers, but if one looks honestly at the dominant type of church in the world today it would be like what Christ spoke of the church at Laodicea in the third chapter of Revelations.  Many scholars have stated that the order of the churches found in the second and third chapters of Revelations is prophetic in the way the churches were throughout the history of the Church, so if we are in the time period of the Laodicean Church then we are near the end of the Church.

            I am sorry to get a bit off of the subject, but I think it was necessary and does fit into worship.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to continue to know my God more and more and better and better so that my worship of Him will be pleasing to Him.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn contentment, continue to be transformed by the renewing of my mind through the Word of God, and to know God better and better

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 121:1

 

            1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?

 

12/16/2012 9:36:49 AM