Introduction to Rev. 14 PT-1 (Rev. 14:1-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/5/2015 9:22 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Introduction to Rev. 14 PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Rev 14:1-5

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3  And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.”

            My wife and I have been enjoying watching the World Cup Soccer tournament over the last few weeks and we just finished watching the United States team defeat Japan for their third overall title and also their first since 1999.  There will be a great celebration for their efforts and rightfully so, and they will become heroes in the eyes of many Americans too.  In the sermon on these verses John MacArthur spoke also of some American heroes from our past.  He first spoke of General Paton who was one of the great generals from world war two.  He next spoke about an author Ernest Hemmingway who also was a hero in many eyes of Americans after the war ended.  Lastly he spoke of Pet Rose, a baseball player who had more hits than any other baseball player in the history of the game.  He then went on to talk about how Paton lost face when during the war he yelled at a soldier who were afraid of going to battle and was in the hospital, he even kicked him and sent him back to his unit.  The papers around the world made a big issue of this and Paton was relieved of his duty for a while.  Hemmingway, although a great writer had four wives, drank a lot and during the end of his life when he did not want to face what would happen to him in old age killed himself.  Pete Rose eventually was banned from baseball because of a gambling habit he could not control as he even bet on games he played in and also managed.  I don’t know what will happen to our latest heroes who are the soccer team, but with social media someone will begin to find things about them that will bring about a disappointment to people.

            As we begin to look at Revelation chapter 14 we will see some real heroes, heroes we meet back in chapter seven of Revelation.  We meet the 144,000 Jewish evangelists back in chapter seven, as these men, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel began to spread the gospel during the toughest time in the history of man, the Tribulation Period.

            Now at this time I want to quote some Scripture which shows what the Bible has to say about being successful in life, being heroes in the eyes of the Lord.  First let us look at Romans 8:37 “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”  Next 1 John 5:4-5 “4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  We have looked a lot at the word “overcome” when we looked at chapters 2-3 of Revelation, and we learned it met believers, all true believers are overcomers.  Next we look at 1 Corinthians 15:57 where we read “but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Believers have victory because of what Jesus Christ has done for them.  Near the end of Paul’s life he wrote a letter to his son in the faith, Timothy and I suppose that when a person knows that he is near the end he writes some things he wants to say.  Paul wrote the following from 2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  These are truly words of a real hero.

            Paul was a man just like all men as he had the old sinful nature living in him and as we read about what he had to say just before he died we also have to read what some of the lower points of his life were for we all have them:  “14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  All true believers have been at the points that Paul speaks of in their lives, and probably on many occasions for we all have that same kind of evil in us that Paul writes about here.

            In this first part of my introduction to chapter fourteen I am bringing about the bad news, and have a little more to talk about before we talk about the good news that we will find in this chapter from men who can be classified as true heroes.

            Let’s think of Abraham who God called His friend.  Two times he lied about his wife Sarah, claiming she was his sister and not his wife, for actually she was a half sister, but once they were married she was always his wife.  We read of David a man after God’s own heart, but we know some of the sins that he committed for they are right in the Word of God for all to read, sins like adultery and murder.  When we get to the New Testament we find that Peter, who loved the Lord actually denied he knew Him three times.  John MacArthur writes “Believer’s greatest triumphs are flawed because ‘there is no man who does not sin…there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins’ (1 Kings 8:46; Eccl. 7:20), and thus no one can say, ‘I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin’ (Prov. 20:9).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I want to remember that “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Keep a short list with the Lord and remember that there are going to be many times in my life when I need to have a new beginning.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Rebekah” (Genesis 28:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “What book gives the account of the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/5/2015 10:02 PM

Program of the False Prophet PT-2 (Rev. 13:15-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/4/2015 7:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Program of the False Prophet PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 13:15-18

            Message of the verses:  “15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

            Today’s SD picks up at the highlighted portion of verse seventeen where we see that the mark has to do with the name of the beast or the number of his name.  There seems to be with Antichrist some kind of numbering system, although the exact identification of that phrase is not clear.  MacArthur writes “What is clear is that everyone will be required to have the identifying mark or suffer the consequences.”

            John begins verse eighteen with the phrase “Here is wisdom” and this could well mean that people have to weigh the benefits and or the consequences of having this mark on them.  On one hand you will be able to eat and work and buy and sell if you have it, but on the other hand we will see that those who accept this mark will never be saved, so indeed this does take wisdom on the parts of those alive during this time period of the Tribulation. 

            As we look at the remaining portion of the eighteenth verse we read “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six,” we know that is a difficult portion of Scripture to understand.  John MacArthur writes “Perhaps no detail in Revelation has intrigued people more than this number.  There has been no end to the speculation as to its significance and how to calculate it.  In Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, letters had numerical equivalents, and a myriad of schemes to associate the names of historical individuals with the number 666 have been put forth.  Nero, Caligula, Domitian, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and a host of others have been proposed, based on some sort of convoluted mathematical rendering of the letters in their name.  All such speculation is futile; since the Antichrist is still to come, the number 666 cannot be associated with any historical individual.  The church father Irenaeus cautioned against speculating about the identity of the person associated with the number 666 until that person arrives on the scene.  Robert L. Thomas gives a very reasonable perspective:  ‘The better part of wisdom is to be content that the identification is not yet available, but will be when the future false Christ ascends to his throne.  The person to whom 666 applies must have been future to John’s time, because John clearly meant the number to be recognizable to someone.  If it was not discernible to his generation and those immediately following him—and it was not—the generation to whom it will be discernible must have lain (and still lies) in the future.  Past generations have provided many illustrations of this future personage, but all past candidates have proven inadequate as fulfillments.  Christians from generation to generation may manifest the same curiosity as the prophets of old regarding their own prophecies, but their curiosity will remain unsatisfied until the time of fulfillment arrives.” 

            Now at this time I want to give a quote from my Spiritual Diary from August 23, 2005, and the portion I want to quote is from the “Spiritual meaning for my life today:  First I am not sure that anyone will understand who this antichrist is or second, what this number 666 means before the rapture of the Church. This being said it seems to me that it could be a waste of time trying to figure this out, and as Pastor Burns once said that we as believers should be looking for the return of Christ and not the antichrist.  I think that one of the things that I can take away from these verses is that if I do not keep in the Word of God each day reading it, and studying it that it is possible that I can get into some wrong situations, not as bad as the ones described in these verses, but things that can take me off of the focus to become more like my Savior and Lord.”  Pastor Ralph Burns, who is now with the Lord, was my first Pastor that I had after receiving Christ as my Savior and Lord and I thank the Lord for this godly man.

            We need to understand that this verse says that this number, 666, is a number of a man.  The number seven is the number of perfection, thus it is God’s number, so since man fell short of perfection his number is six.  When we look at creation from the book of Genesis we see that man was created on the sixth day, and in Exodus we see that slaves were freed after six years of service, fields were to be sown for only six consecutive years as found in Lev. 25:3.  MacArthur writes “Repeating the number three times emphasizes that this is man’s number, just as the thrice-repeated statement ‘holy, holy, holy’ stresses God’s absolute holiness (4:8; Isa. 6:3).”

            Revelation 14:9-11 shows us what will happen to those who worship the beast and receive his number:  “9  Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11  "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."”

            In my Bible reading yesterday morning I read of the fate of the False Prophet, and it is the same as that of Antichrist:  “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 (Rev. 19:20).”

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on this section of Scripture and this will end our study of chapter thirteen:  “This sobering passage is not intended to be the source of fruitless speculation about its details.  Rather, it stands as a warning to the unbelieving world.  It also challenges believers to lead careful, watchful, godly lives (cf. 1 Pet. 4:7; 2 Pet. 3:11), and to evangelize a hopelessly lost world, headed for destruction.  Believers are to faithfully proclaim the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thereby rescue the souls of men and women from the disaster that looms just over the horizon.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to be able to tell others of the hope that is within me which is found in “1Pe 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, 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.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to bring people onto my path who are ready to hear of the hope that lies within me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was Laban’s sister?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/4/2015 8:04 AM

 

 

 

 

 

The Program of the False Prophet PT-1 (Rev. 13:15-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/3/2015 8:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  The Program of the False Prophet PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 13:15-18

            Message of the verses:  “15  And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

            One of Satan’s strategies is to cause the governments of the world to have a law in which believers cannot follow.  When we look back at the third chapter of Daniel we see something similar in that a statute was made of King Nebuchadnezzar and everyone had to worship that statute or else they would die.  We read of a similar situation that will happen in the Tribulation Period from the verses that are in our text for today.  Now as we look at current events in our country we see something similar that just happened a week ago for now true believer who is walking with the Lord can believe that the Supreme Court in our country did the right thing in ruling that homosexual marriage is the right thing as the Bible speaks out against it from the very first chapters of the Bible when God created a man and a woman and then married them.  He completely destroyed a society because of this very act as we read latter on in Genesis. 

            Ok back to our verses in Revelation and I suppose that verse eighteen of chapter thirteen of the book of Revelation is a verse that even causal readers of the Bible know about for in it we have the famous number: 666.  I don’t think we will get that far today, but we will look at it soon to see exactly what we believe this verse means, but first we need to begin with verse fifteen.

            We have seen in our study of the OT prophets and also from our study in the book of Psalms that when they spoke of idols they would say that they have mouths but they do not speak, well this idol we are looking at in verse fifteen is different than all the other idols for the false prophet will somehow make it speak for we read that he “will give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak.”  John MacArthur writes “Breath translates pneuma, not zoe or bios, the Greek words normally translated life.  The false prophet will animate the image of Antichrist so that it gives the appearance of being alive.  With today’s amazing special effects technology and robotics, that is not out of the realm of possibility.  Add to that the world’s desperate need, amid the carnage of the Tribulation, to believe in a death conqueror, and the ruse become very believable.” 

            Now as I spoke of in the beginning of this SD the false prophet will then make it law that those “who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”  When we go back to the sixth chapter of Revelation we saw that there were souls under the altar who had been slain for the cause of Christ, and probably many of those who have been slain were done so because of their refusing of worshiping the statute of the beast.  Remember in chapters 12-14 we go back and look at the Tribulation Period from the perspective of the Antichrist.  However we know that not all believers would be killed from this as there will be many who go into the Millennial Kingdom alive.  However it is the goal of Satan to kill all believers and all Jews so that the promised Kingdom for Israel will not take place thus making God out to be a liar or One who cannot keep His promises.  This will not happen as God will always keep His promises.  When I began to read the “Left Behind” series they made a point that after the rapture happened that all those who were alive on planet earth only one out of four would live until the end of the Tribulation Period.  Many who do live through this time will not be believers and will then die through the judgment of Christ when He returns as described in Revelation chapter nineteen and also prophesied in Matthew chapter 25 from Christ Olivet Discourse where we read from “32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.’”

              We look at verse sixteen, a verse that speaks of the mark of the beast, and it tells us that if you don’t receive this mark that you will not be able to buy or sell anything, and this mark effects all classes of people as far as the rich and the poor, the free man and the slaves, all will be required to receive this mark and this is another way that Satan is causing a division between those who are believers, who will not receive this mark with unbelievers who will as Satan tires his best to kill all believers.  John MacArthur writes “Mark (charagma; from charasso, ‘I engrave’) was the term for images or names of the emperor on Roman coins.  In the ancient world, such marks (tattoos or brands) were commonly given to slaves, soldiers, and devotees of religious cults (cf. Gal. 6:17).  God sealed, with a mark on the forehead of the 144,000 to preserve them from His wrath against the unbelieving world (7:2-3); the false prophet marks the unsaved to preserve them from Antichrist’s wrath against God’s people.  The mark will signify that the person bearing it is a worshiper and loyal follower of the Antichrist.  In much the same way, the Roman emperors required their subjects to prove their loyalty by offering sacrifices to Caesar.  Those who refused, like those who refuse to take the Antichrist’s mark, were subject to execution.”

            I will conclude this SD with a quote that John MacArthur makes from a man who lived under Bulgaria’s communist regime, which is actually quoted in the commentary of W. A. Criswell on the book of Revelation:  the  man states “You cannot understand and you cannot know that the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised is an innocent ration card.  You cannot buy and you cannot sell except according to that little, innocent card.  If they please, you can be starved to death, and if they please, you can be disposed of everything you have; for you cannot trade, and you cannot buy and you cannot sell, without permission.”  MacArthur continues “The pressure to give in to the worship of Antichrist will be far worse than anything ever experienced in human history.  Life will be virtually unlivable, so the people are forced to bow to the demonized king, not prompted merely by religious deception, but also by economic necessity.”  Just a note that those of us living in today’s society realize that there is now a chip that can be implanted under the skin that can be scanned to see all information about a person, and many believe that this is a forerunner of this mark spoken of in verse sixteen.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It takes a lot of faith in the Lord to do the things that are right in life, to realize that this is not my home for I am just passing through to realize that we are not human beings going through a spiritual existence, but spiritual beings going through a human existence.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to see me through the trying times that we live in and that I will be a bright light in the ever darkening place that I live in.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Peter” (Matthew 18:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Jesus go to be tempted by the devil?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/3/2015 9:48 AM 

The Power of the False Prophet (Rev. 13:12-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2015 9:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  The Power of the False Prophet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 13:12-14

            Message of the verses:  “12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.”

            I suppose that this will come up a bit later but I want to focus in on the part of having the fatal wound of the Antichrist healed and as some believe was brought back to life again.  I know we have been over this before, but I believe that my opinion has changed a bit and one of the reasons that it has changed is that we read in verse fourteen that “he deceives those who dwell on the earth.”  Deception is one of Satan’s main ploys, and so it will also be what the Antichrist and the False Prophet will use and what better deception would there be than to fake a resurrection from the dead of the Antichrist.  Another thing that has caused me to change my mind is that Satan brings about death, for he has from the beginning of human history.  God told Adam and Eve that if they would eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they would die but Satan deceived them into eating from that tree and they died spiritually which caused all of their offspring to also die spiritually, and eventually they died physically, and all of this was because of Satan deceiving them which caused death.  Now on the other hand our Lord Jesus Christ is life as John writes in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  When a person trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins He gives them spiritual life which is eternal life so Christ gives life and Satan gives death so unless the Lord allows Satan to resurrect the Antichrist I don’t believe that he actually dies.

            Now in verse twelve we see that although it seems that the false prophet is a bit tamer than the Antichrist we read that “He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.”  MacArthur writes “What is being said here is that the false prophet will exercise the same kind of demonic power and authority as the Antichrist does, since both are empowered by the same hellish source.  That he ‘exercises’ his authority in Antichrist’s ‘presence’ implies that Antichrist will have delegated that ‘authority’ to him.  The false prophet’s mission will be to use all the means available to him from the Antichrist to cause ‘the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.’  He will lead the worldwide cult of Antichrist worship.”

            We have already discussed what goes on at the end of verse twelve which states “whose fatal wound was healed.” 

            Now at this point I want to look at a portion of what I wrote on the 20^th of August of 2005 when I studied verses 12-13 of Revelation chapter thirteen:  “This second beast, the false prophet, will have the authority of the first beast, the antichrist.  He is going to be like a puppet to the first beast.  One of his jobs will be to cause the “earth dwellers” to worship the first beast and one of the ways to get their attention will be to perform signs so that these earth dwellers will believe that these two beasts have actually come from God or in fact are god.  As stated before these two are a part of the unholy trinity, with the Devil making up the third part, and that the false prophet was going to imitate the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does His work to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and in a sense this is what this false prophet is doing for antichrist.  Satan is not original, but has always wanted to be like God Himself. 

            “When Jesus was upon the earth the Pharisees would ask Him on more than one occasion to perform a sign to prove who He was and He would not do it.  This false prophet will perform signs to show the world who the antichrist and he are and the world will follow them all the way into hell.  2Thessolonians 2:9-12 gives more insight into the signs the false prophet will perform:  “9 This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.  10 He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them.  11 So God will send great deception upon them, and they will believe all these lies.  12 Then they will be condemned for not believing the truth and for enjoying the evil they do.”

            Now as far as Satan being able to perform these signs we only have to go back to the book of Exodus and see how Satan used two of Pharaoh’s magicians to cause a rod to turn into a snake, but in the end the staff of Moses also turned into a snake and swallowed up the snake of these false prophets.  2 Timothy 3:8-9 says “8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9  But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.”  It is believed that Paul is naming the two men Pharaoh used in the incident with the rod and the snake.

            We have recently studied the two witnesses from Revelation chapter eleven and it is possible that the false prophet is imitating these two wittiness for we read in chapter 11:5 “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”  Now verse 13:13 says of the false prophet “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.”  John MacArthur writes “The present tense of poieo (makes) suggests that he will repeatedly perform this supernatural act ‘in the presence of men’ to impress them with his power.  God has often demonstrated His supernatural power by sending fire from heaven (cf. 11:5; Gen. 19:24; Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Kings 18:38; 2 Kings 1:9-12; 1 Chron. 21:26; 2 Chron. 7:1).  Satan’s henchman will perform a similar sign, but his will be one of the ‘false wonders’ (2 Thess. 2:9) that will lure unbelievers to their doom.”

            Let us look at a couple of verses from the gospels to show that Jesus said that this kind of thing would happen:  Matt. 24:5, 11, and 24 “5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ’I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”  “11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.”  “24  "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  Now we will look at Mark 13:6 “6 “Many will come in My name, saying, ’I am He!’ and will mislead many.”  John MacArthur writes the following on the word deceives:  “Deceives is from planao, and means ‘to wander.’  It forms the root of the English word planet, since the planets appear to wander through the heavens.  The world will be utterly vulnerable to his deception during the Tribulation.  There will be unparalleled disasters and unimaginable horrors, leaving people desperate for answers.  Having rejected the true gospel and blasphemed the true God (cf. 16:9, 11), the unbelieving world will be eager to believe the deceiving lies propagated by the false prophet.”  ( I think that many people in our country are believing a pack of lies at this time as well.)

            Now we have looked at the phrase “those who dwell on the earth” and it appears seven times in the book of Revelation, and we have discussed that this means unbelievers so those who are being deceived are unbelievers.  Mark 13:22 states “for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”  True believers will not be deceived by what the false prophet is doing.

            As we see the power of the Antichrist and now the false prophet grow we will then see that the world will be ready to worship the Antichrist as being god, and this is what Satan has always wanted to be worshiped.  MacArthur concludes “The world will engage in the most shocking, blatant idolatry ever seen.  Like Nebuchadnezzar before him (Dan. 3), but on a global scale, Antichrist, aided by the false prophet, will set up a statue of himself as a symbol of his deity and worldwide worship.  This blasphemous image will probably be set up on the temple grounds in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Thess. 2:4) and will be connected with the abomination of desolation (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15).  It will be a tribute to the awesome power of Antichrist, ‘who had the wound of the sword and has come to life’ (cf. vv. 3, 12), to seemingly conquer death.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to know the truth of what is going to happen in the end times as the Bible has laid out for us in the book of Revelation and other books as well, but we as believers need to share this truth with those God brings into out path, especially in the times we are living in today in the USA.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to trust the Lord as we go through these difficult times in our country, and to continue to pray for our country, and continue to tell others the truth found in the pages of Scripture.

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

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him’?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/2/2015 9:58 AM

 

Who is the False Prophet? (Rev. 13:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2015 7:35 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Who is the False Prophet?

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 13:11

            Message of the verse:  “11Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.”

            First I want to mention that I do not attempt to name who this false prophet will be, but just look at his personhood.  Next we want to look at the word “another” to see what that word means.  John MacArthur writes “Some view this second beast as an institution, a form of government, or an ideology.  But the use of allos (another of the same kind) indicates that he, like the first beast, will be a person.  Further proof of that comes from 19:20 ‘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.’”  Now we see from this verse that what the Bible is talking about is a person, and it also named him as the “false prophet” in Rev. 19:20.

            When we were looking at the Antichrist (the first beast) he came up out of the sea as seen in 13:1, however this second beast comes up out of the earth.  Now he too will be indwelt with the power of a demon who is out of the abyss.  As we have been studying at the book of Revelation we have learned that there will come a time when there will be demons who are let out of the abyss as they had been kept there because of what they had done earlier on in the history of the world.  We have also seen that Satan and his demon hoard has lost a battle with Michael and has been kicked out of heaven for good so they are now on the earth, and we couple this with what we will learn that the false prophet does we have to believe that he is indwelt with a powerful demon similar to what Antichrist is indwelt with.  John MacArthur writes the following about coming up out of the earth:  “That the false prophet arises from the earth suggests that he will be subtler, gentler, less overpowering and terrifying than the Antichrist.  He will be winsome and persuasive, the epitome of the wolves in sheep’s clothing Jesus warned of (Matt. 7:15).”

            Let’s look again at the description of Antichrist in 13:1-2 “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”  Now we look again at the description of the false prophet from Rev. 13:2b “and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.”  This false prophet is different than the Antichrist, by what he does and how he does it through being a deceiver, but is subtle in doing this.  I suppose you could say he was a “con man.” 

            Both the Antichrist and the false prophet are products of hell, make no mistake about that for we see that the false prophet speaks as a dragon which is a strange voice for a lamb to have.  What we have here is that he will be Satan’s mouthpiece speaking the words Satan wants him to speak.  We can see this in our own government today as there are a person behind the scenes who do not have the ability to speak, but help put someone in power who has the ability to speak the words of the one who helps them get elected. 

            John MacArthur concludes “False prophets often appear meek, mild, and harmless.  They offer hope and solutions to the problems troubling men and women.  Yet they are ever the voices of hell, and when they open their mouths. Satan speaks.  So it will be amid the unspeakable horrors of the Tribulation.  The false prophet will come like a lamb, speaking false, deceptive words of comfort.  He will promise the suffering, tormented people of the world that all will be well if only they will worship Antichrist.  But those who fall for his subtle lies will face the terrifying judgment of God (cf. 14:9-11; 16:2).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  During my prayer time I pray for wisdom for myself and also for my Pastors each day.  Here is what I pray “Wisdom:  I Pray that the Lord will give our pastors, and myself wisdom in all of the decisions that we have to make today.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”   “I’m putting on the belt of truth.  I ask You to make it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to reject.  Help me to see clearly the motives of others as they deal with me and converse with me.  Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to Your plans and purposes for my life.”  The last part is a quote from a book written by Charles Stanley in a book he wrote about Satan.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord even though things in our country are not going well at this time, but remembering that God will never leave us nor forsake us and He is sovereign who has a plan and nothing will stop His plan from being completed.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Christians” (Acts 11:26).

Today’s Bible question:  “According to Matthew 24:27, with what is the coming of Christ compared”

Answer in our next SD.

7/1/2015 8:11 AM

 

           

Introduction to the Final False Prophet (Rev. 12:11-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2015 7:05 AM

My Worship Time                                           Focus:  Introduction to the Final False Prophet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 12:11-18

            Message of the verses:  “11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

            In the verses above we see John writing about the coming false prophet, even he is not named in this section we see clearly that this is who John is writing about.  The Bible has much to say about false prophets and in our introduction to this last of the false prophets we will look at some verses in the Scriptures that speak of false prophets.  We must remember that Satan, the father of lies, is behind all false prophets, and the last false prophet will be the one who helps Satan deceive the world.  Deception is how Satan works as he causes people to believe his lies.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:14 “No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”  This verse speaks of deception.  MacArthur writes “From his first appearance on earth in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:2-6) until his final appearance at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:7-8), Satan is a liar and a deceiver.  He constantly seeks to confuse people, ‘blind[ing] the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see ‘the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ (2 Cor. 4:4).”

            Let us look at a section from the book of Deuteronomy where Moses writes about false prophets as he warns Israel that they would come to lead them astray.  “1 "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ’Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 “You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.”

            I am not going to quote the verses that Jeremiah spoke about false prophet, but when we were studying the book of Jeremiah we stated that Jeremiah had many problems with the false prophets of his day and that they even were taken into captivity into Babylon to test the people there.  The following are some sections from Jeremiah that speak of false prophets:  (Jer. 23:16; 23:21-22; 23:25-32; 27:14-16; 29:8-9).  Now we will move into the New Testament to see what it has to say about false prophets and we first look at a familiar passage that we have looked at before in conjunction with our study of Revelation and that is Matthew 24 where Jesus speaks of the fact that Mt 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”  Jesus also spoke of this in Matthew 7:15 where he says “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  Peter writes “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves” (2 Pet. 2:1).  John writes in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

            In his commentary on this section John MacArthur quotes John Phillips as he speculates on this final false prophet:  “The dynamic appeal of the false prophet will lie in his skill in combining political expediency with religious passion…His arguments will be subtle, convincing, and appealing.  His oratory will be hypnotic, for he will be able to move the masses to tears or whip them into a frenzy.  He will control the communication media of the world and will skillfully organize mass publicity to promote his ends.  He will manage the truth with guile beyond words, bending it, twisting it, and distorting it…He will mold world through and shape human opinion like so much potter’s clay.”

            As we look at the last false prophet we need to understand that in this Tribulation period there will be an unholy trinity as Satan represents God the Father, while the Antichrist represents the Lord Jesus Christ, and this false prophet represents the Holy Spirit.  We will see how the Antichrist through the aid of the false prophet will ride the “religion” into power and then will get rid of the religion and say that he is god.  So what we are looking at is the combination of the political and the religion during those last three and a half years of the Tribulation period.  We will look more at this when we get to chapter seventeen, but we need to realize that the false prophet will be a big part of confusing the people of his day to believe the lie that Satan is promoting during the Tribulation Period and that lie is the same lie he has used since he spoke it to Eve in the garden:  “1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, ’You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?" 2  The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3  but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ’You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’" 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5  "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."”

            We will be looking at three key elements of the false prophet in our next few Spiritual diaries; his person, power, and program.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I first became a believer I read and listened to Hal Lindsey and one of his books is called “Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth.”  As I study the book of Revelation and look at the current events I have to say that Satan is alive and well in the United States of America as he has his people spewing out his lies and people are believing those lies just as Eve believed them.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to bring glory to His name through the events that are happening in our country.  To remember that I am on the winning side, and to be a bright and shining light in this world that is getting darker by the moment.

 Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He would lighten the load Solomon had placed on them” (1 Kings 12:3-4).

Today’s Bible question:  “What were the disciples in Antioch called?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/30/2015 8:08 AM

Antichrist’s Admirers PT-2 (Rev. 13:8-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2015 8:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Antichrist’s Admirers PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 13:8-10

            Message of the verses:  “8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

            As we look back on what we back on what we learned in our last SD I want to continue on that theme for a moment longer because of the importance of remembering or perhaps just learning the fact that once God chose us in eternity past that we are secure in the salvation that He has given to us through Jesus Christ as He paid the price for our sins on the cross.  John MacArthur writes “Believers are doubly secure, because the ‘book of life’ belongs to ‘the Lamb who has been slain.’  Not only the decree of election, but also the atoning work of Christ seals the redemption of the elect forever.  Believers ‘were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold…but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ’ (1 Peter 1:18-19).  The Father will not undo the work of Christ in redemption (cf. Rom 4:25; Heb. 1:3) by allowing any of the elect to be lost.  Jesus Christ is ‘to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation’ (Heb. 5:9), and it is not within the power of Antichrist, Satan, or all the forces of hell to alter that glorious reality.  The very saints that Antichrist massacres during his persecution of God’s people are later seen triumphant and victorious in heaven:  ‘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."  Antichrist may take their lives, but he cannot destroy their faith.”

            Early in our study of Revelation when we were looking at the seven churches we saw a phrase at the end of each letter to each of the churches and it was “If anyone has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  This phrase, that is without the last part about the churches is used sixteen times in the New Testament, and it emphasizes a particularly important truth when it is used.  Now as far as when it is used in chapters 2-3 or Revelation it is a warning for the church to understand what it is that Christ is saying to them, but in our text today there is no mention of the church which could mean that because the church is now in heaven at the Rapture that is why that phrase is omitted.  We can compare Revelation 3:10 to make this point “’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

            This phrase here, introduces a proverb to us “If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”  If you were alive at this time when Antichrist is persecuting believers then this proverb would be of help as it contains some important practical truth.  What they are to do is depend upon the providence of God and so they will not take matters into their own hands, but trust in the Lord who controls all things and as Romans 8:28 promises “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  We can see from this proverb that those believers who are destined to die for their faith will do so, and those destined to go into captivity will also do so that is imprisonment.  Those who are destined to be killed for their faith will have this happen to them also, but it is in the hands of the Sovereign God.  MacArthur writes “God’s people must not retaliate against their persecutors; there is no place now, and there will be no place then, for militant, aggressive, violent believers terrorizing their persecutors.  ‘Those also who suffer according to the will of God,’ wrote Peter, ‘shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right’ (1 Peter 4:19).”

            Believers are not to act violently but to remember that they must exemplify “the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”  Remember what Peter wrote about how our Lord acted “while being reviled…did not revile in return; while suffering righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).  We believers follow the example we can be sure “that those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame (1 Peter 3:16).”  Peter goes on to say in 1 Peter 4:14 “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

            MacArthur concludes “The message of this passage is clear.  Let the monstrous beast from the abyss do his worst.  Let Satan and his demon hosts have their hour.  God controls the future and believers belong to Him ‘In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us’ (Rom. 8:37), and we will triumph on the glorious day when ‘The kingdom of the world [becomes] the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever’ (Rev. 11:15).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God’s timing is always perfect and in light of what is going on in our country this message was certainly needed to remind me that even though Satan is behind what is going on in our country that God is in control and this is comforting for me to know, for God has a plan for me and for all of those who name the name of Christ and in the end believers will be in heaven and Satan and all that he has used to bring about what is going on in our country if they do not repent will be in hell with him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Praise the Lord who is in control of all things, and to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord so that others can see.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Faith, hope, charity (love)” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Under what condition would Jeroboam and all Israel serve Rehoboam?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/29/2015 9:46 AM