PT-2 The 7th Bowl (Rev. 16:17-21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/15/2015 9:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  PT-2 The 7^th Bowl

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 16:17-21

            Message of the verses:  “17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." 18  And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”

            In our last SD we were looking at some of the effects of this great earthquake that is described here, an earthquake that is the most powerful earthquake that will ever happen on planet earth for it will be not just in a localized area, but over the entire earth, and as John MacArthur writes God will use this to prepare the earth for what it will look like during the Millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.  We will go on talking about this earthquake at the beginning of this Spiritual Diary, but before that I want to quote another of my Spiritual diaries from September of 2005 on verses 19-21 of Revelation:  “As stated in the last SD it is sometimes difficult to determine the time table of how all of this fits together, but looking at the end of verse nineteen and then looking forward to chapters seventeen and eighteen this to me, is a preview to what will be written about there when John will give more detail to the destruction of Babylon, both the government side of it and also the religious side.  Back to  verse nineteen where the first part of it is describing the city of Jerusalem and what these earthquakes will do to it.  The city is split into three parts and from earlier studies of Revelation I have learned that this could be the time when all Israel will be saved for this earthquake could be what the Lord uses to separate the believing Jews from the non believing Jews. 

            “I am not sure if John is using hyperbole in verse twenty-one when he writes that every island fled and the mountains were not found, because this was the same type of statement that was made in an earlier judgment and the commentary on that verse that I read said John was using hyperbole, at any rate this will surely be a big mess on earth during this last judgment.  In verse twenty one John writes of giant hailstones falling on people and even throughout all of this awful judgment people will still blaspheme God and not turn to Him for forgiveness.”

              Now as we look at the first effect written about in this earthquake we see that the “Great City” that is the city of Jerusalem will be split into three parts.  MacArthur writes that this is“beginning a series of geophysical alterations to the city and its surrounding region that will conclude when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.  Zechariah 14:4-10 describes these changes in detail.”  We will look at these verses from Zechariah 14:4-10 “4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.  8 And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one. 10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses.”    John MacArthur concludes “The physical changes will prepare Jerusalem for the central role it will play during the millennial kingdom, when Christ will reign there as King (Ps. 110:2; Isa. 2:3; 24:23; Mic. 4:7).”

            However there is a contrast between Jerusalem and the nations as Jerusalem will be enhanced while the other nations will fall as seen in verse 19.  In what I wrote about from Joel in yesterday’s SD this goes right along with it as Joel 3:18-19 say “18 And in that day The mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of the LORD To water the valley of Shittim. 19 Egypt will become a waste, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.”

            John mentions Babylon, the capital of Antichrist’s kingdom and what will happen to it, but later on in chapters 17-18 he goes into more detail of how Babylon is destroyed, and why it must be destroyed so we will look into more detail when we get to chapter seventeen and eighteen which should be very shortly.

            John MacArthur quotes Henry Morris once again as he writes “The gentle rolling topography of the world as originally created will be restored.  No more will there be great inaccessible, uninhabitable mountain ranges or deserts or ice caps.  The physical environment of the millennium will be, in large measure, a restoration of the antediluvian [pre-flood] environment.” 

            We will conclude the description of this seventh bowl in our next SD and then will begin looking at chapter seventeen hopefully on Monday.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am amazed at how the Lord has me studying Joel chapter three and Revelation chapter sixteen at the same time as this is just the way it fit into what I am studying the Bible.  God made it clear to me last December that I was once again to study the book of Revelation and that actually put my study on the Old Testament prophets into a different time slot, actually a new time slot as I was only doing one SD each day and not I, for the most part am doing two, which is of the Lord.  I am also amazed at reading other passages from the Psalms and Isaiah and Zechariah among a few that foretell what will happen in the Tribulation Period.  My friend who is now with the Lord use to tell me when I would send my SD’s to him to keep looking for those nuggets and as I study both Joel and Revelation I can see that there are similar nuggets in both books written many years apart.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord for healing from an accident that my wife had last week, and thanking the Lord that although there is much pain no vital parts are injured.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Syria” (2 Chronicles 28:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the father of Methuselah?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/15/2015 10:14 AM

 

 

"PT-1, Seventh Bowl" (Rev. 16:17-21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/14/2015 8:59 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  PT-1, Seventh Bowl

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Revelation 16:17-21

            Message of the verses:  “17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." 18  And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”

            I have been looking at the Spiritual Diaries that I did when I first studied Revelation in 2005 and have been quoting those in the SD’s that I have been doing for this chapter and will do that today as I quote from September 19, 2005:  “Dr. Wiersbe points out in his book on Revelations that it is possible that this last judgment, because it is poured out into the air is a judgment against Satan, for after all Satan is the prince of the power of the air.  (Eph. 2:2)  It is possible and probably correct to say that this judgment will happen at the end of the tribulation period and even though there are a number of chapters left in this book it is clear that it is not written in complete chronological order.  Satan’s empire is not only judged in this chapter of the book, but also in the next three chapters too.  In chapter seventeen Satan’s religious system will be judged, and his political system will be judged in chapter eighteen, and his military system will be judged in chapter nineteen.

            “I want to look at the first two verses of this last vial judgment today and then do the next two three next time.  As the last angel poured out his vial into the air there comes a voice from the throne saying that “it is done.”  This is the last of the judgments that began way back in chapter six and was actually talked about in chapter five when John was looking for someone to open up all of these judgments and found the only One who could possibility do this and that was The Lord Jesus Christ.  Before these last judgments began it was said that with the completion of these judgments that the wrath of God would be complete and that is probably why the voice from the throne cried out “It is done.”  Verse eighteen speaks of the first part of this judgment and that is an earthquake that is so mighty that none like it has ever been seen upon the earth since man come to be upon the earth.  There have been other earthquakes in these judgments, but none like this one in power and strength.”

            Now in order to explain what this judgment is about I will quote John MacArthur at this point:  “The seventh bowl is the final outpouring of God’s wrath on sinners in this present earth.  After it Jesus will come and set up His millennial kingdom.  At the end of that thousand-year period, there will be on final act of rebellion, which will be quickly crushed (20:7-10).  But that judgment will not take place in the world as we know it, for the earth will be changed dramatically before the kingdom arrives.”

            As I was reading in my Bible this morning, something I do each day and this year I have only been reading through the book of Revelation along with the OT book that I am also studying I came across a verse that seems to go along with what we are looking at in this section and I wish to quote it at this point.  Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever’ (Rev. 11:15).”  We have written about what this verse says in earlier Spiritual Diaries but in this verse we see what will happen after this seventh bowl judgment happens and that is that Christ will defeat sinful man, and defeat the devil who usurped control of planet earth after the fall of man, but now when we read in Revelation 16:17 “It is done” we can know for certain that what the angel says in Revelation 11:15 comes to pass.  Now I have also mentioned this in an earlier SD, but bears repeating, and that is when the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth He stated when He was 12 years old that He came to do the will of His Father, and as He was dying on the cross He uttered the words “It is finished.”  Revelation 15:1 tells us that with these final bowl judgments the wrath of God will be completed.  Here is the point in all of this and that is that when Christ died on the cross God’s wrath was also complete for those who will accept it for themselves, that is that if they understand and believe that Christ died in their place and accept that forgiveness, and if they do not then the only other thing that can happen to them is that God will take out His wrath on them as we see in this section that we are studying.  It is as simple as this that we accept Christ’s death as payment for our sins since God took His wrath out on Him, or we end up having God take His wrath out on us.

            Revelation 10:7 says “but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”  This verse looks forward to what will happen when this last bowl judgment is poured out on the air, as it is the last judgment from God.  We have already mentioned Revelation 15:1 and this verse goes along with that verse:  “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.”  John MacArthur writes of this last bowl judgment:  “The seventh bowl will be the worst calamity in the world’s history, the most complete and devastating catastrophe the earth will ever experience.  Its effects carry all the way to the establishment of the earthly kingdom of Christ.  Like the fourth angel, the seventh angel did not dump his bowl on the earth, but poured it out…upon the air.  Its first effects were on the earth’s atmosphere, as if God were cleansing the former domain of Satan and his demon hosts (12:9).  The earth (v.2), the sea (v.3), the waters (v.4), the sun (v.8), and finally the air are the targets of judgment.”

            Once again we hear a “loud voice” and this time it comes from the throne and is spoken by God Most High, the One who possesses heaven and earth and what He says is “It is done.”  MacArthur writes on these words:  “The perfect tense verb gegonen (it is done) describes a completed action with ongoing results.”  He then goes on to talk about the things that I have already written about as he compares the “it is done” in this verse with what Christ said on the cross “it is finished.” 

            Now we look at some of the early results of this seventh bowl judgment:  “And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.”  This is similar to what took place with the seventh trumpet judgment:  “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm (Rev. 11:19).”  We can determine that this seventh bowl judgment affects the atmosphere as we see the violent lightening and great thunder.  What happened in the last trumpet judgment was just a preview of what this judgment brings about. 

            Next we see that this judgment will bring about a very violent earthquake:  “and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.”  As I was preparing for this SD I was listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on this section and I don’t actually know when it was given except sometime in the 1990’s and there happened to be a fairly large earthquake that just happened in Southern California that he remarked about. 

            Now once again we have to go back to when our Lord was crucified and we also find an earthquake that happened at that time when judgment was given out by God, this time on Christ.  “51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!’ (Matthew 27:51-54).” 

            This earthquake associated with this seven bowl judgment is truly different than any other earthquake that has ever happened as it will not just be localized, but around the whole earth.  “"For thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land (Haggai 2:6).”  26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN." 27 This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:26-27).”  MacArthur writes “The shaking will be so severe that it will renovate and reconfigure the earth in preparation for the millennial kingdom, restoring it to something like its pre-Flood condition (v. 20).”

            At this point we will stop and take up where we are leaving off in our next SD on Revelation 16.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the “it is finished” that Christ spoke while on the cross after He paid for my sins, and because of this I want to better serve Him each day.

My Steps of Faith for Today: to continue to try and get the word out of what will happen in the future.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Judas Iscariot”  (John 12:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “The Lord delivered King Ahaz unto the king of what land?

Answer in our next SD.

8/14/2015 10:01 AM

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer in our next SD.

8/13/2015 11:01 AM 

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

 

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

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  The Sixth Bowl PT-1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            We have mentioned Psalm 2 in previous SD’s from our study on Revelation as it is the first of the Messianic Psalms:  “1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!’”  God gives His answer in verse four:  “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer in our next SD.

8/12/2015 10:49 AM 

 

 

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

 

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

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  The Fifth Bowl Judgment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer in our next SD.

8/11/2015 11:39 AM

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

 

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

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Forth Bowl Judgment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer in our next SD.

8/10/2015 1:01 PM