SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
08/23/2005
My Worship Time Focus: Worship the beast of die
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Revelations 13:14-18
Message of the verse: “14
Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first
beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an
image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He
was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it
could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
These
verses reminds me of the story of the golden image in the book of Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue made to look like him and anyone who would
not bow to the image would be put to death.
However Daniel’s three friends would not bow to the image and were
thrown into a fiery furnace and did not die because the Lord was with them in
the furnace and saved them from death.
In these
verses we have the false prophet making an image of the antichrist and causing
it to speak and this image gave the message that if anyone would not bow down
and worship it then they would die. This
beast was probably set up in Babylon and it will probably be seen on some kind
of world wide TV system so all can see it, however because not everyone will be
there, there must be a plan put in place to have those around the world to be
put to death for not worshiping this image of the beast and that plan can be
seen in verses 16-18: “16 He also forced everyone, small and great,
rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his
forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or
sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of
his name. 18 This calls for wisdom. If
anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s
number. His number is 666.” This plan is
to give everyone a mark either on their forehead or on the back of their right
hand to show their alliance or their worship of the antichrist. It is possible that this mark will not only
have this mark of the beast on it, (see verse 18), but that it will also have
some kind of a very small computer chip in it to give the identity of the
person who has it on. It is also possible that this chip will have much more
information in it such as the bank account number and how much money the person
has because verse 17 tell me that this mark will be used to buy and sell things
and if one does not have it they will not be able to buy or sell anything. These verses tell me that there is coming a
time when an evil person will have control of all of the “earth dwellers” on
this earth, and those who are not earth dwellers will have a hard time
surviving here. It also tells me that
this will be a time when people will worship this unholy trinity made of Satan,
the Antichrist, and the False Prophet and those who do not will be on a most
wanted list and will give up their lives for the cause of Christ.
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 don 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.
The Word of God has been a very big challenge to my heart as
I have studied it this morning.
My Steps of Faith
Today: Continue to read and study
God’s Word each day and to ask God to led me in the steps that He wants me to
follow each and everyday, trusting Him to be in complete control of my life.
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