God is Always in Control (Rev. 17:16-18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/07/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God is always in control

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 17:16-18

            Message of the verse:  “16  ‘And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.  17  ‘For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.  18  The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.’”

            I believe that verse 16 is saying that the Antichrist and those ten rulers under him have ridden this religious beast into power and now that they are in power they no longer need this religious system and so it is time to get rid of it, and this will be the beginning of the worship of the Antichrist, which will take place in the last half of the tribulation period.  In verse 17 I can see something that is woven throughout the entire Word of God and that is that God is over all and in control of all, and His plan for this world and the people in it will take place.  It is God’s plan that this Antichrist will be in control of all the earth for this short time in order to work out His plan.  God’s ways are at many times very hard to understand, but He never makes any mistakes, ever.  Verse 18 identifies this woman or harlot and John says that this woman is the city which reigns over the kings of the earth.  At the time John wrote this it was Rome, but it is possible that John is writing about Babylon, because it was there that all of this false religious stuff began, and although it is still centered in Rome he could well have been writing about Babylon.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at verse 17 it gives comfort to my heart because it shows what I have believed in for a long part of my Christian life, and that is that God is in control of all things, and even though things do not look good at the time it does not mean that God is not in control.  One of the OT prophets was upset that God did not judge Israel because of her sins, and then God told that prophet that He would use Babylon to judge Israel and the prophet then got upset because God was using a more wicked nation to judge Israel, but then God told this prophet that He would then judge Babylon for judging Israel.  The point in all of this is that God has His own script for everything, and He has one for my family too.

The Word of God has brought comfort to my heart and has also challenged me as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and lean not upon my owm understand, in all of my ways acknowledge Him and He will direct my path.