SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 08/12/2005
My Worship Time Focus: God is in
control
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelations
12: 15-17
Message of the verse: “15
And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the
woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.
16 And the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which
the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with
the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.”
There
are times in this wonderful book that it is difficult to understand for sure
whether John is giving the picture of using descriptive language that is just
symbolism and that is the case here, at least, for me. The spiritual truth that I gain from this
section is that God takes care of His own people no matter how much Satan tries
to destroy them, and if one looks at history one can see that the Jews have
been targeted by Satan ever since they were a small family living only in the
Middle East.
I will
give only one explanation as to what the flood and the earth opening it’s mouth
to swallow up this flood might mean.
John could well be speaking of a flood of people, or an army that
antichrist will send after these Jews, and it could be that there will be an
earthquake that will happen to swallow up this army that is sent to pursue
Israel. If one looks at different
Scriptures from the OT there are word pictures that describe similar
things. Isaiah 59:19 “So shall they fear
the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up
a standard against him.”
(AV) Numbers 16:31 “ Then it came about as he finished speaking all these
words, that the ground that was under them split open; 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed
them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah, with
their possessions.” (NASB)
Numbers 16 speaks of the rebellion of Korah and the results of their
rebellion are seen in these two verses.
Satan
became very angry when the Lord protected Israel, so he went off to cause much
trouble with the rest of the offspring of Israel. It is possible that there will be many in
Israel who did not choose to go to this place where God will care for those who
have gone there and so these are the ones who Satan will try and destroy. It is also possible that Satan will be going
after the “Tribulation Saints” too, and tries to destroy them. At any rate Satan realizing how little time
he has and will try and destroy as many as he can, however if we look at Rev.
6: 11 “And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told
that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their
brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” Only so many will die for the cause of Christ
during the Tribulation Period, and according to this verse God has that number
already taken care of.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: These
verses teach me that I, like all other believers, has an enemy that would kill
me right now if I did not have the God of heaven protecting me. I do believe that if I obey God, and do the
things that He has prepared for me to do way back in eternity past, (see
Ephesians 2:10), and not get caught up in some terrible consistent sin, that
God will keep me here on this earth until my task in finished. My hope has always been ever since I first
came to know the Lord was that I would be one of the ones who will go in the
rapture alive, as Paul described it in 1Cor. 15 and also 1Thes. 4.
The Word of God has brought refreshment to my heart as I
read it this morning, and it has also challenged me too.
My Steps of Faith Today: Live my life like I realize the truth that
God is in control.
Memory verse for the week:
1Thes. 4:3-8
For this is the will of
God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual
immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in
sanctification and honor; not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not
know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter
because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you
before and solemnly warned you. For God
has not called you for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man
but God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
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