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
Nebuchandnezzar 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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