Love not the World (Rev. 18:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/14/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus: Love not the World (1 John 2:15-16)

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:3

            Message of the verse:  “3  ‘For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.’”

            Every person who is born is born with a vacuum, which can only truly be filled by the God of heaven through His Son Jesus Christ, but if this does not happen then people will go to a substitute “religion” in order to have a sense of having this vacuum filled and this is where this false religious Babylon will be used by them.  Not only will these people go to the false “religious” Babylon to be satisfied with their religious cravings, but they will then tern to the commercial Babylon to have the lust of their eyes fulfilled.  Commercial Babylon will become an idol to millions of people here on this earth.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This verse says to me that as a believer in Jesus Christ I am not suppose to allow anything to come between the worship and devotion of my Lord, things like the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, and that has not always been the case for me, for sometimes I have put things between my worship of my Lord.

The Word of God has been very convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  I am asking the Lord to give me a correct attitude today and henceforth in my life concerning money and things, for my Lord said that you cannot serve Him and money at the same time, and my desire is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fallen, Fallen Babylon is Fallen (Rev. 18:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/12/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Fallen, Fallen Babylon is Fallen

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:2

            Message of the verse:  “2 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.’”

            This angel that was introduced in the first verse cries out in a mighty voice two times that might Babylon has fallen.  Perhaps the angel says fallen two times because there are two Babylon’s that are falling, the religious one and the commercial on.  The angel goes on to say that Babylon has become a dwelling place of demons and also unclean spirits, and a prison for unclean and hateful birds.  It can be said that when righteousness prevails in a land that it will be more difficult for the unseen forces of darkness to do their awful biddings, and this will certainly not be the case in Babylon in this day.  The unclean birds are written about a lot in the book of Leviticus, when God was telling Moses the things that Israel could eat and should not eat, and the things that they should not eat were unclean, and must have represented sin in some kind of way.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  James writes in his letter that believers are to resist the Devil and he will flee, and I can tie this in with the unclean part of this verse, for if I allow the unclean things to be a part of my life then Satan can get a foothold in my life to tempt me more with his evil ways, and so I must do as James writes about and that is to resist the Devil so he will flee from me.

The Word of God was very convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  When I am tempted to think wrong thoughts I must flee from them and if I would dwell on them for to long of a time I must confess those sins to the Lord who is faithful and just to forgive them as He has promised in His Word.     

           

Commercial Babylon (Rev 18:1)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/10/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Commercial Babylon

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:1

            Message of the verse:  “1. After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendour.”

            The book of Revelation has the mention of angels in it many times and at the beginning of this chapter John writes about another angel who when he came to earth to deliver his message he would be illuminated by his splendour.  John Macarthur said in his commentary on this verse that because of the darkness of the fifth vial judgment this angel would be seen by many people on the earth because of his brightness.  When the women came to the grace of Jesus on resurrection morning they say an angel who was bright in appearance so this is not the first time this has been mentioned in the Scriptures.

            This verse also mentions that this angel has great authority, and I believe that the Scriptures mention that there are certain ranks within the realm of angels, and this one must have a high ranking.

            It is also good to remember that in the scope of all of these prophecies that are in this book that Babylon would have been destroyed already happened as seen in Revelation 14:8.  Again from John Macarthur’s commentary he states that “The Greek text views the results of this as if it had already taken place.”

            The Bible has a great deal to say about Babylon in both the Old Testament and also much is written about it in this book of the Revelation.  Just as Jerusalem is the city of God so Babylon is the city of the devil, for it was first written about in the 10^th and 11^th chapter of Genesis where it is described as man rebelling against God and the beginning of this false religion that has opposed God and still does.  This 18^th chapter will describe the commercial aspect of Babylon and this speaks of the world system that all true believers are supposed to avoid.  John wrote about this briefly in 1 John 2:15-7.  Both the religious and the commercial systems have been around for a very long time and both of them have opposed God and both are sinful and both of them will reach their zenith in this tribulation period with Satan and his Antichrist along with the false prophet and then God will destroy all of it forever.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that it is much easier for me to get involved with the commercial aspect of this than the religious side of it, for this world system is tempting with all of it’s false riches and at times it is hard for me to understand how many things that I should have, but I think that God will give me direction on this if I ask Him and also if my possessions do not own me and I keep my devotion unto the Lord then things will work out well. 

The Word of God has brought conviction to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust that the Lord will grow me to be more like Him as I go through all of the trials that He has me going through at this time.   

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.   

The Sea of Humanity (Rev. 17:15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/06/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Sea of humanity

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 17:15

Message of the verse:  “15 And he *said to me, "The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

            It has already been established that this harlot is the world’s religious system in which the Antichrist will ride on into power, and in this verse it can be seen that the waters are the people of the world, and this religious system, which is the religious Babylon that is being written about in this chapter, has rule over these peoples and nations and tongues.  During this time there will be a one world religious system that will come out of the Babylonian system that was started in Genesis 10 and 11, and is to this day still alive and well, although with different names given to its so called deity’s.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Satan is tricky and he is also a counterfeit, as he tries to copy all of the things that God has, including what he wants the most and that is worship.  I have been tricked by Satan and also my flesh on far too many occasions and I am ashamed of it.

The Word of God has brought conviction to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith:  Believe 1John 1:9.