The Lament Continues (Rev. 18:14-19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/21/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  The Lament Continues

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:14-19

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “"The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them.15 The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry.  16 ‘How terrible, how terrible for that great city! She was so beautiful—like a woman clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!  17 And in one single moment all the wealth of the city is gone!’ And all the ship owners and captains of the merchant ships and their crews will stand at a distance.  18 They will weep as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, ‘Where in all the world is there another city like this?’  19 And they will throw dust on their heads to show their great sorrow. And they will say, ‘How terrible, how terrible for the great city! She made us all rich from her great wealth. And now in a single hour it is all gone.’”

            As John continues recording this lament over the destruction of Babylon he writes about the merchants of the city who are mournful because of the loss of their businesses and the loss of what they say is such a great city, but it was more than a city to them, it was their life, and it was sinful because of all of the evil that this city represents.  

            Next the ship owners and crews onboard their ships begin their lament because there will be nowhere to take their cargo.  They stand at a distance and watch the smoke of the destroyed city climb into the air, knowing that it is completely destroyed.

            From the great to the small they all lament over the destruction of this city which represents a type of religion to them which is actually an idol, something to replace the God of heaven who created and own all that is on planet earth, and they will not recognize this truth, and will thus perish along with their idol. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This entire section of Revelation has shown me, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which I am to hold onto the things that are real and meaningful in this life that God has given me and to whom I owe everything too.  It has also shown me that it is really easy if I am not careful to fall into the trap of having things own me, and having things become an idol to me that will replace my worship and adoration of the Lord.  The things that John is describing in these verses is a system, and it is a system that is anti-God, and it is a system which demands worship, so therefore it is an evil and corrupt system, which I as a believer must learn to stay away from if I want to be pleasing to the Lord.  It is not so much a matter of how many things that the Lord has entrusted me with on my stay on planet earth that matter, as long as those things that God has entrusted me with do not become my life, which is the reason why these people described in these verses are lamenting.  God’s Word allows me to see things in the correct perspective, and brings meaningfulness to my life.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  That the Holy Spirit of God will continue to weed out the sinfulness in my life, and teach me and enable me to get the proper perspective on “things” as He leads me through this trial that I am in.

Cannot Serve Money & God (Rev. 18:11-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/20/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Can’t serve money and God

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:11-13

            Message of the verse:  “11  "And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more—12  cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, 13  and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives.”

            In the previous verses the kings and rulers were crying over the destruction of Babylon, and now we see in these verses that the merchants of the earth begin to weep and morn over the destruction of Babylon.  I have written before about some of the things in the book of Revelation that come to an end that have been going on throughout the history of man, things like antichrists, and false prophets, and false religions, and now in this section it can be seen that people will be so upset over the loss of material possessions and this has been going on throughout the history of man.  Jesus said that a person cannot serve money and God for they will love the one and hate the other.  Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all the things he had and give it to the poor because it was those rich things that he cared about more than serving the Lord.  There are many other examples given in the Scriptures about this subject.  During the collapse of the economy in the late 1920’s many people took their own lives because they could not live without all of their possessions and this was a picture of what will happen at the destruction of Babylon.  Revelation has in it the culmination of many things that are going on in the world today and this is just one example.

            These verses list some of the articles that these merchants will morn over and the last one speaks of slaves and the souls of men.  I don’t know if there will be slaves in the sense that there were during the Roman Empire then, but the number 666 will make slaves out of many, many people and it will also affect their souls too. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are many people that God entrusts material riches with throughout the history of mankind, and some of these people are true believers who realize that it is God who owns everything and that they are just a steward of these things that are owned by God.  I do believe that this is one of the things that God is working with me at this time of my life with the trials He is sending me through, and there could still be some work to be done in this area of my life, but not as much as when He started.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  I trust the Lord to complete His work in my life that He is working on during these trials that He is sending me through.  I know that these trials are for my good even though at times I do wish they would be over, but I also know that the things that the Lord is teaching me through these trials will be worth very much to me in this life and the life to come. 

Lamenting over Babylon (Rev. 18:9-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/19/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Lamenting over Babylon

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:9-10

            Message of the verse:  “9 And the rulers of the world who took part in her immoral acts and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains.  10 They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, "How terrible, how terrible for Babylon, that great city! In one single moment God’s judgment came on her.”  (NLT)

            These two verses and all the way to verse nineteen describe the morning over this “great system” of Babylon.  Rulers and merchants will morn alike as they see the city destroyed in one single moment’s judgment from God.  This was their whole life, all they had to live for, and now it is all gone, gone from them forever.  They once live for and lived in luxury and now that that is gone they morn over its loss like a person morns over a loved one who meant a lot to them who is now passed away.  One day as Jesus and His disciples were going through a grain field on the Sabbath day they began to rub the grain together in order to get something to eat and the Pharisees accused them of break a law because they were “working” on the Sabbath day.  Jesus told them that the Sabbath day was made for man not man for the Sabbath day.  I can see a similar thing here in this section of Revelation 18 because in both cases men had their lives out of balance.  The Pharisees were in fact worshiping the Law and therefore missed the most meaningful Person who would come their way and the merchants and rulers described in this section of chapter 18 were worshiping their lifestyle of money and luxury and missed out on worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ who was trying to draw men of this time to Him through these judgments, but they would not listen.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I do believe that God is using this section of Revelation to have me look at my life as it was before all that has happened to our investments, and even when I was working hard at Ford, and is comparing it to now when we are struggling to keep our heads above water because of what we owe and the little amount of income we have coming in at this time.  I probably would not want to admit it but there were many times when my attitude about “things” was not correct and it was all out of balance with what is really important.  The true fact is that God owns everything and this is proved every second of every day as people die and leave it all so I believe that God is changing my attitude toward these “things” and telling me that He is most important in my life and He will never leave me nor forsake me and therefore I should trust in Him wholly and not in the provisions that He is entrusting me with.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord for the outcome of these trials that He is sending me through, to trust Him to teach me the important things that He would have me to learn that will have eternal values, bring honor and glory to Him, and also be best for me.     

Babylon Pays for Her Sins (Rev. 18:6-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/17/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Babylon pays for her sins

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:6-8

            Message of the verse:  “6  Do to her as she has done to your people. Give her a double penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so give her twice as much as she gave out.  7  She has lived in luxury and pleasure, so match it now with torments and sorrows. She boasts, ‘I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow. I will not experience sorrow.’  8  Therefore, the sorrows of death and mourning and famine will overtake her in a single day. She will be utterly consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”’

            God is now going to judge Babylon for her sins and these verses describe some of the sin that she did.  Before God judges Babylon He calls His people out of her.

            God hates pride, for pride was probably the first sin that was ever committed in that Lucifer, who is now called Satan said five “I wills” which were all prideful statements against God.  Babylon has also seduced the nations that were around her to be just like her.  A third sin is her love for luxury and pleasure, for she worshiped these pleasurable things and all the while there were very poor people around her that she would not help.  In verse eight God promises to judge Babylon in a single day.

            One of God’s attributes is that of judgment, for God will always judge in righteousness, and He never does things to get even, but has great patience in His judgment, waiting for the people to repent of their sins, but in this case they would not even though they had seen all of the judgments that God has sent upon the whole world.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that speaks to me from these verses is that I must never let the things that God has given me to own me, and I am never to brag about the blessings that God has given me as if I had something to do with them.  I have done this in the past with the our investment and now I do not have it at this time, but hopefully because of this trial God has taught me this lesson and will someday soon trust me with these funds again knowing that they have always been a gift from Him and He can remove them from me at any time for in reality all that I have is His especially me.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord in all of these trials that we our going through, that He will see us through to the other side of them and we will both be different when we arrive there.

Come out from Among Them (Rev. 18:4-5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

10/15/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Come out from among them

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 18:4-5

            Message of the verse:  “4  I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues;

5  for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”

            John now hears another voice and this is the voice of separation that comes from heaven.  God has always wanted his people separated from those who are of the world, and in this case those who are of this “Babylonian Religion.”  There are examples of this in Scripture of God separating His people from those of the world, examples like when He called Abram out of the land where he was living because the people there were worshipers of idols and God did not want his people being influenced by idol worshipers.  God also separated Lot from the influence of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the prayers of Abraham.  The believer is warned in 1 John to not love the world or the things in the world, and loving the world is like loving commercial Babylon.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These verses have a lot to say to me as a believer in Jesus Christ who goes through temptations from this world system each and every day of my life.

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

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord throughout all of the trials and tests that He has sent my way, to grow in them and to draw closer to the Lord throughout all of these tests and trials.