PT-2 The Return of the Conqueror (Rev. 19:11-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2015 8:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 The Return of the Conqueror

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 19:11-13

            Message of the verses:  “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

            The first thing that I want to do for this SD is to quote from my SD that I did on November 7, 2005 on these same verses:  “In the first part of verse eleven John saw heaven opened and then he saw a white horse, and the one who sat on this white horse is described as Faithful and True.  In chapter six John introduced his readers to another person on a white horse, and it was discovered that he was the Antichrist, and he proved to be unfaithful, and also not truthful.  Jesus Christ is Faithful and True and John goes on to say that He judges in righteousness, and also He will wage war.  Christ is coming back to earth to wage war against His enemies who consist of Antichrist, the False Prophet, and all of their followers.  He is also coming to wage war against Satan and will conquer Satan and put him into the lake of fire as will be seen latter on in this letter. 

“John goes with his description of Jesus Christ in verse twelve, where he writes that His eyes are a flame of fire, and His head has many crowns upon it.  The eyes that look like flames of fire have to do with judgment, and the crowns upon His head show Christ is the Ruler.  John goes on to say that He also has a name on His head that no one knows except Himself.  John could see this name, but could not understand what it was or what it meant. 

“Verse thirteen describes Christ robe that had been dipped in blood, and also John gives another name for Jesus the Word of God.  This is a name that only John has used for Christ.  Jesus Christ is the One who, as the second person of the godhead, explains the Father to His followers, just as words in a letter describe what the letter is about so Jesus Christ describes who and what God is all about.  As far as the robe and the blood on it, this describes some of the battles that Christ has gone through in judgment, and it also could be referring to the battle of Armageddon which He will shortly go through.  At any rate this is not His blood, but the blood of His enemies.”

As I was listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on these verses he came up with some statistics that I want to pass on in this SD.  Things like this are something that I enjoy listening to and hopefully all who read this will like them too. 

“Here is the great presentation of the vision of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now to show you how important this is on the pages of Scripture, a total of one thousand five hundred and twenty-seven Old Testament passages alone refer to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are approximately eight thousand verses in the New Testament and three hundred and thirty of those or about one out of every twenty-five verses directly refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, next to the subject of faith, no subject is more often mentioned than the return of Christ. For every time the first coming of Christ is mentioned, the Second Coming is mentioned eight times. And the Lord Himself refers to His coming twenty-one times and over 50 times we are exhorted to be ready for that great event. It is a major theme throughout the pages of Scripture. Clearly because of so much biblical testimony, we can be certain that Jesus will come again.”

 

Now we mentioned the difference of when Christ came the first time and when He comes this time and one of the differences is that this time John writes that He is riding on a white horse while the first time we see when Christ offered Himself to be Israel’s King he rode on a donkey.  During the Roman times when they had a great victory their generals would ride on white horses in their triumphal processions through the streets of Rome.  John MacArthur writes “White also symbolizes the spotless, unblemished, absolutely holy character of the Rider.  The horse, like the crowns (v. 12), the sharp sword (v. 15), the rod of iron (v. 15), and the wine press (v. 15) is symbolic; Christ’s coming is reality.  They symbolic language represents various aspects of that reality—Christ’s victory over His enemies, His sovereign rule, and His judgment of sinners.”  I have to say that although I believe what is stated here by John MacArthur I was a bit disappointed to find out that when the raptured believers return to planet earth with Christ that we will not be riding on white horses.  MacArthur states in his sermon that there are no glorified horses in heaven.

 

Next we look at the phrase that states that Jesus, who rides on this horse “is Faithful and True.”  This name for our Savior is most appropriate for Him and we see the same thing in Revelations 3:14 “"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this.”   Jesus is faithful to His promises “20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us (2 Cor. 1:20).”  Let’s look at what Jesus stated in John 8:45-46 “45 “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?”  Titus 1:2 states “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,”  “Faithful and True is a marked contrast with the unfaithfulness and lies of Satan (12:9), Antichrist’s evil empire (18:23), and wicked people (2 Tim. 3:13).  The very fact that He is coming again as He promised confirms that Jesus is Faithful and True” writes John MacArthur. 

 

            We next learn that Jesus “in righteousness He judges.”  I have mentioned many times about things that I learned studying the attributes of God and one of His attributes is that He is just and that can be seen here as the judgment that Christ will give is righteous.  Some have a hard time with this but what we see here is true for God has to judge sin, and that judgment was taken out on the cross for those who have accepted His forgiveness, but for those who have not that judgment will be taken out on them.  Jesus came the first time to care for the salvation of those who would believe in Him and now He comes for the second time to care for those who have rejected Him and that will be in judgment.  John MacArthur writes “He is the executioner of all ungodly, unbelieving sinners.  The only other reference in Scripture to Jesus waging war is in 2:16, when He warned the worldly church at Pergamum, ‘Repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. ‘This is not out of keeping with God’s character, however.  After their deliverance from the Egyptian forces at the Red Sea, Israel sang ‘The Lord is a warrior’ (Ex. 15:3; cf. Pss. 24:8; 4 5:3-5).  John Phillips writes ‘The Lord is a man of war!  It is an amazing title for the Son of God.  Says Alexander White, commenting on Bunyan’s Holy War, ‘Holy Scripture is full of wars and rumours of wars; the wars of the Lord; the wars of Joshua and the Judges; the wars of David, with his and many other magnificent battle-songs; till the best known name of the God of Israel in the Old Testament is the Lord of Hosts; and then in the New Testament we have Jesus Christ described as the Captain of our Salvation…And then the whole Bible is crowned with a book all sounding with battle-cries…till it ends with that city of peace where they hang the trumpet in the hall and study war no more.’

            ‘The Lord is a man of war!  In righteousness He judges and makes war.  The judging has been going on throughout the breaking of the seals, the blowing of the trumpets, and the pouring out of the bowls.  Now He makes war.  He, who for long centuries has endured patiently the scoffing, the insults, the bad manners of men; who for ages has contemplated Calvary and all that is displayed of human hatred and contempt; and who, through the millennia has made peace through the blood of the cross, now makes war over that blood. (Exploring Revelation, rev. ed. [Chicago: Moody, 1987; reprint, Neptune, N. J. Loizeaux, 1991] 232).”

            We conclude this SD by stating that as we have gone through our study of the book of Revelation we have seen in different cases after judgment had been carried out by one of the judgments from the seals, the trumpets, or the bowls that people would not repent, but they would blaspheme the Lord for the judgments that were going on.  I remember only one time when the judgments caused people to repent and that was the earthquake in the city of Jerusalem where I believe it was the Jews that finally figured that all of this was from God and that Jesus is indeed their Messiah and perhaps at this moment Paul’s words from Romans 11:26 come true that “all Israel will be saved.”  At any rate what we see when Jesus returns is hardened sinners who have had much time to repent, but they refuse and so the Lord will judge them.

            We begin our next SD by looking at the phrase “His eyes are a flame of fire.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the judgment that God took out on Jesus Christ on the cross so that I do not have to be a part of the judgment that is written about in the book of Revelation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue to get the Word out to those that the Lord brings into my path.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Barak” (Judges 4:5-8).

Today’s Bible question:  “In which book is the word ‘Selah” often found?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/30/2015 9:26 AM

Promoting Injustice (Amos 5:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2015 9:58 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Promoting Injustice

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Amos 5:7

            Message of the verses:  7 For those who turn justice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth.’”  “7 You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground (NIV).”

            We are looking at the first sub-point under the main point “Seek the Good.”  We learn from this verse something about human government, and the reason that God established human government was because of the sinfulness of the human heart.  We all have to agree that we as humans need an established government even though at times it is not what we would like it to be.  When we look at the apostle Paul’s writings we see that he never spoke bad about the government of his day even though slavery was prominent during his time along with many other things that we would consider as not being the best, but we as humans need some kind of government for if there were none then we all would be in trouble.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Justice is supposed to be ‘a river…an never-failing stream’ (v. 24 NIV) that cleanses and refreshes society, but the leaders of Israel had turned that refreshing river into bitter poison (see 6:12).”

            In our study of the book of Revelation we have learned that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again at the end of the Tribulation period to destroy the works of Satan along with Antichrist, and the false prophet.  The book that was opened in chapter five is the title deed to planet earth and Jesus Christ is the only One who can open it and once it is opened then the judgments will begin to take place on planet earth as we see that the usurper Satan will finally be put into the lake of fire and justice will then be what will happen when the Lord Jesus Christ rules from David’s throne in Jerusalem for 1000 years.

            Until that time comes we know that righteousness and justice should be the pillars that hold up society, but when we look around at governments today we know that this is not the case.  In the days of Amos we can see that there were a lot of lawsuits, which shows us that society was falling apart and we can see the same thing going on in our nation in today’s world.  “They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed fields (Hosea 10:4 NIV).” 

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes:  “Instead of running to religious meetings, the people should have stayed home and seen to it that their leaders weren’t poisoning the river of justice and knocking down the pillars of righteousness.  Christians are the salt of the earth, and salt prevents corruption.  They are the light of the world, and if there were more light, there would be less darkness (Matt. 5:13-16).  The church must not abandon its marching orders and turn preachers into politicians, but it dare not ignore the problems of society—problems that can be solved by the application of the Gospel and the truth of the Word of God.”

9/29/2015 10:18 PM

The Return of the Conqueror PT-1 (Rev. 19:11-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2015 10:08 AM

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  The Return of the Conqueror PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 19:11-13

            Message of the verses:  “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

            Let us first of all look at Revelation 4:1 “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’”  Look at the two highlighted phrases in verse 11 of Chapter 19 we see a similar one in Revelation 4:1, and one was to let John into heaven and the other was to let Jesus Christ and we will see later a host of many others to come out of heaven returning to planet earth.  John MacArthur writes “The time has come at last for the full, glorious revelation of the sovereign Lord.  This is the time to which all of Revelation (as well as all of redemptive history) has been pointing, the time of which Jesus Himself spoke in Matthew 24:27-32:  ‘27  "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31  "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.’”

            Think about how John must have felt seeing one vision after another and now he sees the vision that it could well be the one he has been waiting for.  Think about back in chapter ten where John is told to eat the little book which made his mouth sweet, but his stomach bitter and perhaps this scene is doing the same for him as he sees the Lord in all of His glory returning to earth to conquer those who have always been against Him.  This has to be a bitter sweet scene for John to see in this vision.  I remember studying the book of Daniel and like John Daniel was very old when the visions that God gave to him were seen by him and so like Daniel John must be going through some times like perhaps no one other than Daniel have gone through.  John must have had his total attention on this sight that was unfolding before his eyes, John who had the privilege of seeing Jesus ascend to heaven as recorded in Acts 1:9-11 now had the distant privilege of seeing Jesus return to planet earth some sixty years later in this vision.  John sees Jesus about to receive the kingdom from His Father, the kingdom that was promised Him. 

            Remember when we were studying chapter five and John saw Jesus receive the title deed to planet earth:  “1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4  Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5  and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’

            “6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

            In that vision we saw Jesus as the Lamb and now we see Him as the conquering King.  With this said this morning I was thinking about the many things that I have learned from the book of Revelation and was going over some of them in my mind and one of the things I was thinking about was the difference that I see Jesus in the gospels with who He is as He walks among the churches.  This is the same Jesus, but John did not recognize Him, and John is the disciple that Jesus loved with a special love.  Am I to see Jesus like I see Him in the gospels, the One who came in humiliation, the One that Zachariah writes of in Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey,” or am I to see Him as the One John saw and when he saw Him, like Daniel he fell as if He were a dead man.  My thoughts are that I am to see the Lord as John saw Him when He was walking among the churches as that is what He is doing now, but I am also to remember His humility when He came to earth to take my place on the cross so that one day I will be able to return to earth when He comes again in the passages we are now looking at. 

            In our next SD we will begin to take a closer look at these verses to help us better understand them.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to always remember what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross, and good to remember the hope that I have which is Christ coming to earth to rule and reign for 1000 years.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  In posting an older SD from the book of James today I became convicted and also became thankful for what I learned from what I wrote in 2003 on James 1:18.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Assyria”   (2 Kings 18:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who asked Deborah to go with him to battle?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/29/2015 11:00 AM

           

Introduction to "Seek the Good" (Amos 5:7-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2015 10:58 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:   Introduction to Seek the Good

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Amos 5:7-15

            Message of the verses:  “7 For those who turn justice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth." 8  He who made the Pleiades and Orion And changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The LORD is His name. 9 It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, So that destruction comes upon the fortress. 10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks with integrity. 11 Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor And exact a tribute of grain from them, Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, Yet you will not live in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate. 13 Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! 15 Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

            We begin a new main point from the outline of Dr. Wiersbe entitled “Seek the good” and just a casual look at these verses you can see why he entitled this main point by this name.

            I find the word “therefore” fascinating to me as I read through the Word of God.  This word is found 902 times in the NASB and when we see this word we have to ask ourselves “what is the therefore, therefore.”  When we see this word we know that we have to look back, but how far we have to look back is sometimes a mystery.  This really does not have much to do with what we are looking at, but it is after all to me an interesting thing to look at.

            In our last studies of Amos we looked at seeking the Lord and this is something that is a very difficult thing to do, and so Amos brings it down to a practical level in giving the children of Israel some practical ways of doing this as we will see as we look at these verses over the next few days.

            We see in this portion of Scripture that some of the practical things that Amos speaks about in these verses are things like living righteous, seeking justice, and the importance of telling the truth.  We also see that he names some sins that Israel is committing, and all sin is against the Lord.  They were accepting bribes and charging the poor too much for rent, and they themselves were living in luxury in their big homes.  These leaders were also helping to sustain a crooked legal system. 

            I want to look for a moment at two verses that form a parenthesis in the writing of Amos and that is verses 8-9, and these are verses near and dear to my heart as they speak of the creation that God has created, for we worship a God who has the ability to create and that is something we all should praise the Lord for.  God not only created all we see, but he sustains all that we see even though at times that may be hard to completely understand.  It was just a few days ago that we began the fall season as it began where I live on September 23, at 4:21 in the early morning.  How can we know this so far in advance?  Well because God is in control and that is the way that he planned it, and how He sustains it.  We can tell when the tides go in an out in different places because that is the way God created it and also sustain it.  As we study the OT we see that the pagans worshiped the heavenly bodies, but the Jews worshiped the God who made the heavenly bodies.  The apostle Paul when speaking to the Greeks who lived in Athens said to them “22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ’TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24  "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25  nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26  and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27  that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28  for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ’For we also are His children’ (Acts 17:22-28).”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his introductory commentary by writing “But this God of creation is also the God of judgment!  ‘He flashes destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin’ (Amos 5:9 NIV).  J. B. Phillips graphically translated verse 9, ‘He it is who flings ruin in the face of the strong, and rains destruction upon the fortress.’  In the light of the holiness of God and the terms of His holy covenant, the people of Israel should have been on their faces, calling out for mercy.  Instead, they were complacently comfortable in their luxury and their sins.  Amos named just a few of their sins.” 

            We will begin to look at these sin in our next SD on the book of Amos.

9/28/2015 11:28 PM   

Last Introduction to the 2nd Coming (Rev. 19:11-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2015 10:39 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  Rapture Questions and Answers

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Revelation 19:11-21

            Message of the verses:  I mentioned at the conclusion of our last SD which was done on Saturday Sept. 26, 2015 that we were going to look at the different ways that people view when the Rapture of the church will take place.  This is important because as we are now studying the actual second coming of Jesus Christ to planet earth we need to know the differences between the two events.  First of all I want to say that I have always believed that the Rapture of the Church will take place before the Tribulation period, although it is not known exactly how long after the Rapture that the Tribulation period will begin.  Remember that we wrote that the Tribulation period begins when the Antichrist signs a mutual defense pact with the nation of Israel for seven years and this is seen in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel, something we have looked at before in our study of Revelation and also in our study of Daniel that was done a couple of years ago.  As mentioned there are other views on this subject as to when the Rapture will take place.  John F. Walvoord  wrote a book entitled “The Rapture Question” many years ago, and has since updated it as there are even more views as to when it will take place.  This book gives many of the views of when the Rapture will take place and if further study is wanted to be done this is a good tool to use.

            The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to planet earth and the Rapture are two different events.  John chapter fourteen and verse three says “"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”  This verse speaks of the Rapture along with 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”  This also speaks of the Rapture and it was last year that I studied both letters that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that this was covered in more detail.  The date of that SD was on July 5, 2014 if anyone cares to look at that.

            One of the distinctions that make these two events different is that the Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven to the air above the earth, and I am told that it will not be too high above the earth as we are told that He is in the clouds so not really too high above the earth.  The second coming will see Christ come to planet earth and land on the Mount of Olives, the exact place where He left to go to heaven. Zechariah 14:4 says “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”  I learned many years ago that this site around the Mount of Olives has a very large fault under it as they were looking for oil in this area and found this fault.  It is waiting for the foot of Jesus.  

            The view that many believers hold as to when the Rapture takes place is called the Pretribulational Rapture, meaning that there will indeed be a Tribulation and that the Rapture will take place before the return of Christ at the end of the Tribulation.  Other views are the Posttribulational view meaning that both the Rapture and the Second Coming come at the same time.  John MacArthur quotes Thomas R. Edgar which we will also quote for this SD.

            “What can be the purpose for keeping a remnant alive through the tribulation so that some of the church survive and then take them out of their situation and make them the same as those who did not survive?  Why keep them for this? [The} explanation that they provide an escort for Jesus does not hold up.  Raptured living saints will be exactly the same as resurrected dead saints.  Why cannot the dead believers fulfill this purpose?  Why w=keep a remnant alive [through the Tribulation], then rapture them and accomplish no more than by letting them die?  There is no purpose or accomplishment in [such] a rapture.

            “With all the saints of all the ages past and the armies [of angels] in heaven available as escorts and the fact that [raptured] saints provide no different escort than if they had been killed, why permit the church to suffer immensely, most believers [to] be killed, and spare a few for a rapture which has no apparent purpose, immediately before the [Tribulation] periods ends?...Is this the promise?  You will suffer, be killed, but I will keep a few alive, and take them out just before the good times come.  Such reasoning, of course, calls for some explanation fo the apparent lack of purpose for a Posttribulational rapture of any sort.

            “We can note the following:

(1)   An unusual, portentous, one-time event such as the rapture must have a specific purpose.  God has purposes for His actions.  This purpose must be on that can be accomplished only by such an unusual event as a rapture of living saints.

(2)   This purpose must agree with God’s general principles of operation.

(3)   There is little or no apparent reason to rapture believers when the Lord returns and just prior to setting up the long-awaited kingdom with all of its joyful prospects.

(4)   There is good reason to deliver all who are already believers from the tribulation, where they would be special targets of persecution.

(5)   To deliver from a period of universal trial and physical destruction such as the tribulation requires a removal from the earth by death or rapture.  Death is not appropriate as a promise in Rev. 3:10.

(6)   Deliverance from the tribulation before it starts agrees with God previous dealings with Noah and Lot and is directly stated as a principle of God’s action toward believers in 2 Pet. 2:9.”

I would like to give another reason why the rapture will not take place at the same time as the Second coming and that is the promise of a Millennial kingdom that is mentioned in chapter 20 of Revelation and is promised to the Jews in many places of the Old Testament.  Now if the Rapture and the Second coming took place at the same time there would be no mortals left to populate the Millennial kingdom for all believes would then have glorified bodies and could not have children.  Another reason is that in Matthew chapter 25 we read of Christ separating the sheep and the goats when He returns to planet earth and if all the sheep were raptured then the only thing left would be the goats.

I am not going to go into any other views of when the Rapture will take place, but one of the reasons, among many that I believe in a Pretribulational Rapture is found in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel, something that I have already mentioned.  In the last portion of this great chapter we see Daniel given a period of time that certain things must take place.  It begins with a specific event and then ends with another event with seven years left on this what I would like to call a big stop watch.  This stop watch has 490 years on it and begins in Nehemiah chapter two and 483 years later to the very day Jesus Christ rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and says the following to the crowd “41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42  saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes (Luke 19:41-42).”  This day was 173,880 days after the event that took place in Nehemiah chapter two.  We see that there are seven years left on this stop watch, the very seven years that God will once again deal with the Jews during the Tribulation Period, and so this is another reason that I see as the church being gone from the scene when the Tribulation period is going on.  Jesus told the believers in the church of Philadelphia “’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

With this we conclude the introduction to the second coming of Jesus Christ and will in our next SD look at the verses in Revelation 19 that tell about it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful as the return of Christ continues to draw near that His promise shows me that I will not be going through the Tribulation Period.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be ready to tell others of this great truth and how they can be a part of it.

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Jesus” (Matthew 14:31).

Today’s Bible question:  “During the time of Hezekiah what country fought against Judah?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/28/2015 11:46 AM

  

           

Why Should we Seek the Lord (Amos 5:4-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2015 10:51 PM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  Why Should we Seek the Lord?

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Amos 5:4-6

            Message of the verses:  “4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, "Seek Me that you may live. 5 “But do not resort to Bethel And do not come to Gilgal, Nor cross over to Beersheba; For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity And Bethel will come to trouble. 6 “Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel.”

            We are looking at the second portion of the second main point which is called “Seek the Lord.”  This is a rather long section and so it may take more than one SD to complete it.

            When we look at verse four we see the first of three reasons why we should seek the Lord, and verse four says “Seek Me that you may live,” and so the first reason is life.  There are different Scriptures that teach us that it is because of God’s love toward us that He will discipline us from time to time and if we do not repent of our wrong doing God may take our life.  In my Sunday School lesson for this week we are looking at chapter five of the book of Acts and in the first part of that chapter we see that the Lord has put to death a married couple who lied about some property that they had sold in order to give the money to the Apostles to help the poor.  They were not put to death for doing something good, but for lying about the good deed they were doing.  In the eleventh chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul writes that some of the people in Corinth who were taking part in the Lord’s Supper died because they did not confess their sins to the Lord and repent before partaking of the elements of the Lord’s Supper.  Hebrews 12:9 SAYS “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?”  Of course the answer to this question is yes.

            We will look at verse five for the second reason why we should seek the Lord and it tells us that there is no other way to experience spiritual blessing.  The people of Israel were going to places to worship the Lord that they should not have gone to as mentioned in verse five and when they went to these places they came home further from the Lord than when they went.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes Emerson who said “a change in geography never overcomes a flaw in character” and he was right in saying this.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “God doesn’t franchise His blessings the way companies franchise their products to local dealers.  You can’t go to Bethel and Gilgal or to Beersheba and go home with a blessing in your baggage.  Unless we personally meet the Lord, deal with our inner spiritual life, and seek His face, our hearts will never be transformed.” 

            The places that Amos described in this passage would all soon be destroyed and would become nothing.  In our study of Revelation chapter three we saw a promise that our Lord gave to the church at Ephesus stating that if they continued to leave their first love that He would destroy the church and if you go there today you will find only ruins.

            The third reason Amos gives to his readers to seek the Lord is because judgment is coming, and this can be seen in verse six.  Amos tells his readers that God will send fire and in Hebrews 12:29 we read “For our God is a consuming fire.”  Let us also look at Deuteronomy 4:24 “"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.’” 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Fear of judgment may not be the highest motive for obeying God, but the Lord will accept it.  Animals and little children understand rewards and punishments, but we hope that the children will eventually mature and develop higher motives for obedience than receiving some candy or escaping a spanking.  God’s people, Israel, never achieved that higher level of obedience, the kind of obedience that comes from a heart that loves God.”

            Israel did not repent and seek the Lord and therefore were destroyed.

            We did make it through this entire sub-point today.

9/26/2015 11:18 PM

PT-3 Intro. to Christ's Second Coming

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2015 8:48 AM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  PT-3 Introduction to the Return of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Revelation 19:11-21

            Message of the verses:  Well late last night I had to stop in the middle of some verses from the Old Testament that help us better understand what we are learning about the return of Jesus Christ and so we will continue with more from the Old Testament in this SD.

            John MacArthur writes at the beginning of this paragraph that I am looking at “God’s people throughout redemptive history have eagerly anticipated the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to defeat His foes and set up His kingdom.  That will be the time when the destruction of Satan is completed,” and then he goes on to speak of different things that will happen of which we have looked at some and will continue to look at more in today’s SD.  “When the armies of God and Magog will be shattered” this is found in Ezekiel chapters 38-39.  Next we look at “when the nations will be judged” found in Joel 3:1-2, 12-14, “1 "For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2  I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.”  “12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”  Next “After their defeat in battle by the returning King” and this is found in Zechariah 14:3-4 “3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”  Next “when the angels will gather the wicked for judgment” and this is found in Matthew 13:41-42 “41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Matthew 25:41 “41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ’Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”  Next “when the wicked will face God’s wrath and indignation” this is found in Romans 2:5-9 “5  But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.”  Next “When the Lord Jesus Christ will descend visibly” found in Revelation 1:7 “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”  Next “From heaven in flaming fire, burning retribution of the persecutors of His people” as found in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 and we also must compare Revelation 6:9-11 and that will end this section of verses:  “6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”  “9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 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.”

            I want to say again that this section in the commentary from John MacArthur, the one that I am following and will take us a fairly long time to get through it, but if I did not think it was important then I would not take the time to look at what he has researched to make this most wonderful of all events for the believers understandable to us.

            He writes “The second coming of Jesus Christ is thus the culmination of redemptive history.  Believers of all ages have eagerly anticipated that glorious event (cf. Isa. 64:1-2).  In fact, the apostle Paul defined Christians as those ‘who have love His appearing’ (2 Tim. 4:8).  Many believers, however, are enamored by the things of the world and do not love Christ’s appearing as they should.  Certainly the Tribulation believers will have no such problem.  They will be persecuted, hunted outcast (cf. 13:17), living constantly under the sentence of death (13:15) in an unspeakably vile, demon-infested world.  Christ’s coming will be what they long for and pray for.”  When I was a young believer my Pastor spoke some words on the passage from 2 Timothy and said that we would receive a crown for loving the second coming of Christ, but would not receive one if we just knew the details of His second coming. 

            We will not begin a list of things that are compelling reasons why Jesus must return to earth.  The first reason is that there are numerous promises of God in the Bible that show us He must return, and we have noted some of these earlier in this SD.  Next we know that our Lord promised that He will return and so this also demands His return.  A couple of examples are from Matthew 24:27, 30, 37-44; Matthew 25:31; and 26:64.  Next we see that another reason is that of the guarantee of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth as seen in John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13, and we know that it is the Holy Spirit who has inspired all of what we read in the Scriptures so this is another great reason for the return of Jesus Christ.  Another reason for His return is that if He did not return then the promises of the Father, Son, and Spirit would not come to pass, and this could never happen.  God’s plan for the church also necessitates His return.  We, as members of the church are promised to be with the Lord in the air at the Rapture in order for us to participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb, something we recently studied.  Next we learn that Jesus must also return because of God’s plan for the nations, for the nations must be judged and we have already looked at verses from both Joel and Matthew on this subject.  God has promised the salvation of Israel, for even Paul wrote in Romans 11:26 the following “and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.’”  This will happen during the last part of the Tribulation period, perhaps when the great earthquake happens in Jerusalem, for after that we learned that those who were still alive after than praised the Lord.  John MacArthur writes on this next reason “Christ’s humiliation at His first coming, when He was scorned, hated, and despised (Isa. 53: Matt. 26:67; 27:27-31), demands His return to display His glory (Matt. 25:31).  Satan’s exaltation is another reason Jesus must return to earth.  The ‘god of this world’ (2 Cor. 4:4) will not be permitted to keep his usurped throne (cf. Luke 4:5-6) forever.  The rightful Heir to earth’s throne must return, defeat the usurper, and take what is rightfully His (cf. 20:1-3, 10).  Finally, the hope and expectation of God’s people demands that Christ return (6:9-10; Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2-3).”

            In our next SD we will look at as promised the difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ to planet earth.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ as Paul speaks of when he wrote to Timothy.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Paul” (Titus 2:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘"You of little faith, why did you doubt?””

Answer in our next SD.

9/26/2015 9:46 AM

PT-2 Intro. to 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:11-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2015 10:19 PM

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  PT-2 Introduction to the Return of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 19:11-21

            Message of the verses:  I am not going to put the verses into this SD as we are still looking at the introduction to this very important section.  I am a bit late in posting this SD on my blog because of having company for the last ten or so days, so hopefully it will be better for me to get things on my blog after this.

            In our last SD on this subject we looked at a part of the sermon from John MacArthur on this subject and after listening to this entire sermon it was all on the introduction of the return of Jesus Christ.  We could just comment on every one of these verses, which we will do, but it is important to look at some of the many OT and NT verses that talk of this event, and we will look at other things that pertain to this subject top as we go through this section.

            We looked at how the worlds situation and wondered if it will ever get better and learned that the only way it would get better is when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to planet earth, but until that event things will get worse and worse.

            There is another thing that we want to discuss while looking at this event and that is something we touched on earlier in this journey through Revelation, and that is the different views on the Rapture. 

            When we think of what we have learned about what is going to happen during the tribulation period we know that many, many people will die because of the judgments from the Lord and wars that will be going on, but then we read about how the Lord was going to call the armies to the battlefield of Megiddo where the final battle will take place, and then we will see the Lord Jesus Christ return to earth to end the war and judge the people who are left alive on planet earth, where when the Tribulation Period began there were many more than eight billion people on the earth, and probably during the end there will be maybe only two billion people left.  I get these numbers from the “Left Behind” series where author Tim Lahaye stated that one in four people who began the Tribulation will live throughout the entire period.  Now before the Tribulation we believe that the Rapture will take the church out so that will be many people gone even before the Tribulation Period begins.

            One of the first things that believers learn once they become believers is that their hope is that the Lord Jesus Christ will return to get them, and that has been my hope every since I became a believer in Jesus Christ.  Paul speaks to Titus about this as being our “hope.”  Now of course this is speaking of the Rapture, but since we see in our world today many signs of what is going to happen in the Tribulation we believe that the Rapture is getting very close.

            Why do believers who have lived through out redemptive history look forward to having the Messiah come again?  For one thing we look forward to having Christ come and defeat all his foes, including Satan, and we also look forward of Him setting up His promised kingdom.  We can look at two verses, one from the OT and one from the NT to show that there will be a time when the destruction of Satan is complete.  “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel’ (Gen. 3:15).”  “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you (Romans 16:20).”  Genesis 49:10 speaks of having the King receive His scepter “"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”  We can look at 2 Samuel 1:13 and Isaiah 9:7 to show us when God will establish the throne of David’s greater Son “13  "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”  “7  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Next we look at Psalm 2:6-9 to show us that the Lord will rule with a rod of iron:  “6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"”

            We will continue looking at more verses from the Scriptures to prepare us for the return of Jesus Christ as seen in Revelation 19:11-21.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Christ Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:5).

Today’s Bible question “Who spoke ‘Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ’?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/25/2015 10:55 PM

           

Seek the Lord PT-1 (Amos 5:4-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/24/2015 11:10 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Seek the Lord PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Amos 5:4-6

            Message of the verses:  “4  For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, "Seek Me that you may live. 5 “But do not resort to Bethel And do not come to Gilgal, Nor cross over to Beersheba; For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity And Bethel will come to trouble. 6 “Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel.”

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that this phrase is found more than thirty times in the Word of God, and it not only applied to Israel, but also to the church today.  There were times when the Lord would have used few people like when He was ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, but not enough were found, at least Abraham stopped asking the Lord to lower the number necessary to have those cities saved from His wrath.  “Then he said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the ten.’”  This is where Abraham stopped and it is found in Genesis 18:32.

            God can work through the many or He can work through the few “Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, "Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few’ (1 Samuel 14:6).” 

            What Does it Mean to “seek the Lord?”  Let us look at Isaiah 55:6-7 “6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”   

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “To seek the Lord means first of all to change our thinking and abandon the vain thoughts that are directing our wayward lives.  Disobedient children of God are thinking wrongly about God sin, and life.  They think God will always be there for them to turn to, but they forget that sinners reap what they sow.  To walk ‘in the counsel of the ungodly’ is folly indeed (Ps. 1:1, NKJV), for it leads to a fruitless and joyless life.”

            If a person who has walked away from the Lord wants to return he must realize that the sin or sins he is holding on to is hideous, very hideous before a holy God.  Seeking the Lord does not mean that we simply run to God for help when our sins get us into trouble, although God will receive us if we’re sincere, but that is what we must be, sincere.  David writes in Psalm 51:17 the following after he was sincerely looking for repentance and turning back to the Lord:  “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

9/24/2015 11:27 PM