SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
10/15/2014 11:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Do Not be Ignorant PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2
Thessalonians 2:8b
Message of the
verse: “whom the Lord will slay with
the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.”
We are looking at the third specific exhortation to help
us avoid fear about the end times. This
exhortation is do not be ignorant and under this exhortation we find four
aspects of Antichrist’s career. We
looked at his revelation in our SD from yesterday, and now we will look at his
destruction in this SD. This will be the
part that is best to look at for when he is destroyed then Satan and the false
prophet will also be destroyed too, as this will happen at the end of the
tribulation period.
We spoke in yesterday’s SD that the revealing of
Antichrist was completely controlled by the Lord and so will his destruction be
completely controlled by the Lord. Let
us look at a couple of verses from Daniel to show us more about his
destruction, the verses are from the book of Daniel. “His dominion will be taken away, annihilated
and destroyed forever (Daniel 7:26b).” “he
will come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45b).” “"The beast which was and is not, is
himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction (Rev. 17:11).” “And the beast was seized, and with him the
false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived
those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image;
these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone
(Rev. 19:20).”
John MacArthur quotes Robert L. Thomas to show that the
Lord does not kill Antichrist, but will overthrow him as the NIV
translates. “Some have supposed a
discrepancy between the fate of these two [the beast (Antichrist) and the false
prophet] and that of the man of lawlessness in 2 Thess. 2:8…,but harmonization
of the two accounts of Christ’s return is quite easy. The verb…anelei,
(Destroy) used by Paul [in 2 Thess. 2:8] does not necessarily mean physical
death. It can also refer to relegation
to the lake of fire because the literal force of…anaireo [the root form of anelei]
is ‘I make an end of.’ (Revelation
8:-22: An Exegetical Commentary [Chicago:
Moody, 1995], 397).”
Isaiah 11:4 helps to give us the concept of the Lord
destroying His enemies with the breath of His mouth: “But with righteousness He will judge the
poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will
strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.” Next we look at Isaiah 30:33 “For Topheth has
long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep
and large, A pyre of fire with plenty of wood; The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets
it afire” Next we look at Hosea
6:5 “Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by
the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes
forth.” Revelation 1:16; 2:16; 19:15, 21
also picture the Lord with a sword coming out of His mouth.
The last section of our verse for today “and bring an end
by the appearance of His coming” adds a slightly different dimension to
Antichrist’s destruction says John MacArthur.
He states that the verb used here shows not only the end of the man,
Antichrist, but also the end of his empire, and when we continue on in
Revelation 19 we see this take place. I
believe that it is at this time that the Lord will begin to separate the sheep
from the goats so that all of the evil people who are alive at the end of the
tribulation period will be destroyed and when the Millennial Kingdom begins
there will be only saved people that go into it.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There are times
when life on this earth is difficult and even hard to take, but when I read
about the things that will happen during the end times I know that life then
will be even more difficult, and the good thing is that all true believers in
Jesus Christ who are alive now will not have to go through this time of horror
and for that I am thankful and look forward to the Rapture.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:8-11.
8 But now you also, put
them all side: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your
mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another,
since you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put
on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image
of the One who created him-11 a renewal in which there is no distinction
between Greek and Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave
and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “That Joseph would hate and
punish them” (Genesis 30:15)
Today’s Bible
question: “1 Thessalonians 4:16 states
that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a what?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/15/2014 11:59 AM
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