SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/1/2014
7:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Relief
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: 2 Thess. 1:6a, 7a-b, 10
Message of the
verses: “It is only just for God…to
give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well…when He comes to be
glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have
believed—for our testimony to you was believed.”
Paul is speaking of the second coming of Jesus Christ to
planet earth at the end of the tribulation period, and the reason that I say
that is that he writes about giving relief to those who are His own. Paul has been talking about retribution in
this section and when we read about what will immediately happen when the Lord
returns at the end of the tribulation we see that not only does He end the war
of all wars, but that He will separate the sheep from the goats and then along
with Satan, the false prophet, and the Antichrist, He throws the goats
(unbelievers) into the place of punishment.
Now I realize that when the Lord comes for His bride at the Rapture of
the church that He will bring relief to His people, but the judgment of those
who are causing the problems on planet earth will not come until His second
coming at the end of the tribulation period.
John MacArthur writes the following about the word relief
(Anesis) is the Greek word, and he
says that the word “expresses the idea of relaxation, loosening, easing,
freedom, refreshment, restoration, and rest.”
The Bible promises three kinds of rest to believers. First, there is the rest that salvation
brings. In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus
promised, ‘Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you
rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn
from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls.’ Salvation brings rest from the crushing
burden of sin.”
Let us look at Hebrews 4:9-11 to see more about this
salvation rest: “9 So there remains a
Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has
himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that
rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of
disobedience.”
Paul is not writing about salvation rest in this section,
so we need to look at the two other kinds of rest that the Bible is speaking
of. Let us look at “millennial rest,”
and we have written about this time period in the past, as it is the promised
reign of Jesus Christ on planet earth, and the one thing added in the book of
Revelations is the length, 1000 years.
Revelations 19:11-20:7 speak of this.
Jesus Christ will establish His earthly kingdom, in which His subjects
will enjoy rest and peace. We read about
this in a sermon by Peter from Acts 3:19-21 where Peter says “19 “Therefore
repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ
appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must
receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by
the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
I believe, after studying more about this time period
that the earth will be somewhat restored like it was when the Lord created it
as seen in Genesis chapters 1-2. We read in different OT passages that the
authority of Jesus Christ will be absolute, and rebels will be instantly and
devastatingly dealt with. Psalm 2:8-9
speaks of this along with Revelations 12:5 and 19:15.
MacArthur writes of the final rest: “A final rest promised in Scripture is the
eternal rest the redeemed enter into at death.
In the presence of God believers will find rest forever—from sin,
temptation, trials, sorrows, and any other form of suffering—because ‘He will
wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death;
there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain’ (Rev. 21:4).
“As with the issue of retribution, the issue of rest and
relief poses three questions: why, who, and how.” We will begin looking at these issues of rest
in our future Spiritual Diaries.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: God has given us
a wonderful thing, and that is to be able to fall asleep when we are very tired
and then wake up refreshed in the morning and thinking about what Jeremiah has
written in Lamentations, something we have just studied, where he writes that
the Lord’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. When I first became a believer I learned
about the rapture of the church, and my prayer has always been that I will be
alive when this happens, and when that does happen it will be the best time of
refreshment ever. A small picture of
that refreshment is the reminder I get when I wake up from a refreshing nights
sleep.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:1-9.
1 Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who
is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore consider the members of your
earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed,
which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is
because of these things that the wrath of God has come upon the sons of
disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: 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,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “With Leprosy” (2 Kings 15:5).
Today’s Bible question: “What does the trying of one’s faith work?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/1/2014 8:38 AM
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