SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2015
10:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction to the Sixth Seal
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
6:12-17
Message
of the verses: “12 I looked when He
broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and
the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs
when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it
is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15
Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich
and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and
among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and to the
rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has
come, and who is able to stand?"”
I want to go over something that we
have spoken about before, but needs to be done again today and that is “The Day
of the Lord.” The Day of the Lord is
mentioned nineteen times in the Old Testament and four times in the New
Testament. What we are learning from
Revelation chapter six on has to do with the Day of the Lord. When it is mentioned in the Old Testament
there were times when it is mentioned during a time when judgment was going to
fall upon the nation of Israel, and so the prophet would use that current
judgment to picture what would happen in the last days. Psalm 7:11 says “God is a righteous judge, a
God who expresses his wrath every day (NIV).”
While this is true “the Day of the Lord is an expression used to
describe periods when God specially intervenes in human history for judgment
(J. MacArthur).” MacArthur goes on “It
is a unique time when God’s power and holiness are unveiled, bringing terror
and death to His enemies. The prophets
describe the Day of the Lord as ‘destruction from the Almighty’ (Isa. 13:6;
Joel 1:15), a time of ‘fury and burning anger’ (Isa. 13:9), a ‘time of doom’
(Ezek. 30:3), ‘great and very awesome’ (Joel 2:11), and ‘darkness and not light’
(Amos 5:18; cf. v. 20).”
I want to focus in on the final
eschatological judgments of the Day of the Lord which happen during the times
in the Tribulation period because that is what we are looking at in the book of
Revelation, however as stated earlier there were times when “Day of the Lord”
events happened during the Old Testament times when judgment came upon Israel
because of their sin against the Lord.
Joel 2:28-32 “28 "It will come
about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons
and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men
will see visions. 29 “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My
Spirit in those days. 30 “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke. 31 “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into
blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 "And
it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be
delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape,
As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.”
Zechariah 14:1 “Behold, a day is
coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.”
Malachi 4:1, 5 “1"For behold,
the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every
evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,"
says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor
branch." 5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.”
Acts 2:20 “20 ’THE SUN WILL BE
TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY
OF THE LORD SHALL COME.”
1 Thessalonians 5:2 “2 For you
yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief
in the night.”
2 Thessalonians 2:2 “2 that you not be quickly shaken from your
composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if
from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”
2 Peter 3:10 “10 But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be
destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”
When we looked at the first five
seal judgments we can say that these were preliminary judgment that lead up to
the rest of the judgments that will follow which include the sixth and seventh
seal judgments, and then the seven trumpet judgments and finally the seven bowl
judgments. MacArthur writes concerning
this “That Day will unfold in two stages, first during the Tribulation (1
Thess. 5:2), and then at the end of the Millennium (2 Pet. 3:10). Those two stages are separated by a thousand
years. It is noteworthy that Peter, as
if to erase any questions about that separation, reminds the reader that ‘with
the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (2
Pet. 3:8).’”
Now when we studied the books of
first and second Thessalonians we went over why Paul wrote so much to them
about the Day of the Lord and the end times when the Lord Jesus would come in
the clouds to receive His bride. The
Thessalonians had many questions, and for that I am glad because if they would
have understood exactly what Paul had taught them when he was with them then we
would not have had what he wrote to them in order to straighten up their views
on the end times. The return of Christ
is mentioned in very chapter of both first and second Thessalonians. The study we did on this was last year beginning
on March 11, 2014 and then it finally concluded on 12-13-2014, but I was also looking
at different Old Testament books during that time so it did not take all that
long for the Thessalonians letters.
People living through the
Tribulation Period will not realize exactly when the Day of the Lord will begin
as is stated by both Paul and Peter for when the church is taken out at the
rapture there will not be any believers at that time, but God will begin to
save people during this time, but they will not have the knowledge right away
to understand all that is happening.
When things begin to happen as far as the Day of the Lord beginning they
will then understand what is going on at as we stated before when they begin to
share this information is when they will begin to be killed for the cause of
Christ. There will be 144,000 Jewish witness
during the end times along with the two witness which will come during the last
half of the Tribulation period, and then there will be an angel flying in the heaven
telling people about the gospel, so it seems that eventually people will get a
crash course on the end times.
In this sixth seal one of the things
that helps identify it is fear and as I was listening to John MacArthur’s
sermon on this section we will be looking at he gave a list of things that
people fear that came from the columnist Ann Landers. I will quote this list as many may get a
laugh when reading it.
FEAR
If
a person can't handle normal fear, we say that person has a phobia. By phobia
we basically mean an abnormal response to a normal fear, or the invention of an
abnormal and bizarre fear. A phobia is fear exaggerated. It is fear that
disables a person. It is fear that is uncontrollable and unconquerable, it is
fear that totally takes control of a person so that they cannot function
normally. Such phobia leads to paranoia, panic attacks, and various kinds of
deviant and anti-social behavior.
When you look at people and examine what
they're afraid of, it's quite amazing. Ann Landers, interestingly enough,
through all the years accumulating her mail, has listed what people are afraid
of. She's got a list of the things people fear most. She says, "First of
all, there are very bizarre fears about which people have written me, such as
the fear of falling into the toilet, the fear of certain colors, the fear of
being buried alive, or the fear of calling someone by his given name. But the
most common fears, according to my mail...she said...are the following:
animals, bees, being alone, being stared at, blood, blushing, cancer, cats,
choking,
corpses, crowds, darkness, death, deformity, demons, dirt, dogs, dreams,
elevators, enclosed space, flying, germs, height, horses, illness, insanity,
insects,
lightning, mice, nakedness, noise, pain, poverty, pregnancy, robbers, school,
sexual intercourse, sleep, smothering, snakes, spiders, strangers, surgical
operations, syphilis, thunder, travel, vomiting, work and worms."
I hope you enjoy this list.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I know
that it will be a fearful time during the Tribulation period, but as a believer
I am trying to learn to only fear the Lord and not my circumstances around
me. I don’t always succeed.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the
Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the Lord of
the Lord so that I will not fear the circumstances around me.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Shadrach,
Meshach, Abednego” (Daniel 3:17).
Today’s
Bible question: “Where did Elijah
contend with the prophets of Baal?”
Answer
in our next SD.
3/29/2015
11:36 AM
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