SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
3/26/2015 7:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Persons of Rev. 6:9 (PT-2)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
6:9
Message of the
verses: “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;”
We have been talking about the vengeance of God as seen
in chapter six and also we have been talking about the persecution against
believers which is going on during the Tribulation period, and in particular
what had happened to those who were found under the altar in heaven when the
fifth seal was broken by or Lord Jesus Christ.
The persecution will probably begin slowly for at the
beginning of the Tribulation period there will not be too many believers since
the rapture had recently occurred which took all the true believers out of the
world. It will probably take a while for
those on earth to figure out what happened when the rapture occurred, and it
will take a while to clean up the mess that happened when drivers of cars,
planes, trains and boats just up and disappeared leaving those vehicles to go
off on their own. I suppose that many
people will think that this was an alien invasion and probably will be glad
that all of these fundamental Christians have left the planet, but some will be
in grief, losing loved ones and probably in time they will figure out exactly
what happened to them leaving them open to the Gospel. After time people will grow tired of hearing
what happened to the believers in the rapture and also what these new believers
will be telling others what will soon happen, and then the persecution will
begin, especially when as we learned in our last SD that the Holy Spirit’s
influence will be taken out of the world leaving men to act like men act when
there is no restraint. Now as has always
been the case there will be as Christ described in Matthew 13:24-43, there will
be tares among the wheat and when the persecution begins the tares will run,
not willing to die for the cause of Christ and will probably in some cases
become a part of the persecution of real true believers.
We have been following the events that will take place
during the Tribulation period as seen in Revelation with what Christ has said
in the book of Matthew, the Olivet Discourse.
“15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was
spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the
reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.
17 “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are
in his house. 18 “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.
19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in
those days! 20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a
Sabbath. 21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not
occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 “Unless
those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake
of the elect those days will be cut short (Matthew 24:15-22).” Now as we look at verse fifteen we see that
Christ mentions the “Abomination of Desolation” which signals the mid-point of
the tribulation period, so what we see with the fifth seal being opened could
be some of those who had been slain for the cause of Christ during the time
leading up to the middle of the Tribulation period and even up past the
mid-point. Some of the timing of this is
difficult to determine, but we do know that all of this will happen. One of my favorite moves, in spite of the infidelity
in it is Dr. Zhivago and in one of the last scenes the mistress of Dr. Zhivago
tells him that “this is an awful time to be alive,” and I am sure that many
people who are living through the Tribulation period will be echoing those same
words.
Now I want to quote what John MacArthur has to say about
which altar is described here in this verse as it is not completely described
as it is possible that it could be one of two altars. “The text does not define which altar is in
view, nor does that scene in heaven parallel the earthly temple (or
tabernacle), which had no throne (cf. 4:2).
The altar John saw is most likely emblematic of the altar of incense in
the Old Testament (Ex. 40:5), because of the association of incense with
prayer.” Now in my previous study of
Revelation I wrote the following about this altar: “As the fifth seal is broken it tells of
those who have given up their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ, and they are
now in heaven and are underneath the altar.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that this is the place where the blood of the OT
sacrifices was poured out when an animal was sacrificed. To OT teaches that the life is in the blood,
and thus when the blood was poured out it was reprehensive of the animal.” Not often to Warren Wiersbe and John
MacArthur disagree on Scripture but this point, which cannot be proved one way
or the other is one of them.
As we finish this verse we can see exactly why these
saints had been persecuted and slain: “who
had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which
they had maintained;” These true believers had maintained their testimony for
the cause of Christ and therefore were killed because of it and now were in
heaven praying that God would take revenge on those who had done this to them. These believers were now perfect as they were
in heaven in new bodies without a sin problem from the flesh which we all have
while on earth.
We will look at more of their prayer request for
vengeance in our next SD.
3/26/2015 8:21 AM 3/26/2015 11:39 AM
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Those who are
under the altar because of their testimony for Christ had gone through a lot of
pain similar to what Christ went through to buy them out of the slave market of
sin. I have to go through pain at times,
either mental or physical in order to grow in my walk with the Lord even though
I know that it is no pleasant.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
To love the Lord with all of my heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord even though I am still
trying to understand it.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “40 days and 40 nights”
(Exodus 24:18).
Today’s Bible
question: “Paul had no rest in his
spirit because he could not find whom?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/26/2015 11:48 AM
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