SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/15/2015
9:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Function, Protection
and Provision
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
7:15-17
Message of the
verse: We will look at verse 15 of
Revelation chapter seven for two more key words that help us better understand
this group of Tribulation Saints found in chapter seven.
Function (Revelation 7:15a): “"For this reason, they are before the
throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple;”
We know that a person has to be perfect before they can
stand before the throne of God, and these were indeed made perfect through the
Lamb of God who paid for their sins on the cross and so what is their purpose
at this point? The verse says that they
can serve Him day and night in His temple.
As we look at the term “day and night” we have to realize that there is
no night in heaven as this is an idiomatic way to show that there is continuous
occupation in their ministry. Now the
word temple is used here in this verse and also used other times in the book of
Revelation showing where the Lord is at.
John MacArthur writes “There is currently a temple in heaven, and there
will be one on earth during the millennial kingdom of Christ on earth (cf.
Ezek. 40-48). In the eternal state,
however, there will no longer be a temple (Rev. 21:22). The heavenly temple currently is the holy
domain where God’s presence dwells outside the fallen universe, but that will
be unnecessary in the new heavens and the new earth were sin has been forever done away with. There will no longer be a temple building,
because God will occupy all places, and all believers everywhere throughout the
eternal state will continue to worship and serve Him forever.”
Next we look at the last portion of this verse as we look
at the protection of these saints: “and
He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”
Now the NASB uses the word “tabernacle” in this verse
while other translations use the word tent or they say that “God will shelter
them.” The idea is that God will protect
them as they have been through a lot as they were living on the earth during
the Tribulation period. John MacArthur
says that this word is a word that John has used before and must like the
word. He writes “the related verb
translated dwelt appears in John 1:14
which reflects the sheltering presence of the Lord. It corresponds to the Old Testament promises
of God’s protective presence (cf. Lev. 26:11-12; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 2:10-11;
8:3, 8).”
Provision (Revelation 7:16-17): “16 "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst
anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will
be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God
will wipe every tear from their eyes."”
Since these last three key words were not too long I have
decided to finish this chapter so that in our next SD on Revelation we can
begin to look at chapter eight where we will see that the last seal will be
opened and that will bring on a whole new set of judgments called the “Trumpet
Judgments.”
As we look at these two verses we can determine what
exactly these believers went through when they were on planet earth for it
speaks of being hungry, and also being thirsty, and being burned by the heat of
the sun. This was all a part of the
judgments from what we looked at in the sixth chapter of Revelation and they
were severe judgments, but now they are in heaven where they will not have any
of these things happening to them anymore.
Let us look at a similar passage from the OT “"They
will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs
of water (Isaiah 49:10).”
Why is is that they will not have to go through any of these
things anymore? “for the Lamb in the
center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of
the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."” We again see the shepherd picture in this
verse and we have seen it before and it reminds us of Psalm 23 and also John
chapter ten, but now I want to look at another passage that too has this concept
in it. “1 Therefore, I exhort the elders
among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a
partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you,
exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the
will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to
your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief
Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:1-4).” Now where do you suppose that Peter got this
idea from? “15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said
to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?"
He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him,
"Tend My lambs." 16 He said to
him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said
to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him,
"Shepherd My sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon,
son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the
third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You
know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend
My sheep (John 21:15-17).” I realize
that this is a little off the track from the verses we are looking at in our
study today, but the shepherd concept is used throughout the entire Bible at
different places and one of them describes not only the Lord being a Shepherd,
but also a Pastor being one and Peter was not only an Apostle but also a Pastor
and this portion from John shows us that the Lord went after Peter to reassure
him that he had been forgiven for denying Him and thus the Lord wanted him to
continue in the ministry that He had given to him. Being a shepherd comes with a lot of
responsibility and being a Pastor comes with responsibility too and not all
pastors fulfill their obligations but Christ will always fulfill His as seen in
this section of Scripture.
One more thing we need to look at and that is tears for
we see here and is that “God will wipe every tear from their eyes,” so we have
to ask the question how much crying will there be in heaven. There is one more reference to tears in the
book of Revelation: “Re 21:4 and 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; the first things have passed away."” Perhaps the tears that were shed in chapter
seven are a little different than the ones referenced in chapter twenty-one,
let me explain. Perhaps the tears shed
in chapter seven have to do with the pain that these people went through and
the tears spoken about in chapter 21 speak of missed opportunities and guilt that
people were going through. Perhaps there
will be tears shed in heaven until we come to chapter twenty-one as one pastor
said when he spoke in this issue. To be
honest I am not sure of the answer to this question will there me much crying
in heaven. All I know that if there is
it will end and there then will be no more tears shed in heaven. When Jesus was on earth we saw him cry
several times, once at the death of Lazarus, and another He cried over
Jerusalem knowing what would soon happen to it.
Both times had to do with sinful man which caused death and also
war.
We now leave the interlude between the first two sets of
judgments and we go back into more of God’s judgments that will surely happen
someday soon on planet earth, but the question arises are you going to go
through these terrible judgments or do you have a ticket out of here before
these judgments begin? While in the
third chapter of Revelation and the tenth verse we read “’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.” Explaining this verse
John MacArthur said in his sermon on this section that when he was in seminar
that after taking a course and doing so well on it that he did not have to take
the final examine for his teacher said that since he knew the material there
was no need in taking the final examine.
That is similar with believers in the church age as all true believers
will miss the final examine of what we are studying in these later chapters of
Revelation, and in order to miss that examine one must admit that they are a
sinner, and confess that to the Lord, and then one must realize that Christ
made a great exchange for you by dying on the cross for you and then you will
receive the great exchange which is spoken of in 2 Cor. 5:21 “He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.” Christ takes our sin and
gives us His righteousness.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Seeing what I have seen that will happen to these
believers from the Tribulation period causes me to look forward to the Rapture
and being with my Lord in heaven where I will not have a sin problem and where
I will be completely righteous and thus be able to serve Him day and night.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
To love the Lord with all of my heart,
and with all of my soul, and with all of my mind, and with all of my strength,
and to better serve the Lord as I live in the love He has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Solomon” (1 Kings 9:26).
Today’s Bible question: “Paul’s preaching had great success in
Thessalonica among the Greeks; however, because the Jews were envious, Paul
compelled to do what?” I think that
there are two things that he did and either one will be accepted as the correct
answer.
Answer in our next SD.
4/15/2015 10:28 AM
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