SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/30/2015
7:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Introduction to the Second Woe
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
9:13-21
Message of the
verses: “13 Then the sixth angel
sounded, and I heard a
voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14
one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four
angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15 And the four
angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were
released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the
armies of the horsemen was two
hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And this is how I saw in
the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates
the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses
are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and
brimstone. 18 A third of
mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and
the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the
horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents
and have heads, and with them they do harm. 20 The rest of mankind, who were
not killed by these plagues, did
not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the
idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can
neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor
of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”
As we get ready to end our vacation and drive the 1400
plus miles home I do not have as much time to spend on these Spiritual Diaries
as I have had or probably will have when we get home. With that said and also because of what I
read in John MacArthur’s commentary as he begins the 21st chapter in
his commentary on the book of Revelation I wanted to share what he wrote as to
me when I read it I saw what is happening to our country in a nutshell. As the Supreme Court takes up the case on “Gay
Marriage” I can’t help but think of how devastating the effect will have on our
country if they chose to uphold something that the majority of people in this
country do not want. I believe with all
of my heart that the judges who voted in 1973 to allow unlimited abortions in
our country, if they had the chance to reconsider it now, as they are all dead,
that they would change their vote. Our
country has changed for the worse because of that vote as over 50 million
babies have been killed in the wombs of women and also because death is no view
as cheap since that decision. As I read
John MacArthur’s comments that he wrote in the early 1990’s I can’t help but
think of what they mean in our country today some 20 plus years later.
Now before I quote from his commentary I want also to
quote from Ezekiel 9:4 as this passage to me also has a lot to do with what is
going on in our country, especially in the church. “4 The
LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even through the
midst of Jerusalem, and
put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the
abominations which are being committed in its midst."” We have looked at this verse in both the
Spiritual Diaries in Ezekiel and also in Revelation as it related to the mark
that was given to these people. I wonder
how many people in our country sigh and groan over all the abominations which
are being committed today in our country.
“Mankind lies between two powerful opposing spiritual
spheres, each seeking to conform people to itself. No one is neutral in the cosmic battle;
everyone is either part of the ‘domain of darkness’ or the ‘kingdom of [God’s]
beloved Son’ (Col. 1:13). As they yield
to one sphere or the other, people become the companions of God, or the companions
of Satan; the companions of holy angels, or the companions of demons, the
companions of saints, or the companions of sinners.
“To doubt the reality is the gravest mistake any person
can make because making the wrong choice results in eternal disaster. God offers people the life-giving gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ; Satan and the forces of hell lure people to their
destruction by dangling before them the ‘passing pleasures of sin’ (Heb.
11:25). The loud voices of hell have
always tried to drown out the preaching of the gospel.
“There is coming a day when the siren call of hell will
be so loud as to be all but irresistible.
The people of that time will ignore the repeated, powerful preaching of
the gospel and the warning conveyed by terrifying, devastating judgments from
God. Having rejected all offers of grace
and mercy, they will see death come upon mankind through the trumpet and bowl
judgments, which will deliver death on a scale unprecedented in human
history. Yet even then they will not
repent; in fact, they will curse God (cf. 9:20-21; 16:9, 11). People at that time will have made the
irrevocable choice to side with the forces of hell.
While there will be divine judgments throughout the
seven-year Tribulation, they will escalate during the last three and one-half
years—the time Jesus called ‘the great tribulation’ (Matt. 24:21; cf. Rev.
7:14). As has been discussed in previous
chapters, those judgments will unfold sequentially in three telescoping
series: the seals, the trumpets, and the
bowls. Out of the seventh trumpet comes
the seven bowl judgments.
“Like the fifth trumpet (9:1-12), the sounding of the
sixth trumpet heralds another, more severe demonic attack on sinful
mankind. The attack, unlike the previous
one, brings death. It unfolds in three
stages: the release of demons, the return of death, and the reaction of
defiance.”
The first two paragraphs of this quote are the ones that
are the most important ones as far as what is happening to our country. My prayer for our country is that the Holy
Spirit will send a revival, and that God will extend His great mercy on our
nation. To give us what we deserve at
this time would not be good at all.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “To the church in Antioch in
Syria.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Behold, I see the
heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God’?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/30/2015 8:26 AM
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