SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/6/2015
10:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
of the Introduction to Rev. 7
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
7:1-8
Message of the
verses: “1 After this I saw four
angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds
of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any
tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having
the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four
angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do
not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their
foreheads." 4 And I heard
the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed
from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5
From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of
Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from
the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve
thousand, 7 from the tribe of Simeon
twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of
Issachar twelve thousand, 8 from the
tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.”
Revelation chapter seven is a turning point in the book
of Revelation in that it begins a time of rest between the first set of
judgments called the seal judgments and the second set of judgments that the
seventh seal judgment will bring about which are called the trumpet judgments. In this seventh chapter and verses one through
eight we will see two groups of people and to better understand this I wish to
make a rather long quote from John MacArthur’s commentary which begins his
commentary on the first eight verses of chapter seven. He entitles this chapter in his commentary “Survivors
of the Wrath of God.”
“The previous chapter of Revelation (6) looked at a time
of unprecedented disaster, unrelieved terror, and unimaginable slaughter that
lies ahead for the world. Commonly known
as the Tribulation, it will be the time when Jesus Christ takes back the earth
from the usurper Satan. That action is symbolized
in the book of Revelation by His unrolling of a seven-sealed scroll. As He breaks each seal, a new divine judgment
is poured out on the earth. The
judgments of the first five seals were severe.
But the disasters associated with the sixth seal (the beginning of the
Day of the Lord) will far surpass those of the first five seals. And the judgments of the seventh seal, which
contains the even more intense trumpet and bowl judgments, will be the worst of
all.
“The world will refuse to acknowledge that the disasters
of the first five seals are God’s judgment—despite the warnings from believers
that they are. But the events of the
sixth seal will be so horrific that all will be forced to acknowledge them as
the judgment of God. In their terror,
amid their futile attempts to hid from the terrible presence of God the Father and
the Lamb, people will cry out, ‘The great day of their wrath has come and who
is able to stand.
“Chapter 7 forms a parenthetical section between the sixth
(6:12-17) and seventh (8:1) seals to answer that question, introducing two
groups who will survive the fury of divine judgment. The first, those described in verses 1-8, are
the Jewish evangelists who will be preserved on earth. They will survive the holocaust of divine
wrath unleashed by the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. God will also protect them from the murderous
efforts of Antichrist and his henchmen to wipe out believers in the true God. Having survived the wars, famine,
unprecedented natural disasters, disease, rampant, unchecked sinfulness, and
savage persecution, of the Tribulation, the will enter the millennial kingdom
alive. The second group to escape divine
fury (vv. 9-17) are those who will be martyred and thereby ushered into the
blissful rest of heaven, where they will be preserved. After the horrific events of the sixth seal,
and before the opening of the seventh seal in chapter 8, the Holy Spirit
provided this chapter as an interlude for the reader to catch his breath. It is also a reminder that in the midst of
His wrath, God will remember mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2).
“The pair of visions contrasts the preparedness of
believers, who will be delivered from wrath, with the panic and devastation of
unbelievers, who will not survive that wrath.
First Thessalonians 5:3 declares that ‘destruction will come upon them
suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.’ In his second letter to the Thessalonians
Paul adds, ‘7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well
when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in
flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the
penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the
glory of His power.’”
The point being made here is that God is perfectly able
to care for His own and there are pictures of this in the Old Testament of God
caring for His own. I first think,
although this is out of order, of David as he was being chased by Saul for
somewhere around ten years and how God protected David from certain death. It was during this time that David wrote so
many of the Psalms that he wrote, Psalms that can bring comfort to those who
are going through troubles of their own, and also he wrote Psalms that spoke of
the certain wrath of God that would come on those who will not believe the
truth of the Gospel. God saved Noah and
his family from His wrath when He brought a flood that covered the entire earth. God saved the children of Israel from the
wrath that He brought upon the nation of Egypt.
And God saved Lot from the destruction of Sodom where He saved both Lot
and his two daughters. God also save
Rahab from the destruction of Jericho when He caused the walls to fall down and
then the Israelis troops destroyed all the people in Jericho with the exception
of Rahab and her family.
During this most destructive time that will ever come
upon the earth which is the wrath of God, God will save those who are His own
both Jews and Gentiles and those who are saved in their physical beings will be
the ones who go into the Millennial Kingdom to repopulate the earth.
More Pictures from the OT: Psalm 91:3-10 “3 For it is He who delivers
you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will
cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His
faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. 5 You will not be afraid of the terror by
night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; 6 Of the pestilence that stalks in
darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall
at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach
you. 8 You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the
wicked. 9 For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your
dwelling place. 10 No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your
tent.”
“Malachi describes God’s comforting of those who feared
being swept away by the judgments of the Day of the Lord”: “16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to
one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem
His name. 17 “They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day
that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own
son who serves him." 18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous
and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. 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." 2 "But for
you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its
wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall… 5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6 “He
will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the
children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a
curse."” (Mal. 3:16-4:2, 5-6).
There will be both Jews and Gentiles who enter the Millennial
Kingdom and Zechariah prophecies of the children of Israel who will enter into
the Kingdom in Zechariah 12:10-13:1, 8-9).
“10 "I will pour out on the
house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of
supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they
will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly
over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11 "In that day there will be great
mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of
Megiddo. 12 "The land will mourn,
every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their
wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their
wives by themselves; 13 the family of
the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the
Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by
itself and their wives by themselves. 1 "In that day a fountain will be
opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and
for impurity.
“8 “It will come about in all the land," Declares
the LORD, "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third
will be left in it. 9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine
them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on
My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ’They are My people,’ And they
will say, ’The LORD is my God.’"”
John MacArthur finishes his introductory commentary with
the following statement: “John’s vision
of this special group of people contains three features: wrath restrained, saints sealed, and
Israelites identified.” God willing we
will look at the first one in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is amazing to
me how the Lord protects me from harmful things that He does not want me to go
through, things that are both physical and also spiritual. I can remember when I first because a
believer and could have gotten caught up in things that I know would have been
very harmful to me, but by God’s grace He supernaturally protected me from
these harmful things and for that I am ever thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to love the Lord with all of my
heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord as I
continue to better understand it and grow in it.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Peter” (Acts 5:3).
Today’s Bible question: “To what country did Abraham’s servant go to
find a wife for Isaac?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/6/2015 11:41 AM
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