SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2015
8:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Sounding
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 8:2
Message of the
verses: “2 And I saw the seven
angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”
The half-hour of silence is not over in heaven and so
John writes what he saw in verse two and what he saw was “the” seven angels,
the ones who stand before God, and given to each of them was a trumpet. Why do I make such a big deal about the word “the”? It is a definite article so it is speculated
that these are what some call “presence angels,” as they are always standing in
the presence of God. John MacArthur
writes “The verb translated stand is in the perfect tense, which indicates that
they were in the presence of God and had been there for a time. Scripture describes various ranks and orders
of angels, such as cherubim (Gen. 3:24) seraphim (Isa. 6:2), archangels (1
Thes. 4:16; Jude 9), thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities (Col. 1:16), and
powers (Eph. 6:12). These seven appear
to be one such order of high-ranking angels.
Gabriel, who appeared to Zacharias and Mary, may have been one of them,
since he identified himself to Zacharias as ‘Gabriel, who stands in the
presence of God’ (Luke 1:19).”
The angels were each give a trumpet in preparation for
the trumpet judgments that were about to come upon the earth. Remember when we were in the 7th
chapter of Revelation, right at the beginning we saw that there were four
angels who were stand at the four corners of the earth holding the wind
back? The reason they were doing that
was to have the things that we saw in Revelation seven taken care of and not
another set of judgments are about to come upon planet earth so I believe that
these angels will stop holding the wind so that these judgments can begin to
take place. Angels participated in the
seal judgments and they will in the trumpet judgments as well as the bowl
judgments. Jesus spoke of the angels
participating in the eschatological judgments that would take place in Matthew
13:39-41 “39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be
at the end of the age. 41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of
His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.” Look now at verses 49-50 “49 "”So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and
take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire;
in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Let us now look at chapter 16:27 “"For
the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and
WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.” Matthew 25:31 “"But when the Son of Man
comes in His glory, and all
the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” I want to include a verse here that Paul
wrote that helps me put into perspective what we will one day be “1Co 6:3 Do
you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?” Paul here was speaking of believer’s in
Corinth who were suing other believers and in this section Paul comes down hard
on them as he tells them not to do this and then tells them in the future you
will be ruling angels.
Trumpet is used 58 times in the NASB and trumpets is used
44 times in the NASB. Trumpets were used
in war times, and also in the feasts that the Jewish people celebrated as there
is a feast of trumpets. I once read a
book by a Jewish believer who wrote about how the order of the feasts in the
Old Testament showed that the rapture would come before the tribulation and it
was something that I have since read from other authors and the feast that they
spoke of for the rapture was the feasts of trumpets, and if memory serves me
correctly that feast comes after the feast of Pentecost, and that is when the
Church era began so it does make sense. But
trumpets were used in a verity of ways in the Bible and now they again will be
used to bring on judgment.
These trumpet judgments are even more severe than the
first set of judgments as we will see as we continue our journey through the
book of Revelation.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I go back to
the verse in 1 Corinthians it helps me to put things into perspective as I have
a glimpse of what will take place in the future and I am a bit in awe of it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to better understand and to live in the love that Christ
has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “He told Cornelius to stand up”
(Acts 10:25-26).
Today’s Bible
question: “What did Jesus speak to His
disciples in the 40 days after the resurrection? Look in Acts 1:3 for some help.
Answer in our next SD.
4/18/2015 9:31 AM
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