SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/28/2015
8:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Appearance Unveiled
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 9:7-10
Message of the
verses: “7 The appearance of the
locusts was like horses
prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of
men. 8 They had hair like
the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9 They had
breastplates like
breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots,
of many horses rushing to battle. 10 They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their
tails is their power to hurt men for five months.”
When we began our study of Revelation I mentioned that
the words “like” and “as” were used by John many times and in verses seven
through ten we see “like” We see the
word “like” used eight times in this passage and the word “appearance” and “appeared”
two more times. John first described
these demons as locusts because of all of the destruction that they will
rapidly inflict on their prey. Now as
John describes them in more detail in these verses we see that they were not
like the appearance of a locust at all and so he goes on to give us his description
of them in greater detail.
John gives a general “appearance of the locusts was like
horses prepared for battle.” The use of
horses for battle was familiar with John and he probably could see the horses
straining at the bit ready to go into the battle to inflict the pain that they
had with them. Next we see that on their
heads there appeared to be crowns like gold.
John MacArthur writes “The crowns they wore are called stephanoi, the victors’ crowns,
indicating that the demon host will be invincible, unstoppable, and
all-conquering. Men will have no weapon
that can harm them and no cure for the terrible torment they inflict.” Next we see that they had the faces of men
and this can show us that they were intelligent and rational beings, something
that is unlike an insect. Their hair
which is like a woman could speak of the seductiveness that they have. MacArthur writes “The glory of beauty of a
woman is her hair, which she may decorate to become more alluring. Like the Sirens of Greek mythology, these
locustlike demons will lure people to their doom.” Next we see their fearsome teeth like a lion
showing their powerfulness as lions rip and tear at their victims. Next is the breastplates of iron which show
that they are protected from their enemies.
Paul describes the use of breastplates as a part of the believers armor
and calls it the “breastplate of righteousness,” indicating that protection
believers have as being declared righteous because of the blood of Christ who
protects believers. Now I mentioned the
sound of their wings in our last SD and I actually wrote about it in my earlier
SD dated June 27, 2005 “As I have studied these verses before I have seen a
number of ideas as to what these verses were trying to describe, and one of
them was helicopters that would have some kind of gas in them to inflict the
pain that is spoken about in this section.
Others have described them as some kind of creature that was very small
like a locust that came and stung its victim.”
What we have here as far as the sound is the noise of a moving army
coming to attack its victims. Now in
verse ten we see the word “scorpions” and then it tells us that their desire
was to “hurt men.” As we read through
the Bible we see that demons torture men, and these demons have the ability to
torture men for five months. I have been
reading a book written by a lady who had a disabling mental disorder and near
the end of the book she describes a situation that as far as I am concerned was
a demon bothering her to great degree, so much so that she mentioned that just
like the pigs that are described in the gospel of both Matthew and Mark ran
down the hill and drowned themselves, this is what she wanted to do. She does state that she did cry out to Jesus
and eventually this all went away. The
point is that demons desire to hurt and harm people as we see in the New
Testament as Jesus healed and cast out the demons that were hurting people He
dealt with.
I believe that I did mention that the life of a locust is
five months the exact length that these demons caused pain on their
victims. MacArthur writes “The
reiteration that the demons will be permitted to torment people for a limited
time stresses God’s sovereign power over the duration of their assault. Eventually, He will return them to the abyss
with their evil master (20:1-3) and then send them to the lake of fire (20:10).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: One may wonder
why God allows people to go through such torture as seen in the verses we have
been studying. Jesus Christ went through
the greatest torture of any man ever born during the six hours of darkness
while He hung on the cross and He did it for me and for every person who had
accepted Him as Savior and Lord. No
other man has or will ever go through the torture and pain that He went through
and it was all done in order to save people from their sins.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength and to better understand and live in the love that Christ
has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Canaan” (Numbers 13:17).”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who was Peter’s brother?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/28/2015 9:40 AM
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