SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/11/2015
8:13 AM
My Worship Time
Focus:
Description
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 7:9a, c
Message of the
verses: “After these things I
looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every
nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues…clothed in white robes, and palm
branches were in their hands;”
Before we begin to look at this verse I want to provide a
website for more information about what I was talking about in our last SD
about where different people groups came from.
This video from Youtube is by Ken Ham and I found it very interesting
and as you can see from the verse we are looking at John mentions different “tribes,
nations, and peoples, and tongues.”
Where did all of this begin? Ken
Ham gives a great answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyrAD-dKvVs Now back to Revelation.
We have written about the phrase “After these things” in
the past and just a reminder that this phrase means that John is seeing another
vision. He moves from seeing the vision
of the 144,000 Jewish Evangelists to seeing a scene in heaven that has an
untold number of souls in it. This must
be a very large number of people he sees.
Another thing he adds is the word “behold” and this reveals this vision
to be shocking and even startling to John.
John was very old when he wrote this book and had seen many things, for
he had walked with Jesus, had seen many miracles performed by Jesus, saw Him
die and buried, and then he saw the resurrected and glorified Christ, and now
he is seeing many visions to be able to write this wonderful book and this
vision seems to be something that he is a bit shocked over. John was an Apostle, the last living one, and
John was also a preacher of the Gospel and perhaps one of the reasons he was
shocked was because of the sheer number of people he sees that he realizes are
believers that came out of the Tribulation Period. I believe that one of the most exciting
things that a person can do in this life other than themselves becoming a
believer in Jesus Christ is to lead someone else to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ, and then the next thing would be to find out about others who have
become believers and this is what John was seeing in a huge number.
Now we can be sure that this group is different than that
of the 144,000 that were listed at the beginning of this chapter for they were
all Jews and this is even a larger number and they are from different tribes, nations,
tongues, and peoples as verse nine says.
When we looked at the 144,000 Jews we mentioned that these who were
sealed by God would all come out of the Tribulation Period alive, while this
group is a part of those believers who had died for the cause of Christ and for
His Word. I am not sure but perhaps John
is seeing all the people who would die for the cause of Christ in the entire
Tribulation Period, perhaps a look ahead.
We see that these redeemed were clothed in white
robes. John MacArthur writes “Leukos (white) describes a dazzling,
brilliant, shining white. In ancient
times, such clothing was worn for festivals and celebrations. ‘Robes’ is from stole, which depicts a long, full-length robe. These long, radiant white robes are the same
ones worn by the martyrs in 6:9-11. That
fact suggests that the group in view in this passage is part of that earlier
group of martyred beliers. As the
Tribulation wears on, the number of martyrs will increase, as will the number
of believers who die naturally or violently, eventually accumulating into the
vast, uncountable multitude depicted in heaven in this passage.” I guess I got my answer to the question I
raised earlier.
Lastly we will look at the Palm branches they were
holding. Palm branches are mentioned
three times in the Bible from the NASB.
I am not saying that they are only spoken of these three times but when
I put that exact phrase “palm branches” in a search the following verses came
up, and these tell us a lot of what they were used for: “Le 23:40 ’Now on the first day you shall
take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of
leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD
your God for seven days. Ne 8:15 So they proclaimed and circulated a
proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the
hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm
branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is
written." Re 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a
great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and
peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in
white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;” They were used for joyous occasions and one
of them was they were used in the feasts of booths. This feast remembered how the children of
Israel had to live in the wilderness and so later on after going into the land
and in the case of Nehemiah after returning to the land they all made these
little booths to live in and praise the Lord for His deliverance from the times
when they lived in the wilderness. When
Jesus came into Jerusalem in what we call “Palm Sunday” the people put these
palm branches onto where He was riding into the city which is another use of
them. The people at that time were also
waving them and this too was a joyous occasion although it certainly turned
into a mob scene a few days later. John
MacArthur concludes by writing “The palm branches in the hands of these
redeemed saints are a fitting celebrative symbol of the unequaled provision of
salvation from the word, Satan, Antichrist sin, death, and hell provided for
them by the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is hard to imagine
the joy that these saints had as they waved these palm branches celebrating
their complete salvation in heaven after going through the horrific situation on
earth as they died for the cause of Christ.
The Bible teaches that they will receive a martyrs crown and I have
always been impressed to learn that those who have overcome temptations will
receive the same crown.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to learn more of living in the love that Christ has for
me each day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “None” (Acts 28:21).
Today’s Bible
question: “John 1:14 states that the
Word was made what and dwelt among us?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/11/2015 8:57 AM
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