SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/29/2015
9:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Prince Unmasked
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
9:11-12
Message of the
verses: “11 They have as king over
them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek
he has the name Apollyon. 12 The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still
coming after these things.”
Just a little review as we begin this very short SD on
verses 11-12 or Revelation chapter nine.
We are studying the trumpet judgments which have followed the seal
judgments, and as we have learned the judgments continue in severity. What we are studying now is actually the
fifth trumpet judgment but because the last three trumpet judgments are so
harsh they were name “woe” judgments. In
our lesson today according to verse twelve we end our study on the first woe,
but behold there are two more coming.
It
has been my practice since I began this study of Revelation in January that I
read two chapters of Revelation each day, and in today’s reading I actually
listened to chapters 13-14 and as I was listening to these chapters I came to
realize that it is very difficult to actually show the time frame as to when
all of the things written will take place.
Now I have thought of this before, but today it seemed to make more
sense to me. For instance the thirteenth
chapter speaks of the Antichrist and the false prophet, but we know that
according to Daniel that the Tribulation begins with the Antichrist signing a
peace treaty with the nation of Israel to assure them of peace for seven
years. We also know that this person who
signs this peace treaty to begin the Tribulation Period will not show his true
self until the middle of the Tribulation Period when he will go into the
rebuilt temple and declare himself as God so what we have in this book of
Revelation is a lot of information about how things will happen during the
Tribulation Period in chapters 6-19 but I don’t believe that they are in chronological
order, but they surely will all happen.
As we go through our study I will do my best to share when all of these
things will happen, but may not be able to perfectly know when they happen.
Let us begin by looking at Proverbs 30:27 “The locusts
have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks.”
Unlike the bees who have a queen to rule over them the locusts do not
and yet as we read in verse eleven we see that these “locusts” have a king over
them and his name is given in verse eleven, actually in two different
languages. The title of this king is “the
angel of the abyss.” Now there is a bit
of controversy over who exactly this angel is as some believe that this king or
angel over the abyss is Satan. Now we
have determined that Satan was the one given the key to unlock the pit, but that
does not mean that he is the one who is the angel of the abyss. Ephesians 6:12 says “For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against
the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places.” Now we look at
Ephesians 2:2 “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is
now working in the sons of disobedience.”
John MacArthur believes that this “angel over the abyss” is not Satan
and sites these two verses in Ephesians to show that Satan’s realm is in the
air and not the abyss. I can honestly
say that I had not thought of it like this before, but it does make sense to me
now. MacArthur writes “The angel is
better viewed as a high-ranking demon in Satan’s hierarchy. John notes that his name in the Hebrew is
Abaddon, and in the Greek his has the name Apollyon.” Why do you suppose that John uses both
languages to show his name? MacArthur
writes “John uses both names to emphasize his impact on both ungodly Jews and
Gentiles.” In both languages the name
means destroyer and this is exactly what these demons who are called locusts do
as we have seen in our previous studies.
Let us look at a number of places in the OT where the
word Abaddon is used:
“Job 26:6 “Naked is Sheol before Him, And Abaddon has no covering.
Job 28:22 “Abaddon and Death say,
’With our ears we have heard a report of it.’
Job 31:12 “For it would be
fire that consumes to Abaddon,
And would uproot all my increase.
Ps 88:11 Will Your
lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Pr 15:11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before
the LORD, How much more the hearts of men!
Pr 27:20 Sheol and Abaddon are never
satisfied, Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.” Now we can see from these verses that this
word is associated with a place of eternal punishment and this further connects
this angel with the abyss and hell.
MacArthur writes “Apollyon comes from the Greek word apollumi, which means ‘I destroy.’ These terms identify this leader as the king
of the demonic death squal.”
As mentioned verse 12 shows us that there will be two
more woes directed on those “suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom.
1:18b).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Just as God has a
purpose and plan for earth and the people who live on it as far as these
endtimes we are looking at, He personally has a purpose and plan for my life
and I do not want sin to interfere with that plan He has for me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To continue to love the Lord, with all of my
heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the wonderful love that Christ
has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Andrew” (John 1:40).
Today’s Bible
question: “To whom was the book of Jude
written?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/29/2015 10:24 AM
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