SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2015
9:14 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Range of
Fear
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 6:15a
Message of the
verses: “Then the kings of the earth
and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every
slave and free man”
Today we celebrate the death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
something that we a believers are thankful for each and every day because
without His death on the cross there would be no possible way for anyone to
have salvation, but that was not the end of the story, for three days later He
was resurrected from the grave because God was completely satisfied with His
sacrifice that He made for all who would come to Him in repentance and be
saved.
In today’s SD we will only look at this partial verse
from chapter six and then, God willing, we will finish up chapter six tomorrow
morning as the major part of this last part of chapter six has already been
looked at. We have been speaking about
fear, real fear so terrible that people will actually die from this type of
fear which is what this sixth seal has brought upon many people who will be on
the earth during this time of the Tribulation period. “25
"There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth
dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,
26 men fainting from fear and the
expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of
the heavens will be shaken.” These are
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ from the gospel of Luke chapter twenty-one
and notice that He speaks of great fear and also that there will be “perplexity
at the roaring of the sea and the waves.”
Now as I was listening to John MacArthur’s message on this section of
Revelation chapter six he was reading from an article from a news magazine dated
November 23, 1992 which was speaking of the possibility of what some scientists
were speculating how the earth would end.
Their view was that meteorites could fall upon the earth or on the sea
and cause so much damage that it could end life on this planet. They wrote about how one large meteorite
missed the earth by a mere 70,000 miles which could have destroyed the
earth. They also reported that if one
large meteorite fell in the sea that waves could be so very high that if it
fell in the Gulf of Mexico the waters would go to Kansas City. Jesus speaks of high waves in the verse from
Luke 21. The one thing that these scientists
missed talking about was that God is completely in control of what will hit the
earth and when it will hit the earth. We
have looked at some of these judgments from God and as we earlier noted God could
use meteorites as a part of these judgments.
I did find it interesting to see that these men were thinking about the
end of the world, but disappointed that they did not take the time to look at
the book of Revelation to see exactly how the world will end. Not only is it found in Revelation but also
in 2 Peter where he writes “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in
which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed
with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up (2 Peter
3:10).” Peter mentions the Day of the
Lord in this passage stating it will come like a thief. We have written about the Day of the Lord
from what we have seen in Revelation and also when we were studying 2
Thessalonians, but just a minute to review and to also write something that I
found very interesting while listening to John MacArthur yesterday. We have stated that the Day of the Lord will
come in two different time periods, the first one is during the end of the
Tribulation Period while the second one will be at the end of the Millennial
Kingdom when what Peter writes will come true, however the interesting point
that I picked up yesterday is also from Peter’s writing where he writes “But do
not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day
is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (2 Peter 3:8).” The point I found interesting is that Peter
writes about a thousand years being as a day to the Lord and MacArthur was
saying that he sees that there is a thousand years between the first part of
the Day of the Lord and the second part.
I have read and heard people taking verse eight out of context many
times, but this makes sense to me.
The Range of Fear is what we are looking at this morning
and so we will start on this very short section now. John is saying that this debilitating fear
will be associated with all the unbelievers that are on planet earth during
this time period. The “kings of the
earth” represent those who are heads of state throughout the world, and then he
speaks of “The great men.” MacArthur
sites that this phrase is “(megistanes)”
which are “the high-ranking officials in government.” Next we see “the commanders” and they are the
military leaders around the world. Next
John speaks of “the rich” and these are the ones, who control the commerce and
businesses around the world, and finally in this section we see “the strong”
and they speak of those who are influential.
So in this section we see all of what we could say are the influential people
of the world, and we can note that they all are tormented by great fear. Their money, position, influence or any other
thing will keep them from this fear.
Lastly John speaks of “every slave and free man” which speaks of the
common people who make up most of the world’s population and they are also in
great fear over what has happened from this sixth seal judgment.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Speaking of the
differences that we have just looked at I have a favorite verse from the book
of Proverbs that sums up my feelings on this subject for myself and it says “8
Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed
me with the food that is my portion, 9 That I not be full and deny You and say,
"Who is the LORD?" Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane
the name of my God (Proverbs 30:8-9).”
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 that Christ has for
me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “A bean or grain.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Into what kind of bottles is
new wine put?” I think this should read “skins”
instead of bottles.
Answer in our next SD.
4/3/2015 10:01 AM
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