SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2015
12:00 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Death of the Witnesses
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
11:7-10
Message
of the verses: “7 When they have finished their
testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with
them, and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the
street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also
their Lord was crucified. 9 Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and
nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not
permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them
and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two
prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.”
Perhaps we could call this a “Satanic
Christmas” from what we read in verse ten since gift exchanges will be going on
all around the world because of the death of these two witnesses. Another thing it see is that they were killed
“when they have finished their testimony.”
While these two witnesses were doing
their preaching and teaching they were protected as we have seen already, and
one can believe that there have been many attempts at trying to kill them, but
none of them was successful until their work was done. Finally it is the “beast that comes up out of
the abyss will make war with them” that finally has success in killing these
two witnesses. John MacArthur writes “This
is the first of thirty-six references in Revelation to the ‘beast’ and
anticipates the more detailed information about him to come in chapters 13 and
17. He is introduced here with emphasis
on his origin. He is said to come ‘up
out of the abyss,’ indicating that he is empowered by Satan. Since Stan is depicted as a dragon (12:3, 9),
this figure is not Satan. The revelation
about him in chapter 13 indicates that the ‘beast’ is a world ruler (often
called Antichrist) who imitates the true Christ, rules over the people of the
world, and demands their worship (13:1-8).
The ‘abyss’ is the prison for certain demons, (something we have already
studied in chapter nine). Though he is a
man, the ‘beast’ is energized by the demonic presence and power coming from the
abyss. To the great joy and relief of
the sinful world, the beast (Antichrist) will finally overcome the two
witnesses and kill them.”
The city described here is
Jerusalem, but John does not call it by its name as he spiritually calls it “Sodom
and Egypt.” This is due to the
wickedness that went on there, and it is tragic because once Jerusalem was a
godly city. When we see the other
description found here “where also their Lord was crucified,” we know for sure
that John speaks of Jerusalem. We see
that these two witnesses will die the same way that the Lord died which puts
more shame on the city of Jerusalem.
I have mentioned that when we look
at this passage we see that the “peoples and tribes and tongues and nations”
will see what happened and so we can figure that cable or satellite TV will be
working so that all can view this tragic event.
As mentioned this could be called a
Satanic Christmas for what we see in verse ten.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: When God
is done with a person’s life it is time to go and be with Him. My prayer is that I will be doing what the
Lord has for me to do, that I will be doing what Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the
Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to fear the Lord and
live in His love.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Passover”
(Acts 12:4 NASB).
Today’s
Bible question: “What did the power of
the Lord enable Jesus to do for the Pharisees and teachers of the Law?”
Answer
in our next SD.
5/20/2015
12:29 PM
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