SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/3/2015
9:56 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Release of Demons PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelations
9:14
Message of the
verses: “14 one saying to the sixth
angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the
great river Euphrates."
This should be the last SD on this section as we want to
look at a bit of history of the Euphrates River as it goes all the way back to
when God created the earth and was one of the rivers that flowed through the
Garden of Eden. Now I must say that even
though that was the name of one of the rivers it surely was not the same one
that is in the Middle East today, but the name is the same.
Let us look at two verses, one from Deuteronomy 1:7 and
then Joshua 1:4: “7 ’Turn and set your
journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors
in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by
the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river,
the river Euphrates.” “4 "From the
wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river
Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the
setting of the sun will be your territory.” John MacArthur writes the following
on the Euphrates “Rising from sources near Mount Ararat in Turkey, the
Euphrates flows more than seventeen-hundred miles before emptying into the
Persian Gulf. It is the longest and most
important river in the Middle East, and figures prominently in the Old Testament.” We mentioned that it was in the Garden of
Eden “The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the
fourth river is the Euphrates (Gen. 2:14).”
The first sin was committed near that river and the first murder was
committed near that river and then the first grave was made near that river, so
it does have a great history as we read the OT.
We can look at Genesis 15:18 and see that the Euphrates
River is the Eastern boundary of the Promised land “On that day the LORD made a
covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” The promise is in other books of the OT as
well. Now as far as I know the entire
land that was promised to Abraham has never been a part of the land that Israel
controlled, although when David reigned as king they had influence near that
river as seen in 1 Chronicles 18:3 “David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah
as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his rule to the Euphrates River.”
Now the three lands that oppressed Israel the most were
near the Euphrates River, Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia. Today there are also nations near this river
that want to destroy Israel too, so not much has changed.
John MacArthur writes “The use of the definite article
suggests that these four angels form a specific group. Their precise identity is not revealed, but
they may be the demons that controlled the four major world empires of Babylon,
Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Daniel 10
provides insight into the warfare between holy angels and the demons that
influence individual nations. As far as
my Spiritual Dairy on Daniel 10:10-21 it can be viewed on this blogsight by
looking at December 18, 2013. As
MacArthur writes it is not sure if these angels are the ones that are seen in
this section of Revelation, but it is a very interesting portion of Scripture
in the tenth chapter of Daniel to read up on.
MacArthur finishes his writing on this section by writing
“Whoever they are, these four powerful fallen angels control a huge demonic
army set to wage war against fallen mankind when God releases them to do so. Satanic forces, imagining they are doing the
work of their leader the devil and aggressively thwarting the purposes of God,
are actually God’s servants doing exactly what He wants done.” I realize that this statement is very
difficult to accept and to understand, but as far as I am concerned it is true.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The sovereignty
of God is difficult for us to understand, but like other things that are
difficult to understand in the Scriptures we must take it by faith. When things like this come into my mind,
things from the Word of God that I find hard to understand I go to a verse in
the book of Deuteronomy and read it: “"The
secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us
and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law (Deu.
29:29).” GOD, our God, will take care of
the hidden things but the
revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to
attend to all the terms in this Revelation (Deuteronomy 29:29 The Message).”
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 of Christ.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Naboth’s” (1 Kings 21:1-2).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which book records the
exploits of the judges in Israel after the death of Joshua?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/3/2015 10:33 PM
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