SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/14/2015
10:52 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Satan’s
First Attack
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
12:13-14
Message
of the verses: “13 And when the
dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who
gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were
given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place,
where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence
of the serpent.”
I think that this chapter in the
book of Revelation is probably the most difficult to understand thus far in our
study of this book. When we left out
last SD we mentioned that Satan was about to make three attacks on the people
of Israel and in our study today we will begin to look at the first
attack. I have also mentioned that the
timing of this chapter as far as when the war in heaven went on in relations to
the Tribulation is kind of up in the air.
John MacArthur states in his sermon that he thinks that there is a
possibility of that heavenly battle when Satan and his angels are thrown out of
heaven could happen at the beginning of the Tribulation period so that Satan
will then begin to bring about the career of Antichrist as he would then have
three and a half years to accomplish this feat.
It is also possible that this heavenly battle happens in the middle of
the Tribulation period which gives Satan only three and a half years before the
return of Christ ending the Tribulation period.
There is no way to know when this will happen as far as I understand.
In Revelation 12:6 we read “Then the
woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that
there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” We see the reason as to why Israel (the
woman) has to go into hiding in the wilderness from verses 13-14, which are our
verses for today. We have mentioned that
once Satan is thrown out of heaven that he will be very angry and will begin to
persecute Israel. John MacArthur writes “The
Greek verb translated ‘persecuted’ (dioko)
means ‘to pursue,’ ‘to chase,’ or ‘to hunt.’
It is used in the New Testament of pursuit with hostile intent (cf.
Matt. 23:34; Acts 26:11) and thus, by implication, can mean ‘to persecute.’ Here it describes Satan’s hostile pursuit and
persecution of the Jews as they flee into the wilderness (12:6; cf. 12:4-7).”
Jesus warned the nation of Israel to
expect this when he was speaking on the Mount of Olives to His disciples in
what is commonly called “The Olivet Discourse.”
He says the following in Matthew 24:15-22 “15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF
DESOLATION which was spoken
of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the
reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17
“Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in
his house. 18 “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19
“But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those
days! 20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.
21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since
the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 “Unless those days had
been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut
short.”
Jesus is saying to the Jews to get
out of Jerusalem when they see the Abomination of Desolation, which is when the
antichrist goes into the temple and does something to cause desolation there,
perhaps it could be sacrificing a pig on the altar that is found in the temple.
When we read the highlighted words
from Matthew 24:22 we see the word “elect” and this speaks of both the saved
Gentiles and Jews, for we know that the nation of Israel was an elect nation
that God chose and that all believers are His elect.
The
Jews will be in a desperate situation at this point of the Tribulation because
of this attack from Satan, but Jesus goes on in Matthew 25:31 to describe some
help that will come their way. “31 "But
when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He
will sit on His glorious throne. 32
"All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate
them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
33 and He will put the sheep on His
right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His
right, ’Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ’For I was hungry, and you gave Me
something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a
stranger, and you invited Me in; 36
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in
prison, and you came to Me.’ 37
"Then the righteous will answer Him, ’Lord, when did we see You
hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ’And when
did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39
’When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will
answer and say to them, ’Truly
I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,
even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Jesus is speaking of Gentile
believers who will help the Jews as they are and have been persecuted by the
Antichrist and his regime. It seems to
me that when Jesus judges the nations and He speaks to what He calls the “sheep”
those who are saved coming out of the Tribulation period, that they will not
know how helpful they have been to the Jews, but Jesus will reward them for
their kindness to the children of Israel.
We will continue looking at this first attack on the Jews by Satan in
our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I heard
a wonderful sermon on mercy at our church service this morning and when we look
at what Jesus tells what those Gentile believers did for the Jews in the
Tribulation period we see a good definition of what Biblical mercy is all
about.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the
Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and as I live in the love
of Christ I desire to be more merciful to others.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Joash”
(2 Kings 11:1-3).
Today’s
Bible question: “How many of Paul’s
epistles were written to individuals?”
Answer
in our next SD.
6/14/2015
11:27 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment