SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2015
10:06 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: The Battle
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Rev. 12:7-8
Message of the
verses: “7 And there was war in
heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his
angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a
place found for them in heaven.”
Let’s begin with a few verses that show to us that there
has been war in heaven since the fall of Satan:
Isaiah 14:12-14 “12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the
morning, son of the dawn! You
have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But
you said in your heart, ’I
will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount
of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like
the Most High.’” “11 Again the word of
the LORD came to me saying, 12 "Son
of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ’Thus says
the Lord GOD, "You
had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of
God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the
diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise
and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you. On the
day that you were
created They were prepared. 14 “You were
the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst
of the stones of fire. 15 “You
were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the
abundance of your trade You
were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you
as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the
midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom
by reason of your splendor. I
cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you. 18 “By the multitude
of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned has consumed
you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you.
19 “All who know you
among the peoples Are appalled at you; You
have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."’"”
We looked yesterday at the fact that Satan still has
access to God in heaven, but his real domain is the earth and the air around
the earth. “in whose case the god of this world has
blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).” “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 (Eph. 2:2).” “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 (Eph. 6:12).”
Satan and his angels have tried to actively oppose the
holy angels along with the people of the earth.
There is a very interesting portion of Scripture in the book of Daniel
chapter 10:12-13 that speaks of how Satan’s angel’s opposed God’s holy
angels: “12 Then he said to me, "Do
not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on
understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were
heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13 "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was
withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me,
for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.” These two verses speak of a number of things
including the unseen battles that go on in the air above the earth, and it also
shows that there are demons who, spiritually speaking, are over different
countries of the world. We mentioned
that battles between holy and unholy angels earlier and sited Jude 1:9 “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending
with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him
a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” The following verses speak of what Satan is
doing in our present age: 1 Pet. 5:8;
Matt. 13:19, 37-39; Acts 13:10; Luke 13:10-16; Acts 10:38; Acts 5:1-11; 2 Cor.
2:11; Eph. 4:27; and James 4:7 which tells us to resist the devil and he will
flee.
The above paragraphs speak of what is and what has been
going on in battles around the earth and also in heaven, but there will come a
climax to these battles in the verses that we are looking at in today’s
SD. John MacArthur writes “The war
raging between supernatural beings in the heavenly sphere will reach its peak
during the Tribulation. The future
conflict will find ‘Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.’ The grammatical construction of that phrase
in the Greek text indicates that Satan (the dragon) will start this
battle. It could be translated ‘Michael
and his angels had to fight the dragon.’
The Bible does not reveal how angels fight, nor does our limited
knowledge of the heavenly realm permit us to speculate. Henry Morris wrote: ‘With what weapons and by what tactics this
heavenly warfare will be waged is beyond our understanding. Angels cannot be injured or slain with
earthly weapons, and such physical forces as we know about are not able to move
spiritual beings. But these beings do
operate in a physical universe, so there must exist powerful physic-spiritual
energies of which we yet can have only vague intimations, energies which can
propel angelic bodies at superlumianary velocities through space and which can
move mountains and change planetary orbits.
It is with such energies and powers that this heavenly battle will be
waged and the spectators in heaven (including John) will watch in awe. When Michael finally prevails, and Satan is
forced forever out of the heavens, a tremendous cry of thanksgiving will
resound through the heavens.’”
I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that I learned a theory
that John MacArthur has to show why this battle will be fought, and we will
look at that in our next SD as we continue to look at the battle which is
described in Revelation 12:7-8.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Knowing more
about the battles that are going on around the earth by demons and angels is
something that perhaps we will get a better idea of after we leave this earth
and go to heaven. But now it is good to
realize that this happens and that in the end the holy angels will be
victorious because of Who side they are on.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to be a light in this ever darkening
world that we are living in. The darker
the world the brighter the light can shine.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Egypt” (Mark. 2:13-14).
Who interpreted a famous
dream for King Nebuchadnezzar?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/6/2015 10:48 AM
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