SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2015
10:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Male Child
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation 12:5-6
Message
of the verses: “5 And she gave birth
to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and
her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 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.”
In today’s SD we will be looking at
the third main player who will be taking part in the final battle and that is
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ as once again we go back in time to see
the birth of Jesus and actually in verse five it describes what He did when He
came the first time in a very brief way as He was born and then was taken up to
heaven after doing the will of His Father.
This was in spite of all of what the devil had thrown against Him trying
to kill Him at birth, giving great temptation to Him throughout His life on
earth, and then actually trying to have Him die on a different day than when He
must die which was on the Passover.
Satan was not able to do any of these things to the Lord and we can
believe that he will not be able to do anything to Him to stop Christ’s
coronation for He will “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” which will
happen on His earthly reign during the Millennial kingdom. John MacArthur writes “In fact, the verb poimaino (rule) carries the connotation
of ‘destroy’ as it does in 2:27. The
Messiah will come and destroy ‘all the nations’ (19:11-21) and in His kingdom
have dominion over the nations that enter to populate that kingdom. An iron rod is also one that cannot be
broken. Just as all of Satan’s past
efforts to hinder Christ have failed, so also will his future efforts fail (cf.
11:15). The phrase ‘rod of iron’ speaks
of the resoluteness of Christ’s rule; He will swiftly and immediately judge all
sin and put down any rebellion”
The following things that I write
are difficult to understand, at least for me and that is that we know that
Satan was defeated at the cross and yet he is still the head of his earthly
rule as even Jesus did not dispute when He was tempted by Him. I realize that this happened before the
cross. John MacArthur writes on this
subject: “But though he is a defeated
foe, Satan will not give up. Unable to
stop Christ’s birth, ascension, or rule, Satan still assaults His people. He has already instigated the genocidal massacre
of Jews in Europe, as well as the death of countless thousands throughout history.
During the Tribulation, Satan will increase his efforts to destroy the Jewish
people, so that the nation cannot be saved as the Bible promises (Zech.
10-13:1; Rom. 11:25-27). And so that
there will be none left alive to enter the millennial kingdom, he will seek to
kill believing Jews. As always, Israel
will be his prime target. In a brief
glimpse of what will be described more fully in verses 13-17, John noted that ‘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 (cf.
v. 14). God will frustrate Satan’s
attempt to destroy Israel during the Tribulation by hiding His people, just as
the Lord Jesus Christ predicted:
‘"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 (Matthew 24:15-22).’”
When the antichrist goes into the
rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and commits the abomination of desalination that
will be the key for the Jewish people to leave and go to where they will be led
to go which is in the wilderness, something that their ancestors knew something
about. Now also the 1260 days is one
half of the Tribulation Period.
MacArthur finishes this chapter in
his commentary by writing “The great cosmic war of the ages between God and
Satan that began with Satan’s rebellion is set to reach it climax. In this passage John provided important background
information on that war and introduced its key figures. Then his vision turned to a description of
the war, but in its heavenly and earthly phases, and its inevitable outcome.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Although
it is hard to understand the power that Satan has since he has been defeated, I
believe that his total destruction is not too far off as we race towards the
end times.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I take this
from the quote that I put on my SD that I did this morning from the book of Hosea,
as the quote comes from Warren Wiersbe: “God will not allow us to enjoy
His gifts and at the same time ignore the Giver, for this is the essence of
idolatry.” It is my step of faith not to have this kind
of thing happen to me, but to do as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians “In
everything give thanks.”
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Caesar”
(Luke 20:22).
Today’s
Bible Question: “Who said ‘Arise, go thy
way: thy faith has made thee whole?”
Answer
in our next SD.
6/4/2015
11:17 AM
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