SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/8/2015
8:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Characteristic of Power PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
14:1
Message of the
verses: “1 Then I looked, and
behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and
forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on
their foreheads.”
We continue looking at the characteristic of power for
these 144,000 Jewish Evangelists from Revelation 14:1, and we note that each of
them had the Lamb’s name and also the name of His Father on their
foreheads. Now remember that when we
finished looking at chapter thirteen we saw that those who were unbelievers had
the number “of their father” on their foreheads, or on their arm. Why would I say that? Here is what Jesus said to the unbelieving Pharisees
in John 8:44 “"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the
desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not
stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie,
he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” This statement is true of all those who are
not believers in Jesus Christ as John the Baptist stated in John 3:36 “"He
who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will
not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."” He is stating that there are only two types
of people that have ever lived on planet earth or ever will live on planet
earth, those that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and
those who don’t and those who don’t are children of the devil. The mark that God gives to these 144,000 are
for their protection, and even though Satan will try his best to have them
killed God will provide protection for them as they tell others about what is
truly going on during the Tribulation Period and telling them that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life, and that He will be coming back
to planet earth soon. These men will
enter into the Millennial Kingdom after the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth
and after children are born to those others who come into the kingdom they will
continue to tell them about the salvation that is only in Jesus Christ. The OT prophets tell of things that will
happen during the Millennial Kingdom, although they did not realize how long it
would last, they knew that it was coming as God promised Israel to have a
kingdom. Isaiah tells of children being
born in the kingdom “"They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for
calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their
descendants with them (Isa. 65:23).” The
Scriptures also speak of salvation during the Millennial Kingdom: “"Nations will come to your light, And
kings to the brightness of your rising (Isa. 60:3). “"Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’In those
days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying,
"Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’ (Zec. 8:23).”
John MacArthur writes “The story of these victorious
survivors illustrates the divine side of triumphant Christian living: God will preserve His won. The 144,000 will be living proof of the
promises found in Psalm 91:5-16:
‘ 5 You will not be afraid
of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; 6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or
of the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. 8 You will
only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.
‘9 For you have made the LORD, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place. 10 No evil will befall you, Nor will
any plague come near your tent. 11 For He will give His angels charge
concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. 12 They will bear you up in
their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will
tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample
down. 14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him
securely on high, because he has known My name. 15 “He will call upon Me, and I
will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor
him. 16 “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My
salvation."”
As we look at the protection that God has promised to
give these 144,000 we can rest assured that He gives all His children
protection and will not allow anything to happen to them that will cause their
death before their word in the Lord is finished on this earth. One of the most godly people I have ever
known past into glory soon after her retirement for a missions agency, and she
stated that she did not think that the Lord was done with her on earth, but He
was and I believe that when she saw the Lord He told her “well done thou good
and faithful servant.” Believers are
eternally secure in Christ Jesus as He stated in John 10:28-29 “no one will
snatch them out of My hand. My Father,
who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch
them out of the Father’s hand.” Paul
knew of this eternal security as he wrote in Phil. 1:6 “For I am confident of
this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the
day of Christ Jesus.” Jude praised the
Lord in verse 24 of his letter where he wrote “Now to Him who is able to keep
you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory
blameless with great joy.” Peter writes
in 1 Peter 1:5 “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
As believers we can live confidently and minister boldly
for God will care for us as we have seen his promises. Let us conclude with what Paul wrote in
Romans 8:31-39:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against
us? 32 He who did not spare His
own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34
who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was
raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the
love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "FOR
YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP
TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other
created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I know that there
are times in my walk with the Lord when I don’t believe the promises that I
listed in this SD, and I suppose that this is the evil one telling me the same
lie that he told Eve when he told her that God was holding out on her, not
telling her everything He should tell her, and she believed that lie as I also
do at times. God has given us wonderful
promises that show us how much that He loves us. I desire to believe all of them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Believe those wonderful promises of God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The Pharisee” (Luke 18:11).
Today’s Bible
question: “How did Peter reply to Jesus’
instruction to launch out into the deep?
Answer in our next SD.
7/8/2015 9:24 AM
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