SPIRITUA DIARY FOR 7/21/2015
7:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
How They Lived
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
14:12
Message of the
verses: “12 Here is the
perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in
Jesus.”
We begin our study on what probably is a testimony of all
the saints who are in the Tribulation period who have died for the cause of
Christ, who have died because they refused to take the mark of the beast or to
worship the idol that was set up, and in Today’s SD we will look at their
perseverance, the attitude they had when things began to get very rough for
them and the mindset they had similar to what our Lord said in Matthew 5:10-12 “10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the
sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when
people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against
you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great;
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
I believe it is important for me to quote the beginning paragraph
from John MacArthur as this expresses a wonderful doctrine: “The phrase ‘the perseverance of the saints’
introduces one of the most important and most comforting doctrines in
Scripture. It expresses the truth that
all those whom God has elected, called, and justified will never lose their
faith, but will persevere it until death.
That reality provides assurance, hope, and joy to every true believer in
Jesus Christ and brings an end to fear and doubt. It also reveals that believers’ deaths are
blessed because death ushers them into the glories of heaven.” He goes on to
write about this doctrine “That statement emphasizes the reality that God keeps
His own saints by sustaining their faith to the very end, no matter what
occurs. True saving faith in its very
nature is eternal and cannot be lost or destroyed.”
John, in this verse is speaking of those who have and
continue to go through the worst time on the history of earth. Jesus spoke of this in Mt 24:22 “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. Mt 24:24 "For false Christs and false prophets
will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” We see in these verses the truth that John
MacArthur is conveying in his statement about what some call eternity security
of the elect.
This group of believers has in it both Jews and Gentiles
who many of them will be saved through the ministry of the 144,000 Jewish
evangelists and also the two witnesses.
This will be the most intensified period of persecution that has ever
taken place on planet earth. We are
reminded of what happened to the Jews during the horrible time of WWII when the
demon possessed Hitler tried to kill off all of them, but this will be a small
picture of what will be going on, not just in Europe, but around the entire
globe during the Tribulation Period.
Satan has desired to be worshiped and for these last three and a half
years that will happen, and because he knows that his time on earth will be
short the persecution will be great and many will die in the Lord. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians chapter ten
and verse thirteen states “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it (KJV).” The
word “temptation” can also mean tests and that is what it will be speaking of
when applied to the saints in the Tribulation period.
I want to conclude this portion of this SD by giving
another quote from John MacArthur and since this section from verse twelve is
so long we will divide it up into different SD’s. “The encouraging message of verses 12 and 13
forms a brief respite in the revelation of God’s judgment against unbelievers. Verses 9-11 painted a terrifying picture of
the damnation of the unrepentant worshipers of Antichrist. The narrative of God’s judgment resumes in
verse 14 and continues through the rest of the chapter. In the midst of all that carnage, with unprecedented
disasters taking place all around them, the Tribulation saints will remain
faithful and loyal to Christ. Even the
prospect of martyrdom will not persuade them to abandon their faith. Their persevering loyalty to Jesus Christ
forms the bright spot in the darkness of the Tribulation. It also answers the question of the
unbelieving world, ‘The great day of [God the Father’s and Christ’s] wrath has
come, and who is able to stand?’ (6:17). The Tribulation believers will stand
until the end.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There are a
couple of verses that the Lord has begin to use in my life, and these two
verses in Revelation chapter fourteen along with Hosea 13:6 help me to understand
better things that are important to me.
Hosea 13:6 seems to me to speak of what is going on in our country and
in the church in our country to a certain extent: “As they had their pasture, they became
satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot
Me.” Could it be that we in the church
in this country have become satisfied so much from the gifts that we have been
given from the Giver that we have become proud and forgotten the Lord?
My Steps of Faith for Today: To remember to worship the Giver of the gifts
and not the gifts that the giver has given to me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “One young bullock and two
rams” (Exodus 29:1).
Today’s Bible question: “To whom did Paul boast of the work in Achaia”
Answer in our next SD.
7/21/2015 9:01 AM
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