SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2015
8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction to Rev. 14:14-20
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Rev.
14:14-20
Message of the verses: “14
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man,
having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of
the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put
in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of
the earth is ripe."
16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came
out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire,
came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the
sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from
the vine of the earth, because
her grapes are ripe." 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth
and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the
wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and
blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance
of two hundred miles.”
As we look at these verses we
will see that they are about the judgment at the end of the Tribulation period,
a judgment that is seen in different parts of the Bible, some of them we will
look at today. First let us compare the
first coming of Jesus Christ to the earth with the second coming of Him to the
earth at the end of the Tribulation period.
First we can look at a section from the book of Philippians, a section
that speaks of the humiliation of our Savior when He first came to planet
earth: “6 Who, although He existed in
the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:6-8)
John MacArthur summarizes the
two appearances of Jesus Christ to planet earth: “Jesus came the first time as a servant; He
will return as the sovereign King. In His
first coming, He came in humility; in His second coming, He will come in
majesty and splendor. The first time He
came to earth, ‘the Son of Man [came] to seek and to save that which was lost’
(Luke 19:10); when He returns, to will be to ‘judge the living and the dead’ (2
Tim. 4:1). Jesus came the first time as
the sower; He will come again as the reaper.”
As we begin to study these verses from the book of Revelation we could
say that the theme of them is reaping, reaping the lost who, although they have
had time to repent, they have not and now judgment is coming to them. We can even say that what we are looking at
in this passage can be defined as “The Day of the Lord,” and this is not the
only place where this is spoken of in the Word of God.
Let us take a look at some of
the verses in the Word of God that speak of this time of judgment beginning with
what John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:7b “"You brood of vipers, who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
We can see here that John knew of the judgment that would come upon the
earth. Next we can look at some of the
things that Jesus said about this coming judgment: Matthew 10:15 “"Truly I say to you, it
will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of
judgment than for that city.’” Matthew
11:22 and 24 “22 “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre
and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”
“24 "Nevertheless I say to
you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of
judgment, than for you."” Matthew
12:36 and 41-42 “36 "But I tell you
that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for
it in the day of judgment.” “41 “The men
of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn
it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something
greater than Jonah is here. 42 "The
Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will
condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” John 5:28-29 “28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is
coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good
deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection
of judgment.” Romans 1:18 “18 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” and Romans
2:5-6 “5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing
up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 “6 For after all it is
only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give
relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those
who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9
These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of
the Lord and from the glory of His power.” Hebrews 10:26-27 “26 For if we go on sinning willfully after
receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of
judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.” Next we will look at 2 Peter 2:9 and also 3:7
“9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the
unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,” “7 But by His word the present heavens and
earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction
of ungodly men.”
Now we will look at some OT
verses that speak of this judgment:
Isaiah 13:11-13 “light. 11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the
wicked for their iniquity; I
will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the
haughtiness of the ruthless. 12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than
the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken
from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.” Next Isaiah 24:21-23 “21 So it will happen in
that day, That the
LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on
earth. 22 They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And
will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. 23 Then the moon will be
abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.”
John MacArthur writes that “Two
Old Testament passages present striking parallels with Revelation 14. Isaiah 63:1-6 records a fascinating soliloquy
of Messiah as He comes to execute the bloody final judgment of the unbelieving
world: ‘1 Who is this who comes from
Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in
His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? "It is I who speak in
righteousness, mighty to save." 2 Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the
wine press? 3 “I
have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no
man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And
their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. 4 “For
the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. 5 "I
looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one
to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me.
6 "I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them
drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."
“This passage, like Revelation
14:19-20, uses the metaphor of trampling grapes in a winepress to depict the
devastation of God’s final judgment.”
“The prophet Joel recorded the
devastation caused in Israel by drought, fire, and a massive invasion of
locusts (Joel 1:1-2:11). Then the
prophet used those temporal judgments to warn of even more devastating judgment
of the Day of the Lord (2:18-3:21). In
Joel 3:12-13 that judgment is described using the same imagery found in
Revelation 14: ‘12 Let the nations be
aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge
All the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their
wickedness is great.’”
Next we want to look at a
parable that the Lord gave in the book of Matthew about the wheat and the
tares. It is found in Matthew chapter 13
and after the parallel is given the disciples asked the Lord to explain it and
He said the following in Matthew 13:39-42 “39 The enemy who sowed them is the
devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 “So
just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the
end of the age. 41 "The Son of Man
will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all
stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire;
in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
John MacArthur concludes his
introductory commentary with the following paragraph which gives us the outline
we will follow as we conclude this 14th chapter of the book of
Revelation, a chapter we began to look at on the 5th of July. “This passage pictures the final harvest of
divine wrath in two agricultural motifs:
the grain harvest (vv. 14-16) and the grape harvest (vv. 17-20), raising
the question as to why John recorded two visions of the same event. There are many depictions of this event by
the prophets, including those mentioned above, so it is not unusual for John to
record two visions of it. But there is
also a specific situation at this point in the book of Revelation that suggests
a purpose behind the repetition. As the
Tribulation nears its climax, two main aspects of God’s eschatological wrath
remain to be poured out on the sinful world.
The first aspect involves the seven bowl judgments 16:1-21), a
rapid-fire sequence of frightening and deadly worldwide judgments that will
destroy the final Babylon—the Antichrist’s empire. The second aspect in the Battle of
Armageddon, at which point Jesus Christ returns to judge and destroy His
enemies (19:11-21).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can’t help but look again at a verse from
the book of Second Peter who after writing that there will come a day when the
entire universe will be burned up with fire he writes “11 Since all these
things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the
coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed
by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
My Steps of Faith for Today: To live that
way that Peter describes.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Italy”
(Acts 27:6).
Today’s
Bible question: “What woman and her
family were saved when Jericho was destroyed?”
Answer
in our next SD.
7/25/2015
10:08 AM
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