SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2015
7:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction to Revelation 15
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
15
Message of the
verses: 1 Then I saw another sign in heaven,
great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God
is finished. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had
been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name,
standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3 And they sang the song of Moses, the
bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and
marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your
ways, King of the nations!
4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For
ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE
BEEN REVEALED."
“5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the
tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came
out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their
chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the
seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the
temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no
one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”
John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary on
the book of Revelation “The Temple of Doom,” and it covers these eight verses
which make up the fifteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. We spent 24 days looking at the fourteenth
chapter of Revelation and I suppose that this 15th chapter will not
take us that long as it is shorter than the 14th.
I may have mentioned that I am very slowly reading a book
written by Dr. David Jeremiah which he entitled “I Never Thought I Would See
the Day,” and in this book he writes about things that are happening in our
country that he never thought that he would ever see including what people
think about the Word of God. The Word of
God is the most important book that man has and there are probably more Bibles
that are in the world than any other book ever printed, however that does not
mean that people read it as faithfully as they should. The Bible tells us all we need to know about
where we came from and where we are going, it tells us how we can have a
relationship with God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we are
learning from the last book in the Bible it tells us what the future holds, for
it tells us Who it is that holds the future.
People worry about the future, and with good reason, and people who do
not know the Lord have even greater reason to worry about the future for as we
will see in this chapter there is coming a time when as the first verse in this
chapter tells us that with the seven plagues that the seven angels are about to
throw down upon planet earth, which will be described in the next chapter that
with them the wrath of God will be complete, but as we will see there is still
a lot of wrath from God to come.
We will look at some other verses which speak about this
terrible time that is just over the horizon of human history, verses that were
written many hundreds and even thousands of years ago that speak of this awful
time that will come upon the whole world.
As we study the books of the Old Testament we have seen
that God has poured out His wrath upon man because of their sinfulness. Paul writes the following about how Adam and
Eve brought the entire human race under God’s judgment “Therefore, just as
through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men, because all sinned. (Rom. 5:12).” Next we see the wrath of God at the flood which
covered the entire world and has caused the world to be a different place to
live when it was over. We see this in
the book of Genesis 6:5-8 where it reads “5
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and
that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on
the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, "I will blot
out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to
creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made
them." 8 But Noah
found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
God’s wrath through the flood was about to happen as we see in these
verses. God’s wrath seems to be pointed
to a time in which the Bible calls “The Day of the Lord,” and that is the theme
of the OT book of Joel, a book that I am just beginning to study at this time. The day of the Lord is seen in different books
of the Word of God including OT books along with NT books and we have seen it
in the letter to the Thessalonians which we looked at last year and are seeing
it in the book of Revelation as it will climax in this book. Let us take a look at some passages from the
book of Isaiah a book we also studied a few years ago. “6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction
from the Almighty. 7 Therefore
all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. 8 They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in
astonishment, Their faces aflame. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and
burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its
sinners from it (Isa. 13:6-9).”
Next
Ezekiel 30:3 “"For the day is near, Even the day of the LORD is near; It
will be a day of clouds, A time of doom for the nations.” Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of
the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.” Amos 4:12
“"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to
you, Prepare to meet your
God, O Israel."” Next we
will look at Zephaniah as he gives the following frightening account of the Day
of the Lord: “14 Near is the great day of the LORD,
Near and coming very
quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out
bitterly. 15 A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and
distress, A day of
destruction and desolation, A
day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And
the high corner towers. 17 I will bring distress on men So that they will walk
like the blind, Because
they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out
like dust And their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold
Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth
will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end,
Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.” We will look at one more in this SD and then
finish up this introduction in our next SD.
“"For the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity; They will be
led forth at the day of fury (Job. 21:30).”
Job may be one of the oldest books that we find in the Word of God as
many believe that he lived near the time of Abraham.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I continue
to study about what the Lord has planned and told from His Word what will
happen it has been my desire since I first became a believer to get the message
out so that people will not have to go through this time of testing that is
about to come upon the whole world, and as far as personal meaning to me I continue
to go back to what Peter wrote in his second letter after explaining some
things about what will happen in the future of this world. “10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens
will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense
heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 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
(2 Peter 3:10-11).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: “always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15b).”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “He went to the Synagogue”
(Luke 4:16).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘I will arise and go
to my father’?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/30/2015 8:43 AM
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