SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2015
9:25 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction
to Revelation 15 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
15:1-8
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.”
We have been looking at the wrath of
God as we look at Revelation chapter fifteen, as this seems to be the theme of this
chapter as we read in the first verse that when these last seven plagues are
finished, and I might say that the word translated plague is a very interesting
word that we will look at later on, when these are finished then we read that “the
wrath of God is finished.” The word “finished”
has also been translated as “accomplished” and that may be a better way of
looking at that word as once these plagues are finished in a rapid way then it
will accomplish what God has planned to do, and that is that His Son will set
on the throne in Jerusalem as we have read prophesied in the second Psalm. “6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain."”
Verse five says “5 Then He will
speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying.”
We have been looking at some OT
verses that speak of the wrath of God, and mentioned that this also speaks of
what the Bible calls “The Day of the Lord.”
Today we will look at different aspects of the wrath of God as John
MacArthur writes “The historical outpourings of God’s wrath fall into several
categories. First is what might be
called ‘sowing and reaping’ wrath.
People sin and suffer the logical consequences of that sin; ‘Those who
plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it’ (Job 4:8; cf. Gal.
6:7-8). A second kind of wrath is
cataclysmic wrath, when God sends massive, destructive judgment. That judgment may engulf the entire world, as
it did with the Flood (Gen. 6-8), or a smaller region, as when God destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:1-29).
Romans chapter 1 reveals God’s wrath of abandonment when Paul three
times used the phrase ‘God gave them over’ to demonstrate God’s judicial
abandonment of sinners, removing restraint to the deadly consequences of their
sinful choices (vv. 24, 26, 28). Hosea
4:17 declares, ‘Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.’ As previously noted, God’s terminal judgment
is poured out in historical Day of the Lord judgments. Finally, there is eternal wrath, God’s
eschatological wrath that will in the future be poured out on the whole world
(1 Thess. 10; 5:9). The ultimate result
of eternal wrath will be the sentencing of all unrepentant sinners to hell
forever.
“But throughout the entire
historical outpouring of God’s wrath, from Eden to the final explosion of His
eschatological wrath, a strange paradox exists:
God is busily working to save sinners from His own wrath. God’s nature encompasses not only
righteousness and holiness, but also grace and mercy. Even during the devastating judgments of the Tribulation,
God will call sinners to salvation. He
will do so using the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (7:2-8; 14:1-5), the two
witnesses (11:3-13), a host of redeemed Gentiles and Jews 7:9-17), even an
angel flying in the sky (14:6-7). As the
outpouring of divine wrath escalates, God’s evangelistic efforts will escalate
as well. The result will be the greatest
harvest of souls in human history (cf. 7:9).
A redeemed Israel and souls from all the nations will be saved, many to
survive the Tribulation and enter the millennial kingdom.”
We will see as we study chapters 15
and 16 that this will be the final outpouring of God’s wrath before the return
of Jesus Christ to planet earth to set up His promised Kingdom. This final wrath will be expressed in seven “bowl”
judgments and they will be rapid-fire judgments, not lasting as long as the
other judgments we have already studied earlier. Remember that God said that the last three
trumpet judgments were “woes,” well that last woe brings on these last seven
bowl judgments. Chapter fifteen forms
the introduction to these judgments as it is the shortest chapter in the book,
only eight verses in all. Some could
conclude that this is here to defend God’s wrath, but God needs no defense in
what He does, for after all He is God. “"The
Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without
injustice, Righteous
and upright is He (Deu. 32:4).”
As we begin to look at chapter
fifteen we see what John describes as “another sign in heaven,” and this
chapter describes how God readies to send these last seven plagues that will
come from heaven to planet earth, which is similar to when the other judgments
were being readied.
John MacArthur writes the following
on the word translated wrath: “Thumos (wrath) is a strong word,
describing rage, or a passionate outburst of anger. God’s anger must be expressed against all unforgiven
sin (cf. 14:8, 10). In 16:19 and 19:15
God’s final wrath is called His ‘fierce wrath.’
The prophet Zephaniah wrote of this final outpouring of God’s wrath in
Zephaniah 3:8: “"Therefore wait for
Me," declares the LORD, "For the day when I rise up as a witness.
Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on
them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured
By the fire of My zeal.”
He concludes with the preview of
what we are going to look at by writing “As this chapter unfolds, three motives
for the final outpouring of God’s wrath will become evident: the vengeance of God, the character of God,
and the plan of God.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Wrath is
as much a part of God as the other attributes that are mentioned in the Word of
God, but many do not want to learn about it as they would rather look at the
love of God, His grace and mercy, which too are a part of God’s
attributes. However when we look at the
world today and see many Christians being killed for their faith in Christ and
we look at the many millions of abortions that have happened in our country
since 1972 we have to cry out for God’s wrath to come upon the guilty ones, and
as we continue to study the book of Revelation we will see that final wrath
when God will sentence those who have not trusted in His salvation through His
Son Jesus Christ pay or their sins.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
continue to get the word out as far as what the world is about to witnesses so
that God can use it to call sinners to repentance and believers to growth and revival.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “The prodigal son” (Luke 15:18).
Today’s
Bible question: “Of what country was
Evil-Merodach king?”
Answer
in our next SD.
7/31/2015
10:20 AM
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