SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/9/2015
10:57 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Bowl Judgment Number Three
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
16:4-7
Message
of the verses: “4 Then the third
angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they
became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous are
You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for
they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood
to drink. They deserve
it." 7 And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the
Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments."”
Again we will look at what I wrote on these verses in September
of 2005: “In these verses there can be
seen poetic justice, and there are other parts of the Scriptures that also show
these types of justice. The Pharaoh
tried to drown the little babies who were from Israel, and all of his army was
drowned in the sea. Haman tried to hang
Mordecai as he prepared a great gallows to hang him on and ended up being
hanged on it along with all of his family.
And in these verses the third vial judgment is poured out upon all of
the rivers of the earth and the angel who is in charge of the waters praises
God for sending this plague upon the earth-dwellers because they are the ones
who have killed all of God’s children, the saints of God by shedding their
blood and now they only have blood to drink. In verse seven there comes a voice
from the altar praising God because His judgments are true and righteous.”
We got a picture of what this will look like on a much
smaller scale when God turned the Nile River into blood in the days of Moses as
one of the judgments against the nation of Egypt, but this judgment is upon all
of the rivers and lakes and streams over the entire world. The result is that there will be no fresh
water and the angel of the waters saying that these unbelievers deserved what
this plague would do as they had shed the blood of the saints in the past times
and also in the Tribulation Period, and now God would give them blood to drink.
We have seen the rivers affected by another plague from
the third trumpet judgment so the fresh water was already at a low, and now it
seems to not exist at all. Another
problem we read about was that the two witnesses had shut off the rain and so
in addition to the plague from the trumpet judgment we have this one from the
witnesses. One more problem is scene in
Revelation 7:1 which speaks of the four angels stopping the wind, so all in all
the fresh water supply will be a huge problem at this point of the Tribulation.
Think about what it is to have no water, something most
of us take for granted. The people on
planet earth are suffering from blood in the oceans, from oozing sores which
were caused by the first bowl judgment and now no water to cool them off.
John MacArthur writes “Appropriately, it is ‘the angel of
the waters’ who defends God’s righteous judgment in an echo of the overcomers’
song in 15:3-4. In contrast to the
curses and blasphemies of men (cf. vv. 9, 11) the angel declares, ‘Righteous
are You, who are and who were (cf. 11:17; 1:4, 8; 4:8), O Holy One, because You
judged these things.’ God’s judgment of
sinners is unquestionably righteous because He is the Holy One. And although His wrath is terrifying and
deadly, it is a just, deserved, and appropriate response to sinners’ rejection
of Him.”
The unbelievers that the angel is speaking to or at least
talking about will have to deal with the overwhelming guilt of not listening to
those that God has placed in their path to hear the Gospel, something we
continue to mention about as they could hear the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, or
the people that have come to Christ, or the two witnesses, or even the angel
who was flying in the heavens telling of the Gospel.
We have spoken of the irony of this judgment, something
that has been mentioned throughout Scriptures in different places and so we see
that God’s judgment against them is righteousness as His judgments are always
righteous.
As I was reading this portion of Scripture I had a
difficult time understand how the “altar” would speak as John wrote that he “heard
the altar saying, "Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are
Your judgments."” John MacArthur
writes “The personified altar echoes the sentiments of the angel with words
similar to 15:3. It may be that the very
altar under which the saints were earlier seen praying for vengeance (6:9-11)
now affirms that God’s ‘true and righteous judgments’ are the answer to those
prayers.”
In conclusion I want to copy and paste some verses that
speak of God’s judgments being righteousness:
"Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with
the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it
from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?’(Gen. 18:25).” “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring
forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether
(Psalm 19:9).” “I know, O LORD, that
Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me
(Psalm 119:75).” “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 (Rom. 2:5).” “1 After these things I heard something like
a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS;
for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her
immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER’ (Rev.
19:1-2).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As we read of the
righteous judgments of God as He takes His wrath out on the unbelieving world
through these different judgments found in the book of Revelation we have to
remember at least two things: First
these people had an opportunity to hear the good news of the Gospel and they
rejected it. Second we have to remember
the cross, for it was at the cross that God took His righteous wrath out on His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He did it for all who will come to the
realization that He is the only way to get to God, through His shed blood that
was shed on the cross for all sinners who accept His pardon.
My Steps of Faith for Today: That God will continue to answer my prayers
for my wife who had a difficult incident happen to her last night. God has already answered prayers on her
behalf and I praise Him for that, and pray that He will continue to answer my
prayers for her.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Moses’ own mother” (Exodus
2:8-9).
Today’s Bible
question: “What two archangels are
mentioned in the Bible?”
Answer in our next SD. 8/9/2015 11:47 AM
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