SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
8/12/2015 9:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Sixth
Bowl PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
16:12-16
Message of the
verses: “12 The sixth angel poured
out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so
that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw coming
out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the
mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are
spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole
world, to gather them
together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 15
("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and
keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see
his shame.") 16 And
they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.”
We have now come to the point in the book of Revelation
when there is only two more judgments that will happen before the wrath of God
is complete and this sixth bowl judgment is different than the other judgments
as it has no specific assault on humanity, but this judgment prepares for what
is coming. In the fifth seal judgment we
saw it show the souls of those who were in heaven who had been killed for the
cause of Christ and were crying out for vengeance upon those who did this to
them. I bring this up because that judgment
also did not have a specific assault on humanity. We see in this judgment the mention of the
Euphrates River and this river appeared earlier in the book of Revelation when
the sixth trumpet judgment is mentioned:
“"Release the four angels who are bound at the great river
Euphrates’ (Rev. 9:14b).”
I think we need to take a look at this important river as
it goes all the way back to Genesis 2:10-14 “10
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it
divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows
around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land
is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second
river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the
third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the
Euphrates.” The Euphrates is called the
“great river” “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates’ (Rev.
9:14).” “On that day the LORD made a
covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates (Gen. 15:18).” ’Turn and set your journey, and go to the
hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the
hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land
of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates (Deu. 1:7).” “"From
the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of
the sun will be your territory (Joshua 1:4).”
One of the reason it is called the great river in these passages is
because along with the Tigris River the Euphrates River is still the lifeblood
of the Fertile Crescent.” The river
begins in the modern country of Turkey, and the place that it begins is on a
very high mountain that is famous for being the spot where Noah’s ark landed,
Mont Ararat and from there it flows for 1800 miles emptying into the Persian
Gulf.
Now as we have looked at these different bowl judgments
we can believe that the earth is far different than it is today. We have mentioned the oceans turning to blood,
the rivers turning to blood, and believe that when the sun heats the world
hotter than it has been before that the polar ice caps will melt raising the
oceans some 200 feet higher than they are now, so the Euphrates River will be
different then than it is now and when we see that this judgment will dry up
that river we must believe that it is a lot wider and deeper than it is
today. We see that the reason for this
bowl judgment upon the Euphrates River is to allow the “kings of the east” to
make their way towards Israel where the battle of Armageddon will take
place. We see in this judgment that they
are drawn there by demons.
The kings of the east will be entering into a deadly trap
when they head towards Palestine and the land of Israel. John MacArthur writes
“The evaporation of the Euphrates will lead them to their doom, just as the
parting of the Red Sea led to the destruction of the Egyptian army. Why they will make the daunting journey that
will take them to their doom, through the drought, scorching heat, darkness,
and their painful sores is stated in verses 13-14.” “13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the
dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false
prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons,
performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the
war of the great day of God, the Almighty.” We can equate this seen to something that
could come out of a horror scene in the movies as we have seen things that come
out of people’s and monster’s mouths to be able to possess others, and this is
what will happen here as spirit like frogs will come out of the mouths of
Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet to control these kings of the east
so that they will come to their doom in what will be the greatest battle ever
fought, and it will be fought on the land that has already seen many
battles. Napoleon looked on this valley
and stated that it would be a great place for a battle to take place.
These demons will have great power of deception,
something that has been going on in our country for the past eight years or
so. I have mentioned a story from the OT
book of, I believe 2 Kings that is kind of similar to what these demons will do
to these kings from the east. I was
wrong it is in the latter part of 1 Kings: “20 “The LORD said, ’Who will entice Ahab to go up
and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that.
21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ’I will entice him.’ 22
“The LORD said to him, ’How?’
And he said, ’I will go
out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He
said, ’You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so’ (1 Kings
22:20-22).” This is a similar story that
tells how spirits work to deceive humans, and it is going on today just like it
went on during the OT times. Jesus said
in Mark 13:22 “for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show
signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 “9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord
with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who
perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” John MacArthur writes “In their pride,
arrogance, and folly, the demonically deceived nations of the world will
converge on Palestine to do battle with God Himself at Armageddon. According to 17:12-14, ten kings will be
involved.”
I have mentioned that at the same time that I have been
studying the 16th chapter of Revelation that I am also studying the
book of Joel as I make my way through the final books of the Old Testament
which will conclude my study of the entire Bible. God must have planned it this way as in my
evening Spiritual Diaries as this time I am studying the third chapter of the
book of Joel which I want to quote from at this time, verses 3:2, and 9-13.
“2 I will gather all the
nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter
into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance,
Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My
land.
“9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the
mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up! 10 Beat your
plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say,
"I am a mighty man." 11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. 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.”
Zechariah also wrote about this: “2 For I will gather all the nations against
Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women
ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be
cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those
nations, as when He fights
on a day of battle (Zech. 14:2-3).”
We have mentioned Psalm 2 in previous SD’s from our study
on Revelation as it is the first of the Messianic Psalms: “1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the
peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And
the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed,
saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from
us!’” God gives His answer in verse
four: “He who sits in the heavens
laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”
Now I have been quoting from my last study on the book of
Revelation which I did in 2005 and even though this quote is rather lengthy I
want to put it here as I looked at these verses on the 17th or
September in the year 2005: “As I go
through this wonderful study of this wonderful book of Revelations the Lord is
teaching me more and more about this book, and one of the things that I see is
you have to piece things together from one chapter to another in order to see
the whole picture that is being painted.
That is what has to be done with these verses, for these verse tell only
part of the story of the last battle here on earth, the battle that most people
call Armageddon. “The name Armageddon comes from two Hebrew words, har Megiddo. The word Megiddo means “place of troops” or
“place of slaughter.” It is also called
the Plain of Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel.” (From Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be
Victorious.) There have been many
battles fought in this area of the world, but the most famous of them is still
to come and these verses help to describe what will take place there in what
could be not to far off.
Verse twelve describes the beginning of this judgment
when the sixth angel pours out his vial on the river Euphrates and dries up the
river so that the kings of the east can pass through it without any trouble,
for you see God is the One who is putting this whole thing into motion, for He
is in total control of it. Verse
thirteen and fourteen describes how antichrist gets all of the people to come
there and fight as the unholy trinity takes part in this gathering. They are doing what seems natural and right
for them to do, yet God has planned all of this to happen long ago.
In verse fifteen the Lord gives a warning to those who
will listen, telling His listeners to keep awake and be ready for His soon
return. This warning is not just for those who will be alive at this time, but
for all generations who have had the privilege of reading this book.
Verse sixteen is one of the most read and quoted verses
in the Bible as it talks about the men being gathered in a place called
Armageddon. This name Armageddon has
come to mean the end of the world to many who have read this and not really
understood it, for it may be the last battle, but it is surely not the end of
the world, and it is not the last battle either for after the 1000 year reign
of Christ upon planet earth Satan will be let out of his captivity to once
again entice men to fight again, but this will be a short battle and end
quickly.
There are parallel passages to this battle of Armageddon
in other parts of the Scriptures, for instance Zechariah twelve and fourteen
describe this battle from Israel’s point of view. “Joel 3:9-21 parallels the Zechariah
references, and verse 19 there makes clear that God will punish the Gentiles
for the way they have treated the Jews.
(See also Zeph. 3:8ff; Isa. 24.)”
“Warren Wiersbe’s book.)
The outcome of this battle is seen in Revelations 19,
which is about the return of Jesus Christ to earth, and at that time He will
end this battle even though thoughts who are fighting each other will begin to
fight against the Lord, but to no avail.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Deception is
something that is continually used in our world today and this is one of the
reasons that I need to put on the Spiritual Armor every day to be protected
from the deception of those who desire to deceive me. Charles Stanley wrote the following in a book
that he wrote about Satan: ““I’m putting
on the belt of truth. I ask You to make
it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to
reject. Help me to see clearly the motives of others as they deal
with me and converse with me. Let
me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to Your plans and
purposes for my life.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will keep me from those
who desire to deceive me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Above, and cometh down from
the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
Today’s Bible
question: “What did Jesus tell Nicodemus
was necessary for a man to see the kingdom of God?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/12/2015 10:49 AM
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