SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/6/2015
8:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 Intro. To
Rev. 16
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
16:1
Message of the
verses: It is my desire to finish up
on this introduction to the 16th chapter of Revelation as this is
the chapter that goes rapidly through the last seven judgments of God on the
people who live on planet earth during the last days of the period which the
Bible calls the Tribulation or in this case the Great Tribulation. God’s wrath will be complete at the end of
this period as the first verse in chapter 15 indicates.
We have mentioned that the wrath of God in His final
eschatological judgment of sinners is a recurring theme in the Scriptures and
gave many different Scripture references to this fact in our last SD. John MacArthur writes of these last judgments
that “They are the last expression of divine wrath against the sin,
unrighteousness, and blasphemy that is rampant on the earth.”
After these judgments are complete the Lord Jesus Christ
will return to planet earth, not as a suffering servant like He came on His
first visit to planet earth where He came to die on the cross for sinners, but
this time He comes triumphantly riding on a white horse with the armies of
heaven coming with him also ridding on white horses in order for Him to end the
last battle on planet, judge the sinners, and then have Satan, the Antichrist,
the False prophet, and sinners left on planet earth at that time placed into
the lake of fire. His return is
described in chapter 19. John MacArthur
writes “Chapters 17-18 go back in time to describe the destruction of
Antichrist’s worldwide political and religious empire of Babylon. (A similar recapitulation interrupted the
chronological flow of Revelation in chapters 12-14.)” It is important for us to understand how
chapters 17-18 fit into what the book of Revelation is teaching us.
The bowl judgments will be more severe than the other judgments
as they will be over the whole earth and will come like in machine gun fire on
planet earth. MacArthur writes “The
severity is strong proof of how God feels about those who persistently,
willfully, reject Him. This particular
epoch in human history will be a fitting time for God’s wrath to reach its
apex, for mankind’s rebellion against God will also then be at its apex.” Now one would think that after seeing the
first two sets of judgments that come on the earth that people would be ready
to look to God for salvation, but even after knowing that God is the author of
these judgments, and that He is the One who executes these judgments that
people will still turn a blind eye to His promise of salvation as also have
been made clear to the peoples of planet earth by the 144,000 Jewish
evangelists, and also the two witnesses, along with an angel crying out from
heaven the eternal Gospel, and then there are those who have been saved telling
others the way of salvation, but man’s hearts are hardened still.
MacArthur explains more on these last plagues: “These ‘seven plagues, which are the last’
(15:1), had precursors in two other sets of plagues in Scripture: the plagues God brought upon Egypt (Ex. 7-12)
and the seven trumpet judgments (chaps. 8-11). There are similarities and
differences between the three sets of plagues. The first plagues were very localized,
affection only Egypt. The second set of
plagues destroyed one third of the world (8:7-12; 9:15, 18). The final plagues
will affect the entire world. All three
sets of plagues include hail, darkness, water turned to blood, and an invasion
from the east, whether by insects, demons, or men. The seven bowl judgments
will gather together all the horrors and terrors from all the previous
judgments of God. The will completely
inundate the world, bring it to the brink of utter ruin.”
Revelation 16:1 says “Then I heard a loud voice from the
temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the
seven bowls of the wrath of God."”
Once again we John hears a “loud voice” as we have seen this term used a
number of times in the book of Revelation so far as it is used some 20
times. God is the only One left in the
temple at this time (Rev. 15:8) and so it is His voice that cries out. Let us look at Isaiah 66:6 “"A voice of
uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is
rendering recompense to His enemies.” I
have read and heard that Isaiah is a mini Bible as it has 66 chapters in it and
the theme seems to change after chapter 39 and there are 39 books in the OT and
27 in the NT, so if you look at it that way chapter 66 would be toward the end
of the age. MacArthur writes “Megale (loud) appears half a dozen times
in this chapter (usually translated ‘great’), again emphasizing the magnitude
of the judgments recorded here. His loud
voice is heard again after the seventh bowl is poured out (v.17).”
I believe that our study of Revelation will pretty much
speed up as we go forth from this point on as after these judgments are seen
then it seems to me that it will take less time to go through the remaining
chapters than the ones we have already looked at.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I remember when
John was told to eat the scroll which was sweet in his mouth and sour in his stomach,
and as we look through these last seven judgment they represent the sourness of
his experience and as I think about writing about these it is with a sense of urgency
to get the Word out so that the Holy Spirit can use it in the lives of people
so that they will not have to go through this terrible time and then tell
others so that they will not have to go through this terrible time which will
come upon the earth.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to pray for those who read my
Spiritual Diaries that the Spirit of God will impact their lives in a way that
will bring glory to the Lord.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Twelve” (Luke 2:42).
Today’s Bible question: “Who
said ‘Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant will
be healed’?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/6/2015 9:03 AM
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