SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/18/2015
8:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Because God is in Control
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
19:4-6
Message of the
verses: 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and
worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" 5 And a
voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His
bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great." 6 Then I heard something like the voice
of a great multitude and like
the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,
"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the
Almighty, reigns.”
In this section we see “hallelujah’s” ringing out from
the twenty-four elders and also from the four living creatures in agreement
with the angelic chorus. We have written
on who we believe the twenty-four elders in an earlier SD, but for review we
believe that they are members of the church and the four living beings are high
ranking order of angels. These two
groups have worship the Lord throughout the book of Revelation. The phrase “Amen, Hallelujah” comes from
Psalm 106:48 “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to
everlasting. And let all the people say, "Amen." Praise the LORD!” John MacArthur writes that this “indicates
their solemn agreement (cf. the use of ‘Amen,’ ‘so let it be,’ in 5:14; 7:12)
which the heavenly rejoicing over Babylon’s downfall.”
We also hear a voice that comes from the throne but is
not identified. MacArthur feels that
this is likely an angel, since he refers to God s our God. He goes on to write that “The voice
authoritatively calls another group to join in anthem of praise, saying, ‘Give
praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and
the great.’” When we look at the term ‘bond-servants”
we see that this is speaking of the redeemed believers who are in heaven, which
include the raptured saints.
We see John using the simile like a number of times in
this section which shows that he is searching to find the words to describe
what he sees in this great vision of praise and adoration to the Lord for which
this vision speaks of, that is this vision shows all these beings praising the
Lord because He is in control. We see
that when John writes “For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” What a wonderful thing to praise the Lord
for, especially during times of great trouble which the world has surely seen
during this seven year period we call the tribulation. John MacArthur writes “This use of Hallelujah
is reminiscent of Psalms 146-150, which repeatedly offer praise for God’s
sovereign rule and eternal fellowship with the redeemed. The title ‘Almighty’ is used nine times in
Revelation (v. 15; 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 21:2).” Here is a small section from the book of
Psalms mentioned here as we look at the short and last Psalm “1 Praise the
LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise
Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. 3
Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with
timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise
Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath
praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”
Verse six of Psalm 150 is how the book of Psalms ends.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have to confess
that I should be giving praise to the Lord much more that what I do, as I
should do it throughout the day, especially for the fact that God is in
control, even when things seem to get out of control, He is in control and this
is worth praising Him for through different times of the day.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Think more about praising the Lord
today.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Thomas” (John 20:24-29).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said’ Come unto me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/18/2015 9:28 AM
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