SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2015
8:37 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment
Enjoyed
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Rev. 18:20
Message of the
verse: “20 “Rejoice over her, O
heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced
judgment for you against her."”
On October 24, 2005 I wrote the following on both verse
20 and 21 of Revelation chapter 18: “The
last few verses of this chapter are different than the rest of it because in
the first part people were lamenting because of the fall of Babylon and now in
these last verses heaven is rejoicing over the fact that Babylon is
destroyed. Dr. Wiersbe points out that
believers are to rejoice over the things that God rejoices over and in this
case God rejoices over His Righteous Judgments and not those who are being
judged. “We are never to cultivate
personal revenge (Rom. 12:17-21), but we must rejoice at the righteous
judgments of God.” (Be Victorious) “17 Do not repay
anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of
everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as
it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for
it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry,
feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you
will heap burning coals on his head.’ 21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom 12:17-21)”
As I begin this very short section on verse 20 of
Revelation chapter 18 I have to say that there are some mixed feelings over
what I read about here about Babylon being judged and how the heavens and the
people who are in heaven react to this judgment. The verse says that the saints and the
apostles and the prophets are to rejoice over this judgment, and when we go
back to the fifth seal judgment found in Revelation 6:9-11 we read “ 9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw
underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word
of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"How long, O Lord,
holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a
white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of
their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had
been, would be completed also.” The
little while longer has not come and God has judged Babylon and all that it has
represented throughout the history of the world. We wrote then about the vengeance of God and
now we have seen it in action and we are told to rejoice over it and the reason
is because God has pronounced judgment upon it.
We see in this verse that the story is a bit different
than what it was in the first part of this chapter when there was no rejoicing
going on over the judgment of Babylon, but only lamenting over her judgment
because the people of the earth who all had the mark of the beast and had given
themselves over to the worship of Antichrist had a much different prospective
on the judgment of Babylon than those who are in heaven during that time, for
many of them had been killed because they did not go along with what Babylon
represented, so yes the scene is different here, no lamenting, only
rejoicing. John MacArthur writes “The
long-awaited moment of vindication, retribution, and vengeance, for which the
martyred Tribulation believers prayed for (Rev. 6:9-10) (see above) and for
which all the redeemed hoped, will have arrived. Heaven rejoices, not over the damnation of
sinners, but because of the triumph of righteousness, the exaltation of Jesus
Christ, the elimination of His enemies, and the arrival of His kingdom on the
earth.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I studied the
attributes of God on different occasions I learned that His attributes are who
He is as they help us as believers understand exactly who God is. I learned that God is just, and that God is
Holy, and that God is a God of wrath, and I also learned that all of His
attributes bring glory to Him, and that is what I see in verse 20 of Revelation
chapter 18.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As I see all of the wrong going on in our
country, and by all the wrong I mean the things that are against what the Bible
teaches like abortion, gay marriage, the worship of things, and are not backing
up the nation of Israel, I want to see judgment upon those who are making these
things happen, but I have to be like the saints who were martyred from
Revelation chapter six and wait upon the judgment and the righteousness of God
to happen on them, and I know it will.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56).
Today’s Bible
question: Which book records ‘Behold, I
see the heavens opened, and the son of man standing on the right hand of God’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/10/2015 9:06 AM
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