SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2015
11:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Justice Justified
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Revelation 18:23b-24
Message of the
verses: “for your merchants were the
great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. 24
“And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have
been slain on the earth.’”
The following is what I wrote on October 25, 2005 which
pertains to verses 22-24: “The destruction or the judgment of Babylon will
happen near the end of the tribulation period and some of these things that are
written in these three verses are things that happen in a normal society, but whatever
normality there was in the world at this time will be gone, and the end will
not be far off.
“Verses 22 & 23 do speak of normal everyday things
that happen in a society, and for sure God’s people have done them ever since
the world began, but it was not these things that were done that was sinful, it
was the hearts of the people who did them that were utterly sinful, and
therefore when God judges Babylon these things will not be seen in her streets
anymore.
“Verse 24 tells of sinful things that her people have
done and they will be judged for these things.
These people have killed the prophets of God and the people of God because they hated God, for Jesus said that
this would happen, and also said that it happened before He came to earth so
what we are talking about here is a system that has been in operation since
Genesis 10 & 11. This system has
always been anti God and it will culminate with Antichrist as it head and will
be destroyed and never again be seen, because shortly after its destruction the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords will return to planet earth and destroy all the
evilness that He finds when He returns.
Praise the Lord!”
As we look at this verse and a half verse we can see that
there are three final reasons given for Babylon’s judgment. We will look at them one at a time and the
first one comes from verse 23b “for your merchants were the great men of the
earth.” As we can see in our country today
many politicians use their money to ascend to positions of power, prominence,
and influence.” They will continue to do
the same during this time. Because of their
wealth and power they take advantage of the poor something that we can read
about from the pen of the Apostle James:
“6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress
you and personally drag you into court?”
“4 Behold, the pay of the
laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out
against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led
a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you
(James 2:6 and 5:4-6).” Here are some
other verses to look at (Isa. 3:14-15; 5:8; Amos 4:1; 5:11; 8:4-6). We have just been looking at Amos 4:1-3 in
the Spiritual Diaries I post from that book.
Second reason: “all the nations were deceived by your
sorcery.” John MacArthur writes
something very interesting about this word “sorcery” and a number of years ago
when we were living in Hawaii, the island of Kauai, I had the opportunity to
speak to a group of prisoners and I actually brought up the meaning of this
word to them. MacArthur writes “Sorcery
is from pharmakeia, the root word of
the English words ‘pharmacy’ and ‘pharmaceuticals.’ The word is used in the New Testament to
refer to magic and occult practices (9:21; Gal. 5:20). Babylon’s hold on the world will not be
entirely due to her military and economic power, but also to her occult
influence.” When I had the opportunity
to speak to the prisoner’s one of the Pastors who was with me had a version of
the Bible called the “Prison NLT Bible,” and he read some verses that contained
the word sorcery and it was translated drugs.
The final reason for
Babylons judgment comes from the following “in her was found the blood of
prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.” John MacArthur points out that similar verses
to look up to go along with this one are from Rev. 6:10; 11:7; 13:7, 15, 16:6;
and 17:6). We have already looked at and
will also look at this subject again of rejoicing over the judgments that were
given to Babylon. And as we look at
verse 24 we can see that we can rejoice over this because God’s justice will be
fulfilled. We will begin chapter 19 in
our next SD and the first two verses of that chapter are “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."” Jesus speaks the following in Luke 12:16-21 “16
And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very
productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do,
since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ’This is what I
will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will
store all my grain and my goods. 19 ’And
I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years
to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ 20 “But God said to
him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will
own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself,
and is not rich toward God.’” John
MacArthur writes the following concerning these verses from Luke: “The words of Jesus in Luke 12:16-21 form a
fitting conclusion to the message of judgment on commercial Babylon.” Indeed they do!
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The study of
Revelation has given me a better prospective on life as I understand better
what is going on in the world today. I
understand that back in Genesis 10-11 began a system that was against God and
will always be against God and that I need to be careful that I don’t fall into
this system which we call the world system.
I also better understand that one of the main reasons for studying the
book of Revelation is to see that God is going to end this system put the
leader of this system in the lake of fire and then come back to earth to set up
His promised Kingdom. By realizing these
truths it should help me to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The Pharisee” (Luke 18:11).
Today’s Bible
question: “In what city did Mary anoint
Jesus with costly ointment?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/12/2015 12:15 PM
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