Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The Return of the Conqueror PT-1 (Rev. 19:11-13)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2015 10:08 AM

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  The Return of the Conqueror PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 19:11-13

            Message of the verses:  “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

            Let us first of all look at Revelation 4:1 “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’”  Look at the two highlighted phrases in verse 11 of Chapter 19 we see a similar one in Revelation 4:1, and one was to let John into heaven and the other was to let Jesus Christ and we will see later a host of many others to come out of heaven returning to planet earth.  John MacArthur writes “The time has come at last for the full, glorious revelation of the sovereign Lord.  This is the time to which all of Revelation (as well as all of redemptive history) has been pointing, the time of which Jesus Himself spoke in Matthew 24:27-32:  ‘27  "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31  "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.’”

            Think about how John must have felt seeing one vision after another and now he sees the vision that it could well be the one he has been waiting for.  Think about back in chapter ten where John is told to eat the little book which made his mouth sweet, but his stomach bitter and perhaps this scene is doing the same for him as he sees the Lord in all of His glory returning to earth to conquer those who have always been against Him.  This has to be a bitter sweet scene for John to see in this vision.  I remember studying the book of Daniel and like John Daniel was very old when the visions that God gave to him were seen by him and so like Daniel John must be going through some times like perhaps no one other than Daniel have gone through.  John must have had his total attention on this sight that was unfolding before his eyes, John who had the privilege of seeing Jesus ascend to heaven as recorded in Acts 1:9-11 now had the distant privilege of seeing Jesus return to planet earth some sixty years later in this vision.  John sees Jesus about to receive the kingdom from His Father, the kingdom that was promised Him. 

            Remember when we were studying chapter five and John saw Jesus receive the title deed to planet earth:  “1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4  Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5  and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’

            “6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

            In that vision we saw Jesus as the Lamb and now we see Him as the conquering King.  With this said this morning I was thinking about the many things that I have learned from the book of Revelation and was going over some of them in my mind and one of the things I was thinking about was the difference that I see Jesus in the gospels with who He is as He walks among the churches.  This is the same Jesus, but John did not recognize Him, and John is the disciple that Jesus loved with a special love.  Am I to see Jesus like I see Him in the gospels, the One who came in humiliation, the One that Zachariah writes of in Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey,” or am I to see Him as the One John saw and when he saw Him, like Daniel he fell as if He were a dead man.  My thoughts are that I am to see the Lord as John saw Him when He was walking among the churches as that is what He is doing now, but I am also to remember His humility when He came to earth to take my place on the cross so that one day I will be able to return to earth when He comes again in the passages we are now looking at. 

            In our next SD we will begin to take a closer look at these verses to help us better understand them.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to always remember what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross, and good to remember the hope that I have which is Christ coming to earth to rule and reign for 1000 years.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  In posting an older SD from the book of James today I became convicted and also became thankful for what I learned from what I wrote in 2003 on James 1:18.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Assyria”   (2 Kings 18:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who asked Deborah to go with him to battle?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/29/2015 11:00 AM

           

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