SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/15/2015
10:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Revolt of Society PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
20:8-10
Message of the
verses: “8 and will come out to
deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the
seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the
camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and
devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they
will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
I had mentioned in our last SD that there are some who
believe that the Gog and Magog that Ezekiel describes in Ezekiel 38-39 are
speaking of this battle at the end of the Millennial kingdom, but I mentioned
that there are differences between these two wars and John MacArthur describes
some of these differences: “Ezekiel 39:4
and 17 describe the invaders perishing on the mountains of Israel, but
according to Revelation 20:9 the rebels at the end of the Millennium will be
destroyed on a ‘broad plain.’ Also, the
language of Ezekiel 39:17-20 seems to be describing the same event depicted
Revelation 19:17-18. Finally, the events
of Ezekiel 38-39 fit chronologically before the description of the millennial
temple given in chapters 40-48, while the battle depicted in Revelation 20:7-10
takes place after the Millennium.” I
have to say that the reasons that MacArthur gives here have cemented my view
that I have always had and that is that there is a difference between these
battles and one of the differences is that they take place around 1000 years
apart.
I went over the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39 when I studied
the book of Ezekiel earlier this year and the results of why I believe are
found in those Spiritual Diaries from those two chapters. I began Ezekiel on April 20, 2015 and
finished chapter 39 on April 28, 2015 and they are all posted on my blog.
We look at the number of those who take place in this
battle as “like the sand of the seashore,” and this is a figure of speech used
in Scripture to describe a large, uncountable multitude. We have mentioned earlier how perfect the
situation will be during the Millennial kingdom but as mentioned already all
people who will be born in the Millennial kingdom will be born for those who
have survived the Tribulation Period who were saved as all unbelievers will be
in the lake of fire, but all those children and grandchildren and so on will
all be born with a sin nature and many of them will not see the need of
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Perhaps one of the jobs that those who belong
to the church age and go into the Millennial kingdom with glorified bodies will
be to tell unbelievers their need for the Savior, or perhaps that will be left
up to the mortals and our job will be to make sure order will take place as we
may be like glorified policemen keeping order during this time. A former Pastor of mine stated to me that he
wanted to be the mayor of the town that he was living at when he was our
pastor.
We have also mentioned that the earth’s topography will
be much different as it will be reshaped by those catastrophic events of the
Tribulation so that is one reason that those rebel forces will come “up on the
broad plain of the earth” and will be able to surround the “camp of the saints
and the beloved city.” Things will be
much different looking during the millennial kingdom as far as what the earth
looks like.
The Lord will stop this war as we read that “fire came
down from heaven and devoured them.”
Perhaps it will be similar to what happened when God destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah.” Verse ten speaks of their fate
along with Satan’s fate and that will be as verse eleven describes that they
will be “thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and
ever.”
The Bible has much to say about hell as it will be a
place of both mental and physical torment and will last forever. The following are some verses that speak of
this:
Daniel 12:2; Matthew 8:12;
Matthew 13:42 and 50, Matthew 22:13; 24:51; 25:30, Luke 13:28 as these speak of
the mental torment. The physical torment
is described in Revelation 14:10; Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:43-44; and Luke
16:23-24.
As we study these passages in the book of Revelation we
see exactly what God has planned for the future and we remember when we began
this study that we read that John was on a rocky island in a prison camp and
was in need of hearing the truths that are found in this book, and we are
learning together the truths that are found in this book and will continue to
learn about them in the remaining chapters, but perhaps some are reading this
and have trouble believing what God says will happen, and perhaps there are
some who are reading this and want to know more, perhaps how they can miss all
the things that will go on during the tribulation period. Well the answer is that everyone who desires
to miss the tribulation period or miss hell must admit that they were born
sinners and that is why we all sin, and there is nothing we can do on our own
to make it to heaven and that is why God sent forth His Son to become a man and
to take our place as He died on the cross for those who will accept Him. God was pleased with His sacrifice and so He
raised Him from the dead which when we accept Him we in a sense will also be
raised from the deadness or our sinfulness and then the Lord went back to
heaven to be with His Father and will return again to take us to be with Him
forever. Paul writes in Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven,
from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” and that
is where we will end up once we accept the forgiveness that Christ offers. The decision is simple and yet many who hear
it will not accept what the Bible teaches.
I want to quote what I wrote on November 17, 2005 as
wrote then on these verses:
“These four verses describe the last battle on the earth,
and it will not last long at all. These
verses describe what takes place at the end of Christ’s 1000 year reign on
earth. As for some of the other details
that will take place during this 1000 year reign, they are described in the OT,
mostly in the writings of the prophets, but it can be described as a perfect
environment of peace, for there will be no violence at all for any sin will be
dealt with swiftly as it will not be tolerated during the reign of Jesus Christ
on this earth. This time will be the
fulfillment of the promises to Israel of having a kingdom on earth with their
Messiah ruling from His throne in Jerusalem.
Many people who were alive at the time when Jesus came to earth the
first time asked Him when He would restore the kingdom to Israel, and many
people did not follow Him because they could see that He was not going to be
the One who would reign and rule in power like many of the OT writings
described. There were some scholars of that
time who said that there must be two Messiahs coming because they saw in the
Scriptures the two roles that the Messiah would take up, one as the suffering
servant, and the other as the conquering King of Israel.
“As stated in an earlier SD, Satan was not put into hell
when Christ came down from heaven and won the war of Armageddon, he was put in
the abyss, and at the end of the 1000
year reign of Christ he is let out to head up one last battle. The question is why is there anyone who would
want to fight against the Lord Jesus Christ after living in a perfect
environment for all of those years? The
answer has always been the same and that is man’s heart, the nature that man is
born with is sinful and the only thing that can be done about that is to receive
a new one from God. It was said of
Abraham that he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and
all of these people who will be born during this time will have to have this
righteousness given to them in order to receive eternal life. In the book of Ezekiel starting at chapter 40
and going through the end of his writings, chapter 48 there is described a new
Temple and this is what will be in Jerusalem during the 1000 year kingdom, and
people will give sacrifices in that Temple, and I believe that this will remind
them of what Christ did on the cross, and they will be able to see their need
for salvation, but not all of them will see that need and these will be some of
the ones who will follow Satan during that time.
“Ezekiel also describes a battle of Gog and Magog in his
writings, and there are some things that are similar between these two battles
in that they will both be against Israel and both of them will have a
miraculous ending, in that God will intervene and end the battle very
swiftly.
“When this battle is over, by having fire come down from
heaven to end it, the Devil will then be put into hell where the antichrist and
false prophet have already been for those 1000 years and will be tormented for
eternity.
“As stated earlier in another SD, some people think all
of this is spiritualized and is not literal, and they do not believe in a
literal 1000 year reign of Messiah on this earth, but there are too many things
written in the OT concerning Israel having a King from the line of David to
rule from Jerusalem over all of the earth.
The Church is not mentioned in the OT, and Christ established the
Church, but that does not mean that the promises to Israel were taken away from
them and given to the Church, for all one has to do is look at Paul’s writings
in Romans 9-11 in order to see that Israel still has a future, and that future
includes Jesus Christ, their Messiah to set upon David’s throne and rule, and
these verses in Revelation 20 are speaking of His rule.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am looking
forward to doing what the Lord has for me to do during the millennial kingdom.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give me in the battle that
I face each and every day, to protect me with His armor.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Ecclesiastes.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What is another name for the
Ten Commandments?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/15/2015 11:11 AM
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