SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/22/2015
7:44 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: Because
of the Certainty of Christ’s Return
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
22:20-21
Message of the
verses: “20 He who testifies to
these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord
Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be
with all. Amen.”
The following quote is from my Spiritual Diary dated
12/17/2005: “These are the last words in
the entire Bible and some of them are right from the lips of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The first thing learned from
verse twenty is that the Words that John has written in this letter are true,
they can be trusted for after all this is the Revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ then says
that He is coming quickly and John’s response to that is Amen, Come Lord
Jesus. The word quickly seems to mean
that when the events are right for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ that it
will be done quickly. The word “Amen” is
an interesting word and I will now give a quote as to what this very famous
word means: “The word ‘amen’ is a most remarkable word. It was
transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament,
then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is
practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human
speech. The word is directly related—in fact, almost identical—to the Hebrew
word for ‘believe’ (amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean ‘sure’ or
‘truly,’ an expression of absolute trust and confidence.” (HMM)
“The letter and the Bible ends with a statement of the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and John writes that this grace be with all and
ends with the word Amen. The word grace
has this meaning: “Of the merciful kindness by
which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps,
strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and
kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.”
I begin once again with the words that appear at the
beginning of the last Main point entitled “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with
all. Amen.” (22:13-16, 18-21)
“Surrounding the invitation in verse 17 are four
incentives for sinners to accept it:
because of the Lord’s Person, because of the exclusivity of heaven,
because of the truthfulness of Scripture, and because of the certainty of the
Savior’s return.” So in this last SD on
the book of Revelation it is only fitting that we look at the certainty of the
Lord’s return, for after all that is one of the great themes of the book of
Revelation.
Now as believers we love the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ as Paul writes to his beloved son in the faith, and he writes it in his
final letter found in the NT, so we can believe that because it was written
then that it was most important to him.
He writes in 2 Timothy 4:8 “in the future there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me,
but also to all who have loved His appearing.” However Peter writes in his last letter the
following “and saying, "Where
is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all
continues just as it was from the beginning of creation’ (2 Peter 3:4).” We now that Peter did not believe this but
was writing of scoffers who were mocking the return of the Lord Jesus and they
were the ones saying this. However
things will not continue as they are and we who have followed the writings of
John in the book of Revelation know what will happen and as we look back on the
events that will take place we know that things will not remain the same as
they have been.
The return of Jesus Christ is imminent, just as
Revelation along with the rest of the New Testament teaches.
We will conclude our study from the book of Revelation
with the final quote from John MacArthur’s commentary: “For the glorious, comforting truth is that
those who humble themselves and accept God’s offer of salvation will find Him
gracious. Fittingly, the last words of
the Bible, ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen,’ are an expression of God’s grace
toward fallen humanity. The Lord of
glory, as He promised in Scripture, offers heaven exclusively to those who, in
light of His certain return, accept His gracious invitation and return to Him.” Now the book goes back on my shelf and I
await the commentaries on the book of John so that I can begin that study in the
very near future.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful for
the teaching of not only the book of Revelation, but the entire NT, that teach that the Lord Jesus Christ will
soon return to take His bride home to be with Him. I am thankful for the wonderful grace that
God has given to me, and not me alone but all who have believed that the Lord
Jesus Christ died on the cross for them and have invited Him into their lives
to live with them forever.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord that the Spiritual Diaries
that I have put onto my blog will bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Moses and Elias, or Elijah”
(Luke 9:30).”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Let us go up at
once, and possess it; for we are well aboe to overcome it’?”
Answer in our next SD
11/22/2015 8:12 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment