SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/11/2015
9:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1Immediate Obedience
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
22:7
Message of the
verse: “7 “And behold, I am coming
quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.’”
First I want to quote what I wrote on December 5, 2005
from verses six and seven of Revelation chapter twenty-two: “The angel who was speaking to John tells him
that all of these words are faithful and true.
I believe that the angel is talking about this entire letter that John
was writing down as he was instructed to do so.
There are some who do not believe what is said in this letter, or they
try to spiritualize it and thus take away the meaning that it was intended to
have. Just because one cannot understand
it does not mean that they have the right to disregard it of make it into
something that it is not. There is no
one on this earth who has ever understood all that is in the Bible, but that
does not mean that we should not study it, for the writers of the Bible did not
always understand what they were writing, but they wrote it down because they
were told to do it by God or one of His angels.
Daniel is a good example of this because he actually writes about this,
saying that he did not understand what he had seen or was told to write down,
but one of the angels told him not to worry about it for there would be a day
when all that he wrote would come to pass and would be understood.
‘John uses the word “soon” in verse six and “quickly” in
verse seven and if one looks at that word in the way that it is used in the
English language they might think that it has been over 1900 years since John
penned this letter and that surely is not quickly or soon, however I have read
that these words mean that once the prophecies began to take place the sequence
would happen rapidly.
“The angel also said in verse seven that those who would
heed the words of this prophecy would be blessed. The readers of this book were also told in
the beginning of it that those who read this would receive a special
blessing. This is more evidence that
this book should be read and studied and followed and not just put away and not
looked at.”
The first word in verse seven is the word “and” (Kai) in the Greek and this means a
change in speakers. The speaker is no
longer the angel, but the Lord Jesus Christ who is speaking at this point, and
he is the One who is coming quickly.
What the Lord says is the sixth of seven beatitudes found in the book of
Revelation, others found in verse 14; 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; and 20:6. “Blessed is he who heeds the words of this
prophecy of this book,” is what the Lord says to John to write, and this is the
third time that this book of Revelation is called prophecy, see verses 10, 18,
and 19 for others. John MacArthur writes
“Though prophecy by definition can refer to any message about the past,
present, or future, the Apocalypse is a book largely consisting of future predictions,
and promises. ‘Heeds’ translated a
participial form of the verb tereo,
which means ‘to keep,’ ‘to hold fast,’ or ‘to guard.’ The same term is used in 14:12 to describe ‘the
perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in
Jesus.’”
What does this mean to us? Believers are to guard or protect the book of
Revelation. Now that may sound simple in
our day where we have it on computers, smart phones, and other digital devices,
but in John’s day when the only way to copy the book was with pen and parchment
making sure that all the words are correct was a different story. As believers we are to defend it against
those who would want to criticize it.
Paul write the following to his son in the faith, Timothy “Guard what
has been entrusted to you….Retain te standard of sound words which you have
heard from me, in the fait and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in
us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you’ (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim.
1:13-14).”
There is another thing that we as believers are to do and
that is to obey the Word of God as Jesus spoke to His disciples: “"If you love Me, you will keep My
commandments.” “"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love;
just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” “21
"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me;
and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will
disclose Myself to him.’” “23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone
loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come
to him and make Our abode with him.”
(John 14:15; John 15:10; John 14:21, 23)
John writes the following in his first letter “3 By this
we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one
who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (1 John 2:3-4).”
Now we look at 1 John 5:2-3 “2 By this we know that we
love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For
this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments
are not burdensome.”
There is a question as to what words in the book of
Revelation are we as believers to follow or to heed for before this command,
there are no specific commands addressed to Christians in the portion of the
Apocalypse covering future events (chapters 4-22), though there are some
addressed to the seven churches found in chapters 2-3. We will look to our next SD to find the
answers to this question.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Jesus tells us
that if we love Him we will keep His commandments, and so when I don’t keep His
commandments then I suppose that I am not showing love to Him and this I don’t
like.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Keep His commandments by the power of His
Holy Spirit.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Herod” (Acts 12:1-2).
Today’s Bible question: “What does the Bible declare is the beginning
of wisdom?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/11/2015 10:20 AM
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