Thursday, September 29, 2016

The Lord Jesus will Visibly Appear (Zech. 14:3-7)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2016 9:34 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  The Lord will Visibly Appear

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Zechariah 14:3-7

            Message of the verses:  “3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.”

            I want to begin this SD by looking at Acts 1:9-12 “9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."  12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.”  Ok the reason that we look at this section from Acts chapter one is because actually what Zechariah wrote before this event will happen a long time after the event in Acts chapter one.  Now when we look at Revelation chapter 19 we will also see the return of Jesus to planet earth.  These two angels told the disciples of Jesus that He would return in the same way that He left, and that is that His foot will set down on the Mount of Olives and once it sets down there the mountain will split to form a valley as Zechariah tells us in this passage.  I have mentioned that when Israel was looking for oil in this very district that the geologists found out that there was a great fault found under the Mount of Olives and they said there could be an earthquake there at anytime, but we know that it will happen when the foot of Jesus touches down there at the end of the Tribulation period.

            Let us look at a couple of more sections now, first Isaiah 29:6 which says “From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.”  Now Revelation 19:18-19 “18  so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great." 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.”  When Jesus returns the armies who were doing battle against each other will then turn their arms against the Lord Jesus Christ as seen in this section from Revelation.

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that “The Lord is a man of war” sang the Jews after they were delivered from Egypt (Ex. 1 5:3), but this aspect of Christ’s character and ministry is ignored, if not opposed, by people today.  In their quest for world peace, some denominations have removed the ‘militant songs’ from their hymnals, so that a new generation is growing up knowing nothing about ‘fighting the good fight of faith’ or worshiping a Savior who will one day meet the nations of the world in battle (Rev. 19:11-21).”  These people who are doing this miss what the Bible teaches when it teaches about the attributes of God of which they were all seen at the cross of Christ.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section by writing “Our God has been long-suffering toward the nations, but one day He will meet them in battle and triumph over them.” 

            One of the problems of living in a country where you can worship in freedom is that you, at times do not rely on the Lord to help you get through difficult situations like situations that happen to people who have lived in countries where being a believer in Jesus Christ could cost you your life.  Our nation is at the cross-roads of becoming like those nations where naming the name of Jesus could cost you your freedom and eventually your life.  My prayer is that God will have mercy on us, and that if He does that all believers will live like they are thankful for His mercy and live for the Lord in ways that they have not for too long of a time.

9/29/2016 9:59 PM

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