SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2024 8:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Selection by the Angels”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 24:31
Message of the verse: “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.”
I think that a study of angels is something that is
worthwhile for all believers to do as they certainly are important for the work
of the Lord. It is my opinion that the
Lord created all the angels shortly before He created the earth and the stars,
and the reason that I say that is because Lucifer was one of the top angels
that God created and he then turned into Satan and then one third of the angels
followed him, and that was the first part of the mess that we as humans find ourselves
in. It was Satan who then tempted Eve
and she and Adam then fell and that is also the reason that we are in the mess
that we find ourselves in now because of sin.
Angels are used of God in judgment as we see and will continue to see in
the Word of God.
MacArthur begins his comments on this section by writing “After
the unrepentant ungodly have been judged and destroyed, and the repentant
mourners have trusted in Christ and been saved, He will send forth His angels
with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect. Among their other responsibilities, angels are
God’s gatherers. In that day they will
be used to gather unbelievers for judgment and punishment (Matt. 13:41, 49) and
believers for reward and glory.” Let us
look at these two verses from Matthew 13 “"The
Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom
all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,” (41). “"So it will be at the end of the age;
the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,”
(49).
Another subject to look at in the Word of God is a
study of the trumpet as it is used for different purposes, and the most
exciting time the trumpet is used in my opinion is found if 1 Thessalonians
where we read “16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the
Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words” (4:16-17).
Now referring to what is going on here in Matthew
24:31 we see that the trumpet is being used to announce important convocations,
and the sound of the angel’s great trumpet wall signal the assembling of all
God’s saints on earth, from wherever they might be, from the four winds, from
one end of the sky to the other. MacArthur
concludes by writing “Many of them will doubtless still be hiding in caves
fearful for their lives. The gathered
ones will include the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, their converts, and the
converts of the angelic preachers. They
will include the Old Testament saints, gathered out of their graves and joined
with their redeemed spirits. Those will
be a assembled together before Christ and ushered into the glory of His eternal
kingdom.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It seems to me that a number of things are
going on in my life at this time as the Lord has drawn my thoughts to the
end-times in my studies of Matthew 24, a chapter that is all about the end
times along with chapter 25, and this just happens to be where I am at this
time in my study of Matthew. On my other
blog I am posting my study of the book of Daniel, also much about the
end-times. In my Sunday school class I
am teaching through the book of Zechariah, which also has the theme of the
end-times in it. The Lord used the
end-times messages almost 50 years ago to bring me to a saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ and it has always been very important for me to study it as I
study the Word of God.
I
look at what is going on in the Middle East at this time and I see many of the
important players being involved in a war that was started by Iran, I see the
most important player, Israel involved in this war. I see Russia aliening itself with Iran,
something that the Bible talks about that will happen during the end
times. What does all of this mean? I hope and pray that it means that the
Rapture of the church is very close to happening. Think about for a moment if the rapture were
to happen very shortly. This event will
cause much chaos in the world as millions of people will just disappear. In my opinion it will cause a halt to what is
going on in the Middle East at this time.
What then could happen is that a ruler from the Old Roman Empire could
step in and begin to settle things down by signing a peace treaty with Israel
as Daniel 9 speaks of which will begin the last seven years of man ruling on
planet earth, for at the end of those seven years the Lord will return to set
up His Kingdom for 1000 years. Like a
Pastor I once had where he said “I am looking for the Upper Taker and not the
undertaker” which is what I am also looking for especially as things in the
Middle East are happening at this time.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the
Lord’s perfect timing in all of this!!
1/19/2024 8:49 AM
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