God Pronounces the Sentence PT-7A Hosea 9:10-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/4/2015 9:05 PM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  God Pronounces the Sentence PT-7A

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hosea 9:10-17

            Message of the verses:  “10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, And they became as detestable as that which they loved.  11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird- No birth, no pregnancy and no conception! 12 Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them until not a man is left. Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them! 13 Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pleasant meadow like Tyre; But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter. 14 Give them, O LORD-what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15 All their evil is at Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels. 16 Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, They will bear no fruit. Even though they bear children, I will slay the precious ones of their womb. 17 My God will cast them away Because they have not listened to Him; And they will be wanderers among the nations.”

            We will just look at these verses from chapter nine in this SD and then in our next SD from Hosea we will look at the ten verses in chapter ten.  We see that the theme of these verses along with chapter ten is about agriculture, which is surely something that Israel was very familiar with and we know that the Lord uses things that His children are familiar with to make points to them, to cause them to see spiritual things.

            As Hosea begins this section he reviews things from the past, things that should cause Israel to remember when life was good as they all worshiped the Lord.  In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this section he states that it is hard to find grapes in the desert, but as I think back from my studies in the book of Numbers I remember that it was Israel’s idea to send twelve spies into the Promised Land to spy out the people of the land and I also remember them needing two men to carry some of the grapes that were found there.  Hosea next speaks of the early fruit from a fig tree.  In two of the gospels we see that the Lord cursed a fig tree because there was no fruit on it and spiritually speaking He was doing this to Israel for there was at best, little fruit with them as God always has a remnant who will produce fruit.  The early fruit that Israel was producing was so much better than what was going on in the days of Hosea.

            Remember back in the book of Numbers when King Balak was using Baalam to curse Israel but God would not let him do it.  Later on Balak and Baalam introduced Israel to Baal, and later on in the lives of the nation of Israel Baal worship became very prevalent in their lives, and this is one of the main reasons that God was about to destroy the Northern Kingdom. 

            In verse thirteen we see that Hosea reminds the people that God had planted them in a very good place, but because of their idol worship they polluted the land with those idols and now they must suffer the bitter harvest of what they had sown.  Dr. Wiersbe offers this end note:  “The adults sin and the children have to suffer: ‘Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderers’ (9:13 KJV).  When Hosea speaks in verse 14, he asks God to keep the women from having children so they won’t be murdered.  He is pleading for mercy for the innocent.  See our Lord’s words in Luke 23:29.”  “"For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ’Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’”

7/4/2015 9:28 PM

Program of the False Prophet PT-2 (Rev. 13:15-18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/4/2015 7:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Program of the False Prophet PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 13:15-18

            Message of the verses:  “15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

            Today’s SD picks up at the highlighted portion of verse seventeen where we see that the mark has to do with the name of the beast or the number of his name.  There seems to be with Antichrist some kind of numbering system, although the exact identification of that phrase is not clear.  MacArthur writes “What is clear is that everyone will be required to have the identifying mark or suffer the consequences.”

            John begins verse eighteen with the phrase “Here is wisdom” and this could well mean that people have to weigh the benefits and or the consequences of having this mark on them.  On one hand you will be able to eat and work and buy and sell if you have it, but on the other hand we will see that those who accept this mark will never be saved, so indeed this does take wisdom on the parts of those alive during this time period of the Tribulation. 

            As we look at the remaining portion of the eighteenth verse we read “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six,” we know that is a difficult portion of Scripture to understand.  John MacArthur writes “Perhaps no detail in Revelation has intrigued people more than this number.  There has been no end to the speculation as to its significance and how to calculate it.  In Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, letters had numerical equivalents, and a myriad of schemes to associate the names of historical individuals with the number 666 have been put forth.  Nero, Caligula, Domitian, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and a host of others have been proposed, based on some sort of convoluted mathematical rendering of the letters in their name.  All such speculation is futile; since the Antichrist is still to come, the number 666 cannot be associated with any historical individual.  The church father Irenaeus cautioned against speculating about the identity of the person associated with the number 666 until that person arrives on the scene.  Robert L. Thomas gives a very reasonable perspective:  ‘The better part of wisdom is to be content that the identification is not yet available, but will be when the future false Christ ascends to his throne.  The person to whom 666 applies must have been future to John’s time, because John clearly meant the number to be recognizable to someone.  If it was not discernible to his generation and those immediately following him—and it was not—the generation to whom it will be discernible must have lain (and still lies) in the future.  Past generations have provided many illustrations of this future personage, but all past candidates have proven inadequate as fulfillments.  Christians from generation to generation may manifest the same curiosity as the prophets of old regarding their own prophecies, but their curiosity will remain unsatisfied until the time of fulfillment arrives.” 

            Now at this time I want to give a quote from my Spiritual Diary from August 23, 2005, and the portion I want to quote is from the “Spiritual meaning for my life today:  First I am not sure that anyone will understand who this antichrist is or second, what this number 666 means before the rapture of the Church. This being said it seems to me that it could be a waste of time trying to figure this out, and as Pastor Burns once said that we as believers should be looking for the return of Christ and not the antichrist.  I think that one of the things that I can take away from these verses is that if I do not keep in the Word of God each day reading it, and studying it that it is possible that I can get into some wrong situations, not as bad as the ones described in these verses, but things that can take me off of the focus to become more like my Savior and Lord.”  Pastor Ralph Burns, who is now with the Lord, was my first Pastor that I had after receiving Christ as my Savior and Lord and I thank the Lord for this godly man.

            We need to understand that this verse says that this number, 666, is a number of a man.  The number seven is the number of perfection, thus it is God’s number, so since man fell short of perfection his number is six.  When we look at creation from the book of Genesis we see that man was created on the sixth day, and in Exodus we see that slaves were freed after six years of service, fields were to be sown for only six consecutive years as found in Lev. 25:3.  MacArthur writes “Repeating the number three times emphasizes that this is man’s number, just as the thrice-repeated statement ‘holy, holy, holy’ stresses God’s absolute holiness (4:8; Isa. 6:3).”

            Revelation 14:9-11 shows us what will happen to those who worship the beast and receive his number:  “9  Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11  "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."”

            In my Bible reading yesterday morning I read of the fate of the False Prophet, and it is the same as that of Antichrist:  “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone (Rev. 19:20).”

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on this section of Scripture and this will end our study of chapter thirteen:  “This sobering passage is not intended to be the source of fruitless speculation about its details.  Rather, it stands as a warning to the unbelieving world.  It also challenges believers to lead careful, watchful, godly lives (cf. 1 Pet. 4:7; 2 Pet. 3:11), and to evangelize a hopelessly lost world, headed for destruction.  Believers are to faithfully proclaim the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thereby rescue the souls of men and women from the disaster that looms just over the horizon.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to be able to tell others of the hope that is within me which is found in “1Pe 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to bring people onto my path who are ready to hear of the hope that lies within me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was Laban’s sister?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/4/2015 8:04 AM

 

 

 

 

 

The Program of the False Prophet (Rev. 12:15-18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/3/2015 8:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  The Program of the False Prophet PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 13:15-18

            Message of the verses:  “15  And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

            One of Satan’s strategies is to cause the governments of the world to have a law in which believers cannot follow.  When we look back at the third chapter of Daniel we see something similar in that a statute was made of King Nebuchadnezzar and everyone had to worship that statute or else they would die.  We read of a similar situation that will happen in the Tribulation Period from the verses that are in our text for today.  Now as we look at current events in our country we see something similar that just happened a week ago for now true believer who is walking with the Lord can believe that the Supreme Court in our country did the right thing in ruling that homosexual marriage is the right thing as the Bible speaks out against it from the very first chapters of the Bible when God created a man and a woman and then married them.  He completely destroyed a society because of this very act as we read latter on in Genesis. 

            Ok back to our verses in Revelation and I suppose that verse eighteen of chapter thirteen of the book of Revelation is a verse that even causal readers of the Bible know about for in it we have the famous number: 666.  I don’t think we will get that far today, but we will look at it soon to see exactly what we believe this verse means, but first we need to begin with verse fifteen.

            We have seen in our study of the OT prophets and also from our study in the book of Psalms that when they spoke of idols they would say that they have mouths but they do not speak, well this idol we are looking at in verse fifteen is different than all the other idols for the false prophet will somehow make it speak for we read that he “will give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak.”  John MacArthur writes “Breath translates pneuma, not zoe or bios, the Greek words normally translated life.  The false prophet will animate the image of Antichrist so that it gives the appearance of being alive.  With today’s amazing special effects technology and robotics, that is not out of the realm of possibility.  Add to that the world’s desperate need, amid the carnage of the Tribulation, to believe in a death conqueror, and the ruse become very believable.” 

            Now as I spoke of in the beginning of this SD the false prophet will then make it law that those “who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”  When we go back to the sixth chapter of Revelation we saw that there were souls under the altar who had been slain for the cause of Christ, and probably many of those who have been slain were done so because of their refusing of worshiping the statute of the beast.  Remember in chapters 12-14 we go back and look at the Tribulation Period from the perspective of the Antichrist.  However we know that not all believers would be killed from this as there will be many who go into the Millennial Kingdom alive.  However it is the goal of Satan to kill all believers and all Jews so that the promised Kingdom for Israel will not take place thus making God out to be a liar or One who cannot keep His promises.  This will not happen as God will always keep His promises.  When I began to read the “Left Behind” series they made a point that after the rapture happened that all those who were alive on planet earth only one out of four would live until the end of the Tribulation Period.  Many who do live through this time will not be believers and will then die through the judgment of Christ when He returns as described in Revelation chapter nineteen and also prophesied in Matthew chapter 25 from Christ Olivet Discourse where we read from “32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.’”

              We look at verse sixteen, a verse that speaks of the mark of the beast, and it tells us that if you don’t receive this mark that you will not be able to buy or sell anything, and this mark effects all classes of people as far as the rich and the poor, the free man and the slaves, all will be required to receive this mark and this is another way that Satan is causing a division between those who are believers, who will not receive this mark with unbelievers who will as Satan tires his best to kill all believers.  John MacArthur writes “Mark (charagma; from charasso, ‘I engrave’) was the term for images or names of the emperor on Roman coins.  In the ancient world, such marks (tattoos or brands) were commonly given to slaves, soldiers, and devotees of religious cults (cf. Gal. 6:17).  God sealed, with a mark on the forehead of the 144,000 to preserve them from His wrath against the unbelieving world (7:2-3); the false prophet marks the unsaved to preserve them from Antichrist’s wrath against God’s people.  The mark will signify that the person bearing it is a worshiper and loyal follower of the Antichrist.  In much the same way, the Roman emperors required their subjects to prove their loyalty by offering sacrifices to Caesar.  Those who refused, like those who refuse to take the Antichrist’s mark, were subject to execution.”

            I will conclude this SD with a quote that John MacArthur makes from a man who lived under Bulgaria’s communist regime, which is actually quoted in the commentary of W. A. Criswell on the book of Revelation:  the  man states “You cannot understand and you cannot know that the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised is an innocent ration card.  You cannot buy and you cannot sell except according to that little, innocent card.  If they please, you can be starved to death, and if they please, you can be disposed of everything you have; for you cannot trade, and you cannot buy and you cannot sell, without permission.”  MacArthur continues “The pressure to give in to the worship of Antichrist will be far worse than anything ever experienced in human history.  Life will be virtually unlivable, so the people are forced to bow to the demonized king, not prompted merely by religious deception, but also by economic necessity.”  Just a note that those of us living in today’s society realize that there is now a chip that can be implanted under the skin that can be scanned to see all information about a person, and many believe that this is a forerunner of this mark spoken of in verse sixteen.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It takes a lot of faith in the Lord to do the things that are right in life, to realize that this is not my home for I am just passing through to realize that we are not human beings going through a spiritual existence, but spiritual beings going through a human existence.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to see me through the trying times that we live in and that I will be a bright light in the ever darkening place that I live in.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Peter” (Matthew 18:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Jesus go to be tempted by the devil?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/3/2015 9:48 AM  

God Pronounces the Sentence PT-6 (Hosea 8:11-9:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2015 9:53 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  God Pronounces the Sentence PT-6

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Hosea 8:11-9:9

            Message of the verses:  “11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him. 12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, They are regarded as a strange thing. 13 As for My sacrificial gifts, They sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their iniquity, And punish them for their sins; They will return to Egypt. 14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

    “1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations! For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor. 2 Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, And the new wine will fail them. 3 They will not remain in the LORD’S land, But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And in Assyria they will eat unclean food. 4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD, Their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will be like mourners’ bread; All who eat of it will be defiled, For their bread will be for themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the LORD. 5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the feast of the LORD? 6 For behold, they will go because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns will be in their tents.

   “7 The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great. 8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God. 9 They have gone deep in depravity As in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins.”

            The sub-title which we are looking at in this SD is entitled “Egyptian Bondage.”  I have highlighted those sections which speak of Egypt in this section of Hosea.

            When we do a search of the word “Egypt” in the book of Hosea we will find it is there thirteen times and it is broken up into three categories.  The past—The exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt as seen in (2:15; 11:1; 12:9, 13; and 13:4.  The present—Israel’s the unholy alliances with Egypt as seen in 7:11, 16; and 12:1.  The future—Egypt as a symbol of their impending bondage to Assyria and this is seen in 813; 9:3, 6, 11:5, and 11.  As we look over our text for this SD we will see that three times the prophet announces that they shall go to Egypt and this is a symbol for Assyrian bondage:  “He shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrians shall be his king” as seen in the NKJV of the Bible.

            Hosea contrasts the Exodus from Egypt with the impending “Exodus” into bondage that will take them to Assyria which is seen as the new Egypt.  When Israel left Egypt in the exodus they had not yet received the Law nor did they have the tabernacle and all of its systems of worship and sacrifices.  We know that by the time of Hosea that the Jews have had known of the Law and all of the sacrificial systems that were in place.  The problem was that they rejected the Law of the Lord and they also allowed the priesthood to be contaminated.  Verse 11 in the NIV reads as follows “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin, offerings, these have become altars for sinning.” 

            We have already learned that Israel did not call upon the Lord for help when the Assyrians were about to attack them, but they put their trust in the nations around them and in their idols. 

7/2/2015 10:18 PM

The Power of the False Prophet (Rev. 13:12-14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2015 9:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Power of the False Prophet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 13:12-14

            Message of the verses:  “12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.”

            I suppose that this will come up a bit later but I want to focus in on the part of having the fatal wound of the Antichrist healed and as some believe was brought back to life again.  I know we have been over this before, but I believe that my opinion has changed a bit and one of the reasons that it has changed is that we read in verse fourteen that “he deceives those who dwell on the earth.”  Deception is one of Satan’s main ploys, and so it will also be what the Antichrist and the False Prophet will use and what better deception would there be than to fake a resurrection from the dead of the Antichrist.  Another thing that has caused me to change my mind is that Satan brings about death, for he has from the beginning of human history.  God told Adam and Eve that if they would eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they would die but Satan deceived them into eating from that tree and they died spiritually which caused all of their offspring to also die spiritually, and eventually they died physically, and all of this was because of Satan deceiving them which caused death.  Now on the other hand our Lord Jesus Christ is life as John writes in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  When a person trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins He gives them spiritual life which is eternal life so Christ gives life and Satan gives death so unless the Lord allows Satan to resurrect the Antichrist I don’t believe that he actually dies.

            Now in verse twelve we see that although it seems that the false prophet is a bit tamer than the Antichrist we read that “He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.”  MacArthur writes “What is being said here is that the false prophet will exercise the same kind of demonic power and authority as the Antichrist does, since both are empowered by the same hellish source.  That he ‘exercises’ his authority in Antichrist’s ‘presence’ implies that Antichrist will have delegated that ‘authority’ to him.  The false prophet’s mission will be to use all the means available to him from the Antichrist to cause ‘the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.’  He will lead the worldwide cult of Antichrist worship.”

            We have already discussed what goes on at the end of verse twelve which states “whose fatal wound was healed.” 

            Now at this point I want to look at a portion of what I wrote on the 20^th of August of 2005 when I studied verses 12-13 of Revelation chapter thirteen:  “This second beast, the false prophet, will have the authority of the first beast, the antichrist.  He is going to be like a puppet to the first beast.  One of his jobs will be to cause the “earth dwellers” to worship the first beast and one of the ways to get their attention will be to perform signs so that these earth dwellers will believe that these two beasts have actually come from God or in fact are god.  As stated before these two are a part of the unholy trinity, with the Devil making up the third part, and that the false prophet was going to imitate the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does His work to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and in a sense this is what this false prophet is doing for antichrist.  Satan is not original, but has always wanted to be like God Himself. 

            “When Jesus was upon the earth the Pharisees would ask Him on more than one occasion to perform a sign to prove who He was and He would not do it.  This false prophet will perform signs to show the world who the antichrist and he are and the world will follow them all the way into hell.  2Thessolonians 2:9-12 gives more insight into the signs the false prophet will perform:  “9 This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.  10 He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them.  11 So God will send great deception upon them, and they will believe all these lies.  12 Then they will be condemned for not believing the truth and for enjoying the evil they do.”

            Now as far as Satan being able to perform these signs we only have to go back to the book of Exodus and see how Satan used two of Pharaoh’s magicians to cause a rod to turn into a snake, but in the end the staff of Moses also turned into a snake and swallowed up the snake of these false prophets.  2 Timothy 3:8-9 says “8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9  But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.”  It is believed that Paul is naming the two men Pharaoh used in the incident with the rod and the snake.

            We have recently studied the two witnesses from Revelation chapter eleven and it is possible that the false prophet is imitation these two wittiness for we read in chapter 11:5 “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”  Now verse 13:13 says of the false prophet “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.”  John MacArthur writes “The present tense of poieo (makes) suggests that he will repeatedly perform this supernatural act ‘in the presence of men’ to impress them with his power.  God has often demonstrated His supernatural power by sending fire from heaven (cf. 11:5; Gen. 19:24; Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Kings 18:38; 2 Kings 1:9-12; 1 Chron. 21:26; 2 Chron. 7:1).  Satan’s henchman will perform a similar sign, but his will be one of the ‘false wonders’ (2 Thess. 2:9) that will lure unbelievers to their doom.”

            Let us look at a couple of verses from the gospels to show that Jesus said that this kind of thing would happen:  Matt. 24:5, 11, and 24 “5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ’I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”  “11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.”  “24  "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  Now we will look at Mark 13:6 “6 “Many will come in My name, saying, ’I am He!’ and will mislead many.”  John MacArthur writes the following on the word deceives:  “Deceives is from planao, and means ‘to wander.’  It forms the root of the English word planet, since the planets appear to wander through the heavens.  The world will be utterly vulnerable to his deception during the Tribulation.  There will be unparalleled disasters and unimaginable horrors, leaving people desperate for answers.  Having rejected the true gospel and blasphemed the true God (cf. 16:9, 11), the unbelieving world will be eager to believe the deceiving lies propagated by the false prophet.”  ( I think that many people in our country are believing a pack of lies at this time as well.)

            Now we have looked at the phrase “those who dwell on the earth” and it appears seven times in the book of Revelation, and we have discussed that this means unbelievers so those who are being deceived are unbelievers.  Mark 13:22 states “for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”  True believers will not be deceived by what the false prophet is doing.

            As we see the power of the Antichrist and now the false prophet grow we will then see that the world will be ready to worship the Antichrist as being god, and this is what Satan has always wanted to be worshiped.  MacArthur concludes “The world will engage in the most shocking, blatant idolatry ever seen.  Like Nebuchadnezzar before him (Dan. 3), but on a global scale, Antichrist, aided by the false prophet, will set up a statue of himself as a symbol of his deity and worldwide worship.  This blasphemous image will probably be set up on the temple grounds in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Thess. 2:4) and will be connected with the abomination of desolation (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15).  It will be a tribute to the awesome power of Antichrist, ‘who had the wound of the sword and has come to life’ (cf. vv. 3, 12), to seemingly conquer death.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to know the truth of what is going to happen in the end times as the Bible has laid out for us in the book of Revelation and other books as well, but we as believers need to share this truth with those God brings into out path, especially in the times we are living in today in the USA.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to trust the Lord as we go through these difficult times in our country, and to continue to pray for our country, and continue to tell others the truth found in the pages of Scripture.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Lighting.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him’?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/2/2015 9:58 AM

 

God Pronounces the Sentence PT's 3-5 (Hosea 8:8-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2015 10:06 PM

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  God Pronounces the Sentence PT’s-3-5

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hosea 8:8-10

            Message of the verses:  Since I have missed a few nights looking at the book of Hosea I thought that I would look at some more verses than I would usually look at and also give a reminder of what we are looking at.  The main point we are looking at is “God Pronounces the Sentence” and Dr. Wiersbe points out that we are looking at a “number of familiar images to show the people what God would do to them because of their sin.”  We have looked at the first two images from chapter eight in our last two SD’s on Hosea and we want to look at the next three in our SD for today.

            Worthless pottery (Hosea 8:8):  “8 Israel is swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.”  “8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure (KJV).”

            It was a sad state of affairs that Israel was in when one of you prophets tells you that you are like a worthless piece of pottery that no one has any delight in you.  Their compromises, as they went to other nations to get help instead of trusting the Lord and then all of their idol worshiping caused them to become an outcast not only with God but also among the nations around them.

            A stupid donkey (Hosea 8:9a):  “For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:”  “For they have gone up to Assyria /like/ a wild donkey going off on its own. (HCSB)

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Israel wanted to be a part of the alliances that were forming to fight Assyria, but she was actually very much alone.  She was like a dumb animal that had lost its way in the wilderness.  Israel had forsaken her God, and she had been forsaken by her allies, so she was abandoned to face a terrible future alone.”

            A Prostitute (Hosea 9:b-10):  “Ephraim has hired lovers. 10  Even though they hire allies among the nations, Now I will gather them up; And they will begin to diminish Because of the burden of the king of princes.”  “Ephraim has sold herself to lovers. 10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king. (NIV)

            When Israel was in trouble she began to pay other nations to care for her including the Assyrians who eventually destroyed her.  Israel did not want the Lord to help her but she wanted help from the nations around her and also from the idols that she worshiped.  God hand only one alternative and that was to allow the Assyrians to destroy her. 

            We have two longer sub-points to look at and I hope to do them in the next two days.

7/1/2015 10:28 PM

The Person of the False Prophet (Rev. 13:11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2015 7:35 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  Who is the False Prophet?

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Revelation 13:11

            Message of the verse:  “11Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.”

            First I want to mention that I do not attempt to name who this false prophet will be, but just look at his personhood.  Next we want to look at the word “another” to see what that word means.  John MacArthur writes “Some view this second beast as an institution, a form of government, or an ideology.  But the use of allos (another of the same kind) indicates that he, like the first beast, will be a person.  Further proof of that comes from 19:20 ‘And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the sings in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.’”  Now we see from this verse that what the Bible is talking about is a person, and it also named him as the “false prophet” in Rev. 19:20.

            When we were looking at the Antichrist (the first beast) he came up out of the sea as seen in 13:1, however this second beast comes up out of the earth.  Now he too will be indwelt with the power of a demon who is out of the abyss.  As we have been studying at the book of Revelation we have learned that there will come a time when there will be demons who are let out of the abyss as they had been kept there because of what they had done earlier on in the history of the world.  We have also seen that Satan and his demon hoard has lost a battle with Michael and has been kicked out of heaven for good so they are now on the earth, and we couple this with what we will learn that the false prophet does we have to believe that he is indwelt with a powerful demon similar to what Antichrist is indwelt with.  John MacArthur writes the following about coming up out of the earth:  “That the false prophet arises from the earth suggests that he will be subtler, gentler, less overpowering and terrifying than the Antichrist.  He will be winsome and persuasive, the epitome of the wolves in sheep’s clothing Jesus warned of (Matt. 7:15).”

            Let’s look again at the description of Antichrist in 13:1-2 “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”  Now we look again at the description of the false prophet from Rev. 13:2b “and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.”  This false prophet is different than the Antichrist, by what he does and how he does it through being a deceiver, but is subtle in doing this.  I suppose you could say he was a “con man.” 

            Both the Antichrist and the false prophet are products of hell, make no mistake about that for we see that the false prophet speaks as a dragon which is a strange voice for a lamb to have.  What we have here is that he will be Satan’s mouthpiece speaking the words Satan wants him to speak.  We can see this in our own government today as there are a person behind the scenes who do not have the ability to speak, but help put someone in power who has the ability to speak the words of the one who helps them get elected. 

            John MacArthur concludes “False prophets often appear meek, mild, and harmless.  They offer hope and solutions to the problems troubling men and women.  Yet they are ever the voices of hell, and when they open their mouths. Satan speaks.  So it will be amid the unspeakable horrors of the Tribulation.  The false prophet will come like a lamb, speaking false, deceptive words of comfort.  He will promise the suffering, tormented people of the world that all will be well if only they will worship Antichrist.  But those who fall for his subtle lies will face the terrifying judgment of God (cf. 14:9-11; 16:2).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  During my prayer time I pray for wisdom for myself and also for my Pastors each day.  Here is what I pray “Wisdom:  I Pray that the Lord will give our pastors, and myself wisdom in all of the decisions that we have to make today.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”   “I’m putting on the belt of truth.  I ask You to make it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to reject.  Help me to see clearly the motives of others as they deal with me and converse with me.  Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to Your plans and purposes for my life.”  The last part is a quote from a book written by Charles Stanley in a book he wrote about Satan.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord even though things in our country are not going well at this time, but remembering that God will never leave us nor forsake us and He is sovereign who has a plan and nothing will stop His plan from being completed.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Christians” (Acts 11:26).

Today’s Bible question:  “According to Matthew 24:27, with what is the coming of Christ compared”

Answer in our next SD.

7/1/2015 8:11 AM