Introduction to Revelation Nine

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/24/2015 10:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  Introduction to Revelation Nine

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 9:1-12

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4  They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. 6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. 7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. 10 They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. 11 They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12 The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.”

            Revelation 9:1-12 are the verses that we will be looking at over the next few days as they describe the fifth trumpet judgment which as you remember is the first of three “woes” as described by the angel in Revelation 8:13.  As we look at this judgment we will see that the “star from heaven which had fallen to earth” is none other than Satan himself.  Let us first look at Isaiah 14:12-15 which speaks of Satan’s fall “12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”  I wrote the following about these verses on August 13, 2013 “As far as this passage speaking about Satan I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe:  “The highest of God’s angels tried to usurp the throne of God and capture for himself the worship that belongs to God (Matthew 4:8-10).  The name ‘Lucifer’ (‘morning star’) indicates that Satan tries to imitate Jesus Christ, who is ‘the bright and morning star’ (Rev. 22:16).  ‘I will be like the Most High’ reveals his basic strategy, for he is an imitator (Isa. 14:14; 2 Cor. 11:13-15).  Like the king of Babylon, Satan will one day be humiliated and defeated.  He will be cast out of heaven (Rev. 12) and finally cast into hell (20:10).”

            In the beginning of his commentary on this chapter John MacArthur goes through a brief history of what Satan has done since he fell sometime after he was created by God.  It is not known exactly how long it took for Satan to fall, but I would think that it was in a very short time after his creation as the most beautiful and highest ranking angel that God created.  In my study of the book “The Battle for the Beginning” which was written by John MacArthur he stated that Satan probably fell very quickly after being created and also that his belief was that the angels were all created shortly before God created the earth.  Some have even suggested that God created the earth to show the angels who did not fallen Satan of His goodness and grace, but I am not sure that this was the reason at all as to why God created the earth. 

            Let us look very briefly at some of the things that Satan has done since his fall as described in our Isaiah passage.  The first thing would be that he took one third of the angels with him to following him in his quest to overtake the Lord.  Next we see that he tempted and caused Adam and Eve to fall and the result was that sin entered into the human race.  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).”  After the fall of man we read the following in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."”  This is the first promise that God gives of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.

            In Satan’s tormenting of righteous Job we see that he could not cause Job to fall back into the sinful life that he was before he became a believer.  What I am saying that once God saves a person he will always be saved even though at times he will continue to sin, his salvation stays with him forever. 

            Now the next item that I am going to write is controversial but in many ways makes perfect sense.  I will quote from John MacArthur’s commentary at this time:  “After the fall, God graciously promised a Savior who would come to destroy Satan and deliver people from his power (Gen. 3:15).  Satan countered by sending demons to cohabitate with human women, attempting to produce a hybrid demon/human race of people for whom the God-Man could not atone (Gen. 6:1-4).  In response, God destroyed that race and the whole sinful world in the powerful judgment of the universal Flood—the single greatest catastrophe the earth has yet seen.”  1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.  3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (Genesis 6:1-4).”  As I said this view is controversial but when you add other Scripture verses to it from 2 Peter and also Jude it does make sense to me.

            One of the things that Satan has done is to cause upheaval to the nation of Israel, the nation that God called to bring His Word and also the Living Word into the world.  As we have been studying through the OT we have seen the many things that Satan has tempted Israel to do right from the time when God first called them.  Abraham went to Egypt when he was not supposing to and brought back a handmaid for his wife whom he later fathered a son by thinking that this was God’s way of giving him a son.  That son has trouble to Israel even up to this day as he was the father of the twelve tribes of the Arabs.

            As we fast forward to the time when Christ came into the world we see that Satan tried to have him killed when He was born or at least when He was very young, and then when He grew up and began His ministry Jesus was tempted by Satan for 40 days in the wilderness.  Even though it was the will of God to have Jesus die on the cross Satan played a big part in it as he caused Judas to betray Him.  Satan also was given permission from the Lord to swift Peter like wheat and he betrayed Jesus three times but did repent and became a powerful leader in the church giving the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost.  Satan prompted Ananias and his wife Sapphira to corrupt the church by lying to the Holy Spirit as seen in the fifth chapter of Acts.  Satan hounded Paul hindering him with a “thorn in the flesh.”

            In order to preview what we will be looking at in these first twelve verses of chapter nine as we follow the outline of John MacArthur I want to quote from the last paragraph of his opening comments:  “Each of the first four trumpet judgments affect the physical universe in some way, but with the sounding of the fifth trumpet the focus will shift from the physical to the spiritual realm.  The traumatic events associated with that trumpet vision unfold in four scenes:  the pit unlocked, the power unleashed, the appearance unveiled, and the prince unmasked.”  It does indeed sound exciting to look at this fifth trumpet judgment, the first of three “woes.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I try to every morning put on the spiritual armor that God has graciously provided for every believer as found in Ephesians in order to stand:  “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”  It is very important for believers to know the schemes of the devil, and equally important to put on the spiritual armor.  Warren Wiersbe in his book “The Strategy of Satan writes on the spiritual armor a prayer that is an example to follow, but warns that we as believers must pray as we want to pray:  ““Father, thank you for the provision you have made for victory over Satan.  Now, by faith, I put on the girdle of truth.  May my life today be motivated by truth.  Help me to maintain integrity.  By faith, I put on the breastplate of righteousness.  May my heart love that which is righteous and refuse what is sinful.  Thank you for the imputed righteousness of Christ.  By faith, I take the shield of faith.  May I trust you and your Word today and not add fuel to any of Satan’s darts.  Thank you that I can go into this day without fear.  By faith, I put on the helmet of salvation.  May I remember today that Jesus is coming again.  Help me to live in the future tense.  Protect my mind from discouragement and despair.  By faith, I take the sword of the Spirit.  Help me to remember your Word and to use it today.  Father, by faith have put on the armor.  May this be a day of victory.”  Dr. Wiersbe adds “This is not a routine prayer, and I have not recorded it here so that you can memorize it and repeat it.  Rather, it is here to give you some idea of how we put on the pieces of the armor by faith, by prayer.  This is a private matter between you and the Lord.  I cannot tell you how to pray; but I can tell you that you had better pray.” 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The walls of Jericho fell” (Joshua 6:20).

Today’s Bible question:  “for how long was Saul without sight?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/24/2015 11:10 AM

 

During the Invasion PT-2 (Ezek. 39:1-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/23/2015 9:49 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  During the Invasion PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 39:1-8

            Message of the verses:  “1 "And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; 2 and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 “I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. 4 “You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. 5 “You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken," declares the Lord GOD. 6 “And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD. 7 “My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.  8 "Behold, it is coming and it shall be done," declares the Lord GOD. "That is the day of which I have spoken.”

            The more that I look at this passage and especially since I am also studying the book of Revelation, the more I think that this happens inside the Tribulation Period and not before the Tribulation Period, which is something I have already mentioned, but now it seems more clear to me. One of the reasons is because of the language that we find in this section things like because of this battle that the Lord causes to happen and as a result of it God receives glory, the people of Israel will know that He is God, and also the world will know that the Lord is God.  These are things that the Bible says will happen during the Tribulation Period which are in the last days as Ezekiel says that this will happen in.

            We see that God will led this army down into Israel and then will destroy them and we mentioned that one of the reasons that this will happen is because of the way that they have treated Israel, the apple of God’s eye. 

            One of the reasons that many people believe that Russia is involved in this and even heads this coalition up is because of the words “remotest parts of the north.”  I also mentioned that Rosh is the way that the Jews speak of Russia.  However there are many who believe that this prophecy speaks of only nations in the Middle East.  Keep in mind that whether or not the passage speaks of Russia or a Middle Eastern Country it only speaks of those who are against Israel and not true believers in Jesus Christ. 

            Like I said before God is going fishing and He will bring this collation of countries down to Israel so that He can destroy them.  This happens because it is a part of God’s wrath and I want to quote the same words that I quoted in my SD from Revelation this morning here so the wrath of God can be explained:  “This is not an impulsive outburst of anger aimed capriciously at people whom God does not like.  It is settled, determined response of a righteous God against sin (cf. Pss. 2:5, 12; 45:7; 75:8; 76:6, 7; 78:49-51; 90:7-9; Isa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15-16 Jn. 3:36; Rom. 9:22; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:5-6).”  This is a verse note from Romans 1:18 from the John MacArthur Study Bible.

            I believe from Warren Wiersbe’s commentary that he believes that this will happen in the early part of the Tribulation and the reason is that we have seen that the beginning of the Tribulation Period starts with the Antichrist making a peace treaty with Israel.  Wiersbe writes “We’re tempted to speculate on how the European leader responded to this remarkable series of events.  No sooner did he guarantee his protection to Israel than a coalition of nations invaded Palestine and he couldn’t do anything about it.  Perhaps he said that the ‘forces of nature’ were under his control! At least the Jews could build their temple without interference from the neighboring nations.  The Lord will give Antichrist what he wants, but in the end, it will all combine to lead to his destruction.”

            I have listened to and read many commentators who are very sure that their theory or prediction of what this passage says is correct, and maybe it is, but I want to keep an open mind about this as far as who the nations are and also when this battle will take place.  All I can say for sure is that one day it will happen just as Ezekiel says it will happen.

4/23/2015 10:23 PM

 

           

           

The Fourth Trumpet Judgment (Rev. 8:12-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/23/2015 9:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Fourth Trumpet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  Revelation 8:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. 13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"”

            On June 16, 2005 I wrote the following in that day’s SD:  “The judgment spoken of in this verse can be explained in a couple of different ways in that God could cause the sun, moon, and stars to be blocked out from being seen for a third of the day and night.  There is another possibility and that is that because of the other judgments there has been a lot of pollution upon the earth and because of that the sun, moon, and stars would shine with less intensity by one-third.  The earth and its people will have been going through many terrible things by this time, yet this is not the end for in the next verse there are three “woes” that are announced and they are the three last trumpet judgments.

            “This judgment will affect not only the light upon the earth, but it will also affect the food supply and the weather in great ways, and this will bring about many more hardships for those who live upon the earth.  This judgment may not last for the rest of the tribulation for in one of the other judgments it is said that the sun will intensify its heat.  (Rev. 6:18-19)”

            Now we have seen that the scene changed from the earth to the oceans and not it shifts to the sky as seen in verse twelve.  Now the following is from the Philips paraphrase Bible:  “The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third-part of the sun, a third-part of the moon and a third of the stars were struck. A third-part of the light of each of them was darkened, so that light by day and light by night were both diminished by a third-part.”  I was interested in the word “struck” and so I looked it up and it could also be translated “smite,” which I thought is interesting too as it gives a whole new meaning to this verse as if it is intentionally done, which of course it will be.  Can you imagine how all of those environmentalists will be ringing their hands as all of the pollution that will be going on during this period of time?  Perhaps they will be trying to save their own skin and will not be worrying about the environment. I don’t think that people are to trash the earth, but unfortunately many people are actually worshiping the earth and they also profit from this and that does not set well with me at all.  This earth belongs to the Lord for He is the one who created it and some day according to Peter’s writing it will all burn up or actually be un-created.  With this in mind as believers we are to get the word out that this is going to happen so that some of those who listen to us will be saved from what we are studying about in Revelation.

            John MacArthur writes on the verb “were smitten” and he says “Plesso (were smitten) is the verb from which the noun ‘plague’ (cf. 11:6; 16:21) derives.  The heavenly bodies are hit with a plague from God ‘so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.’  This partial eclipse, reminiscent of the ninth Egyptian plague (Ex. 10:21-22), is temporary, as God will later increase the amount of heat coming from the sun (cf. 16:8-9).  At this point however, the loss of heat from the sun will cause temperatures to plunge drastically all over the world.  That will severely disrupt the earth’s weather patterns and the seas’ tides, leading to violent, unpredictable storms and tides, the destruction of crops, and further loss of animal and human lives.”

            Both in the Old Testament and the Words of Jesus in the New Testament speak of signs in the heavens.  We will sample from both at this time.  “9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light (Isa. 13:9-10).”  7 “And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud And the moon will not give its light. 8 “All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you And will set darkness on your land," Declares the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 32:7-8).”  25  "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26  men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Luke 21:25-26).”  24 "But in those days, after that tribulation, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, 25  AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken (Mark 13:24-25).”  

            The news does not get any better after the forth trumpet sounds for the remaining blasts from the angels on their trumpets brings on even more devastation as the last three trumpet judgments are classified as “woes.,” something that will be worse than the other judgments as we will see as we look at them later in our study of Revelation.  John MacArthur writes on these woes and the angel announcing them:  “The imagery is that of a strong bird of prey rushing to consume its victim, in this case referring to the rapid approach of God’s final vengeance (cf. Deut 28:49; Hos. 8:1; Hab. 1:8).  Depicted in the vision as ‘flying in mid-heaven,’ the bird would be at the height of the midday sun, thus visible to all.  His loud voice assures that all will be able to hear his pronouncements.  The eagle’s dire warning is that the last three trumpet judgments will be even more devastating than the final hour.”

            We have to look at what John also said in this verse and that is that God’s wrath and judgment will come upon those who “dwell upon the earth.”   As I look back to some of the judgments that are written in the Scriptures that the Lord has brought upon people it makes me think that they were small in that they just targeted certain people groups other than when God brought on the flood that actually destroyed all peoples with the exception of Noah and his family.  Sodom and Gomorrah was just targeted to those living in those wicked cities.  The plagues against Egypt were only against the Egyptians.  So other than the flood and what we are seeing in the judgments in Revelation it was not a worldwide judgment.  I look at the book of Revelation in a new light as I study it this time, and that new light is that God is taking back planet earth and judging those who have had control including Satan and his demons along with the world system of Babylon in both ecumenical and also “religiously.”  We will continue to see this as we study the book of Revelation. 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Some people have trouble God’s wrath, which is one of His attributes.  What we are seeing and studying about is God’s wrath and I want to point out what His wrath is about by quoting a note from John MacArthur’s study Bible and the verse that it is from is “Ro 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness:”  Speaking of the wrath to of God MacArthur writes:  “This is not an impulsive outburst of anger aimed capriciously at people whom God does not like.  It is settled, determined response of a righteous God against sin (cf. Pss. 2:5, 12; 45:7; 75:8; 76:6, 7; 78:49-51; 90:7-9; Isa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15-16 Jn. 3:36; Rom. 9:22; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:5-6).  Just as the “jealousy of God,” which is one of His attributes is hard to understand so is the wrath of God hard to understand, and because we are looking at it in this book I think it is best to understand it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To Love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The healing ministry.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened at Jericho when the children of Israel shouted at Joshua’s command?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/23/2015 10:47 AM    

 

Durning the Invasion PT-1 (Ezek. 38:14-23)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2015 6:58 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  During the Invasion PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 38:14-39:8

            Message of the verses:  I will not copy and paste all of these verses at one time as we will not look at all of them on this SD.

            I just can’t help but think of Pharaoh when he was holding all Israel as slaves and would not let them go and we actually read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the reason for that was so that God could destroy them.  Now let’s go back to the book of Genesis and look at chapter fifteen which is actually a part of the Abrahamic covenant which we will again comment on in a minute.  “13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.”  One of the purposes for this to happen was that God would be receiving glory when Egypt was destroyed and when Israel left Egypt.  We know that forty years later when Israel was crossing the Jordan River the spies when they went into see Rahab the harlot were told by her that the people of Canaan were frightened by Israel.  Now God will also receive glory when the nations mentioned in this section are destroyed by Him, and something else is that all of these nations that are mentioned here have or will have persecuted Israel in one way or another and God will destroy them for that reason for that is what He told Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 which is the first part of the Abrahamic covenant.  “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."”

Just think about what will go on in the war room of these nations as they plan on coming down to defeat Israel, but what they are going to talk about is exactly what God wants them to do.  This reminds me something that happened in the Old Testament time of the kings of both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.  Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah and Ahab was the king of Israel and they wanted to go together to fight an enemy.  In the first place Jehoshaphat had no business going to see Ahab but he did.  All the false prophets in Israel were telling  them to go up and fight against their enemy, but Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from a true prophet of the Lord and so Ahab got one for them and the following is what he said to them:  “18  Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?" 19 Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. 20 “The LORD said, ’Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ’I will entice him.’ 22 “The LORD said to him, ’How?’ And he said, ’I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ’You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ 23 “Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you."”  The same thing may be what happens when all of these nations get together to come up against Israel in the later years and the same thing will happen to them that happened to Ahab, they will loose.

14 "Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it? 15  "You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; 16  and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog’ (Ezek. 38:14-16).”  This is the beginning of what will happen just before the battle begins.  “17  ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? 18 “It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger. 19 “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 “The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 “I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord GOD. "Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 “With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. 23 "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD’’(Ezekiel 38:17-23).”  I don’t think that it is any coincidence that I am studying the seal and the trumpet judgments in the book of Revelation at this same time and one of the judgments is an earthquake, a very strong one and some of the same language that is used in this section of Ezekiel is used in Revelation too.  Speaking of all the devastation that will happen is very similar and perhaps this is speaking of the same time period for both prophecies will happen during the latter years.  One other thing I want to look at before we stop this first part of this section and that is that God says that the OT prophets have prophecies about this as we look at verse seventeen.  John MacArthur writes the following in his Study Bible note on verse seventeen:  “This refers to the general references to this time and the participants (cf. Joel 3:9-17; Amos 5:11, 12; Zep. 3:8). Even Daniel (Da. 2:41-44) referred to this at least 3 decades prior to Ezek. 38.  The nature of the question presupposes that the previous generalities are now begin particularized in the person of Gog.”

Dr. Wiersbe writes about three reasons to bring God down as seen in verse 23.  “First, this victory will reveal the greatness of the Lord as He displays His power before the nations (v.23).  There is no evidence that the Israelite forces ever confronted the invading army.  The Lord intervened and used weapons that no general on earth could use—rain, hailstones, and fire and brimstone from heaven!  In fact, the invading army will get out of control and destroy itself!  This victory will also reveal His holiness as He judges the sins of the leader of Magog and deals with his enmity against the Jews.  The wealth of the Holy Land belongs to the Lord, and He has shared it with His people Israel, and the other nations have no right to exploit it.  Third, the victory will make Jehovah known to the Gentile nations, and the world will see that the God of Israel is the only true and living God.”   4/22/2015 8:12 PM

The Second Trumpet Judgment (Rev. 8:8-9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2015 9:09 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Second Trumpet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Revelation 8:8-9

            Message of the verses:  “8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9  and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

            I want to first of all quote something that I wrote on June 14, 2005 on these two verses which speak of the second trumpet judgment:  “This second trumpet judgment is another judgment that is on the earth, while the latter judgments have demons involved with them.  I have heard different things to help describe this judgment, such as the burning mountain that was thrown into the sea could be a missile with a cobalt bomb on it that would cause the sea to turn red from the cobalt such as seen in “red” tides.  It could also be a meteor that comes from outer space.  At any rate God is in charge of sending these judgments to His earth and this one will be very bad as it will cause a third of the sea to turn to blood, or at least red, and a third of all marine life to die and a third of all ships to be destroyed, and this will have a devastation effect upon those who live on planet earth.”  I have mentioned that it was the end time prophecies that the Lord used to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and that I read and listened to Hal Lindsey in my early years of being a believer.  One of the things that he taught from the book of Revelation was that man is perfectly capable to destroy this planet because of the technology that he has and so he would go through these judgments and write possibilities of how man could be used by God to fulfill these judgments.  He quoted Re 11:18 “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”  As I stated in our last SD many people have different ideas on how God will bring about these judgments, but the main thing to remember is that God is in charge and that He will fulfill these judgments as He sees fit, but again it is interesting to listen to different people as they describe how they think that these judgments will be fulfilled by God.  Another thing to remember is that John was writing this around 96 AD and therefore was using language from that time period to try and describe what he was seeing and if he actually did see a missile fall into the sea he would describe it in first century language.  We can’t neglect why all of these judgments are happening as we study Revelation and not get so caught up in how they are going to happen.  God will take back planet earth from evil men and from Satan and his demons and it will be accomplished through these judgments and at the end of these judgments Jesus Christ will return to take over Planet Earth and Satan will be in the lake of fire along with all of the evil men of that time and Christ will rule from Jerusalem for 1000 years as we will learn, but even that is not the end of the book as we will see later on as we continue to study it.

               Notice the words from verse eight “something like” as John describes what this second trumpet entails, as he again uses a simile.  Now we saw the first trumpet fall on the earth while this one falls on the oceans.  If I am not mistaken the Atlantic Ocean is about one third of the oceans, so it is possible that this happens there.  The oceans were given to mankind as a blessing from God and they provide many things for man such as food and oxygen as much of the oxygen comes from the phytoplankton and algae that are in the seas.  Rain comes many times from the sea as water evaporates from the ocean and then is transported by winds to land, so the oceans are very important to man, and this judgment is on one third of the ocean waters.  John MacArthur writes “But people have repaid God’s gracious provision with ingratitude and idolatry, revering the sea as the supposed source of their remotest evolutionary ancestors.  As He devastated the land environment, the true God judges the sea.” 

            The view that John MacArthur has is as follows:  “This is evidently a giant meteorite or asteroid, surrounded by flaming gases set ablaze by the friction of the earth’s atmosphere, on a collision course with the earth.”  If what he speculates happens then this will be like one of the movies that I have seen as mankind watches from afar as the meteorite or asteroid heads toward earth and they can do nothing about it.  Of course this will happen and many people and creatures will die because of this judgment. 

            The red color of the sea could come from cobalt as suggested for after all a red tide comes from cobalt, and or, it could come from the dying animals in it as their blood turns the ocean red.  God did turn the Nile River red as one of the judgments against Egypt so there is no reason to believe that this kind of thing could not happen again.  Another thing this judgment will effect is that a third of the ships on the oceans will be destroyed and perhaps this will come from the giant waves that will happen because of whatever it was that falls into the seas. 

            MacArthur finishes this section on this second trumpet judgment by writing “So the first two trumpets will bring devastating judgment on both the land and the sea, which are the beginning of the final catastrophes God will unleash on the sinful, rebellious world.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is hard to fathom all the devastation that this earth and the people who live on it will have to endure.  One of the reasons that I write these Spiritual Diaries and post them onto the internet is so people can read about these things that are soon to come and realize that they do not have to go through them.  They need a ticket to leave planet earth before these events begin to happen and the price of that ticket has been paid for by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for the sins of mankind and all one has to do is accept the exchange that He has for them.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him 2 Cor. 5:21).”  It’s a matter of believing faith to receive this gift of salvation and be assured if the Rapture happened today they would not be here for the events we are studying about.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand and live in the love He has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bilhah” (Genesis 35:25).

Today’s Bible question:  As a physician, what particular ministry of Christ does Luke give special prominence?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/22/2015 9:55 AM   

 

Before the Invasion (Ezek. 38:1-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2015 4:56 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Before the Invasion

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ezekiel 38:1-13

            Message of the verses:  “1 And the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. 4 "I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; 5 Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops-many peoples with you. 7 “Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 "After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. 9 “You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." 10 ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, 11 and you will say, ’I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, 12 to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’ 13 “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, ’Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’"’”

            Now as I look at these verses I have to say that to my best way of thinking about who these countries are I believe that Rosh is speaking of Russia and for many years Russia has been against the Jewish people.  Now I am certainly not saying that God does not have many, many believers in Russia today and I am thankful that they have had the opportunity to have the Word of God given to them now without persecution like in former times.  What we see here is Russia and other nations coming down upon the newly formed country of Israel.  God says that He is going to go fishing as He states through Israel that He will put hooks in the jaws of these nations and bring them down against Israel in the “latter days.”  Many of the nations listed here can be identified today and they form a collation with a purpose of destroying Israel.  As I listened to Dr. Jay Vernon McGee on this section and he named three hooks that God could possibility use to bring them down.  Oil is one of the hooks that can be used by God is what Dr. McGee says as even though at this time there is not much oil that has been found in Israel they are at this time drilling for oil and perhaps they will discover a great deal of oil in Israel as they are drilling very deeply into the ground to try and find oil.  Another hook is that of a warm water port as Russia does not have one.  The Dead Sea is the last hook that Dr. McGee speaks of and the Dead Sea has many millions of pounds of chemicals that are needed in the world today.  Now other things that I have read or heard of is that when we look at the word “Rosh” I have been told that in Israel that is how they pronounce Russia.  Next we see that Ezekiel says that this will happen in the last days, so this prophecy has not taken place yet but certainly will at some point in the future.  We see in verse six that the nation that will come down on Israel is to the North, and the verse means the utter North and Russia is to the utter North of Israel. 

            One more thing that I want to say and it comes from one of Joel Rosenberg’s novels as in, and I am not sure which one that I read this from, but the scenario that is found in this novel is about these prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 and he has a man in that book explaining as best as he could who these nation were in these chapters and when the battle begins between these countries and Israel in his view they are Muslin nations that God destroys who are a part of this section.  Now not all of them are Muslin nations as in his view Russia and Germany are a part of this group and they too are destroyed.  Let me say something about Rosenberg and that is he has had an uncanny way of writing in his novels things that soon take place after he writes about them.  His first novel came out on September 11, 2001, or at least it was set to come out then but after the attacks were made on the United States the postponed it for a while.  “The Last Jihad” begins with a kamikaze attack on the United States, and his next novel speaks of Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon before they made it known that they were trying.  In his last novel he writes about ISIS and when he began his research he had never heard of it and neither had we.  I do take stock in the things that he writes about.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God knows the nations and the time of this attack as He knows everything and that is enough for me, however I think that it is very profitable to study all parts of the Scriptures.  The prophetic parts get my spiritual juices flowing as I enjoy studying about them.

4/21/2015 6:03 PM  

The First Trumpet Judgment (Rev. 8:7)

SPIRITUA DIARY FOR 4/21/2015 8:16 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The First Trumpet

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Revelation 8:7

            Message of the verses:  “7 The first angel blew his trumpet. Hail and fire mingled with blood appeared, and were hurled upon the earth. One-third of the earth was burnt up, one-third of all the trees was burnt up, and every blade of green grass was burnt up.”  (Philips) “7 The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up (NASB).”

            The lull is officially over as we come to the first trumpet being blown by the first angel and the first thing we see is hail, something that is associated with divine judgment in the Scriptures.  We first see this in the 9^th chapter of the book of Exodus.  “18  "Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now (Exodus 9:18).”  God said to Job in 38:22-23 “22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle?”  “2  Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent; As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand (Isa. 28:2).”  “’I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the LORD (Hag. 2:17).”

            Next we look at fire and the first place we see fire as a judgment of God is found in the book of Genesis “24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven (Gen. 19:24).”  Since we are studying the 38^th chapter of Ezekiel let’s look at the 22^nd verse there:  “"With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.”

            Joel 2:30 speaks of fire mixed with blood as he describes the Day of the Lord “"I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke.”  John MacArthur writes “The specific cause of hail and fire…thrown to the earth is not revealed, but from a scientific standpoint an earthquake of the magnitude and extent of the one in 8:5 would likely trigger worldwide volcanic eruptions.  Besides spewing vast quantities of flaming lave (which could be bloodred in appearance) into the atmosphere, the atmospheric disturbances caused by those eruptions could trigger violent thunderstorms that would produce large hail.  Such thunderstorms would be in keeping with the imagery of 8:5; after the angel hurled his censer to earth ‘there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning.’  Dr. Henry Morris suggest that the blood may be actual blood, or John may be using descriptive language:  ‘the masses of water vapor blown skyward might well condense in the intense updrafts as hailstones…The blood of entrapped men and animals might be mingled with them, or possibly showers of liquid water drops might be so contaminated with dust and gases as to appear blood-red.’”  This quote and the next one come from The Revelation Record by Henry Morris.

            “It may be possible that angelic hosts will divert the path of one of the many comets with which we are familiar which the solar system abounds so that the earth will pass through its tail.  The most spectacular comet which we are familiar—Halley’s Comet—would not need to stray too far from its normal orbit to envelop Earth in its fiery train.  Whether such an experience would produce the phenomena described in this passage we do not know, since our scientists have no experimental data to go on yet.” 

            We have seen before in my Spiritual Diaries speculations as to how things like this will be made to happen as seen in the book of Revelation, but the most important thing to realize that they will happen just as the Lord says that they will.  Jesus says the following at the end of this book which we will speak more of when we get there “16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." 17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”  We who are a part of the church age have the privilege of reading and studying this book as earlier in that chapter it is recorded that the things in this book are not to be sealed up which is unlike what an angel told Daniel at the end of his book.  However God chooses to bring about the things found in this book, whether He does all of them or whether man is involved in some of these judgments will be up to Him, but take heed they will happen.  I will continue to give my opinion and the opinions of others as to how some of these judgments may take place but take them with a grain of salt as no one can be sure as to how God will cause these things to happen, but in my mind it is a good thing to speculate how it could happen.

            We next see that a third of the earth is burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and then he writes “all the green grass was burned up.”  The environmentalists are not going to be happy at this time, those people that mostly don’t care about the environment only the money they can make by their so called concerned.   What we are reading about in Revelation is that God is judging the people on the earth and it is He who is destroying it, but it is also He who will put it back together again after the Tribulation is done to make it livable again for His Millennial Kingdom. 

            John MacArthur offers one more quote as Robert Thomas comments on the difficulty that is posed by the destruction of all the green grass being burned up:  “This poses a dilemma, because grass still exists when the fifth trumpet arrives (9:4).  It is hermeneutically wrong to see this as an inconsistency retained to preserve artistic effort…Two considerations help to resolve the quandary.  First, a time lapse between the first and fifth trumpets allows time for grass to be regrown after the burning, but before the assault of the fifth [trumpet].  Second, in most parts of the earth grass is not green the year round, but is seasonal.  Burning of all the grass that is green during a particular season would leave the remainder untouched until its season of dormancy is over…whether the affected portion was one-third or some other percentage, the text does not say.  The description simply says ‘all’ that is green at the time of the plague.  Either of these two explanations allows for taking ‘all’ in its literal sense without contradicting 9:4.”  This quote comes from (Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary).

            We can see that this judgment will have devastation effects on planet earth as far as killing men, and also animals.  It will also have devastating effects on the climate and the production of growing food which will cause more death.  We cannot forget why these judgments are happening as we have already discussed and that is to retake the earth from sinful man and also Satan and his fallen angels, and as stated earlier God will put the earth back together again as this will be no problem for Him to do for after all He created it in the first place.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Although it is at times difficult to study about the things in Revelation such as these judgments in the end it is good to know that God is in complete control of all these things and also it is good to know that Jesus is coming again.  As I put on the Spiritual armor in the morning I put on the helmet of salvation and I remember the following verse:  “1Th 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”  This speaks of the return of Jesus Christ and how I am to live, as Warren Wiersbe writes “I put on the helmet of salvation.  May I remember today that Jesus is coming again.  Help me to live in the future tense.  Protect my mind from discouragement and despair.” 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to remember that the successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings, and I also want to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I desire to live in the love of Christ and to better understand it too.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Zarephath” (1 Kings 17:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the mother of Dan and Naphtali?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/21/2015 9:27 AM