Part 2, of From The Heart, will try to explain what the attitude should be of the New Creations and try to gain a proper perspective as to how to react to the trials of this world. Jesus said this in John's gospel Chapter 16, verse 33;
"These things I have told spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you
will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
Jesus said this to His disciples in John's gospel Chapter 15, verses 18 -20,
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. " If you were
of the world, the world would love it's own; because you are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you,
A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you:
If they kept my word, they would also keep yours."
You are probably wondering why I am bringing up this subject. In Part 1, I talked about the importance of The New Creations letting the love that is now in them shinning through to the world. This now seems like a much harder task, now that we know that the world will hate us. So we will look at how we can continue to express God's love to the world, when we are hated and persecuted by them. To do this we have to be able to put things into proper perspective. These next few verses that I am going to share with you, have become some of my favorite. I have been able to recall them to keep things in the proper perspective when this world and people are not kind, per say. These verses are found in Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 4,5 and 6. In Chapter 4, verses 3 -11, it starts of in verse 3 by giving a hint as to why the world might hate us. We know that it hates us, because it hated Jesus first. But why would they hate Jesus so much? Are they being motivated to hate him? Of course they are.
(3) "And even if our gospel is vailed, it is vailed to those who are perishing, (4) in whose case
the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might
not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (5) For we
do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants
for Jesus' sake. (6) For God, who said ' Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ."
Daniel gives us an explaination as to why it is good to know what will take place in the in times, and what we are to do with what we know, and what will be our outcome for doing so. Daniel writes in Chapter 11, verse 33;
"And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many;
yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, for many days"
In Daniels last Chapter, 12, verse 3, he writes;
" And those who have INSIGHT will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."
So it will be important to be able to love enough to be willing, despite the hatedred from those who are blinded by Satan, to help them see the way out of darkness and into the light. So having things in the proper perspective, is very important.
Paul continues in verse 7;
(7) "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the
power may be of God and not of ourselves; (8) we are afflicted in every way, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not desparing; (9) persecuted but not forsaken; stuck down, but
not destroyed; (10) always carrying about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of
Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (11) For we who live are constantly being
delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested
in our mortal flesh. (16) Therefore we do not loose heart, but though the outer man is
decaying, yet the inner man is being renewed day by day. (17) For momentary light
affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison, (18) while
we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things
that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
(Chapter 5, verse 1) For we know that if this earthly tent (our bodies) which is our house
is torn down, we have a building not made with hands (the New Creation), eternal in the
heavens. (2) For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling
from heaven."
A must for a believer, especially in the end times, is to know who they are. A believer will have many challenges, but it will be worst for those who refused the truth as to be saved. For a believer, if they know prophecy, they will recognize the signs of the time and know that it will be just a short time before they are called by Jesus to come and be with Him. No matter what is done to them by those who would not believe, it does not compare to what will happen to the unbelieving. It will be what they chose, everyone in that day will have heard the truth and have had a chance to escape the wrath to come.
A believer is a New Creation, eternal in the heavens. When they are born of above, they are right then seated in the heavenly realm. Although you still are here on the earth in a body, you also now exist in heaven. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 2, verses 4 -9,
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of great love with which He loved us, even when
we were dead in our trangressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places,
in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of
His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a GIFT of God; not as a result of works,
that no one can boast."
What is done to us in this body, changes nothing in the new spiritual man that dwells in us, other than causing us to grow into what we will be forever. So whatever a beliver will have to go through here on earth, does not even compare to what awaits them when they receive their new glorified bodies at the first resurrection. Paul continues in 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5, verses;
(8) "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at
home with the Lord. (14) For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that
one died for all, therefore all died; (15) and He died for all, that they who live should no
longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
(17) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed
away; behold new things have come."
We will conclude with this passage in Chapter 6, verses 4 - 10;
"but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in
affictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors,
in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the
Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by weapons
of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report
and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as
dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always
rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things."
May the peace of Jesus that surpasses all understanding, be with you today and forever.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
From the Heart- What Is Love?
Before we continue into Chapter 10 of Revelations and then thru it, there are some important things that I need to say that are on my heart. It is good to know what will occur in the end times. We saw in the 1st Chapter of Revelations that there is a blessing for those who read and hear, and heed the things that are written in Revelations, but there are some things that are much more important.
Obviously it means nothing but dread, if you do not recieve the truth of the Gospel , to be born of above and become a New Creation. Most people have heard the word, saved. Saved can mean a couple of things. Jesus is referred to as, Savior.
1st) Jesus saves us from our sins and our sin nature, by His own shed blood.
2nd) Because our sins are forgiven, we are saved from mortality and become immortal.
3rd) We are saved from death and recieve eternal life
.
4th) We are saved from the wrath to come.
Like Noah built the ark as God instucted, so that anyone who believed that the flood was coming and wanted to get on board to be saved could, so it is today. Jesus is the Ark of the covenant, that God has made with man, that whoever would recieve Jesus' sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins, could enter this Ark, Jesus. Unfortunetly, just as in the days of Noah and the flood, so it will be in the end times in the days of Jesus and the fire. The only people who were rescued from the flood were Noah and his family, everyone else on earth, scoffed and mocked and were destroyed by the flood. Likewise, unfortunetly, Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 7, verse 13 and 14,
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wind, and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way
is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."
We know from John Chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus said,
"I Am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me."
Right after that in verse 9,
"He who has seen me has seen the Father."
Most people believe that there are many ways to God, and they will scoff and mock the truth that Jesus is the only way. Jesus is the only way, because in the person Jesus , it was God's way and plan to allow man to come into His presence by making them a new Creation through His own sacifice.
5th) Saved also means that something is kept because it has value and worth.
In Jesus, every believer has value and has worth only because Jesus is worthy, and everyone in Jesus, the Ark, is kept(saved) as precious in the eyes of God. Believers are now God's children.
As God's children, there are certain characteristics of God that are important for the New Creations to emulate. Not with forced effort, but with a new natural genuineness. All believers are born again of the Spirit of God. Since God is Love, then the Spirit that we have now been born with, is the Spirit of Love. Each believer has that Love inside them. The only thing that prevents that Love from shinning through, is the old attitude of the earthly nature and the perspective on how we view the things that affect our lives. Let us first look at a passage of scripture written by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians Chapter 13. This a very popular passage that in used in many marirage cerimonies. This is nice for the cerimonies, but speaks to way more than just a relationship between a man and a woman. This speaks to the New Creations and their attitude between themselves and those in the world. I wanted to touch on this because we are going through the book of Revelation, and it is good to know what is going to take place, but more importantly, what do we do with what we know. Paul starts the chapter with this;
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become
a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all
mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I
deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."
Paul continues by describing love this way;
1)" Love is patient,
Everyone has heard someone say that they are loosing their patience, if their patients was something they can loose, then it was never real patience to begin with.
2) love is kind,
This does not mean that we are kind just to people we like, that is easy. Paul wrote this in his letter to Titus, Chapter 3, verses 3 - 7;
" For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, decieved, enslaved to various
lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hatful, hating one another.
But when the KINDNESS of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, But
according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified
by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
So you can see by this passage that even though there was nothing about us that God should be kind to us, He still poured out His Kindness on us, by giving Himself to make us heirs of eternal life. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans in the 2nd Chapter, verse 4,
"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience,
not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
Therefore it is important for a New Creation to show love by being kind to all people, because we are an extention of Jesus' kindness that will help lead people to repentance.
3) and is not jealous,
4) love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5) does not act unbecomingly,
6) it does not seek its own,
In other words, simply put, we should not be selfish, thinking of ourselves only, but we should be selfless, thinking of others and what their needs may be.
7) *is not provoked,
*One way to look at this, is to ask yourself, "How is the New Creation within me, that is the real me, affected by what someone is saying or doing to me?" There is not much that anyone can do to you that will affect any part of this New Creation. The only way that we can be provoked, is if this fallen man, which is our outer shell, is upset at what is happening to it. So this is how we know if we are walking according to the spirit or of the flesh. Our spirit is not affected. This blog on "From the Heart" will be in two parts. Part two will give more meaning to this and the scipture I will use has been the most comforting scripture for me, as to this subject.
8) *does not keep account of a wrong suffered,
9) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth,
10) *bears all things,
11) believes all things,
12) hopes all things
13) *endures all things,
Love never fails; but if there is a gift of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For now we know in part and prophecy in part; but when the perfect comes (Jesus second coming), the partial will be done away..............But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
For all believers, allowing the love, that fills our souls, to flow out to this world, is the reason why we are here. Every believer is in a special place on this earth to touch, when they can, all those in their special realm of influence with the love of God. For each of us, it should be our main prayer, that Jesus would use us to pour out His love everywhere according to His will. Our New Creation in us is more ready to do this than our old outer man is. In our minds is where we make that decission to yeild to the flesh or to the spirit.
To complete this first part of "From the Heart", Paul writes in the beginning of Chapter 14, verse 1,
"Persue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy."
The scriptures are full of prophecies of the end times from the prophets, Jesus, and Jesus Revelation to John. The more we know the more we can point out to people, with kindness, which is love, so they can see and hopefully might make the descission to get on the Ark(Jesus), and gain eternal Life, and be spared from the wrath to come. All believers must realize that we are the earthly representation of the love of God and that showing that love might bring them to Jesus. For God is love, and if we allow Jesus to live through us, His love will achieve great things.
In Part One here, we touched a little on the earthly nature. In Part Two, we will discuss what our attitude should be in relations to our old earthly nature vs. our new heavenly nature. Gaining a proper perspective as to each of them will help us to always know which one is in control.
Jesus' peace to all of you.
Obviously it means nothing but dread, if you do not recieve the truth of the Gospel , to be born of above and become a New Creation. Most people have heard the word, saved. Saved can mean a couple of things. Jesus is referred to as, Savior.
1st) Jesus saves us from our sins and our sin nature, by His own shed blood.
2nd) Because our sins are forgiven, we are saved from mortality and become immortal.
3rd) We are saved from death and recieve eternal life
.
4th) We are saved from the wrath to come.
Like Noah built the ark as God instucted, so that anyone who believed that the flood was coming and wanted to get on board to be saved could, so it is today. Jesus is the Ark of the covenant, that God has made with man, that whoever would recieve Jesus' sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins, could enter this Ark, Jesus. Unfortunetly, just as in the days of Noah and the flood, so it will be in the end times in the days of Jesus and the fire. The only people who were rescued from the flood were Noah and his family, everyone else on earth, scoffed and mocked and were destroyed by the flood. Likewise, unfortunetly, Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 7, verse 13 and 14,
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wind, and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way
is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."
We know from John Chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus said,
"I Am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me."
Right after that in verse 9,
"He who has seen me has seen the Father."
Most people believe that there are many ways to God, and they will scoff and mock the truth that Jesus is the only way. Jesus is the only way, because in the person Jesus , it was God's way and plan to allow man to come into His presence by making them a new Creation through His own sacifice.
5th) Saved also means that something is kept because it has value and worth.
In Jesus, every believer has value and has worth only because Jesus is worthy, and everyone in Jesus, the Ark, is kept(saved) as precious in the eyes of God. Believers are now God's children.
As God's children, there are certain characteristics of God that are important for the New Creations to emulate. Not with forced effort, but with a new natural genuineness. All believers are born again of the Spirit of God. Since God is Love, then the Spirit that we have now been born with, is the Spirit of Love. Each believer has that Love inside them. The only thing that prevents that Love from shinning through, is the old attitude of the earthly nature and the perspective on how we view the things that affect our lives. Let us first look at a passage of scripture written by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians Chapter 13. This a very popular passage that in used in many marirage cerimonies. This is nice for the cerimonies, but speaks to way more than just a relationship between a man and a woman. This speaks to the New Creations and their attitude between themselves and those in the world. I wanted to touch on this because we are going through the book of Revelation, and it is good to know what is going to take place, but more importantly, what do we do with what we know. Paul starts the chapter with this;
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become
a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all
mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I
deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."
Paul continues by describing love this way;
1)" Love is patient,
Everyone has heard someone say that they are loosing their patience, if their patients was something they can loose, then it was never real patience to begin with.
2) love is kind,
This does not mean that we are kind just to people we like, that is easy. Paul wrote this in his letter to Titus, Chapter 3, verses 3 - 7;
" For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, decieved, enslaved to various
lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hatful, hating one another.
But when the KINDNESS of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, But
according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified
by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
So you can see by this passage that even though there was nothing about us that God should be kind to us, He still poured out His Kindness on us, by giving Himself to make us heirs of eternal life. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans in the 2nd Chapter, verse 4,
"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience,
not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
Therefore it is important for a New Creation to show love by being kind to all people, because we are an extention of Jesus' kindness that will help lead people to repentance.
3) and is not jealous,
4) love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5) does not act unbecomingly,
6) it does not seek its own,
In other words, simply put, we should not be selfish, thinking of ourselves only, but we should be selfless, thinking of others and what their needs may be.
7) *is not provoked,
*One way to look at this, is to ask yourself, "How is the New Creation within me, that is the real me, affected by what someone is saying or doing to me?" There is not much that anyone can do to you that will affect any part of this New Creation. The only way that we can be provoked, is if this fallen man, which is our outer shell, is upset at what is happening to it. So this is how we know if we are walking according to the spirit or of the flesh. Our spirit is not affected. This blog on "From the Heart" will be in two parts. Part two will give more meaning to this and the scipture I will use has been the most comforting scripture for me, as to this subject.
8) *does not keep account of a wrong suffered,
9) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth,
10) *bears all things,
11) believes all things,
12) hopes all things
13) *endures all things,
Love never fails; but if there is a gift of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For now we know in part and prophecy in part; but when the perfect comes (Jesus second coming), the partial will be done away..............But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
For all believers, allowing the love, that fills our souls, to flow out to this world, is the reason why we are here. Every believer is in a special place on this earth to touch, when they can, all those in their special realm of influence with the love of God. For each of us, it should be our main prayer, that Jesus would use us to pour out His love everywhere according to His will. Our New Creation in us is more ready to do this than our old outer man is. In our minds is where we make that decission to yeild to the flesh or to the spirit.
To complete this first part of "From the Heart", Paul writes in the beginning of Chapter 14, verse 1,
"Persue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy."
The scriptures are full of prophecies of the end times from the prophets, Jesus, and Jesus Revelation to John. The more we know the more we can point out to people, with kindness, which is love, so they can see and hopefully might make the descission to get on the Ark(Jesus), and gain eternal Life, and be spared from the wrath to come. All believers must realize that we are the earthly representation of the love of God and that showing that love might bring them to Jesus. For God is love, and if we allow Jesus to live through us, His love will achieve great things.
In Part One here, we touched a little on the earthly nature. In Part Two, we will discuss what our attitude should be in relations to our old earthly nature vs. our new heavenly nature. Gaining a proper perspective as to each of them will help us to always know which one is in control.
Jesus' peace to all of you.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Revelation Chapter 9 (Part 2) The 6th Trumpet
The 6th angel sounds its trumpet, and a voice from the horns of the golden altar before God, says to the 6th angel;
"Release the four angel who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
John then writes that these four angels had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year. That being released, they might kill a third of mankind. It is hard to imagine such a devastation that would be able to execute such and destruction of human lives, humanly speaking. I am percieving, here, that what this will be is a military response to what had occured at the 5th trumpet.
These angels are playing an active roll in orchestrating what will occur after the church is caught up to be with Jesus. You have to imagine what it might be like if all the christians are no longer present on the earth. Militaries throughout human history have either acted for a noble or not noble cause. Think of world where militaries no longer have a restraint because there is no longer a deterent. People who protect the welfare of the people are no longer present on the earth. Militaries will have free reign and there will be a power struggle at that time. This power stuggle will end when the anti-christ gets all the armies of the world to join together and come to the Valley called Har- Magedon, better know as Armageddon. His reason for him pulling them together there, is to try to stop Jesus when He returns. Scripture says that Jesus will laugh at even the thought that they could stop Him. This gathering will be easy to acheive because the armies at that time would have already been positioning themselves in that area for other reasons.
So we see at the 5th trumpet what could be a military action that will use nerve gas on the inhabitants. In response we see when the 6th trumpet sounds, John sees;
"And the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200,000,000; I heard the number
of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them;
1) The riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth(clusters of colors) and of brimestone (sulfur);
2) and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions;
3) and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
A third of mankind are killed by these three plaques, by the fire and the smoke and the
brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses in in their
mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads; and with them
they do harm."
If we look at this vision, again we have to ask what was John descibing, what he was seeing, if they were things in the future that did not exist when he was alive. First of all, back when John was alive there were not even 200 million people alive on the earth, let alone an army of that size. Today China has an army of that size. China has over a billion people and one out of every five people are in their military. That would put them at 200 million soldiers. If John had to descibe an army that size moving with tanks, might he had descibed it the way he did? We will read later in Chapter 16, verse 12, where John writes;
"And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphates; and its water
was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east."
The Euphates is the river that runs from Turkey to the Persian Gulf. For armies from the east to come easily into the area where the anti-christ will be, they will have to be able to cross the Euphates.
This happens right before the anti-christ persuedes them to join with the armies of the world to gather in Har-Mageddon. I think originally, these armies are coming in response to what the anti-christ had been doing, as far as the nerve gas. When the anti- christ sees them coming, he (it) has to alter his plans, or maybe this was his plan, to draw the militaries there. In Daniel, Daniel writes in Chapter 8, verse 25,
"He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency."
Man cannot do anything that Jesus does not allow. Angels are used throughout the world to keep evil from prematurely having its way. If evil was permitted to have there way, it would be horrifying. People would have been abused well beyond imagination. We see a small piece of this, when we see the few things that they have been permited to do. With Jesus desiring that no man should perish but that all would come to Him for eternal life, He has not allowed Satan, his demons and the evil spirits, to have at it, without His allowing it. Thank you Jesus for that. After the first resurrection this all changes and the restraints held by the angels are loosened.
This is just a small piece of what scripture in other places has revealed. So far in earlier blogs, I have covered some of this. Please take advantage of what I have already have written. It will make the picture more understandable.
The sad thing for the people left on the earth at this time, they still did not repent, even though they don't know they can't. When John finishes;
"And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plaques, did not repent of the
works of their hands, so as to not worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver
and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; an
they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor
of their thefts."
Jesus peace be with you.
"Release the four angel who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
John then writes that these four angels had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year. That being released, they might kill a third of mankind. It is hard to imagine such a devastation that would be able to execute such and destruction of human lives, humanly speaking. I am percieving, here, that what this will be is a military response to what had occured at the 5th trumpet.
These angels are playing an active roll in orchestrating what will occur after the church is caught up to be with Jesus. You have to imagine what it might be like if all the christians are no longer present on the earth. Militaries throughout human history have either acted for a noble or not noble cause. Think of world where militaries no longer have a restraint because there is no longer a deterent. People who protect the welfare of the people are no longer present on the earth. Militaries will have free reign and there will be a power struggle at that time. This power stuggle will end when the anti-christ gets all the armies of the world to join together and come to the Valley called Har- Magedon, better know as Armageddon. His reason for him pulling them together there, is to try to stop Jesus when He returns. Scripture says that Jesus will laugh at even the thought that they could stop Him. This gathering will be easy to acheive because the armies at that time would have already been positioning themselves in that area for other reasons.
So we see at the 5th trumpet what could be a military action that will use nerve gas on the inhabitants. In response we see when the 6th trumpet sounds, John sees;
"And the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200,000,000; I heard the number
of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them;
1) The riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth(clusters of colors) and of brimestone (sulfur);
2) and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions;
3) and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
A third of mankind are killed by these three plaques, by the fire and the smoke and the
brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses in in their
mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads; and with them
they do harm."
If we look at this vision, again we have to ask what was John descibing, what he was seeing, if they were things in the future that did not exist when he was alive. First of all, back when John was alive there were not even 200 million people alive on the earth, let alone an army of that size. Today China has an army of that size. China has over a billion people and one out of every five people are in their military. That would put them at 200 million soldiers. If John had to descibe an army that size moving with tanks, might he had descibed it the way he did? We will read later in Chapter 16, verse 12, where John writes;
"And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphates; and its water
was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east."
The Euphates is the river that runs from Turkey to the Persian Gulf. For armies from the east to come easily into the area where the anti-christ will be, they will have to be able to cross the Euphates.
This happens right before the anti-christ persuedes them to join with the armies of the world to gather in Har-Mageddon. I think originally, these armies are coming in response to what the anti-christ had been doing, as far as the nerve gas. When the anti- christ sees them coming, he (it) has to alter his plans, or maybe this was his plan, to draw the militaries there. In Daniel, Daniel writes in Chapter 8, verse 25,
"He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency."
Man cannot do anything that Jesus does not allow. Angels are used throughout the world to keep evil from prematurely having its way. If evil was permitted to have there way, it would be horrifying. People would have been abused well beyond imagination. We see a small piece of this, when we see the few things that they have been permited to do. With Jesus desiring that no man should perish but that all would come to Him for eternal life, He has not allowed Satan, his demons and the evil spirits, to have at it, without His allowing it. Thank you Jesus for that. After the first resurrection this all changes and the restraints held by the angels are loosened.
This is just a small piece of what scripture in other places has revealed. So far in earlier blogs, I have covered some of this. Please take advantage of what I have already have written. It will make the picture more understandable.
The sad thing for the people left on the earth at this time, they still did not repent, even though they don't know they can't. When John finishes;
"And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plaques, did not repent of the
works of their hands, so as to not worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver
and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; an
they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor
of their thefts."
Jesus peace be with you.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Revelation Chapter 9 ( 5th Trumpet )
Chapter 9 will reveal the 5th and 6th trumpets and what they will call forth. They are very interesting descriptions of what will be happening. The 5th, 6th and 7th trumpets bring forth what is refered to as the three woes, because of the severity of what will take place. At the end of the Chapter it says that even though these things will be taking place, the rest of mankind who were not killed, did not repent. At this time, the only people who will be alive on the earth, besides the 144,000 having the seal of God on their foreheads, will be those who did not receive the truth as to be saved. Instead they received the mark of the beast, that without it they would not have been able to buy or sell. Receiving the mark would end end the privledge of being able to receive Jesus to become a New Creation and gain Eternal Life. These are either very obstinate people or they realize that they have blew their chance and are just dark to the core.
When the fifth angel sounded the trumpet John saw;
1) A star from heaven which had fallen from heaven was given the key to the botomless pit.
We will read later that Satan will be cast out of heaven and down to the earth.
We know that Satan has access to the earth right now. We also know that he is
before the throne of God day and night accusing the brethren (Revelation 12:10).
So whatever this is, we know that it will be different then how it is now. Satan will
be cast down to the earth with his fallen angels (Revelation 12:9). We know that
Satan and his demons can possess people today (Luke 8:36). Will this be a visible
manifestation? If it is, then where will they say they came from? They won't say,
we are demons and this is our leader Satan. They are cast down to the earth half
way through the 7 year tribulation period (Revelation 13:5). You can read my
previous blogs about the prophecies in Daniel (The Abomination that makes desolate)
and the anti -christ to learn more about this.
2) The star opens the bottomless pit.
3) Smoke like from a great furnace came out of the pit.
4) The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
5) Out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth.
6) They are given power like scorpions have power.
The power that scorpions have are in their sting that attacks the nervous system
of their prey.
7) They are 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.
8) They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment them for five months; and their torment is like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
So I am assuming that it is possible that their torment will involve an effect on their
nervous systems.
9) In those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die and death flees from them.
This will be a very interesting time. Men will seek to die and will not be able to.
I wonder if this will mean that people will try to kill themselves because of the
torment of those days, and even though they do something to take their own lives,
they won't be able to die and therefore have to suffer the consequence of what they
tried to do to take their own lives. For example, if someone trys to kill themselves
by jumping off a hundred story building or shoots themselves, will they just lay
there with their injuries in pain not being able to die.
John goes on to give a description of of what he had referred to as locusts saying;
1) They looked like horses prepared for battle.
2) On their heads, as it were, crowns like gold.
3) Their faces were like the faces of men.
4) Thier hair was like the hair of women.
5) Their teeth were like the teeth of lions.
6) They had breastplates like the breastplates of iron.
7) The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.
8) They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is the power to hurt men for five months.
9) They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon (meaning destuction) and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon (meaning destroyer).
We always try to understand what John was describing based on what he new at that time verses what might exist in the days that this takes place. If John was seeing a helecopter, that he had never seen before, might he descibe it this way. It's possible, but it is also possible that these are literal creatures. I can't say I know which one is true. I do know that in 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, Paul refers to the anti-christ as the son of destuction, " who opposes and exalts himself above every so called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displying himself as being God." So it is possible that what John is seeing is a military action that Satan is directing against inhabitants of the earth. We know that he will have control over a large integrated military comprises of many nations and we will talk more on that as we proceed.
The first wow is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
May the peace that Jesus gives be with you.
When the fifth angel sounded the trumpet John saw;
1) A star from heaven which had fallen from heaven was given the key to the botomless pit.
We will read later that Satan will be cast out of heaven and down to the earth.
We know that Satan has access to the earth right now. We also know that he is
before the throne of God day and night accusing the brethren (Revelation 12:10).
So whatever this is, we know that it will be different then how it is now. Satan will
be cast down to the earth with his fallen angels (Revelation 12:9). We know that
Satan and his demons can possess people today (Luke 8:36). Will this be a visible
manifestation? If it is, then where will they say they came from? They won't say,
we are demons and this is our leader Satan. They are cast down to the earth half
way through the 7 year tribulation period (Revelation 13:5). You can read my
previous blogs about the prophecies in Daniel (The Abomination that makes desolate)
and the anti -christ to learn more about this.
2) The star opens the bottomless pit.
3) Smoke like from a great furnace came out of the pit.
4) The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
5) Out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth.
6) They are given power like scorpions have power.
The power that scorpions have are in their sting that attacks the nervous system
of their prey.
7) They are 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.
8) They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment them for five months; and their torment is like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
So I am assuming that it is possible that their torment will involve an effect on their
nervous systems.
9) In those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die and death flees from them.
This will be a very interesting time. Men will seek to die and will not be able to.
I wonder if this will mean that people will try to kill themselves because of the
torment of those days, and even though they do something to take their own lives,
they won't be able to die and therefore have to suffer the consequence of what they
tried to do to take their own lives. For example, if someone trys to kill themselves
by jumping off a hundred story building or shoots themselves, will they just lay
there with their injuries in pain not being able to die.
John goes on to give a description of of what he had referred to as locusts saying;
1) They looked like horses prepared for battle.
2) On their heads, as it were, crowns like gold.
3) Their faces were like the faces of men.
4) Thier hair was like the hair of women.
5) Their teeth were like the teeth of lions.
6) They had breastplates like the breastplates of iron.
7) The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.
8) They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is the power to hurt men for five months.
9) They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon (meaning destuction) and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon (meaning destroyer).
We always try to understand what John was describing based on what he new at that time verses what might exist in the days that this takes place. If John was seeing a helecopter, that he had never seen before, might he descibe it this way. It's possible, but it is also possible that these are literal creatures. I can't say I know which one is true. I do know that in 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, Paul refers to the anti-christ as the son of destuction, " who opposes and exalts himself above every so called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displying himself as being God." So it is possible that what John is seeing is a military action that Satan is directing against inhabitants of the earth. We know that he will have control over a large integrated military comprises of many nations and we will talk more on that as we proceed.
The first wow is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
May the peace that Jesus gives be with you.
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