1 Corinthians 4:3-4 – I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
Yes, I refuse. I refuse all laws of this world. Not all laws are just, some are meant to control us to do what we will not believe. All of the good laws of the world are contained within the two laws that rule my heart. Oh, like travelers on highways, sometimes in my weakness I break the rules. Yet my heart aches to honor at all times He who posted the two greatest laws.
Here are the two laws that I seek to honor. 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no law greater that these and within these two commandments all true and good laws are contained (Mark 12:30-31, Matthew 22:37-40).
These two laws are spiritual laws. They are accessed only through the only Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. There are inferior versions on earth, but none are as sublime, none are truth, none are eternal and magnificent as these uttered by Jesus and given to all who humbly come to Him and ask to be accepted (though no one deserves acceptance, yet all who come are). Those who have Jesus within have His Spirit within. Like a good orange tree bears fruit, so also does God’s Holy Spirit bear fruit in the heart and in the mind of those in whom He resides. And the fruit that God’s Holy Spirit bears is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against these, there are no laws (Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, I again state that I need not have any law of this world be my master. I need not worry about breaking the law if these two commandments live within me. And they do because the glory of God has moved from a cold room in a building to the soft hearts of all who bear the name of His Son Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:16, Acts 7:48, Ezekiel 36:26).
We all who love the Lord are free! We are not bound by the laws that say we shall not because we want not to break those laws. Who lives us inside changes us to live out the law. Love sets us free. Jesus sets us free (John 8:36). Therefore all who serve God are free to do whatever their heart desires because their heart desires to love as the Lord loves and against such, there is no law. We love all, even if all don’t love us. Let us live in the love of God and be free. Who shall judge us (1 Corinthians 4:3)? None, not even God, because Jesus bore punishment for all of our sins (John 5:24). He bore the judgment for all my sins, and for the sins of the whole world, and all those who call Him Lord and Savior shall not be judged because of what He has done (John 3:18).
Because of Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed “Free at last, Free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last.” Yes we are! We are servants, we are disciples of God and we seek to please Him. In pleasing Him, the goodness of God and the story of the Good News of Jesus, will spread through the world. And so it has. And so it will. Praise God! We are free indeed!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob withYou has been our hiding place in times of trouble,
Praise You Lord!
Your palm has been the pinnacle
We have celebrated from,
Praise You Lord!
You oh Lord are He who
David sought refuge within,
Praise You Lord!
Daniel went into the lion’s den,
Assured that a man walking
In Your will
Is invincible,
Praise You Lord!
Jesus You spread Your arms
To be killed,
While knowing
God is true and faithful,
Praise You Lord!
And You Oh Lord
Have always loved
And protected us,
Never have we been alone,
Praise You Lord!
All that is within us,
Celebrates You,
Praise You Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” Satan also know the scriptures. He purposely twists them, as he did when he tempted Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11), but you have to have something before you can do something to it. He knows what the Word of God says, and he perverts and opposes it in every way he can. He twisted the Word of God in an attempt to fool Jesus, like he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-2). Of course Jesus saw right through that. He replied with the pure Word of God. Man can make bread to feed the body, but man’s eternal life is solely dependent on the every single Word that comes from God.
Satan tried to get Jesus to: 1) Depend on His own power rather than wait for and be satisfied with what God provides. 2) This time the devil tempted Jesus to put God’s promises to the test. Jesus would not and did not need to test whether or not God loved and protected Him. Jesus knew He did. He would not ask God to “prove it.” 3) The devil has the authority that Adam ceded to him (by sinning) in the Garden of Eden. The third temptation was to bow down to the devil and worship him. What a disgusting demand! Now Jesus did not contest that the devil had some authority, but He knew that ultimate authority belongs to God and that the Father, whom Jesus did believe and obey, has already promised Him that all authority would be His (Matthew 28:18, 1 Corinthians 15:27, Ephesians 1:21, Philippians 2:9, John 3:35). At this point Jesus again responded with the superior Word of God and then showed His own authority as He sent the devil away. Yes, the devil knows the Word of God and tries twists it and tries to get us to believe his lies. Our defense is knowing the Word of God. If we know the truth then lies are easily identified. Whatever is not the truth is a lie.
Since the devil knows the Word he knows his time is short. He is feverishly working to make another run at overthrowing the authority of God. He knows the Word but he does not love and live in the Word. So he is always trying to break the absolute authority of the Word, but He cannot. He cannot because He is not the one in control. God is in control and every word and letter in the bible either has happened or will happen. For Believers, that is a foundation of our belief and our hope. The Word of God is true in every way and Jesus is the physical Word of God and He therefore He is the Truth.
The devil knows Jesus is coming, but he does not know exactly when. The exact day and time of Jesus is only known by God. The devil has gathered an army to oppose the return of Christ. He will attempt to fight Jesus. Jesus destroys him and his accumulated army just by His Words. The devil is less of a match for God than a leaf on a beach is powerful enough to stop a tidal wave from advancing past it. Silly.
Here the Word makes a promise to those who stay awake. Awake to what? To knowing, obeying and walking in the will of God. This message is directed to someone who isawake and to whom should not fall asleep. This message is to the believer to continue on and to remain clothed. Clothed in what? Clothed in the righteousness that is only received from the person and work of Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:6-8).
For those who do not “remain,” they will then be naked and shamefully exposed. Even those who have rejected God and taken the mark of the beast (the real walking dead) will recognize the nakedness of these who have not “remained.” They will scoff at them and point at them. They will shout out the disgrace that these now walk in. These bring shame to the Lord’s name (Hebrews 6:5-6).
“16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” The spirits of the evil three draw the kings to fight against God. They think themselves in control, but God had said this would happen thousands of years before (Joel 2, 3:12-14, Zephaniah 3:8, Ezekiel 38-39, Revelation 16, 17, 19). Satan, though he wants to prevent the Word of God from being true, is merely another thing that God may use at any time to bring about His will. Family, once again, it is God who in control. Always God is in control.
As we read the book of Revelation we sorrow for the lost but squirm with joy as we see our salvation approach. To the unredeemed the book of Revelation is something to be feared, denied and hated. To us, the redeemed, the book of Revelation is our notice that the Wedding Supper of the Lamb is coming and we have seats reserved for us. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Revelation 16:12-16 – The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. 15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
“Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” John describes what he saw as “impure.” He is describing three spirits that are not cleansed, that are ceremonially and morally dirty. We know that such things the Jews were not to touch, not to be around, and to just stay away from (Isaiah 52:11). They eschewed such things or people, giving them a wide berth. As a person would circle way around a mean dog to avoid danger and possible harm, or as a person with leprosy must not be allowed in the common camp lest others be infected, the impure must be avoided at all costs.
The evil of the world does not rise from an inanimate world but from evil spirits. Of course 1 John 2:16 is truth as the three sins noted there are within this same subject. All people are born with original sin (John 3:18) and that will not be what is being referred to. People become what even most unredeemed can recognize as “evil” because they have evil spirits influencing them, or they have aligned and attached themselves to the practices that originate from evil spirits and, doing that, they are enslaved to such evil. Like those around pagan campfires dancing and worshipping that which cannot give life and in fact kills by the worship of it, they are drawn from Truth and worship what is not what they defend it to be. They will fight, hate and kill for the evil that they cling to, and that is what the evil spirits call forth. Overwhelmingly most of the people living during this time have taken the mark of the beast. They have crossed the line of no return. That mark is a mark of the devil and is a tattoo of ownership. This stamp simultaneously tattoos the skin and the soul. Regardless of what man may think is possible, after having received the mark, there is no coming back, no outsmarting the devil, thinking themselves smart they have outsmarted themselves. So Family we see that what is seen, the Antichrist and the False Prophet are not merely physical beings but have specific evil spirits behind and within them. These three evil spirits are vulgar and hateful, that they are causes of evil acts is revealed. John is noting that what is behind the evil men, and the devil, is revealed. Obviously the devil is not occupied by an evil spirit, he is the evil spirit. What is within the Beast and the False Prophet is the same spirit, it is the devil because the devil is their god. That is what is being shown.
“They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” Power from the devil, pure evil, his hate and wrath, is unleashed on the world. What is beneath his hatred of men is revealed. Men are hated because they were created by and loved by God. The enemy can see, even if men cannot, that their common original father (Adam) were created in the image of God. Though man sinned, though the image was dirtied up, he still bore image of God. Even unredeemed man still bears the image of God, though very sullied and malformed. The devil hates these images of God. Yes, he hates and hurts man (as he is able) but his unwavering focus of hate remains on God and God is who He desires most to hurt. He would kill God if he could, but of course he cannot. When he sees mankind he wants to utterly destroy anything that bears the image of God, even if defiled, and more so if the image of God is being restored to represent in ever greater measure (through the shed blood of Jesus and His resurrection) the beauty of God (John 10:10, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:2).
The evil spirits leap upon the earth and bring tremendous and overwhelming signs to draw men to fight Jesus upon His return. Yes, the devil knows Jesus is coming. He knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12). The miraculous signs, perhaps even miracles of false compassion, are all meant to convince mankind that the he, the devil, is god and that Jesus is not the Holy Son. He must pull out all the stops to convince the nations of the world to join him to fight God. Unless the nations believe that he is god, or a more powerful god, than it would be insanity fight against God! Who would do such an inane thing? So the devil and his progeny the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be doing mighty miracles (allowed by God) that will fool those who want to be fooled because they do not want to worship God (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
We are left aghast at what is coming and, also, we look with great anticipation for the victorious return of Savior and Lord. You may have noticed that, with rare exception, I always put the title of Jesus as Savior before His title of Lord. The reason for that is if He is not our Savior first, then He is not the Lord of our lives. Though every knee, even the unredeemed, will bow before Him and confess what we all know (Yes all!), that He alone is King and Master of all. Yet, only the redeemed in Christ shall know Him as the Loving Lord that He is. Those who reject Him will know Him as the righteous and just Judge who will be the adjudicator who gave them what they lived for, separation from Him. Those who live for eternity separated from God will not be able to contest that they lived a life desiring to be separate from Him and that they knew that they life they lived would lead to a life of eternal torment. For the redeemed of the Lord, they live forever in the completion of being saved from an eternal life of being separate from God. All who love and serve God through Jesus our Savior and Lord will live with Him in peace and joy forever
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob withRevelation 16:12-16 – The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. 15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.” The river Euphrates was often referred to as “the River” or the “Great River.” We first read of it in Genesis 2:14 as it is one of the four rivers that ran through Eden. It is also one of the defined borders of the Promised Land that God promised to Israel (Abraham) (Genesis 15:18, Exodus 23:31). Here it plays an important part of the final battle at Armageddon. Until the sixth angel pours out his bowl and dries up the river, the two hundred million man army (Revelation 9:13-16) will not make their march to the “hill” or “city” of Megiddo for the “battle.” In the past, non-believers scoffed at the idea of this mighty river drying up. However in 1994 the site manager of the Ataturk Dam that is in southeastern Turkey was quoted as saying “It is true that we can stop the flow of water in Syria and Iraq for up to eight months in order to regulate their political behavior.” Man has always scoffed at the prophecies of God, even at God’s Word, but God’s Word has never failed and it will never fail. All will come to pass. All.
The “kings of the east” may be translated either “kings of the east” or “kings of the rising sun.” Either way it refers to the massive army coming from the east. Kings of the rising sun could easily be understood as referring to Japan, however it has broadly be understood to be referring to China, or China with allies. This huge army of two hundred million soldiers is often understood to be China. It seems that it was Hal Lindsey (The Late Great Planet Earth) who popularized the view that it would be China due to the boast of the Chinese themselves who circa 1970 stated they could field a “people’s army” of two hundred million. Although China is indeed the most populated country in the world (estimated over one billion three hundred million), India also now has a population that is estimated to be almost one billion three hundred million. The huge populations in the east certainly make it possible that an army of this number could be gathered.
In all these prophecies, in all the events of the world, we see that God’s inerrant Word has stood fast and is even today unfolding before us. Judgment that devastates the world is coming, but what we look to is that also coming is the fulfillment of the promises of God to all who will come to Him through Jesus our Savior and Lord. Family, let us look to God and strain toward Him as we await His coming and the end of all our struggles. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob withEzekiel 11:19-20 – I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
Hebrews 10:16-17 – “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.””
John 8:36 – So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Matthew 5:17 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Matthew 6:33 – But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Galatians 5:13-18, 22-24 – You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Likely, all of us who love the Lord have asked Him in the morning time “Lord, what would you have me do today?” What He would like to say, if we are ready for it, is truly beautiful and is freedom.
We know that Jesus told us to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He then said that “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40. If we truly live in the love of God then we will not sin. It is very simple. Jesus, who is the Truth (John 14:6) made clear and was the living representation of Truth. Jesus walked in the pure love of God and He committed no sin (1 Peter 2:22). He is our master and thereby is our example. So we know that if we live in the love of God, as Jesus did, then we will not sin. If we don’t live in love, we are not His (1 John 4:7-12).
In the Old Testament God has promised that in the latter days He will remove our hearts of stone (rebellious and disobedient) and give us hearts of flesh (sensitive and obedient) that will not do what our old hearts (hearts of sin, hearts of the world) do. In fact we will not even desire to do those things. We will walk in His Spirit and be one with Him (Ezekiel 11:19-20). God gives us these hearts of flesh as we respond to His love and yield our hearts to Him (John 3:16). We love Jesus and are His friends if we are obedient to Him (John 14:15, 15:14). Yet being obedient to Him is not hard is we walk in His love because He has written His laws into our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 10:16-17, Ezekiel 11:20). Furthermore, it is God Himself within us that will lovingly instruct us in the way we go (Psalm 32:8). The Holy Spirit is within us and leading us (Romans 8:14, John 16:13, John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 2:10-16) and it is He who changes our hearts and molds us to become more like Jesus. Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it and as we are His body living out His mission here on earth, that is true of us to. We as Christians love to hear that God loves us, and truly He does. But we, being rebellious creatures by nature, do not want to hear about the law. We don’t want to hear about the law because we cannot keep it, especially when we get down to the spirit of the law in which we all fall so very short. Yet we know that Jesus said that He did not come to earth to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Since we are disciples of Jesus, since He will fulfill, through us, the mission given to Him by the Father, we will keep the law and so fulfill the law and the prophets. It is fulfilled by living in the love of God. Since we love God and since we have the Holy Spirit within us putting the whole Word of God within us we are called to live in His love. If we love God than we, being loving children God, put aside the desires of our flesh to please God. If, with our earthly father, we are willing to set our wants aside to please him, how much more so shall we do so for our heavenly Father? Yet it seems a grievous task to fulfill the law. In fact it is. No one can do it by our own strength, but when we are fully yielded to God, when we love God with all that we are, and when we live in the love of God, it is not grievous and it is not something we must strive to do. In fact, we should not be striving to live by the law, we should be striving to love God more and more. Since God has written His law in our hearts, and since living in His love fulfills all the law, we need to strive not to live by the law but to live in and through His love and thereby fulfill all the law. We will live by the Spirit and not by the law and yet keep the law in every way (Galatians 5:13-18, 22-24). The secret to how we should live is not to strive not to sin, as if we could ever do that by our own determination and strength. How God in His Word has plainly stated that we should live is in His love. Called by His love, saved by His love, kept by His love, sanctified by His love, perfected by His love and brought home by His love. Family, He has made it clear that only those who live in His love are His. The Holy Spirit within us makes us new creatures, new beings (2 Corinthians 5:17), helping us to mortify the desires of the body to live a life fully yielded to God. As we have seen, He gives us a new heart. A heart full of love to God and also to each other. A heart that does not love in word only, but also in deed (1 John 3:18), and our love is first directed to God (who first loved us, 1 John 4:19) and then to everyone else.
Family as we grow in our love of and for God, sin in our lives should lessen. But we cry “How, this side of heaven, will His love ever be perfected that we will not sin?” Family, we know that the Lord understands us and He died for all our sins. When we do what we do not want to do, sin (Romans 7:15), we must remember that Jesus died for all of our sins, past, present and future. We, in the sting of our sins, fall before God and repent and confess and we are forgiven (1 John 1:9). So Family, as we are continually remade to be the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus, God has thought of all things to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Not only has He thought of all the things that need to be done and of what we need so that it will be done, He has given us all things to accomplish all that (2 Peter 1:3).
So, as the Spirit of God daily perfects us (a lifelong work) He frees us. What all the above expresses is what Jesus said in John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Free to do what? To live by the Spirit. If we live by the Spirit we do not sin. Which brings us back to the first question of what the Lord would have us to do today, and every day. Living in His love, He wants us to do whatever our hearts (changed and living in His love) would have us do. What do our hearts (led by the Spirit) lead us to do? Do that! When we live by His love we do His will. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 to come to Him and we will find that He is gentle and humble in heart and we will find rest for our souls. So, loving Jesus, with all that means, is rest for our souls. It is an easy and light burden. It is not me saying that, it is the Lord Himself.
So Family, walk in His love and do what your heart desires (Matthew 6:33). Really, we are free if we are in Him. Wow! That is freedom, peace and joy! Wow, praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob withFamily, I will be at the LG Leaders Retreat over the weekend and so will likely not send out any emails for a couple days.
Revelation 16:8-11 – The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
“The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.” Let’s recall that all these bowls are poured out one after another. One of the ways we know that is that after all the fresh water is polluted and undrinkable (becomes blood) then there is only so long before everybody, or most of everybody who remains, will begin to die off. Now in earlier times, even at the time the prophecies of Revelation were given, the fact that there was no fresh water to drink would cause them to think that all life on earth (yes, all animals, they can’t drink either) would begin to die within a few days. However now we that in the End Times knowledge will increase know (Daniel 12:4). As we live in the latter days, and maybe the final days, we know how many drinks, and many types of drink, we have bottled. That may keep people alive awhile longer than the ancients had thought possible. However, it is also possible that everything that is made of water will have the water that it is made of also turn to blood. We don’t know yet if that will happen. The times of these prophecies are later than our times and so the people who live then will have the knowledge as these prophecies unfold. Their knowledge will be greater as they live through it as our knowledge has increased because we live in modern times.
The first plague caused excruciating boils to torture anyone who had the mark of the beast (the overwhelming majority of all people on earth at that time). The second plague turned the sea to the blood of a dead man. The third plague did the same as the second plague only to all fresh water. Now the populace of the world is suffering with huge boils, the sea is rotting and stinking and they have no fresh water to drink and what was fresh water is also rotting and stinking. The whole world quite literally stinks. The people who are now hoping it will rain upon their diseased bodies to ease the pain and that they may capture the rain and drink the water are thirsty and afraid of dying. Now the fourth plague is poured out and the sun becomes blazing hot and scorches the people, animals, and plants of the world. Looking to the sky that they had hoped would bring relief via rain they received the opposite. What they received was the sun to change and to scorch their already suffering flesh. They are thirsty and no rains comes instead the sun becomes scorching hot and feels like fire as it touches them. Of course the animals and plants will die and rot. The sea had become a stench of blood and rotting animals and now the stench of land is filled with the stench of rotting animals and plants. The inhabitants of the world are suffering from the putrefying flesh that is now covered with boils, is sun burnt and they are beginning to die of thirst. Surely they cry out hoping for relief. They want the sun to stop burning them. But though they want mercy, they will not repent of their sins and receive the mercy of God. These are people whose hearts are so hard that they could not respond (Ephesians 4:18). They need help but they would not, they could not (because of their hard hearts) respond to God or even seek Him. With all they have seen over the seven years, the reality of God is undeniable, but even so, they hardened their hearts ever more and shook their fists of God. Talk about your horrors!
“The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony.” They cried out hoping the searing sun would relent and then they were plunged into darkness. Previously the Egyptians had to suffer a plague of darkness for three days (Exodus 10:21-23). The Word of God describes that darkness as so complete and so pervasive that it was a darkness that could be felt. It was darkness, it was absence of light. They could not see each other or even their hand before their face. They suffered in darkness with their boils and their thirst.
How ironic that they who have refused the Lord, and continue to refuse the Lord, are covered with tortuous boils on their sunburned flesh. These people are getting a taste of hell that God has already said was the fate of those who refuse His mercy and grace. Mark 9:49 records Jesus as describing those who go to hell suffering with worms that never stop eating them and where they burn forever. That is the final and unchangeable position where all those who now harden their hearts are headed. The irony of the prophetic nature of the fate that they are marching towards. They rejected the Light of the world (Jesus the Son) and so spiritually they walked in darkness. Now physically, they called for the burning sun to stop and now they are in darkness. But it is not the physical darkness that brings the spiritual darkness but the spiritual darkness that causes them to now be in the physical darkness. Once again we see that the physical is a shadow of the spiritual.
Even after all they have been gone through and after them now being in complete darkness, they would not repent. Family it is obvious for all to see that these people are receiving what they have demanded their whole life. The folly of the question of how a good and loving God could allow all this to happen is exposed. It is not God that brought evil into the world but people. There is no evil in God and He does no tempt man to do evil (James 1:13). Man does evil out because his heart is evil (Jeremiah 17:9). His heart became evil when he committed physical and spiritual suicide in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Jesus came to free man from the bondage of evil. Most men reject freedom from Jesus and choose to remain in their bondage, because they like it! So the question is not how can God allow evil but why mankind insists on living in it and propagating it!
Family, we are not such as these. We are born again, born from above, solely by the will and might and love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is why we shall never suffer the fate of the unredeemed that is describes in Revelation. While these last horrible plagues are falling upon mankind, we shall not be on earth in the midst of the horror. God will have brought us all home long before then. We shall see it, with a perfected God view in our minds and hearts from the safety and comfort of our home with the Lord in heaven. Now that is something to get excited and shout about! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Revelation 16:1-7 – Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; 6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” 7 And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”
“The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.” Revelation 8:8 reports that the sea had been struck by something huge from the sky hit the sea and turned one third of it into blood. That killed one third of the living creatures in the sea and also destroyed one third of the ships in the sea. That was the result of this huge object striking the sea. The Two Witnesses have the power to turn the waters in to blood (Revelation 11:6). The plague released by this second angel brings death to the entire sea. The waters of all seas are turned to blood. Not water that looks like blood, but actual blood. Not just blood but the blood like the blood of a dead man. Family, the oceans will be filled with blood the same that is in a dead man and that means it will be blood that is thickened, more viscous. It will stink. Family, once again, this is not red colored water, this is the seas turning into blood. Of course this means that nothing that lives in the sea will be able to survive in it and all creatures of the sea will die. What a smell that will cause to come upon the earth and also the end of all food from the sea.
“The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.” All that was true of the plague on the sea now becomes true of all the rest of the waters of the earth. As horrible as the second plague is, this will be much worse. Having no water to drink means death is following. This is worse. Something to realize about these plagues is that they are coming quickly. They follow one after another. There is no rest. First the boils causing severe pain. Then the seas become blood. The people with the mark of the beast are now suffering with in constant pain and smelling the stench of the sea. Before they can catch their breath, all drinking water becomes blood and cannot sustain life. One judgement after another. The earth, and especially those who have the mark of the beast and who worshiped the image, are suffering and are facing death. The only hope for drinking water is for rain. How ironic, that they look to skies to be saved by rain when they should be looking to the skies and honoring Jesus. Very reminiscent of the woman at the well (John 4:1-42). Yet she was wiser than the proud of the last days, she believed and repented and shared the truth and many were saved.
At this point there may be some who are not believers who still are alive. They have not aligned themselves with the devil and his antichrist. Perhaps people who sincerely follow false religious beliefs and do not buy what the antichrist is selling. They are also being killed, but the horrible thing of it about it is that they have the same destiny either way. By refusing Jesus, they will receive the same fate as those who did receive the mark, minus the boils. They will receive the same ultimate eternal of fate of being eternally separate from God and suffering in hell. The worse sin that exists in the world is refusing the grace of God that is offered only through Jesus Christ. God the Father sent His Son to suffer and die so that man could have Shalom with God again. Does anyone really believe that the Father would cause His Son to suffer all that He suffered and die upon a lonely cross if there was another way for men to have peace with God? That is an insane thought! God would have to hate Jesus to put Him through it all for nothing, if there was another way for salvation. No, family, there is only one way to peace with God and that is through Jesus (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). There is only one way to heaven and only one way to avoid the judgments of the Great Tribulation and that way is Jesus the Only Savior and Lord.
“Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; 6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” 7 And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.” Interesting to know that there is an angel in charge of the waters. This angel clearly states for all to know that God is just in the judgments that now beset the earth. These judgments fall upon those who have rejected the Father’s Son. These judgments fall upon those who have willfully slapped away the hand of Grace that is offered by God Himself. These people are people who align themselves with the world governments, philosophies and policies rather submitting to God and being saved. They have wanted separation from God (by rejecting Jesus) and they are now reaping what they sought. Separation from God and His blessings. How appropriate that these people who aligned themselves with the devil by taking the mark of the beast are now suffering in their flesh. They rejected the sacrifice Jesus made for them. Jesus suffered worse than they are then suffering and Jesus suffered so that they would not have to. He suffered so that no man must suffer the judgments of these Last Days. But these who take the mark have counted the suffering and death of Jesus to be an unworthy and useless things and so, in denying the suffering that Jesus did for them, they shall not receive the covering of His sacrifice and they will receive what they demanded, to be outside the grace of God through Jesus. Now their flesh will suffer unbearable pain and, it is only the beginning and a minimal percentage of what they will suffer for eternity. It is the fate they have chosen for themselves. God is not to blame. Jesus came along and offered to take them off the path and they refused. So they receive what they lived for. These are people who stood against the saints of God and many persecuted and ridiculed them. During the tribulation they took part in the killing of the saints as they aligned with themselves with the Antichrist. So the angel loudly proclaims that the judgments of God are just. What is the reply from the altar that is before God? That the judgments that fall upon men who reject Him are true and just. How ironic that they refused to be washed in the blood of Christ and they refused to drink the living water that Jesus offered to bring life to their spirits, and now they have no natural water to bring life to their natural bodies either.
Family, we are the children of God and have no reason to fear the coming judgments. For the unredeemed the future is to be dreaded, but for us all the coming judgments are the truth that we have known and lived by, God keeps His Word. And since He keeps His Word He will keep it not only to bring judgment but He will keep it in bringing us home to live safely, peacefully and in His love forever. Praise the Lord! Let’s rejoice and be thankful to our God! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob withJohn 6:68-69 – Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
It is amazing that some so quickly become discouraged and want to accuse God and to leave their faith. Our Brother Peter said it so well when He responded to Jesus about quitting, about giving up and walking away. He said this when many of what the Word of God called “His disciples” walked away from Jesus (John 6:66 “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”) Two things that John 6:66 state are: 1) the people being spoken of were “His disciples” and 2) that these disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. NIV states that these who were Disciples “turned back and no longer followed Him.” NKJV translates it “went back and walked with Him no more.” The Word translated as disciples here is the same word applied to the Apostles. Vine’s Expository Dictionary breaks this word down to mean “thought accompanied by endeavor” and “one who follows one’s teaching.” The second part of this statement states that they turned, or went back. Family, you cannot turn away from, or leave anything or anyone where you have never been. So these disciples of Christ, who were thinking about what Jesus was teaching and were some who were following His teaching, turned away from Him. Notice that the verse clearly says that they no longer followed Him. The meaning is clear that they had been following but then, after the teaching that they thought too incredible to believe, they turned away from following Him walked away and, no longer followed Him. Remembering the first time I read this it shocked me. Who would walk away from Jesus? Can anyone really know Him and walk in His love and walk away? It seems inconceivable!
Praise God that Peter’s heart and mind received what our Heavenly Father had given to Him here and in (Matthew 16:13)! Family, Peter said it right. When we don’t understand what God is trying to teach us through His Word or through trials (to teach and strengthen) we ought to remember and think about what we know and not what we do not know. There are many times we don’t understand what we are presented with and this can raise doubt. But at times like this our focus belongs on what we do know and not on what we don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus is the one from whom eternal life flows and that He is the only Holy One of God. It is at the times of confusion or hurt that we must run to the Lord and not away from Him. When being treated by a doctor, and something seems wrong with that treatment, we don’t then run away from medical help, but run back to it and there seek the answer. Jesus is the one with the healing and the answers. We need to run to Him and not from Him. We will never understand everything, but we can cling to what do know. What we know is that God is good and that He loves us. Never in the Bible does God say that we need to know and understand everything. However, the Lord says that we can trust and have faith in Him through all of the conundrums and trials of life. We run to Him because He does have the answers. We run to Him because nothing is impossible for Him. We run to Him because He, our Father in Heaven, wants us to. Family, if we are hurting, if we just don’t understand, we must trust Jesus. He alone is completely worthy of our trust. He alone will lead through the trial and keep us safe. He alone is the victory. He alone has the words of eternal life and He alone is the Holy One of God, and He calls us His friend. Oh praise God we are His friends! Thank you Jesus! As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! (Joshua 24:15, Micah 7:7).
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob with
Revelation 16:1-7 – Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; 6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” 7 And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”
“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” John, in the original language emphasizes that the voice was loud. John does not seem to identify to whom the voice belonged, but the fact that it was loud was surely emphasized to stress that the voice was heard clearly and that it was a voice of authority and power.
Revelation 15:8 had expressed that during the pouring out of these seven plagues no-one could enter the temple of God. Since no-one could enter the temple at this time, we can easily believe that the voice that came from the temple is the voice of God. With the purpose and the message of these plagues, it is easily conceivable that God Himself is speaking. He wants the world to know that these horrible plagues are not something random, but are the direct judgments of God. He tells the angels to pour out the seven bowls of wrath. The worst of punishments of the Great Tribulation are about to be released.
“The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. What immediately comes to mind is when a plague sounding similar to this came to the Egyptians (Exodus 9:8-10). The plague on the Egyptians was temporary however, this plague seems to be permanent. It is not going away as the bowls are poured (see Revelation 16:10-11).
In Egypt the boils only came on the Egyptians and not the children of God. This plague of boils here mentioned likewise hits with pinpoint precision. Who does this missile of disaster hit? It hits those who have: 1) Taken the mark of the beast and 2) those who worshiped the image of the beast. Previous to this, those who had taken the mark of the beast were likely very smug. They could buy and sell what they willed. They had food to eat and beverage to drink. Most were likely very active in turning in those who refused the mark of the beast. They thought themselves wise and practical. Now the reality of their error in going against God’s Word is upon them. These boils are causing them to suffer. Bible commentator John Phillips suggests that these sores are directly related to where the mark of the beast is on the body of the recipient. These are loathsome and painful sores. Ugly to look at and painful to bear. If Phillips is correct, how appropriate that what they thought would save them is the exact point where the sores occurs. If on the hand, or worse on the face, that is where the evil they did by accepting the mark festers on their skin for all to see. They will not then be so proud of their mark. Perhaps the mark that was placed in and on them was cancerous. Either way, how appropriate it would be that these sores may be at the point of their rebellion. Still, all so very sad.
All the judgments in the Great Tribulation bring to mind Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” This is what lays in wait for those who refuse God. But for those who love God and have given their lives over to the Lord, we have the promise of eternal peace and joy with our Lord God. Praise God! We anxiously await the return of the Lord and yet, we worry for those who have not yet, or who may never, come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
by Bob with
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