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Psalms
102:1-12 A Prayer of
the Afflicted, When He is Overwhelmed and Pours Out His Complaint Before the
LORD. Hear my
prayer, O LORD, And let my cry come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in
the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer
me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like
a hearth. My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat
my bread. Because of the sound of my groaning My bones cling to my skin. I am
like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop. My enemies reproach me all day
long; Those who deride me swear an oath against me. For I have eaten ashes like
bread, And mingled my drink with weeping, Because of Your indignation and Your
wrath; For You have lifted me up and cast me away. My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And
I wither away like grass. But You, O LORD, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
Father God you are the answer to all of life’s woes. We
praise your Holiness, for you are worthy of all praise. Help us to be ever
mindful of your presence and always turn to you for all things through your Son
Jesus Christ. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Revelation 6:9-11 NKJV
Two
weeks ago I stated I would expound on a part of verse eight in the next lesson
because I ran out of room, and that phrase was, “So I looked, and behold, a
pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed
with him.” If you remember the picture, the rider was followed by the flames of
Hell. The flames of Hades followed this rider because those that go through the
Tribulation and perish, for the most part, will go to Hell. Why, because those
remaining on earth are not Gods people, for the most part. God’s people have
all been Raptured up to Heaven when this is all taking place here on earth.
Those remaining on earth are unbelievers. They have rejected Jesus and the
Cross. There will be a few after the Rapture that will accept Jesus as their
Saviour. Those saved will only be individuals that have never been witnessed to
and don’t know about Jesus and what He did for mankind. Those that are left
after the Rapture that never accepted Jesus as their Saviour after hearing the
Gospel, will not have another chance to accept Him. Because of their free will
not to accept Jesus as their Saviour before the Rapture, God will put a
delusion over them so they will believe a lie. This is stated in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work; only He who now restrains will
do so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be
revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy
with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all
power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who
perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. 11
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should
believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Another
phrase in verse 6 I would like to comment more on is, “do not harm the oil and
the wine”. I’ve struggled with this phrase and what is meant by it. As stated in
the last lesson no one seems to have an interpretation for this phrase, it is
one of God’s mysteries, but the next morning after I sent out the last lesson I
woke up with this word, oilfields. At first when this popped into my head I
didn’t know what it meant or why I woke up with it in my thoughts. Then the
light bulb went on so here is what I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me. What
we are studying is what is to happen in the future. The time period involved is
the Tribulation where God’s wrath is being poured out upon those remaining on
earth after the Rapture. At the end of the Tribulation is the battle of
Armageddon and then those remaining on earth will be ushered into the Kingdom
Age (Millennial Reign). The Millennial Reign means there will be peace on earth
for a thousand years because Jesus and His saints will be ruling and reigning.
Oil is something that we depend on and during the Millennium it will still be
needed. The worst of the plagues that will be sent forth by God and the battle
of Armageddon will take place in the Middle East for the most part and where
does the world get most of its oil?
Wine
represents the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Those that have never heard about
Jesus and accept Him as their Saviour during the Tribulation, whether Jew or
Gentile, are covered by the blood of Jesus. Is this seal judgment not to harm
them? This could also pertain to the 144,000 witnesses which we will be
studying about in the near future. Could the wine pertain to them?
God is
in control and is giving this rider restrictions on what he can and cannot do
just like He told Satan not to lay a hand on Job the first time and the second
time God told Satan he could not take Job’s life. Job
1:12 And the LORD said to Satan,
"Behold, all that he has is
in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job 2:6 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his
life."
I
don’t know if this makes sense to you, but it does to me.
9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the
testimony which they held.
This verse tells us a few
things. First; we learn there are alters in Heaven. This alter is the alter of incense
which stand before the throne, the alter where prayers are offered up by the Saints
meaning Born Again Saints. Revelation
8:3 Then another angel, having a
golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he
should offer it with the
prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Second; the term “souls”
is a figure of speech to identify those that are crying out to Jesus. This time
period is during the Tribulation and all those in Heaven have glorified bodies.
Prior to the Rapture only souls were in Heaven, but with the event of the
Rapture, body and soul are united and a glorified body is given to each
believer. Those that are slain during the Tribulation will also be in a
glorified body.
Third; those who are
slain. Who are these that will be slain? They are individuals that will be
witnessed to for the first time and will accept Jesus as their Saviour; they
will be those doing the witnessing; they will be those that will not deny Jesus
as their Saviour unto death; they will be those not accepting the mark of the
beast.
10 And they
cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until
You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
These souls are crying out
to Jesus and asking how long will they have to wait before their killers will
be judged, put to death. This doesn’t sound like love to me or forgive them
Father fore they know not what they do, does it? These Saints are looking for revenge.
Is this any different than what we have said here on earth? How long must
senseless killings go on, or drugs, child abuse, drunk drivers, corrupt
government, adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, etc. The list goes on and
on. The cry is in parallel with the Lord’s Prayer that we have all prayed. It
is a cry for justice, a cry for sin to be stopped, a cry for peace.
“Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Did
you realize
what you are saying is a plea for God’s judgment in this part of the Lord’s
Prayer? God’s children despise the sinful lifestyle of individuals, but love
the person, God’s creation as He does. We want all to be saved and go to
Heaven, which drives a Born Again child of God to spread the truth of the
Bible.
This vengeance these souls
are crying out for to Jesus is exactly in line with what the Bible teaches.
Vengeance belongs to God, we are to hand vengeance over to God. We are not to
judge. Romans 12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is
written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. God is the only one to save and
destroy. James 4:12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and
to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
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Souls of the Martyrs
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Art used; by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
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11 Then a
white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should
rest a little while longer, until both the
number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed
as they were, was completed.
This white robe symbolizes
righteousness. Every person that goes to Heaven will receive a white robe of
fine linen that is white as new fallen snow. Revelation 19:8 KJV And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the
fine linen is the righteousness of saints. It is the Cross of Christ that makes this possible for
all to obtain if they so desire. If anyone will turn from their sinful
lifestyle, seek to follow Jesus and cry out for Him to save them, He will, and
the person will begin a new lifestyle with the help of the Holy Spirit. His old
lifestyle will be revealed for what it was, an offence to God.
These souls will have to
wait till the end of the Tribulation for things to be set right. This will
happen at the Battle of Armageddon. With God’s foreknowledge He knows there are
more on earth that will give their hearts to Jesus, so the end will not happen
until all these individuals accept Jesus. During this time there will be others
that will be killed because they will stand up for the Word of God just as they
did.
This verse also tells us
that something happens to our soul and spirit when we die. Some religions
believe that when we die all we do is sleep which is a false teaching. In
Philippians Paul tells us that his desire is to depart this earth and be with
Jesus. Philippians 1:23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a
desire to depart and be with Christ, which
is far better.
In Luke we see Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom, but the rich man is in the flames of
Hell. Luke 16:22-23 And it came to pass,
that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the
rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell
he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeing Abraham far off, and Lazarus
in his bosom.
So the Bible definitely teaches there is a Heaven and a Hell. One thing the
Bible does not teach is Purgatory. There is no Purgatory and if anyone has
Bible verses that support this I would like to know what they are. So here
again you have to decide who you believe in man or Jesus for salvation.
12 I looked
when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and
the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
The sixth seal is opened
and the events of the sixth seal is described starting with this verse 6:12 –
Revelation 7:17. These events that will be described are events that Jesus
tells us about in Matthew Chapter 24. These events are events we do not want to
experience. We are experiencing some of these events now, but they will
intensify as we draw closer to judgment day when our Lord Jesus Christ will
return.
Earthquake denotes a
shaking or agitation of the earth. Some earthquakes are mild and some violent
that produce disastrous results as we all know about in recent times. They opening
chasms in the earth; throwing down houses and cities; sinking hills, and
elevating plains; causing tsunamis; elevating the ocean from its bed, rending
rocks, etc.
This earthquake is
referred to as a great earthquake. This tells me it will be an earthquake like
we have never seen before. It will not just affect the earth, but it will shake
the universe. The following verses in this chapter are describing the magnitude
of this earthquake.
13 And the
stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is
shaken by a mighty wind.
14 Then the
sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was
moved out of its place.
15 And the kings
of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men,
every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of
the mountains,
16 and said
to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him
who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the
great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
I will
pick up with verse 12 next week and go into more detail concerning the sixth
seal and its woe.
Romans 1:16 For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…...
Romans
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John
3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say
to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Last
Week’s Trivia: Who
was Ahzai?
Answer: Ahzai was a priest, and the ancestor
of Amashai, one of the priests who returned to Jerusalem after the Exile. Nehemiah 11:13; 1
Chronicles 9:12.
This
week’s Trivia: Who
was Akan?
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