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Psalms
119:1-12 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who
walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are
those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do
no iniquity; They walk in His ways. You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were
directed To keep Your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into
all Your commandments. I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I
learn Your righteous judgments. I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake
me utterly! How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to
Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from
Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin
against You. Blessed are You, O
LORD! Teach me Your statutes.
Father God, we praise your name and exult you. Thank you
for the love you pour out upon us each day. Help us to open our eyes so that we
can see clearly to walk down the path of righteousness, that the Holy Spirit
prepares for us each day. In Jesus name
we pray, Amen!
Revelation 18:14-24 NKJV
This
lesson is a continuation of last week’s concerning the fall of Babylon. The
last half of Chapter 18 repeats some of what was stated in the first half.
Remember the time period of when this takes place, it is at the very end of the
seven year Tribulation when the Antichrist will be ruling. The Antichrist will
set up a government and economic system that will serve him by all nations. It
will be an economic system that will appeal to leaders because it will be one
that will enable leaders to prosper. It will be of a greedy nature. It will be
those who are in control of various parts of his economic system that will
mourn Babylon's fall. The political leaders will mourn because they were the
overseers of Babylon's wealth and were in a position to greatly enrich
themselves. The merchants will mourn because Babylon, the greatest customer for
their goods, will be gone. Shipping businesses will no longer have anywhere to ship
their goods because the merchants will have nowhere to sell them. The fall of
the evil world system will affect all who enjoyed and depended on it.
14 The fruit
that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich
and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all.
The
fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you; This phrase is referring to a person
selling out his soul for worldly things, riches that man lusts for. Our souls
long for Godly things if we would just listen to it, but the sin nature within
us many times speaks a much louder voice. Luke 12:16-21 Then He spoke
a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded
plentifully. 17
And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room
to store my crops?' 18 So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my
barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will
say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take
your ease; eat, drink, and be
merry." ' 20
But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then
whose will those things be which you have provided?' 21 "So is he who lays up treasure for
himself, and is not rich toward God."
All the things which are rich and
splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all; The people of the Tribulation time
will sell their souls to the Antichrist because of his promises of good times
and prosperity. They will take the mark 666 and their soul will belong to
Satan. He will preach a prosperity message just like some of the present so
called TV evangelists are doing. He will make the things of the world look
grand, which is what the people of that time period will lust for, and it is
what the majority of people lust for today. The sad thing is, after death these
worldly treasures will be of no use. These people will be just like Esau when
he sold his birth rights to Jacob. All Esau wanted was to satisfy his hungry
flesh right at that moment, not thinking about Heavenly rewards. Genesis 25:33-34 Then Jacob said, "Swear to me as of this
day." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils;
then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. What do you strive to satisfy each
day?
15 The
merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for
fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
The
merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for
fear of her torment;
Merchants of many nations will observe this economic and political fall from a
distance wondering what will happen now. They will say things were really going
well and we were prospering, but what now. Maybe they will finally realize the
judgment of God is close at hand and fear His judgment will fall on them, for
this reason they will keep their distance. They will be like a person in a
workplace keeping their distance from coworkers in hopes that the flu virus
going through the workforce won’t get them.
Weeping
and wailing; No doubt
the stock markets around the world will plunge like never before. These
merchants of nations will be in such despair they will be crying not knowing
what to do. They have been storing up earthly riches and not looking at the big
picture in why we are here on earth, which is faith in Jesus Christ and what He
did on the Cross, so that we can spend eternity with Him. Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves
break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do
not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.
16 and
saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple,
and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
Alas,
alas, that great city;
That great city will be the rebuilt Babylon. With it being the seat of the Antichrist
it will be a “Great City”. A city of wealth, luxury, power, and religion, but
the word “that”, signifies it is no longer, it is gone. This cities focus was
on worldly things which appeals to the unrighteous. We are to use what the
world offers, but only what is necessary and not to be gluttonous. Our
pleasures are to be in the Lord! 1
John 2:15-18 Do not love
the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the
world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God
abides forever. 18
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist
is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the
last hour.
Clothed
in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones
and pearls; This city
and the people of the world dress themselves in fine linen, but it is linen of
the world, of many colors, and not of God. Born Again Saints, Jesus bride is to
be clothed in fine linen also, but of a white and pure nature, one of righteous
deeds. Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself
ready." 8
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for
the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
17 For in
one hour such great riches came to nothing.' Every shipmaster, all who travel
by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance
For in one hour all is
wiped out by God. What takes man a lifetime to build God can wipe out in a
second. As great and might that we think we are, we are nothing compared to the
power of God. We can be here today and gone tomorrow and all that we worked for
is left here and is nothing but a memory to those that are left behind. The
nations around the world will only be able to stand by and watch the fall of
the Antichrists achievements and do nothing to stop the events. There will be
weeping, because their god is money! Luke
18:22-24 So when
Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You
still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 23 But when
he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. 24 And when
Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How
hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!
18 and cried
out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What is like this great city?'
19
"They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing,
and saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea
became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.'
Again these two verses are
referring to the loss of financial security for these nations that have thrown
in with the Antichrist and his kingdom. They aren’t repenting of their ways and
worried about their souls, it is because of their loss in wealth from this
Babylonian system. Verse 19 tells us that’s why they are in despair. This city
and system was making them rich and now it is gone. They have nothing to hope
for now, they not only sold their soul for the Antichrist’s system, but now it
is gone also.
20
"Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on
her!"
Rejoice
over her, O heaven, and you
holy apostles and prophets;
This verse is telling all of Heaven and God’s children to rejoice in the
destruction of Babylon. Babylon as stated previously represents false
religions, but it also represents all evil, sinfulness, disobeying the Ten
Commandments, not loving God with all of ones heart, not loving thy neighbor as
thy self, in other words everything that living for the world represents of a
dark nature. While the people that live for worldly things are mourning the
fall of Babylon, those that live for God are told to rejoice. I wonder how this
verse and what it means, affects the mind set of those that only listen to the
loving side of God and reject the wrath of God. Their thought is that when they
die, no matter how they lived, God will forgive them and let them into Heaven. Unless
one repents of their ways and ask Jesus into their heart, it only takes one sin
to keep a person out of Heaven. This is what happened to the rich man in the
verse above Luke 18:22-24, it only took one sin of disobedience to get Adam and
Eve kicked out of the Garden, and the Apostle James tells us that if we break
one of the Commandments we are just as guilty as a person that breaks all the
commandments. James
2:8-11 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the
Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you do
well; 9
but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as
transgressors. 10
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who
said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT MURDER."
Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a
transgressor of the law.
God is stating that He is
avenging all that have been persecuted from the beginning of time to the
present and on to the end. This is why apostles and prophets are mentioned. The
apostles represent the NT times and the prophets represent the OT time.
For
God has avenged you on her;
With the destruction of Babylon it won’t stop there. The Battle of Armageddon
follows and all of evil will be wiped from this earth whether it be of a
spiritual nature or people. God will avenge all evil that has persecuted His
Children throughout time. Vengeance belongs to God and only God. We are to
forgive those that wrong us no matter what the circumstances are and give it to
God to deal with the person or situation. Matthew 18:6-7 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in
Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck,
and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come,
but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!
21 Then a
mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus
with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be
found anymore.
This verse is telling us
how the great city Babylon will be destroyed. It will be destroyed in a violent
manner. This verse is indicating the Second Coming of Christ, the Battle of Armageddon.
During this time the Antichrist will march against Israel with the
confederation of the ten nations. This will anger God greatly and as
prophesized He will pour out His wrath on all evil. Zechariah Chapter 14 and
Ezekiel Chapter 38 speaks of this event. Zechariah 14:3 Then the
LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of
battle. Ezekiel
38:22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I
will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding
rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
22 The sound
of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you
anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound
of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore.
23 The light
of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride
shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the
earth, for by your sorcery all the
nations were deceived.
24 And in
her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on
the earth."
These last three verses of
this chapter pretty much sum up that when Jesus returns, it is over, there will
be no more Babylon, no more evil, and it is an end of one era and the beginning
of a new era.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him
and for Him.
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."
Bill
Wiesbrock https://www.facebook.com/bill.wiesbrock?ref=tn_tnmn
Sinners
Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my sins to you; I am sorry for my
sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a sinful lifestyle.) of all my
sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness of all of my sins. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.” (John 3:16,17;
Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom.
1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
