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Psalms 112:1-10 Praise the
LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His
commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the
upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever.
Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. A good
man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.
Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting
remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast,
trusting in the LORD. His heart is
established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies. He has dispersed abroad, He has given
to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with
honor. The wicked will see it
and be grieved; He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked
shall perish.
Father God we
praise you and give you the glory for all things. You are the potter and we are
the clay. So I ask that you reshape all that read your lesson into a new
creation. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Revelation 14:14-20 NKJV
This
week’s lesson has more angels with messages for us, messages that are harsh. Verses
1-5 of this chapter are about salvation and eternal happiness; verses 6-13 are
about not so good and what happens to those not accepting Jesus as their
Saviour; and the verses this week are about God’s judgment. A judgment that is
hard for the human mind to comprehend. The description of God’s wrath at the
end of this lesson is one human’s don’t want to believe. So in studying this
chapter I will remember it by the good, the bad, and the ugly.
14 Then I
looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and
in His hand a sharp sickle.
Then
I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man; White signifies purity, without
blemish, and holiness and a cloud denotes glory. The Son of Man is in reference
to the humanity of Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the Cross at Calvary.
Having
on His head a golden crown; This
gold crown is a victor’s crown. Jesus is the only one that did or ever will
defeat Satan. It is only through Jesus victory over sin that we can be washed
in His blood and be redeemed. All we have to do is repent, ask forgiveness, and
ask Jesus into our lives so we can be joint heirs with Him.
And
in His hand a sharp sickle;
This sickle of judgment in Jesus hand is not one that will be reaping in his
saints, but one to reap the lost of the world into Hell. It will be the battle
of Armageddon.
15 And
another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat
on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for
You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
Here we have an angel
coming out of the temple and announcing the time has come to remove evil from
this earth. Angels not only are messengers it almost appears they are time
keepers, but we know this can’t be true because God only knows the hour of
things to take place. The first angel of this chapter preached the Gospel, the
second announced the fall of Babylon, the third warned about taking the mark of
the beast, and the fourth one here is announcing the battle of Armageddon. They
are definitely messengers for God.
16 So He who
sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
He who sat on the cloud is
of course referring to Jesus and in His hands is a sickle to harvest the earth.
He will remove the sinful from earth; it will be the beginning of the Battle of
Armageddon. He will wipe out evil from among the people like a farmer removes
the weeds from his field.
17 Then
another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp
sickle.
Angel number five makes
his debut also carrying a sharp sickle. This tells us not to take these things
lightly. This reaping is being mentioned twice to get the attention of the
reader. This verse also tells us that angels will also play a part in the
Battle of Armageddon. They will be right there with Jesus and the Saints in
this battle.
18 And
another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried
with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your
sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes
are fully ripe."
This sixth angel came out
from the altar, the brazen altar where sacrifices were made before God. This angel
had the power over fire meaning it was one of his duties to keep the fire lit.
It is no doubt the altar that was used as a model for the one Moses
constructed. This angel stood in front of the altar and shouted for the fifth
angel to thrust in his sickle to lop off the clusters from the vine. This angel
is stating it is time; the end is here for the wicked to perish from earth. The
grapes fully ripe meaning that evil is at its peak and it is time for something
to be done.
19 So the
angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and
threw it into the great
winepress of the wrath of God.
This angel isn’t
harvesting grapes; he is harvesting souls, corrupt souls and throwing them in
the winepress which is the judgment of God. The sentence of this judgment will
be an eternity judgment carried out in the Lake of Fire. This judgment has been
predicted for thousands of years.
Isaiah 63:1-6 Who is
this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— "I who speak in
righteousness, mighty to save." 2 Why is
Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? 3 "I
have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them
in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My
garments, And I have stained all My robes.
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My
redeemed has come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore
My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. 6 I have
trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought
down their strength to the earth." Lamentations
1:15 "The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst; He has called an
assembly against me To crush my young men; The Lord trampled as in a winepress The virgin daughter
of Judah. Joel 3:12-13 "Let the nations be
wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to
judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come,
go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great."
20 And the
winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress,
up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.
And
the winepress was trampled outside the city; This phrase actually refers to the battle of Armageddon
and the many nations surrounding Jerusalem pressing in to destroy the city and
the Jewish people. A winepress is a large vat or trough where grapes are
crushed after being gathered. They are crushed by means of a press being turned
down or the grapes trampled on by people to extract the juice. The juice flows
out of a duct that leads to a large holding vat. The winepress is often used in
the Bible as a symbol of God's wrath and judgment against sin. Another way to
picture this that puts a chill down my spine is to think of a cardboard
compactor or a car crusher. This verse is why I call this lesson, “the ugly”.
And
blood came out of the winepress;
This isn’t a press for grapes it is a press to destroy the wicked. This isn’t a
very comforting scene being described. So many people only want to think of God as
love, kind, merciful, forgiving and He has no anger, judgment, or violence
about Him. People that accept this about God are deceiving themselves so they
can live a lifestyle they want and not what God wants of them. These people are
deceiving themselves and live for their spiritual father, Satan. John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the
desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources,
for he is a liar and the father of it. God loves us as His creation/human being, but it is our
sinful lifestyle that we inherited from Adam via Satan that he hates and as a
result sends people to Hell that don’t accept Jesus as their Lord and King. The
word hate equates to condemnation as stated in 1 John 3:14-15 We know
that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who
does not love his brother
abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no
murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Up
to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs; This is not a picture we want to
embrace as human beings. How can this be, Jesus and this angel plunging in
their sickle and destroying millions of people? It is because our God is a just
God and his judgment is black and white with no gray areas. If a person places
their faith in Jesus, they are saved, if not they are doomed.
How
long is 1600 furlongs? Is a distance of about 175 miles and the depth of the blood
would be approximately 5-6 feet deep. The picture painted here for us tells us
that millions or billions will die.
To
those not used to vivid descriptions of God's anger in judgment, these are
disturbing descriptions. We as people dislike the idea of other people, even
evil ones, being trampled like grapes. The depth and length of the blood flow
provides a sickening scene of the sheer size of God's judgment. But unless we
face the necessity of God's judgment, we will never see our desperate need for
his mercy. A God with only a grandfatherly kindness would not inspire our
repentance, obedience, or worship. God has promised a harsh harvest for those
who reject him. Those who know God well enough to fear his wrath know God well
enough to desire his grace. The crushing wrath of God is coming. Blessed are
those who have had their sins forgiven.
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)
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