Revelation 18
Therefore these plagues will overtake her in a single day--death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire. ... And the kings of the world will ... mourn as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. They will stand at a distance, terrified. ... The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods ... will stand at a distance, terrified. ... And all the captains of the merchant ships and all their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance ... as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, "Where is there another city as great as this?"
And all three groups of rulers and businessmen cry out, "How terrible, how terrible!"
So this city, this harlot that rides on the Beast (in Chapter 17), this center of the whole world's economies, will be completely consumed by fire all at once, and they will all stand at a distance watching the smoke ascend (like mushroom clouds?) and be terrified!
What Nation among the Nations, what group of powerful people, have so much influence that they affect all the other World's Nations' economies?
We need to recognize where this is, because God calls us to:
Come out of her, My people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues (v. 4).
This is a group of arrogant people who never think anything disastrously bad will ever happen to them (see v. 7).
This will be such a complete destruction that no society will ever be able to occupy this land again (see vs. 21-24). That's why God wants His people to leave before this happens.
So there are also God's people there. God has called to Himself people from every Nation, every tribe, every language, all over the World. So we need to pay attention to the political machinations in every Nation, and be discerning as to recognizing what our leaders are doing, in both politics and economics, and in their religions, too, as this Nation has persecuted, tortured, imprisoned and martyred God's children.
The merchants of this "city" were the World's great men.
By their "magic spell" or "trance" all the Nations were led astray (v. 23).
This is economic "Armageddon."
In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
And of all who have been killed on the Earth" (v. 24).
This is the "World religion" that will dominate in the "one-World government."
Let's all, all of God's people, who know and worship our Creator, Owner, King and Lord, pay attention to what is going on in the World, and continue to grow closer to our dear Father to follow His direction each day of our lives.
Look, He is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see Him,
even those who pierced Him;
and all the peoples of the Earth will mourn because of Him.
So shall it be! Amen. (Chapter 1:7).
"Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever. Amen." (7:12).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Monday, July 10, 2017
Salvation And Redemption
Romans 3: 23-26
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The word "sin" is an archery term that refers to "missing the bull's eye." We have all fallen short of the Perfection that is God's standard.
being justified
Being declared just, not made just in our human lives.
as a gift
We can't earn it, we can only accept it as a free gift we don't deserve.
by His grace
Grace is God giving us the good we don't deserve, whereas mercy is God not giving us the punishment we do deserve.
through the redemption
To redeem a coupon is to trade it for the benefit it represents. Our redemption is the trading in of our mortal physical body for the eternal spiritual body like Jesus' Resurrection body. It includes all the benefits of Eternal Life.
which is in Christ Jesus,
Only God, Himself, in shedding His own (God's own) Blood on the altar of the Cross could not just cover, but actually wash away all the stain of our sinfulness, thereby fitting us to live with Him in His Heaven.
whom God displayed publicly
God the Father determined that God the Son would be sacrificed publicly for everybody to witness, in full view of the general populace.
as a propitiation
A big word that means, "that which gains or regains the favor or goodwill of," or "an atoning sacrifice" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). What makes up for wrongdoing. Jesus suffered the whole punishment for our sins, as our substitute in death.
in His blood
His blood is the very blood of God, Himself, with endless value; more than enough worth to pay for all sin and sins everywhere. But not everyone is willing to admit that they deserve death.
through faith.
Our faith is believing what God says in His Word about ourselves, Who Jesus is, what He has done, and that God loves us that much to go through all of this just for me, for each one of us. God saves us one by one.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness,
This was to show everybody how good God is, how right and perfect He is.
because in the forbearance of God
Because God is so patient with us.
He passed over the sins previously committed;
All the animal sacrifices could never take away any sins, but only cover the sins of those individual people who let the animal die in their place on the altar.
for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
To show all of us today how righteous God is.
that He might be just
God's justice was satisfied by Jesus' suffering.
and the justifier
And the one who declares that justice has been done.
of the one
Each individual person must come to God through Jesus. The only "group" He died for is all of the whole Universe, including this Earth, the World System on it, and every person who ever lived, to purchase us all as His possession. Now, as our Owner, He also is the rightful judge of us all.
who has faith in Jesus.
Each one of us who puts our faith in the Sacrifice Jesus made as our substitute in death, will have His blood wash away our sins, and our sinfulness, saving us from the power of sin over us now (salvation), and will deliver us from the very presence of sin or any wrong-doing forever in Heaven (redemption).
Thank You, Father, for keeping Your promise to Eve, and all the other promises You have made, in sending Your own Son, Christ Jesus, to be our Savior and our Redeemer. Thank You Jesus, for being willing and going through all the deprivation of Heavens glory when You became Man, and even suffering the execution death we all deserve, so that we could be cleansed and made fit for Heaven with You. And thank You, Spirit, for being the Deposit and the Seal to guarantee that nothing will ever separate us from God again, forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The word "sin" is an archery term that refers to "missing the bull's eye." We have all fallen short of the Perfection that is God's standard.
being justified
Being declared just, not made just in our human lives.
as a gift
We can't earn it, we can only accept it as a free gift we don't deserve.
by His grace
Grace is God giving us the good we don't deserve, whereas mercy is God not giving us the punishment we do deserve.
through the redemption
To redeem a coupon is to trade it for the benefit it represents. Our redemption is the trading in of our mortal physical body for the eternal spiritual body like Jesus' Resurrection body. It includes all the benefits of Eternal Life.
which is in Christ Jesus,
Only God, Himself, in shedding His own (God's own) Blood on the altar of the Cross could not just cover, but actually wash away all the stain of our sinfulness, thereby fitting us to live with Him in His Heaven.
whom God displayed publicly
God the Father determined that God the Son would be sacrificed publicly for everybody to witness, in full view of the general populace.
as a propitiation
A big word that means, "that which gains or regains the favor or goodwill of," or "an atoning sacrifice" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). What makes up for wrongdoing. Jesus suffered the whole punishment for our sins, as our substitute in death.
in His blood
His blood is the very blood of God, Himself, with endless value; more than enough worth to pay for all sin and sins everywhere. But not everyone is willing to admit that they deserve death.
through faith.
Our faith is believing what God says in His Word about ourselves, Who Jesus is, what He has done, and that God loves us that much to go through all of this just for me, for each one of us. God saves us one by one.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness,
This was to show everybody how good God is, how right and perfect He is.
because in the forbearance of God
Because God is so patient with us.
He passed over the sins previously committed;
All the animal sacrifices could never take away any sins, but only cover the sins of those individual people who let the animal die in their place on the altar.
for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
To show all of us today how righteous God is.
that He might be just
God's justice was satisfied by Jesus' suffering.
and the justifier
And the one who declares that justice has been done.
of the one
Each individual person must come to God through Jesus. The only "group" He died for is all of the whole Universe, including this Earth, the World System on it, and every person who ever lived, to purchase us all as His possession. Now, as our Owner, He also is the rightful judge of us all.
who has faith in Jesus.
Each one of us who puts our faith in the Sacrifice Jesus made as our substitute in death, will have His blood wash away our sins, and our sinfulness, saving us from the power of sin over us now (salvation), and will deliver us from the very presence of sin or any wrong-doing forever in Heaven (redemption).
Thank You, Father, for keeping Your promise to Eve, and all the other promises You have made, in sending Your own Son, Christ Jesus, to be our Savior and our Redeemer. Thank You Jesus, for being willing and going through all the deprivation of Heavens glory when You became Man, and even suffering the execution death we all deserve, so that we could be cleansed and made fit for Heaven with You. And thank You, Spirit, for being the Deposit and the Seal to guarantee that nothing will ever separate us from God again, forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Faithful To All His Promises
Psalm 145: 8-9, 13-14
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.
The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up those who are bent beneath their loads.
The Lord God of the Old Testament that David wrote about here is the One we know today as Jesus Christ. God the Son has always been the One to deal with Mankind, and the One Who agreed before He created with His Father and Spirit, that He would come to suffer the wrath we deserve for our sinfulness.
He told us to turn to Him when we are under heavy loads (Matthew 11:28-30), and He fulfilled over 400 of the promises, the prophesies, that were made to encourage His people. God would never say He would do something that He knows He won't do, and He sees the end from the beginning (Revelation 1:8), so He knows what He plans to do. And His plans for us are for our good, because He loves us so much (Jeremiah 29:11).
O my Father, You are so dear to me! You are my gentle, powerful Daddy Who takes such good care of me. You are my Husband Who loves me passionately and comforts me. You are my Good Shepherd Who carries me when I am weak and wounded.
And You know what You have planned for my life, why I am still in this Desert of waiting, still teaching me precious truths and how I can trust You for more every day.
Thank You so much, Father, for all You are doing in me, on me, and through me to further Your good purposes for me and for this World You have made.
And You will receive all the glory, for You have planned it all and are executing Your plan, Your way, in Your time.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.
The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up those who are bent beneath their loads.
The Lord God of the Old Testament that David wrote about here is the One we know today as Jesus Christ. God the Son has always been the One to deal with Mankind, and the One Who agreed before He created with His Father and Spirit, that He would come to suffer the wrath we deserve for our sinfulness.
He told us to turn to Him when we are under heavy loads (Matthew 11:28-30), and He fulfilled over 400 of the promises, the prophesies, that were made to encourage His people. God would never say He would do something that He knows He won't do, and He sees the end from the beginning (Revelation 1:8), so He knows what He plans to do. And His plans for us are for our good, because He loves us so much (Jeremiah 29:11).
O my Father, You are so dear to me! You are my gentle, powerful Daddy Who takes such good care of me. You are my Husband Who loves me passionately and comforts me. You are my Good Shepherd Who carries me when I am weak and wounded.
And You know what You have planned for my life, why I am still in this Desert of waiting, still teaching me precious truths and how I can trust You for more every day.
Thank You so much, Father, for all You are doing in me, on me, and through me to further Your good purposes for me and for this World You have made.
And You will receive all the glory, for You have planned it all and are executing Your plan, Your way, in Your time.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Take Control, O Lord!
Psalm 141: 3, 5
Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips.
Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don't let me refuse it.
O my Father, my Abba Dad! Please take control of what I say and how I say it, with a guard on my lips and fingertips to pause before I express it. Please let the people in my study groups have the courage to confront me when I need it. Let them strike me to teach me the lessons You know I need to learn and apply in my life. And keep me humble before them to accept their counsel and rebukes.
Father, help me to see them all as You see them, and give me the sisterly affection toward them that I need to feel as they are my sisters and brothers. Help me to build bridges between us, and to tear down any walls that may separate us. Help us all to be accountable to one another, confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another so that we may all be healed (James 5:16).
And as we obey You in following Your loving ways, You will get all the glory, for that's how You designed it to work.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips.
Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don't let me refuse it.
O my Father, my Abba Dad! Please take control of what I say and how I say it, with a guard on my lips and fingertips to pause before I express it. Please let the people in my study groups have the courage to confront me when I need it. Let them strike me to teach me the lessons You know I need to learn and apply in my life. And keep me humble before them to accept their counsel and rebukes.
Father, help me to see them all as You see them, and give me the sisterly affection toward them that I need to feel as they are my sisters and brothers. Help me to build bridges between us, and to tear down any walls that may separate us. Help us all to be accountable to one another, confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another so that we may all be healed (James 5:16).
And as we obey You in following Your loving ways, You will get all the glory, for that's how You designed it to work.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, July 7, 2017
All Glory And Honor And Power
Revelation 4: 11
You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased.
God is Creator. He spoke everything that is into existence. It's like we're His imagination, and if He wasn't thinking about us, we wouldn't exist. That's why He is our Lawgiver, the One Who determines how everything is to work, and work together. Our God is Love, so He decided to base all workings on Order, the expression of His Love. He put Order into the Chaos, which placed His Beauty into everything He made.
God is good, and all His ways are good for us, and help us get along and find happiness in the happenings that result from doing things His way. And He also gives us His joy, which goes far deeper than happiness, and is our strength when we face trials. This World is our classroom, as we are children in school here. All the trials we face are the tests our Teacher gives us, as we learn.
But sin is the monkey-wrench that has been thrown into the works, so we need to watch out for all the twistings and misapplication of His ways, which are our "natural" way of thinking, because we are born defective by our nature that we inherited from our first human father, Adam. That's why we are admonished repeatedly to "be careful" to notice the difference God's ways make from our own ways. On our own, we would never be able to come up with the "right" ways, that's why God gave us His Word to study and understand.
When we do understand, then we can do things His way: we will love Him and always put Him first, and we will love one another, never doing or saying or even thinking any harm to anyone else. This is the basis and foundation of all of His Law.
And all of Natural Law is in obedience to His Love. True Science is the searching for God's beauty and order in His Creation, and will always support the Truth of His Word He has given us.
All this is why He really does deserve all the credit and fame for everything.
O my Father, my Lord, my Sovereign King, You alone are worthy of all honor, all credit for everything that is done, all authority to do whatever You please with all that You have created, for You made it all for Your own pleasure. And when You smile, all goes well with us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased.
God is Creator. He spoke everything that is into existence. It's like we're His imagination, and if He wasn't thinking about us, we wouldn't exist. That's why He is our Lawgiver, the One Who determines how everything is to work, and work together. Our God is Love, so He decided to base all workings on Order, the expression of His Love. He put Order into the Chaos, which placed His Beauty into everything He made.
God is good, and all His ways are good for us, and help us get along and find happiness in the happenings that result from doing things His way. And He also gives us His joy, which goes far deeper than happiness, and is our strength when we face trials. This World is our classroom, as we are children in school here. All the trials we face are the tests our Teacher gives us, as we learn.
But sin is the monkey-wrench that has been thrown into the works, so we need to watch out for all the twistings and misapplication of His ways, which are our "natural" way of thinking, because we are born defective by our nature that we inherited from our first human father, Adam. That's why we are admonished repeatedly to "be careful" to notice the difference God's ways make from our own ways. On our own, we would never be able to come up with the "right" ways, that's why God gave us His Word to study and understand.
When we do understand, then we can do things His way: we will love Him and always put Him first, and we will love one another, never doing or saying or even thinking any harm to anyone else. This is the basis and foundation of all of His Law.
And all of Natural Law is in obedience to His Love. True Science is the searching for God's beauty and order in His Creation, and will always support the Truth of His Word He has given us.
All this is why He really does deserve all the credit and fame for everything.
O my Father, my Lord, my Sovereign King, You alone are worthy of all honor, all credit for everything that is done, all authority to do whatever You please with all that You have created, for You made it all for Your own pleasure. And when You smile, all goes well with us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, July 6, 2017
The Last Page
Amos 9: 13
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes . . ."
"The time will come," says the Lord, "when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested . . ."
This comes at the end of Amos' dire prophesies. He describes all the horrors that God will inflict on those who have turned from Him. But He never leaves them there. God always gives the "last page" of the story, to give hope to the readers that all will not be lost.
At the end of our story, the story of Humanity, our prosperity will be so abundant that we won't be able to keep up with it. Food will grow faster than we can harvest it, which demonstrates how everything we do will prosper, in His eternal Kingdom.
The way I see it, circumstances will get worse before they get better. But they will get better, better than we can even imagine. Our God is just, and will administer justice to this World System, this Earth we have defiled, and this whole Universe that has been inflicted with the results of our sin, the Curse of Death (Entropy).
Then there will be the New Heaven (Universe) and the New Earth, and the Curse of Death will no longer exist. Things will no longer "wind down" or wear out. What is, will be. What we do, will last. Nothing will ever again hinder any process from achieving its intended purpose. It will be eternal Paradise. And we will be the administrators, under our Father, running His family business, His Kingdom. How glorious it will be!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes . . ."
"The time will come," says the Lord, "when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested . . ."
This comes at the end of Amos' dire prophesies. He describes all the horrors that God will inflict on those who have turned from Him. But He never leaves them there. God always gives the "last page" of the story, to give hope to the readers that all will not be lost.
At the end of our story, the story of Humanity, our prosperity will be so abundant that we won't be able to keep up with it. Food will grow faster than we can harvest it, which demonstrates how everything we do will prosper, in His eternal Kingdom.
The way I see it, circumstances will get worse before they get better. But they will get better, better than we can even imagine. Our God is just, and will administer justice to this World System, this Earth we have defiled, and this whole Universe that has been inflicted with the results of our sin, the Curse of Death (Entropy).
Then there will be the New Heaven (Universe) and the New Earth, and the Curse of Death will no longer exist. Things will no longer "wind down" or wear out. What is, will be. What we do, will last. Nothing will ever again hinder any process from achieving its intended purpose. It will be eternal Paradise. And we will be the administrators, under our Father, running His family business, His Kingdom. How glorious it will be!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
The Godly And Wicked Rulers
Psalm 125: 3
The wicked will not rule the land of the godly, for then the godly might be tempted to do wrong.
Our land elects our leaders. So when our people were godly, we elected godly rulers. But in the process of time, we have slid down slippery slopes, like the frog in the pot over a simmering heat, we hardly notice how far we have fallen morally.
Ungodly people will support wicked rulers, but godly people will support righteous rulers. This is the principle set forth here. And we have seen it work out in politics in our Nations.
Revelation 2: 10
Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.
We see today that evil people are imprisoning and torturing God's faithful ones in some areas of the World today. This persecution is growing and spreading into more areas of Nations.
As Christians, we all need to face the fact that we could suffer persecution for our faith, as non-Christian religions spread all over the World. So we need to be prepared for this eventuality, by growing strong in our faith in the knowledge of our Lord and His ways. We are to be praying for our brothers and sisters who are now facing these trials, as in prison with them.
But God has told us that this will not last long--ten days is a short time. Even then, many of us will be martyred and/or lose our families and other loved ones in this process.
Even in America, the "land of the free," if we return this Nation to God's righteousness, our enemy the devil, in great wrath, will have His minions destroy what they can, to remove God's ways from us, and that's when persecution will come here, too.
We are not to be afraid of it, but continue to stand on the Promises, for they are trustworthy, and run from the temptation to do evil to "get along." God has proven Himself to be faithful and will never subject His children to His wrath, because He already satisfied that on His Son in our place. We only need to face the wrath of Man, from our enemy, and He Who is in us is greater than he who is in the World (I John 4:4).
God has graciously told us what is ahead, so we can be prepared to face it. "To be forewarned is to be forearmed," if we are wise to prepare ourselves.
My desire is that we all will apply ourselves to seeking God's face to know Him better, love Him more, and understand His ways more extensively every day. He has given us His Word, so we can know everything we need to know and apply to our thinking and our talking and our doing every moment every day. Then we will face the enemy in strength and confidence in our Lord.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The wicked will not rule the land of the godly, for then the godly might be tempted to do wrong.
Our land elects our leaders. So when our people were godly, we elected godly rulers. But in the process of time, we have slid down slippery slopes, like the frog in the pot over a simmering heat, we hardly notice how far we have fallen morally.
Ungodly people will support wicked rulers, but godly people will support righteous rulers. This is the principle set forth here. And we have seen it work out in politics in our Nations.
Revelation 2: 10
Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.
We see today that evil people are imprisoning and torturing God's faithful ones in some areas of the World today. This persecution is growing and spreading into more areas of Nations.
As Christians, we all need to face the fact that we could suffer persecution for our faith, as non-Christian religions spread all over the World. So we need to be prepared for this eventuality, by growing strong in our faith in the knowledge of our Lord and His ways. We are to be praying for our brothers and sisters who are now facing these trials, as in prison with them.
But God has told us that this will not last long--ten days is a short time. Even then, many of us will be martyred and/or lose our families and other loved ones in this process.
Even in America, the "land of the free," if we return this Nation to God's righteousness, our enemy the devil, in great wrath, will have His minions destroy what they can, to remove God's ways from us, and that's when persecution will come here, too.
We are not to be afraid of it, but continue to stand on the Promises, for they are trustworthy, and run from the temptation to do evil to "get along." God has proven Himself to be faithful and will never subject His children to His wrath, because He already satisfied that on His Son in our place. We only need to face the wrath of Man, from our enemy, and He Who is in us is greater than he who is in the World (I John 4:4).
God has graciously told us what is ahead, so we can be prepared to face it. "To be forewarned is to be forearmed," if we are wise to prepare ourselves.
My desire is that we all will apply ourselves to seeking God's face to know Him better, love Him more, and understand His ways more extensively every day. He has given us His Word, so we can know everything we need to know and apply to our thinking and our talking and our doing every moment every day. Then we will face the enemy in strength and confidence in our Lord.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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