Romans 7: 18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
My flesh is polluted by Original Sin.
When the original man, Adam, willfully sinned in disobeying the only rule he had to obey and ate that piece of fruit, it damaged his DNA. And he passed that brokenness to his progeny, and every generation has broken it a little more ever since.
That's why nothing I can do in my flesh is acceptable to God, being polluted by that sin-nature; even my most noble and altruistic endeavors are stained by it.
8: 1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Now that Jesus has given Himself to be the Lamb of God, He is my personal Sacrifice, who takes my death and pays my debt. And His Blood, splattered on the sides of His altar, the Cross, washes away my sins. So now God forgives me and sees me as "in Christ" as I died and rose with Christ Jesus. And He suffered all the wrath of my condemnation for me.
8: 9
... But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
When I knew that Jesus took my death upon Himself for me, and I died and rose with Him, is when God put His Holy Spirit in me, which is the Spirit of Christ. He lives in my spirit, making it alive, giving me real Life, in addition to my human life.
Now I have the ability to choose to do what is right. And these choices are acceptable to God, being done in the power of His Holy Spirit.
O my Father, You have thought of everything. You are our source of everything. You have planned out and designed everything You made, and Your creation obeys Your "natural laws."
But You have given Mankind a will that is free to choose, so that we can choose to follow Your ways. But we can also choose to disobey Your commands, to our own hurt.
So You sent Your own Son to be our Lord God Almighty, to give us Your rules to live by, and the laws to obey. And to show us what He would do when He came to be our Savior and Redeemer.
Until He saves us from sin, there is nothing we can do. Then, when He puts His Life in us, then we have the power to do what You will accept, and follow Your ways to accomplish the work You planned out for us to do, before You created anything.
And we are Your hands and feet to do all the things You want done. And what You want is for Your family to be complete, and learn to be Your kings and queens to rule with You in Your mighty Kingdom.
So we are here on this Earth, living in the World we made on it, as our school to be educated in all the ways of God to rule and govern righteously.
And when we "graduate," we will be welcomed to Your great banquet table, and take our places as Your children in Your "family business," Your Kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, May 27, 2019
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Can We Know When?
I Thessalonians 5: 3-5
While they are saying, "Peace and safety," then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But you, Brothers, are not in darkness that the Day should overtake you like a thief;
For you are all sons of Light and sons of Day. We are not of night, nor of darkness.
We are told that the Lord's coming will be as a thief in the night, that we cannot have any idea when He may make His appearance.
But this passage tells us that we may be able to know more than we've been told we could know. We are not in the dark as the rest of the World is. So we may be able to discern a little more about God's timing, to expect Him at an approximate time.
We won't know the hour or the day, but we may be able to bring it down to the year, and maybe even the season of the year.
We need to pay careful attention to what God has told us to look for before the Coming of the Lord, and if we're paying attention to what is going on around us in the World, connecting it with God's Word, then we just may be able to know more specifically when to expect His arrival.
We are children of Light, not darkness; sons and daughters of the Day, not the night. We should be able to see what others do not see.
We should be able to see in the Light of God's Word what the World is blind to, being in darkness.
O my Father, You have laid out Your whole Plan of the Ages in the written Word You have given us. Please help us understand what You have told us, so we can be prepared and ready for what You have for us. Let Your Holy Spirit living in us open our eyes and minds and hearts to understand Your time-table, and be at work doing the works You planned before Time for us to accomplish.
Send more workers into Your missionary fields to find Your little lambs that have lost their way, to lead them back into the safety of your One Fold with One Shepherd.
Jesus said:
Father, You have told us everything we need to know; both for living here on this Earth in this World among our neighbors; and for being made fit to live with You where You live, forever.
Send me, Father; let my words reach Your lost sheep, and strengthen Your children to trust You implicitly, even in the depths of persecution. Let them not despair, but know that their brothers and sisters are praying for them and working on their behalf. Let them know that their families are being cared for, and that they will be rewarded with a crown heavily laden with the precious jewels of their sufferings, to lay at the feet of our Lord.
And may Your House be full and every place at Your banquet table be filled with all Your children, on that Day when we will rejoice together in all You have done, Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
While they are saying, "Peace and safety," then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But you, Brothers, are not in darkness that the Day should overtake you like a thief;
For you are all sons of Light and sons of Day. We are not of night, nor of darkness.
We are told that the Lord's coming will be as a thief in the night, that we cannot have any idea when He may make His appearance.
But this passage tells us that we may be able to know more than we've been told we could know. We are not in the dark as the rest of the World is. So we may be able to discern a little more about God's timing, to expect Him at an approximate time.
We won't know the hour or the day, but we may be able to bring it down to the year, and maybe even the season of the year.
We need to pay careful attention to what God has told us to look for before the Coming of the Lord, and if we're paying attention to what is going on around us in the World, connecting it with God's Word, then we just may be able to know more specifically when to expect His arrival.
We are children of Light, not darkness; sons and daughters of the Day, not the night. We should be able to see what others do not see.
We should be able to see in the Light of God's Word what the World is blind to, being in darkness.
O my Father, You have laid out Your whole Plan of the Ages in the written Word You have given us. Please help us understand what You have told us, so we can be prepared and ready for what You have for us. Let Your Holy Spirit living in us open our eyes and minds and hearts to understand Your time-table, and be at work doing the works You planned before Time for us to accomplish.
Send more workers into Your missionary fields to find Your little lambs that have lost their way, to lead them back into the safety of your One Fold with One Shepherd.
Jesus said:
And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all Nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:15)This tells me that every person alive will get the chance to come to the Father through the Sacrifice of the Son, or reject Him. Then The End will come.
Father, You have told us everything we need to know; both for living here on this Earth in this World among our neighbors; and for being made fit to live with You where You live, forever.
Send me, Father; let my words reach Your lost sheep, and strengthen Your children to trust You implicitly, even in the depths of persecution. Let them not despair, but know that their brothers and sisters are praying for them and working on their behalf. Let them know that their families are being cared for, and that they will be rewarded with a crown heavily laden with the precious jewels of their sufferings, to lay at the feet of our Lord.
And may Your House be full and every place at Your banquet table be filled with all Your children, on that Day when we will rejoice together in all You have done, Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, May 25, 2019
He Is Not Far
Acts 17: 24-28
For God who made the World and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
Our Creator God is greater than to be able to live in any kind of structure made by His creatures.
Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
So He doesn't need or rely on anything we can do, since He is the Source of everything we can have or give, He already owns it all, and us, too.
And has made of one blood all Nations of men to dwell on the face of all the Earth, and has determined the Times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
God has made all of Mankind from one man, Adam, and we are all the same Race of Man. God has scattered Mankind all over the World to live in our separate Nations with our varied cultures; He decided this before any of it was done.
That they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach for Him,
God wants everyone everywhere to know Him, to look for Him and reach out to find Him.
though He is not far from every one of us;
We can do this because He is not very far from any of us, wherever we may be, He is ready to be found by us.
For in Him we live and move and have our being. ...
Because He is the One who had the idea, He is the One who thought us up, and designed it all, and put His order into the chaos to form our Earth, and He planned it all out how we would live here and make our World on this Earth.
We, the whole Universe, everything that exists, is His imagination. We are His thoughts and words, we have our being in His mind. If He were not thinking of us, we would not exist.
So whenever anyone, anywhere, turns around from what they've been doing, He is right there, ready to welcome, ready to forgive, ready to take us into His loving arms and into His own family.
It was never His intention for anyone to perish or suffer or be destroyed. He wants us all to come to Him in repentance, admitting that we deserve death, and letting His Son, our Savior, be our personal Sacrifice, taking our death on Himself for us, in our place.
God's justice must be satisfied, then His mercy can forgive us and wash us clean, and His grace can give us His own Holy Spirit to live in our human spirit, making us alive with a brand-new life, much better than the "normal" life we've known.
And in this new life we have the power and ability to do the right, good things that He determined we should do before He created anything.
And the Blood of Christ washes us pristine clean, as though we'd never sinned, suited and fit to live with God where He is. This is why He made us.
Mankind is the pinnacle of creation. He made us to be His own family, to rule over His creation with Him, to participate with Him in His Family Business.
O my Father, Your plans are so reasonable and logical, yet they are so far above my own reason and logic. I can't depend on my own understanding of what's going on, I don't have Your Big Picture. So I must lean on You, Father, as I curl up in Your lap, listening to Your Voice teaching me what I need to know today.
Father, You know all the details of all of our lives, and how our paths will intersect today. You know what others need that I have to give, and how we can help one another each day.
O Father, teach me Your ways today, help me do only what You would have me do or say. Keep Your arm around my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth to keep me from exalting or promoting myself. Hold tightly to my hand as I walk through each day, so I won't turn to the right or to the left, that I won't pull away or wander off, and not run ahead or lag behind.
Help me to walk confidently and boldly in the way You have planned for me to go, so that I may be able to promote Your Kingdom; that my sharing might reach Your lambs who are searching for You.
Protect Your missionary children from the goats who reject Your goodness and put darkness for Your glorious light. And protect all of Your children from the minions of the enemy who have allowed themselves to be deceived by him, especially those who are in the public eye. Use them, Father, to bring glory to Yourself in a public way that no one can deny.
And Father, I am eagerly anticipating that Day when my Lord King Jesus returns to claim His Kingdom.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language that Jesus is our Lord God Almighty, to the glory of the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For God who made the World and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
Our Creator God is greater than to be able to live in any kind of structure made by His creatures.
Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
So He doesn't need or rely on anything we can do, since He is the Source of everything we can have or give, He already owns it all, and us, too.
And has made of one blood all Nations of men to dwell on the face of all the Earth, and has determined the Times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
God has made all of Mankind from one man, Adam, and we are all the same Race of Man. God has scattered Mankind all over the World to live in our separate Nations with our varied cultures; He decided this before any of it was done.
That they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach for Him,
God wants everyone everywhere to know Him, to look for Him and reach out to find Him.
though He is not far from every one of us;
We can do this because He is not very far from any of us, wherever we may be, He is ready to be found by us.
For in Him we live and move and have our being. ...
Because He is the One who had the idea, He is the One who thought us up, and designed it all, and put His order into the chaos to form our Earth, and He planned it all out how we would live here and make our World on this Earth.
We, the whole Universe, everything that exists, is His imagination. We are His thoughts and words, we have our being in His mind. If He were not thinking of us, we would not exist.
So whenever anyone, anywhere, turns around from what they've been doing, He is right there, ready to welcome, ready to forgive, ready to take us into His loving arms and into His own family.
It was never His intention for anyone to perish or suffer or be destroyed. He wants us all to come to Him in repentance, admitting that we deserve death, and letting His Son, our Savior, be our personal Sacrifice, taking our death on Himself for us, in our place.
God's justice must be satisfied, then His mercy can forgive us and wash us clean, and His grace can give us His own Holy Spirit to live in our human spirit, making us alive with a brand-new life, much better than the "normal" life we've known.
And in this new life we have the power and ability to do the right, good things that He determined we should do before He created anything.
And the Blood of Christ washes us pristine clean, as though we'd never sinned, suited and fit to live with God where He is. This is why He made us.
Mankind is the pinnacle of creation. He made us to be His own family, to rule over His creation with Him, to participate with Him in His Family Business.
O my Father, Your plans are so reasonable and logical, yet they are so far above my own reason and logic. I can't depend on my own understanding of what's going on, I don't have Your Big Picture. So I must lean on You, Father, as I curl up in Your lap, listening to Your Voice teaching me what I need to know today.
Father, You know all the details of all of our lives, and how our paths will intersect today. You know what others need that I have to give, and how we can help one another each day.
O Father, teach me Your ways today, help me do only what You would have me do or say. Keep Your arm around my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth to keep me from exalting or promoting myself. Hold tightly to my hand as I walk through each day, so I won't turn to the right or to the left, that I won't pull away or wander off, and not run ahead or lag behind.
Help me to walk confidently and boldly in the way You have planned for me to go, so that I may be able to promote Your Kingdom; that my sharing might reach Your lambs who are searching for You.
Protect Your missionary children from the goats who reject Your goodness and put darkness for Your glorious light. And protect all of Your children from the minions of the enemy who have allowed themselves to be deceived by him, especially those who are in the public eye. Use them, Father, to bring glory to Yourself in a public way that no one can deny.
And Father, I am eagerly anticipating that Day when my Lord King Jesus returns to claim His Kingdom.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language that Jesus is our Lord God Almighty, to the glory of the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, May 24, 2019
To Turn Around
I Thessalonians 1: 9
They turned to God from idols ...
They turned around to face God and turned their backs on their idols. This is repentance, to turn around.
When we repent of our sins we turn our backs on the wrong things we've been doing and face the God of Truth, agreeing with Him on the sinfulness of our lives.
If we don't turn away from those things, but try to hang on to them, then we're not repenting. We need to completely leave those attitudes and actions that draw us away from the good God wants for us.
To agree with God about the sinfulness of what we've been doing is to confess those sins, and accept that Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself for us, in our place. That satisfies God's justice, and allows Him to forgive us and wash us clean. The Blood of the Lamb of God does this for us. This fits us to be able to live with Him where He is.
And God also gives us His Holy Spirit to live in our spirit, making it alive, giving us a brand-new life right now while we're still here in this World.
This new life gives us the power to say "No!" to those things we previously just automatically fell in to, and gives us another choice, to say "Yes!" to doing what is right, instead.
This frees us to have the power and ability to do what is right. This is true freedom, not being chained to our bad habits. And He even gives us a new desire to do what is right, and enjoyment in it.
Sin may be fun and give pleasure for a season, but doing right brings a joy that so far surpasses any other fun or pleasure. Fun never satisfies, but the joy of the Lord fills the soul! There really is no comparison!
O my Father, You truly are everything I need! You are the Source of all that exists. You have made us, and put us here in this environment You made for us, and told us how to live here in compatibility with it and one another.
When we turn to You and listen to what You are teaching us, and take You seriously, putting into our attitudes and our practices Your ways and Your thoughts, then our lives will bring You pleasure, and will promote good in this World.
Then we will be sharing our own testimony of what You have done for us, and your lost sheep will be drawn into the safety of Your One Fold with One Shepherd.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess in every language, that Jesus is our Christ, our Messiah, our Lord and King; and You will get all the glory, all the credit, all the praise, for You have done it all.
Even so, come, lord Jesus!
They turned to God from idols ...
They turned around to face God and turned their backs on their idols. This is repentance, to turn around.
When we repent of our sins we turn our backs on the wrong things we've been doing and face the God of Truth, agreeing with Him on the sinfulness of our lives.
If we don't turn away from those things, but try to hang on to them, then we're not repenting. We need to completely leave those attitudes and actions that draw us away from the good God wants for us.
To agree with God about the sinfulness of what we've been doing is to confess those sins, and accept that Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself for us, in our place. That satisfies God's justice, and allows Him to forgive us and wash us clean. The Blood of the Lamb of God does this for us. This fits us to be able to live with Him where He is.
And God also gives us His Holy Spirit to live in our spirit, making it alive, giving us a brand-new life right now while we're still here in this World.
This new life gives us the power to say "No!" to those things we previously just automatically fell in to, and gives us another choice, to say "Yes!" to doing what is right, instead.
This frees us to have the power and ability to do what is right. This is true freedom, not being chained to our bad habits. And He even gives us a new desire to do what is right, and enjoyment in it.
Sin may be fun and give pleasure for a season, but doing right brings a joy that so far surpasses any other fun or pleasure. Fun never satisfies, but the joy of the Lord fills the soul! There really is no comparison!
O my Father, You truly are everything I need! You are the Source of all that exists. You have made us, and put us here in this environment You made for us, and told us how to live here in compatibility with it and one another.
When we turn to You and listen to what You are teaching us, and take You seriously, putting into our attitudes and our practices Your ways and Your thoughts, then our lives will bring You pleasure, and will promote good in this World.
Then we will be sharing our own testimony of what You have done for us, and your lost sheep will be drawn into the safety of Your One Fold with One Shepherd.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess in every language, that Jesus is our Christ, our Messiah, our Lord and King; and You will get all the glory, all the credit, all the praise, for You have done it all.
Even so, come, lord Jesus!
Thursday, May 23, 2019
More Noble
Acts 17: 11
Now these (Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thesalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.
This is very important. They were eager to hear what Paul had to say, but they didn't just take his words whole--they consulted the Scriptures every day to check out what he was telling them.
Paul considered this to be "noble." They wanted to make sure they weren't being duped by reasonable words, but checked it all out by God's Word.
Evidently those in Thesalonica just accepted what Paul had said, which was okay, because Paul spoke the Truth. But those in Berea wanted to make sure.
That was good. It's very important to make sure that what you are being told really is true and right. So often people come along as teachers, teaching their own ideas, or stuff they heard from others, that sounds reasonable but doesn't square with God's Truth. It's mixed with some kind of deception.
The devil does this to mislead. He has lied to the World, mixing his lies with truth to make them believable, but getting people off the right path into side eddies and ditches. His efforts are to keep us away from the wonderful Salvation God provides, in order to destroy us.
That's why Paul was encouraged by their checking out what he said against what God said, to make sure he was leading them rightly.
And I also would be encouraged if you, my reader, would check out what I say in this blog, against what God says in His Word, to make sure that I am not leading you astray with reasonable words.
If at any time you find that I may not be speaking strictly according to what God says, then, by all means, go with God. Let me know where I am amiss and I will research your sources so that I can correct my thinking.
O my Father, thank You! You are so good and so gracious to give us Your written Word to read and digest and research and draw out the wonderful Truth You have put into it to teach us and lead us in Your righteous paths.
Father, if anyone has tried to put into Your Word their own ideas, then I pray for them to be open to Your teaching, to know Your Truth which sets them free.
And if I have mis-read or mis-understood something that I have shared, then give my brother or sister the courage to share with me, so that my thinking will align with Your thoughts and my understandings will be in accord with Your meanings.
O Father, teach is to love one another as You have loved us--unconditionally, boldly, openly, and unashamedly. That we may help one another to love You more and serve You better every day.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Now these (Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thesalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.
This is very important. They were eager to hear what Paul had to say, but they didn't just take his words whole--they consulted the Scriptures every day to check out what he was telling them.
Paul considered this to be "noble." They wanted to make sure they weren't being duped by reasonable words, but checked it all out by God's Word.
Evidently those in Thesalonica just accepted what Paul had said, which was okay, because Paul spoke the Truth. But those in Berea wanted to make sure.
That was good. It's very important to make sure that what you are being told really is true and right. So often people come along as teachers, teaching their own ideas, or stuff they heard from others, that sounds reasonable but doesn't square with God's Truth. It's mixed with some kind of deception.
The devil does this to mislead. He has lied to the World, mixing his lies with truth to make them believable, but getting people off the right path into side eddies and ditches. His efforts are to keep us away from the wonderful Salvation God provides, in order to destroy us.
That's why Paul was encouraged by their checking out what he said against what God said, to make sure he was leading them rightly.
And I also would be encouraged if you, my reader, would check out what I say in this blog, against what God says in His Word, to make sure that I am not leading you astray with reasonable words.
If at any time you find that I may not be speaking strictly according to what God says, then, by all means, go with God. Let me know where I am amiss and I will research your sources so that I can correct my thinking.
O my Father, thank You! You are so good and so gracious to give us Your written Word to read and digest and research and draw out the wonderful Truth You have put into it to teach us and lead us in Your righteous paths.
Father, if anyone has tried to put into Your Word their own ideas, then I pray for them to be open to Your teaching, to know Your Truth which sets them free.
And if I have mis-read or mis-understood something that I have shared, then give my brother or sister the courage to share with me, so that my thinking will align with Your thoughts and my understandings will be in accord with Your meanings.
O Father, teach is to love one another as You have loved us--unconditionally, boldly, openly, and unashamedly. That we may help one another to love You more and serve You better every day.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
The Adoption As Sons
Galatians 4: 5
... That we might receive the adoption as sons.
Romans 8: 23
Even as we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Galatians 4: 6
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!
"Abba" is "Dada," the first word out of a baby's mouth. God the Father is our Daddy, our Dad.
The Greek word huiothesia, translated "adoption," describes a Roman concept unknown in today's Western culture, in which the natural-born or adopted son (or daughter) is declared a full adult in the father's family, inheriting the father's titles and estate.
And we who have been born spiritually into God the Father's family will grow up out of childhood, when our bodies will be changed and glorified, and we will be "adopted," declared an adult, with all the responsibilities and privileges of running the Family Business, the Kingdom.
We will be His kings and queens ruling with Him.
O my Father, this was Your plan from the beginning, that we would be Your family, ruling and enjoying all the future Universes You will create. And enjoying our "family times" with You, feasting and rejoicing in Your goodness and Love and wisdom and generosity.
And every created thing will bow the knee and voice Your praise and blessing and riches and wealth and mercy and grace and justice, throughout all future eternity, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
... That we might receive the adoption as sons.
Romans 8: 23
Even as we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Galatians 4: 6
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!
"Abba" is "Dada," the first word out of a baby's mouth. God the Father is our Daddy, our Dad.
The Greek word huiothesia, translated "adoption," describes a Roman concept unknown in today's Western culture, in which the natural-born or adopted son (or daughter) is declared a full adult in the father's family, inheriting the father's titles and estate.
And we who have been born spiritually into God the Father's family will grow up out of childhood, when our bodies will be changed and glorified, and we will be "adopted," declared an adult, with all the responsibilities and privileges of running the Family Business, the Kingdom.
We will be His kings and queens ruling with Him.
O my Father, this was Your plan from the beginning, that we would be Your family, ruling and enjoying all the future Universes You will create. And enjoying our "family times" with You, feasting and rejoicing in Your goodness and Love and wisdom and generosity.
And every created thing will bow the knee and voice Your praise and blessing and riches and wealth and mercy and grace and justice, throughout all future eternity, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Wait For It
Habakkuk 2: 3
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
God is telling this obscure prophet, and also to us, that what He says will happen, will happen.
If it seems to us that it is taking too long a time, we are cautioned to keep waiting for it, because it will for sure happen.
If God has told us that something will take place, then we can be sure that it will happen exactly as He said it would. But it will be in His time, not ours.
Everything He has said will take place is what He has already made to happen, as He sees the end from the beginning. He is speaking from what He sees, whether it is in our past or our future, it's all right now for Him.
So we can trust what He says. We need to be looking for what He says will happen to happen, but not necessarily in the way we might understand.
God told His prophets about events that would happen far in the prophet's future, so the writer of the prophesy may not have recognized what he was seeing in the vision, as modern technology and machines were unknown to ancient peoples. The writer had to use words describing things they knew, that would be similar to the unknown things they were seeing.
Whatever would move of itself, they would understand as being living; as for example, what Ezekiel wrote about in chapters 1, 3:13 & 10 of his visions of the "living creatures" with "wheels" and "eyes," that could be machines of some sort.
And I think that the "locusts" of Revelation 9:3 could possibly be armed drones. And the "horses" of v. 17 could be tanks.
I don't know, these are some of my ideas, and I may be way off base. But my point is that even though God has given us many details of what to expect, we may still not have an accurate picture of what will actually happen. But afterward, we will undoubtedly agree that it was exactly as He said!
O my Father, You have so graciously told us so many details of our future history. You laid out to Daniel the World governments that would be in power from his day all the way down to today's World.
And You showed John the whole scenario of the last seven years of this Era of Man on this Earth, that will precede Your Son's return to rule.
So we know what to expect, but not how it will look to our modern eyes. We need Your discernment to be able to recognize these happenings as they will be happening. And they may be happening all together, overlapping, and in swift succession, not necessarily in the order it was given.
It seems to me that John did not write in a chronological order, but in a logical order, to give order to what may come very chaotically.
Father, prepare Your children for the turmoil and persecution and martyrdom that is coming soon. Already this Earth is beginning its "birth pangs" before the end. Keep Your own safe in Your arms, Father, through all the end-times confusion and troubles.
O Father, our enemy knows his time is short, so he is furious, doing everything he can against Your ways and Your people, in his hatred of everything good.
But he can do no more than You allow, Lord God Almighty.
Even though it looks to us that this World is whirling away, You will let it go only so far, then You will "flick Your wrist" and draw it back like a yo-yo.
And You will make all things new: new bodies for Your children, a new Earth to live on with us, in a new Heaven--a whole new creation!
And every knee will bow, and every tongue confess Your glory and honor and blessing and wisdom and beauty and praise, forever and ever, amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
God is telling this obscure prophet, and also to us, that what He says will happen, will happen.
If it seems to us that it is taking too long a time, we are cautioned to keep waiting for it, because it will for sure happen.
If God has told us that something will take place, then we can be sure that it will happen exactly as He said it would. But it will be in His time, not ours.
Everything He has said will take place is what He has already made to happen, as He sees the end from the beginning. He is speaking from what He sees, whether it is in our past or our future, it's all right now for Him.
So we can trust what He says. We need to be looking for what He says will happen to happen, but not necessarily in the way we might understand.
God told His prophets about events that would happen far in the prophet's future, so the writer of the prophesy may not have recognized what he was seeing in the vision, as modern technology and machines were unknown to ancient peoples. The writer had to use words describing things they knew, that would be similar to the unknown things they were seeing.
Whatever would move of itself, they would understand as being living; as for example, what Ezekiel wrote about in chapters 1, 3:13 & 10 of his visions of the "living creatures" with "wheels" and "eyes," that could be machines of some sort.
And I think that the "locusts" of Revelation 9:3 could possibly be armed drones. And the "horses" of v. 17 could be tanks.
I don't know, these are some of my ideas, and I may be way off base. But my point is that even though God has given us many details of what to expect, we may still not have an accurate picture of what will actually happen. But afterward, we will undoubtedly agree that it was exactly as He said!
O my Father, You have so graciously told us so many details of our future history. You laid out to Daniel the World governments that would be in power from his day all the way down to today's World.
And You showed John the whole scenario of the last seven years of this Era of Man on this Earth, that will precede Your Son's return to rule.
So we know what to expect, but not how it will look to our modern eyes. We need Your discernment to be able to recognize these happenings as they will be happening. And they may be happening all together, overlapping, and in swift succession, not necessarily in the order it was given.
It seems to me that John did not write in a chronological order, but in a logical order, to give order to what may come very chaotically.
Father, prepare Your children for the turmoil and persecution and martyrdom that is coming soon. Already this Earth is beginning its "birth pangs" before the end. Keep Your own safe in Your arms, Father, through all the end-times confusion and troubles.
O Father, our enemy knows his time is short, so he is furious, doing everything he can against Your ways and Your people, in his hatred of everything good.
But he can do no more than You allow, Lord God Almighty.
Even though it looks to us that this World is whirling away, You will let it go only so far, then You will "flick Your wrist" and draw it back like a yo-yo.
And You will make all things new: new bodies for Your children, a new Earth to live on with us, in a new Heaven--a whole new creation!
And every knee will bow, and every tongue confess Your glory and honor and blessing and wisdom and beauty and praise, forever and ever, amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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