Noah's Obedience and Patience
Please forgive me for missing last week. My schedule had changed drastically and I also had 3 finals to do as well as trying to sleep. I will still be doing this weekly, Lord willing.
As we read through Genesis 7-8, there are points to take and questions to ask. I may not have answers to the questions that I propose, but we should always ask questions about scripture in order to bookmark (in a sense) how we think and answers that we seek to find in their proper context.
One point to take home is from Genesis 7:5, "And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him." Think about that. When the Lord commanded Noah to do something, he did it. He did not fight God for years and try to figure out why God was wrong, Noah just did it , like Nike. That paid off major dividends for Noah and his family as they were spared during the flood. When you do what God wants you to, He is sparing you from what is inevitable trouble if you do not follow through with what he said.
Also, there is another take home point from Genesis 8. The water was subsiding, but not quickly like a drain in a sink or bathtub. It took over 10 months for Noah to see the tops of mountains. That takes much patience. Now we also see that Noah kept checking for the development of what had happened to see if it was safe to exit the arc. Noah sent a Raven and then a dove to test the earth. When the dove no longer returned, another 50+ days later- Genesis 8:12, Noah knew then it was time to exit the arc. Do you see the obedience and the patience this man had? No wonder God spared him. That was not some guy that just reacted to everything on an emotional whim. He did what God said. Period.
A question I had was regarding the earth. I wondered if the flood covered the literal earth as in our entire planet, or did the flood cover the earth that surrounded Noah. I did not think I would come up with an answer (probably THE answer) so quickly. In Genesis 8:21 it reads "And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done." We know that there are still floods that happen on earth, but there are not major floods that have covered the entire earth/planet. So, we can understand the flood was covering the entire planet and not just a small portion of it.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
From Adam to Noah and the Flood
Genesis 5 breaks down the genealogy of Adam all the way down to Noah. A quick point to take from that chapter is that (similar to Matthew 1) you don't know what is going to come from your time on earth. I can look at the fact that I don't have a children and think that is where my "legacy" stops. But, I cannot see the impact I have had on people and kids through my 38 years of living and how that affects people. I cant see how what I was taught and then taught others will affect future generations. Which brings me to Genesis 6 and a serious point of how we should live our lives according to what God wants. God saw that the earth was filled with wickedness and decided to wipe it clean, but before he did so, he spared Noah and told him specific instructions on the arc Noah was to build that would eventually save his family and human kind. The final verse of Genesis 6 is verse 22 which states "Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him." I read that and say, this is what we are to do all the time in our walk with the Lord. We aren't to do whatever we want and validate it later, we are to do what is holy and pleasing to God. Is it difficult to stay on the path of pleasing God, absolutely. But no one said that walking with the Lord would be easy. It will be difficult. God gives us instructions and guidance on what he wants from us. We need to do like Noah did and do all that He commands us.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Honesty with God
Many of us know the story of Cain killing Abel due to jealousy and shame because Cain did not honor God with his sacrifices. Abel sacrificed his fattest portion to God and Cain sacrificed what fell on the ground. Now, in this time sacrifices were a part of the culture. When you sacrifice to God, it was not what you could muster up, but what was your fattest portion. That means, if you tended to trees and bushes that bore fruit, then you do not sacrifice what is rotted, you give what is the best in honor to God. Abel did that with his livestock. Cain brought forth sacrifices/fruits that fell to the ground. These fruits may be bruised and dirty and essentially not the best to bring forth to God to represent your thanks and sacrifice to Him.
Now, how does that play into your life? When you look at your relationship with God, what is it you are sacrificing? In other words, what are you hanging on to that God would rather have you sacrifice? Is it trust in Him? Is it tangible? Maybe it is money you are hanging on to. How is your tithing? Is your tithing based on a fear that you won't be able to survive?
The funny thing is, we are to trust in God and know that He will provide for us if we do what it is He wants us to do. If we just stay comfortable and make sure we are happy then we are missing out on truly giving up things for God. God doesn't want us to rely on the tangible, but know that He will provide for us. But we can't hold back from Him. We have to sacrifice.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Worship God
In having read through the entire New Testament there are chapters and verses I have had to read multiple times to understand parts to help me further understand the whole. I had to read through Revelation 22 a couple times and then a section of the chapter jumped out at me. Revelation 22:8-9 is significant as it clarifies the worship of the source and not the messenger. John, the writer and seer of the visions summarizes his experiences with the angel who showed him these things and he began to worship the angel. To me, this is a natural response to someone has helped you and revealed things to you that you now hold dear. For instance, you may praise the teacher aide for helping you understand math when you both have had the same teacher. Or you praise Jesus or angels and scoff at God. John, was not scoffing at God, but he did worship the angel and bow at its feet. The angel corrected John and told him that the angel is a fellow servant with (not above) John and the fellow prophets. We can do the same and focus on the messenger and not the message or even the source of the message. We need to remain focused on praising and worshiping God and not idolizing the messenger.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Alpha and the Omega
I have heard of the verse I will reference, but did not know the context before. It is important to know the context when giving. In Revelation 21:6, the vision starts and says it is done. These are the same words Jesus spoke on the cross (John 19:30). Then he says he is the Alpha and the Omega. These are not just some really cool words that sound cool. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek Alphabet and Omega is the last letter in the same alphabet. Jesus is the beginning and the end. All things are summed up in him. There no need for anymore or any less. And then he says that he will give a free drink to those who have thirst. That drink will come from the "spring of the water of life." This is obviously not physical thirst but a spiritual one. If there is a spiritual thirst, Jesus can help quench it.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Book of Life
This vision starts off mentioning the great white throne which symbolizes significant, pure and royalty. That we know, through our readings as Jesus. The dead were standing before the throne as books were opened. One book was the Book of Life. As it was opened and read from, those whose names did not appear in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), which we have come to understand as hell/hades. Being in the book of life would be a good thing then, wouldn't it? If you don't want to be in that book then the other option is the lake of fire. We must remember when people say "why would God do this to people" the response can be "why would people ignore the warnings and overlook the repercussions?" It may seem like a dismissive response, but like a loving parent who disciplines their child for disobedience, God also had discipline for disobedience. The big difference is, this is eternal, since we are all going to die anyway.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Rider on a White Horse
Revelation 19:11-16 reveals the rider on the white horse who was understand as Jesus. These verses describe the clothes he wears and that he was followed by the armies of heaven. There is something written on the robe on his thigh that reads "King of kings and Lord of lords." If you look at the word King and Lord the word are capitalized and singular. The other words kings and lords are lowercase and plural. That further solidifies that Jesus is the ONE and not one of. The plurality and lower cased lettering displays less significance in authority to the real King and Lord. No matter what nation you rule or army you lead, Jesus stands taller.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Babylon Falls, Kings Weep
This a probably a different Babylon in this chapter than the one mentioned in Chapter 17. The Babylon in Chapter 18 has some characteristics that are not contained within the Babylon of Chapter 18, such as great city, port city (coastal), habitation, marketplace, guilty of greed and self-indulgence and destroyed by sudden act of God (Dave Guzik). In verse 9 we read "and the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning." That means the leaders (not all necessarily will be kings) who were connected to her and benefiting from her (power, greed, ungodly things) will lose the influence and power they had with Babylon as it will fall. As I stated in yesterday's post, the Lamb wins again.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Lamb Wins
I may have mentioned this before, but in reading through the Book of Revelation it is easy to fear the end of days with all of the visions that are reported through the writing. But, the visions are not necessarily to be taken as the images that are represented. So, when you read through chapter 17 and read of the prostitute and the beast and all of these different images, these more than likely are representations of ideas and events that have or have yet to take place. Regardless of the image and turmoil and tribulation, remember this as stated in Revelation 17:14 "They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." Jesus wins in the end. The power of Jesus, bestowed unto him by God will prevail over evil. On a small scale, look at being loving and how that can change your heart from being hateful toward someone. Love like Jesus. Overcoming temptation through the power of Jesus and receiving the self-control can keep you away from bad decisions. The Lamb wins.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
They Never Repented
Seven angels had seven bowls and each of these bowls contains a wrath of God. People can say "God id this to us" but they overlook their actions that led to God's actions. people want to live in heaven now but do not want to do what is required of them by God to get there. God wants your obedience. God wants you to repent for sinful ways. Revelation 16:9 and Revelation 16:11 give specific incidences in these visions where no matter what wrath was being poured out by God's angels, people still could not and did not repent for their ways.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Victory Over the Beast
Revelation 15:2 shows the hope we have when facing the beast. I know many fear the book of Revelation due to the tribulation on the earth during the time of these visions, but there is victory. In verse 2 it says "And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands." Granted the victory is not for everyone, but for those that could conquer the beast and its image and its number. Those are the tribulation martyrs? Meaning those are willing to die for the name of the Lord.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Messages of the Three Angels
Three angels were seen in this vision. The first angel spoke to all the nations and brought forth an eternal gospel and said "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." The second angel said "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality." The third and final angel followed and gave warning not to have the mark of the beast or recipients will feel God's wrath. The take away from all three angels is that there is an eternal gospel, people need to flee sexual immorality and do not be fooled by the beast nor receive its mark.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
His Number is 666
Remember the red dragon that represents Satan from Chapter 12? Well, the dragon has an understudy so to speak. The understudy is to have ten horns, seven heads with physical characteristics like a leopard, lion and bear. This beast will worship the dragon (Revelation 13:1-3). The beast will also have authority for 42 months and will blaspheme (curse) God.
The second beast will have 2 horns and will speak like the dragon (Satan). It will have the same authority as the first beast and makes others worship the first beast. The "mark of the beast" will be obtained from this beast on the right hand or forehead. The beast's number is 666 (Revelation 13:11-18).
Once again, these are not literal beasts, but representations of evil. The number 666 could represent a false Christ (messiah) and also could represent a good man who turned evil, as it would be mocking Solomon who also made six hundred and sixty-six talents per year.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Woman and the Dragon
Revelation 12:1-6 reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of min last year. He said he didn't read the Bible because there were people eating dragons or dragons eating people. He didn't have a reference as to what chapter or book, but just that people said that it was in the Bible and so he didn't believe it. He was missing the context and he was missing the symbolism. the woman represents Israel, the dragon is Satan and the man-child is Jesus. Jesus, after being born, was going to be eaten (tempted) by Satan, but instead Jesus went to God's throne in Heaven (did what was honorable to God). After Israel (through history) gave "birth" to Jesus he did what God wanted and fulfilled what he was to do rather than what was tempting and earthly.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Seventh Trumpet
The seventh trumpet sounded and the loud voices that came from Heaven said in Revelation 11:15 "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." What does this mean? This means that the kingdom of the world belongs to Jesus. But the world isn't one kingdom as it has 7 continents (currently) and many countries with different rulers and methods of governing. But once that 7th trumpet sounds, Jesus will rule all. It won't matter what continent or country you live in. No matter what city, town or state, Jesus will have rule over all. Not for a short while. Not for a week. Not for a year, but "forever and ever."
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Seventh Angel
The seventh angel swore by Him who lives forever and ever (God) that there would be no more delay and the mysteries of God would be revealed just as He announced to His servants the prophets (Revelation 10:5-7). This means that the inclusion of Jesus is a part of God's mystery.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets
The fifth trumpet (Revelation 9:1-11) released locust type creatures from a black smoke. The locusts were to harm only people who did not have the seal of God upon their forehead. This does not mean an actual locusts or an actual stamp or seal, but could also mean the will of God at the forefront of their mind (my opinion) and the way to avoid these locusts (demons) is to be truly follow after what God wants from you, His will and your obedience to it. Dave Guzik writes, "These are obviously not natural locusts. They avoid plants and attack men like
scorpions attack. They are "A visual representation of the hordes of
demons loosed upon the earth." (Walvoord). Furthermore, regarding the seal, Guzik says "Those who
have the seal of God on their foreheads (the 144,000 and perhaps more) are protected, but none
other are. This is an inescapable judgment of God." The sixth trumpet released four angels (possibly different angels from chapter 8) which killed a third of mankind with mounted troops numbering over 200 million. Guzik says it may not be exactly 200 million, but that number could have been used to signify the insane amount of mounted of troops like there were too many to count. They had fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths and that is how 1/3 of human kind was killed. Chapter 9 closes out by stating that the rest of mankind that did not die from the plagues did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold" and other materials that cannot "see, hear or walk" like Jesus could. Nor did they "repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts."
And in case anyone tells you we are "near" the end of times and the end of the world, they are probably wrong based on the fact that numerous others have "predicted" the same thing- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The 144,000
From my understanding, various groups have claimed that they are the 144,000 that is referred to in this chapter (Revelation 7:4-8). The 144,000 (according to Dave Guzik and his research) are not the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons or any of that. Some points that he uses are not only from Revelation 7 (see above) but also Revelation 14 (verses 1, 4 and 5). Guzik concludes that it is best to see the 144,000 as "chosen Jewish people who "came to faith in Jesus." It would not make sense for other sects of Christianity to lay claim to be the 144,000 if their membership is over that number. That would mean that everyone over those 144,000 were not believers, which goes against scriptural teaching and understanding as far as what Jesus said.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Seven Seals
Each seal from the scroll was revealed and in Revelation 6, it details what is seen as each seal is removed/broken. The first seal was broken and a rider on a white horse had a bow and a crown and was conquering. This image is not intended to be of Jesus but of someone satanic imitating Jesus. The second seal revealed a rider on a red horse who took peace from the earth so people would slay each other and this rider used a sword. The third rider was on a black horse and they brought famine or scarcity and inequity. The fourth was on a pale horse that brought famine and pestilence. The fifth seal revealed the martyrs who died for the word of God and were told to wait until there were more martyrs. The six seal (and final one for this chapter) is known as the tribulation period full on a great earthquake, a blood red moon and a black sun. During this time people will run and hide from "the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." The 7th seal will reveal Jesus, but that will come later.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
The Scroll and the Lamb
Through reading an interpretation of the scroll and the lamb (Revelation 5:1-10) serve as God's will (the scroll) and Jesus (the lamb). The scroll is written on the front and back, which was not typical, could also represent the old and new testaments of the Bible. The scroll being handed to the lamb could signify that Jesus is the only one who has it within him (and his death) to unlock what is God's will. Therefore, if you really want to know what God wants from you, go to Jesus. Read about him and understand how he lived and why he lived and then you will know, what God wants from you.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
