Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 15:1
Feb 7th, 2010
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

Prelude to Doomsday or Preparation for the last Judgment

In chapter 14 we have seven pictures (visions) of the events that will take place as the tribulation period concludes. One of the things not included in chapter 14 concerning the events that conclude the tribulation period are the seven vial (bowl) judgments which are involved in the final drama of the tribulation period.

In chapter 15 we have the preparation for the seven bowl judgments, the seven bowl judgments are actually poured out in chapter 16. Remember that the chronology (story line) of the book unfolds in seven seal judgments, in the seven trumpet judgments and in the seven bowl judgments.

"VIAL" = Bowl  = a vessel that can be poured out quickly or emptied suddenly.

Rev. 15:1 introduces the bowls, then after 8 verses of setting the scene chapter 16 records how they are poured out in quick succession. The plagues on Egypt are foreshadows of these in our text.

These final bowl judgments are the most intense and devastating. The seal judgments are the product of what God allows men to produce, though they are still judgments of God.  The trumpet judgments are what God allows Satan to produce, though they are still the judgments of God. The bowl judgments are direct acts of judgments of God, poured right from His hand.

The wrath of God has been storing up against men down over the long centuries of God's patience. God, in grace and mercy, has held back His wrath, now here in our text God's patience has finally come to an end and His wrath is poured out. This is revealed in Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness".

"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God."

"And I saw another sign", in chapter 12, there are two signs.

"A woman clothed with the sun," which represents Israel. Rev.12:1

"A great red dragon",  Which represents Satan. Rev.12:3

Here in chapter 15, we have another sign which is described as, "Great and marvelous".  Marvelous = amazing or terrible, this is a warning of the magnitude of the judgment that is about to fall.

"Seven angels having the seven last plagues", this is the sign which John saw. He saw seven angels each holding a bowl.

"For in them is filled up the wrath of God." The wrath of God has been poured out upon a rebellious world in the seven seal judgments and in the seven trumpet judgments. But now the final outpouring of God's fierce and unrestrained wrath is about to take place.

"Filled up" The final and total wrath of God against sinful men and nations is now to be administered. God's wrath against sinners has long been withheld but now it is released in total. Filled up means to be completed, nothing held back.

God's wrath will be poured out on all men and all nations. Away back in Zephaniah we are warned of this coming day.

"Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." Zephaniah 3:8. What an awful day that will be. We saw last week that the blood will flow for 200 miles to a depth of some four feet, as the hundreds of millions of the men of Antichrist's army are slaughtered directly by Christ. See Revelation 19:11-21.

Notice the words, "my jealousy", in Zeph. 3:8.  God has made man in God's own image, so that He may fellowship with man, so that He may bless man, so that man might worship and love and serve Him. God, however is a jealous God and He will not accept anything less from man. The great and tragic sin of man today and in every age, is the sin of turning away from God and ignoring Him and disobeying Him. The sin of walking contrary to God's Word and Will, God will not let such sin and indifference go unpunished. The seven bowl judgments are the culmination of that judgment.

Matthew 1: Pt. 1
Feb 7th, 2010
Weekly Bible StudyArt Sadlier
Categories: Inspirational;Commentary;Book Study

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

The book of Matthew reveals Jesus Christ as the long promised great king of Israel. The Lord made a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12, 13. "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his kingdom forever."

The angel in Luke 1:32, 33  pronounces the birth of Christ and states that Christ is the king promised to Israel through David. "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

The Holy Spirit speaking through Zacharias says concerning Christ in Luke 1:69 "And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David."

Now if Christ is to be the long promised king of Israel, he has to be of the house and lineage of the royal family of David. Matthew 1:1-16 gives the proof that Christ is descendant of David, and qualifies to be the promised king of Israel.

In the genealogy of Christ we have a demonstration of the grace of God.

1 - The Grace of God is demonstrated first in the Choice of one woman.

Verse 16, "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Verse 20, "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."  Look at the grace bestowed upon that young woman!  Mary became the mother of the Messiah from the human standpoint. No one had ever heard of Mary before God in grace chose her.

The truth about Mary is that she was a sinner like every son of Adam who has ever lived. The Bible confirms that in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." That includes Mary, Mary was a sinner also!  The son that she bore had to become her Savior also! There has only lived one man who has never sinned.

"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Romans 5:18.  Christ is that righteous one, the reason that Christ is that righteous one is because He is the only one who has never sinned. Christ was not born with a sinful nature. He was not a son of Adam's race. He was not the biological son of Joseph.

His seed did not come from Joseph. His seed was created by the Holy Spirit. He was the first man of a new race of men. All those who by faith in Christ have been born again, have become members of that new race.

Two things are demonstrated by the virgin birth (I press this point because it is crucial to right understanding of the gospel)

A - Christ was not born of Adam's race. The seed of the race is passed on by the father, not by the mother, this is a biological fact. Christ is not of Joseph's seed.

B - Christ was God but He was also human.  This is proven by the fact that He was born in Mary's womb and by the fact that Mary's blood flowed through His veins. It is also proven by the fact that when His blood was shed on the cross He died.

The grace of God is revealed in the fact that even though Mary was a sinner the Lord allowed her to be the human mother of Jesus, and yet He was not a sinner because He did not partake of her Adam’s nature.

There are two scriptures that show Jesus taught that Mary's spiritual relationship to Jesus was no different than anyone else (see Mark 3:31-35 and Luke 11:27-28). To be the physical mother of Jesus brought no spiritual advantage to Mary. The only advantage to be gained was to come by hearing and obeying the word of God.

The grace of God was bestowed upon Mary, though a sinner she was included in the lineage of Christ.

2 - The Grace of God was demonstrated in the seed of two men

"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham"  These two men were both sinners and yet God in grace included them in the line of Christ. Both Abraham's sin and David's sin are painfully recorded in the scriptures. David committed the sin of adultery and Abraham denied his wife and exposed her to the danger of total humiliation. The grace of God is gloriously set forth in this demonstration.

3 - We see the Grace of God demonstrated in the history of three eras

"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations" (verse 17).

We see here three eras of history.

From Abraham to David

The first period mentioned by Matthew is the period of the patriarchs and the judges.  The lives of the patriarchs were flawed by sin.  During the times of the judges Israel repeatedly turned away from the Lord in sin and disobedience. The grace of God was poured on the men of those days.

From David to Babylon

This second period of history was marked with persistent failure by the people and the nation. They repeatedly forsook the Lord and turned to idols, and yet the grace of God was poured upon them.

From Babylon to Christ

This period is marked by silence and darkness and continued decline. In spite of the abysmal sinful history of the chosen nation the grace of God was revealed. God did not turn away from them but used them to bring the grace of God into the world in the person of the Messiah, who would in turn extend grace to them.

4 - The inclusion of four outcasts in the genealogy of Christ

Tamar verse 3a, "And Judah begot Perez and Zerah of Tamar"  Tamar tricked Judah, her father-in-law into committing incest with her.

Rehab   Verse 5a, "And Salmon begot Boaz of Rehab." Rehab was a harlot and a Canaanite; she could not have been more unworthy. God demonstrated His mercy in sparing her life and including her in the royal line of David.

Ruth   verse 5b, "And Boaz begot Obed of Ruth."  Ruth was an exemplary person but she was a gentile and a Moabite, the descendant of an incestuous relationship between drunken Lot and his daughters. She had no right to be included in the royal line of Christ, but by the grace of God she was.

Bathsheba   Was a woman who had allowed the king of Israel to commit adultery with her; she also had no right to be in the royal line. Again the grace of God is demonstrated.

Of these four women, the only woman mentioned in the genealogy of Christ, two were harlots, one was born out of an incestuous relationship and the other was an adulterer.

We learn some important lessons here.

1 - Man is incurably sinful.   No matter where we find man in the Bible he is bent and determined to sin.

2 - God is infinitely gracious and merciful to sinful man.   God's mercy and forgiveness is without limits, to the man will admit his sin, and will repent of his sin and turn to God in faith.

So we see that the New Testament begins with a massive demonstration of God's Grace.

GRACE in Greek is "Charis" which means undeserved favor or unearned gift.

Ilon Jones, a Welch Preacher said, "Grace is undoubtedly the most significant word in the Bible, it is found more than 150 times in the New Testament."

Grace is demonstrated in salvation. Grace is also the portion of the believer after salvation. By God's grace every Christian receives a gift of special ability to serve Him. Every Christian receives grace daily to live in this sinful wicked world.

God, by His Grace can take a worthless sinful life, wash it in the blood of Calvary, put His Spirit in it, and make it worthy to dwell with Him in Heaven. That is grace.

Church Essentials
Feb 7th, 2010
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational

The Church as announced by Christ, seen in the book of Acts and explained by Paul is a thing of great simplicity and rare beauty.

The church as we see it today is unsymmetrical, highly complex and anything but beautiful. Indeed I think that if some angel of God were made familiar with the church as it appears in the New Testament and then sent to the earth to try to locate it, it would be extremely doubtful whether the heavenly messenger would recognize anything now existing in the field of religion as the church he was looking for. So far have we departed from the pattern shown us in the mount.

The church as the New Testament pictures it is any company of regenerate believers met in the name of Jesus Christ. Such a company is called out from the world and gathered to Christ as a flock of sheep is gathered to the shepherd. The members of this company constitute a despised minority group standing in bold moral contradiction to the world. Their witness is Christ: His person, work, office and present position at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. They carry His gospel to the world and plead ''Be ye reconciled to God,'' then they return to their own company to worship, pray, teach and listen to the Word of the Lord as it is expounded by men of God. They also exhort, testify and exercise for the good of all such spiritual gifts as each one may possess from the Spirit.

America in a Pressure Cooker
Feb 7th, 2010
Weekly CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Warning

Barack Obama has sought to put a new face on American foreign policy. In the attempt to appear to be every ones friend, the new approach has given the appearance of weakness to the world.  America has chosen to talk softly and not to carry a stick of any kind. The nations now speak warmly to Obama but no longer take the US seriously. The result is a serious deterioration in the position of America in the world.

There are now a number of situations developing in which America is being increasingly pressed to respond. These responses are leaving America dangerously over extended.

The two wars in which America is involved are showing no signs of coming under control. Both situations fraught with peril as the attempt is made to wind them down.

Tensions with China  A Bloomberg news report stated, "China is developing and deploying “large numbers” of advanced missiles, new attack submarines, long-range air defense systems and capabilities to wage electronic warfare and target computer systems. Marry this to China's threats to invade Taiwan and you have very troublesome problem.

Trouble with North Korea  North Korea now has the possible potential to launch nuclear missles that could reach America. Add to that the threat of exporting weapons to terrorists and rogue states.

Threat from Iran  Iran now is deploying a fleet of small attack boats in the Persian Gulf. Along with this Iran has acquired quiet submarines and cruise missiles that could totally disrupt the movement of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.

It is also reported that Iran  has provided drones and shoulder-fired missiles to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah. Syria, Lebanon, and Russia and other nations have contributed to the spread of surface-to- air missiles.

The Pentagon's ballistic-missile defense review  made public this week, concluded that missile threats from several states, including Iran, Syria, China and Russia, are growing "quantitatively and qualitatively."

Iran`s growing power and infuence is creating a problem for Obama, leaving him in disarray in the site of all of the Mid east Nations and signaling further weekness.

Threats from Syria, Hizballah, Lebanon and Hamas were backed this week by massive Irianian airlifts boosting Syria's missile arsenal. Many of these missiles are reaching Hezballah and Hamas.

Loss of influence in the Mid East peace process  Obama`s attempts to win the favor of the PA and the Muslim world with impossible concessions has frustrated any hope of cooling the situation and the threat of war seems to be growing.  A war in the Mid East would put more pressure on the US.

Another problem is the mounting US debt and the political and economic turmoil that is looming on the horizon.

You can only stretch an elastic so far before it breaks. It seems that America has never been as vulnerable as she is today.  Any major crisis may bring disaster. A terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction could be the straw that breaks the camels back.

I am not the one crying gloom and doom, consider the following news item. "U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) asks the heads of the major US intelligence agencies what the chances are of a terrorist attack on America in the next 3 - 6 months. The answer came back that an attack was certain."