Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 16:3-7
Mar 21st, 2010
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Prophecy;Exhortation;Commentary

Last week we saw the the first Bowl Judgment. Because The trumpet judgments and the Bowl judgments are similar, some have supposed that they are the same judgments. This is not the case, the Trumpet judgments affected one third of the earth, the bowl judgments affect the whole earth and they are much more severe in  their intensity!

The Second Bowl Judgment

"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea" verse 3.

The first bowl was poured out on the earth, the second bowl is poured out on the sea. We are going to see in the bowl judgments a progressive destruction of the earth.

We said last week that God created the earth as a beauitiful home for man, but that God never intended that man would enjoy His blessings if he lived in sin and rebellion against God. That is what these judgments are all about!

Everything needed for man's sustainance and happiness was placed in the earth by God at creation. God looked down into the future when He created the earth and anticipated man's needs and aspirations. Let me give you a glimpse into that provision of God for this day in which we live. God anticipated that the population of the earth would be greatly increased and made provision for man's sustenainance in such a time. We are told that the energy produced by one barrel of oil is equivalent of 20,000 man hours of labor. In America the average consumption of oil  is about 25 barrels per person per year. That is about 600,000 man hours of labor for each individual per year. That is God's  provision for men to be sustained in a world that has a multiplying population.

Scientists believe that some day, perhaps soon, they will develop the process for Cold Fusion, which will give the world  an unlimited supply of cheap, clean energy. Today, unbelieving men wring their hands in despair because of unbelief, they not believe that the God who created man can sustain him. We do not want to be distracted with this prospect of God's provision for  man in his beautiful home, but in these bowl judgments we see God destroying man's home, the earth. We know that when God has dealt with the sinful heart of man, he will restore the earth as the beautiful home He intended man to enjoy.

This second bowl judgment is an awesome judgment! The sea becomes as the blood of a dead man, what an aweful stench will sweep the entire world! The waters of the seas will be congealed.  All marine life will die, no more seafood, no shipping, no oil supplies, no trade, the whole world will be profoundly affected. All that God has so freely provided for man is now being swept away.

The Third Bowl Judgment

"And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood."  The second bowl of God's wrath was poured out on the sea, this third bowl of God's wrath is poured upon the fresh water supplies of the world. They also are turned to blood. Notice in the seal judgments, the third part of the trees are burned up, the third part of the sea is turned to blood and the third part of the rivers and fountains (or springs) are turned to blood. Here as the vial judgments are poured out all of the sea is turned to blood and all of the fresh water is turned to blood. These are the final great judgments that will totally destroy the home of sinful rebellious man.

"And I heard the angel of the waters say, thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus."

Remember that God's overriding attribute is His Holiness, His love is only possible through His righteousness, without righteousness love could not function, love would be utterly harmful outside of that which is holy and right. In bringing judgment upon sinners God is doing what is right and necessary, where sin is allowed to exist there can be no goodness, no peace, no love, no joy, and no heaven. Sin utterly corrupts and destroys and must be obliterated. For man to live forever on earth in sin would create hell on earth.  As these judgments are viewed with understanding, the viewer says, "thou art righteouss, O Lord."  

The day will come when everyone in heaven, on earth, and in hell, will recognize that God is righteouss in judging sinners. We men, with our sin natures are corrupted by sin and we are deceived into believing that God should and will pardon everyone rather than judge, that God's love and mercy will lead Him to forego judgment. It is God's love and righteouness that forbids him to forego judgment, He would not be loving and righteous if He did that. The really important thing is that you come to understand and believe this truth before it is forever too late!

"For they have shed the blood of  saints and  prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy."  Retribution is poured on the wicked for their deeds. God hates sin  with an eternal hatred, the scriptures are filled with this message. See God's hatred for sin in the flood, see it at Sodom, see it in His dealings with Israel, it is the over riding message of the whole Bible. See it most of all at Calvary!  God spared not His own Son from Judgment but poured out that judgment on Him for your sin and mine. See it expressed in Revelation 13:10  

"And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." The final vindication of  God's judgment comes from heaven, it doesn't matter what man may think of God's judgment , heaven vindicates it. We had better listen to heaven and not be led astray by the opinions of men. Whose is this voice that comes out from the altar? I believe the answer comes to us from Revelation 6:9-10 "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held:  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"

In verse 11, they are told, "rest yet for a little season," that little season has finally passed, and now their prayer is about to be answered. These saints are dead and they are in heaven, their killers are alive on the earth, is there no justice? Yes! And it is about to be carried out, all are about to discover who the real winners are and who the real losers are!

Let me ask you the most important question you have ever been asked, are you an eternal winner or are you an eternal loser? John said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36

Matthew 1: Pt. 7 Mt. 1:18-25
Mar 21st, 2010
Weekly Bible StudyArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

The Virgin Birth

There are five distinct elements in this text

The Virgin Birth

1- Conceived    2- Confronted    3 - Clarified   4 - Connected    5 - Consumated

How do the liberals handle these verses?

They Say....We do believe this is an account of a virgin birth, this was written by a well meaning fellow, but this is not inspired by God.

They Say....At the time Matthew wrote this, there were a lot of virgin birth myths floating around. It was just kind of a popular thought at the time. When Matthew was writing his account of Jesus birth, he just snatched one of these myths out of the air and incorporated it in his account.

The fact is there have always been a lot of virgin birth myths floating around! Guess who made them up? Satan! Why?  He is the master counterfeiter! He is the great deceiver! Many years before this Satan began his myths of deception concerning virgin births.

One myth states that Semiramis the High Priestess of Babylonian occultism had a son supposedly born of a sun beam, his name was Tammuz. This son died when he was killed by a wild boar. His mother prayed and wept for forty days and he came back to life. Lent has nothing to do with the Bible!

The mixture of the Babylonian false systems of religion with Christianity has created the muddled, mother-child cult that is known today in Catholicism as Mariolatry.

There have always been these virgin birth myths.

Another Illustration....There was a legend that claimed that Alexander the Great was virgin born. Alexander's mother Olympius conceived Alexander of a snake. Greek legend tells who that snake was, it was Zeus a greek god, thus Alexander was the virgin born son of Zeus. This is a filthy, vile, stupid legend, just one of many that came from the hand of Satan to discredit the virgin birth of Christ which he knew from scripture to be a future event.

To accuse Matthew of taking a myth of a virgin birth and apply it to Christ is to do two things.

1 - To accuse Matthew of being a blatant liar.

2 - To say that in fact, the Word of God is not the word of God, but the word of men.

This story is not a myth, it is history. The fact is that among the Jews there had never been a lot of talk about Messiah being virgin born. That event was veiled in the Old Testament and they didn't really see it. But there was Old Testament evidence that Messiah would be God. That evidence was veiled but it was there. Just a couple of Old Testament verses. Genesis 3:15, that is a veiled reference to the Messiah being virgin born.  Isaiah 7:14 seems clear to us after the fact, but to them the fact that Messiah would be God, was a mystery.

It wasn't until the New Testament that the full mystery of godliness was revealed. See 1Timothy 3:16, not until the New Testament did the deity of Messiah become crystal clear.

Understand, that if it is clear in the New Testament that Jesus is God in human flesh, then what will be the point of attack of every false system? The answer is the deity of Christ. Invariably they all attack at this point!  The evidence is here in our text to support the fact of the deity of Christ.

No matter what others say, no matter what the Jews may or may have not believed. No matter what the legends were. No matter what the critics say. No matter what the slanderers may say. Matthew records the facts.

Lets look at the first of the five elements of the virgin birth.

1 - The Virgin Birth Conceived

I hope that you are not so familiar with the story that your senses are not dulled to the wonder of it all.

Matthew 1:18 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." The Spirit of God tells us in plain, clear language that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. The word "birth" is the same word as found in the first verse, "generation" (genealogy). In fact in verse 18, Matthew is giving the generation of Jesus Christ from the divine side. In verse 1, he is giving the generation of Christ from the human side.

The divine side of Christ's genealogy is that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. So verse 18 says: "The Birth (genealogy) of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when his mother Mary..."  We do not know much about Mary. The Bible doesn't give us a whole lot of information, but it does tell us some things about her.

In John 19:25 we learn that Mary had a sister whose name was also Mary, that was not uncommon in those times.  In Luke 1:36 we learn that Mary had a cousin Elizabeth who was the mother of John the baptist. Jesus and John were cousins. According to Luke, Mary's father was Heli. We do not know much else about Mary other than that. Her early life was spent in Nazareth.  She was probably of a poor family and she was hard working. We also know that she was a very righteous young woman. If you do a character study of Mary, you can examine her own words in Luke 1:

In luke 1:35 the announcement is given to Mary that she is tohave the Holy child, listen to Mary's response in verse 38, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."  We see a beautiful spirit of submission and yieldedness, she was totally submitted to God and His Word.

In verse 45 we learn a second thing about Mary, Elizabeth said "Blessed is she that believed", Mary was a woman of faith, she believed God. Mary was a person who submitted to God and to His word, who lived by faith and was a righteous person. See Mary in Luke 1: 46-49,  what a godly lady.

When the word came there was no doubting, no pondering, no questioning, there was instant belief and instant submission.If you desire to be used of God, you would do well to pattern your life after the life of Mary.

Mary= Greek= Miriam which means rebelliousness. Was she in her early life rebellious? And did she repent of that to become the submissive servant of God?

Back to Matthew 1:18, "Mary was espoused to Joseph" We know nothing about Joseph's background!  He is described by a greek term, "carpenter or mason", it is probable that he was both, the two would go together in those days. He was undoubtedly a poor, hard working man. He was a righteous person, verse says, "And being a righteous man," it says in verse 19. He was a true Old Testament saint, so here are two Old Testament saints.

They were undoubtedly very young. Most Bible scholars feel they were in their teen years. Marriage occured to girls  as young as 12-13 years of age. Yet we see in Mary a tremendous maturity, maturity is not always related to age!

"Mary was espoused (betrothed) to Joseph".  Betrothed, what does that mean?  A little background.... In the Old Testament and rabinical writings there were two stages in marriage.  Kiddushin = The betrothal.   Huddah = The marriage ceremony and consumation. (Deut.20:7)

Two families would draw up a contract that promised marriage, it was a binding contract! If at any time during that betrothal period, the marriage vow was violated there had to be an official divorce. They were constituted as married, though there was no physical relationship whatever. By the way, that is what the exception clause is in Matthew 19 is all about, it involves the betrothal period only. The betrothal lasted about 12 months. It was a proving or testing time. There was very little social contact during that time for them.

After the betrothal period was over the Huppah took place. That was the wedding and it lasted approximately seven days, seven days of wedding feast.

There was the "Mohar", the price paid for the bride, it was in goods or services, a chicken or a cow or sheep or perhaps something greater in the way of money.

1 - It compensated the father. It helped for the Huppah. She would be now working with her husband for her husband's father.

2 - It was a kind of life insurance for the bride. If the husband died, her father who had been holding it in trust, would give it back to his daughter.

It was in this betrothal period of Joseph and Mary, that Mary was, "found with child with the Holy Ghost", notice it says, "before they came together". There was no question, Joseph was not the father, even though they were officially married! Joseph was a righteous man who would not violate God's standard. God looks with great concern on purity! Virginity is very important to God, it is a sacred thing, not something to be trifled with! God's law in the Old Testament was that those who violated their virginity outside of marriage were to be stoned to death!

Mary knew  and understood what was going on. Mary knew why she was pregnant but poor Joseph did not know. What a shock it was when he found out! He knew Mary, he knew this girl. He knew the righteous standard of her life, her purity. This was totally out of character, this was incredible, this was impossible, this made no sense at all!

Joseph knew Deut. 22 well enough to know that when a woman became pregnant with child outside of marriage, the punishment was death. Mary had no way under the sun of protecting her reputation, so the Spirit of God protected her right on these pages. So the scriptures record that God by His Spirit had planted this seed in Mary.

How does that work? I have no idea in the world. It was just a miraculous act of God. None of us understands the mystery of normal human birth! So a cloud of suspicion hung over Mary. In all history, inspite of the myths, there had never been a virgin birth. But this ws not a problem for the Holy Spirit, he had been the agent in the creation of the world. It was nothing for the Holy Spirit to create a virgin birth.

Understand, Jesus needed to be born of a woman, in order to be a man, so that He could die as one of us and for us on the cross. Jesus could not be born of Adam's seed or else He would be contaminated by Adam's sin, so he could not be the biological son of Joseph and be a sinless sacrifice. Scripture tells us that the sin nature of Adam is passed on through the man not through the woman.

So Jesus had to be the child of Mary and the Son of God, and that is exactly what He was!