Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 16: 12-16 Pt. 2
Apr 11th, 2010
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

The Sixth Vial Poured Out

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared.  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.  Behold, I come as a thief.  Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame,  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armegeddon" Revelation 16: 12-16

Let us add to what we said last week.

The Kings of the East  The great river Euphrates  is 1800 miles long, much of it is navigable, it is so wide and deep it would be difficult for an army  to cross. God says it will be dried up to enable the kings of the East to cross. It is in the East that the majority of the population of the world resides. Consider that India has a population of one billion, China is larger with over a billion, add to that Japan and the other far East Countries and you have billions involved in this great battle. When the Euphrates is dried up the way will be opened by God for the kings of the east to armededdon.

Understand that this is the end of the seven year tribulation period, Antichrist has dominated the whole world for the last three and  a half years of this period. These Eastern nations have endured this dictatorship, but now they are about to rebel and seek to destroy the beast.

I remind you who is involved in promoting this battle. ".. I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." We see the unholy counterfeit trinity seeking to promote the program of Satan. Notice, they not only counterfeit the Holy Trinity, but they counterfeit the miracles of the second person of the Holy Trinity, God the Son. "... they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,.." Satan is a counterfeiter, like the magicians of Pharoah, how easy the simple are deceived. Satan doesn't realize that his own wisdom is corrupted and that he is carrying out the plan and purposes of God.

God has a master plan to utterly destroy Satan's kingdom.  "And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armegeddon"  Over and over in scripture God uses Satan to carry out His own purposes. Satan seeks to gather all of the men of the world to come against Israel and destroy her, thus, at least in his own mind, defeat God. To defeat God's purpose and promise to send His Son to rule over a redeemed nation of Israel. Satan draws this group, but it is God who using Satan to gather them,  "And he (God) gathered them together"

The armies of the whole world are gathered against little Israel, this looks like the end for Israel. The nation has no chance to survive, no hope whatsoever, so it seems. That is the story of the history of Israel, times without number Israel has come to this place, but the God of Israel is always there to intervene, in His own time and in His own way, "But God". Today Israel has come to just such a place, there seems to be no hope, all seems to be lost, "But God".

Zechariah describes the scene in chapter 14, verse 2-3.  "For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle." This is the "But God"  of the our text. Israel will have nowhere to look but up, when they do that, notice what will happen, we are told that He will return to the earth and we are told that, "his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."

For the rest of the story we have to go to Revelation 19:21, "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled wih their flesh."

At that time Israel will have their eyes opened, "they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced," that is the moment that Israel will repent and be redeemed.

That will be the fulfilment of Psalm 2, please read this Psalm.

Matthew 2:1-12 Pt. 2
Apr 11th, 2010
Weekly Bible StudyArt Sadlier
Uncategorized

Last week we saw the Magi coming to Jerusalem, a group of official Persian kingmakers, looking and longing for a new king. Today, we want to see five acts in this drama.

1 - The Arrival

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."

The non-Jewish world comes seeking Christ the Messiah, the greatest officials of the orient, the king makers of the east. They see and confirm Christ as the promised King. The amazing thing is that though the gentiles recognized Christ as the king, the Jews did not recognize Him. John said in John 1;11, "He came unto his own and his own received him not."

There are many myths and erroneous ideas that have come out of the dark ages, some from artists who were ignorant of God's Word. When thew Magi arrived it wasn't just three men on camels, that doesn't come from God's Word! That comes from Christmas cards! I suggest,there were perhaps 6 or 12 Magi, and they were probably riding on Arabian horses. They were probably accompanied by as many as a thousand Persian soldiers, this is suggested in verse 3, a part of the trouble expressed was the fear that this Persian brigade would attack the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem and mayhem would result.

"Come to worship him"  'Worship' = Greek  'proskenao'  Means to 'stoop to kiss'  The New Testament uses this word exclusively in the New Testament for the worship of Diety.

What a testimony this was to the King that was born in the manger, God was in effect, saying to Israel's leaders, if you wont worship my Son, I will see to it that others do. This reminds us of the triumphal entry, the people were crying praises to Christ, acclaiming Him as the King who would deliver them. The religious leaders of Israel came along and urged Christ to tell them to stop, Jesus said if these hold their peace the stones will cry out. God will see to it that there will be those who will worship His Son, will you be one of them?

2 - The Agitation

"When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." verse 3.

Herod was the King of the Jews, these king makers arrive and say, "Where" is the new King of the Jews. "When herod heard these things he was troubled" Herod panicked!  "and all Jerusalem with him" They knew that if Herod was angry they were in for a hard time.

Understand what kind of a man Herod was. He made his funeral plans, he left instructions that when he died, they were to round up a number of prominent people and kill them. The motive behind this was to assure that there would be mourning in Jerusalem, he knew no one would mourn his death. They knew that when Herod was troubled, he would take it out on the people. So, "all Jerusalem was troubled", in fact it wasn't long after this that he had all of the babies of Bethlehem killed, he was a wicked man!

"And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born." verse 4. Herod knew about the Messiah, he immediately made the connection in his mind. This was a day when the hope and expectation of Messiah was running high in Israel. Herod knew that the King of the Jews and Messiah were one and the same. Just like the wise men, Herod understood who Christ was. Now here is a great contrast between the reaction of Herod and the reaction of the Magi. One was intent on murder and the others were intent on worship. That is the story of history, those who hate Christ and those who worship Him.

Interesting, that today in Israel we see the same phenomena present as was present prior to His first coming. Today in Israel there is a tremendous anticipation and excitement about the coming of Messiah! Bumper stickers, posters, billboards and literature in anticipation of the coming of Messiah!  The hearts of the Israeli's are again being readied for the coming of Christ!

"He gathered all of the scribes and chief priests."  These were the people who ran Israel, both spiritually and politically. They were corrupt and motivated by lust for power and money. The scribes were ordinary men who gave themselves to studying the scriptures.They were the scholars who continually challenged Jesus. Here we have gathered together the group who would oppose Jesus until the moment He hung on the cross.

Think about it, here are the leaders of Israel who had to be told by a bunch of gentiles that their king had been born and they didn't even know it. Herod asks them a question, " He demanded of them where Christ should be born?"  Herod wanted truth to be used for wrong purposes! We have a parallel of that today. There are those who seek knowledge from scripture for wrong purposes, for their own aggrandizement and their agenda. Herod enquired of God's Word to use against the will of God. The world is filled with such enquiring today!

The chief priests and scribes gave the immediate answer, they knew, they quoted Micah 5:2. They knew where the King was to be born. Furthermore, Daniel prophesied the time of His birth. The prophet Micah said that He would be born in Bethlehem. The Sanhedrin said here in Matthew 2, that He would be born in Bethlehem and He was born in  Bethlehem. These orthodox Jews had all the head knowledge of scripture - they knew it all! But it never touched their hearts and souls!! That is legalism, full heads but empty hearts! The scripture says, "The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life" They knew it all but they never troubled to go and witness it and to worship the King.

Understand we have three groups of people in our text;

1 - The fearful and and hateful   Herod feared Jesus and hated Him! He didn't want Jesus interfering with his lifestyle and his position. There are people like that today, they don't want Jesus to rain on their parade! they don't want Jesus to spoil their fun!  Eventually they will react against Jesus, quietly or openly.

2 - The indifferent   The chief priests and scribes and pharisies knew all about Christ, where and when He was to be born. They were so engrossed with their own agenda, so engrossed in their religion that Messiah didn't matter. These kind of people are all around you, they have heard the gospel, but they are just indifferent. They remind me of Jeremiah who cried out in anguish of heart, "Is it nothing to all you that pass by?"

3 - There was Adoring Worship   A few Magi, its always that way. Jesus said, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."  The faithful servant of God who is willing to contend for the faith and the souls of men, will often find he walks a lonely pathway. He may have to leave freinds and family behind, he may be misunderstood and disdained. Those who love Christ would not trade the whole world for the opportunity to worship Christ.