02/11/2023 – Day 349 – Revelation – Chapters 7 – 10 / “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 7: 12 / Commentary attached
A little behind on the post from Saturday’s reading… Reminder: You will see others posts on Day 349 by using the searching tool on: “Day 349”. Also, you will search and filter tips under the “Getting started.. Tips..” icon at the top of the main menu . Also, you can pull in either a pdf or excel download of the Semikkah7 365 day reading plan. We are not under two weeks to completion in this cycle. But, God willing, we will do it again in this blog, but beyond that, a subgroup of brothers can start day 001 anytime, carrying it through the year. Finally, the beauty is a brother can benefit individually by searching a history of that day’s reading at anytime. For my posts, I emphasize excerpts from five+ renowned commentary sources.
Let’s get started! First, my footnote in my “Apologetic Study Bible” to 7: 4-8 reads:
“The Jehovah’s Witness teach that the 144,000 represents the total number of those who will reign with Christ. Since there is a much larger group — a ‘vast multitude… which no one can number’ — mentioned immediately afterward as taken from earth to heaven (v. 9), the JW view is discredited even in its closest context in Revelation. While many believe the 144,000 is symbolic of the church, the tribal names and number naturally refer to ethnic Israel. The 12 tribes are numbered as a military deployment (e.g. Numbers 2), making it plausible that 7: 1-8 is implying that this sealing has to do with the new covenant entry of the Holy Spirit into the Jewish remnant returned to the promised land (Ezekiel 36:27; 37: 7-9, 14), where the vision describes Israel as a ‘vast army’ (Ezekiel 37:10).”
note: This is an isolated, albeit limited example of “let scripture testify to scripture.” To name just two books, Ezekiel and Daniel connect with the book of Revelation.
Footnote – 9: 1-11 reads:
“The fifth trumpet recalls the plague of locusts in Joel 1:4 and 2:25. There is no protection from the extremely painful , but not fatal, scorpion-like stings of the demonic locusts (Revelation 9: 1-3) except the seal of God on one’s forehead (7: 3-4,8). Believers are protected in terms of their eternal destiny by the seal of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30).”
Footnote – 9: 13-19 reads:
“None of the earth dwellers is allowed to die during the plague of the locusts (v.6). However, during the sixth trumpet judgment, a third of the human race is killed, in keeping with the first four trumpet judgments (8: 7-12). Though some believe the armies of 200 million are human, it is more likely they are demonic, as were the locusts.
Footnote – 9: 20-21 reads:
“The only salvation for those not killed by the plagues of the trumpet judgments is repentance and faith. However, since their names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life (17:8), they will not repent.”
I agree. To those brothers who accuse me of buying into the “frozen chosen”, since we all must face a judgment, saved or not, I am admittedly taking a risk here, namely: “I could be giving God too much of the credit.” So, forced to make a choice between human free will and God’s sovereignty, given our obvious limited capacity relative to God Almighty, I will choose God’s sovereignty every single time. (* – below) Please contact me if you need biblical support for “pre-destination”. A key point for us in our imperative great commission mission: “We are to look at fellow souls as either current Christians or future Christians.” Since God does not distinguish between the two, nor should we!
(*) – I can’t recall the originator, but I am guessing Charles Spurgeon, and I will call it paraphrased: “The only thing we contribute to our salvation , is the sin that brought the only possible solution to our death: Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection from the dead.
Verse 10:10: “Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it my stomach became bitter.” Why initially honey, followed immediately by bitter?
Thanks to John Gill commentary, my presumption was confirmed:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/revelation-10-10.html
In volume, our bible study files and notes make up a good part of our paper archive storage. Am I hoarder? With respect to bible study : Absolutely! But, as long as long as I limit it there, it isn’t nearly as serious as it could be. Just the other day, I ran across an entire accordion folder on the book of Revelation alone.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Your brother in Christ,
Jimmy