05/08/2021 – Day 356 – Revelation 11 – 17 // “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”
When reading the Bible cover to cover in 365 days, how does one capture today’s reading in a succinct pithy summary? Well, I will start with Dietrich’s quote. Nearing the much anticicpated final victory right around the corner, here is 14:13: “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me (John speaking), Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘ that they may rest from their labors , and their works follow them.’ “
Take a look at John Gill’s commentary on 14:13, and be sure to look up his scriptural references: Revelation 1:9 ; 19:9 ; 21:5; and do particularly these Old Testament connecting verses: Isaiah 48:8 and Proverbs 6:22.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/revelation-14-13.html
- Revelation 12;11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to their death.” See Mark 8:35: “For whosoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever desires to save his life for My sake and the gospel wills save it..”
- And I would like to share my footnote on 12;11 as well, an excellent summary of “How then shall we live?”: “Here are the keys to victory in the Christian life: “1) Trust in the blood of Jesus. If sin enters our heart, we must confess it and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1: 7-9) If we do that, then the accuser will have nothing for which to excuse us before the throne of God. (v 10) 2) Our testimony is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again, defeating the grave. Satan has been stripped of the power of death (Hebrews 2:14) ; 3) We don’t live to ourselves, but for the will of God. We love Jesus more than our own life. (Luke 14:26) “The cross is laid on every Christian. As we embark upon discipleship we surrendur ourselves to Christ in union with His death – we give our lives to death. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”
- Revelation 16:16: “And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.” Not many people are aware of how much of Revelation is pulled from Old Testament prophecy. Ezekiel is a good example, for it contains alot of the prophetic imagery which seems so difficult to decipher. But take a look at my footnote on this one: “Ezekiel 39 written over 2,500 years ago, speaks of God’s judgment upon the enemies of Israel, verses 12 – 15, describe what will happen after what many see as the Battle of Armageddon.
“For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. Indeed all the people of the land will be burying… They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party. to pass through the land and bury those bodis remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of the seven months they will make a search. The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.
Before the days of nuclear warfare, this portion of the Bible would have made no sense to the reader. We are told that even weapons left by the enemy will have to be burned (Ezekiel 39:9) . So many will die that it will take those specifically employed for the purpose seven months to bury the dead (v 14) The Scriptures are very specific about the method of burial. When even a bone is found by the searchers, a special marker is to be placed near the bone until the buriers have burned it. This would seem to be a clear reference to radioactive contamination after nuclear war. The thought is confirmed in Joel 2:20, which speaks of “pillars of smoke”.
- How evil can men be without God? 16:9: “And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did no repent and give Him glory.” /And later within the “Seventh Bowl”; 16:21 : “Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since the hail was exceedingly great.”
- John witnesses the seven angels in a prelude to the Bowl Judgments singing the “The Song of Moses” , with Harps of God. We will read this song in its entirety Tuesday in our last week as Moses spoke “The Song of Moses” to the hearing of the entire assembly just before departing to die on Mount Nebo. (See Deuteronomy 32, the song itself over 2 pages in length)
Soli Deo Gloria ! ; Always connected by His grace and through prayer….