Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Revelation 8’

The Falling Star Is Named

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Jeremiah 9:15

Revelation 8:11, “And the name of the star is called WORMWOOD: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”

“The star” in the Scriptures represents a son of God, someone who has climbed into the heights with God. In this passage “the star is called WORMWOOD.” “Many men died” because of Wormwood. The word “Wormwood” is a spiritual name. This name “Wormwood” is given to this star because of the NATURE of the work that he will do. I say Mr. Wormwood is at work this very moment. The Lord uses this phrase prophetically to describe the condition spoken of by the prophets in the Old Testament – the bitterness of the waters that the people would drink. As we know, water, especially fresh water, represents the Word of God. The SALT WATER, or the sea, represents the nations. This water, in Revelation 8:11, that the people are drinking, is like taking into your soul a bitter, poisonous substance.

We can get proper understanding from Jeremiah 9:15, “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.” When Jesus was on the cross and cried out, “I thirst,” they gave Him gall to drink. Gall was referred to as vinegar in the Old Testament. We are dealing with word translations. It is translated in the Old Testament as wormwood, bitter water. It was poisonous water.

In Revelation, we read that they would receive poisonous water and it would cause them to die – bitter water. This is definitely referring to the Word of God or the Scriptures being twisted to cause the people to be deceived, believing they are receiving from God and serving God when actually it is the work of the enemy and not the Word of God at all.

This bitterness comes from the rivalry of the churches. Denomination is a division which splits people of God into various factions and segments. God speaks against this. Paul also spoke against it saying, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13a). Some were saying they were of Paul and some were saying they were of Apollos. Paul said, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?” (1 Corinthians 3:5a). God wants us to be one. The greatest thing on the heart of God is that we should be one, even as He and Christ Jesus are one. We are being divided by denominations. This one says that he is from this denomination, the other one says that he is from that denomination.

If God called someone and gave him a message and he happened to be in one church, he could not go to the other church to preach because they do not want him. They want their own evangelists and their own apostles. It turns out to be a failure in the church, A TURNING BACK FROM GOD, a rebellion. That rebellion is now proceeding in the church.

2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (apostasy, rebellion) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” This rebellion is happening in the churches and the churches are not seeing it. This verse in Thessalonians tells us that there will be a “falling away” in the church. People will be deceived and not know that they are deceived. They will walk in the deception which they were taught in their denomination. For if Christ should return now, He could not return for a denomination. He would have to return for the people whose hearts are tuned to Him.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 161-162)

Thought for today: Let us turn from the bitter waters of mixture and drink of the pure water of the Word of God!

Read Full Post »

A Great Christian Will Fall

Posted in Spiritual Warfare, tagged , , , on January 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Revelation 8:10

Let us look at Revelation 8:10, “And the third angel sounded (all these sounds are messages of life being given in the world of sin), and there fell a GREAT STAR from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the RIVERS, and upon the FOUNTAINS OF WATERS.”

This is very accurate in its representation. “Star” means son of God. “Rivers” represent living waters, the Word of God, the fresh waters. The “fountains of waters” mean the Word of God that gushes forth from the earth.

“A great star falling” means that a great Christian will fall from his Christian place. I can see as clear as day many Christians trying to get into politics. Many would love to be President of the United States. Many would love to be head of the United Nations. They do not care where but they are pushing forward in politics. Brethren, we cannot gain by political activity that which we cannot gain by prayer and spiritual activity. We are spiritual people ordained by God to work in the Spirit. We should have all our efforts in the Spirit and we should NOT be fighting political battles to win the world.

You cannot overcome the devil with his own weapons. The devil will always win when you use his weapons. Weaponry of political agitation, voting, and putting a man into this position or that office to make things better is the way that the devil likes to see Christians go.

Christians were ordained of God. The word CHRISTIAN means CHRISTLIKE. We are a called-out people, the church, “ekklesia” (Greek word which means “called out”). Out of the called-out you have the “eklektos,” the selected group that God has selected for a purpose – to bring forth life and light to the world.

We have no mandate in politics. We have no right to be agitating politically for various offices. Watch my word, brethren. Brethren who are fostering this political activity will be among the first that are hit and destroyed. This is not God’s way. They say that they have done great things and have caused certain laws to be changed. Brethren, we are only fooling around the edge of a mighty ocean and this thing is going to flood over all that we could ever do. The puny political activity that will come from Christians will only cause more persecution of Christians. Mark my word.

“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star.” The “star” is a man; somebody we know, someone who has gone to a great height in things of God, as a preacher, as a person whom we respect and trust. He is going to fall from heaven as a burning lamp (gives a lot of light) and fall upon the rivers (the Word of God) and upon the fountains of waters. This is the twisting in the theology of many of those who are trusted and whom a lot of Christians are supporting with their strength and money. This is ONE that will fall upon the Word of God, translate the Word of God incorrectly, give some wrong interpretation, and get many people to follow him.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 160-161)

Thought for today: We cannot fight with the weaponry of this world but with the armament of the Spirit of God.

Read Full Post »

Atomic Weaponry

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , on January 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Psalm 91

We remember when the atom bomb was first used. It took a man with the type of strength of character and the type of mind to do it. He knew fully well what it meant. It has been proven that every weapon used in any war in history is used again against the very people who used it first. Check into history. I believe it was the British that first invented the war tank and it came to pass that that very tank was used by Hitler so effectively against the Allied forces.

The people of the United States of America were the first who used the atom bomb. They used it against Japan and whatever the arguments might be and whatever the circumstances might be, THE BOTTOM LINE IS that this weapon was used against a civilian target, used in an open city, killing in a flash of lightning 80,000 people and maiming many more. People like me look with horror upon what was done. (Although I understand that it saved many American lives and ended the war with Japan, and only under those circumstances would Japan ever think of surrendering.) This is what is going to happen to us.

That same weapon is going to come back full circle right into the heart of cities like New York and Chicago and all the big cities (populous places) in the United States. THIS IS NOT A GUESS. This is what we see in the Spirit and this is what is coming. One day that burning mountain is going to be cast into the middle of the sea and many, many will die. Of course, you know what will happen when that is done. America will retaliate and make it a conflagration as never before seen in the history of humanity and I am sure will never happen again. This is going to happen. This is the type of thing we are reading about in Revelation, when the angel cast this thing out into the sea of humanity and it is going to do its work of destruction, no matter what we do.

The people who are the real culprits have the bomb and are waiting for the hour and the time when God will release them to use it. It takes a certain type of human being to make up his mind to use a destructive weapon of this magnitude. I believe that the Arab people, with the bitterness they have against the rest of the western world, might one day too have the power to use this weapon against places like the United States, Israel, and Europe.

Revelation 8:9, “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”

“The THIRD PART” can mean man in a spiritual sense, the third part of man who is spirit, soul, and body. It means that their flesh died. It does not mean necessarily that they had gone to hell, but their flesh died. “The third part…died.” “And the third part of the ships” are those that traffic upon human life. There are some who make their living by trafficking back and forth upon humanity. They “were destroyed.” Organizations that do business back and forth would be destroyed. Nevertheless, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 159-160)

Thought for today: Let us remember Psalm 91 where God’s promise is to save His people.

Read Full Post »

What Pleases God?

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on January 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Revelation 8:4-5

Revelation 8:4, “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

Leviticus 16:13, “And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not.“ This scripture says that the smoke, or the essence of the soul of man, must cover the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant before we speak to God. That means that our offering must be perfect before God. Revelation 8:4 says that the angel had it in his hand and was offering it up to God and to His throne. This is the very essence of the soul of the people of God. We are talking about a mind that is dedicated to God, a heart that is in tune with God; the emotions that have been weaned from the world and from the emotional outbursts of the normal, carnal, natural man; the will that is dedicated to God; and the desires that have been completely turned to God and belong to God. This is what was being offered up to God. Another scripture says that it comes up to God as a sweet smelling savour. GOD IS ABSOLUTELY PLEASED with the man who offers his heart and who cries from his heart and soul towards God.

Revelation 8:5, “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

What on earth are we looking at here? All of a sudden, we see people offering themselves to God. Without that offering, there is no overshadowing, no covering. In other words, God is saying that the true people of God will find safety under the shadow of His wings before the destruction breaks out. The angel came and took the fire from the altar and “cast it into the earth.“ There is a similarity here between this language and the language in Revelation 16:18. The “fire” that is “cast… into the earth” is the RESULT of the rejection of the Word of God which will be preached.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 156)

Thought for today: May our offering be perfect through the cry of our heart and soul unto God.

Read Full Post »

The Mystery of the Man Child

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , on December 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Revelation 8:1-6

Revelation 8:1, “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

We must understand what is meant by “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” It means, of course, that there were no angel movements, neither spiritual movements by men. Those whom God had anointed to preach had stopped preaching, the angels who were anointed to help them had stopped helping them, and those who were anointed to work, to do service, had stopped working.

What could have caused that? THE DEATH OF THE SONS OF GOD. In chapter 6, dealing with the fifth seal, the souls of those under the altar who called to God said to Him, “How long…dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” And He gave them “white robes” and “it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

We see here a picture of what happens in heaven when the sons of God are slain. When Jesus Christ was slain, His work was cut short, there was no more healing of the sick, no more deliverance for a period of time, because the Son had died.

Coming back now to the sons of God, He said things ceased for “about the space of half an hour.” We have to look at this as a PROPHETIC UTTERANCE. A spiritual half an hour could be anything. We have to get the revelation. For a space of time there was no movement. None of God’s business was being done.

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” This is the time we are reading about in Revelation 8:1, a time when the sons of God will be slain.  “Silence in heaven” is talking about the death of the sons, even as it was the death of Christ Jesus. The sons will die. The sons of God will be dead for three and a half days.

The sixth seal is symbolic of the overshadowing. Now we are dealing with the seventh seal which is the church of the man child. God has always described the church as feminine, as a woman. The reason is because the church had no power in itself to give forth life. It had to receive life to give life, like a woman has to receive the life, or the seed, from her husband in order to bring forth a child. We the church were receiving life from God and bringing forth nothing.

The church has been described as a barren woman. Hannah, for instance, was a barren woman and she brought forth. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was a barren woman. God always uses the barren woman as the type of the church. This barren woman church has never brought forth anything but now she is being overshadowed by the Mercy Seat or the two angels on the Mercy Seat which is a symbol of God Himself. No man can overshadow and bring forth God. Man can only bring forth man. When a person is discipled to another human being, he cannot rise above that human being, because the master is greater than the disciple, but if we are discipled unto Christ, then we will bring forth Christ.

God has brought the female church to the point where she will bring forth a male church which is called the church of the overcomer or the man child-church. (The words “man child” will be described in other devotionals.) Let us really understand what we are writing about.

The child that this woman church will have (churches always bring forth churches) will be a life-giving being. The church will be a life-giving church. Why? Because the church will have Christ in it. Remember the picture we saw in the first chapter in Revelation with the Christ standing in the middle candlestick? This is the same picture that we are seeing through the whole Revelation, as we speak of this seventh seal. The seventh seal is the mystery of the man child.

This mystery of the man child therefore is a type of the ARK OF THE COVENANT.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 153-154 & 165-166)

Thought for today: As Hannah cried out for her barrenness and was delivered so also may we cry out to God that we may be part of the man child company.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »