Micah: From The Days Of Eternity
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Micah 5:1-5a There are many prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the coming of Jesus Christ in His first advent, beginning with a very early reference in Genesis 3:15. One of the wonderful predictions of the coming of Christ is found in Micah 5. Micah lived and wrote 700 years before Christ, during a time of rampant wickedness . . . idolatry (Mic 1:7), greed (2:2), thievery (2:2), injustice (3:2,3), falsehood (5:5), bloodshed (3:10). Micah sounds two great messages in this book . . . the consuming judgment of God, on one hand (1:3,4), and the...
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Revelation: Take and Eat
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 10:1-11 The context of this chapter is the interlude between the sounding of the sixth trumpet … in chapter 9 … and the sounding of the seventh trumpet … in the middle of chapter 11. As there was an interlude between the breaking and opening of the sixth and the seventh seals … Revelation 7 … so there is an interlude between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets. These interludes have a literary function, at least, for the readers of this book … as they contemplate what has taken place … and anticipate what is coming in the unfolding...
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Revelation: They Still Did Not Repent
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 9:13-21 This passage contains another description of the horrors brought to humanity during the coming time of tribulation. The sounding of the sixth trumpet will bring the death of a third of the earth's population (Rev 9:18). Like the fifth trumpet, this judgment will be effected by a demonic host that will be released on the earth. The description of these beings, riding frightful horses points to the power they will possess and the lethal effect they will produce … heads like lions and tails like serpents. Whereas the judgment of the...
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Ezekiel: The Father of Lies
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 28:11-19 Origin and fall of Satan Ezekiel 28:11-19 Names and titles of Satan Satan ('adversary') - Job 1,2; 1 Chr 21:1 Devil ('slanderer') - Mt 4:5; 1 Pet 5:8 Beelzebul ('lord of flies') - Mt 12:27; Lk 11:15 Belial ('worthless') - 2 Cor 6:15 Serpent - Gen 3:1; Rev 12:9 Evil One - Jn 17:15; 1 Jn 5:18 Accuser of the brothers - Rev 12:10 Prince of the power of the air - Eph 2:2 god of this world - 2 Cor 4:4 Tempter - Mt 4:3; 1 Thes 3:5 Liar, Father of lies - Jn 8:44 Angel of light - 2 Cor 11:14 Purpose of Satan - to oppose God and His purposes...
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Revelation: The Locusts From Hell
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 9:1-12 The seventh seal on the great heavenly scroll introduces the seven trumpets of judgment. The seventh trumpet introduces the seven bowls of final judgment. The first four trumpets bring calamity on earthly elements … land, sea, rivers, and light. The fifth and sixth trumpets … the first two of three ominous 'woes' … unleash demonic powers of destruction. Reminiscent of the prophet Joel, John describes demonic activity in terms of a plague of locusts (Rev 9:1-3). The grotesque imagery points to the diabolical power and...
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Revelation: Silence in Heaven
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 8:1-13 The opening of the seventh seal on the heavenly scroll, leads to seven trumpets of increasing divine judgment on the people of the earth … which, in turn, lead to seven bowls of further divine fury of God's holy justice against earth's wicked rebels. With the opening of the seventh seal, Revelation 8:1 says, "there was silence in heaven for about half an hour." After all the loud sounds of praise and songs by the inhabitants of heaven (cf. Rev 4:7; 5:2,9-12; 6:10), this long silence seems to be the silence of awe and anticipation of the coming...
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Revelation: Sealed By God
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 7:1-8 In Revelation 7, we have an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals. The chapter has in mind two groups of Christians … 144,000 servants of God who are given His seal, and a "great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages." A literal and future interpretation of the 144,000 servants sees this as Jewish Christians, who are raised up, and protected from the earthly calamities, in order to proclaim the gospel during the great tribulation. They are chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel...
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Revelation: From Every Tribe and Tongue
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 7:9-17 Since 1996, one Sunday in November has been designated the "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." Exact statistics are hard to determine, but continuing into the 21st century, worldwide, even on the low end of estimates, tens of thousands of Christians are killed every year for the Christian faith … in places like Pakistan, Sudan, North Korea, China, Indonesia, and Iran. Revelation 7 reveals yet another scene in heaven where there is a great assembly of people "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing...
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Revelation: The Wrath of the Lamb
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 6:9-17 In this passage, the fifth and sixth seal of the great scroll are opened, and the unleased suffering on the earth continues. The fifth seal reveals that, during this time there will be an extensive martyrdom of Christians. In this heavenly scene these martyrs are praying for God's justice to be brought, in full, on His enemies. The sixth seal releases both cosmic and natural disasters. The inhabitants of the earth, great and small, begin to realize that the horrendous troubles, relentlessly being experienced by everyone, are actually...
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Revelation: Six Seals of Earthly Horror
Bethel Baptist Church
Scripture Reading: Revelation 6:1-8 The focus in the book of Revelation changes sharply from chapter 5 to chapter 6. Chapters 4 and 5 pictured the throne of God in heaven, but in chapter 6 the scene shifts to the earth. There is a stark contrast between the glories of God's presence and the darkness of His wrath, beginning now to be described in chapter 6. Most of the remaining chapters in Revelation have in view what will take place on the earth during the wondrous and horrible time of tribulation that will befall the earth near the end of history, as we know it. The troubles...
info_outlineScripture Reading: Revelation 8:1-13
The opening of the seventh seal on the heavenly scroll, leads to seven trumpets of increasing divine judgment on the people of the earth … which, in turn, lead to seven bowls of further divine fury of God's holy justice against earth's wicked rebels.
With the opening of the seventh seal, Revelation 8:1 says, "there was silence in heaven for about half an hour." After all the loud sounds of praise and songs by the inhabitants of heaven (cf. Rev 4:7; 5:2,9-12; 6:10), this long silence seems to be the silence of awe and anticipation of the coming judgments.
The ardent, repeated prayers of the saints are mentioned for the second time in Revelation. Earlier there were prayers for God's justice to be meted out (cf. Rev 4:9-11). The answer to that plaintive cry is the outpouring of God's justice on the wicked.
In considering the fury and suffering with which God will one day bring His judgments … and even in considering the suffering of so many people now … it is instructive to why God brings (or even permits) so much human suffering and death.
We do not have to guess as to at least some of the reasons God does as He does. The death of the wicked is the means of bringing them into God's court of justice, from which there is no appeal. The death of the righteous is the means of bringing them into their eternal home, to enjoy eternal life in God's presence. The death of anyone is a warning to the living to turn to Christ before it is too late.