An Abundance of Grace

Like God, man is a triune being. In creating him, the LORD took the lowest part of creation, the dust of the earth, and combined it with the highest possible ‘ingredient’, the breath of His Spirit. Together, they made a ‘living being’ or literally a living soul. So, man’s being is triune in that he has a spirit, a soul, and a body. Man was not designed to die; that’s one reason we are frustrated b...

And it is all the more amazing when we consider the greatness of it all – a typical galaxy contains billions of individual stars. Our own, the Milky Way, contains some 200 billion stars. It’s shaped like a giant spiral, rotating in space, with arms reaching out as on a pinwheel. It is so large that one full rotation of that wheel would take about 250 million years. Unimpressed? How about this – th...

In full view of all creation, God desires to show Himself to be just but at the same time He must remain true to His character of mercy, kindness and love. Enter Jesus Christ...

You know that word, “Blessed” that Jesus used in this passage means “fortunate” or “prosperous”. Note also that the state of the “Blessed” is in the present BUT all the blessings point forward to an eternal future state as well. That is, they are guaranteed and perpetual. So let’s consider those who are so blessed. First, what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? This is not material poverty. To b...

What more can He say to cause us to ‘get it’ – that we must be ready. There will be no alarm or early warning system in place. You won’t have five minutes to ‘make things right’. You won’t be able to repent and get saved before ‘the blink of an eye’ is done. Humble your stubborn heart now even if it means going against the grain; even if it means humiliation, persecution or death. Life is the gift...

There is just one last item on the Lord’s agenda for man’s reconciliation. The church age has demonstrated the benefits of grace. The righteous have been resurrected or raptured. The Tribulation is over. All evil has been purged from the cosmos having first been confined to planet Babylon then cast into the eternal torment of perdition. The old heaven and earth have vanished. And now…

Words and deeds are all most of these people have to be judged by – they either rejected or were ignorant of grace. Notice I said most. It’s quite interesting that the Book of Life is brought out as well as the books of men’s words and deeds. It is evident from this and the following passage that some of these people are in the Book of Life. Though I can’t be adamant, I think it is possible that t...

In pouring out His wrath contained in the seven bowls mixed with the seven last plagues, God was unapproachable. No one could enter the holy place of the temple in heaven. In this chapter, there are two amazing and long-awaited events that take place. It is a time of celebration and then conflagration.

How glorious, how wonderful, that she is cast so far away from all the created cosmos, both seen and unseen, as to never be found again. I’ve been inclined to picture her and all the demonic horde within her as diminishing in size forever and ever into infinite smallness and complete darkness.

In the midst of the tribulation, the AC will set up his throne in Jerusalem and while in the temple declare himself to be god – the ‘unquestionable’ ruler of Israel. As such, he himself will be the eighth kingdom, and he will use his position to both corrupt the carnally minded of Israel and attempt to annihilate God’s faithful remnant.

He has reached out to man for so long that it is difficult to see Him dealing with the planet as He does in this chapter. But God is also just. At this point, each of the messages given by way of the judgments are no longer spoken to those who may be saved somehow. The messages are simple and are given as a witness to the entire cosmos, to all of creation. God is Who He is. All who could be saved...

His glory and power are ever a part of Who He is, yet at this point, they make Him unapproachable . I submit that it is because He is here unleashing them to accomplish His pure purpose. The expression of this power and glory are beyond even heaven’s ability to bear. This fully distinguishes these plagues from any and all that have ever gone before. This tells us that there is no room for repentan...

Hell is a real place and its torments are not only terrible but eternal. For the people who have gotten saved during this horrendous time, life will be hellish, and they will be continually presented with the temptation to give in to the lie. The good news is that their time of suffering is limited. It will end soon for God is about to bring them home.

The Greek word for breath is pneuma which indeed usually means breath (and sometimes spirit) but would be better translated here as “animation”. In Rev 9:20 it says that the deluded people of the world will continue to worship demons and idols that cannot see or hear or walk – it specifically omits speak because this idol can do that. But this will be no voluntary religion.

The seventh trumpet has just sounded and in response the elders representing all the redeemed worship God and proclaim that His reign over the kingdoms of man has begun. The very first thing we see after this is the ark of the covenant in the heavenly temple. This can tell us that the most important aspect of the Lord’s reign over man is what is symbolized by the ark – man’s gracious redemption in...

Satan first polluted the paradise of God. He then, in the days of Noah, polluted the earth including man’s own gene pool. After the flood, he polluted man’s religion (which we’ll get to in chapter 17). After God gave it to the Hebrews, Satan polluted the promised land, and he will thence pollute the holy city.

The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of G...

This boggles the mind, doesn’t it? Nevertheless, it reveals the nature of evil. The demons knew who Christ was when He came to save us and yet they only sought to expose Him, retreat from His presence or to incite the people to kill Him. In like manner, rebellious mankind is, at this point, unable to repent. They cannot think rationally or see clearly. The disease of sin has fully engulfed them.

Now, back to our first verse. “…silence in heaven…” can, and I believe should have been, translated as “…silence by heaven…”. In other words, while the antichrist is blaspheming God and saying unheard of things against Him, he will seemingly get away with it. Heaven will be silent for a period of time – a specific period of time – about half an hour . This word for hour is translated as such the m...

It is important to understand that when the church leaves this planet, God is still committed to providing a witness to the world of His truth. As long as there are those who He knows can be saved, He extends His hand to them, so to speak, in truth, grace and mercy. In fact, this is a principle you can follow throughout history from Adam to Abel to Seth to Enoch to Noah to Shem to Abraham to Isaac...

So, as these four horsemen go forth, they represent the antitheses of the living creatures or the opposite of Christ. The Hebrew people and the unbelieving world, having rejected Christ’s payment for sin -- which we saw in the previous chapter made Him worthy to open these seals -- have only one recourse and that is to ‘pay’ for their sins themselves; and it won’t be pretty. When I say pay for the...

. Of course, John wept bitterly, for when he learned that no one was found worthy to take and open the scroll, it meant that this inheritance would forever become the property of Satan – eternally unredeemable.

To all of us as believers, Jesus says, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. To which John the apostle adds, You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.

John frequently referred to himself in his gospel as the one Jesus loved. It was never an ego issue; it was a thankful humble perception. How about you? Do you really know that Jesus loves you? John said so before the cross; we say so because of the cross. It is this awareness that gives the believer the strength in spirit to persevere in faith. Even when the whole world and seemingly a large part...

This is a church that has lost its faith in this Jesus and has replaced it with what feels good emotionally (which is anything but firm), any type of ‘Christ’ that they perceive as being in vogue or contemporary with their needs, and perhaps in harmony with the fantasies of false science to explain our origin.