Tues.’s Devo - God’s Kingdom Come

Read Rev. 20 & 21 How fitting that we would end the year with the last two chapters of Revelation. I’m sorry I had to hurry the last of this, but I want to start the new year with a new thing. I’ll explain tomorrow! Being an artist I love the imagery of Revelation. Today we see an angel come down from heaven holding a key and a chain. He seizes the Devil and chains him up and throws him in the bottomless pit where he locks him up for one thousand years. The martyrs of the tribulation were given thrones or positions of authority. They were now being released to reign with Christ a thousand years - the Millennium. Everyone else who had died still slept. This is called the first resurrection of the dead. They are saved from the second death which is eternal damnation. After this thousand years, Satan will be released for a while. Don’t you know he comes out angry. He gathers his troops from the earth to fight the saints. They surround Jerusalem, but God sends down fire and kills them. The devil is cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet were thrown to be tormented forever. Next is judgment of the dead. The book of life and the book of deeds are opened and everyone is judged. Death, hell, and all who went the way of death are thrown into the fire. This is the second death. God’s new earth and new heaven comes down from heaven in majesty and splendor. This is where God’s people will live - pain-free, and full of joy. Next, John was taken to see the Bride which was the whole city of Jerusalem - God’s new kingdom. It is perfect. Every detail describes God’s holiness and his love for his creation. It is always illuminated and always open. No evil will penetrate its borders. Halleluiah! Lord, how glorious and great is your plan!

Mon.’s Devo - The Feast

Read Rev. 18 and 19 Chapter 18 is the account of the system of evil and marketing failing. When this happens there will be no reason to work or do anything. One moment it will be “business as usual”, and the next moment, total chaos. I was not alive when the stock market crashed in the thirties but I’ve see pictures of men jumping out of windows and people in total despair. That was just a drop in the bucket to what this final collapse will be. This will be God’s judgment on the whore. Chapter 19 is heaven’s perspective about that terrible day. In heaven, there is rejoicing and gladness. God has judged and his judgments are true and righteous. All heaven is praising God. It is now time for the marriage supper to take place. The Bride had made herself ready. She had earned the right to dress in white linen because of her righteousness. The heavens open and Jesus, called Faithful and True, appeared on a white horse. He is coming to judge and make war. There is a fire in his eyes, and many crowns on his head. Another name is written on him that is a secret. His robe has been dipped in blood and he is named The Word of God. Heavenly armies dressed in white linen follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth which we know is God’s Word. On his robe and his thigh is written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Another angel gathers all the fowls to the supper of the great God. The food is the flesh of all the men and horses that fought against his kingdom. The beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. All of the people who followed them are killed by the sword of Jesus because the Word contemns them. The birds eat their flesh. This was be the fate of many people and kings in the Old Testament. Lord, who knew that the marriage supper would be the flesh of the wicked? I trust your judgments and your ways for they are so much higher than mine.

Fri.’s Devo - The Whore

Read Rev. 17:1-18 Who is the great whore? We can look at verse five and get a good clue. She is mystery Babylon. Since Babylon stands for all the evil Satan can muster, then this mystery Babylon is a spiritual city that is the counterpart of the New Jerusalem that will come out of heaven. Both are a spiritual city. Babylon is Satan’s capital and he runs the world from it. All the money, all the systems of business are run by him and stem from him. Banks, the stock market, business, buying and selling is his department. Every wrong act done in the church has had money and power at its roots. The whole world has bought into it. The church has bought in to it. Verse nine tells us that the seven heads are seven mountains. There are seven mountains around Rome and seven mountains around Jerusalem. The devil always counterfeits the real. Mountains spiritually mean leaders or systems like business, entertainment and sports, science and medicine, education, religion, politics and the family. Satan desires that they all depend on the beast of finances and power to generate them. When all this falls and our money system fails, then the true monetary system of God will stand. Believers who put their trust in God will rise up and not be afraid. God will supernaturally provide for them and take care of them. When the market falls the only two mountains left standing will be religion and family. The devil’s system is the eighth. The ten horns are the men who are the leaders during that time. Satan will hand pick them and they will hate the saints and God. They will hate all religion that worships anyone but them. Lord, how easy it is to fall into the devil’s system of money and power. Help us to keep our hearts and our garments clean and walk in your provision and your will, and not in the world’s. Bless your people who depend on you to do business for them and haven’t fallen to the devil’s mark.

Thur.’s Devo - The Sixth and Seventh Vial

Read Rev. 16:12-21 The sixth angel poured out his vial on the Euphrates River. The Euphrates River flows through Iraq and Syria today. When the angel poured out his vial it made the Euphrates River dry up so that there would be a road for the enemies of the East to travel on. This was what God did to the Red Sea so that the Israelites could exit the slavery of Egypt. This time it will be to make a way for the Eastern countries to enter to fight in the last battle - Armageddon. During that time a spirit of witchcraft will be released like frogs. Theses spirits will be so manipulative that they will be able to convince the kings of the earth to gather in the Valley of Mediggo. This is when Jesus will come like a thief, as is prophesied in Luke 17:39 and 1 Thess. 5:2. This is time when they need to be watching and keeping their garments clean. The seventh angel came with a vial full of woe. When he poured his vial, God spoke from heaven saying, It is done. The earth heard voices and thundering. They saw lightings and felt the earth quake greater than it had ever experienced before. The earthquake divided Jerusalem into three parts and other great cities were affected. God remembered his anger towards Babylon and poured out his wrath on all evil. Every island was demolished and the mountains were leveled. Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah who would exalt every valley and make every mountain and hill low. He would level and make everything even so that Jehovah could be revealed. (Is. 40) Lord, what an awesome sight. May you be revealed through us today.

Wed.’s Devo -

Read Rev. 16:1-11 Judgment! Merry Christmas! What a topic to be talking about on such a wonderful celebration. I am tempted not to continue today, but I am on this race to finish Revelation by the first of the year. I have an idea of something different I feel like we are suppose to do next year and we need to start on January 1st, so I am going to continue on with Revelation today. I pray you are having a wonderful day full of loving family, lots of laughs and lots of great food. In today’s reading, we are talking about THE Judgment on the earth. Jesus has reaped all of his fruit from the earth and it is time to end the earth as we know it. All of God’s wrath is being poured out on the earth and it is coming in the form of plagues like God sent on Egypt during the time of Moses. The first plague attacks their bodies. Sores which are evil in character will appear. I can’t even imagine what this could be - maybe some sort of VD. The second plague fell upon the sea. It killed everything in the sea, which made the sea bloody. The next plague is upon their source of water. The rivers will be turned to blood. The angels seemed very pleased that God would choose to make them drink blood, since they were responsible for shedding so much innocent blood. The forth plague was upon the sun. It became hot enough to scorch men with fire. Instead of repenting, they just cursed God more. Interesting fact: the sun was created on the forth day and was used in the forth plague. The fifth plague fell on the government - “the seat of the beast”. Verse 10 says that “his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain.” I don’t know if this was a physical darkness or just a description of the evil and deception of this government. When this government falls, it’s deception might be exposed and it might cause anguish which will cause them to bite their tongues. Whatever it means, it doesn’t sound pleasant. God is judging the kingdom of Satan and his followers. Lord, Ps. 19:9,10 says that your judgments are true and righteous altogether and that they are to be desired above gold and silver, so even though they sound so awful to us, we praise you because your judgments declare your holiness.

Tues.’s Devo - The Great Harvest

Read Rev. 14:12-15:8 All throughout scripture, we see where the people are told not to reap their whole land, but to leave some for the poor. (Lev. 22:23) Remember Ruth? This is the first time the whole earth gets completely reaped - even the corners - the four corners of the earth. Verse 13 is a great promise. It blesses these who die in the Lord, who die a Christian. They enter into rest and will be rewarded for everything they did for Jesus. In verse 14, Jesus is the angel who reaps the harvest. He is the one who planted the seed and watered it with his prayers and watched over it till it grew. The next angel is the angel of fire. He is waiting for Jesus to reap his fruit, because he is coming with fire to extinguish what is left. - the wood, hay and stubble. While this was happening, John sees a sea of glass that has flames of fire, where the overcomes are standing, singing their song of victory. This song is the song of Moses - the song of deliverance, and, it is the song of the Lamb - the song of salvation and victory. As they sing, the curtain to the Holy of Holies is opened. Out of the temple comes the seven angels with the seven vials of God’s wrath. The whole temple is filled with the smoke of God’s glory. The seven plagues are about to be poured out on the ones left on the earth. Note that there are no believers left on earth at this time. Lord, what a day this will be! All glory to Your Name!!!

Mon.’s Devo - The Last Messengers

Read Rev. 14:1-11 This is the taking up of the faithful 144,000 that came to the Lord during the Great Tribulation. Are these the same 144,000 in chapter 7? I don’t know. I think the number is more than a numerical number. It stands for government completed - so it is the sum total of those who made God their king. They didn’t defile themselves with the world so God found them virgins to sin, true followers. As these people are taken up from the earth, an angel is released to preach salvation to those who are left on the earth. We have learned that these messengers come in the form of men on the earth. So, there must be a person that has been close to being a believer on earth that becomes a believer when these 144,000 leave. This person is filled with the gospel and has the opportunity of preaching to everyone still left on earth. His message is one of repentance because judgment is quickly coming. Another messenger rises up prophesying the fall of Babylon. Babylon stands for the whole worldly system of money, religion and politics. Satan is its leader. A third messenger is raised up to warn the people against buying into the government’s promises of help and protection. The person who puts their trust in the Babylonian kingdom will be judged by God. Their judgment will be an everlasting judgment of fire and brimstone. As I read this I realize that we are living in a type of this right now. We have a government that is Babylonian by nature and is always promising help, welfare, hope, and protection. You don’t have to be very discerning to see that it has failed miserably in all these areas. Our only hope is to put our trust in God. He is our king. He is our Protector, our Provider, our Hope. He is the only one who can come to our aid. Lord, we are so grateful and honored to call you our King.