Jesus Fellowship: Lord help us understand this book. 12/18/15

Day 351

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Rev.9

Revelation 9

9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

December 18th

"But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." Revelation 21:22

When this verse reveals that God Himself is the temple, it does not mean that God is the temple by Himself. Rather, it means that God is so thoroughly and completely embodied in His people that they have become an enlargement of Him as a temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16). They are His dwelling place to such an extent that they perfectly express Him and have His glory (Rev. 21:9- 11). God's building at the end of the Bible is composed of God Himself built into every saint transformed and conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29).
When you look at the holy city depicted in Revelation 21 and 22, you are impressed with the fact that the whole city is God! God is the temple! The Lamb is the lamp! He is the light that illumines the entire city! The river of the water of life is flowing to every part of the city, supplying it with God Himself (Rev. 22:1- 2, 17). What we behold in the holy city is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This triune God is the inner content and reality of His finished work, His dwelling place for eternity! The city has the glory of God! It is not existing for itself or making a name for itself, like Babylon (Rev. 17:1- 5). It is just God Himself enlarged in the Body of His Son (Col. 1:18- 19), supplying everything directly as the Spirit Rev. 22:1), flowing as a river for all to freely drink Rev. 22:17)! What oneness and solidarity between God, the Lamb, and the city!
The holy city is not only the consummation of all God's work throughout the ages, but it is also the present goal toward which we should pursue (Heb. 13:14). Thus, the proper church life today should be a miniature of the holy city. The church should simply express Christ, having God's glory shining through it (2 Cor. 4:6- 7). When people touch the church, they should be able to touch Christ in all the members. What people should be impressed with is simply Christ living and flowing from all the saints. May it be so with us

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)

Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Georgie, Linnette, Wes, and Zoe.