Collected or prepared by Pastor Wilfred Chung

August 23 - August 29, 2009

August 23, 2009 - The Song Before The Plagues

Meditation on Revelation 15

The seven plagues that will come upon the earth will be the last manifestation of God's wrath. Before the pouring out of these bowls of wrath by the angels, there was singing in heaven accompanied by the harps of God. The choir will be those who would have overcome the beast and his image and the numbers of his name while on earth.

The name of the song will be called the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. How beautiful it will be to hear the song from the Old Testament harmonizing with the song of New Testament! God's plan of salvation is to be praised.

After the song, the tabernacle of testimony in heaven will be opened. The seven angels wearing righteous robes and holy attires who have the seven plagues will come out of the temple. One of the four living creatures who sing holy, holy, holy, from the presence of God will give them seven bowls full of the wrath of God. So we see that God's holiness demands His wrath against sinful rebellion and blasphemy. His glory and power must be expressed against sin and unrepentant sinners until the seven plagues will be finished. (v. 8)

We should sing more about the holiness of God in our worship.

August 24, 2009 - The Seven Bowls

Meditation on Revelation 16

The seven bowls poured by the seven angels will be a sequence of final plagues upon the earth. They will be God's righteous judgment on the worshipers of the beast and his image. Man's physical bodies will suffer pain from malignant sore. Sea and water, the vital resources of the earth will all become blood. The sun will emit torching heat and then become total eclipse. Under such sever judgments, people still would not repent their sins but blaspheme God instead. Under demonic influences, all the military powers of the world will gather together at Armageddon to fight over Palestine. Even those military armies from the East will come by land because the Euphrates River will be dried up.

God's voice will say "It is done." when the seventh bowls poured out upon the air. There will be the greatest earthquake the world has ever experienced. All the land masses will be affected. The Bible specially points out that great city of Jerusalem will be split into three parts. (v. 19, cf Revelation 11:8)  The city of Babylon will also fall which will be described in detail at later chapters.

God's counsel for all is that He is coming quickly and unexpectedly like a thief. Those who have put on the garment of salvation provided by Jesus Christ will not be ashamed. (v. 15)

Blessed are those who are alert for His coming for they will not be punished.

August 25, 2009 - The Fall Of The Religious Babylon

Meditation on Revelation 17

The great harlot who sits on many water, (has control over multitude of peoples, nations and tongues, v. 15) is identified as "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth." (v. 5 NASB) Many evangelical scholars and writers consider this woman a representation of the religious system of the world which is man-centered from the time of Babel in Genesis 11. Tim Lahaye, the popular author of the series, "Left Behind" quotes some scholars in his book, "Revelation Unveiled" that a Babylonian cult was invented by the wife of Nimrod (Genesis 10:8) at that time. (p. 267-268) They worshipped idols. That is why it is called abomination. Then throughout history, the Babylonian cult was passed on to the Roman Empire. And indeed later it influenced the creation of the worship of Mary invented by some people in the church. This mysterious concept of Babylonian religion does emphasize unity of all religions. Such idea will prevail at the time of Great tribulation. This world religion will apparently control the whole world then.

Concerning the beast which the woman will ride on, it is the same beast mentioned in chapter 13. That means that the Satanic dictator who would control the whole world will work closely with the world religion (the religious Babylon) for awhile. They will oppose the Lamb of God and His saints. Later the beast will dispose the world religion and control everything himself. (v. 16)

There are different interpretations about the heads and horns and kingdoms mentioned and their time of existence. May I encourage you to borrow some evangelical commentaries from your church library for fascinating investigation.

Two lessons we should learn from this chapter. First, God does not like false religion which compromises the message of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Second, Christianity should never be mixed with political power in her operation until Christ returns.

August 26, 2009 - The Destruction Of Babylon

Meditation on Revelation 18

Yesterday we discussed the one world religion represented by the symbol of Babylon in the Scriptures. During the time of Great Tribulation, the Bible prophesied that it will be destroyed. In this chapter, it is predicted that the city of Babylon itself will be destroyed in a brief moment most likely during the seventh bowl of plague.

Some commentators would make this city of Babylon a sign of some great center of commerce in the world. But from the fall of Saddam Hussein and the current Iraq government's announced intention to rebuild Babylon as a tourist attraction, it could well be that the city will become a World Trade Center along the Euphrates River with the same attraction like the ancient Babylon built by King Nebuchadnezzar. Great wealth and luxury will be displayed there.

However this city will be a center of immorality and violence also. According to John, many saints will be killed there. (v. 24) This city will be full of drunkenness and drug while great deals of business would be conducted by the heads of many nations there.

How can Christians avoid the influence of the worldly system symbolized by Babylon? Verse four and five say, "...Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes." (NIV)

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 counsels us, "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

August 27, 2009 - The Re-Entry Of Christ

Meditation on Revelation 19

The first time Jesus came in the form of a baby through the Virgin Mary. He was the Word who became flesh. He came to be the Lamb of God who died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. After three days he was resurrected and later ascended into heaven. Now in Revelation 19:11-16, He came back to earth from heaven as the Glorious King of kings and Lord Almighty to rule over the whole world. Both Matthew 24:27-31 and Zechariah 14:3-5 described this tremendous event.

Preceding His second coming to earth, the Apostle John revealed something happened in heaven. There would be thundering Hallelujah choruses by all the people and other living creatures in heaven. (v. 1-6) Then there would be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Jesus, the bridegroom and the church, the bride would have a wonderful time of feasting together. Christians of various degree of service will be rewarded by Christ.

Then we would all come back to the earth together with Christ as Jude 14-15 also indicated. The Lord and His angels would destroy all the enemies of Christ and the beast at the battle of Armageddon. (v. 17-21)  Most likely this scene were also recorded in Revelation 16:12-16, Ezekiel 39:17-22, Joel 3:1-2, 9-17, and Zechariah 12:1-9.

As the Scriptures have indicated, Christ's justice will avail all over the world. Those who worship Him now will be rewarded.

August 28, 2009 - The Reign With Christ

Meditation on Revelation 20

God's word tells us that Satan will be bound for a thousand years after the re-entry of the glorious Christ. And the saints who had been faithful to Jesus and God's word will be resurrected to reign with Christ during that Millennium. This Millennium kingdom has been a subject of great controversy by the Bible scholars through out church history. Some believe that it is literally a thousand years reign of Christ on earth. Some think that it is allegorical. Some consider it as happening right now. Others insist that this will only happen in the future.

I do think that it should be a literally one thousand years reign of Christ on earth. There are several important reasons. First, in this passage, the words, "thousand years" has been mentioned six times. God is very specific about it. Second, The first century writers and disciples believes the thousand years reign of Christ literally such as Papias (a disciple of John), Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian.... Third, there are many descriptions of this reign in the Old Testament, for example, Isaiah 65:17-25, Zechariah 14, and Ezekiel 40-48. Read them and you will enjoy the descriptions of the kingdom life.

So in this chapter, we find bounding of Satan (v. 1-3), then the first resurrection to the Millennium kingdom (v. 4-6), afterward the final revolt of Satan and his destruction, and finally the great White throne judgment of all the dead who did not believe. (v. 11-15)

Jesus will exercise His full judgment upon all. And He will reign forever and ever. Are your name written in the book of life today? (v. 12, 15) Turn your life completely over to Jesus. Confess your sins and ask His robe of salvation cover you now. (Isaiah 61:10, Galatians 3:27) Then you will also reign with Him when He returns to judge the world and set up His kingdom.

August 29, 2009 - The New Heaven And New Earth

Meditation on Revelation 21

This is such a beautiful chapter to meditate upon. It tickles our imagination for the new heaven and new earth that God has prepared for the believers through out the ages. The old earth that is polluted will pass away. God Himself will dwell among men. And there will be no more death, mourning, crying, and pain. God will rule and make all things new without decay. The citizens in this new earth will be those who have thirsted for eternal life desperately. They are those who have overcome the sinful world by faith. But the ones who do not take the courage to commit their lives to Christ and repent of their sins will be cast into the lake of fire. That is the second death. (v. 1-8)

Then John was carried to a great and high mountain to see the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. This will be the dwelling place of the bride of Christ, the church. It seems that the New Jerusalem will be hanging there in the sky. I think that it would be like a satellite circling around the new earth at that time. It will have the glory of God and it will be brilliant. John described it to be in the shape of a perfect cube which has great and high walls with three gates on each side. He gave us the specific dimension like ours. It is about 1,500 miles in length, width, and height. Since this will be in the outer space with an entirely different atmosphere created by God, we can assume that many billions of people will be able to live in there with great rooms to move up and down, back and forth for each person. Just the wall itself is seventy two yard thick. Its material is jasper. And the city is pure gold. The foundation stones of the city wall are adorned with twelve kinds of precious stones with various shining colors. Each of the twelve gates is made of a single pearl! There needs no light for this city of God. For the Lamb is the light. There will never be darkness anymore. (v. 9-26)

Once again, John emphasized that no unclean and untrue things can enter into this city but only those whose name are written in the Lamb's book of life. (v. 27)