eggsandbacon

More political power than anyone in history. All nations under his authority. He killed believers and called himself god. He was worshiped, feared, idolised. Anybody who would not choose to follow Jesus would choose to follow him. Strange days indeed. But his name is not in the book of life. The embodiment of everything that is against God.

The assurance Christ gives us is his blood. We are one family and God is our Father, Jesus our brother and nothing is going to happen to us unless they allow it to happen. To be effective in our own life and as a witness for others we need to live like this world is already dead and gone, if we do not then it has a hold on us and so does the god of this world. Everything can be a sacrifice even our very life.

The battle never stops. The more we live for our Lord the more we are attacked. But this life is temporary and all we have to do is follow our Lord Jesus. The next life is permanent victory.

The two witnesses are resolute, unafraid and obedient to do the will of God in an uncompromising fashion. So confident are they and so great is their faith in the Lord they serve, that circumstance does not deter them in there mission to spread the good news. They are killed and resurrected to be with God. These are excelent characteristics to have with us in these times. Tha option is ours to use them and the Glory goes to God for those of us that do.

What is bitter for me is the fact that so many people not willing to repent and believe will die in vain. By that I mean a good percentage of the earths population will be decimated only to be followed by the jugement from which they will be sent to hell, which is the second death and that is eternal separation from God, the source of all good. Plus all the people who choose to believe in those days will face severe persecution and millions will be put to death. Just the thought that all this has to happen and because of sin in the heart of mankind. The sweet is that God has finally intervened in the most complete and final way his plan comes to fruition and we will be with our Lord and our God forever. We reject sometimes because it means change. Even to change to way we think. Sometimes because we do not want to accept truth, pain, horror. Sometimes because we do not want to have anything interfere with our pride, or our ordered lives.Lets not forget sefishness.

The origin of the 'great multitude' are global. They are from every level of society, every language, dialect, culture , sub-culture, religion, you name it. The 144 000 are able to take the good news anywere and everywere. This great multitude of people young and old made a great sacrifice. They decided to trust the good news and take Jesus as their personal savior and it cost them thier life. They worship God the Father and God The son for saving them from hell and giving them life. The song 'Amazing Grace', in the first verse, '....how sweet the sound...' This helps me imagine the awesome noise it must be to hear millions and millions of saints, with all the angels sing praises of glory and thankfulness to God and to The Son.

After reading Eze:9, I realize that the sealed 144 000 are protected. When God sends, to the earth, his wrath these chosen and sealed will not be effected. They will also show the unbelievers of that time that God is real because of thier testimony. They are Jews. Jews that believe that Jesus is the messiah and they believe it on mass. They preach it to the people in an untouched condition from the outpouring of Gods wrath.

I get the picture that it willbe very dangerous to be a believer in those days. The souls are in the protection of God, under is alter. This is the closest place to be. Christ is there. They wrwe killed for talking about Jesus as savior, Gods standards of living and anything else that offends non believers. They are asking for vengence because the only one that can do it is God. there is no justice for the believer but from Christ. We should ask it of God and not from the systems run on earth. I believe that the christian has a place for vengence and that is for God only because only He can do it without causing more hurt. God is perfect so his justice is perfect. His vengence is His alone. The white robe repersents a sinless state, pure, perfect in the eyes of God. When God says wait a little longer I get the message it will not be long, could be any day. Also it is not up to those that deserve justice it is up to God.

Jesus Christ does it. It is just because he is just . Plus he will put an end to injustice for the rest of time.

It tells us that there us no difference. Jesus is God and God is Jesus. Only God the Father and God the Son can forgive sin. When we worship one we worship the other. They are one and yet they are two. There love for each other goes beyond my understanding. Nothing gets in the way of their relationship.

He gave up his life for us. The plan of God hinged on the fact that Joshua could pull it off. He did. He stopped him self from living and offered his own blood To God the Father for a sacrifice. He being sinless, God in the flesh, Could be the only one worthy. And being born in the flesh to produce a sacrifice.

The insights I see are a door to heaven - Christ. The Spirit taking me there. The throne of God that we can approach because of Christ. The elders of the church. The power of God symbolised as Thunder. The attitude of humility when in the presence of God. The event of prayer. All glory to God for creation. The central element of Christ, the only one, the able one, the lamb. Omnipotence. The King of the whole earth. Rev.5:13 ' Then I heard all beings in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea offer praise. Togesther all of them were saying."Praise, honor, glory, and strength forever and ever to the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb!". One could go on forever getting deeper and deeper. It blows my mind to know the power of Jesus.

Sorry I'm late on this chapter guys. No, I can not make a link.I'm no good at this. But one that comes to mind is, Give us clean hands.

The church of the first century sound like the church of today. To me anyway. We are pretty much ordinary people, like they were. This makes all of scripture relevent for everyone these days as it did two millenium ago. We need the standards set by Christ. We can not rest, put the bible down, and get back to it months later. We have to live ,eat and breath the stuff. Praise God, with out his grace it could not be done.

A little more zeal is needed on the whole. If we were told that we only had a couple more months to live I am sure things would change. I know I would. We get in our routines and try and make it to the end of the week. The church should be a balance between reaching the lost sheep and feeding the flock. In individual christian needs To live for Christ and not him or her self. More love (action) for the lost. More sacrifice from self.

There can only be room for one spiritual teaching as one will contradict the other. I believe there is a spiritual reality in all the choises we make, big and small. A hard lesson I just learned was loosing my carreer. Praise God. Its just a job now. God is first. It was and still is difficult, but now I am free of that false god. My attitude is to keep putting Jesus first. Anything in a christians life can become an idol if you put it before God. I can only say these things because I want to live a spirit led christianity as opposed to a performance based.

God created us. He created us sexual beings. He knows how beautiful this is because he made us. He has strict guidlines for sex because he knows if used outside of these guidelines it becomes a destructive force, a useful weapon for the enemy of God. The message the world offers is to feel what is good for you, to discover pleasure, to feel good. That works for a little while but it is another sad counterfeit of the truth. When we ask Jesus into our lives, he must be free to take over, to replace our will with His will, even when it comes to sex. According to the world, biblical views on sex are not to be trusted because the bible is old and made up by men of the times back then. It is hard to speak out against worldly sexual standards but I believe people expect it of christians and if we don't say anything they will know in their hearts we are not true to God.

We get comfortable. We want to hear 'easy on the ear' preaching. We greet only the people we feel will not be too hard to greet. We get in our little routine. Sit in the same place and complain about the little stuff. We look good on the outside and pay little attention to how we look on the inside. I know . I have been there. To remember that the poeple we worship with every time we get together are brothers and sisters for eternity. That we have been saved from hell. To put sin in check in our private lives and to realise that we are the chosen few in our public lives. To remember that just makes you want to praise God. If I sound like I'm blasting the church ( myself included) please forgive me because I am.

Since the book was written christians for two thousand years read it and realise that Christ in active among his church. The presence of his spirit is at every meeting of two or three who are gathered feeding the needs of the followers, working with us, correcting us. In a sense ruling us.

The language to describe Christ in these verses is regal. His attire reminds me of nobilaty. He is perfect power. He now lives in his kingdom and speaks with all authority as apposed to a humble teacher knowing his is going to his death. This helps us know that Jesus is our friend and he loves us, but he is also our Lord. To have a Lord means a life of servitude. You do your Lords will not your own. He will protect you with his power.

At least 42 countries around the world are intolerant of christianity some more extreme than others. I have no experience to understand that. I have lived in two countries so far and both of them ( England, Canada) have a strong constitution based on freedoms. But I believe it is coming to us. What is written in the book of revelation reminds those who go through torment because of their faith in Jesus that the next life is waiting for them. Our Lord, our example, is there waiting for them to come home. Not to give a second thought that this life and the stuff in it is worth more than the next. I depend on God more when I am in pain.

Separate persons and yet the same person. I can not understand that. However I will believe it because it is what scripture teaches. Jn 14:20, 17:11 Jesus teaches his diciples this truth. Also, God is omnipotent. An all powerful being can do anything at all, any time. God created everything exept Jesus (Jn 1:1,2). God created time. I understand time as linear, yesterday ,today and tomorow. God sees time like it is all happening at once, spread out before him. Jesus has the same characteristics as The Father. God is the only one who can forgive sin. Jesus forgave sins when he healed people. Jesus is God.

Christ is our Lord. He has gone before us. He fulfilled the old testament, performed miracles, he loved people. His teachings of sin and hell, kingdom life, God our Father.He did not sin but forgave it in others. He became the First person in history to defeat death and live forever. All this and more to show us who he is and what he can do for us. So when I am being mocked or ridiculed for believing, I remember why I believe and who it is I believe in. I can not imagine what believers go through when being tortured sometimes to death for their faith in Jesus. I can only imagine how important a reliable witness and testimony would be. Being liked, respected, accepted is important to me, I admit. So when I speak of Jesus Christ as Lord and when I promote the bible as true to unbelievers I open my self up to all their negative thoughts on the subject. As you can imagine, I do not like that. However I remind my self That I do need their ' empty priase ' in the first place. Secondly, before I can speak, people around me see my actions and if I live a worldly life then my talking will have no real impact.