Psalm 24/ Revelation 11:13
Flee To The Mountain And Seek The Lord In Disasters, Be Ready For The Coming Of Our King
Psalm 24/ Revelation 11:13
The main point I would like to share with you is: When the earth quakes and cities collapse, let us go up to the mountain and seek the Lord, and get ourselves ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The sign of disasters on earth is to tell us: Stop lowering our heads or running after things on this world. But lift up our heads to the Lord and think about things above. Get ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, our problems or illness is like a earthquakes or collapse of cities in our heart or our lives. For example, I have experienced an earthquake in my life. About two years ago, I have got a painful disease Shingles when I was in Hong Kong. God uses this illness to chasten me to come to Poland, my promised land.
V.1 tells us that the earth and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, are created by God. And they belong to God. But why does God permit earthquakes and collapse of many cities happened in this world? In the Book of Isaiah chapter 24 tells us that the earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the God’s words, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.” We see that all creations give glory to God day and night. But we human being created by God are not grateful to our Creator. We always think how to enjoy our own lives. We seldom think how we can repay God’s kindness. Or how we can give glory to God or be useful for saving others.
Therefore, many people are deceived by the devil and believe that there is no God. Therefore, many sink into terrible lusts. Some fall into homosexuality; some even sins with animals; and some have unlawful lust with family members.
There are people deceived by false teachings and cults. Many are cheated because of great miracles and signs performed by the power of Satan. Even the elect will be deceived by those false prophets and false christs. I have met people who are deceived by the evil spirits.
There are many kinds of deceptions and cults now. For example, there are false prophets tell people about false prophesy; the evil spirit has cheated many people to worship or pray to Mary as a god, in addition to our only Savior Jesus. There are also many people idolize spiritual persons. Some even worship angels, or Moses, Paul, or Peter as gods. Many even worship famous people as gods. But our Lord said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him.” (Matthew 17:5) Jesus has advised us repeatedly that we should be careful, and be always on the watch and pray, so that we may not fall into the trap of great deceiving.
God’s words, every word in the Holy Bible, is the most holy truth. We shall never add or subtract anything from it, nor mix anything with His words. If we turn a little aside from God’s words, we leave a foot hole for the evil spirit to deceive us. For example, Peter considered the things of man so that he was used by Satan to stop Jesus from going on the cross. We may end up in a wrong way, a dark way. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63) At the end time, we should seek only the Spirit of truth which leads us into all truth.
There will be the Anti-Christ. He always uses double-talk to trick people, to threaten people, and to bribe people to follow him. At the end, he will exalt himself above every god, and say things against the God of gods that people have never heard of before.
Now they are shouting without shame, “Liberation of Sex,” “Make prostitution legal,” even “It is honor to be a homosexual.” The spirit of anti-Christ makes people regard the wrong as theright in our time. At the end, the Anti-Christ even will revise the Holy Bible, and he will sit in the Holy Temple and call himself God. We must pay attention to the books of Daniel and Revelation. We must only pay attention to the prophecy in the Holy Bible.
The disasters of earthquakes and collapse of cities happen so that God’s children will stop thinking only the things of this world. It is to awaken us to do good. Let us not be deceived by this so called “colorful” world, nor by the false ways or the Anti-Christ.
Verse 2. God found the earth on the seas and the waters. When darkness is in power, we are to meditate on God’s words day and night, and put them into practice. We build our houses on the rock of Jesus, just like the wise man. Then, we truly live in Jesus Christ, the enemies can’t harm us.
Verse 3. Who may go up to the Holy Hill of God? Who may stand in His Holy place? It is because of the disasters on earth that we come to know that we have lost in sins, worldly worriness and easy life. Then, we know we must run out from this world because there is no peace in this world. We will desire the presence of God and are willing to advance in the spirit and climb to the top of the Holy Hill.
We pray that Christians who love this world just as Lot will hear this loud voice from heaven: “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back or linger, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be destroyed!”
But who can go up to the Holy Hill where God lives? The answer is in verse 4.
Verse 4. Here the Bible said: a man who has clean hands and a pure heart, does not worship any idol, and does not tell lies, not even a word of it. 1 John chapter 1, verse 5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” Even an evil thought in our minds or a bad word in our mouths will make us fall into darkness. Only the blood of Jesus on the cross can cleanse us when we humbly confess our sins to Him. Then, we must make every effort in grace to be pure in our minds and thoughts and to be honest in our words. Aim to be blameless and perfect before God. This perfection can never be done by our own strength. There is only one thing is need from us, that is to humbly sit before the feet of Jesus and listen to His words quietly. We make us of every moment to fellowship with our Lord. And desire God’s words richly saved in our hearts.
God’s word is our only measurement. Every day when I open the Bible, I regard His words as the standard for my life. When the Holy Spirit convicts me by His words, I will humbly confess that and pray for His blood to cleanse my sins or weakness. When I see that I fall short of His standard through bible reading, I will pray for that point in faith. My Lord will surely fulfill every goodness I desire. It is by faith that we receive His great redemption.
Verse 5 to 6. A person like this will receive blessing from God. His Savior, will justify him and make him righteous. Such is the generation of those who seek His face. They will know the Lord and become Christ-liked.
This is exactly what Ezekiel told us in chapter 47, verses 1 to 5. When we measure ourselves by God’s words, we see the living water starts to flow out of our lives. The more we are willing to humble before His word, the deeper the living water will flow. And our spiritual level grows higher, until we enter the deepest waters, that is the river of love. We swim in His deep love.
This is the testimony of Paul. He had been transformed by God, from the worst of sinners to a wise servant of God. He was full of the Word, full of godly love for the lost souls, and full of the Spirit of God. At the end, he became like a burning fire in spirit. He willingly laid down his life to save the lost souls, just like his Savior Lord.
Verse 7. God’s children are as the gates of the Holy City. (Rev. 21) We must preach the Gospel to every corner of the world, and lead all the people to know our Lord by faith. And when Jesus Christ comes back, we who are alive and believe in Him will meet Him in the air!
Verse 8. Who is this king of glory? Our Lord is mighty and strong in battle. Paul once said, “What a wretch man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?…When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” But how he experienced deliverance in Jesus Christ! When Paul lived according to the Holy Spirit, and believed in the wonderful grace of Lord’s salvation on the cross, Paul became more than a conqueror! It is by the precious blood of our Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can put to death the misdeeds of our body! Paul also said in Philiphians 4:13, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Therefore, Paul could overcome so many difficulties and finished the work committed to him. He was regarded as preaching heresy; he was put to jail; his life was threatened by 40 people vowed to kill him; he went through storms in the sea; and he was beaten by a poison snake. But he pressed on and preached the gospel to Rome, the gentile, even in chains. Paul truly experienced his Savior was his strength which enabled him to depart from evil and to do good. It was because Paul acknowledged this King of glory that he could testify for God in any situation. He led all the peoples from all over the world into full gospel. He also showed christians how to be holy and victorious by looking upon the Savior, and how the Church can be ready for His glorious coming.
Verses 9 to 10. However, those who do not turn to God and seek His presence in disasters will be in panic at the end. Only those who make effort to advance in the spirit to reach the top of moutain in grace, and those who know the Lord face to face through close fellowship, can witness boldly to the world that this king of glory may come in is the Almighty Lord. They will stand firmly in the truth and pray in faith earnestly in deep darkness. They will endure hardships with patience till the end. At the end they will see the Almighty Lord reverses the complete situations. God will turn tribulations into a great revival; darkness into light; sadness into joy. The gospel will be preached all over the woprld, the Church will joyfully welcome the coming of our King of glory! The book of Esther witnesses this truth: if we stand firmly in truth by faith and pray together, we will see the glory of our Lord! Amen!