conquer – Praying Pint

50.s. Wilderness – 14.y. ““Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings”

Deu 10:17-22  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Joshua 22:22     “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows;

1 Chronicles 16:25-26    For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Psalms 136:2   Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Daniel 2:47     The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries

Revelation 17:14    They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

Revelation 19:16     On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Nehemiah 1:5    And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Psalms 99:3    Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

2 Chronicles 19:7    Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”

When God requires us to show justice, compassion, and reverence, it is because these virtues answer to aspects in God’s own character. The obedience God calls us to is always set in the context of what He did for us. Our service and obedience unto the LORD is based on what He has done for us and is to be the grateful response to His goodness. If there is a lack in obedience and reverence, there is almost always a lack of appreciation for what the LORD has done. Any wisdom, beauty, or skill we show is not to our praise. (Guzik)

We are here taught our duty to God in our principles and our practices. We must fear the Lord our God. We must love him, and delight in communion with him. We must walk in the ways in which he has appointed us to walk. We must serve him with all our heart and soul. What we do in his service we must do cheerfully, and with good will. We must keep his commandments. There is true honour and pleasure in obedience. We must give honour to God; and to him we must cleave, as one we love and delight in, trust in, and from whom we have great expectations. We are here taught our duty to our neighbour. God’s common gifts to mankind oblige us to honour all men. And those who have themselves been in distress, and have found mercy with God, should be ready to show kindness to those who are in the like distress. We are here taught our duty to ourselves. Circumcise your hearts. Cast away all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you from fearing and loving God. (Henry)

8.d. This calls for a mind with wisdom:

Revelation 17:6 When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Oh my, this is a bit of a mystery, isn’t it? Five of the seven Kings have fallen, one is, and another is to come. The beast appears to have been destroyed by the Antichrist, and the are ten kings yet to come into the perfect plans of God. They come into their power for a short time and they come to make war against Jesus. A war they cannot win but they have the delusion of being able too. In these short verses, we see the beginning and the end of the tribulation period through the lens of seeing the doom of those who lead both the political and religious activities throughout the world. We know the power of Jesus Christ and wonder how they could ever think such thoughts. However, we don’t have to go back very far into our lives to understand we too were like this lost and without hope until the grace, mercy, and love of God pierced our hearts. We were called and chosen as all mankind is. I find it hard to explain why one heart and mind are open to receive the grace of God and others are not. We do well to remember to live in a manner that honors, glorifies, follows, obeys, and trusts Jesus Christ. Our Christian walk is not a walk to be taken lightly for we are a child of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Find time each day to set aside time to grow in His Word, pray, and actively be a light in the world pointing to Jesus Christ.

7.p. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

Revelation 13:1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Think of all of the ruthless, charismatic, cruel, and cultic rulers there have been over the course of history. Some of these are recent and some more distant. One thing is for sure they despise God and think of themselves as “god-like”. The antichrist will rise to power through Satan and he will be worshiped by the masses. He will persecute those Christians who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ during the tribulation period. He will kill many but he will also take great pleasure in tormenting them physically, financially, and mentally. He will do supernatural things so that multitudes of people we flock to Him. He will have a way of convincing people to follow Him and allow how he is treating Christians.

This will not be a time you would want to live through and most definitely would not want this to be what opens your heart to the message of Jesus Christ. Now is the time to repent and come to Him. Now is the time of salvation. Now is the time to live for Him. Seek and desire Him more than the things that are keeping yours for giving Him your whole heart, mind, and soul.

7.j. The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

Revelation 11:7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

Acts 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,

The testimony of the two witnesses will seem to stop as the lawless one from the bottomless pit will overpower them and kill them. It would seem they have lost and were defeated. But we read this is not the case but only part of God’s plan. After three and one-half days, they are given life, seen by those who saw them dead, called to heaven, and this being witnessed by their enemies. And if this wasn’t enough to gain the attention of these lawless people a great earthquake seals the event with 7,000 people dying. This “Woe” is now past and a third is on its way. Testimony to God’s anger, wrath, judgment, and a calling to repent and come to surrender to salvation/redemption through Jesus Christ has taken a twist. With the removal of these two witnesses, they will experience more of God’s wrath and anger which will be ever increasing in severity. We can look at this and say why are these people being convinced by all that they have seen and heard. Jesus spoke of this when the rich man who died and was in torment asked if the beggar who died and was in paradise would be allowed to go speak to the rich man’s brothers so that they would not end up in Hell. They were told ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” How sad is it that people deny the need for forgiveness, redemption, salvation and live as though all the truth being told to them is rubbish. Now is the time for repentance, now is the time for salvation, now is the time to turn away from self-centered, self-seeking, self-satisfying lives and humbly turn to Jesus Christ, growing in knowledge and understanding of what it means to honor, glorify, follow, trust, rely on, and obey Him. He alone is worthy and worthy to be praised. Look deep into your heart and see what is there. Invite Jesus Christ to come in and forevermore live for Him.