於2018-03-19發佈


站立在磐石上─啟示錄 

我們現在來看啟示錄十六章17-21節:

第七位天使把碗倒在空中,就有大聲音從殿中的寶座上出來,說:成了!

又有閃電、聲音、雷轟、大地震,自從地上有人以來,沒有這樣大、這樣厲害的地震。

那大城裂為三段,列國的城也都倒塌了;神也想起巴比倫大城來,要把那盛自己烈怒的酒杯遞給他。

各海島都逃避了,眾山也不見了。

又有大雹子從天落在人身上,每一個約重一他連得(一他連得約有九十斤)。為這雹子的災極大,人就褻瀆神。 

這是神透過這些天使傾倒的第七個也是最後一個忿怒的碗,而且最具破壞性。我們從未見過這樣大的地震或這種尺寸的冰雹;然而,倘若我們拿這些忿怒的碗所呈現的災難,似乎我們正快速接近所有這些預言。

先注視這些事物自然界的應驗並沒錯,但也有其屬靈上的含意。雷聲可以代表釋放出來的先知性信息,閃電通常指著啟示,特別是暴露隱藏在黑暗事物的啟示。海島有時在先知性象徵中代表文化或社會;海也可以代表人,正如我們在以賽亞書十七章12節等地方所看到的。 

唉!多民鬨嚷,好像海浪匉訇;列邦奔騰,好像猛水滔滔。 

地震有時代表革命;在九零年代初期有一場革命的等級是世界從未見過的,那時共產主義的軛被掙脫、鐵幕垮台。似乎在屬靈上應驗了這段話,但我首先尋找自然界所發生的現象,似乎我們還沒有如上述經文所描述這樣大的地震。 

我們可以預期這些事在自然界都會發生,但我們絕對不要錯過屬靈上所反射的含意。這些都在預言將會有大規模的破壞、瓦解與大幅度文明的改變。我們無法讓聖經預言不應驗,但我們可以為其預備。我們所擁有的是不能震動的國,倘若我們照所指示的將我們的生命建造在神的國上,無論世界發生什麼事,我們都不會被震動。倘若我們站立在如此堅固的磐石上,我們只會幫助他人。 

希伯來書十二章有如何為此預備的指示,我們在這裡會讀到最後幾節經文: 

你們原不是來到那能摸的山;此山有火焰、密雲、黑暗、暴風、

角聲與說話的聲音。那些聽見這聲音的,都求不要再向他們說話;

因為他們當不起所命他們的話,說:靠近這山的,即便是走獸,也要用石頭打死。

所見的極其可怕,甚至摩西說:我甚是恐懼戰兢。

你們乃是來到錫安山,永生神的城邑,就是天上的耶路撒冷。那裡有千萬的天使,

有名錄在天上諸長子之會所共聚的總會,有審判眾人的神和被成全之義人的靈魂,

並新約的中保耶穌,以及所灑的血;這血所說的比亞伯的血所說的更美。

你們總要謹慎,不可棄絕那向你們說話的。因為,那些棄絕在地上警戒他們的尚且不能逃罪,何況我們違背那從天上警戒我們的呢?

當時祂的聲音震動了地,但如今祂應許說:再一次我不單要震動地,還要震動天。

這再一次的話,是指明被震動的,就是受造之物都要挪去,使那不被震動的常存。

所以我們既得了不能震動的國,就當感恩,照神所喜悅的,用虔誠、敬畏的心事奉神。

因為我們的神乃是烈火(希伯來書 12:18-29) 

倘若我們行在對神純淨與聖潔的敬畏中,我們將不需要懼怕任何東西,祂甚至應許要保護忠心的人脫離祂的忿怒。

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week10, 2018)

喬納 2018
喬納 2017
喬納 2016

 
Standing on Solid Ground—The Book of Revelation
Week 10, 2018
Rick Joyner

     We will now cover Revelation 16:17-21:

     “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"

     There were noises and thundering and lightning, and a great earthquake, such a powerful earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

     Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

     Then every island fled, and the mountains were not found.

     And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great (NKJV).

     This is the seventh and last of the wrath of God poured out by these angels, and it is the most devastating. We have not yet seen an earthquake of this magnitude, or hail of this size. However, if we take what is represented by these bowls of the wrath, it seems that we are fast approaching all that is foretold.

     It is right to look at the physical fulfillment of these things first, but there are also spiritual implications. Thunder can represent prophetic messages that go forth, and lightning often speaks of revelation, especially revelation that exposes things hidden in darkness. Islands sometimes represent cultures or societies in prophetic symbolism and the sea can also mean humanity, as we see in places such as Isaiah 17:12.

     Earthquakes sometimes represent revolutions. In the early 1990s, there was a revolution on the scale that the world had not seen when the communist yoke was thrown off and the iron curtain collapsed. That might seem to be the spiritual fulfillment of this, but I look for the natural to happen first, and it also does not seem that we have had a natural earthquake yet of the magnitude described.

     We can expect these things to happen physically, but we must not miss what they reflect in the spirit. These are all foretelling massive destruction, disruption, and civilization-wide changes. We cannot prevent these biblical prophecies from being fulfilled, but there are things we can do to prepare for them. We have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. If we build our lives on the kingdom as instructed, we will not be shaken regardless of what happens in the world. We will only be able to help others if we are standing on such solid ground.

     There are instructions for how to prepare for this in Hebrews 12, of which we will look at the last few verses here:

   For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,

   and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

   (For they could not endure what was commanded: "And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stonedor shot with an arrow.” 

   And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.")

   But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,

   to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

   to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

    See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,

    whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven."

      Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

   Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

   For our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:18-29 NKJV).

     If we walk in the pure and holy fear of God, then we will not need to fear anything else, even His wrath that He promises to protect His faithful from.