Genesis 41:9-13 NLT

When David and I decided to move back to Michigan, we figured we would take a year to make the move. God had other plans. Four months after we made the decision, our move was complete and we arrived together at our new home. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.

"During the times we think God isn’t doing anything, He is doing the work most important to Him: developing our character and transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. " David Guzik

Genesis 41:9-13 NLT

9 Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh.  10 “Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard.  11 One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning.  12 There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant.  13 And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole.” 

Blessings, Cecilia

Revelation 16 The first plague!

The First Six Bowls of Wrath

1Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.”

2So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

The book of Exodus is prominent in the bowls of judgement, sores, water into blood, sun and drought, frogs, hailstones.

The first plague, “malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image”.

If you Google or Bing malignant sores, the pictures aren’t pretty. 

Malignant: (of a disease) very virulent or infectious.

synonyms: virulent · [more]

(of a tumor) tending to invade normal tissue or to recur after removal; cancerous.

These sores alone will plague those with the mark of the beast, it’s a benefit of receiving the mark, a curse from God, un-healable! 

The second benefit (curse) is coming!

Blessings, David 

Revelation 15-Judgement is coming!

Preparation for Judgment

5After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of testimony—was opened in heaven. 6And out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in clean and bright linen and girded with golden sashes around their chests.

7Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. 

We are reminded by the scriptures that the temple Moses was instructed to build was a duplicate of the temple in heaven. When God entered the temple on earth it was “filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power”.

The angels dressed in clean and bright linen signifies Gods judgement is true. They make ready to pour our the wrath of God, by His orders.

“no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.”

The judgement is irreversible, irrevocable. It is final!

How do we prepare for judgement? 

I read a story about a elderly woman who was ambushed at her home by CNN. The reporter accused her of being a pawn for the Russians for supporting President Trump. CNN posted the video with her address visible. She is receiving death threats stating she should be hanged for treason.

Why do I bring this up?

Has politics blinded you to forget Jesus’ commandments? 

Matthew 22:37-39 “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38“This is the great and foremost commandment. 39“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 

Satan loves to blind people to the truth. Did the CNN reporter or the people making the threats follow this command?  ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 

Are they committing murder? If it’s in their heart, yes!

They are blinded judgement is coming!

Are you preparing for judgement?

Blessings, David 

Revelation 15-For You alone are holy!

The Song of Moses and the Lamb

1Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God will be completed.

2And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God, 3and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and wonderful are Your works,

Lord God Almighty!

Just and true are Your ways,

O King of the nations!

4Who will not fear You, O Lord,

and glorify Your name?

For You alone are holy.

All nations will come and worship before You,

for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Revelation isn’t in chronological order, it’s an arrangement in which John goes back over prophecies in greater detail.

The sea of glass is a physical representation of the Word of God.

“beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name”. 

The martyrs conquered the beast even though they were murdered by the antichrist. Their victory was eternal life which the beast cannot take away.

They were singing the ultimate worship to our Lord. Our worship on earth is only a prelude, a practice session to the ultimate worship we will do in heaven.

“For You alone are holy.”

“Lord God Almighty!”

Blessings, David 

What Are You Waiting For? Genesis 41:1-8 NLT

In this instant gratification world we want it all now. Our internet is too slow, the microwave should heat things quicker and will that red light at the intersection ever change!?!  It can be hard to slow down, to pause quietly and wait for life to happen. But what we do with that time of waiting is just as important as what we are waiting for. 

Joseph waited two more years in prison. What was he doing during this time? Was he growing bitter at God for leaving him there? Was he plotting to get back at the cup bearer for forgetting him? Maybe plotting against Potipher's wife for her lie that landed him in jail in the first place. Why stop there? Why not go all the way back to his brothers cruel dealings, selling him as a slave to foreigners traveling through the land. If it hadn't been for them, none of this would have ever happened! 

But that wasn't what he was doing, that wasn't Joseph's way. God had a plan and Joseph patiently waited for God to reveal it. God could have reminded the cup bearer any time of Joseph's deeds but it wasn't time yet. Potipher's wife couldn't stop God's plan, Joseph's brother's weren't in control. 

I suspect during that next two years in prison, God was continuing to prepare Joseph's heart to serve Him. I suspect Joseph was continuing to mature in his faith in God. At the right time, the cup bearer remembered  Joseph. 

Genesis 41:1-8 NLT 

Pharaoh’s Dreams 

1 Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River.  2 In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass.  3 Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank.  4 Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up. 

5 But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk.  6 Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind.  7 And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream. 

8 The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant. 

Blessings, Cecilia

Revelation 14-The wine press of Gods wrath is coming!

17Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”

19So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses, for a distance of one thousand six hundred stadia.

It’s harvest time! In chapter 13 it looked like Satan was going to win but now God says enough. Man has reached his fullness in sinful nature, just as the analogy of ripe grapes!

“Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”

“pictures grapes fully grown in the prime almost bursting with juice . . . The spurting of the grape juice from under the bare feet of those treading the grapes in the winepress is compared to the spurting of blood and speaks of the awful human carnage.” (Walvoord)

“the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses, for a distance of one thousand six hundred stadia.”

1600 stadia equals 200 miles!

But how high is a horses bridle?

Answer: 4-6 feet! 

The blood was 4-6 feet high and 200 miles long!

The wine press of Gods wrath is coming!

Blessings, David 

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Genesis 40:9-23 NLT

We've probably all been there, sitting in church on Sunday morning and it seems someone has been talking about you to the pastor. He knows of your recent shortcomings. They had to, he's speaking directly to you! He's even making eye contact! The sermon makes you squirm in your seat and you can't wait for the service to end. 

Being a Christian doesn't mean everything will always go great. It doesn't mean you won't have problems. Life still happens, the good, the bad and the ugly. The Bible isn't a book of feel good stories. It's a book of lessons and sometimes those lessons are hard to take. If you believe the Bible is the word of God, you have to believe it all, not just the happy endings. 

Genesis 40:9-23 NLT 

9 So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first. “In my dream,” he said, “I saw a grapevine in front of me.  10 The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes.  11 I was holding Pharaoh’s wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” 

12 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph said. “The three branches represent three days.  13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. 14 And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place.  15 For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.” 

16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given the first dream such a positive interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream, too. In my dream there were three baskets of white pastries stacked on my head.  17The top basket contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head.” 

18 “This is what the dream means,” Joseph told him. “The three baskets also represent three days.  19 Three days from now Pharaoh will lift you up and impale your body on a pole. Then birds will come and peck away at your flesh.” 

20 Pharaoh’s birthday came three days later, and he prepared a banquet for all his officials and staff. He summoned his chief cup-bearer and chief baker to join the other officials.  21 He then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pharaoh his cup.  22 But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted his dream.  23 Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought. 

Blessings, Cecilia