I have a few pet peeves. One of them is people who complain and feel sorry for themselves all the time. I took a test once, and found out that mercy was not my spiritual gift! Another is dust. You know how you can work really hard to eliminate the dust in your house, and a couple hours later, it's just back! The worst though, is words that are grossly, brutally mispronounced, like mis-chee-vee-ous instead of mischievous, borned again instead of born again, pacific instead of specific, and calvary instead of cavalry. This last one has caused me to think, though. It's kind of a clever word-play for God's grace.
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). Here comes an interesting application for those last inverted words. Remember the old western movies in which the settlers would be surrounded and under attack, and at the last minute, just in the nick of time, the cavalry would come over the hill, sitting high on their horses, swords drawn and gleaming in the sun, and save those settlers from a fate worse than death--remember? Well it's the same thing that Jesus did at calvary! We were lost, unarmed, surrounded by sin and under attack of the devil. Then "at just the right time," Christ came for us. He ascended the Hill of Calvary, and defeated the enemy of our souls. Christ came to our rescue better than John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. And it won't be the last time!
19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
19:12 His eyes [were] as a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
19:13And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
19:14 And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
19:15And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
19:16And he hath on [his] vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all [men, both] free and bond, both small and great.
19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.
20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.