Beginning of the End

 

There are many interpretations of Revelation and much disagreement. I have a commentary that looks at this last NT book through OT thinking. It helps with the symbolism. Also, someone recently pointed out that what John saw could be tanks, helicopters and other items that were not in existence at that time so he described them the best he could. 

However, God always reveals what His people need to know; therefore, I can trust Him to do that. He also says I will be blessed as I read this NT book. Today, it is chapters 7 to 12.

John saw 144,000, sealed from every tribe of Israel and then: 

A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 

One of the elders said: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” My commentary says these were the martyrs of John’s time, but the text does not confirm this, only that they worshiped Jesus Christ.

Then an angel offered incense and prayers of all those before God’s throne and this rose before God. Then seven angels with seven trumpets begin to cry out. The first four told of woes that would destroy one-third of almost everything. Another angel cried, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Revelation 8:13)

The first of these last three woes is described with detail:

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. (Revelation 9:3–6)

The next woe was the release of four angels to kill one-third of humanity, but even those who were not killed “did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood. . . . nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (Revelation 9:20–21) Such a horror!

Then, as John was about to write what he was seeing, he was told, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 

There is more. Two witnesses show up “who will prophesy for 1,260 days” then be killed by “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit” and those still alive will, “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 an earthquake and more deaths, and the third woe soon to come, without any description, except the the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying: 

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)

More severe cosmic events and a war in heaven follow as the angels fight the “dragon” and defeat him. Then Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, is thrown down with his angels. Then John hears this: 

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12:7–11)

PRAY: Oh Lord, after this, another war ensues, but its meaning and symbolism are not clear to me. What is clear is that those enemies — the world, the flesh, and the devil — are defeated and You win and all who trust You are conquerors also.

The Most Important Reality

READ Revelation 6–10

My last bout with flu was in 1996. I cannot remember my last cold. Yesterday, it felt like a cold, but since I was supposed to fly to Vancouver today, my hubby gave me a rapid test, actually two of them. Both were positive for Covid. Shocking, especially for a healthy person. I slept six hours yesterday and all night. We called the health link today and were asked dozens of questions. He said to take another rapid test tonight and if it negative, to ignore the first two results. Whatever this is, I feel weak, tired, and just want to sleep.

In two books of prayers, one reminded me of the new names God gives His people: citizens of His kingdom, saints because He marked me and claimed me as His own, and members of His family — all because of Jesus! This makes my weary heart rejoice.

The other prayer book’s entry is timely. It begins with, “Be our primary disease, and infect us with your justice.” Feeling ill tends to make me feel sorry for myself, but God says this ‘disease’ is nothing. He wants me to be utterly infected with His righteousness, not a disease but a release from the ‘sickness’ of ruling my own life. The question I hear from Him is, “Do you trust me with your life, no matter what happens to it?”

Then today’s reading. It begins with John watching Jesus open the first of seven seals and a voice bidding Him to Come. These seals that He opens are a way more frightening than Covid. The first three lead up to this one:

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7–8)

The fifth seal gets personal. It is about God’s people slain for “the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” They asked: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

They were given white robes and told to rest until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (6:9–11) I’ve heard Christians say they would like to be alive when the end comes and Jesus returns, but I’m not so sure I want to be!

At this point, John saw another angel who told the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (7:2–3) Then he tells of a “great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9–10)

These are believers who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:14–17)

This makes me feel better. Jesus wins — and with Him we share the victory. It is not so for those who refuse His offer of eternal life. The bad news is:

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (9:20–21)

Despite the way I feel, thinking of what Jesus has done in my life brings joy to my heart and that amazing peace that passes understanding. Thank You, dear Jesus for reminding me of what is the most important, for granting me repentance, and for giving me assurance of eternal life.

 

Worse than any X-rated movie . . .

I’m reluctant to keep reading. Yesterday described the horrors of a world being judged and that was only the beginning of the worst part. It starts with the seventh seal opened and seven angels with trumpets announcing severe destruction. Soon the fifth angel blew his trumpet and another one flew directly overhead and cried out, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

The fifth sound came and the bottomless pit or the abyss was opened. Out came creatures given the task of tormenting all without the seal of God on them. Those people would seek death but not find it. This was the first woe.

The sixth angel sounded his trumpet and four more angels were released to kill one third of humanity by three plagues, yet those who were left did not repent and continued to worship idols. Then another angel came with a scroll. Seven thunders sounded but John was told not to write what they said. He was told there would be no more delay and that at the seventh trumpet sound, “the mystery of God would be fulfilled.”

John was told to take and eat a little scroll and prophesy again. He was to measure the temple of God and told about two witnesses that would prophesy for a time, be powerful against anyone who wanted to harm them, but eventually be killed by “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit.” People would rejoice over that. However, in a short time the two would come to life and rise to heaven in a cloud.

After that, a great earthquake would happen killing 7000 people. This was the second woe but before the third came, those people still alive after the quake “were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” (Revelation 11:15–18)

Sometimes Revelation reads as a sequence of events and sometimes it reads as an overlap, thing happening one after the other or mixed in a jumble. I cannot begin to know what is going on but reading the above few verses causes me also to give glory to the God of heaven. Christians often say we know the end: Jesus wins! This is the beginning of the end; the victory is happening. The promise of God is being fulfilled:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

There is a song based on this promise. It says these words and adds, “Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose You now.” I have considered that a hint that those who reject Jesus before the end described in Revelation had hope but thought this was incorrect theology. Now I know that the song writer read this last book with greater care than I had. During the beginning of sorrows, multitudes are saved and martyred (Chapter 7) and here at the seventh trumpet, those who survive a great earthquake give glory to God. I see them on their knees confessing the Jesus Christ is Lord. Such is the power and grace of God whose mercy triumphs over wrath.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, this is awful yet amazing. All have sinned and fall short. All deserve to be separated from You for You are holy and we are polluted. Yet You save anyone and everyone that calls upon Your name. No one is turned away and when that horrible day comes, You are still in the business of drawing sinners to Yourself.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- deepening faith in Jesus Christ.

- delight seeing and hearing the children in our church doing a prelude and a musical skit that honored the Lord yet made us laugh.

- several edifying conversations with friends.

- good food and a warm home.

- tensor sleeve is giving my tennis elbow some relief.