The deepest joy

Numbers 32; Psalm 77; Isaiah 24; 1 John 2

The author of a novel I finished this week showed insight into human nature. She wrote about the way some people in the theater had been working with fiction so long that they had problems with reality. This was both vanity and self-preservation because they were not able to cope with the actual events in their lives.

As in the story, this is true in real life too. We are prone to believe what makes us feel good about ourselves, even if it is a lie. Like Pollyanna, we focus on the best and the most pleasing and try to forget what is unpleasant or difficult.

These thoughts came to mind while reading the prophetic announcement of Isaiah 24. Isaiah usually speaks of events that were fulfilled by the time Christ came, but this chapter is about God’s judgment on the entire earth — it hasn’t happened yet. Some people think this pandemic is the beginning of it. Many thought the same thing with the world wars and plagues like the Spanish flu. However, the Corona virus is less devastating to life than the media makes it when compared to some of those past events and certainly when compared to what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation.

Isaiah’s description says this judgment will be no respecter of persons as the Lord will “empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants . . . . The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word.”

He goes on with more detail, even to describe how some of His people will survive this and sing for joy as they give glory to the Lord. At the same time, those who reject Him will be in terror as the “windows of heaven are opened” and the “foundations of the earth tremble.”

The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. On that day, the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders. (Isaiah 24:19–23)

Right now, most of us are at home but living and waiting for everything to go back to normal but will it? In that time that Isaiah describes, all will change and for everyone.

After reading this prophetic chapter, God takes me to that which I need to give attention. It is how I should think and live no matter what is going on in the world.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1–2)

This is the good news. Because of His saving grace, I will be with those who will sing for joy when the Lord comes to judge the world. Because of His saving grace, no one needs to suffer like those Isaiah describes. God has provided a way.

John goes on to say:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

He echoes Isaiah; the world is passing away, but faith in God (which is His will for all of us) changes our destiny. John reminds me to abide in that marvelous truth and in Christ . . .

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. (1 John 2:28)

APPLY: Again, the Lord says to keep trusting Him. He is holy and merciful to those who are willing to admit their need of grace and mercy. He is faithful to redeem and protect all who trust and abide in Him. Instead of fear during these days and for the future, this is cause for joy, deep joy. 

The beginning of the end?

In the revelation of Jesus Christ to John, he is taken up to heaven, sees God holding a scroll with seven seals and saying only the Lamb that was slain is worthy to open the seals.

From this point, the church is not mentioned. Because of this, and because of the story of Noah rescued from wrath, and because of a few New Testament verses that say that God will raise the dead in Christ and catch up those who are alive to be with Him, I believe that Christians will not experience the events described in the next section of this vision. We may go through intense persecution toward the end, but not experience God’s wrath. Jesus did that for us.

Of these seven seals, the first six are described and the seventh later. It is as if the first six are a preliminary and the seventh opens up a greater judgment. Anyway, these six are described:

Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

Some think this is Jesus, but a better view is that of a world ruler who establishes his rule without arrows. Some passages call him the Antichrist. There will be a time of peace but then destruction. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:3)

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

The peace of the first seal does not last long. The end of the age has begun.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

This third seal depicts famine, a common situation after war. In this description it is severe; a day’s wages for small portions of grain. Many will suffer hunger.

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.

The fourth seal depicts something even worse than the seals before it — death will destroy one fourth of the world’s population with more war, famine and disease. This will mean billions will die in a time of great tribulation. If the church is gone, there will be no help from God’s people and no spirit of restraint in the slaughter.

The fifth seal describes the fate of those who are saved by faith during this time. They will be persecuted and killed, then “each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:1–17)

This seal shows judgment on sin and the depth of sin being judged. The world falls apart and those who remain try to hide. They’d rather be crushed to death by rock than face the wrath of God.

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Lord Jesus, I know You as my Savior, see You as Lord of all, understand You as the Lamb of God, but this vision shows a side that I cannot imagine, the Lamb filled with wrath. Yet in a small way, I get it because of the way I respond to some of the terrible things that are already happening in this world: parents torturing and killing their children, people subjecting helpless people to slavery of all kinds, random killings, governments abusing their people, heartlessness and selfishness that harms everyone. Do these things signal the beginning of the end? Or is it a wake-up call to Your people to get with it and tell the world about Your way of escape? May I be faithful to whatever You give me to say and do.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- so much to think about from these verses.

- meeting and praying with a woman from another country who has a great passion for God.

- having enough energy to make cinnamon buns and seafood chowder.

- my hubby promised me a foot message during the hockey game on television.

- the friend whose funeral is Saturday was a child of God and is now with Jesus.

A wider burden

While I pray much for family and friends, God keeps laying on my heart to pray for many more. He has led me to print prayer request calendars from the Internet for Christian organizations that are ministering to children and to those being persecuted around the world. As He enlarges my perspective, I’m more deeply aware and affected by world news. Those hurricanes and the way they have affected millions is on my prayer list. So is Las Vegas. So are the many countries suffering from disastrous weather, wars, and various traumatic events.

When I think of Christians who are dying for their faith, I’ve mixed emotions. On one hand, their pain becomes my pain, but on the other hand, could it me that this is God’s way of taking them home! They are with Jesus; how can I grieve? They are forever safe and forever joyful; it is those left behind who need the comfort and grace of God.

I’ve known Christians who lost loved ones. For the most part, the sadness was admitted as “I feel sorry for me.” The followers of Jesus Christ know that the ones they miss so much are in a far better place. They are certain of this because of the promises of God. He says:

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

Faith is a sort of ‘knowing’ that cannot be shaken. It is a gift from God, a certainty that drives away all uncertainty about what happens when I die, what happens when others who love Jesus go from this world. It is an unshakable knowledge that they are with Jesus.

For that reason, the gospel becomes our most important comfort. It is a message for everyone; God makes no distinction:

“. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:22–25)

Even though sin must be punished (and all of us are sinners), God put the penalty for sin on Jesus Christ. This removed the threat of judgment . . .

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16–18)

The gospel also removes the fear of death, making it a portal to everlasting life, a life that believers already have because this life is in Christ and Christ is in us.

Because of this, I know that anyone who believes but is slain randomly or because of their faith, is safe with Jesus. This is a great comfort for the great pain felt because of the mess that our world is in and because of the suffering of so many people. I pray for their situation, for God’s grace to take care of their needs. Most of all, I pray that He will open their hearts to the good news — that they will know eternal life is as close as two words — “Yes, Jesus.”

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Lord, my heart hurts when I write this, and as I pray for so many suffering people. Yet You know far more about their situations than I do. I believe that the grief You feel is projected into Your followers because so many are involved in caring for the needs around them. My role right now seems to be prayer, but I will not put the word “only” alongside it because prayer is far from the least I can do. I know that because You gave me the burdens of my heart, You are also listening and granting the answers to those pleas.