Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day seven)
“And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions.”–9:3
Been to Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico? Remember the story of its modern discovery? In 1898, Jim White was a seventeen year old cowboy. Looking for stray cattle. Saw instead a cloud rising from the desert hills. But it wasn’t a cloud, it was bats! Swirling upward, spreading out for a night of doing what bats do.
In Revelation 9, John sees something similar. A cloud of smoke rising up out of the Abyss. From the smoke, a swarm of locusts.
Normally, locusts eat vegetation and leave people unharmed. Not these. They symbolize God’s wrath on the race of men who have resisted and rebelled past the threshold of His patience.
Is wrath real? Are people and nations moving toward an encounter with an angry God? John says yes. Jesus says yes. What do we say?
