Month: October 2016

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 10:1-9; 11:1-15 (day one)

“And he swore . . .that there shall be delay no longer.”–10:6

Ever seen a football team try to win a game in the last few seconds?  The clock ticks away as they march down the field.  A field goal or a touchdown needed to claim victory?

Often, time runs out before they can achieve their goal.  The team still has plays left to run, energy and ideas but the last seconds have ticked away.  “Game over” says the referee.

Revelation 10 is a similar picture related to a much more important endeavor.  After multiple moments of God’s patience, after many delays as He waits for men to repent, the angel suddenly announces “there will be no more delay”.

Literally it reads, “there will be no more time (chronos).”  No more seconds on the clock.  No more opportunities to get it right.  The judgement comes swiftly now.  Game over.  The world has run out of time.

 

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?

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day six)

The trumpets are a kindness, and so were the seals. Every seal, every trumpet blast is a call to repentance. We read death and destruction, but each day that God delays the “Day of the Lord” is a kindness, not just to the unbelieving but also the church. It is no coincidence that Revelation begins with letters to seven churches; the trumpets are as much for them as they are for those who remain in their sin. They serve as a reminder, a wakeup call, that all of creation is careening towards a final and eternal judgment; that the Father, through Jesus, will finish his work of salvation.

So you see, the trumpets are a kindness to us. Revelation was not intended for our varied speculations, but for action. Do you hear them?

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day five)

Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Most often, we think the context is a present desire for God’s will and direction to be clear and then accomplished in us and through us. Looking at Revelation 8, scripture reminds us that this prayer has implications for the future and the end times. God is answering this prayer (His will being done and Kingdom coming), and they serve to usher in the end of the world.

Rev. 8- “that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God…” No prayer is ever unheard, ignored, forgotten, or set aside. All the prayers of all the saints counted, remembered, and rightfully placed before the throne of God.

How does this reality shape your prayers today??!!

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day four)

These chapters could sour you on the trumpet section of an orchestra.  Seven trumpets…when each blows its blast, bad things happen.  Things are destroyed…people and animals die…pain and torment prevail.  Is this the same God that Scripture describes as ‘Love’?

God is Love!  Never is His love demonstrated any more than through His justice and judgment.  The world has tried to paint a picture of a god of their own design.  They create a god of their selective choosing that preserves their desire for control of their own lives.  This is called idolatry.

Do we, likewise, fashion a god of our own design?  Do we live our lives as we choose rather than how God describes His followers?  Holiness, purity, consecration, Godly character…are those expectations of our lives or are they ancient pictures no longer valid in our modern world?  One of God’s characteristics is that He is Unchanging.  Guard against discounting Scripture to fit your own idolatrous preferences.  His choices have not changed!

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day three)

“The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands.”  God has designed this universe in such a way that our freedom to indulge in evil results in deadly consequences—sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but always by the end of history.  In other words, the wrath of God is reality.  That wrath is not the result of God’s getting worked up into a lather by unruly men.  Wrath isn’t an eventual state of mind that God arrives at after he’s tried to entertain us into good behavior.  No, wrath is a constant quality of his character.  Men who turn their minds against God will discover that God is already against them.  There is no secret escape passage from sin.  Do you know someone who needs to know this?

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day two) “The rest of mankind…did not repent of the works of their hands.” 9:20

Have you ever heard of someone narrowly avoiding death or some terrible disaster who gratefully exclaims that they will live their lives “better” from that day forward only to fall back into patterns and habits that had previously defined them. They were stirred by something catastrophic, but they never let it penetrate their hearts that they truly needed to change.

Most of us don’t live in peril everyday, and we become numb to our eternal condition. These people in Revelation completely skipped the ‘grateful to be alive’ part and simply refused to repent. We aren’t that different if we are continuing to surrender to sin rather than Christ. The fact is that death, plague, destruction, or famine did not sway the minds of those in John’s revelation. We cannot change ourselves, we must submit to that same Lamb that John saw opening the seals.

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 8 and 9 (day one)

“And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half of an hour.”–8:1.

In previous visions, the vast expanse of Heaven is FILLED with sound.  Thunder.  Voices.  Commands.  Singing.  Shouts of worship.

Suddenly, without warning, as the Lamb breaks the seventh seal on the scroll, Heaven falls silent!  Profoundly silent.  “Could have heard a pin drop”.

There is nothing left to say.   That’s what the silence means.  Jesus quotes Abraham, “if they will not believe Moses and the prophets, they will not believe even if a man should rise from the dead.”–Luke 16:31.  True.  Sadly.   The silence of God reminds men that we have been adequately warned!  “What more can He say than to you he hath said?” says the familiar hymn.

The silence also symbolizes patience.  Restraint. The seal is broken. The inevitable end is near.  Again, Heaven pauses. Still willing for men to be saved.

Re:Verse reading–Revelation 7 (day seven)

Know what a “Running W” is?  It’s the brand of the King Ranch–the largest ranch in Texas.  Since the 1800’s, it’s been the symbol burned on the hide of cattle to mark them as belonging to and therefore protected by the King family.

In Revelation 7, as judgement begins, God pauses.  A great angel stands and restrains the violent destructive winds.  He commands that the  bond-servants of God be marked or sealed or “branded”.  Ouch!  (And Hurray!)

Like the vision in Ezekiel 9.  Like the homes marked with blood on the first Passover, God keeps careful count of the people who belong to Him.  Even in a time of judgement, He watches over them.  Marks them, sets them apart for different treatment.

“God’s solid foundation stands, SEALED with this inscription, ‘The Lord knows those who are His’ and ‘Let everyone who confesses the Name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.’ “–2 Timothy 2:19