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Rev. 6
What happens when the Lamb opens the six seals? What does this tell you about God? Can’t say I understand much of the prophetic symbolism used here. So I will just try to work through what I see. With the first four seals, I see a lot of conquest, war, famine, and death from every sort of thing. Is this God’s judgment? Or is this simply the consequences of sin on earth? I don’t know. Either way, though, things aren’t pleasant on planet earth.
The fifth seal reveals the martyrs along with the information that more are to come. Without overthinking it, I see a few simple facts here. The first is that the inhabitants of unpleasant planet earth are not friendly to those who testify to God’s truth. Christians have been persecuted, just as God’s prophets were, since their existence was established. The second fact, it seems, is that this persecution will continue until the time for God’s final judgment. Finally, I see a call for patient perseverance until that judgment comes.
That brings us to the sixth seal. With this seal, heaven and earth fall apart. Everyone from the highest king to the lowest slave seems to know that the wrath of God has arrived at the threshold and they are rightly afraid.
I am starting to see, as I mentioned yesterday, that this aptly named book is not just a prediction of future events. It is, rather, the endcap to the story of the Bible. It is the final revealing of Jesus Christ as God’s Promised Messiah, tying all the pieces of what has been together with what is and what is yet to come. Jesus was from the beginning. It was He, who was without sin, who unleashed the consequences of sin on a fallen world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden. And He is the word of God, who suffered and died for those who would suffer and die for Him. When the end comes, it will be His wrath that will burn up the weeds and the chaff so He can reap the harvest of His faithful ones and bring them to full and complete restoration.
Ezra 5-6
Compare this story and the concluding verse (6:22) with Proverbs 21:1. Back in Ezra 4, those who were noted as being the enemies of Judah and Benjamin bribed the officials of the land to frustrate the Jews’ efforts in rebuilding the temple. The letter to King Darius in Ezra 5 is no doubt a result of those bribes. It seems these enemies were hoping to use the power of the throne against their Jewish neighbors. Things did not turn out in their favor.
I see hints of Esther’s story in all of this. The efforts of those who sought to torment and destroy God’s people were not just thwarted. They were turned back on their own heads. The troublemakers in Judah were not simply told to leave the Jews alone. They were also told to support the work with finances and provisions, with rather severe consequences if they did not do so with diligence.
God does indeed channel the hearts of kings to serve His purpose. God has a plan, and there is nothing in the spiritual or physical realm that can prevent Him from working out that plan to the last detail. As King Darius’ decree prophetically suggested, any who lift a hand to try, God will overthrow.
Ps. 86
What does the psalmist ask for? What does he say about God? “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.” (Ps. 86:5). God’s wrath looms large in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament and in Revelation. His power is awesome; His might all-consuming. For anyone who even mildly takes God’s capabilities to heart, He is more than fearsome. When I read this verse this morning, though, a thought jumped into my head. For as fearsome, terrible, and awe-inspiring as God’s wrath is, His love is more. His love overcomes and overshadows all His wrath. That is mind blowing to me!
I don’t know why, but it seems to be so much easier for the human mind to gauge “bad” than it is to gauge “good”. We read about God’s wrath and our eyes grow BIG. Reading of His abounding love, however, does not elicit a similar response. At least not unless we really stop to take it in. That is why we are in such danger of apathy, complacency, and losing our first love, as we see with the seven churches in Revelation. And, once again, that is why it is so important to live intentionally. We cannot truly abide in Christ and He in us any other way.