Who can stand

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

WHO CAN STAND

Rev 6:15-17

15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

NIV

Here we see how mankind reacts to that terrible earthquake, the darkening of the sun and the moon turned to blood red along with the mountains and islands being moved. All the great leaders of the world who rule with political power or military might, or from great wealth owning or employing many people including all those who are under the influence of these pagan dictators of sorts make an effort to hide from this great day of wrath.  Some scholars suppose this to have already happened to Israel by the Romans, but then they do not see this as the Great Day of the Lord. Yet how could all which happened to the universe already taken place? No, we would have to think that what John saw was the whole of the pagan world, those who live by their own god rather than thee God almighty, the creator of heaven and earth, fleeing in an attempt to save themselves. This simply shows us that man cannot save himself from the great day of wrath, no one can stand. It is another picture which we have already seen in the events surrounding Noah. Mankind thinking themselves so powerful, so filled with their own wisdom, had hearts that were bent toward evil all the time. Yet God make a provision for them, he had Noah build an ark and take over one hundred years to do so, all the time announcing to the people God’s intent. It would make sense that if the people repented and turned and listened to Noah, turning from their own ways back to the ways of God, the day of the great flood would not have happened. Here John sees these same type of people, with hearts bent toward evil all the time making their attempt to save themselves. We have to know that if a person’s heart is not bent toward God all the time then they are bent toward evil. Many might be good people in the eyes of people, but in the eyes of God, who does not look on the outside as man does, but see the intent of the heart, sees their true heart. We would be wise to examine our own heart, as David did, asking God to seek our heart to see if there is any iniquity within. We need to be worshipping our Lord with all our heart, all our mind, all our spirit and all our strength or body, which is presenting our body, our life as a living sacrifice to God, which is our spiritual act of worship. As Noah was safe in the ark, while God destroyed all of mankind who had turned their back to him, we will be safe in Christ, God’s provision for those who accept him as their God, their creator, their salvation. The day is coming and it will be terrible for those who refuse to accept Jesus. Yet because he loves his creation he did provide for their salvation, but how will they know? Who will tell them? We know God declares that all mankind has the knowledge of him in their hearts, for he put it there, but they suppressed that knowledge with their evil deeds. We also know that all mankind can know God by his creation, so that no man is without excuse. We know the Spirit is always convicting men of their need of repentance and acceptance of Christ. But we also know that Jesus has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the good news. Although God is able to speak into the hearts of man, he also requires us to be one of his voices, one of his methods of speaking into the hearts of men. Who will go? Who will tell them a day of wrath is coming? It has to be us.