The Battle

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

THE BATTLE

Rev 16:9

16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

NIV

What are we to do with this? We have been taught for as long as we can remember being a believer that is the last battle between the devil and Jesus and by the words of Jesus, the devil and all his followers are destroyed once and for all. Well at least his followers for the devil is to be thrown into the lake of fire, well actually so are all those who follow him, that take the mark of the beast. So how can this battle be the final blow against Satan and why is it here in this revelation? There still is the bowl of the seventh angel to be poured out. There is still this angel that takes John on a journey to a desert and shows him the lady in purple and gold who commits adultery with the kings of the earth. There is a lot more to come, so why put this battle here? It is just another proof this revelation is not chronological. Yet they, which are the three evil spirits that came out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, gathered the kings of the earth together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. This has been viewed as the end of the earth, even Hollywood sees it as such by making a movie using that name as the title with an impending destruction of the earth. Of course man saves them, even by forfeiting his own life, like a Jesus thing. So if this is the end then what is next? Our scholars have gotten themselves completely befuddled here. Some have said this battle happened in Austerlitz, others say in Moscow, or even claims it was Waterloo. Some of the conjectures of men are simply ridiculous. This word Armageddon does not appear anywhere else in the scriptures and thus it may not be an actual physical place with a physical battle. Our Greek lexicons are indicating this is a symbol or name of an imaginary place. It may or it may not be a real place, but what we do see is these evil spirits, these ideologies gathering so much strength in the world they have gathered followers who because of the deception of these ideas, reject God to a point of attacking the whole idea of God. This is a battle for the hearts and minds of people. The deception of the evil spirits is so strong that many people follow that sort of ideological thinking and begin to gather or band together to show the strength of man vs the weakness of God. We see that in the environmental movement, men like Al Gore with all his unfounded so called truths. What is our carbon footprint? It is sad to think that even Christians are being deceived by this save our world campaign, ecology or that we are killing off species with our progress, save the owl, save the whale, save something by the power of man, but certainly let us not consider to be saved by God. The evil spirits, the evil ideologies deceive man into thinking he is on the throne, that man is the most powerful force in the world. If we stop doing this or that we can stop those terrible hurricanes, or supposed melting ice caps, or threatened rising oceans, or on and on the list of what man can do to save the planet and all the wildlife. This is the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. What we know for sure is our heart and mind is not deceived by all their foolish thinking. We know God is who he is and nothing happens without his expressed authority. Our heart and mind is completely convinced that God is in control of everything and no matter how strong any man, any ideology becomes which is anti-God, anti-Christ, we know that God wins the ultimate battle. If we have any internal battle, any struggle between our spirit and our flesh, God can win that battle as well. Man can never overpower God, he will always win the battle.  He has won the battle for our heart and mind, and he is winning the battle for others as well. When it is all said and done, God wins every battle 

Stay awake

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

STAY AWAKE

Rev 16:15

15 "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

 NIV

Here is inserted the words of Christ, not an angel speaking for God, but Christ himself giving a warning here. It would seem by this warning it is for the church, the believers. If this is so then is this statement made after all the turmoil all the angels have brought upon the earth under the direction of God? Does this mean the church has not yet been taken out of the world and we believers will have to experience all the tribulation which has been cast upon the earth? Would this statement alone support the post tribulation theory? We would have to view all the events John describes as chronological occurring over a period of undefined time, unless we link it with the time mentioned by Daniel. But hence we would once again be looking at all this with linear thinking and God simply is not linear. Yet John being human and thus linear has to record in a linear or chronological order for the reader of his revelation, as he was instructed to write it down. Yet all these events could happen either over the course of hundreds of years, or within the span of a few days, or even hours. No one really knows except God. Any attempt to lay out an order or time frame is simply supposition. The reason we can be assured of this is because of this very statement of Jesus. “Behold, pay attention all, I, Jesus Christ, am coming like a thief, unexpected, when you think you are safe, I will come and take something.”  At least that is in essence what he is saying, although it is not an absolute quote. The idea of staying awake in order to keep our clothes carries the idea that if a person were to fall asleep a thief would take his clothes and then he would have to go back in town naked and be shamed because he lost his clothes to a thief. But in a spiritual application, which is the reason for scripture in the first place, Jesus is telling people to stay alert spiritually and keep their clothes of righteousness on at all times. We should not fall asleep spiritually, being deceived by all those false words that come from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, those false ideologies spawned from the devil himself in his schemes to destroy the church, the people of God. Many words are spoken by silver tongued liars who use just enough of the truth so to gather themselves followers and thus draw men away from the truth of God. These lairs are both in the secular sector of the world as well as in the religious community. Our righteousness is in Christ, he has clothed us in his righteousness. If we fall asleep spiritually some might take away our clothes, our righteousness in Christ. Even those who would tell us that if we are believers in Christ then we should be doing good works. Even the unsaved can do good works. They can serve each other just as believers can. Whatever good deed, or work we as believers can do in the flesh, so can unbelievers. What does that prove of our righteousness? The only good deed we can ever do that an unbeliever has never done, is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. So we need to stay awake, do not let those who would sway us to believe anything but the absolute truth which the Spirit and only the Spirit can lead us to. Whenever Jesus comes, we should be ready for death, ready for his appearance to us, if that is before all the tribulation, or during it, or after it, what really matters is that Jesus is coming and we should be spiritually awake at all times. The point is not when, but the point is he will come and we need to be ready. If we are lazy in our spirit, if we are dozing off we might miss the event by losing our righteousness, our clothing in his righteousness, having been spiritually put to sleep by untruths and if we are left behind how filled with shame we would be. So let us not be put to sleep by any man, but let us keep alert, staying awake, always ready for the day or night of his return. He is coming for us.

False Thinking

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

FALSE THINKING

Rev 16:12-14

12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

NIV

There is all sorts of ideas about what the Euphrates represents and who the kings of the East are and their purpose. Some think for conquest, yet there is some evidence in scripture they might be coming to pay homage at Jerusalem. It is unclear either way, but we know something was holding them back and now it is gone and here they come. The reason for the impediment was God and the reason it has been removed is God. IF there is any lesson at all in this passage that is it. But it would appear there is more for us to learn yet we should focus on this truth for a moment. When there are times in our life when it seems we are up against a brick wall, we need to understand God built that wall and for a purpose. If we are not advancing in our career, perhaps God has put this impediment in our way for his purpose. If we just can’t seem to get direction as to what we are to do, God us holding us back from doing anything, which means he wants us to stay where we are, he has kept the barrier up. But when he decides to remove this barrier and prepare the way for us to move on, we need to be moving on. It also appears here, the fact he removed the barrier for the kings of the East was very obvious and so it will be for us. Now as to those frogs. This again can be all sorts of things, but most likely they are more false teachers, false leaders who have sprung up from among the survivors of all the plagues. Wicked men will always attempt to take control of the lives of others for their own benefit. But these false teachers or leaders will be of world renown for they will have great power and be able to deceive even the leaders of other countries and gather them in an effort to destroy the idea of God worldwide. Again some scholars would focus all this attention only on the Middle East and make its meaning a historic one, using events of the past as evidence. But this is the great battle against God, this is the coming battle of Armageddon as we will see in verse 16. Whether this is an actual battle or if this is a battle of ideology we cannot be sure. If it is a battlefield with military forces fighting against God, it seems a little weird that any people could think they could win such a battle, especially if they do not believe in God. But if it is a great battle of ideologies then mankind might think he can win. This great movement of humanism and our power to save ourselves.  One world leader pushing for Global initiatives and having a foundation asking people to give now to improve the world.  Other leaders have tried to create movements, treaties to save the planet, save the environment, save our natural resources, save, save and save, all by the power of man. All this, even some professing a belief in God, is for the purpose of destroying the idea of God. The fact he created all the earth, he made it to sustain all life for as long as he determined it should be. One example of this provision of God is that within this country of America alone, we have enough coal in the ground to last us for over five hundred years, yet leaders would try to convince us it is dirty energy, and we, mankind needs to find clean energy. What God has created for us is dirty, and bad, and therefore we can save us from that filth and man can do better. It is an ideological battle of epic proportions. We cannot afford to be deceived by this sort of ideology, this false teaching, this false form of miraculous saving of the planet. God is God and he has all the power, we need to stay on the winning team and not get catch up in the ideas of man. Sure we should not deliberately attempt to do harm to our environment, as we would not throw trash on the street. But we also have to understand we cannot save the planet either. That is up to God as to how long it will last and when he will destroy it. Maybe God is holding back these ideologies of man for a while longer. Although they are there, they have not taken worldwide root, but the day is coming when God will remove all the impediments for them and they will gather strength and think they are going to win the hearts and minds of all the people away from any idea of God. But how foolish are men, how wise is God. The day is coming. We need to always be looking to God for all things. This is the correct way to think, however much of mankind is engaged in false thinking. 

Seat of Power

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

SEAT OF POWER

Rev 16:10-11

10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

NIV

It would seem that all the previous plagues, all the trumpets, all the bowls have been leading up to this moment, and it may not be over yet. Here we see the fifth angel pouring out his bowl on the very seat of power that is of the anti-Christ ideology. There is a thought that being plunged into darkness could mean that this ideology had some light, it was empowered to influence many people with its amount of light but now it is plunged into darkness. Its influence has been extinguished. Some scholars believe this is reference to the power of Rome, the Vatican to be exact, which is the throne of the Pope. This would certainly infer that Catholics are not really Christians, that they have been deceived by this great ideology of Rome. That would be an extremely harsh concept, yet that is what some of these Protestant scholars of old would have us believe. Although it is plausible and it may be this great power, there are other ideologies with great seats of power which are anti-Christ or anti-scriptural that have a great influence over many people, some of which might even influence a number of believers. Here in America we have a great seat of power in Wall Street, or the market, or just simply the accumulation of wealth. We also have a great anti-Christ movement within our own government, an anti-God, anti-scripture movement to take God out of the Government under the premise of separation of Church and State. In other counties we see Islam having an overwhelming influence upon so many, which those scholars of old never thought would happen. Yet Mecca or somewhere close is the seat of Islam, the place of its birth, in what is now Saudi Arabia. If there is any anti-Christ ideology spreading across the world it is Islam. The reference to having light or having its light put out, certainly would cause a great deal of distress among its followers. Of course if the economic ideology were plunged into darkness many would be in great anguish as well. Within our history during the great crash on Wall Street back in the 20’s men threw themselves to death from buildings. We have to be careful not to be deceived by anything that would take the place of trusting completely in God. There are so many things which can distract us from the truth of God. There are false teachers, false prophets even today who have just enough of the truth, but mingled with their own brand of religion, that many are being led astray. Whatever this seat of power we have to make sure we recognize but one seat or throne and that is of the one and only God, the creator of all. This even implies that we must dethrone ourselves. We cannot have our self upon any throne. We cannot worship self in any way. Maybe that is the great power that will be plunged into darkness. That would certainly cause a great deal of anguish, of gnawing of teeth. In either case, we must always be right with our God, seeing him as who he is, knowing our salvation is in him, knowing our strength is in him, knowing our provisions are in him, knowing our direction, our enlightenment, our hope, our everything is in him. He is on the throne, the seat of power in our life. 

The Blame Game

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

THE BLAME GAME

Rev 16:8-9

8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

NIV

Well this is just too much now. Some scholars are absolutely convinced the sun could not actually get hotter, well these are not only scholars but supposed theologians. How who one who studies God not think he has the power to make the sun hotter? Instead they prefer to once again look at history and think this sun represents the French Empire and that the king was beheaded after a great war ensued causing much calamity, intense calamity on the empire. What are they thinking? Certainly they are not thinking about the power of God and his efforts to bring people to their knees, or if this is simply judgments because of their insistence to refuse him. In either case we do see as a result of this calamity the people actually cursed his name. It is interesting the people who refuse the idea of God, who want to live according to their own thinking, curse his name. How can people live according to their own thinking if they are aware there is a God to curse? If people know about God, enough to curse his name, then why would they not want to consider the consequences of their behaviors? If people curse his name, then they are painfully aware the reason the sun is hotter and they are being scorched by its intense heat is because he has caused it. When these people go through this calamity they curse his name instead of thinking perhaps the reason is because of their behavior. What is wrong with people? Are we like that in anyway? We know God, well at least as much as he has revealed of himself to us, yet do we insisted on doing things our own way at times? Are there areas in our life that we refuse to repent from? Do we continue to make all our own life decisions because that is what we want, instead of doing what God wants in our life? Are we just living our own way but have incorporated God into our lives, making him a part of our life, but not the Lord of our life? If we experience any calamity no matter the size of it, do we blame God, or do we consider there may be a reason for it, and that is to see an error in our thinking or in our behavior. It is true that because he loves us, he disciplines us as any parent would discipline their children. When we see undisciplined children acting out in public places, we think poorly, not of the child, but of the parent, because of the lack of discipline and therefor perhaps because of the lack of true love. God is bringing these plagues not so much to punish, but to discipline these people, but they will have nothing to do with him, cursing his name instead. We cannot afford to even consider not changing, correcting or forsaking some behavior, some thinking if God brings it to our attention by whatever method he so chooses. If we resist his direction, his correction, his discipline in any way, are we in fact cursing his name? The Greek word used here means to vilify which is in essence saying God is the blame for this trouble. God is causing this to happen to me. God is the cause, which comes right to the victim mentality of this world today. We have to take responsibility for our own actions, our own behaviors. These people did not, they blamed God. We cannot afford to do that, we have to see the cause and effect of our behaviors, knowing God is moving in our lives to bring us to the place he desires us to be, both physically and spiritually. If there is any blame for any calamity it is not God’s fault but ours. No blame game here.  

Just

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

JUST

Rev 16:4-7

4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; 6 for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve." 7 And I heard the altar respond: "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments."

NIV

Although this is another angel, this one brings the same sort of bowl to the party as the second angel did. Still instead of all the oceans, this one effects all the rivers and springs of waters, which usually feed all the small lakes, or even the great lakes. This would be the fresh water, the drinking water. There is going to be a real run on bottled water in every store across the land, because that will be the only source. No more coffee in the morning, because our faucets will pour blood instead of water. No showers, nothing will be made that requires water as an ingredient. If this doesn’t get the attention of the wicked, what will? Of course if they do understand and acknowledge this is from the hand of God, his judgement on their wicked ways, they might well just get mad at him, blaming him for being unjust. But the fact remains all the judgements of God are just. It is so declared in heaven. It is true that in the time of the prophets many of them were killed, and so we could think this was a judgment only on those of years ago, yet nothing like this happened then and all the people today surely have not killed prophets. So how can the angel declare this judgment just because the people have shed the blood of the saints and prophets? Perhaps we could better see this when we read the Greek text. He has judged them because they send the blood of those who are righteous, morally blameless, consecrated and those who are inspired speakers for God. This certainly could be any number of people who are living today. In fact with those terrible terrorist groups, we are seeing believers being brutally slain and they broadcast their horrific acts of murder for the world to see. This is just one instants of why his judgment is just. There may be more of this kind of treatment of believers all over the world before we are taken out of here when Jesus comes in the cloud to gather us. We simply do not know if we will be here during this kind of slaying of Christians, but it would seem there will be a certain amount of it in order for this judgment to be declared. We are seeing, at least in the news, a few occasions where shootings in schools have occurred where the shooter was killing believers, or asking about their faith before shooting them. Whether we want to admit it or not there is an segment of our society which hates the whole idea of God, and thus has a real hatred for believers, or at least think we are stupid for believing in God. The atheists want any reference to God removed completely from the public square. At least there are open in their hatred toward God and us. But there is also a distain for our faith the lies beneath the surface. There are people who simply won’t listen to anything about God. They have made their choice and someday the pain of seeing all this will be at hand for them. But the truth for us today is also in the fact that any judgment of God is just. If he would to judge our behaviors he would be just in doing so. But the truth is we are in Christ and he therefore judged us innocent. We have been weighted and measured and been found not wanting in anything for we have been declared blameless in Christ. When people say that if God is a God of love then all people will get to go to heaven they are simply not willing to accept his judgment of their behaviors. When we understood the truth, when the Spirit convicted us of our sin, our behavior and we understood his judgment on such behavior, we repented and turned to Jesus thus we have escaped this kind of judgment. But it is coming and people will still refuse. Nevertheless God is just. 

Going ahead

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

GOING AHEAD

Rev 16:3

3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.

NIV

Once again we have a great debate or conflict with those who are considered as scholars by each other. Some would say this is some great naval battle between the forces that support the Papal power, which would be the nations of Spain, France and Portugal that have naval fleets and those who oppose the power. A bloody battle with many lives being lost at sea and thus the sea would be turned to blood. Others would have us see the waters turning to blood as with the plague in Egypt and all marine life was destroyed, for the purpose of rendering the economics of the fishing industry null and void. This might be a plausible explanation, but it seems there may be something else which could be happening. If we recall through Moses God inflicted boils upon the Egyptians just as he caused the Nile to turn to blood and all the fish died. All those plagues were to prove God was more powerful than the gods the Egyptians believed in. In this case we see today that man has engaged in what might almost be worship of water as it relates to the environment. They are causing environmental laws to control the water purity for the sake of mankind. There is much talk about the polar ice caps melting causing the seas to rise out of control and flood the planet. Inventions are at hand to create pure water from salt water. Life without water is simple not possible and so mankind has an almost faddish about water, much like the Egyptians did with the Nile. Mankind also serves marine life in some sense. We are told we are the stewards of the environment and we need to save the whales, save the seals, save the polar bears, save whatever species that are endangered by our reckless behaviors. But the fact is here we see God once again proving that he is in charge of everything.  He is the author of all life, and he is the finisher of all life. If God sees to it that all marine life is destroyed in order to get the attention of man, that is what he will do. This should also prove to us that all marine life is not sentient beings, no matter how intelligent we are told they are. They are not aware of their own life, they are created for the purpose to sustain life for man. They are created for the pleasures of man, as is all the earth. God created this place with all that is needed to sustain our lives. All the environment is his creation and man cannot ever do enough harm to that which God created for man has no even a one billionth of a millionth of a ounce as much power as God. So when God turns the water to blood, and all the life in the water is destroyed, who of mankind is going to save them? What cause will arise to save the whales? What political leader will rise up and claim to have the answer, to save the water? Or will men be struck with fear and turn to God? It is a good thing we have already turned to God for we will not be here to experience his wrath poured out on mankind. But yet they are people who will, and some of them we might know. We have no idea when all this will actually take place, it could be within our lifetime or it could be in another hundred or thousand years. No man knows the day or the hour, but it is surely coming. If it were to happen in our lifetime, we do know people who will have to go through this terrible experience. Should we not try to warn them? Even if they die before it all happens, their eternal lives are still at stake. There is a fate waiting for those whose names will be blotted out of the book of life that is not a pleasant fate. Should we not be about our Fathers business? Should we not be among those who need to know of his plan for man? What value is there in only associating with others who know him? Yes we should not forsake the assembling with others of like faith, but not at the expense of not being with those who need to know the truth. Is it that church recharges our batteries? Should not the Holy Spirit be charge enough? Sure it would seem we should be engaged in corporate worship as some day we surely will as we stand by the shores of the crystal sea in his presence. But it seems we have almost made church a thing of worship rather than God. Nevertheless the truth is God is going to go about proving he has all the power and man has none. This is what is going to happen and the reason he is telling us all this is so we can go before him proclaiming his mighty power. We need to be going ahead. 

Watch out world

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

WATCH OUT WORLD

Rev 16:1-2

16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth." 2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

NIV

We need to remember this is the beginning of the end, it is the beginning of the completion of God’s wrath poured out on those who refused to accept him for who he is. What John is describing for us here is some sort of painful sores that are also ugly which are inflicted on those who have the mark of the beast and worship his image. This might be a good time to recall just who or what the beast is. Again some would claim him to be the Pope, but again those are of course the protestant scholars of years ago, when there was such a great distain for this power in Rome. Some are still convinced this beast already existed and these plagues were see during the French revolution, well at least they thought so, but have no real evidence of all the plagues during that time. But the fact remains there is some kind of beast and there are many people who have its mark and worship its image. This beast could very well be an ideology rather than a person. It could be humanism, it could be capitalism, or communism, or socialism, all of which have an image of sorts, a representation of its meaning. It certainly makes sense that those who refuse to accept God for who he is, the creator of all things, including mankind, would express their faith or belief system in something or someone else. We see much of that today both in those who believe in evolution and those who are environmentalist, believing man can actually destroy the planet, which God created, thus making mankind the power, not God. They worship themselves. We noticed one comment just the other day regarding a hurricane which has been labeled the strongest ever. This person said, “We are breaking the planet”. This person must think it is because of man harming the environment that we have caused this hurricane. This is nothing more the worship of man, not God. What God is going to do in these last days, the completion of his wrath is go about proving he is the all-powerful God. These people whoever or whatever they claim as their belief will see what they have faith or belief in has no power to save them. These horrible ugly sores are only the beginning of God proving they need him and not their other belief. He still desires them to turn from their worship of whatever and turn to him. If any man did turn we would be convinced they would be healed of these sores instantly. Again there most already be some who turned toward God during the seven trumpets, as this plague is only on those with the mark of the beast. It is much like those plagues on the Egyptians. They were the only ones inflicted with the plagues while Israel stood by and watched. So shall it be whenever this happens, God’s people will not be harmed. But watch out world. 

His will be done

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

HIS WILL BE DONE

Rev 15:5-8

5 After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

NIV

At some time during all these last days, when the harvest of the people of God who are brought to the presence of God and the harvest of the people who experience the wrath of God and are thrown into the winepress or his wrath, all this detail is described for us. These seven angels have some sort of special authority in heaven as, they came out of the temple, and they were dressed in clean, shining linen and word golden sashes. They were no ordinary angels, not that any angel is ordinary, but these were of some greater standing then the others. These seven bowls which have been referred to as the seven bowl judgments, were indeed filled with the wrath of God which is going to be poured out on those who live upon the earth. So again if we have already seen or read what John described as the harvest of the wicked who were thrown into the winepress, the wrath of God and their blood flowed for miles, who are these who are going to receive all these plagues, if not the same people? What we are going to see when these bowls are poured out is very close to the same plagues which God poured out onto the Egyptians in order to free his people and thus accomplishing his will. We also see John describing the temple being filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. This again is similar to the time Moses when into the tabernacle and it was filled with smoke from the glory of God. What is about to happen to all the peoples left on this earth is not to punish them, but to bring them to repentance and accomplish the will of God.

John 1:7-8

7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.

NIV

1 Tim 2:3-4

3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

NIV

These are but a few scriptures which prove God does not desire that any men experience his wrath for punishment, but for repentance. He desires all men be saved, that all men come to a knowledge of the truth. What is about to happen from the bowls of these seven angels is exactly that. God goes the extra mile for the sake of all his creation. Because there are so many who have rejected him and live for their own pleasures, even creating their own form of gods, he has to do something more dramatic in order to get their attention. If they rejected the truth he already gave them within all the testimony of the scriptures, then he has to bring about events, supernatural events which should convince them of the truth. But unfortunately we already know many still will not come to that saving knowledge and they will battle with God to the very end of their existence. Here in lies a truth for us. First we have already acknowledged God and his Son Jesus Christ as our Savior. He was able to get through to us. Some of us believed without any other reason than we saw the truth in the scriptures. Others of us needed some supernatural event from the hand of God in order for us to believe. The point is God will do want ever he needs to do in order for people to believe. He does not want them to perish, he desires for them to believe. The second thing is this is what all this is all about, trying to persuade men to believe. Yet we know some will not no matter what God brings to them. We can learn a truth from this also. Although we have been tasked with telling our testimony, of sharing the gospel message with whoever we can, some will simply reject everything we have to say. This is not a personal rejection of us, but of what we have to say about God and his will for their salvation. Why men continue to refuse God is beyond comprehension sometimes. Yet other times is seems clear they simply want to live their own lives, under they own passions, without any so called standards God has established. This should give us a clue they actually do know about God for he has placed the knowledge of himself in every man. Paul clearly tells us that men suppress the truth with their wickedness and he goes on to say that men will be without excuse. It is just that simple. So what God is going to pour out on them is to get them to repent, but they will not, just as the Pharaoh did not, not matter how terrible the plagues will get. But that does not relieve us of our calling, our responsibility to tell the people about God, and his kingdom. But perhaps instead of telling them about the love of God we might tell them about the wrath of God and that might just scare them into the kingdom. Otherwise what is the point of his telling us about all his wrath which he is going to pour out? Yes, we should tell them about Jesus, and the love God demonstrated by given his Son, but maybe we should include the fact that for those who refuse to accept Jesus from that truth, they are going to experience his wrath instead, and maybe then they will see the truth. Either way every knee will bow, every tongue will confess the Jesus Christ is Lord. This will happen either before we enter his kingdom or before some will perish, all will acknowledge God. Let it be known God is for real and his will be done.

Sing

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

SING

Rev 15:1-4

15:1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues — last, because with them God's wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. 4 Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

NIV

We have to notice that John does not say “Then I saw”. This gives us a clue that these events he is about to describe are not in chronological order. Once again this gives us the sense that many of these happenings are all taking place, perhaps in some order of sequence, but mostly all within moments or at the same time. We are going to see these seven angels given seven bowls to pour out the wrath of God on those who had taken the mark of the beast. Yet we had just seen John describe for us the wrath of God upon them, using the angel with the sickle and their blood flowing for miles. This was certainly the destruction of the wicked, but here we are going to see a more detailed account of how that will happen with the seven bowls of his wrath. This chapter might be seen as parenthetical rather than chronological. Nevertheless we are assured here that all of us who are victorious over the beast, or the temptation to follow after the beast and we are victorious over his image and the number of his name are standing beside the crystal sea holding harps that are given to us by God. It is for certain we are not on earth as we were in fact harvested by Jesus riding on that cloud. This is not the time described as his return to earth to rule and reign for one thousand years. But this harvest is what we refer to as when we will meet him in the air. Also if that other angel harvested the wicked who then is left to assemble for the last battle with Jesus? We have to know that all this is not in some time order or chronological order, but that John can only write in order as he sees all that is going on, much at the same time. Yet here we are playing our harps, singing a song of praise to our God for all his just and true ways. We are singing about the fact that he is worthy alone, there is none like him. Who will not fear God and bring glory to his name. This should give us a moment to pause and ponder on that fact. In this world where there is so much evil at work, not just in the Middle East by those extremist groups who murder people, Christians in the most heinous manner, but wickedness throughout our world including right here in our own neighborhoods. Throughout the scriptures we can see how God views people, and they are simply in two categories, the righteous and the wicked. We are either one or the other, we cannot serve two masters. If we serve the Lord, if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior then we are considered the righteous and we will be among those standing beside the crystal sea with our harps singing praises to God. But those who refuse him are considered the wicked and they shall experience the full force of his wrath. But his wrath is not just to punish them, but once again an attempt to turn them from their wicked ways and see that he is God. But it would appear from all the text there will always be those who will remain wicked, not turning away from their own ways, and accepting Jesus. Thus there are going to be people who will experience this wrath that is coming upon them. But at some point no matter how wicked, all the nations will worship God. That is also a fact. If they do not then they are gone, so all that is left are those who worship him. There will be people from all over the earth, from every nation, every tribe, and every language who will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and will be among those alongside the crystal sea. What a day that will be when we can sing that song, and we will all be in harmony, in perfect pitch, without any lessons or rehearsals. Yet in some sense our lives each and every day are lessons and rehearsals for that time. Now is the time we should be praising our God each and every day of our lives. Now is the time we should be singing his praises. Not just on Sunday morning for twenty minutes or so in the so called worship time of the service, but we should be singing his praises all the time, every day, throughout the whole of our day. If we are not singing his praises are we then hiding them? How can we witness of his mighty power? How can we witness of his love, his forgiveness, or his healing power, of his grace, his mercy, his offer of free salvation through Jesus Christ, if we are not singing his praises all the time. If we walk around, not only silent, but with a slouched over continence, appearing beaten down by life, we are not singing his praises. If all we see is our life through our human eyes, we might get discouraged at times, and forget to sing his praises. But if we are going to be ready for this great worship in heaven, we better get used to singing right now. Let our spirits soar with songs about our Lord, lift up our hearts and let them beat to the tune of God. We will praise his name forever and ever, for his name is worthy of praise. 

To tell the truth

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

TO TELL THE TRUTH

Rev 14:17-20

17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.  

NIV

Jesus has come to harvest his people, those who accepted him as Lord and Savior, he came riding on a cloud and took the people to himself. Now another angel comes from the temple, but this time not with a message for Jesus to go collect his people, but this time this angel had a sharp sickle. We also see there was a second angel who had charge of the fire. He ordered the angel with the sickle to harvest the clusters of grapes from the earth. There can be nothing other than meaning those people who did not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior because they are thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath. When we think about the blood that flowed out of this winepress, this wrath of God and how it was as high or as deep as that of the bridle on a horse and it was over one hundred and eighty miles long, that is a whole lot of people who are going to experience his wrath. This is not burning in hell for all of eternity as some would suppose is the fate of the unsaved. Although there seems to be evidence of those who accept the mark of the best being thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, or fire and brimstone as the Greek text would use. We do have this angel who is in charge of fire giving the order to harvest those souls who refused to accept Jesus. God’s wrath is pictured here as a winepress and their fate is for certain death, and not just a physical one, but the second death which we believers will not be hurt by. If this doesn’t scare someone into the kingdom what would? Because we love the Lord and have accepted his grace, his forgiveness of our sin, we have nothing to fear from God. But those who refuse him certainly have much to fear from his hand. It would behoove us to remain faithful to his calling upon our lives. Yet at the same time it would also be wise for us to share the gospel message with as many people as possible so they would have the choice to escape this winepress. Although we cannot make someone choose God over self, or another form of a god made by the hands of man, we can at least tell them the message thus giving them the opportunity to make an informed decision. Perhaps just telling them that Jesus saves is enough, but then what does he save them from? If people think they will go to heaven because they are a good person, they are uninformed. If they think they will live forever either in heaven or hell they are misinformed. If they think because God is love he will forgive them no matter if they ask or not, or continue living without accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then they are without knowledge of the truth or simply not informed. God’s wrath is coming to a city near you. That is the message of this passage and it was written so people would be informed of the truth, but how are they to know unless they hear it? How can they hear it unless someone tells them? Who is going to tell them if it is not us? We need to tell the truth.  

His Harvest

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

HIS HARVEST

Rev 14:14-16

14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

NIV

There are several truths here for us within this harvest time. First we should note that this individual who is sitting on the white Cloud is none other than Jesus Christ, who is referred to many times in the scripture as the son of man. He also is the King of kings, as this crown denotes and the main point we should notice is this angel is coming out of the temple with a message for Jesus. The angel therefore is bringing a message from God the Father to the Son. Although Jesus is God, there does seem to be an order in the trinity, as the Father commands the Son to go forth and harvest the earth. There are also two harvests, which the second one will be after this first harvest. It appears these two harvests are of different types of people. But let us only deal with this one for now. We should note however the second harvest does include that harvest being thrown into God’s wrath. So this first harvest is of God’s people, the righteous who the work of Jesus Christ are. Is this evidence of a mid or post tribulation rapture of the church? It might be if John was recording all these events in a precise chronological order as they were unfolding. But again we have to consider that he was not able to write everything he saw all at one time and there was a need to record everything he saw, whether these events were unfolding one at a time or all at the same  time. It would make sense they were not all happening at once, but then we cannot be sure of either way. What we can be sure of is that there is a time coming when Jesus will reap the earth. This time is when he will gather all the people who have accepted him as Savoir.

Luke 21:25-28

25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

NIV

These are the words of Jesus telling us of this exact moment in the future when he will appear in the cloud to reap his church. Jesus is describing the events we have been seeing what John had recorded. All the universe is shaken, the peoples of the earth are in terror, but it certainly appears we are not, as we are standing up and lifting up our heads because our redemption, our harvest is drawing near, in fact it is at hand. We could think that all those events, all the seven trumpets all the turmoil happens so fast, in fact at the moment Jesus is arriving on the cloud to harvest his church. There is so much power in the act of God here, it could be all within moments, and the world would be shaken like never before or even imagined by man, and Jesus coming riding on a cloud descending in all his glory and power to gather his people to him. This is the time the dead will be raised.

1 Cor 15:50-54

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."  

NIV

We see this is at the last trumpet, which would have been the seventh trumpet, which in the chronological order, if we were looking at it that way, was a while ago, but if it is all happening at once, it is now, Jesus is coming on the cloud just as the seventh trumpet blasts. This is when the voices in heaven declare the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom our Lord and his Christ and he will reign for ever and ever. Is this not the description of Jesus gathering his church to himself, coming to earth to harvest, to make the world his kingdom? The whole point here is that Jesus is coming for us, whether that is as an individual when each of us die, or whether we will all sleep until he comes for all of us at once, we will still be harvested by him for him and to him. We will be with our Lord and Savior living forever in eternity with him in the presence of God Almighty. Knowing this truth should have some kind of effect on how we live while we are here. In all reality it should bring us to our knees. If not our actual knees, our spiritual knees, bending our will to him, knowing we are his harvest. 

Happy Day

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

HAPPY DAY

Rev 14:13

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."

NIV

First things first. Because this voice from heaven tells John to write, to record certain words, we have to come to the conclusion, as we have always thought, that he was experiencing this revelation on the Island of Patmos while he was there and not some later date, from memory, as some scholars would have us believe. Now as to what he wrote the voice from heaven said. “Blessed or happy are the dead who die in the Lord from now one.” This could possible apply to those who are martyred or die on account of their testimony. This could apply to all people who profess to be in the Lord. This seems to be the intent of that phrase. Death in the natural is not something most of us look forward to with happiness. The grave is a cold and lonely place.  Death separates us from all that is dear to us. It removes us from our loved ones, people who we care deeply about. It separates us from the enjoyment of life itself, and the pleasures we experience. Death makes us leave all the things we have gathered in our life which have some meaning to us. Yet nothing has more meaning than our relationship with our Lord. This is the intent here. When we die we will be happy because we will be with our Lord. As the grave could not hold him, it will not hold us either. In his presence there are no tears, no sadness, no unhappy times. In fact the Spirit, who is simply referred to as the Spirit, but is meant as the Holy Spirit, confirms we who are in the Lord when we die we will rest from our labor and our deeds will follow us. Now that could mean everything we have ever done will follow us, including all our bad behaviors. This would sort of be like the Mel Brooks movie, defending your life. But this is not the deeds that will follow us.

Heb 8:12

12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."  

NIV

God declares here he will not remember our sins no more. Of course that is our confessed and repented sin. We cannot go on sinning willfully doing whatever we desire to do and expect to enjoy the happy state of forgiveness. Yes, we fail God daily, we make miserable mistakes that grieve God, but we are but man, and we cannot enjoy the state of perfection we would like to, not that this is an acceptable excuse, but it is a fact. Nevertheless our sins will not follow us, as suggested by Mel Brooks. It would appear the deeds that will follow us are those things we do in life for the sake of the gospel, our good deeds as it were. We will rest from our labor, this again is finding rest in our Lord. It could also be said we will rest assured of being in his presence when we die. It would seem if our deeds follow us, it might appear as if we all will be standing around looking at each other seeing who has more following deeds than we do. That would make some of us either a little prideful because we have a great big trailer full of deeds, or a little shameful because we don’t even have a trailer, all our deeds can fit in a little suitcase. No, that is not the meaning here. The point is that we who love the Lord will find rest in heaven, no longer trying to share the gospel, no longer trying to live the good life, doing good, trying to overcome temptations. The Greek word here for deeds is not actually plural. It means toil or an act.  The only deed or act that actually follows us is the one deed we did when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Everything in heaven is about God, about Jesus, about the Spirit. The deed of accepting him is what will follow us, and in that acceptance of him we find rest from all else. Soon John will see the harvest of the earth, in fact it is next to come. But what we know for sure is that Oh death where is thy sting! For death holds no gloom for those of us who love the Lord and are in him, for we will be happy, glad, rejoicing because we did the one good deed in life that matters most of all, we acknowledged Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That is the only good deed that will gain us eternal life, which will follow us into eternity. Oh happy Day! What a day that will be when my Jesus I will see, oh happy that day will be.  

Remain faithful

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

REMAIN FAITHFUL

Rev 14:9-12

9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

NIV

We have arrived at the point of some contention between scholars. This language used in this verse refers to burning sulfur, but in the Greek text the language says fire and brimstone, which certainly could be burning sulfur. But this also has some similarity to the fate of those who lived such an unnatural sin in Sodom and Gomorrah. That scripture even has Abraham looking upon the smoke that ascended from that land. The different here is in the fact those residence of Sodom and Gomorrah who experienced the full strength of the wrath of God perished in that great fire and brimstone event, but it would seem these people who received the mark of the beast are not perishing,  but find no rest from their torment. This is where many get the idea of being in eternal torment in hell. But we will see death and hades, or hell give up their dead and both death and hades, along with the beast, the false prophet and Satan will be cast in the lake of burning sulfur. We are also going to see all those who received this mark of the beast cast there as well, but the language is different. The beast, the false prophet and Satan were cast alive into this lake of burning sulfur, but the others it speaks about being cast there it calls them experiencing the second death. Which has to be a spiritual death as they already died in the body. But let us leave this topic for further discussion when we get there, yet we cannot leave it entirely as here we see God saying they will find no rest day or night. First we should note those who have the mark of the beast upon them were not forced to have it, but received it, such as we receive a gift, it was received willingly, without coercion, perhaps by deceit but still they accepted it of their own free will. There is also language throughout scripture about people not entering God’s rest. This was especially true of the people of Israel who did not believe God about crossing the Jordon into the land of milk and honey and thus they were directed back out into the desert for forty years until they all died. God told them they would not enter his rest. A complete discussion of this is in the letter to the Hebrews. If we have entered his rest because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then those who have refused to believe God will not enter into his rest. This may well be the intent of the language here, not that they will never be able to rest from their torment, that they shall be in eternal torment in fire and brimstone. Anyone in the past scriptures who experienced the fire and brimstone of God perished, thus not finding and entering into his rest. What we can be certain of is that there is a distinction between those who are in his rest and those who are not. Regarding having patience and endurance for us who obey God and remain faithful to Jesus, it is evident that Satan would try his best to deceive us into some false thinking, some false doctrine, to buy into concepts that are not the truth. At this point we do not know exactly what the mark of the beast is. We mostly assume it to be some mark that denotes we refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That the mark is a form of humanism or anti-Christ belief. But this mark could also be a religion, a false religion, a doctrine which does not ascribe wholly to the scriptures, but perverts them just enough so that many so called believers will be deceived willingly accepting that doctrine, or mark of the beast, the false prophet. This may not be a wide open full frontal assault on our beliefs, but a sly perversion of Christianity which many will not see coming. This certainly would require a great deal of patience and endurance on our part to be able to notice this type of deception and marking and thus refuse it and remain faithful to Jesus Christ obeying the commands of God, rather than of men. Let us forever be faithful. The fact still remains there is but one truth, and so how can so many Christian denominations that are based on various interpretations of the truth claim they possess the one truth? Perhaps, just a thought, denominationalism is that mark. Perhaps as with one denomination which they actually have their congregants receiving a mark on their foreheads once a year this could happen elsewhere in other forms. This is not to condemn that experience, but rather just a thought as to how we believers might be deceived by what we think is the truth. There is no evidence of this being an ordinance of the first or early church. We need to be very careful to be aware of any attempt to deceive us and thus be patience and continue to trust God and God alone, renaming faithful onto the end of time.   

Drinking

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

DRINKING

Rev 14:8

8 A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries."

NIV

Here again many of the learned men of the past would ascribe this Babylon the Great to the city of Rome, either the great Roman Empire which certainly made conquests throughout much of the world around it, and forced its rule upon the people, or the Papal Rome which has certainly given its rituals to many nations, without given the truth of the gospel message. Yet once again we are left with past events or past happenings except of course this idea of the Papal Rome. It is true in some sense that it spreads its traditions far more then it spreads the actual message of Jesus Christ being the one and only mediator between God and man, as their Savior. But this is not exclusive to Papal Rome. The Great Babylon can be seen as many things. It can be any system of religious or political nature. It could be an ideology or an economic system. It could be the church universal. It could a great nation such as ours. It could be humanism. The point this angel, this messenger, is saying that whatever it is, it had a great influence in all the nations. It is unlikely it is a political system, as no nation has ever had that much influence over all the other nations. It was not the Roman Empire, nor was it Russia, Germany, or any other country bent on conquest of the world. Could it be the so called United Nations, a force of power over all those nations which belong? Does it cause them to drink its wine, an intoxicating ideology? Maybe someday this will fall. But maybe it is the ideology of humanism itself which infects many nations, leaving out God from any of its standards or conduct of living. This humanism creates its own deity and that is the deity of man himself. Perhaps someday this ideology will fall and man will see God for who he is. All these events, these calamities that have been brought forth by the hand of God are for that very purpose. There are to show, to demonstrate to the humanistic man that God is real, and they need to repent and turn to him. But maybe this great Babylon is the church universal. The whole of Christianity, which includes many diverse denominations which claim their worship of God, whoever they see God as. We would have to admit there are many supposed Christian churches that are not much more than a human organization. Many of them do not teach the need to repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, that in order to gain access to the kingdom of God a person needs to be born again. Many of them have given way to tradition rather than truth. Perhaps this system of traditions is going to give way to the truth. Has this economic system of the great passion for wealth caused many to drink of this intoxicating potion? Could it have been communism or socialism or capitalism which brings so many under its power and influence? Any of those systems could fall at any time and give way to the truth of scripture seeing what real wealth, real worth is about. This also can apply to us personally. Have we drank the wine of any of these four powerful potions? Have we succumb to any of these, allowing them to influence our behavior, our thinking, our faith? Do we look to man for our provisions? Do we look to a government for our economic solutions? Do we look to traditions for security? Do we look to mankind to fix any problems? There is but one we need to look at for everything we need. God is our source of everything. Yes we need to work, to be employed. As he told Adam at the very beginning, he would need to toil all the days of his life, that the ground was cursed because of his disobedience, because he listened to his wife. He told him that through painful toil he would eat from the ground. Adam was never to retire. We need to labor to supply our food, just as Adam had to. But our source is still God. Whenever we look to our own efforts as our source we are mistaken. Jesus told us that if we ask the Father for anything in his name, he will provide it. By faith we have our home, by faith we have our job, by faith we have our food, clothing, cars and most of all, by faith we have eternal life. We cannot afford to drink from the maddening wine of any system or anyone else other than the wine that represents the blood of Jesus. We need to be aware of what we are drinking. 

A Messenger

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

A MESSENGER

Rev 14:6-7

6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.

NIV

Whether this was an actual angel flying in midair over all the earth or symbolism of the fast spreading of the Gospel message over all the earth we simply do not know. What we do know is that since the ability to print the scriptures there has been groups such as the British and Foreign Bible Society and Wycliffe Bible society as well as a few others which have translated the scriptures into languages of all over the world. By now, especially with the advent of the internet, every nation, tribe, language and people have access to the Holy Scriptures and thus the gospel message of Jesus Christ. This is the message of this angel, or messenger of God, who can also be every preacher who has been called to preach the message of salvation. “Fear God and give him the glory”. Now as far as the hour of his judgement has come, we know that we are still living in the time of grace, he is still holding back this hour of judgment. Yet in some sense he has already made his judgment upon mankind. He has already determined the fate of those who worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water. He has already determined the fate of those who refuse to worship him. As far as who does worship him and who refuses, he leaves that up to each one of us, but he has judged the fate of each. The point here is this angel, this messenger or messengers, which could include us, has and have been given the task to proclaim the eternal gospel to those who live on the earth. This angel could represent the whole of the Christian church, or community of believers who have been sent by Jesus Christ to go forth into all the world and preach the gospel. Someone preached it to us and we accepted that message. How selfish of us not to share it with others. If we experienced the freedom in Christ, the forgiveness of our sin, and have been judged as innocent by God, than why would we not want others to have that same experience? Why would we want them to be condemned to the lake of burning sulfur which we are going to see shortly in this revelation? Why would we want them to experience that kind of torment? Here we are, we have the message which can save people from a terrible fate and should we not tell them?

Rom 10:14-15

 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

NIV

This verse in Romans sums it all up for us. We have to be a part of those who are sent. We have to be the ones with the beautiful feet because we bring the good news. Although with all the societies printing the scriptures in every language, and all the means of communication we have today in the media, Radio, television, and the internet, nothing replaces the one on one giving of the eternal gospel message, showing the way to salvation, demonstrating the love of God toward his lost people. How can we increase in our efforts to share this wonderful message? How can we do more than what we do? It seems it just comes down to speaking up. We may not be an angel, in fact we are pretty sure we are not, but we can be a messenger.