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.