Too late now

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

TOO LATE NOW

Rev 11:15-19

15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." 16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great — and for destroying those who destroy the earth." 19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

NIV

Here it is the seventh angel sounding his trumpet. Some say this is the last of things, the third and last woe upon the earth, the last judgment of mankind and that this should be at the end of everything rather than where it is here. Some would say this only applies to Israel and it has already happened to them with the destruction of Jerusalem and then the fall of the Roman Empire at some later date. Some would say this is all about what is yet to come. The point is no one really knows, but God does and he is making sure his people have this information. What we can be sure of is when this trumpet blasts all the angels, all the redeemed saints who are in those white robes standing before God, and all the people of God who are still on the earth, perhaps that is us, or those who repented and turned to God during all the previous trumpets and the resulting calamities, will be acknowledging Almighty God, giving him praise, honor and glory for who he is. The whole of heaven and earth will be praising God. Once again we see those twenty four elders who represent the whole church, the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament and the Twelve Apostles of the New Testament all falling on their face, bowing before God. Once again we see God as hailed as was, is and will forever be, his always being forever. This is a concept the human mind has difficultly grasping in its entirety as we are linear by our very nature. We know of our beginning and we know we will have an ending, at least in this bodily form. But God has always been and he will always be just as he is, he has not changed nor will he as we will do. The reason we are being told all this is so that we can have the assurance that no matter what happens on earth we will see the justice of God prevail. At the sound of the last trumpet the time has come for God to judge the dead, all the dead. This can only mean it has not happened yet, but it will. All mankind will be judged, but for what? What is the measure by which we all will be judged? If it is by our works, or deeds, none of us can be declared innocent. But for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior do stand innocent in the sight of God. We have been redeemed, we have been rendered innocent in Christ. Those who would be enemies of God, those who would destroy the world, that is destroy the witness of God upon the earth, those who would attempt to remove any reference of God from the world, they will not be declared innocent. The measure with which we all will be judged is whether we acknowledge the truth and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, or we refuse to acknowledge the truth and attempt to destroy any evidence of God in our lives. It comes down to the saved and the unsaved. The born again, and the not born again, the believer and the non-believer. We are either in or out, but we will all stand before him and be judged according to the measure. A day is coming, whenever that will be when all those who have opposed the message will know they have been wrong, and they will pay for their choice, and pay dearly for it. Should that make us feel good? Does is sound like God will get even for all their wrong thinking? That we will be able to say, “I told you so”? Surely that should not be our thinking then or for that matter now. Certainly God is holding back from this judgement for a reason. There are still those who would acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior. If God is all knowing, which he is, then he knows the choice that each person will make. Although he does not make that choice for us, he already knows who will make which choice. There are more people who are going to choose Jesus. There are more people who are going to overcome the power of the evil one. There are more people who are going to get a new name. There are more people who will be given a white robe and their names will not be blotted out of the book of life. All the saints who acknowledge Jesus will be rewarded, but those who do not will not be rewarded, but be destroyed.  But how will they know the truth in order to make the right choice? Although what may be known about God is plain and can be seen throughout his creation, so that no man will be without excuse, we have also been told to go into all the world and proclaim the truth of the gospel. Someday heaven will be opened and the Ark of the Covenant will once again be seen. The earth will never be the same again, all of mankind who refuses the truth will experience his justice. Yet God is still holding all that back waiting for all who will come to him. We are part of his plan in telling them about all this which is to happen so they can repent and turn to him. It will be too late once the seventh trumpet sounds.