Burunche’s Blog

Revelation 8:6 – 13 ” And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass. Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters. Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well. And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!”

Who were these seven angels and why are they so important? These angels were archangels and were called “the angels of the presence” for two reasons. First, they enjoyed a special honor. In an oriental court it was only the most favored courtiers who had the right at all times to the presence of the king; to be a courtier of the presence was a special honor. Second, although to be in the presence of the king meant special honor, even more it meant immediate readiness to be dispatched on service. These courtiers were those on whom the king could rely for complete fulfillment of his decrees at any time, day or night.

The seven angels each had a trumpet. In the visions of the Old and the New Testament the trumpet is always the symbol of the intervention of God in history. From the time of Moses onward, trumpets were used to sound warnings, to give instructions, to call attention to what God was doing and to make announcements. Trumpets were also used to announce the coming of a king or other ruler. In the New Testament, Paul speaks of the day when the trumpet shall sound and the corruptible will put on incorruption and of the trumpet of God, which is to sound when Christ comes again. Now these archangels were about to blow their trumpets, and the disasters that would befall already had their prototypes in the ancient world.

1. “Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.” The first trumpet announces an attack on the earth. Rain that looks like blood has been reported in the Mediterranean countries. High level harmattan winds pick up fine red dust from the Sahara desert; if these winds carry the dust northward and then it rains at the same time, the rain can be blood – red. At the same time, remember that the Sirocco winds were described as having the same heat as a blast furnace. Scorching hot winds could certainly dry up vegetation. In the early 1980’s, the country of Ghana lost 50% of its vegetative cover to drought and bush fires. Something similar could easily happen on a wider scale.

2. “Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” The next attack is on the sea and its creatures. What is this “flaming mass?” Most likely, this describes a volcanic eruption, something that certainly occurred in A.D. 79 when Naples and its bay were destroyed by such a disaster. Seismologists around the world are aware that there are numerous active volcanoes under the sea. What if there was a cataclysmic eruption of massive proportions?

3. “Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters.” This third attack is an attack on the fresh drinking water. Barclay gives this explanation for the wormwood: “Wormwood is a general name for the class of plants known as artemisia whose characteristic is bitterness of taste. They are not really poisonous in the sense of being fatal, although they are noxious, but the Israelites dreaded their bitterness. Wormwood was the fruit of idolatry. It was the threat of God through Jeremiah that God would give his people wormwood to eat and the waters of gall to drink. Wormwood always stood for the bitterness of the judgment of God on the disobedient.” (Interestingly enough, the Artemisia compounds are used extensively to treat malaria, and yes, they do taste very bitter!) What could cause a widespread deterioration of drinking water? If something happened so that rain itself became affected, that could lead to such an event.

4. “Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well.” While it is difficult to find ancient parallels for such an event, during the dust bowl era in Kansas and Nebraska, there was so much dust in the air that it blocked out the sun. In the face of widespread drought and volcanic eruptions, it is conceivable that even sunlight and star light might be blocked out. In 1883 there was an explosion on the small island of Krakatoa west of Sumatra in Indonesia. “Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosion threw five cubic miles of dirt 50 miles into the air, created 120 – foot tsunamis, and killed 36,000 people. The dust from Krakatoa was so thick that it lowered temperatures world – wide for several years. 4500 people were scorched to death by the pyroclastic flows that rolled over the sea, stretching as far as 40 miles, according to some sources.” (Information from History.com)

“And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!” God is using every means that He can to cause men to repent. Here He is even using an eagle as a messenger. But how many will listen? Jesus told a story about a rich man who ignored the beggar at his door until they both died and the rich man wound up in hell while the beggar went to heaven. The rich man begged Father Abraham to send the beggar back from the dead to warn his (the rich man’s) brothers. But Father Abraham informed the rich man that his brothers had Moses and the prophets; if they would not pay attention to Moses and the prophets, neither would they listen if someone rose from the dead!(Luke 16)

What are we to do with these frightening images? God tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:2 “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!” The only time any of us have given to us is right now. We have no control over our futures! Choose to follow Jesus Christ today while there is still time!

PRAYER: Father God, please help everyone who reads these words to seek you and to follow you whole – heartedly! In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 8:1-5 “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”

Why would there be silence in heaven? What could possibly happen to cause all heaven to pause? This silence creates a division between what has already happened and what is about to happen. In addition, the prayers of the saints are going to be offered on the golden altar before the throne and all heaven is waiting on those prayers. Which altar is being spoken of here? Remember that in the temple originally, there were altars for the offering of blood sacrifices but there was also a small altar for offering incense. Since Jesus has already offered himself as the perfect spotless Lamb of God, there is no need for any further blood sacrifices. Barclay describes the altar of incense as mentioned in Leviticus 16:12 “The altar of incense stood before the Holy Place in the Temple. Made of gold, it was eighteen inches square and three feet high. At each corner it had horns; it was hollow and was covered over with a gold plate, and round it was a little railing, like a miniature balustrade, to keep the burning coals from falling off it. In the Temple incense was burned and offered before the first and after the last sacrifices of the day. It was as if the offerings of the people went up to God wrapped in an envelope of perfumed incense.”

This altar was so special that God commanded Moses to make sure it was used ONLY for the special incense compounded using the recipe God had given and not for any unauthorized incense or for any drink or blood offering. (Exodus 30:9) God gave Moses the recipe for holy incense in Exodus 30:34 – 38 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. You are never to use this formula to make incense for yourselves; you shall regard it as sacred to the LORD. Anyone who makes something like it to enjoy its fragrance shall be cut off from his people.”

Psalm 141:2 says, “Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” We have a totally skewed view of prayer! We pray, but find ourselves struggling for words and phrases. Sometimes we fall asleep while we are praying; sometimes our minds wander. Because we realize how imperfect our prayers are, we fail to apprehend the power released by our prayers! We concentrate so much on our shortcomings that we fail to remember the power of the One to whom we are praying! Many of us feel as if our prayers and praises are really artificial, but these misconceptions are the work of the Enemy, Satan, who hates prayers of any kind.

Parents realize that small children will have a limited vocabulary that will increase with time and practice. The same thing is true for prayer. We must never become discouraged and stop praying! We also must be careful not to compare ourselves to others. Remember the story that Jesus told in Luke 18. Two men went to the temple to pray; one was a high – ranking Pharisee while the other was a tax collector, a social outcast who was barely allowed into the temple at all. The Pharisee used lots of fine phrases while the tax collector stood at a distance, beat his breast, and simply said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Jesus encouraged his disciples that the tax collector was the one whose prayers reached heaven so that he was justified.

What was the result of the prayers of the saints? “And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” WOW! Here we are praying our simple prayers as we wonder if we are actually accomplishing anything and meanwhile our prayers are helping release thunder and lightning and earthquakes!

Perhaps you have prayed for years and have not yet seen any results. Take heart! In heaven, your prayers are part of the incense offered before the throne of God. You are inifinitely precious to God, and so are your prayers!

PRAYER: Lord, thank you that you love us and value us far more than we do! Thank you that our prayers are so precious to you! Lord, help us to pray harder and more fervently. And thank you that you value the simplest prayers when they are spoken from our hearts. In the Mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 7:13-17 “Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, ‘They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Claudius Sextus was sweating and nervous. Tonight was the most important moment of his life, more important than when he had joined the Roman Legions and had been sent to fight the Picts out here on the edge of the Roman Empire. After months of instruction, tonight Claudius was going to undergo the taurobolium, the final initiation into Mithraism. Descending into a pit deep in the earth below the temple of Mithras, Claudius waited. Above Claudius, priests of Mithras slaughtered a sacrificial bull. The blood of the bull dripped through on to Claudius below. Claudius exposed his head and all his garments to be saturated with blood; and then he turned round and held up his neck that the blood might trickle upon his lips, ears, eyes and nostrils; he moistened his tongue with the blood which he then drank as a sacramental act. Claudius emerged certain that he was renatus in aeternum, reborn for all eternity.

The ceremony just described was the initiation for the Cult of Mithras, a very popular religion among the Roman legions. In John’s day, there were many “mystery religions” that promised rebirth and eternal life through dramatic ceremonies. Many of these religions employed ceremonies involving blood. In these verses, God has demonstrated to John that the life and death of Jesus Christ has brought purity and victory and true eternal life to all those who have remained faithful, no matter how much they have suffered for the cause of Christ.

What had these believers suffered? Cruelty and evil are not new to the human race, and the Romans and others had many highly creative ways of torturing and killing anybody who presumed to scorn emperor worship. Christians were thrown into the center of arenas to be torn apart by wild beasts or used as human torches to light Nero’s gardens. Today horrifying stories are emerging from North Korea and Southern Sudan. Persecution of Christians in China is burgeoning as well. Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian Lutheran pastor, was tortured by being beaten repeatedly on the soles of his feet. (The torture failed!) For the rest of Wurmbrand’s life, he had to sit when he was speaking because his feet were so painful when he stood. No, Jesus wasn’t kidding when he told the church at Sardis that if they would be faithful even to death, that He would give them the crown of life!

But these believers have emerged victorious from their suffering and now Jesus is rewarding them. What are these rewards?

1. They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. In life, these believers may have had to hide or to whisper their prayers and praises. Now they are before the throne of God in the spot kings would reserve for their closest friends. God is protecting them from every kind of suffering; never again will they be in agony.

Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” It seems strange to think of a lamb as a shepherd, but this Lamb is Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, whose shedding of blood at Calvary has taken away the sins of the world. Just as a caring shepherd will lead his sheep to clean clear water, so Jesus will provide for all their needs.

And all their sorrows are gone, for God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Never again will they grieve! Never again will there be any cause for tears! These faithful ones have entered into the Joy of their Heavenly Father. Is faithfulness worth it? YES! YES! A thousand times, YES!

PRAYER: Father God, help us to be faithful! Help us to follow hard after you, no matter how difficult things might become. Thank you for loving us so much that you have given us true eternal life through Jesus Christ. We bless your Name and worship you forever! Amen.

 Revelation 7:13-14 “And one of the elders said to me: “Do you know who these are who are clothed in white robes and where they came from?” I said to him: “Sir, you know.” He said to me: “These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation, and who have washed their robes, and have made them white through the power of the blood of the Lamb.”

Why are white robes so important? White was the symbol of victory and of celebration. Triumphant generals would parade through the streets dressed in white robes. Even today in Ghana, Christians wear white at Christmas and Easter and wear black and white for Christian funerals. Parents who are celebrating baby naming ceremonies dress in white outfits and dress the baby in white as well. In the ancient world, it was forbidden to approach a god or a ruler with clothes that were not clean. Traditionally, those who were being baptized were given new white robes to signify that they were now living new lives. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.” God takes us with our sins and cleanses us completely, if we will only ask Him to do so.

Where have all these people come from? They have come out of “the great tribulation.” This is suffering such as has never been seen before in the world. Jesus described that suffering to his disciples: “For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” Matthew 24:21 – 22

To many of us, talking about blood is off – putting. We need to overcome our squeamishness, because the Bible speaks a great deal about blood. Barclay explains it this way:

… To us blood indicates death, and certainly the blood of Jesus Christ speaks of his death. But to the Hebrews the blood stood for the life. That was why the orthodox Jew never would–and still will not–eat anything which had blood in it. The blood is the life and the life belongs to God; and the blood must always be sacrificed to him. The identification of blood and life is not unnatural. When a man’s blood ebbs away, so does his life. When the New Testament speaks about the blood of Jesus Christ, it means not only his death but his life and death. The blood of Christ stands for all Christ did for us and means for us in his life and in his death…

Barclay continues: There are four ideas here, the first being the main idea from which the others spring.

(i) The main idea is based on sacrifice. Sacrifice is essentially something designed to restore a lost relationship with God. God gives man his law; man breaks that law; that breach of the law interrupts the relationship between God and man; and sacrifice is designed to atone (pay) for the breach and to restore the lost relationship. The great work of Jesus Christ in his life and in his death is to restore the lost relationship between God and man.

(ii) This work of Christ has something to do with the past. It wins for man forgiveness for past sins and liberates(frees) him from his slavery to sin.

(iii) This work of Christ has something to do with the present. It gives a man here and now, upon earth, in spite of failure and of sin, a new and intimate relationship with God, in which fear is gone and in which love is the bond.

(iv) This work of Christ has something to do with the future. It frees a man from the power of evil and enables him to live a new life in the time to come.

Traditionally, the Jews made blood sacrifices of animals as a demonstration of repentance for sins. But the blood of a lesser animal, no matter how perfect, can never completely wipe out a man’s sins. Only one perfect sinless man could die for another’s sins. When Jesus died on the cross on Calvary, he shed his blood for the sins of the whole world, for all those who would believe in him. No other sacrifice could have accomplished this. Because of Jesus’s shedding of his own blood, we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God. Jesus has opened the way to heaven for all who will believe in him.

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for sending Jesus to live as a man and to die for our sins. Thank you that Jesus has conquered death and the grave. Thank you that if we believe in what Jesus has done for us and confess our sins to you, you will forgive us and clean us completely. Help us to truly follow you. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 7:11-12 And all the angels stood in a circle round the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell upon their faces before the throne, and worshiped God, saying: “So let it be. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God for ever and for ever. Amen.”

Well, we are back in First Church again. It’s the Sunday evening Praise and Worship Service, and they’ve got a great line – up for tonight! Jojo Brown has recovered from that weird experience a few weeks ago and is ready to do his new hit single “Glory to the Lamb!” Trisha, Jojo’s girl friend and the lead female singer, also plans to do two numbers. And the singing group, “The Power Prophets,” has several numbers that they intend to slip in along the line. The Power Prophets have new outfits for the occasion and they are READY! And the guys running the light show have some new effects they want to try out for the congregation.

But just as the praise band is playing the introduction to Jojo’s first number, Mama Gracie steps forward. You remember Mama Gracie – she’s the sweet little old lady who stays in the prayer room during Sunday morning services. Normally Mama Gracie never says anything but keeps her eyes on God instead. Mama Gracie steps next to Jojo and reaches for the microphone; mystified, Jojo gives it to her. Then Mama Gracie begins to pray, “Father God, I thank you that you want us to praise you tonight! I thank you that you are not interested in our clothing or our makeup but you are concerned about our hearts! Lord, I ask here and now that your Holy Spirit will come upon this place and that you will cause us to worship you in spirit and in truth! Let everything that is said and done here tonight glorify you and you alone. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen!”

There is dead silence in the huge auditorium. Suddenly, Jojo can’t remember the words to the song he was about to perform. The musicians are mute! The light show technicians find their minds are going blank. The Power Prophets can’t do anything. And then in one corner of the auditorium, a little girl begins to sing, “He is Lord! He is Lord! He has risen from the dead and He is Lord…” Suddenly the auditorium is filled with the sounds of people sobbing as they join in the chorus. Wave upon wave of song overtakes the congregation and the singing goes on for hours, interspersed with prayer. The musicians never touch their instruments. The Holy Spirit has come in answer to Mama Gracie’s prayer and real worship is taking place.

So much of what we call worship and praise is nothing more than slick performances. Much of the time, we are not glorifying God but exalting ourselves and showing off. Pastors complain that when they try to reason with their musicians, the musicians become offended claiming that they must hear from God and not from their pastor. But anything that has its roots in rebellion can never be an act of praise. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)

Surely heavenly worship should be a pattern for us. When the angels and the elders are worshiping God around the throne, they fall on their faces and glorify God. If this is a pattern for perfect worship, why have we turned worship in many churches into a performance? Whom are we worshiping? Worship is just as much a form of spiritual warfare as is prayer. Why, if we are warring against the powers of darkness, are we wasting time in performances that don’t make any changes spiritually?

Let us remember the song of those in heaven and sing with them, “ Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God for ever and for ever. Amen.”

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for loving us and for putting up with us. Forgive us for wasting precious time that we should use for worship. Cause us to turn away from meaningless performances and to worship you in spirit and in truth. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 7:4-8 “And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand were sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand.”

In John’s day, signets and seals were used to verify that someone was bearing the authority of an important person. Some seals were used to mark messengers and others so that they would be protected. As far back as the story of Cain and Abel, God placed a mark on Cain’s forehead so that nobody would kill him. The term “the mark of Cain” has generally been used in a very negative sense to indicate someone who was evil but who was being spared by God. Now God is describing placing His seal on specific numbers of people from each of the tribes of Israel with one exception: the tribe of Dan.

What do these numbers actually signify? William Barclay explains, “The number 144,000 stands, not for limitation but for completeness and perfection. It is made up of 12 multiplied by 12–the perfect square–and then rendered even more inclusive and complete by being multiplied by 1,000. This does not tell us that the number of the saved will be very small; it tells us that the number of the saved will be very great.” These numbers are not meant as a specific tally but to indicate that huge numbers of people will be saved and that God’s perfect will will be completed.

If you are familiar with the list of the tribes of Israel, you realize that the tribe of Dan is missing from these verses. Why? When Jacob was prophesying over his sons as he was dying, he said of Dan, “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward” (Genesis 49:17). It was in Dan that Jeroboam set up an enormous altar along with a statue of a golden calf to compete with the temple in Jerusalem. 1 Kings 12:26 – 29 tells the story. Today if you visit the site of ancient Dan, you can see the location of that enormous altar. Some Jewish traditions even claim that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan.

Revelation 7:9-10 After this I saw, and, behold, a great crowd, so great that none could count its number, drawn from every race and from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palms in their hands. And they shouted with a great voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated upon the throne and to the Lamb.”

Barclay comments: Here we have the beginning of the vision of the future blessedness of the martyrs.

(i) There is encouragement. There is coming upon the faithful a time of terror such as the world has never seen; and John is telling them that, if they endure to the end, the glory will be worth all the suffering. He is setting out how infinitely worthwhile it is in the long run to accept everything involved in the martyrdom which fidelity must undergo.

(ii) The number of the martyrs is beyond all counting. This may well be a memory of the promise that God made to Abraham that his descendants would one day be as the number of the stars in the heavens (Genesis 15:5), and as the sand of the seashore (Genesis 32:12); at the last the number of the true Israel will be beyond all reckoning.

(iii) John uses a phrase of which he is very fond. He says that God’s faithful ones will come from every race and tribe and people and tongue. Here is the promise that the day will come when all this motley crowd of many nations and many tongues will become the one flock of the Lord Christ.

(iv) It is in victory that the faithful finally arrive in the presence of God and of the Lamb. They appear, not weary, battered and worn, but victorious. The white robe is the sign of victory; a Roman general celebrated his triumph clothed in white. The palm is also the sign of victory. (My note: When Jesus was entering Jerusalem, the crowd waved palm branches.)

(v) The shout of the triumphant faithful ascribes salvation to God. It is God who has brought them through their trials and tribulations and distresses; and it is his glory which now they share. God is the great savior, the great deliverer of his people. And the deliverance which he gives is not the deliverance of escape but the deliverance of conquest. It is not a deliverance which saves a man from trouble but one which brings him triumphantly through trouble. It does not make life easy, but it makes life great. It is not part of the Christian hope to look for a life in which a man is saved from all trouble and distress; the Christian hope is that a man in Christ can endure any kind of trouble and distress, and remain erect all through them, and come out to glory on the other side.

PRAYER: Father God, help us to learn to know you and your Son Jesus Christ! Help us to follow hard after you all the days of our lives. And help us to be faithful, no matter the circumstances. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 7:1-3 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that the wind might not blow upon the earth, or upon the sea, or against any tree. And I saw another angel going up from where the sun rises, with a seal which belonged to the living God, and he shouted with a great voice to the four angels to whom was given power to harm the earth and the sea: “Do not harm the earth and the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”

Central America is reeling! Two enormous hurricanes within a few weeks of each other have devastated large areas. What Hurricane Eta did not destroy, Hurricane Iota did! Mudslides blocking roads and taking out entire villages, flooding of record proportions, destruction of farms and towns – Nobody in the paths of either hurricane has problems understanding what can happen if God does not restrain the wind!

We assume that John believed the earth to be flat, hence the mention of the four corners of the earth. But why such condescension? Perhaps God is actually describing a four dimensional universe, rather than a three dimensional one. William Barclay describes the traditional Jewish view of the winds: “It was the belief of the ancient peoples that the winds which came from due north, south, east and west were all favorable winds; but that those which blew diagonally across the earth were harmful. That is why the angels are at the corners of the earth. They are about to unleash the winds which blow diagonally. It was the common belief that all the forces of nature were under the charge of angels. So we read of the angel of the fire (Revelation 14:18) and the angel of the waters (Revelation 16:5). These angels were called “The Angels of Service.” They belonged to the very lowest order of angels, because they had to be continually on duty and, therefore, could not keep the Sabbath as a day of rest. Pious Israelites who faithfully observed the Law of the Sabbath were said to rank higher than these angels of service.”

From time immemorial, the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea have been buffeted by Sirocco winds. Sirocco winds come out of the southeast and have been described as carrying as much heat as the blast from a furnace. Throughout the Old Testament, these winds are mentioned in terms of horror. It was Sirocco winds that brought drought and devastation, shriveling crops and drying up water sources. The sound of the Sirocco was supposedly enough to drive men mad. God was giving John a vision in terms that John and those to whom he was writing would understand. No wonder that the end time, winds of devastation would be described as extra strong Sirocco winds!

The angel bearing the seal of God comes out of the East. There are many traditions associated with the eastern direction. The star telling of the birth of Messiah shone in the East. Traditionally, when Messiah comes, he is to enter Jerusalem by way of the Eastern Gate. God describes the angel as going up from the East because believers would recognize this angel as being a special messenger from God.

What is the significance of the seal? In John’s time, seals and signet rings were used to transact all business. In a previous teaching, we mentioned that Roman wills would be sewn together with seven threads and then wax would be applied to those threads and the seal of each of the seven witnesses to the will would be imprinted in the wax on a thread. Only when all seven of those witnesses or their delegated representatives were present could that will be opened. Jars of oil and wine were sealed and the imprint of their producer was placed on them as a guarantee. When Pharaoh delegated authority to Joseph, he gave him his signet ring. When King Ahasuerus gave authority to Haman, he gave him his signet ring.

God is instructing His angels to mark believers so that there will be no doubt that they are His. Does this mean that all believers will escape persecution and suffering? No. But if we are faithful and if God marks us as His own, one day we will be with Him in paradise.

PRAYER: Father God, thank you that no matter how terrible things become, you still know those who love you and who are following you. Help us to be numbered among the faithful! In the mighty and precious Name of Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 6:6:15-17 “And the kings of the earth and the great ones and the captains and the rich and the strong, and every slave and every free person hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the hills, and said to the mountains and to the rocks: “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

From the time the World Trade Center was opened on April 4, 1973, until September 11, 2001, when it was destroyed by terrorists, the Trade Center was considered one of the most prestigious work place addresses in Manhattan. At the time of their completion, the Twin Towers—the original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower), at 1,368 feet (417 m); and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower), at 1,362 feet (415.1 m)—were the tallest buildings in the world. Imagine then, the horror of those working in the Trade Center buildings when they looked out on the morning of September 11, 2001 to see huge airplanes heading straight for their buildings! Nobody working in those offices could have foreseen the scope of the disaster that was to overtake them and to turn them to twisted smoking rubble. The world lost a great deal on September 11, 2001. In addition to the loss of lives and property, the world lost a sense of safety that it has never regained.

Yes, September 11, 2001, was a day of terror; yet, nothing that happened that day can begin to compare with the end times when God brings an end to the earth. Again, we can turn to the Jewish prophets who described the coming of the Day of the Lord. William Barclay lists some of these prophecies:

“When the Day of the Lord came, men would be afraid; pangs and sorrows would take hold of them; they would be in pain as a woman who travails; and they would be amazed at one another (Isaiah 13:6; Isaiah 13:8). At that time even the mighty man would cry bitterly (Zephaniah 1:14). The inhabitants of the land would tremble (Joel 2:1). God would come to be a witness against his sinning people (Micah 1:1-4). He would be like a refiner’s fire, and who might abide the day of his coming? (Malachi 3:1-3). The Day of the Lord would be great and terrible, and who could endure it? (Joel 2:11). Men would say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us” (Hosea 10:8), words which Jesus quoted on the way to the Cross (Luke 23:30).

This passage has two significant things to say about this fear.

(i) It is universal. Revelation 6:15 speaks of the kings, the captains, the great ones, the rich, the strong, the slave and the free. It has been pointed out that these seven words include “the whole fabric of human society.” No one is exempt from the judgment of God. The great ones may well be the Roman governors who persecute the Church; the captains are the military authorities. However great a governor a man is and however much power he wields, he is still subject to the judgment of God. However rich a man may be, however strong, however free he may count himself, however much of a slave, however insignificant, he does not escape the judgment of God.

(ii) When the day of the Lord comes, John sees people seeking somewhere to hide. Here is the great truth that the first instinct of sin is to hide. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve sought to hide themselves (Genesis 3:8). H. B. Swete says:

“What sinners dread most is not death, but the revealed presence of God.” The terrible thing about sin is that it makes a man a fugitive from God; and the supreme thing about the work of Jesus Christ is that it puts a man into a relationship with God in which he no longer need seek to hide, knowing that he can cast himself on the love and the mercy of God.

(iii) We note one last thing. That from which men flee is the wrath of the Lamb. Here is paradox; we do not readily associate wrath with the Lamb but rather gentleness and kindness. But the wrath of God is the wrath of love, which is not out to destroy but even in anger is out to save the one it loves.

You might well ask, “What happens with people who are caught at this point? Can they still repent?” Remember the thief who was being crucified with Jesus? That man was a robber and a murderer and he knew that he was receiving a just punishment. Luke described the scene: One of the criminals who hung there heaped abuse on Him. “Are You not the Christ?” he said. “Save Yourself and us!” But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same judgment? We are punished justly, for we are receiving what our actions deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

That man repented and received the gift of eternal life. But the horror is the more times a man or woman repeatedly hardens his or her heart, the less likely it is that person will suddenly repent. Most people walk away from God gradually down a slippery slope that leads them progressively farther and farther away from God.

St. Paul warned all of us in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 “As God’s fellow workers,a then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!” None of us is promised tomorrow! When those workers entered the offices at the top of the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001, they had no idea that many of them would be dead within a few hours. DECIDE TODAY THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW JESUS THE CHRIST!

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for sending Jesus to die for our sins. Lord, help each of us to choose to follow you and to live for you. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 6:6:12-14 “I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the heaven fell upon the earth, as a fig-tree casts its figs, when it is shaken by a high wind; and the heavens were split like a roll that is rolled up, and the hills and islands were moved from their places.”

Much of the Book of Revelation has always confused or frightened those who have read it. It helps if you understand the background from which John was writing because as a Jewish believer, there were many parts of this vision that were foretold in the Old Testament or in the Apocryphal Books. William Barclay gives an extensive explanation, part of which we will consider here:

“The Jews always regarded the end as a time when the earth would be shattered and there would be cosmic upheaval and destruction. In the picture there are, as it were, five elements which can all be abundantly illustrated from the Old Testament and from the books written between the Testaments.

(i) There is the earthquake. At the coming of the Lord the earth will tremble (Amos 8:8). There will be a great shaking in the land of Israel (Ezekiel 38:19). The earth will quake and the heavens will tremble (Joel 2:10). God will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land (Haggai 2:6)…. The Jewish prophets and seers saw a time when earth would be shattered and a tide of destruction would flow over the old world before the new world was born.

(ii) There is the darkening of the sun and moon. The sun will set at midday, and earth will grow dark in the clear day light (Amos 8:9). The stars will not shine; the sun will be darkened in his going forth and the moon will not cause her light to shine (Isaiah 13:10). God will clothe the heavens with blackness and will make sackcloth their covering (Isaiah 50:3). …The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood (Joel 2:31).

(iii) There is the falling of the stars. To the Jew this idea was specially terrible, for the order of the heavens was the very guarantee of the unchanging fidelity of God. Take away the reliability of the heavens and there was nothing left but chaos. The angel tells Enoch to behold the heavens, to see how the heavenly bodies never change their orbits or transgress against their appointed order (Enoch 2:1). Enoch saw the chambers of the sun and moon, how they go out and come in, how they never leave their orbit, and add nothing to it and take nothing from it (Enoch 41:5). To the Jew the last word in chaos was a world of falling stars. But in the end time the host of heaven would be dissolved and fall down as the leaf falls from the vine and the fig from the fig-tree (Isaiah 34:4)….. The end will be a time when the most reliable things in the universe will become a disorderly and terrifying chaos.

(iv) There is the folding up of the heavens. The picture in this passage is of a roll stretched out and held open, and then suddenly split down the middle so that each half recoils and rolls up. God will shake the heavens (Isaiah 13:13). The heavens will be rolled together as a scroll (Isaiah 34:4). They will be changed like a garment and folded up (Psalms 102:25-26). At the end the eternal heavens themselves will be rent in two.

(v) There is the moving of the hills and of the islands of the sea. The mountains will tremble and the hills will be moved (Jeremiah 4:24). The mountains will quake and the hills will melt (Nahum 1:5). John saw a time when the most unshakable things would be shaken and when even rocky isles like Patmos would be lifted from their foundation.”

Barclay continues, “Strange as John’s pictures may seem to us, there is not a single detail which is not in the pictures of the end time in the Old Testament and in the books written between the Testaments. We must not think that these pictures are to be taken literally. Their point is that John is taking every terrifying thing that can be imagined and piling them all together to give a picture of the terrors of the end time. Today, with our increased scientific knowledge, we might well paint the picture in different terms; but it is not the picture that matters. What matters is the terrors which John and the Jewish seers foresaw when God would invade the earth when time was coming to an end.”

God is a good Father who does not play charades with His children. In giving John this vision, God used images with which John would already be familiar. Getting caught up in the details and demanding to know if God is REALLY going to do things exactly as described is senseless. At some point, time will come to an end. Each of us is not guaranteed our next breath. We are facing a question that will decide our destiny for eternity: Will we follow the One True Living God, or will we go our own way, heedless of the fact that our time on this earth is dwindling?

PRAYER: Father God, thank you that you are loving, that you are all – powerful, and that you have loved us so much that you have made a way for us to be with you forever in heaven. Help each person who reads this devotional to carefully weigh their lives and to give their entire devotion to you. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 6 Commentary – William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible

https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/revelation-6.html 6/6

The Fifth Seal: The Martyrs

Revelation 6:9 – 11 “And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.”

The news was so horrible that it was almost unthinkable! Groups of Christians in five different churches in northern Nigeria were peacefully worshiping on a Sunday morning when heavily armed Islamic terrorists stormed the churches. Men, women, children – all were slaughtered! Nobody was spared! And then the church building was burned. Sadly, scenes such as this one have become far more frequent in the last few years. In many parts of Africa, Christian girls have been abducted and forced into sexual slavery. In the southern Sudan, some Christians have even survived hanging on crosses for several hours, although their bodies are deformed from their ordeals.

In Russia and China, new restrictions are coming out for Christians on a daily basis. Anyone caught with a Bible or with a Christian video in North Korea will die a horrible death. One father was brought into the center of town and run over by bulldozers while his family was forced to look on. His crime? He had shown a Christian video to his family in the privacy of his own home.

Across Europe and America there is a rising tide of hatred for churches and Christians. Make no mistake! Anyone promising peace at the expense of religious freedom is only promising slavery!

“Well, I’m no martyr.” First Church had just let out their morning service and one well – dressed lady was addressing another. “I told them that I simply didn’t have time to help with Children’s Church. Besides, I am already helping plan a marriage seminar and a leadership conference. And what good does it do to work with children anyway? Let them make up their minds when they get older.” While First Church exists only in my imagination, regrettably the ideas expressed by this lady are quite common among American church goers. And the question raised is this: if terrorists stormed your church and threatened to kill you for your faith, what would you do? How would you answer? If you were really a disciple of Jesus, you would have to tell them to go ahead and kill you….. BUT WOULD YOU DO IT, OR WOULD YOU RENOUNCE CHRIST?

Remember what Jesus told the Church at Smyrna earlier in Revelation 2:10 “Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” John writing to new Christians advised them “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:3-5 John was writing those words to men and women who could face martyrdom at any point! Christians were being dragged into arenas to be torn apart by wild beasts. Other horrors awaited those who refused to swear allegiance to the Caesars as gods.

Jesus told his disciples, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21- 23

How are we to be faithful? Faith is not found in attending seminars or conferences! You can sit in meetings every day for the rest of your life and still not be a Christian.

Paul’s advice to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31 still rings true: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” YOU must put your entire trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, study the Bible, and pray. God has promised to give guidance to anyone who asks and God does not play favorites. But don’t postpone your decision! None of us knows the day or the hour in which we will step into eternity!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we thank you for your Word! We thank you for loving us so much that you bled and died for us at Calvary. Please help all who read this devotional to place absolute trust in you and to follow hard after you, even if it means physical death. In your mighty and precious Name, Jesus. Amen.