Ezekiel 40:1-5 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city—on that very day the hand of the Lord was on me and he took me there. 2 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. 3 He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. 4 The man said to me, “Son of man, look carefully and listen closely and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel everything you see.”
The Jews were in exile in Babylon, and had been there for many years. As far as anybody could tell, they were stuck in Babylon forever. There appeared to be no hope for change or improvement. Those who had gone into exile quoted a proverb that said, “”The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” (Ezekiel 18:2) The exiles were alive and no longer suffering as they had been; however, they were busy blaming their fathers and forefathers, conveniently ignoring the effect of their own sins. Blaming someone else for our problems is a very human thing and a hellishly easy habit to fall into. If we can only assign blame to someone else, then we don’t have to face up to our own contributions to our problems. And self – pity feels SO comforting! Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest” says that “self – pity is of the devil.” And it is in that setting that God gives Ezekiel a vision of a brand – new temple, a new Jerusalem, and a restored land of Israel.
Perhaps today you feel that you have lost everything. The job you once held has evaporated. You may have had to allow your house or car to go back to the bank because you could no longer make payments. While others are singing, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” you are cringing and thinking “I’m dreaming of a bleak Christmas.” If this is your situation, God wants you to know two things: you have a hope and a future, and God has magnificent plans for your life. But you must be on the lookout for divine provision because it can appear in strange ways. Sometimes God may bless you with selective poverty so that you don’t sink money into something that may turn out to be a disaster. The fancy car you have had to give up might have a fatal flaw that could cause an accident.
The last few chapters of Ezekiel make very heavy reading because they are mostly descriptions and measurements for a new temple and for the division of Israel when the Jews were to return to it. But the very precision of these descriptions meant that God was not joking and that in His time the Jews would return to Israel. God has not taken His Hand off your life any more than He did for the Jews in exile. The message of Advent is a message of hope.
PRAYER: Father thank you that even though life may look bleak for us right now, you are still our Provider. Help us not to fall into self – pity but to trust that you do have a plan for our lives and that you can work things out for our good. Please give us the faith to trust where we cannot see, and to look for the ways you are already working in our lives. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Revelation 10:10:8-11 And I heard the voice which I had heard from heaven speaking again to me and saying: “Go, take the little roll which lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” And I went away to the angel and asked him to give me the little roll. He said to me: “Take it and eat it. It will be bitter to your stomach but it will be as sweet as honey to your mouth.” And I took the little roll from the hand of the angel and ate it; and it was as sweet as honey to my mouth and, when I ate it, it was bitter to my stomach. And they said to me: “You must prophesy in regard to many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
Although John has been forbidden from writing down the message spoken by the seven thunder, he is now being given the opportunity to prophesy about the things that are about to happen all over the earth. Twice John is ordered to take the small roll (scroll) and he has to ask the angel before the angel gives it to him. God does not force Himself on anyone, neither is revelation forced on anyone. The whole universe tilts on the axis of free will; God has given men freedom to choose good from evil and to move toward Him or away from Him. Witchcraft and sorcery, on the other hand, have at their root the desire to control – to control people, demons, circumstances, the weather, nations, etc.
John is told to take the scroll and to eat it. The idea is that this prophesy will become an integral part of John’s body, something that he cannot possibly deny. In a sense, John will become a walking prophecy. The prophet Ezekiel had a similar experience that he described in Ezekiel 3 when he was fed a scroll. In both cases, the scroll is described as being as sweet as honey. Traditionally, when Jewish boys were learning to read, they were given sweet things as a reward for learning. The idea was to impress the boy that knowledge was sweet. Since John came from an observant Jewish background and was obviously literate, he might have had a similar experience when he was a child.
But the angel warns John that once John eats the scroll, it will give him indigestion! The words of the scroll are sweet because they are coming from God, but the prophecies John will be making are fearful ones. Remember that John lived in a time of great uncertainty. Armies such as the Parthians could suddenly appear on the horizon, bringing bloodshed and havoc. The Romans might decide that someone posed a threat to the Pax Romanus, the Roman Peace, and crucify them. Jesus was by no means the first person or the only person to be crucified by the Romans; crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment. About the time of Jesus, there was a rebellion and 400 of the rebels were crucified. And John has already glimpsed some of the horrors that will come upon the earth during the end times. No wonder that the scroll gave John abdominal pains!
What are we to learn from these few verses? Today there are many men and women who claim to be prophets but who are fakes and charlatans. Prophecy is not a mantle to be lightly assumed but a high and holy calling that demands everything the prophet can give. If you study the lives of the prophets in the Bible, you find that most of them suffered a great deal and many also died gruesome deaths. Haggai married an unfaithful prostitute upon God’s orders. Isaiah might have been sawed in two. Jeremiah was thrown into prison and at one point was dumped into a well full of muck, into which he was sinking when one of the king’s servants saved him. No! Prophecy is not merely a career; it is a calling, and one that you had better be sure of.
At the same time, remember that John was the disciple closest to Jesus. It was John of all the disciples who lived to an old age and who was granted the incredible privilege of receiving the vision that we know as the Book of Revelation. What a gift! But also remember that John was sitting on a bare rocky island as a prisoner when he had that vision. None of us can escape suffering; it is a part of life. But if we are faithful to follow God, He will give us visions of glory that will make the suffering worthwhile.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to die for our sins. Thank you that you have made a way for us to be with you forever, if we will only believe in you and in what Jesus has done for us. Thank you for loving us even though we are sinners and thank you that if we confess our sins, you rare faithful and just to forgive our sins. Help us to learn the lessons you have for us in Revelation. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Revelation 10:1 – 7 “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.
When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven. And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants, the prophets.”
John has been watching with horror as demons have swarmed over the earth, but now God is sending His messenger angel. Who is this messenger? All that we know is that this is one of God’s trusted couriers; this angel must be very close to God. The rainbow is part of the throne of God. Ezekiel described God this way: “Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire, and on the throne high above was a figure like that of a man. From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him. The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.”
This angel has one foot on the sea and the other on the land, indicating that God is sovereign over all creation. The angel’s voice is like the roar of a lion and when he speaks, the seven thunders cry out. John, who is listening to all this, immediately wants to write down the messages the seven thunders are speaking, but a voice from heaven tells John to seal up what the seven thunders have said and not to write it down. Not every revelation is to be shared as soon as it has been given! There are visions and messages that are given years in advance; this does not mean that the person who has the vision should run out and share it. This is the age of social media, and some people are willing to share all their intimate details, including their meals, complete with photos. But timing is vitally important. God told the prophet Habakkuk when he was complaining about not seeing results as quickly as he wished, “For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end, and will not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3
The angelic messenger reassures John, “And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants, the prophets.” God is still on His throne and His timing is perfect.
William Barclay comments, “The meaning is that the whole purpose of God in human history will stand revealed. Much in life is difficult to understand; wickedness seems to hold sway. But, as John saw it, there is going to be a final show-down. God and Antichrist, good and evil, will face each other; final and total victory will be won, the questions will find their answers and the wrongs will be righted. Beyond all the strangeness of the picture stands the truth that history is moving towards the inevitable triumph of God and that, though evil may flourish, it cannot in the end be triumphant.”
Why do so many of us love to watch old Western movies? We watch in anticipation that sooner or later, the good guys in the white hats are going to show up and right all the wrongs, rescue the captives, and clean up all the messes. Unrealistic as those movies are, there is one thing that is true about those plots: There is a God of the universe whose nature encompasses all goodness, righteousness, truthfulness, faithfulness, and every other virtue. The One True Living God is all-powerful and all-loving. And one day, God IS going to come in and finally settle all the messes! On that day, what color hat will each of us be wearing? Will we be wearing white hats, indicating that we are on God’s side, or will we be wearing black hats? Spoiler Alert: better be sure you are found serving God and wearing a white hat!
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for these scriptures, even though they are sometimes hard to understand. Thank you that you ARE a God of Justice and that you WILL make everything right! Help us to love you and to serve you all the days of our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. 9 For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10 I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and [d]bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
Israel had already gone into captivity, and soon Jerusalem would be completely destroyed. Only those in extreme denial could possibly believe that Babylon was not going to overrun Jerusalem. And from Babylon, where he was already with other exiles, Ezekiel had been sending extreme warning messages. But now in Chapter 36 Ezekiel does a 180 – degree shift and begins to prophecy wonderful things for the Children of Israel. Now Ezekiel’s messages are of healing and restoration and hope. In fact, these prophecies did come true. Israel was re – settled, and by the time of Jesus, it was heavily populated with the land under intense cultivation. In modern – day Israel there are lots of olive trees that have survived since the time of Jesus, many of them still bearing fruit.
Perhaps today you feel that all your hopes and dreams lie trampled in the dust. Circumstances beyond your control have overtaken you and you feel crushed. For you, the commercialism of the Christmas advertisements merely serves to underscore the fact that your family’s stockings will not be bulging with small gifts and candy on Christmas morning. At this point, your choices may have been reduced to purchasing a “Charlie Brown” type Christmas tree that nobody else wants or feeding your family. You really are losing all hope.
If this description fits your current situation, do not despair! God is still on the throne, and He still can provide. We have always served with “faith missions,” depending totally on donations for our income. For more than 31 years God has continued to supply our needs in this fashion. In the summer of 1993, my husband and I drove the hospital Land Cruiser to Accra to purchase drugs and other supplies. As we parked the vehicle on a main street in Accra, we suddenly heard hissing sounds coming from all four tires! Inspection confirmed it; all of the tires on the vehicle were spoiled! Even in those days, tires for an SUV were expensive, and the hospital had no funds for replacing them. And this was well before the days of cell phones, e – mail, WhatsApp, etc. In those days, we had to make arrangements before we could call the U.S. But two months earlier, someone had made a totally unexpected donation to our mission group. Somehow, we not only found out about this donation, but the mission was also able to wire the money so that we could purchase five new tires and a rim, giving us two spare tires. (One year later, Bob was returning from Yendi during the Northern Ethnic Conflict when both tires on the right – hand side of the vehicle spoiled. Those two spare tires came in very handy at that point!)
One of our old – time missionary friends was fond of saying that “God supplies our needs, but not necessarily our wants.” Look around you! God is no respecter of persons; He doesn’t play favorites. St. Paul could real off a long list of sufferings, but he also could advise in Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
PRAYER: Father, today many of us are anxious! We aren’t sure how we are going to handle our bills. Our families are in need. Our children are complaining. Frankly, Father, we are at our wits’ end! But you have promised to care for us and to bring restoration and hope. Father, help us! And also help us to recognize that assistance may come from a totally unexpected direction, and that You have better plans for us than we do for ourselves. In the matchless Name of Jesus, Amen.
Revelation 9:13-21 “The sixth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet and I heard a voice from the four horns of the altar saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So there came the four angels who were prepared for that hour and day and month and year, to kill a third part of the human race. The number of the armed forces of cavalry was twenty thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number, and this was how I saw in appearance the horses and those who were seated on them. They had breastplates of fiery red, and smoky blue, and sulfurous yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths there issued fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three plagues they killed a third part of the human race, with the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which were issuing from their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like snakes with heads, and with them they inflict their hurt. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, even in spite of this did not repent of the deeds of their hands, so as to cease to worship demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither hear nor see nor move; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts.”
The demonic locusts have attacked everyone in the human race who does not have the seal of God on their foreheads, but the locusts were only able to sting for 5 months, the life span of the average locust. But now new horrors are arising! At the blast of the sixth trumpet, four powerful angels are released and now hell is really going to break loose. One third of the human race are about to die!
Who are these angels and what is the significance of the River Euphrates? There are many suggestions. Barclay says, “The Euphrates was the ideal boundary of the territory of Israel. It was God’s promise to Abraham: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates”. The angels, therefore, came from the distant lands, from the alien and hostile places from which the Assyrians and the Babylonians had in time past descended with destruction upon Israel.”
Throughout the world, there are territorial demons who attempt to control the evil done in their areas. In Daniel 10: 19-21 an angel comes to give Daniel an interpretation for a vision he has had. Daniel 10:19 “As he spoke with me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.” “Do you know why I have come to you?” he said. “I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But first I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth. Yet no one has the courage to support me against these, except Michael, your prince.” The prince of Persia referred to here is undoubtedly the territorial demon assigned to Persia, and the prince of Greece is the territorial demon assigned to Greece. These angels at the River Euphrates were bound; i.e., they were chained there. Only evil disobedient angels would require being bound, so these are evil angels. It is a horrible mistake to assume that all angels are good; one third of the angels accompanied Satan when he fell from heaven. It is also vital to remember that Satan can masquerade as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
In the time of John, the Parthian cavalry was the most feared cavalry in the world. In World War II, the Germans used the term “blitzkrieg” or “lightning war.” The Parthians specialized in lightning – fast destruction, and God might have used John’s knowledge of the Parthians to help him describe what he was seeing in the vision. Some Bible teachers speak as if John was making all of this up; I feel John was trying to describe the vision as honestly as he could.
Revelation 9:20-21 “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, even in spite of this did not repent of the deeds of their hands, so as to cease to worship demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither hear nor see nor move; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts.”
What is the significance of the number of the hellish cavalry? The numbers mentioned here simply indicate that the number was countless and beyond all reckoning. Are these demonic horses fighter planes or some other kind of aircraft?Those details are not important! What is important is that one third of the human race dies in these attacks. Despite the fact that God is giving the survivors of these attacks one last chance to turn to Him, the remaining two thirds persist in pursuing their substitute gods and in murder, sorcery, immorality, and thefts.
As we read these passages, the question we must answer is this: what are we worshiping? If you are worshiping anything less than the One True Living God, today is your opportunity to change! Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow!
PRAYER: Father God, let us turn our hearts to you! Let us stop fixating and obsessing on careers, on houses, on relationships, on wealth, or on anything else that we have made into an idol. Let all who read these words truly come to know your Son Jesus as Savior and Lord and Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Jeremiah 1:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Wow! This is the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry and God tells him that God had already set Jeremiah apart for a special ministry, even before Jeremiah was a fetus! What an endorsement! How you can beat that vote of confidence? If a young person heard that kind of a prophecy today, they would be having visions of TV shows with lots of special effects. But hold on! Because God has something totally different in mind. From the beginning, God knew that His Chosen People were going to misbehave, despite all of his warnings. (Check out Deuteronomy 32 for God’s warnings to Israel. He doesn’t mince any words!) And now, guess who gets chosen to inform the nation that it’s payback time for abandoning the God of their salvation?
17 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. 18 Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.
We live in an age in which doing the right thing us may cause us to get sued, to lose business, lose jobs, lose all our possessions, or even be killed if we try to report the truth about a prominent political figure. The temptation to just keep quiet, to go along to get along, can be incredibly strong! How can we risk our family’s health and well – being? Many times, we feel like Tevia, the Milkman, in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “God, I know we are your chosen people, but couldn’t you choose someone else for a change?” And Jeremiah must have felt the same way. Jeremiah was a priest, for goodness’ sake! All he had to do was to just mouth nice platitudes and everybody would have approved. But denying the Word of the Lord was an impossibility for Jeremiah. “But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” Jeremiah 20:9. So Jeremiah followed the Lord, even when it meant accompanying the exiles from Jerusalem into Egypt, even though God had warned them never to go back to Egypt. Many times Jeremiah must have rolled his eyes heavenward and muttered the Aramaic equivalent of “Oi weh!” (Yiddish for “Oh misery!”)
Perhaps today you find yourself in the same position as Jeremiah. You took a stand for righteousness and now everything has fallen apart. The people you thought were your friends have abandoned you. Your name is being trashed on social media. Your teenagers are getting bullied at school. And you are left wondering why you couldn’t have just kept quiet. But remember, God sees. God knows. Your struggles have not been in vain, and God still has His hand on your life.
Lamentations 3:20 – 25 Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. 21 This I recall to my mind, and therefore I have hope. 22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses [a]indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the [b]person who seeks Him.”
PRAYER: Father, today there are many of us who are suffering for righteousness’ sake, and it is terribly hard! We see no hope in our situation. But you are a God of infinite resources, and you have promised to honor those who honor you. Come into our situations and light the darkness. Provide the things that are needful! And above all else, Father, give us hope! In the matchless name of your Son our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Revelation 9:9:1,2 “The fifth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet, and I saw a star failing from heaven on the earth, and to him there was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless abyss; and he opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke went up from the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss.”
How could a star receive a key? In traditional Jewish thought, stars were divine beings who could become disobedient or even evil. C. S. Lewis in his book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader uses this concept with great effect. Evidently, this star has been found faithful and true because he is given the key of the shaft of the bottomless abyss, to open it.
What is the abyss? Here, we again turn to William Barclay:The abyss is the intermediate place of punishment of the fallen angels, the demons, the beast, the false prophet and of Satan. Their final place of punishment is the lake of burning fire and brimstone. To complete the picture of these terrors we may add that Gehenna–which is not mentioned in the Revelation–is the place of punishment for evil men.
In the beginning it (the abyss)was the place of the imprisoned waters…The second step was that the abyss became the abode of the enemies of God, although even there they were not beyond his power and control. Next the abyss came to be thought of as a great chasm in the earth. The Apocryphal Book of Enoch contains grim descriptions of it. It has no firmament above and no firm earth beneath; it has no water; it has no birds; it is a waste and horrible place, the end of heaven and earth. It is chaotic. There is a fire which blazes and a cleft into the abyss whose magnitude passes all conjecture….
Will this vision come to pass literally? My personal response is “Why not?” But the important thing is that no matter what we think, the opening of the abyss will herald the advent of demonic forces previously beyond all imagination.
Revelation 9:3-12 From the smoke locusts came forth upon the earth, and they were given power like the power of the scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only such men as had not the seal of God upon their forehead. They were not permitted to kill them, but to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it strikes a man; and in those days men will seek for death and not be able to find it;and they will long to die but death flees from them. In likeness the locusts were like horses prepared for battle; on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human faces and they had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had scales like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses running to battle. They have tails like scorpions with stings, and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. As king over them they have the angel of the bottomless abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Appolyon. The first woe has passed. Behold, there are still two woes to follow it.
Nobody who has ever had a scorpion sting forgets it! The scorpion venom feels like fire – a burning pain that can drive someone crazy. And God is allowing these locusts to sting for five months… but notice something. The only people the locusts are allowed to attack are those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. What does this mean?The Book of Revelation has caused all kinds of arguments; however, it is obvious that even in this time when demonic powers have been released to trouble the earth and its inhabitants, there are still those who serve the one true living God and have His seal of approval.
We will speak more about these horrors tomorrow, but remember this: throughout all of these trials and torments, God is still on the throne and He still knows those who are His. The question each of us must face is this: do we belong to God? Do we have His seal on our foreheads?
PRAYER: Father God, please help everyone who reads this devotional to understand that these are NOT fairy tales and that you have meant every word! Help all who read this to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It’s in His mighty Name that we pray. Amen.
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 ofthe 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.
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