Monday, December 21, 2009

Revelation 16 -- Judgment Delivered

The seven bowls of God's wrath are poured poured out in this chapter and it is bad news for those left on earth. The seas and rivers all become toxic. The sun burns people to a crisp, and there is an earth quake to end all earthquakes. To finish off the wrath there is a hailstorm with 100 pound hailstones falling from the sky. Destruction is upon the face of the earth, yet the people do not repent. In fact they get mad at God for causing all this to happen.

It would be easy to read this and think, those foolish people. All around them is the work and power of God in full display and they do not turn their hearts to God. I wonder how we would respond, or better yet how we do respond. The coming judgment is real, and will happen when God determines the time has come, but we do not need to wait until then to fall hopelessly in love with God through Jesus Christ. Honestly if we are not willing to do it now, we won't be willing to do it then.

I have no idea if the scenes painted for us in Revelation 16 are literal or figurative, some will argue this, but I do not think it matters. What matters is the day is coming when God is going to settle accounts with all creation. In that day there will only be two types of people, those who are devoted to God, and those who are not. For those who are not, they might not be out and out evil, they might even be church attenders, but it will be a bad day nonetheless. The book of Revelation writes about things yet to come, but we must be ready today.

In a few short days we will celebrate Jesus arrival on earth. The God of eternity breaking through into creation that we might be ready when that day comes. Still we fritter away the days in meaningless pursuits, and we are not constantly ready for that day. The time of preparation is now, Jesus is coming, are you ready?

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