SEVEN ANGELS AND THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH: ANGEL FOUR

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him.

Revelation 16:8-9

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Once each of the seven angels began to pour out their respective bowls of God’s final wrath and judgment on the earth and the unbelievers who lived on it, it was obvious that it couldn’t get much worse.

First, all those who chose to reject God, those whose names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life were covered with “ugly, festering sores” as the first bowl was spilled out (Revelation 16:2).

Then, after bowls two and three were poured out, all water on earth, whether ocean or river or spring, was turned to blood, leaving nothing else to drink or bathe in. This was payback for all the persecution and killing of Christians by those who chose to worship the beast, an emissary of Satan, and were marked through this allegiance (Vv. 3-7).

These were terrifying and horrific experiences as God’s power to bring punishment were on full display and the bad news for the unbelievers of the earth was that there were still four more bowls to be poured and number four was about to bring the worst yet. Let’s look at verses 8 and 9 of this chapter:

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him.

We know that God has created everything in Heaven and on earth. In regard to space, He has placed everything in a perfect place to include the planets and the stars. This includes the placement of the earth in proximity to the sun that provides warmth and important special light that helps things grow.

If the sun was too away from the earth, it would be a polar wasteland, unable to support life, and if it was too close, no living thing could go without being utterly incinerated. And so every day, we should take time to give thanks for God’s grand design and how He has put everything in place so that we can live and survive.

Today’s passage serves as a reminder that the God who placed all the planets in orbit has the power to alter these entities. In this case, the fourth bowl of wrath is poured out by its angel “on the sun” and this unleashes an increased intensity of solar power on the earth. The scriptures tell us that all the unbelievers were scorched with fire and “seared by the intense heat”.

When I read that word “seared”, it drew my attention to when I cook a steak or other meat. Usually, I first place whatever I am cooking in the skillet at a high heat and the meat is darkened or seared on its surface before I place it in the oven to bake. The action is supposed to seal in the juices of the meat as it cooks.

Here, we’re not talking about meat searing but human flesh and the mere thought is totally scary and incredibly painful, and you would think that this fourth judgment imposed by God would bring every single non-believer to their knees, changing their allegiance to Him and His Son Jesus, but as we see, that didn’t happen.

...they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him.

When the first bowl of wrath was poured and the unbelievers were afflicted by the torturous sores over their bodies, I mentioned in that message how the penalty reminded me of what happened to Job in the book that bears his name. The big difference was that God didn’t make Job suffer out of punishment but rather testing.

Here, as we look at the aftermath of the fourth bowl, we can see another contrast between the Job story and this judgment on the unbelievers at the close of the Great Tribulation period. For while Job refused to curse God despite the misery and anguish he experienced, we see where the unbelievers on earth didn’t hesitate to curse “the name of God” over being scorched by the sun’s rays, a plague He authorized and controlled. And if they cursed God, you know how much they were under the control of Satan, the evil one who would have convinced them to do such a thing.

And so the unbelievers on earth turned further away from God, refusing to “repent and glorify Him. In other words, they just invited the next three judgments to come and tomorrow, we will look at the events triggered when the fifth bowl is emptied.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

SEVEN ANGELS AND THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH: ANGELS TWO AND THREE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, You who are and who were; for they have shed the blood of Your holy people and Your prophets, and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”

Revelation 16:3-7

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we saw how the first bowl of wrath that was poured out by its assigned angel brought immediate agony and suffering on all “people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image”. This terrible affliction came in the form of “ugly, festering sores” that “broke out” all over their bodies. The misery that Job, a devout God believer, had experienced in the Old Testament was now amplified and shared by a multitude of unbelievers.

Now, this was just the first of the seven final judgments that God was bringing on the earth and as we see in today’s message, the second and third wraths removed any viable water source. Look again at these words from verses 3 through 7 of Revelation, chapter 16:

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, You who are and who were; for they have shed the blood of Your holy people and Your prophets, and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”

Before we get into the impact of the second and third judgments being poured out on the world, we need to go back in Revelation to chapter 8 and the judgment brought by the second of seven angels who each blew a trumpet that unleashed punishment from God. Here’s what we find there:

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Vv. 8-9

With this, we know a third of the ocean was “turned into blood” and this led to “a third of the living creatures in the seas” to perish. Now, as the second angel poured out its bowl of wrath, the other two thirds of the ocean turned to blood “like that of a dead person”, killing the remaining sea creatures.

Can you even imagine this?

Approximately 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by ocean waters and after this second bowl of wrath is poured out, seventy percent of the world will be covered with a sea of blood, eradicating all living things within.

No more whales or sharks or dolphins. Nothing we know of in the sea will remain alive. And if this isn’t terrifying enough, we see that when the third angels pours out its bowl of wrath “on the rivers and springs of water” (that is, all other waters that weren’t ocean), they too would become blood. And so everywhere there once was water, there now would be blood.

Think about turning on your kitchen faucet to draw water to cook and all that came out was blood. Ditto for showering or washing clothes.

This is what it will be like for those unbelievers on the earth during these second and third judgments.

So why all the blood?

We go to our scripture passage and the “angel in charge of the waters” for the answer. For we read where the evildoers who rejected God and Jesus, instead choosing to persecute and maim and kill their prophets and disciples, would now drink the blood that they reaped, getting “as they deserve”.  

Further, this penalty was proper and fair because it came from the Lord God Almighty whose judgments are always perfectly “true and just”.

A world full of believers left covered in gruesome, infected sores now left with blood where there was once water.

This is where things will be before the fourth bowl of judgment is poured out and we will see what comes with that in tomorrow’s message.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

SEVEN ANGELS AND THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH: ANGEL ONE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

After this I looked, and I saw in Heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

Revelation 15:5-8, 16:1-2

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

At the beginning of Revelation, chapter 15, we are introduced to seven angels who are seen by John in Heaven. We read where each had a plague which would represent a judgment from God to send on the earth and once each had dispatched their respected afflictions, the wrath of God would be completed (v.1).

This sighting was followed by a wonderful worship service as “those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name” played “harps given” to “them by God” and “sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb”, a song which went like this:

“Great and marvelous are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear You, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” Vv. 3-4

And with that, the stage was set for the final judgments to take place. Here’s what we find in the closing verses of chapter 15 and the opening two verses of the next chapter:

After this I looked, and I saw in Heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

Here we find the seven angels being equipped and then dispatched to do the bidding of the Lord and as we read John sharing his vision, we learn that each angel was “dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests”. We then read where “one of the four living creatures” provided each angel a golden bowl that was “filled with the wrath of God”, the eternal One who “who lives forever and ever”.

As soon as this happened, John saw “the temple” fill up “with smoke from the glory of God and from His power” and because of this, “no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed” or in other words, until God’s final set of judgments had been carried out.

And with that, “a loud voice from the temple” commanded the “seven angels” to go and “pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth”, and the first angel got things started. The scriptures tell us that he “went and poured out his bowl on the land” which caused “ugly, festering sores” to break out on all “the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image”. They quickly learned there was a steep price to pay for sinfully giving their devotion to anyone other than the one and only God.

As I read this, I was reminded of the miserable affliction that Job endured, one that also involved sores all over his body from head to foot. If you’ve ever had one infected sore, you know how nasty and painful they can be. Imagine having your entire body covered with them and you can get a sense of the immense suffering this judgment will unleash on all unbelievers.

And to think that this is just the first bowl of wrath poured out. Six more remain and tomorrow, we’ll look at the second of the seven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com

A SONG FROM THE REDEEMED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I saw in Heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Revelation 15:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Book of Revelation is one punctuated by the ultimate bad news as well as the ultimate good news.

The bad news is that God is fed up with the wickedness and evil of the world as people have turned away from Him en masse and embraced a life of sin. In Revelation, we find His patience run out as He sends all who refused to believe in His Son to languish for all eternity in Hell before destroying the earth and heavens as we know it to start over and make all things new.

The good news is that all who placed their belief in Jesus, those who are called Christians, will be saved, rescued from Hell and the destruction of the earth and heavens to take up new residence in the glory of the New Jerusalem, the only city needed in the new earth. It’s this latter truth that reminds us why the Gospel of salvation is literally translated to mean “good news”.

This distinction between good and bad endings for the people of the world was represented in yesterday’s message as we saw two separate wieldings of two separate sickles, each rendering results that were polar opposites of one another.

The sickle used by Jesus, the Son of man, represented the harvesting of all who placed their belief in Him as Savior, those whose names were found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Conversely, the sickle swung by an angel who emerged from Heaven harvested all unbelievers who were represented by grapes that were then placed into a winepress. There, they had the lifeblood squeezed out of them and perished at the hands of the God they disregarded and disrespected.

As we turn from these events in Revelation, chapter 14, we find yet another wonderful worship scene that took place right before God’s final acts of judgment were unleashed in the form of seven angels with seven bowls filled with His wrath. Look again at the first four verses of Revelation 15 and this beautiful time of praise and honor levied toward the only One worthy to receive it:

I saw in Heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

It’s important to continue that we are receiving a vision from John, the same John who wrote the last of the four Gospels, as he follows the orders of Jesus to write down what he witnesses.

After watching the harvesting of the two sickles, we find John seeing “another great and marvelous sign” as he peers toward “Heaven”. There, he saw “seven angels with the seven last plagues”, the word “last” used because “God’s wrath” would be completed after the seventh bowl was emptied out with its associated plague (more on that in a later message).

John also sees “what looked like” a “sea of glass glowing with fire”. The sight was so amazing that he did his best to try and describe it but it’s obvious it was unlike anything he had seen before. We should recall that John did see something like a sea of glass before but this wasn’t the same (Revelation 4:6).

Around this “sea of glass”, John sees “those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name”. These were the people who remained steadfast in their belief in Jesus as Savior, refusing to bow down to the Satan-led minions of evil, the beast and his accomplice, the false prophet.

The scriptures tell us that this body of the redeemed, “held harps given them by God” and joined their voices together as a mighty choir while singing “the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb”.

What were the lyrics to that song?

Thankfully, the Lord tells us in His Word:

“Great and marvelous are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Here, we find a celebration of all the best found in the Lord God Almighty, the Maker and Master of all things. For indeed, we can always praise Him for the following:

1. His great and marvelous deeds.

This truth should draw us back to the words of James, Jesus’ half-brother, who wrote:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (1:17).

As the saying goes, He (God) is good, all the time, and all the time, He (God) is good, and this good God is always working things out for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). His right and righteous acts have been revealed to all the nations and so no one can say that they don’t know God or of His goodness.

With this, let’s join with the choir of the saved in our passage today and give God our thanksgiving.

2. His truthful ways.

Where Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), God is the Father of truth. He is perfect in every way and therefore sinless. Being deceitful is not in His character and we can rejoice in this for when we come to God, we can do so in absolute trust.

This brings all Christ followers a confidence that we can rejoice and be glad in.

3. He alone is holy.

We already affirmed the perfect nature of God and this is what sets Him apart from anyone or anything else. There is no one or nothing like our God. He stands alone with no rival when it comes to sanctity. And He calls all those who place their faith in Him to seek to be as He is, to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). The only way a sinful believer can begin to separate themselves from the world they live in is to strive to be like the One who is not of this world. When they do, devoting themselves to the Creator more than created things, then He will consecrate them so that they will stand out from those who choose not to believe.  

Friends, there is no one like our God and so it’s easy to see how the choir would ask this question in their song:

“Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to Your name?”

Those who know Him will have no hesitation in worshiping Him, the One who didn’t wish for them to perish but rather have eternal life through His Son. As I write these words, I am so glad I’m counted in that number and I pray you feel the same.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be bnlessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

TWO SICKLES, TWO HARVESTS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of man with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So He who was seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in Heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

Revelation 14:14-20

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The message in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation up to today’s passage has been about a choice that hinged on Jesus. The people of the earth could choose to believe in Jesus and therefore seal their eternal life in Heaven with their Savior and the Father God who sent Him to bear the sin of the world or they could choose to reject Jesus, favoring the world and its ways over Him while worshiping the things of Satan which included the two beasts who were doing his bidding during the three and a half year period of the Great Tribulation. This would punch their ticket to a future life of everlasting darkness, torment, and damnation in Hell.

Obviously one was the better and here’s what we found the Spirit from Heaven affirm about all those who would place their hope in Christ:

“Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” v.13

So the stage was set for what was coming for as we turn to verse 14 and read through the end of this chapter, we find two very different harvests happening that involve the people of the earth. Look again at those words here:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of man with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So He who was seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in Heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. Vv.14-20

Before I start, this passage, like other places in this book, has a variety of interpretations. The truth of the matter is that no one exactly understands what will happen in regard to many of the apocalyptic events and that’s okay. The Word of God often doesn’t reveal everything to its readers as He reserves some things to be revealed in His perfect time.

With this, here’s the best I can decipher what we’re reading, prayerfully allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me as I do with every message I write.

To begin, after meditating over the passage, I believe there are two separate harvests that will happen and both are driven by the choice to either follow or reject Jesus.

First, John shares a vision of “one like a Son of man” who was on “a white cloud” before him. The Son of man had “a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in His hand”.

Now, going back to the first chapter in this book, we find the following about Jesus:

“Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him” v.7

Further, John has used the title, “Son of man”, before to describe Jesus, twelve times to be exact in the Gospel that bears his name. It wouldn’t make sense for him to use it to describe any other person after attaching it to Jesus lest placing another at the level of the very Son of God Himself.

Additionally, when Jesus ascended, He sat at the right hand of God the Father after having been given “authority in Heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Indeed, He was elevated to be the King of all kings and Lord of all lords, a truth that aligns with the Son of man wearing “a crown of god on his head”.

Finally, as we see in this first half of our passage, the Son of man has a symbolic “sharp sickle” in his hand to use in harvesting all those who placed their belief in Him from the earth. This act was instituted by the “angel” who emerged “out of the temple” to command the Son of man (Jesus) to “take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe”. In other words, the time for people to repent and turn to Jesus had ended. Those who placed their hope in Him would be “harvested” and saved from God’s wrath and judgment.

As for those who chose to turn down Jesus, we read where they had their own harvest, one with deadly circumstances. For the scriptures tell us that “another angel came out of the temple in Heaven” with his own “sharp sickle”. He received orders from “still another angel, who had charge of the fire” which “came from the altar” and “called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle”, commanding:

“Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”

These grapes were none other than the non-believers on the earth and as “the angel swung his sickle on the earth” he “gathered” up those who refused to believe in Jesus (the grapes” and cast them into “the great winepress of God’s wrath”. There, they were “trampled in the winepress outside the city” and their “blood flowed out of the press” like a mighty wave that rose “as high as the horses’ bridles” for a “distance of 1,600 stadia”. The latter part of this is largely thought to be symbolic in nature but no can really say for sure. The point is that there will be a high price to be paid when the wrath of God is unleashed on the earth against those who chose to be His enemies.

As we have seen in many other places in Revelation up to this juncture, those who read this book and are in Christ Jesus can rest easy that they will miss out on the horrific events that will be sent on the world during the end times. I’m convinced that this is why we read these words at the very start of chapter one:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

DAMNED OR BLESSED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Revelation 14:13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The sum of the messages from the three angels in Revelation 14 was clear. The people of the world had a choice to make.

Either they could follow Satan and the two beasts who served as his evil accomplices bent on misleading all the world’s people by false teaching with the goal of securing them a place in Hell forever.

Or they could choose to follow the Lord, the Maker and Master over all creation and the only One who could lead them to salvation and eternal life in Heaven.

Each of these options required sacrifice.

Unbelievers sacrifice a relationship with their only Savior in order to enjoy the ways of the world that they see as more appealing. These people actually fear death because it means the end of indulging in their own desires and the world’s pleasures.

Conversely, Christians choose to give up the world in order gain everything a person could ever hope for or need. They realize that the best life ever isn’t to be found here on earth but is rather deferred until the day they die, the day they spend their last day in this world. They fully understand that anything good they experience in this worldly life will never compare to the glorious majesty and blessedness of the everlasting life of light and love found in Heaven.

With these truths as a backdrop, let’s now turn to our single verse from our continuing study of Revelation, chapter 14, one that reinforces the blessedness that is in store for every resurrected soul through an eternity in the Kingdom of God with Him and His Son, the Savior of the world. Look again at these words here:

Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” v.13

Have you ever heard of the Beatitudes?

Most people who have spent any time reading the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Matthew, would be familiar with the term.

The Beatitudes, a series of proclamations from Jesus found in Matthew, chapter 5, form the opening of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, the first extensive formal teaching session delivered by our Savior to a crowd who had gathered to hear what He had to say. Beginning in verse 3, Jesus speaks these promises, all leading with the word “blessed”:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Vv. 3-12

Why go into this?

Because when we come to the study of Revelation, we also discover a series of beatitudes but unlike Matthew 5, we don’t see them collected in one tidy list. Rather, they are scattered throughout the book and the second of them is found in the verse that serves as the foundation for today’s message, declared by the Spirit from Heaven (the first is found in Revelation 1:3):

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on...they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Here, we find the Spirit reminding us of some of the incredible gifts God has in store for those who chose to place their belief and faith in His Son. For although their bodies might die, they will be very much alive and “rest from their labor” as their “deeds will follow them”

This is in contrast to what would happen to those who didn’t “die in the Lord”, those whose names were not found written in the Lamb’s book of life. For them, there will be life after death but it won’t be a time of rest. Rather, it will be a time consumed by torment and torture, suffering and agony.

In today’s verse, we find the voice of the Spirit following up on the message from three angels with an announcement intended to comfort those on the earth who were in Christ and draw the unsaved away from Satan and his beasts toward the Savior of the world.

In the end translation, no one will be able to say they weren’t informed about the two options for everlasting living: Hell and Heaven. The scriptures make it clear that there will be no secrets and every people of every nation will have all the information they need to make an informed decision. Therefore, they will end up where they choose to go and either be damned or blessed.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE THIRD ANGEL: A WARNING WITH ETERNAL IMPLICATIONS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

Revelation 14:9-12

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are two eternal destinies and every single person will end up in one or the other.

On one hand, there is the everlasting glory, beauty, and majesty of Heaven where the light will not be from the sun but rather from God and His Son Jesus, the only One who can bring someone to His Father (John 14:8). Gaining this wonderful outcome is simple. All one needs to do is place their belief in Jesus as Savior.

Conversely, anyone who chooses to reject Jesus and place their belief and hope in anything else will end up in Hell, a place of darkness, torment, and torture where they will live forever. It’s been said that a part of the anguish and agony of Hell will be constantly remembering that the person passed up their opportunity for Heaven by passing on Jesus.

This discussion is one that is critically important any time Christians are sharing the Gospel and that should be every day as we fulfill our responsibilities given by Jesus through His Great Commission. Every disciple has been tasked with carrying on His work of helping other find their salvation in Him and in Him alone.

As we pivot to our scripture passage today, we see where the message of the third of three angels, sent from Heaven to proclaim God’s words to the people of earth, aligns and proclaims this matter of choice: Heaven or Hell. Look again at those words here as we continue our study of Revelation, chapter 14:

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Vv. 9-12

Here, we find the third angel sending a warning that carried with it eternal implications. The warning is in real time, addressing the matters that will be happening in that moment during the three and a half year period of the Great Tribulation. We know this period is marked by Satan unleashing an evil plan on earth that would have the earth’s population worship a great beast unleashed from the sea, a beast that would spew blasphemies against God and Heaven while captivating people with his wonder and deceit. Sadly, in Revelation 13, verse 8, we read of the tragic result of the beast’s influence as he carries out the work of Satan along with his accomplice, the beast from the earth:

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

Further, these people who hadn’t placed their belief in Jesus would be persuaded by the second beast to allow themselves to be marked, an act we read about in chapter 13, verses 16 and 17:

It (the second beast) also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

These were the people that the third angel addressed, promising God’s sure judgment was coming upon them, the eternal judgment of Hell. They would “drink the wine of God’s fury”, a righteous wine unlike the wine of sinful decadence we saw the second angel talking of in yesterday’s message. Indeed, those not in Christ would experience the “full strength” of God’s cup of wrath and “be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” with “the smoke of their torment” rising up “forever and ever”. Further, in Hell we read where there would be “no rest day or night” for all those who chose to “worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name”.

As for those who had placed their hope in Jesus, those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, the angel had a message for them as well. For we see where they were called to wait with “patient endurance” while keeping God’s commands and remaining “faithful to Jesus”. For while Satan and his two beasts would have their day on earth for a time, times, and half a time, their eternal destiny was already secured. Hell would be their home and the message from the third angel, passed on from God, was that anyone who chose to partner with His enemy would share Hell with them for all eternity.

Today, although we haven’t reached the coming events of Revelation, the people of the world still have two choices based on who they choose to partner with and that choice carries with it the same eternal implications.

Choose a relationship with Jesus, and you will be saved with a final eternal destination of Heaven.

Opt for Satan and you can abide with him in the agony of Hell forever.

Which will you pick?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.