Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Revelation 14:6-7
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After the beasts from the sea and earth emerge in Revelation, chapter 13 to begin their three and a half years of evil and deceit on earth, all at the beckoning of Satan, chapter 14 reminds us that God and His Son Jesus are still very much present and in full authority, just as they have always been.
In yesterday’s message, we read about a wonderful worship service on Mount Sinai as Jesus (the Lamb), along with a great choir formed by the 144,000 who had been marked and sealed for protection by God, performed a new song before the throne of the Lord accompanied by a sound from Heaven that was like “harpists playing their harps” (14:1-5).
As we continue our study in this chapter, we see how this worship scene was a prelude to what was to follow as an angel, one of three that will appear, flew through the sky proclaiming a critical message to the world and its people below. Look again at our passage here:
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
It’s important to see here that while Satan was trying to convince the people of the world to worship the beast and its statue, the Lord was making sure that the message of the “eternal gospel” was still being proclaimed to all who lived “on the earth”, a number that included “every nation, tribe, language and people”. In “a loud voice”, we read he proclaimed:
“Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Here the call is for all on earth to relate to God and Him alone in specific ways. They include:
1. To fear Him.
God is preeminent over all creation. He has no rival or equal and no one can stand against or survive His power when He chooses to exhibit it. This is a power that mankind needs to show the utter respect and reverence to, even going to a point of fearing God and therefore not wanting to sin against Him.
2. To give Him glory.
When we realize who God is, the Maker and Master of everything, and who we are in relation to Him, utterly and helplessly subordinate in every way, then and only then will be prescribe to Him the glory and honor He is entitled to...and no one is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise except Him.
3. To acknowledge Him as the God of ultimate judgment.
Just as God possessed the power to bring everything out of absolute nothingness, He too has the might to destroy everything and as we read this Book of Revelation, we know that He will do just that, eradicating the heavens and earth as we know it to start new and fresh with a kingdom that will be unblemished by sin and will remain that way forever more.
4. To worship Him.
This God we fear and ascribe glory to, this God of infinitesimal power who serves as the sole Judge of all creation and created things, is the God who “made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water”. Nothing would exist without Him first bringing it to be and He continues to sustain all He has made. For all He has done, all He is doing, and all He is yet to do, all people should easily worship Him without any compulsion to do so.
The message of this future angel is the message we all need to hear today, right here and right now. It’s an eternal message which means it applies for all time so let us recommit ourselves to fear our Lord in reverence while bringing glory to Him through worship as the time of His ultimate judgment approaches.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the second of three angels and their 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment