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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
Revelation 16:10-11
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the Book of Exodus, we find God sending a series of ten plagues on the nation of Egypt. Each increasingly severe with the purpose of causing Pharaoh, the country’s leader, to allow the Israelites to depart from captivity. Here’s a highlight of a few:
The Plague of Blood (Exodus 7:14-21)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
The Plague of Boils (Exodus 9:8-11)
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”
So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.
The Plague of Darkness (Exodus 10:21-23)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days.
Why recap these plagues?
Because when we look at the wraths that have been sent onto the earth to mark God’s final judgments at the end of the Great Tribulation, we find a connection.
The first angel poured out his bowl of wrath and “ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” (Revelation 16:2).
The second and third angels spilled out their respective bowls and every water source on earth turned into blood. All living sea creatures perished as a result (Revelation 16:3-4).
And this brings us to today’s passage as the fifth angel dumps his wrath on the world below. Look again at these words here:
The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. Revelation 16:10-11
Sound familiar?
We see that it matches up with the next to the last plague God sent on Egypt, only this time the intended target was not just one nation of people but rather all those who were a part of the beast’s (the antichrist’s) kingdom, those who rejected God and worshiped the one sent by Satan to deceive and rule over them.
We know this plunge into utter darkness followed the fourth wrath where the sun’s rays were intensified to the point where the skin of all unbelievers, those who bore the mark of the beast and were not in the Lamb’s Book of Life, was scorched and seared. This burned skin that was already sore infested left these God-rejectors where they “gnawed their tongues in agony” and “cursed the God of Heaven”. Such was the intense nature of “their pain and sores”.
The association with the plagues sent by God on Egypt is undeniable and here’s one more similarity. For just as Pharaoh stubbornly refused to release the Israelites from their enslavement, despite the consequences and suffering his people were going through, so too will the beast-worshiping people of the earth still refuse to “repent of what they had done” and turn to God for forgiveness, pardon, and healing.
Today, in the time between the perils sent on Egypt and the ones to come during the Great Tribulation, we still find God sending judgment on people who refuse to place their trust in Him and value the world’s ways more. Unwilling to part with their sins and repent, they obstinately live in spiritual darkness and undergo suffering at the hands of the Lord’s punishment, more willing to curse God rather than turn to Him and away from their transgressions.
What’s the old saying?
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
It’s true about people’s inflexible insistence on sinning and equally true about God’s persistent commitment to punish such behavior.
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.
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