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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 9:20-21
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
I’ve been blessed with the privilege to live almost 65 years in this world. I never take that for granted because no one is guaranteed to live a long life but rather the length of life the Lord provides.
Given this opportunity to live this long has presented the opportunity to see a lot of change from year to year, decade to decade, and I can say with absolute certainty that where we’ve trended in the world has been far more toward sin and evil than the goodness and righteousness God demands and expects. In fact, over the past ten to twenty years particularly, there have been social issues emerge on matters that I would never have guessed would ever happen in my lifetime. Recently, we have seen confusion over gender identity and a glorification of people who blatantly murdered others, all within the past year. It’s as if there has been a widespread indifference toward sin to the point where it’s been so normalized that it is more expected than doing right. Further, if you try to stand up for what is right and speak out against obvious acts of wickedness, you are vilified in the public eye.
Indeed, we are progressively turning into a global society where people don’t care that they are committed to sin and heading for a future of eternal torment, torture, and darkness in Hell. They are in a state of denial that there is anything for them beyond death and going into a grave some day.
What makes this harrowing, troublesome truth all the more concerning is that people feel no apprehension or fear about being stubbornly in love with their transgressions while disrespecting and dishonoring God with their behavior, the Almighty God who rules and reigns in supremacy over all He created, the God who could wipe out mankind with a single inclination to do so.
No one should think God is going to allow this to go on and the scriptures affirm this as we have seen through our study of the Book of Revelation. For judgment is coming and in a big way on everyone who has chosen to make a mockery of their Maker through persistent, willing behavior.
Up to today’s passage, we have seen a progressive releasing of punishment imposed on the world and its populace as Jesus breaks the seals on the scroll of judgment once held in His Father’s right hand. As we saw in yesterday’s message, these penalties reached an apex of sorts when a large cavalry of supernatural fighting forces were unleashed, killing one third of the world’s people, a number today that would equal somewhere around 2 billion.
Think about that for a minute and you would think that the four billion survivors would have fallen on their knees, begging God to forgive them of their sins and grant forgiveness and salvation. But as we see in our passage for today composed of the final verses of Revelation, chapter 9, that didn’t quite happen. Look again at those words here:
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. Vv. 20-21
This is incredibly saddening and underscores just how far gone the world will be spiritually during the Tribulation period. For we read where “the rest of mankind” (the four billion left) who weren’t “killed by” the “plagues” would refuse to “repent of the work of their hands”. Rather, it was just sin-filled business as usual.
They didn’t “stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk”.
They wouldn’t “repent of their murders”. Ditto for “their magic arts”, “sexual immorality”, or “thefts”.
In other words, breaking the most fundamental commandments God gave to the ancient Israelites meant nothing and instead of fellowship with their Lord, the people chose to be His enemies, something we find affirmed by James, the brother of Jesus, when he wrote:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (4:4).
As the time for Jesus to return and judge the earth draws near, we see where there will be a multitude who are committed to sin and therefore choosing a future in Hell. What we see happening today are just the growing pains of what’s to come.
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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