- Not A Pleasant Subject
Judgment and God’s wrath are not pleasant subjects. I know people who turn away, saying with finality: “I do not even want to think about judgment. I will not discuss it!”
We do not fully understand all of God’s purposes in preserving for our time and generation this Revelation. But we do know that this world’s cup of iniquity is filling up. We know there are warnings in this book that continually urge us to be watchful, thoughtful believers.
I am convinced of this: we Christians in our minds and hearts must always be correcting what we hear and see against the truth of heaven. Otherwise, we will be carried away by the world and its distorted human ways and values. How did the nations of earth come to be what they are? By tooth and claw—the law of the jungle. The questions of justice, right and righteousness—these scarcely come up at all. I confess that I am afraid for this sinful and violent society. I am afraid, indeed, for the millions and millions of men and women who defy God, who hate Jesus Christ and who are willing dupes of Satan. When the cup of iniquity is full, God cannot withhold judgment any longer. The Bible gives us an ample, frightening preview of the tribulation that will come upon the earth. In our Christian circles the question often is asked, “Will the church go through the tribulation? Will the church be raptured out of this world before the great tribulation begins?”
There are differences of opinion and a variety of interpretations concerning the sequence of events when Christ returns. I am not among those who claim to have all the answers. I know there is a time of great tribulation coming upon our world. Whether the church of Jesus Christ shall escape all of that judgment and suffering is not clear. I fear the church will suffer trial and tribulation. At the same time, I have a great hope that it will not!
I shall not argue about it. I will not debate the matter. For myself, I know I do not want to be on this earth when that worst of all time comes—when God rises up and shakes the earth and the nations so that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.
John has described the heavenly scene in which the angels of God are being prepared for the judgments that must come upon this planet. I can only wonder how much longer the holy patience of God can stand by in grace and mercy. The Lamb of God is the Conqueror. John saw that confirmed at the throne of God in heaven. The day may be near when the Conqueror goes forth to establish His righteous rule in all the earth!
I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode outas a conqueror bent on conquest. When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fieryred one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in cave sand among the rocks of the mountains. They called to them mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Revelation 6:1-8; Revelation 6:15-17