Reading
Revelation 8:1-9:21
Drawing Near
A new Christian confides in you: "I'm reading the book of Revelation and, frankly, I don't understand most of it. But I do understand that the notes in my study Bible clearly say that all these terrible judgments will be poured out on unbelievers - maybe even some of my friends! Do you believe that? I'm having a hard time believing that a loving God could do that to His beloved creatures!" How do you respond?
The Context
The first five seals (false peace, war, famine, death, and vengeance) describe the preliminary judgments leading to the full outpouring of divine wrath. As horrifying as those preliminary judgments are, they pale before the terrors of the sixth seal, which marks the beginning of the Day of the Lord. So terrifying are the judgments of the sixth seal that people are finally forced to acknowledge God as the Source of the calamities. At that point they will cry "to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?'" (Revelation 6:16-17).
When the Lamb opens the seventh and last seal on the scroll, the judgments of the Day of the Lord will intensify and expand dramatically. This final seal contains the trumpet and bowl judgments. While the exact timetable for these judgments is not revealed, their escalating devastation indicates they all occur during the last half of the Great Tribulation. Therefore, the seventh seal encompasses all God's final wrath up to the triumphant return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
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1 comment:
- if we were suppose to answer that question i would say to that person that God did not chose this path for us, he did not bring this upon us, but because of our sin we have to face this and we chose this for ourselves. Because of our sin we must face this (if we are not Christians and have put our faith in Jesus) because we have sin in our lives, but this is only on earth, it will pass away and we will soon be with Christ!:)
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