What an amazing picture of these last days!
Scripture interprets Scripture and we can look to Matthew 24:4-14 to have a well-rounded picture of what the first four seals are depicting.
God couldn't be any clearer in stressing the power found in his Word! Why do I often underestimate it? Why do I push it aside? Why am I not always "on fire" for mission work? Why does my own voice freeze in opportunities to share his Word with others who don't know? Again and again he calls us to come back to the Word where He is, to study it, use it, apply it, defend it, learn from it, see Him on every page. Where others use hostility, warfare, weapons, manipulation and wield their own words to drive their agenda or beliefs, he calls us to wield his Word.
The next three seals are all too familiar - war, famine, death. I couldn't help but think of cancer when reading the word plague. It seems to touch someone in every family or circle of friends.
I find it interesting to note as the fifth seal is opened, the awareness of the saints in heaven while all this is going on (now). Another glimpse of that is shown at Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah seem to be quite aware of things that they discuss with Jesus. We echo the plea of the saints, "Come, Lord Jesus" and yet we too wish to wait for the body of believers to be complete.
The sixth seal shows a picture of the opening and closing of Judgement Day - terror for the unbelievers. I find it easy to remain somehow detached while reading these words while at the same time feeling sorry for those "unbelievers" he talks about here, running for their life, trying to hide while sheer terror grips their soul as the realization of God's coming judgement dawns on them too late. But they are people with faces I recognize. They are friends, neighbours, relatives, grocery store clerks, waitresses - the list goes on. Now is not too late. Now is the time to proclaim the Word to the world!
"But for the faithful, the best is yet to come." Thank you, Jesus, for this reassurance of your grace!
"Read his story - Bethlehem, Calvary, the empty tomb - and know that he loves you." All of "his - story" has been in his hands and the future is no different!
5 comments:
I'm feeling ya here, Rachel! This passage also convicts me of being and feeling and living the life of walking paradox when I read it: joyful yet poignant, inspired yet apathetic, involved yet detached, a believer of the gospel yet trying to live under and through the law...the list is much longer than the years I've roamed the earth!
How THANKFUL I should be for His word yet how lazy I am to hear, read, mark, learn, & inwardly digest it!
For me this is all just absolutely fascinating! I think in the past I've viewed Revelation as an academic challenge. Now I understand that I must read it just like I have learned to read the rest of Scripture - as a living, active message from my God to me.
There are some truths I will take from it today that God wants to reveal to me about himself at this time. Other things I will understand at a time when my Lord knows I need that understanding.
I should not give up and say, "I may as well not dig in deeply, because I'll never understand it all anyway." Neither should I dig and dig and dig today as if I could somehow exhaust all of what a section of Scripture has to say, if only I study harder. I believe that the truths of the Scriptures are inexhaustible.
There was an "End Times" podcast Rachel recommended from Issues, Etc. I listened to it, and it brought up some questions in my mind which I then took to my pastor. I am so thankful that he took the time to listen to it as well and then discuss it with me! What a blessing God gives us in the shepherds of our congregations!
One thing I learned from the podcast and discussion from my pastor was that we will experience an "intermediate phase" between when our souls are separated from our bodies and the time at which the final judgment happens. During that phase, souls still have an awareness of the passing of time, and some sort of vague awareness that God's people are still battling sin and Satan on earth. And then at the time of the final judgment our souls will be reunited with our bodies, which will be made perfect. There will be some kind of "new heaven and new earth." At that point we will enter eternity.
Here is a paragraph from The People's Bible - Revelation that talks about the opening of the fifth seal:
The souls under the altar wanted to know how long it would be until Jesus returned with final justice and judgment. Although in heaven, they are not yet in eternity, so they could sense the passing of time. They did not know the future, and they were not able to see exactly what was happening to those they left behind. Yet they knew that the faithful would continue to suffer persecution and death until the Lamb administered final justice.
cre8ev, the paradoxical feeling you describe is, I think, something that exists in all Christians. It's the struggle between the old sinful nature and our new life in Christ!
With that said, there are also lots of balancing attitudes that need to happen in order keep ourselves in line with God's truths. The true, right path is so often a thin line between one kind of sinful attitude on one side and the opposite kind of sinful attitude on the other. It is Luther's analogy of the drunken man trying to ride a horse. He falls off one side, then gets back up in the saddle and in trying hard not to fall off that side again, falls off on the other side. I think this analogy is really good to keep in mind when studying the book of Revelation. We need to be sure not to extrapolate too much from what we read. We are interested in knowing what Scripture says - no more, and no less.
I pray that God would keep that white horse running through our hearts back and forth and all over the place this Advent and always!
RunningFrom Crazy, I'm wondering what you mean by this "intermediate phase" idea. I've been exposed to the teaching of something similar, normally called something like "Soul Sleep." Please clarify if this is what you mean. BTW- I'm not disagreeing with what you've said, accusing you of saying this, or pointing out that this is what I think. I'm asking because it's my understanding this passage is misinterpreted and has lead some to this wrong idea. I'm genuinely asking so I can have further clarification on this idea.
To be honest, this passage does convey the idea that there's a waiting, but if scripture interprets scripture, I understood this to be read in light of the passages from Psalm 90:4-5 & 2 Peter 3:8-9(NIV)
Psalm 90:4=
A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
2 Peter 3:8-9=
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
cre8ev - not to answer for "Crazy" (can I call you that?;) but she is speaking still in reference to the End Times podcast from Issues, etc that I noted the other day. Simply put, the phase between the time after we die until the final judgement will look different than after the final judgement. We get glimpses of these details in readings like from today where the saints in heaven NOW are waiting for his final judgement and asking him "how long will this go on?".
RfromC - I'm so happy to hear your pastor was able and willing to take the time to listen to it and talk with you about it! That is fantastic!! It seems that you have gained some insight and clarity in this. Yay!
And so true about the rider on the horse. We must walk that "Narrow Lutheran Road" (which is also a really good book to read from NPH) to keep from falling into either side of the ditch.
Thanks for responding to cre8ev's comment, Rachel. Good clarification. BTW, you can call me "Crazy!" :-) If I don't work out enough, sometimes the crazy does catch me. Hee hee.
RE: "soul sleep," I had actually never even heard that term until my pastor mentioned it to me the other day, specifically noting that the intermediate phase I was talking about should NOT be confused with the false notion of soul sleep. The thief on the cross as well as these martyrs in Revelation who are asking "how long?" demonstrate that the souls of the dead who die in the Lord are, indeed, in his presence during the time before the final judgment. But eternity after the final judgment will finally be the complete joy, the absolute defeat of death - no more separation - that Christ won for us.
Just the thought of it makes my heart give a little "Hallelujah!"
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