Revelation 16: A Just and Holy God

Today’s reading is Revelation 16.

It’s a Bit Harsh, Isn’t it?

The judgments in Revelation seem a bit harsh, don’t they? I mean, turning the water to blood and giving them blood to drink? That sounds awful. How does that fit with the loving God of Exodus 34:6-7 who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Not to mention, doesn’t the Bible say God is love? Yes, it does. Twice, in fact. In 1 John 4:8, 16.

As God gave John the apocalyptic vision, He clearly anticipated this objection. After pouring the two bowls of wrath on the water, turning them to blood, the Lord’s angel in charge of the waters declared:

Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!

The angel makes it clear. God’s judgments are not harsh. They fit the sins perfectly. The enemies shed the blood of God’s people, God gave the enemies blood to drink.

What Goes Around Comes Around

When God plagued Egypt leading up to the death of the firstborn, He explained it this way:

“Israel is my first born son, and I say to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son'” (Exodus 4:22-23, ESV).

Don’t forget Pharaoh’s planned execution of the Israelite infants. Pharaoh slaughtered the Lord’s firstborn. I admit, the tenth plague seems harsh until we discover it is God merely brining on Pharaoh and Egypt’s head their own sins.

This is very often the picture of God’s judgment. God brings our own sins back on our own heads.

Even the picture of hell as presented in the teaching of Jesus is anchored in this notion. The word translated “hell” most often in Jesus’s teachings is transliterated “Gehenna.” Literally, it means the valley of Hinnom. This picture comes from Jeremiah 7:30-34; 19:1-15. The people built altars in the valley of Hinnom and burned their children as sacrifices to their gods. The notion of being tossed into the the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna, meant having such consequences of idolatry brought back on their own heads. Whatever hell literally is, it is suffering the consequences of our actions and letting our sins come back upon our own heads. But keep in mind, lest you think, “Oh, my sins are no biggie, so Gehenna won’t be a big deal for me,” in Jesus’s teaching, Gehenna will be so awful it would be better to cut your hand off right now or pluck your eye out right now in order to have life than to enter Gehenna with your whole body (see Matthew 5:29-30).

Sin is Just that Bad

The reason we struggle today so much with God’s judgment, especially as pictured in Revelation or pictured as Hell, is because we don’t see sin as bad as it is. This is one of the reasons we need an apocalypse.

If we could see sin the way God sees sin, we would see judgment the way God sees judgment. According to Romans 3:23, sin is not simply falling short of God’s law or God’s rules (though it is that, 1 John 3:4). Sin is falling short of God’s glory. We have been created to be the very image of God. We have been created to display God’s manifold wisdom and glory. When we sin, we distort and pervert that image of God. We mar God’s glory.

That is not simply upsetting to God. It is a violation of the very nature of things. Such a violation needs to be disciplined, punished even. At the same time, the punishment is not arbitrary but natural. When we decide to twist the very image in which we have been created by sinning against it, let us not be surprised when we ourselves become twisted. Our very being within and without become a twisting, a distortion, a perversion of what we have been created to be. We become unfit for the perfect glory that is God and unfit to dwell in the perfect glory that is God’s heavenly kingdom. And, though we may find this hard to comprehend, we actually twist ourselves away from choosing God’s heavenly kingdom. Having become hellish, we freely choose hell.

Of course, none of us given the choice so starkly will choose the chute leading to torment, pain, and agony when the other chute will lead to pleasure, joy, and love. But, having chosen sin over God, having twisted our souls, we push God away. He warns us what being away from Him is like, but we don’t listen. We push farther and farther, twisting more and more. When we finally experience the full consequences of being separated from God and find them just as hellish as God warned, we get mad at God for giving us what we asked for. But be sure, we asked for it.

God Is just and Holy

I am thankful the angel in charge of the waters broke in and praised the Lord. Our God is Holy and Just. He gives what we deserve, unless we repent and let Jesus redeem us. Then He gives us glory.

Praise the Lord!

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 16 admonish you?

Psalm 83: A Prayer for When We Know We Deserve Judgment

Today’s reading is Psalm 83.

As our psalmist considers the coalition coming against Israel, his prayer is God will deal with this host the same way He did with Midian, with Sisera and Jabin, with Oreb and Zeeb, and with Zebah and Zalmunna.

Jabin was the Canaanite king who oppressed Israel in Judges 4. Sisera was his commander. You may recall Sisera was killed by Jael the wife of Heber who drove a tent peg through his skull while he lay sleeping. Jabin was routed by Deborah and Barak and the army of Israel. When Gideon’s army of 300 defeated Midian in Judges 7, Oreb and Zeeb were two of the princes killed in the victory. Then in Judges 8, in the ongoing battle Zebah and Zalmunna were executed.

Perhaps the reason for mentioning these victories is simply to call to mind the overwhelming odds against which Israel took up arms against these enemies. God gave them victory when it looked like they couldn’t possibly win. But I think there might be a more poignant principle here.

As we have read the Asaphite psalms, we have seen a story arc. Israel and Judah enduring judgment. We cannot help but think of Israel and Judah in captivity when we have read the psalms about the destruction of the temple. They have asked “Why?” They have asked “How Long?” In Psalm 81, we read God’s response. Israel didn’t listen to Him. They went their own way instead of following their Shepherd. They did not love the Lord their God with all their heart. In Psalm 82, we read God’s response. Though Israel was God’s chosen, they acted like all the nations and did not love their neighbor as themselves. They perpetrated injustice. Therefore they were judged. They deserved the judgment they received.

What do you pray when you realize you know you actually deserve the judgment that is coming on you or has come upon you? You pray Psalm 83. You remember how God’s covenant people deserved judgment and God sent Jabin king of Hazor against them. You remember how God’s covenant people deserved judgment and God sent Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna against them. Then you recall that when God’s covenant people repented and cried out to Him, He judged the nations and delivered His people. Not because they deserved it, but because God is a covenant keeping God.

We struggle because we know what sinners we have been. Part of us doubts prayer because we know we deserve any judgment God would bring against us. We wonder what right we have to ask God for deliverance from the enemy. Why would God listen to our prayer? If we are in Christ, we have the right offered us by His death, burial, and resurrection. We have the right given us as children of God by the blood of Jesus. We do not have the right of merit, earning, or deserving. We have the right of God’s covenant people. Repent. Turn to God. Cry out to Him. He will not turn a deaf ear. He will not be silent. Do so with the same kind of confidence you see in this psalm. Not because we deserve it but because this is the kind of God we serve. He will keep His covenant with us. God will hear our prayer not because we deserve to be heard, but because He has promised us He will listen. Don’t you believe Him?

Praise the Lord!

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 83 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Lord, Be Gracious

Today’s reading is Psalm 41.

Based on David’s description of the Blessed Lord as the one who cares for and delivers the poor and needy, he describes the request he had made beginning in vs. 4: “O Lord, be gracious to me.” He comes back to the main request in vs. 10: “But you, O Lord, be gracious to me…”

In this first book of Psalms, David has requested the Lord be gracious to him eight times, not counting these two requests (see Psalm 4:1; 6:2; 9:13; 25:16; 26:11; 27:7; 30:8 [“merciful”]; 31:9).

It is so hard to accept this grace and mercy, isn’t it? When we can look back and see our sins, when we are convinced our troubles are the result of our sin, when others are reminding us of our sin, mercy and grace are hard to seek.

On top of that, mercy and grace are just difficult to seek. Most of us don’t want mercy and grace. Most of us just want God to be patient with us. “Hang on, Lord, I’ll prove I’m better than my sins.” “Just watch and see, Lord, I’ll show you I deserve Your favor.” It is hard to ask the Lord to just be gracious to us, to give us what we don’t deserve. We so desperately want to deserve it.

Of course, this recognition that we can’t earn God’s favor doesn’t mean there are no conditions. Even David says God will uphold him because of his integrity (vs. 12). In this psalm, as in 26:11, we have a sinner who has integrity. In other words, we are sinners who deserve judgment, but we can submit to the Lord’s righteousness. We are not totally depraved or utterly incapable. God does expect sinners to turn to Him in integrity. He does expect us to meet conditions without which He will not save us. The condition is not, of course, sinless perfection. It is not earning the favor. But neither can we expect to be saved by God if we decide to continue to walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the paths of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. We must walk in integrity. We must walk the Lord’s path. Yes, we will fall. But the Lord is gracious.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 41.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the psalm and the written devo above?
2. What comfort do you get from the Lord’s grace and mercy?
3. What struggles do you have with seeking the Lord’s grace and mercy?
4. What do you think of the difference between earning grace and meeting conditions to receive grace?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this psalm and our discussion today?