There is coming what the Bible calls the “day
of the Lord.” There were other days like this, for example the time of
the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the resulting captivity. But all these times of God’s wrath were just prototypes, so to speak, of the final day
of the Lord that results in the revelation
of Jesus Christ. The prophet
Zephaniah spoke of it as a bitter, terrible day. The carnage in the time of Babylon or in 70AD
under the Romans were horrendous, but nothing like the coming, final day of the
Lord.
In Revelation 8 we have entered the great day of His wrath (Rev. 6:16-17),
It is such a major desolation that even heaven itself stops to take a deep
breath before the seven angels begin to sound the alert for the next, more
grievous round of judgments. The Lamb
opens the 7th seal of the scroll which contains all the rest of what
happens in Revelation. The days of
the 7th seal contain seven more judgments, each one announced by
an angel sounding a trumpet. In the days
of the 7th angel there will be seven more judgments (Rev.
15-16). (A quick glance at the back of
this booklet at the appropriate chart will help keep the chronological context of Revelation clear.)
In today’s passage we see the first four of
these judgments. It is not difficult to
understand what the text says. For some
the problem comes in trying to figure out how it all happens. Is it some nuclear event? Or an asteroid? This usually leads to unnecessary
speculation. Hear the word of the Lord!
1. A
mighty storm on the earth of a mixture of hail and fire burning a third of the
vegetation. Think about the effect of
such a loss as this.
2. A
cataclysmic event in which a third of the seas are affected, resulting in the
death of one-third of marine life and a third of the ships destroyed.
3. A
third of fresh water is infected killing many.
Wormwood (Grk. apsinthos) referred to a drink causing
convulsions, blindness and mental deterioration.
4. A
third of the sun, moon and stars are struck in such a way as to bring increased
darkness for a third of the day and night.
There are yet three more angels to sound but
their judgments are so difficult that they are each announced as a “woe” to the
people of earth.
Zephaniah said the coming day was God’s response to men’s sins. In Rev. 8 God’s wrath is His response to the
prayers of the saints (v3-5). Think
about this! God’s saints pray “how long,
oh Lord; how long.” At times God’s
people would wonder if He was listening.
The answer is clear that God is listening. The time will come when He will answer with righteous repayment (cf. 2 Thess. 1 for
an amazing statement of this). But God
delays His wrath because of His patience, giving people the opportunity to
repent (2 Pet. 3:7-9). As Ezekiel said,
“’As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’” (Ezek. 33:11)
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