The Unrepentant

God Wins: The Message of the Book of Revelation
A Series by Ray Jewell

The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. – Revelation 9:12-21

With the sixth angelic trumpeter more devastation is released on mankind. A huge warrior horde, numberless yet John can hear their number, attacks and destroys 1/3 of the inhabitants of the earth. This time the weapons are plagues involving fire, smoke, and sulfur. The four angels seems to be a reference to four client kings of Rome, Antiochus, Agrippa, Sohemus, and Malchus, who provided troops for the final siege on Jerusalem.

Again, this destruction, this act of punishment, has the goal of causing repentance among the survivors. They do not respond. They continue to live defiantly against the King of Kings. They continue in their filthy practices of murder, magic arts, sexual immorality and thefts. Obstinate people behave this way at their own peril.

This continuing saga once again shows God’s patience with His image bearers. He could have finished it all right then and there. But He does not. Just as in the time of Noah, God provides the opportunity for people to repent.

1950 years later, in the year 2020, we are still here. God still has not brought about the final judgment. That means a couple of things. First, God continues to provide “the inhabitants of the earth” a chance to repent and come to Him. Second, we, the followers of the Lamb, have a responsibility to share the good news of God’s gift. Not in a condemning way, but in a confident way, knowing that the outcome for indifference or obstinance is an eternity separated from God.

Lord, thank You for the victory that is ours simply because we are Yours. Thank You for loving Your creation so much You patiently wait to bring about the final judgment. It gives me/us a chance to share Your truth in love with others. Help me/us do so today. Amen.

Until next time,

TO THE GLORY OF GOD!