News Flash on what is Coming

Revelation 8-10

Have you ever been around people who no matter what is taking place around them, no matter how much information they were given, still refuse to change, they seem to not let facts or evidence effect their performance.  I have and I’m sure you have also.  As you read about the seven judgments that God is going to send on the earth, these are recorded in Revelation chapter 8 -10, and in verses 20 & 21 of chapter nine, these words jumped off the page.  “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by the plaques, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze an stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”  An old friend once told me that there are two things you cannot change in a person, apathy and ignorance.  You and I may not always be tuned into all that God wants for us, but most of us are clever enough to know when it is time to look up, or are we?

This is what happened as each of the seven angels blew their trumpets; the first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood fell on the earth and a third of the earth was burned up, the second angel blew his trumpet and a third of the sea became blood and a third of what lived in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.  The third angel blew his trumpet, and a star blazing like a torch hit the earth, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water and the people died from the water.  The fourth angel blew his trumpet and a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck so the earth only got a third of the day and like wise a third of the night.  But John reports hearing an eagle crying with a loud voice; “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow.”

Let me stop for just a thought, I do not want anyone that I love to go through these first four judgments, but as I read the last three judgments, I would not wish those on anyone.

The fifth angel blew his trumpet and John saw a star fall to the earth, and this star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit, and when opened smoke rose and the sun and the sky were darkened with the smoke.  And out of the smoke came locusts and they were given power of scorpions of the earth.  They were commanded not to harm the grass or any green plant, or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  “They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.  And in those days people will seek death and will not find it.  They will long to die, but death will flee from them.” 

It is so important to understand that none of this has happened; it is all in what we call the future.  It is a loving God who gives us a newsflash of what is coming, it is a foolish person who ignores that warning.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice