In case you haven’t
figured it out by now, what we’re going to be doing in our remaining days
together isn’t a comprehensive study of the book of Revelation. We’re not going
to guess at the identity of the Antichrist, nor are we going to settle the
Pre-Trib vs. Post-Trib debate. In the little time we have left, I’m just going
to pick out a few of my favorite “hidden gems” from Revelation. The material
we’re going to delve into won’t be stuff you often find in all the studies out
there that focus on the “big picture” subjects. Not that that stuff isn’t
important, but I’d like to provide you some material you’re not likely to get
elsewhere.
Today’s passage is
pretty dark. It’s talking about what most Evangelicals call “The Great
Tribulation,” in which the entire world gets battered back and forth by
plagues, world wars, economic collapse, literal upheavals of the earth, and
other disasters which kill off huge portions of the population. Jesus said
that if these days weren’t shortened by God’s sovereign mercy, no one would
survive.
Let’s summarize what
happens in just today’s passage. Angels are released, and their plagues by
themselves kill a third of mankind. If that happened today, it’d be over 2 billion people.
Instead of debating
the details of this plague, I want to focus on the peoples’ reaction. What does
it say about their response to this in vss. 20-21? The survivors of these
plagues, along with everything they’d seen up to that point “still did not repent
of the work of their hands.” They’d been indulging in idol worship (which was
actually worshiping demons), and after seeing all this, they kept right on
doing it. They also refused to give up “their murders, their magic arts, their
sexual immorality or their thefts.”
That’s the main point
I want to get from today’s passage, and let’s see how we can apply it. What
doesn’t cause repentance, and what does?
·
Supernatural phenomena do not bring people
to repentance. At least not real repentance. This is a pattern we
could’ve noticed back in Moses’ day. As a Study Bible I once read put it, among
the people who followed Moses for 40 years, there were no atheists but lots and
lots of rebels. Every morning they stepped out of their tents and picked their
breakfast up off the ground which was waiting for them. They saw the pillar of
cloud by day and the fire by night. They saw water gushing from the rock. They
saw all the 10 plagues on Egypt. And when it came to one more test at the very
border of the Promised Land, they turned on Moses and demanded to go back to
Egypt.
Why
do we think that supernatural phenomena will turn rebels into believers? I’m
not sure, but I do know in my heart of hearts that the Lord’s given me plenty
of evidence that he loves me and will take care of me and that I should
implicitly trust him. If I don’t trust him, the problem’s not lack of proof
that he’s trustworthy.
·
Incredible hardship and pain will not bring
about repentance. The survivors of this plague had already gone through
a lot before this. And as they watched millions or billions die in front of
them, they didn’t take the implicit warning to heart. The Lord wasn’t doing
this to humanity because he likes to see people suffer. Quite the opposite:
“He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.” But when he does
let loose and give sinners just a little bit of what they deserve in this life,
that’s supposed to be a warning to everyone else to repent.
The problem is not with the message: That should be coming
across loud and clear. The problem is with us. We have a sinful nature that
rebels against God, and pain and hardship—by themselves—only make us hate him
more.
On a side-note, this touches upon the question of a “second
chance” for people in Hell. Someone might ask “Why doesn’t God give them
another chance to repent?” My friend--leaving aside the fact that none of us
deserve a second chance--after a thousand years in Hell, they’re only going to
hate him more than when they first entered it. Pain and suffering, like
supernatural phenomena, won’t turn a rebel into a repentant believer.
How can we apply
this? I’ve talked recently with some other believers who have non-Christian
family. They’ve talked with their family members, made absolutely no headway,
and they’re wondering what to do, or even the best way to pray for them.
They’ve even prayed that something will come into their lives to “shake them
up.” I’m not against this by any means: Often the Spirit uses hardship in our
lives to bring us to himself. But we have to keep in mind that it’s the Holy
Spirit who has to change a person from the inside-out, and no amount of
arguing, or evidence, or life changes will be able to do that by themselves.
Oh, but when he gets
a hold of someone’s heart, what a change it makes!
Lord Jesus, through your Spirit
please give me a soft heart and listening ears. That’s the only way change is
going to happen inside me. I want to see that happen, and I know that even the
wanting comes from you. I guess there’s hope for me yet.
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