Last night, James came home from gymnastics upset about the bullies who had called him names and pushed him around. It’s natural to want justice to be served immediately in situations like these! We often desire swift judgment for others while pleading for grace and mercy for ourselves.
God will bring perfect
justice in His own time. As we saw last week, God’s glory and power completely filled
the temple as He sent out the seven angels with the seven plagues in the seven
golden bowls of His wrath to finish His judgment on the earth. He doesn’t dump
all His judgment at once. One angel pours out a bowl of wrath, followed by
another. God could certainly pour out His wrath all at once and be done with it,
but He doesn’t. Instead, He continues to give people opportunities to repent
and turn to Him.
Revelation 16:1-7 Then I heard a
loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out
the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the
land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the
mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and
it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the
sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and
springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the
angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were;
6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they
deserve.”
7 And I heard the altar respond:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are your judgments.”
I find it interesting that in
previous passages in Revelation, Jesus, the Holy One, was referred to as the
one “who is, and who was, and who is to come” (Revelation 1:8, 4:8, etc.) However,
in this passage, the last phrase is omitted, as Jesus has returned by this
point. This change implies that there will be no more waiting on the part of
His people when He brings final judgment.
