Our daughter, Sarah, lives and breathes horses and gets to ride horses 1-2 times per week. She is a petite girl and knows they are quite big and powerful. She has a healthy fear of them and knows to be careful moving around them. She is willing, though, to ride some of the horses that others are scared to try to ride. In fact, she was bucked off a less tame horse twice last week and yet got up and got back on!
As “wild”
as Sarah’s ride was last week, it was nothing compared to the 2 million horses
and their destruction after the sound of the 6th trumpet!
Revelation
9:13-21 13 The sixth angel sounded his
trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden
altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth
angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the
great river Euphrates.” 15 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. 16 The
number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard
their number.
17 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. 18 A third of mankind was
killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out
of their mouths. 19 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.
20 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. 21 Nor did they
repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual
immorality or their thefts.
Jesus’s Sovereign patience is astounding! He could
wipe everything out at once and be done with the wickedness in the world, but
He graciously gives additional time. The 2/3 not killed had another opportunity
to repent and turn to their Creator.
We may not be like these people who continue to
refuse to repent. We may not intentionally worship idols or participate in
sexual immorality, but are there things in our lives that take priority over
God and His purposes for us? What areas of our lives are not totally
surrendered to Jesus?
Like Sarah and horses, we are to have a healthy fear
of God. He has the most powerful army of millions! He will win in the end! I
want to be working for Him and not against Him. It ends terribly for those working
against Him. Jesus is worthy of worship for all His power.
