Revelation 8 — The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
Revelation 9 — The Trumpets
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). In this vision we have just read about those given a “seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God” (7:3) and the multitude in white robes. Now silence. Now it really gets bad. The ensuing 40 verses or so attempt to describe events that destroy most of the world; it sounds like one of our famous Hollywood movies about some great cataclysmic event–yet some survive. “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent” (9:20). And the revelation continues…it gets worse before being resolved in the end.
There is some consolation that we are given insight that some still did not repent. No amount of preaching or teaching or befriending or anything else could turn these who will not be turned. A lesson learned, though sad. When I think about these people, or really those who I know, who won’t listen to the gospel, I wonder about their mom and dad. When I see a homeless man or think about a prostitute, drug dealer, serial killer, or the like, I think their mom and dad would be very sad indeed. If not that generation, surely someone in their lineage. At one time, they were the innocent little baby needing to be cleaned, fed and cuddled. But God allows us freedom of choice and with that option we run amuck with the world. Yes, there are those we will not be able to reach, but our mission is to learn from these hard words and move to the finish line, the help as many who will listen. We must not harden our hearts no matter how hard theirs may become.