Revelation Day 22 - The Judgments of God

DAY 22
The Judgments of God
Revelation 8:6-13

What kind of judgment are we looking at in Revelation 8-9? The Bible shows lots of judgment, like God judging Egypt during the Exodus. But Revelation is famous for final judgment, the big showstopper, the one Michelangelo famously painted in the Sistine Chapel. 

That’s part of the Revelation story but not yet. Yes, Rev 8-9 are darkness, destruction, death, and demonic powers run wild. These judgments are severe but limited. 
 
What do we make of this?

First, save yourself the headache, and don’t try to map these on a calendar. These happen throughout history. Revelation is not a calendar. 
 
Second, from early on, most Bible students recognized that most of this is symbolic, not literal. John’s a shock-and-awe storyteller, showing us how awful sin and evil really are. Don’t expect demonic locust-monsters or imagine a modern version of them. Some have tried this, like Hal Lindsey in his bestselling The Late, Great Planet Earth.
 
Third, yes, the pictures are violent but they don’t mean God is violent or that approves of violence. Revelation keeps making the opposite point. Worldly powers - the unholy trinity of Satan, Babylon, and the Beasts - are oppressive and violent, not the Creator God. The best picture of God is Jesus, and the best picture of Jesus is a sacrificed lamb. He doesn’t conquer and coerce. He lays down his life to win his enemies.

But what’s God’s connection to all this violence? 

God does allow suffering and even uses suffering for good, as we said last week. But God is not torturing people. We might not understand why God allows pain or how God uses it, but we can know enough to trust God and God’s goodness. 

It’s possible we’re seeing in Revelation 8-9 a picture of people suffering a snowball effect of their own sins - sin with compound interest. Often the Bible shows God’s judgment as letting people suffer the consequences of their own actions. Think of 1 Samuel 8 where Israel asks God for a king, even after God warns them that a king will them more harm than good! God gives them a king anyway. God’s not helicopter-parenting, stepping in to stop us every time we mess up, even if our mistakes hurt us or other people. That freedom is its own brand of justice. 

REFLECT
Think about the extensive freedom God gives us to do both great good and great evil. How is that freedom both a blessing and a curse?

PRAY
Lord, in the face of your judgments, I can only pray these words from Romans 11: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.