Overview of: RevelationToday's Reading:
Revelation 8:1 – 11:19
"Woes and Judgment"
Focus Verses: Revelation 10:9-11
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." 10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
Insight:
God is the righteous and the Mighty Lord of all the heavens and earth. He shines forth in perfect beauty and summons all the earth and all people of all times to stand before him -- those who have made a covenant with him, and those who have ignored and rejected him. Judgment is a bitter thing to consider and take in, but the sweetness of a just and redeemed world is not possible without it. Thankfully, the Mighty Judge is also Mighty Savior, and has made a way -- the Lamb of God -- for everyone to find redemption and salvation.
Response and Action:
I must acknowledge my own sin and recognize my need for salvation. I will live in covenant with God by taking hold of the salvation he offers through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who has laid down his life in order to bring me safely through the fire of God's refining judgment. While judgment is bitter to me, redemption and the hope of a purified and righteous world is sweet to me. I will celebrate and share God's love and power to save. I will shout out the hope of salvation and the hope of a restored and renewed world, through faith in Christ Jesus.
O God, shine forth in perfect beauty and righteousness. Make your salvation known to all peoples, nations, languages, and kings, that they might escape your righteous judgment by your gracious redemption. May the sweetness of your desire to save overpower the bitterness of judgment that comes only to those who refuse your grace. Amen.
Old Testament for Today: Psalm 50:1-6
1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. 2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. 3 Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. 4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people: 5 "Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." 6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge.
In Context: Psalm 50
Proverb for Today: Prov. 13:12
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
Recommended Reading:
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
by N. T. Wright
