Wednesday, December 20
The tide turns
Scripture: Revelation 15
Revelation 15:1–2 Then I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues (they are final because in them God’s anger is completed).
2 Then I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and his image and the number of his name. They were standing by the sea of glass, holding harps given to them by God.
Observation
Finally, the tide begins to turn—here is the beginning of the end: the seven final plagues, final “because in them God’s anger is completed.”
I said on Sunday that God’s sorrow and anger are His temporary responses to a fallen world, and will end when He puts the world right. Here John says clearly that there is an end to God’s anger. It’s not forever.
In the previous chapter, the beast waged war on the saints and overcame them, but here we see the saints who conquered (or overcame) the beast. The beast’s victory is short lived; God’s victory is forever. These conquering saints are given harps and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb—it’s another song of worship.
Application
I’m grateful for God’s anger. I know that sounds odd, but imagine God not being angry at the atrocities of our world. How could we worship a God who was unmoved by evil? I’m horrified by much of what I read in the news each day; I can’t imagine God feeling less.
I’m also grateful that God’s anger has an end and is not forever. Who could stand if it was? No one.
Most of all, I’m grateful that Jesus has absorbed God’s anger on our behalf.
Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So…I’ll join those victorious saints in singing the Song of the Lamb!
Prayer: Lord, thank You for taking my punishment, for absorbing the wrath I deserved, for saving me! And I’m so grateful that one day, Your wrath will end and all will be put right!
More: Habakkuk 1-3, John 10