Read: Revelation 15:1-16:11
Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! (v. 3)
The Revelation story begins again. Now John sees the redeemed singing the song of Moses and the Lamb: “All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed” (v. 4).
Why the Song of Moses? Why the tent of worship? They tell us God’s laws and the Ten Commandments are still in force. We are all guilty before God’s moral law, condemned to death if we do not accept the pardon Jesus won for us (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). God’s instructions don’t fence us in but fence danger out. He knows how we function best physically, socially and spiritually in the world he made. Rebels constantly butt their heads against this reality, but sins often contain their own punishment. And God must enforce his law because he is a righteous Judge.
Angels from the smoking temple dump their smoking bowls. Vegetation, atmosphere, rivers, seas, animals and people are destroyed. In Revelation 8 the judgments were partial. Now they are total, the natural consequences of people’s misuse of the freedom God gave them. Jesus tells us about the end long in advance so we can care for his planet and people. It hurts him to see anyone without a home, food, jobs, and health care—and without God. —Ruth Siemens
As you pray, repent and ask forgiveness for your own rebellion, and ask God to change your heart to follow his way.
About the Author
Ruth Siemens was a campus minister with IVCF/IFES, then started Global Opportunities to prepare professionals to work and witness in secular employment abroad.
