"The Church's Biggest Failure" December 24 Readings: Revelation 6-9

Today's Reading -  Revelation 6-9

Background

In chapter 6, Jesus begins to open the seals on the judgment scroll and wrath of God is poured out on the world. There are significant issues at stake here, far more than we can discuss in this brief statement - issues that will be argued until Jesus actually returns and settles all the discussions. But there are several significant items that appear here.

The first four seals bring out the famous "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," and then we meet the 144,000 witnesses from the 12 tribes of Israel. Finally, the heavenly multitude from every tribe and language on earth is seen in the heavenly vision.

There is a pattern here. Jesus opens six of the seven seals, then there is an interlude in which God's grace is offered to sinful man and the hardness of the human heart is displayed. It is after this that the seventh seal is opened and it reveals seven trumpets which blow. The same pattern is followed between the sixth and seventh trumpets before that seventh trumpet reveals the final seven judgments, the bowls of God's wrath.

The second phase of God's program of judgment is initiated in chapter 8 - the seventh seal is opened revealing seven angels with seven trumpets. The judgments are increasingly harsh. The seals each destroyed 1/4 of that part of the earth they targeted. The trumpets bring judgment that destroys 1/3 of what is left. By my old-style math, I believe that would mean that about 1/2 of the world has been destroyed to this point.

God is cruel, you say?

I would argue that God is amazingly patient. He made this world for his glory and has put up with the sin of the world for thousands of years, giving mankind chance after chance to repent. He offered his only Son as the payment for sins and displayed his grace and mercy in unimaginable ways. How did we respond? Humanity has spit in God's face over and over again.

Finally, in God's sovereign time, the judgment falls. It is not fair to blame the judge for the sentence passed down on the criminal, is it? God has given humanity every chance and we've rejected him. Now, the hammer falls. Now humanity sees and feels the weight of God's wrath - and it is terrifying. Still, there is a chance to repent but few do. 

Devotional - The Church's Biggest Failure 

It has been in the heart of God since the beginning of time but it has seldom been in the heart of God's people. When God called Abram and chose him to bless his seed, he told him that he would bless him and make him a blessing. God's choice of Israel was not meant to be simply a blessing to them but so that God could use them as a channel of blessing to the world.

We look at the Early Church, the Jerusalem church, as an ideal of all that is good and right. But the fact is that they never had God's heart for the "the ends of the earth." They actually resisted the work of God every time the boundaries were pushed and Samaritans first, then later Gentiles, were saved and brought into the family of God. Even Peter had to have a vision from God before he'd go to share Christ with Cornelius. It took a massive persecution to move the Jerusalem church outside of their home city to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. It was the Antioch church that caught a vision of the heart of God to "make disciples of all nations." It was Barnabas and Saul who answered the call to go beyond the borders of the nation of Israel and go the "ends of the earth."

But God is relentless, determined that he will gather his people from all the earth. In spite of the reluctance of the church, God's power wins out and he accomplishes his purpose. Revelation 7:9 describes a "great multitude no one could number" standing before the throne of God. This is the church, the people of God, those redeemed by the blood of Christ. This is not a group of white Americans. It's not a Jewish group, to the consternation of some of the party of the Jews in the Early Church. It is a gathering of those from EVERY tribe, language, and people on earth.

God wins and the gospel goes out to everyone!

Unfortunately, the American church has not always been any better at this than the Jerusalem church was. We tend to confuse the purposes of the kingdom of God with good fortunes of the USA. It is still true that the segregated hour of the week in the USA is Sunday morning church hour, and that cannot be a blessing to the heart of God who sent his Son to redeem a people from every tribe and language on earth.

We must develop the heart of God for the nations. God's heart is for rich and poor, black white and every shade in between, powerful and inconsequential, male and female. The church of Jesus Christ must be about the things that are in the heart of God. We cannot live solely for our own comfort and happiness but must give ourselves that the world might know, that the rejected, the abused, the discriminated against, the dehumanized, the rejected - that they might know the amazing love of God in Jesus Christ.

That is the heart of God and that must be the heart of God's people.

Father, may my heart beat with your heart for the nations of the world and all its people. 

Think and Pray

Does your life give evidence of the heart of God for all nations or are you living in selfishness and focused on your own people, your own culture?