Year of the Bible: Part Twelve of TwelveEgzanp

The Crowd around the Throne

Today’s reading describes a remnant of Jews that God will preserve. God will keep His promise to protect His people. John then sees another group of people that cannot be counted. John does not know why they would be allowed the incredible honor of standing in front of the King. One of the elders brings him up to speed and says, “These are they who are coming out of the Great Tribulation.” I don’t know about you, but “great tribulation” sounds scary.

David Pawson comments that “the tense of the verb clearly indicates a continuing procession of individuals and groups through the whole time of trouble. How are they escaping? Not by one sudden and secret ‘rapture,’ but by death, most by martyrdom.” When you hear this type of conclusion, fear can be a common response. However, what if we look from a different angle or a fresh perspective? Instead of being fearful of what is to come, what if we rejoice that God has prepared us for the coming evil? Knowing what to look for can help us prepare for situations as tribulation unfolds. When a tornado siren blares, it can be jarring, but we are also thankful that we know to take shelter. Similarly, these scriptural warnings are not to scare us but to make us aware. Keep watch and ask God to keep you steadfast in Him. We know that Jesus wins in the end, and we will join Him in ruling the earth.

The joy after the victory will far outweigh our fear as we face the coming days. Another encouraging note for reading this book is that nothing worse than what is written will happen. God has told us, through John, what to expect.

We must read scripture in context. Too often in our culture, people don’t want to search the scriptures; they want to look them up. Yet, when we read novels, we don’t look up specific sentences; we read the entire story in sequence to understand where the author is going. When we only take sections of God’s word and draw conclusions, we can be misled regarding the whole meaning.

Question: What fears do you have regarding the coming tribulation?

Prayer: Ask God to keep you strong in your faith. Ask Him to show you how to stand in what you believe and reveal what you will need to know to stay faithful. Take some time to thank Him for giving us a heads-up regarding what is to come!