Follow the Lamb - 21 Day Study on the Book of RevelationНамуна

Day 11: Three Times Seven = Completion

Scripture Reading:

‘O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;

you will strengthen their hearts, you will incline your ear

to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,

so that those from the earth may strike terror no more.’

- Psalm 10.17-18 (NRSV)

Revelation doesn’t hold back when it comes to speaking out about God’s final judgment. John’s vision tells us of seven seals (6.1-8.1), seven trumpets (8.2-11.19) and seven bowls (15.1-16.21). The imagery here is confronting. The church’s preaching has had a pendulum swing away from ‘fire and brimstone’ preaching. When reading these verses, older people often recall such sermon topics from their childhood. The bad thing about that is that it can be used to threaten or scare people into faith or being obedient to church discipline. God wants us to come to him willingly in response to his love and desire for a relationship with him. We can go too far the other way, though, and excise anything unpleasant from our Bible readings and teaching for fear of turning people away or challenging them.

We often hear the message preached that it doesn’t matter what we do, because nothing will stop God loving us. The latter half is absolutely true; God loves us at our worst no more than at our best. It is just because God loves us so much that he does care what we do, just as we love our kids no matter what, but strive for them to live their best lives, encouraging them to pursue education, healthy living, and have a good value system and be an asset in their community. We are to be stewards of creation as we await God’s return, and how we look after each other and our ecosystems really matters to God. When God returns to make his home among us, we will experience what we call heaven. There can be no evil there, so when we read of God’s cleansing of creation, the wiping out of all sin, we are not to see it as a threat or a punishment but rather as a freeing of the oppression of evil in the world, where there will be no more hunger, slavery, persecution or poverty, so much of which is caused by human injustice and greed. As Martin Luther King Jr optimistically and truly said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’

Some things to think about:

1. How does it affect your behaviour to know that ultimately there will be justice for all?
2. What do you think is the main problem of injustice in the world today?
3. What do you see as the most urgent issue in your local community which needs addressing?

Prayer:

Healing Lord, I thank you for your love for the unloved and the abused. I thank you for loving me even when I forget to love you. I pray that I can help where I can, and trust you to right wrongs which I cannot. In Jesus’ name. Amen.