Woe, Woe, Woe- Lent 10, 2022

An eagle appears and indicates the progression is now to the inhabitants…mankind. “As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” (Revelation 8:13)

Revelation 9:1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

I don’t know about you, but I’d really want to be one of those
with the seal on my forehead. These locusts are nasty.

Revelation 9:5 “They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.”

Thought for today:

Surely God would not allow torture! I know. It’s hard to understand. What if this is a preview, a movie trailer, or a sample taste of what hell is going to be like?

How does an anthropomorphic view (making a man) of God Almighty make torture seem unthinkable?

When we overlay human views/sentiments over God’s, we are likely more than a few degrees off of true center. God knows everything. We know only in part. We’re likely to be wrong in our judgments. God never is.

A star falls and is given a key to the Abyss. That’s the home of demons.

Like the torture God allowed of Job (by Satan importantly), there is limit (not allowed to kill) and the result is one wishing he could die and get it over with. Compare Job 6:8-9 “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, 9 that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!” And “During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.” (Revelation 9:6)

Now might also be a good time to address “locusts” like horses with faces –the whole image is weird. Professional theologians take thoughts of tanks and drones as being fantasy and dismiss this as missing the theological importance of John’s writing as it relates to persecution by Rome. Maybe I’m too simple, but I’m not ready to ignore that a first century John is trying to describe events that haven’t happened for us yet. Imagine how hard it would be to describe technology you’ve never seen that blows your mind. Do you think the locusts are actual locusts when they don’t eat plants? It’s figurative in some sense, but in fighting over images, we lose the big picture: there is a legion of evil and the spiritual battle is real. Some people will be casualties. War always does.

How is the authority over life and death connected to the authority to judge? Read John 5:21-27. ” For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ” And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:26-27)

I confess, I’m among those who wish for the Return of Christ. Passages like this one disturb me for my loved ones. What about you?

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Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.