Sometimes what looks good turns out to be bad, and what looks bad turns out to be good. That’s no mystery to anyone who has lived very long on earth. God can use bad things to do good (Romans 8:28), or Satan can use good things to make our lives bad (1 Chronicles 21). What’s bad is when we try to “sell” the bad as good, or vice versa. Isaiah 5:20-21, “What sorrow for those who say, ‘evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.’ What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.”
But life can be filled with choices that aren’t what they seem; so, it would be helpful to have some insight, a birds-eye view of our problems. Thankfully, God has given us the Spirit as a guide to our decisions – big or small. That’s what defines the biggest difference in the New Testament verses the Old, the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39). A promise to help us make better decisions. The real challenge then is how well do I know, or trust, the Spirit’s guidance?
In the book of Revelation, John uses situations going on in seven churches as the backdrop to how we can model trusting in the Spirit to help us make the decisions that lead to an eternal home with God, our father. Five out of seven of the churches were making bad decisions and calling them good. However, regardless of the challenges each church faced, all of them had an ever-growing problem approaching – persecution.
The problems they faced at the end of the first century were their own, but every generation afterwards has had their own set of struggles that they have to face. The question is will we make the decisions that please God by showing our allegiance to him rather than our stuff or even our own life? Will we compromise our faith for security or fear? Or will we remain faithful to the end?
This letter offered insight into God’s desires for them, by pointing them back to Old Testament prophesies, but why? When you see the times of hardships that others faced, we can get that birds-eye perspective better and see where they should have repented, or they should have trusted God more (Romans 15:4). What did the Israelites fail to understand about God when Canaan Land was laid before them (Numbers 13)? What did the Israelites fail to do when Assyria or Babylon threatened them (Deuteronomy 28:49, Jeremiah 25:8-14, Isaiah 39:5-8)? To the Israelite, those events defined some of the darkest periods of their nation, but they could have been better if they had trusted the guidance God was offering them through godly people.
As the slaughtered lamb, Jesus was the only one who could reveal what the sealed scroll told about the bad things coming. As the seals were being broken, He reveals the mystery that was similar to what Pharaoh could have learned, or what the Israelites could have learned. Seven trumpets that resembled the ten plagues sent to Pharaoh to help him see the power of God. Then the seven bowls continue to show the same thing. Finally, the King of Kings shows up to fight the final battle putting an end to all that is bad. This story should give us hope that no matter what we face, God has the ability to help us through to the end
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