The fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened, and they gnawed their tongues on account of the pain. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their works. Rev. 16:10, 11.
My children constantly remind me that I'm now an "older person." One of the things I have noticed about such "older people" is that they become more and more like whatever they have been before. The person who has spent a lifetime being sweet and blessing others tend to become a really, really sweet old person. On the other hand, a person who has lived for self and felt that the world owed him or her a living will increasingly grow more and more selfish and difficult as the years wind down toward the end.
I remember bringing my wife along on a pastoral visit to an older woman. The woman was bedridden that day and asked if my wife could feed her something. My wife agreed and put some hot cereal together. She then began to spoon the cereal into the woman's mouth. Hungry, the woman ate with enthusiasm. But at one point my wife didn't get the food to the woman's mouth as fast as she expected it, and so she bit my wife harshly on the wrist!
I remember telling my brother about the incident and saying, "I want to get rid of all my hang-ups as soon as possible. I don't want to become like that when I get old!" As I said, as we age we tend to become more and more what we have been all along. This has implications for what happens on earth after the close of human probation.
In the face of the overwhelming judgment in this text, one would expect everyone to repent. But that is not the way it will be at the end of time. One survivor of a plane crash recounts that he had always expected people facing death to cry out to God for mercy in their final moments. Instead, as the plane headed downward, out of control, he heard many respond with cursing. In their "last moments" they were merely following habits that they had spent their lives developing.
It doesn't matter whether God responds with judgment or mercy, because some will refuse to believe, refuse to repent, refuse to bless the name of the Lord (Rev. 16:9, 11, 21). They are like the wicked in Sodom who laughed at Lot when he warned them of judgment to come. And so in the end the wicked die unrepentant in the face of divine judgments. In doing so they reveal a deep-seated obstinacy and a depth of human rebellion against God.
Lord, I realize that it would be a big mistake to wait until the end to repent. I want to build qualities into my life now that will reveal themselves when the crisis comes.
My children constantly remind me that I'm now an "older person." One of the things I have noticed about such "older people" is that they become more and more like whatever they have been before. The person who has spent a lifetime being sweet and blessing others tend to become a really, really sweet old person. On the other hand, a person who has lived for self and felt that the world owed him or her a living will increasingly grow more and more selfish and difficult as the years wind down toward the end.
I remember bringing my wife along on a pastoral visit to an older woman. The woman was bedridden that day and asked if my wife could feed her something. My wife agreed and put some hot cereal together. She then began to spoon the cereal into the woman's mouth. Hungry, the woman ate with enthusiasm. But at one point my wife didn't get the food to the woman's mouth as fast as she expected it, and so she bit my wife harshly on the wrist!
I remember telling my brother about the incident and saying, "I want to get rid of all my hang-ups as soon as possible. I don't want to become like that when I get old!" As I said, as we age we tend to become more and more what we have been all along. This has implications for what happens on earth after the close of human probation.
In the face of the overwhelming judgment in this text, one would expect everyone to repent. But that is not the way it will be at the end of time. One survivor of a plane crash recounts that he had always expected people facing death to cry out to God for mercy in their final moments. Instead, as the plane headed downward, out of control, he heard many respond with cursing. In their "last moments" they were merely following habits that they had spent their lives developing.
It doesn't matter whether God responds with judgment or mercy, because some will refuse to believe, refuse to repent, refuse to bless the name of the Lord (Rev. 16:9, 11, 21). They are like the wicked in Sodom who laughed at Lot when he warned them of judgment to come. And so in the end the wicked die unrepentant in the face of divine judgments. In doing so they reveal a deep-seated obstinacy and a depth of human rebellion against God.
Lord, I realize that it would be a big mistake to wait until the end to repent. I want to build qualities into my life now that will reveal themselves when the crisis comes.
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