July 25: A MOMENT IN TIME
So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Revelation 9:15
We see once again the divine passive: were released. It is the Lord who allows His enemies to act. The altar of incense in the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary was the place from which the command was voiced (v.13) by the Lord Jesus Himself. This detail is a reminder that the prayers of His people are very precious to Him. Though mortal humans are subject to the “marching on” of time, He who collects and keeps our prayers is eternal. Those prayers, which may “outlive” us, are shaped by the influence upon our lives of the Word of God, symbolized by the table of showbread, upon our characters. Our witness for Christ in the world, symbolized by the lampstand of lights, also shapes our prayers. These things flank the path to the altar of incense where God’s impeccable, flawless timing is continuously applied.
The angel’s blowing of the sixth trumpet heralds a rapid and sudden transition into a more intense time of testing. The Lord illustrates for us that the prayers of His people are not forgotten. The sixth trumpet scenario also shows that the door of salvation is still open, and the time in which we now live will acutely confront individuals with the fact that time as we know it is short.
We will soon see (v.18) that it is not the angels themselves who are doing the killing. The history of Israel is a foreshadowing of the history of the church. When Israel turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (Amos 6:12), God brought swarms of literal locusts onto the land. God’s people were repeatedly given over, directly into the hands of their enemies because of their disobedience. This disobedience always followed their rejection of His guidance. In case you haven’t noticed, the true prophets of God have never been popular. In the world of these last 2000 years, rejection of the gospel has left people defenseless against demonic activities, even as they pay rapt attention to popular preachers and political leaders.
Change can happen in a moment. The suddenness with which everything can become different is a reality that we tend to resist. Yet, God has placed within us the power of decision-making. We can choose to move in a positive direction in a nano-second. Instantly, and moment-by-moment, the supernatural grace needed to follow through is provided. The key is to decide for righteousness now. Though they don’t know it, procrastinators are dangerously devoid of spiritual protection.
I do not know the year, month, day, hour, minute, or second that my mortal life will reach its end, but between this moment and that one, I want to do the works of Him who sent [Jesus] (John 9:4). This verse also tells me that a moment in earth’s history will soon arrive when no one can work. The door of salvation will close. In the days just before the flood, God had closed the huge, heavy door on the ark (Genesis 7:16) but those on the outside were oblivious to the doom they had chosen for themselves in rejecting Noah’s invitation. Jesus commented:
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away; so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:36-39