Encounter With God Devotional 23rd September 2020 Today Message
TOPIC: YOUR KINGDOM COME
Opening Prayer: Lord, we await Your arrival.
Read REVELATION 11:15–19
The Seventh Trumpet
15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry,
and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your people who revere your name,
both great and small—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
There will come a day when every knee shall bow before our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s practice that attitude in our lives today.
Think Further
We return to the seventh trumpet and take up the narrative of chapter 9. The final trumpet sounds at last. From chapters 8 to 11 Christ has been calling an unbelieving world to repentance, both by warning of judgments and by the church’s faithful witness. But now the time is up. This cycle comes to a conclusion. The future is described in the past tense to show that it is utterly inevitable. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord. Order will replace confusion, and harmony will replace discord. The 24 elders of chapter 4 now worship God and affirm his rule and reign. Judgment has come; a day of reckoning has arrived.
Throughout history, empires have come and gone—Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman and many more over the past 2000 years. Ultimately, whatever their manifestos or constitutions, they get bogged down in corruption and mismanagement, crushing the very liberties they promised to protect. The day has come to bring this weary litany to an end and for salvation and judgment, reward and punishment to be revealed. At last the past is concluded and the future is inaugurated. The people of God, both great and small, will be rewarded, and the destroyers of the earth will themselves be destroyed. It is worth hanging on and remaining faithful, whatever the dominant social narrative of our culture.
Suddenly, God’s temple opens, and the hidden is now revealed. The Ark of the Covenant, once only seen by one person on one day a year, is open to view. The Ark is the symbol of mercy and of the covenant between God and his people. It is a necessary vision, as lightning, thunder, earthquake and hailstorm shake the earth. As is sung in Handel’s Messiah, “He shall reign for ever and ever” (15, AV). No wonder we shout “Hallelujah—save us now!”
Apply
Give thanks that our hope is in the covenant of grace, secured by Jesus’ death for us, in our place.
Closing prayer
Lord, the only empire that will endure forever is the one You set up. Thank You for including us.
ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
Isaiah 45,46 / Psalms 108,109
Thanks for reading today’s Daily Devotional
Encounter With God Devotional 23rd September 2020 Message
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