Guttersnipe

Between the Woes

Between the woes

Some Thoughts on Time Between Woes
Revelation 11:14-19

“The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon. “

We are always between woes. Some may be judgments; some may be attention-getters; some may be growth opportunities; some may be the cycles of creation; most will be combinations of some of these depending upon how we experience and incorporate them. All will be inevitable.

Be ready for the woes and faithful during them, but always look for the respite time.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever." 

In the time between the woes is a moment of reminder. The Kingdom of God is God’s and is given to the Messiah. His reign does not come in segments, spurts, or interrupted outbursts of tragedy. His kingdom is forever. His reign is consistent. His triumph is eternal.

Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, singing, "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth." 

Changing the scenery, we find ourselves back in Heaven, where eternity has its own clock and calendar. In the timelessness that transcends time and space, is a pause. It is a reorientation of our thinking, It is a perspective check. It is thanksgiving and praise that is aware of God and God’s transcendence.

The elders who represent us before God’s throne, sing

Rage is overcome by wrath because wrath is hitting your head against the brick wall of truth or swimming against a current that will not change at our command.  That is how it looks to us, but to God, it is about not bending or relenting in divine truth, authority, justice, mercy, and peace.

If you choose to fight that, you are up against a formidable foe and you will soon know it. That is judgment.

Time enters the mix. It is time. That was a present reality in John’s time and in ours. Judgment vindicates and indicts, but all long for a final pronouncement, a setting straight of the record.

The flip side of judgment is reward for those who have served, the prophets, the saints, all who reverence the name of God. That includes the small and the great.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is a letter of encouragement for those who suffer under the whip of injustice and persecution. It takes strong language to lift those who are beaten down so severely.

Destruction and destroyers are about to be destroyed.

When?

In earth time, we do not know. In heavenly time, now.

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

With great power comes the vision and assurance that God’s covenant with God’s people, extended by grace to all nations and tongues, is still settled. God is in God’s temple and surrounded with all power and might. Nothing can infringe upon that power or the love of God for those God gathers into the fold.

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