Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Revelation 14:6-20
Set – Lamentations 2; Revelation 14
Go! – Lamentations 1-2; Obadiah; Revelation 14
Revelation 14:6-20
6 I saw another messenger flying through midheaven. He carried an eternal gospel, bringing good news to all the citizens of the earth—every ethnicity, nation, language, and people.
Heavenly Messenger (with a loud voice): 7 Fear God. Give Him glory, for the time of judgment has arrived. Worship the One who fashioned heaven and earth and created the seas and the springs.
8 Another messenger, a second, came along.
Second Messenger: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great city! She has intoxicated all the nations with the wine of the wrath of her sexual perversion.
9 Another messenger, a third, followed.
Third Messenger (with a loud voice): Those who worship the beast and its image, and all who receive its mark on their foreheads or on their hands, 10 will be forced to drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured out undiluted into the cup of God’s anger. And they will face the torment of fire and the agony of sulfurous flames before the holy messengers and the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their torment will rise throughout the ages for eternity. Day and night will come and go without pause or cessation. There will be no end to the torture experienced by those who worship the beast and its image and by those who receive the mark of its name.
12 Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice call out from heaven.
A Voice: Record this: “Blessed are the dead who have died in the Lord from now until the end.”
Spirit: Yes, they will rest from their labors because their deeds remain with them.
14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, a golden wreath atop His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 Another messenger proceeded from the temple and called with a loud voice to the One who sat on the cloud.
Heavenly Messenger: Take Your sickle and reap the harvest, because the harvest of the earth is full and ripe and because the time to harvest has come.
16 Then the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth gave up its harvest.
17 Just then another messenger proceeded out of the heavenly temple. He also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another messenger (the one with authority over fire) came out from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle.
Messenger of Fire: Take your sharp sickle and gather together the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for the grapes are ripe and ready for harvest.
19 So the heavenly messenger swung his sickle over the earth, gathered the fruit of the vine from the earth, and threw it into the great winepress, which is the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside of the city, and blood flowed from the winepress. The blood ran deep. It reached as high as the bridle on a horse and ran for the distance of about 185 miles.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
For centuries men have tried to unravel the mysteries of the end times. When will I return to take My children to be with Me through eternity? When will I finally pour out My wrath and avenge the evil prosecuted against those who bear My name? How long will I stand by and watch the evil in this world continue before I call an end to it all and call My faithful home? You read Revelation and see the punishments and the wrath and want it to come to join Me soon.
Many see Revelation as a vision of My wrath and fury, of final judgment against the evil of the world. They recite the judgments, the plagues, the battles that John relates in the visions I should him during his exile on the Isle of Patmos. But the book is so much more than a recitation of My judgments. Look deep into its verses.
Even in what you heard today, the book is filled with recognition of who I am. John acknowledges Me as the one True God, worthy of blessings and honor and glory. The Holy One who will provide rest for those who labor justly and rightly in this world. I am the One who avenges those abused by evil men. John’s Revelation has much to say about My wrath, vengance, and the devastation that will lay waste the world at the end of time. It also has much to say about the glory I will receive, the praises I you will sing, and the wonders of heaven you will enjoy. It is a book of mystery and worship.
Read it with the praise of My people in mind the next time you pick it up.
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