A Sobering Sentence

In Revelation 9 the judgment of God continues on the earth and the inhabitants of the earth. I don’t want to dwell on the details of the judgments that are poured out on the earth. They make me sad. I think about the judgments that people bring upon themselves even today through sin and I think about the consequences that many face because of the sin of others. Yet today there is still grace and mercy available. There are ample opportunities to turn away from sin in repentance and experience the fellowship of Jesus Christ. But at the end of chapter 9 we read this sentence…well, really two sentences: 20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. I’m flabbergasted by these words.   The people who are still alive will not repent. The devastation and destruction around them hardens their hearts, or reveals the hardness of their hearts, and they will not repent. They will not give up their idolatry and immorality.

I think of the phrase, “rock bottom” and how we use it. Sometimes we say that he/she hasn’t hit rock bottom yet; assuming that when the bottom is hit, things will change. This does seem true for some but I think it is not true for the vast majority. Certainly the people alive on earth at the time of the events of Revelation 9 have hit rock bottom in terms of their surroundings but not in terms of their own hearts. A heart without Christ is deceitful and wicked according to the prophet Jeremiah. Mankind doesn’t turn to God. Some say that the Holy Spirit has been removed by the time we get to Revelation 9 and so there is no power of God working to bring men to repentance. That might be true. If so, it reveals the need for God’s Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance. We are not going to repent on our own accord. Whatever the reason, these men and women do not repent and for me that is sobering; both then and now. Please pray for those you know without Christ that they would respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit to repent and receive Christ.