Well, of course there is much that could be said about today's New Testament reading! Hard to know where to begin with some of these, isn't it?? But because my last post was so stinkin' long, I'm going to keep it real short today.
I think I'd like to focus on what I see as being the fulfilment of the prayer in Psalm 82 happening in Revelation 8.
See, in Psalm 82 the psalmist is asking God how long before the wicked will be punished. How long until prayers for the repayment of evil done to believers will be answered? Some other Psalms express even more the strong desire to see wrongdoers repaid with God's wrath. Sometimes we wonder what the point is of standing out, of living counter-culturally, don't we? We wonder privately and out loud why God doesn't do anything, and how long He will wait.
There is no simple answer to how long, but in the opening verses of Revelation 8, we see ALL those prayers answered very decisively at a specific point in time.
In Old Testament times, the High Priest would take coals from the bronze altar in the tabernacle or temple courtyard from the burnt offering and light the incense on the golden altar at the entrance to the Holy of Holies. This burning incense was a symbol of what all the people were doing at the time of the morning and evening sacrifices ~ praying. And the smoke from the burning incense would rise, giving them a visual reminder of the pleasing aroma their prayers were to God.
Here in the first 5 verses of Revelation 8, we see all of heaven pause in silence as they see what will happen to the earth and its inhabitants when the seventh seal is opened. Up until now, heaven has been a rather loud place, but now, there is stunned silence. Trumpets are handed out to seven angels, and an eighth angel receives a golden censer with which to light the golden incense altar with the coals from the altar of the prayers of the saints. And the smoke rises as the prayers do...
...and the angel takes the censer, refills it with live, burning coals from the golden altar, and hurls it to the earth in what is the beginning of the end of humanity's rebellion against God. In direct answer to the prayers raised up to Him throughout all time, the pleas of believers wanting God's vengeance against those who curse and defame Him.
It's terrifying, and yet at the same time so encouraging, to know one day, justice will be done. God WILL be glorified!
Tomorrow's readings: Psalm 83-84; Revelation 9
1 comment:
Beautiful written post Tammi, thank you.
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