Waiting for Wrath
For Meditation
This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. As we step into this important season leading us to Christmas, we do so as we continue through the powerful lens of the the message of Revelation. While Revelation presents many pictures and images that seem shocking and strange we are discovering that we are being presented with the assurance and truth of the Gospel so as to fill us with encouragement and confidence especially for hard times. This Advent will be like no other. We are living through the horrible numbers of the cost of a pandemic. At the same time, we are as a nation finding our way through deep divisions that are painful for all. The glorious news is that Advent points us to the encouragement found in the incarnation and even more in the knowledge that Jesus is coming again to bring full reconciliation to all of creation.
This Sunday we begin Advent with Waiting for Wrath. Such words almost sound unthinkable in a time as difficult as this. And yet, these words take us to the very core of the Gospel. We long for pure and true justice. We long for complete reconciliation. But when we hear the word “wrath” our whole being wants to recoil and seek shelter. What we find is that we cannot locate nor produce any real shelter for ourselves. Revelation seeks to tell us that God’s wrath is severe beyond belief and that it is directed at all that seeks to fight against God. We wrongly think too often that God’s wrath is a reactionary emotion that lashes out at us in a similar way to how we react at times. But nothing could be further from the truth. Revelation shows us that God is not reactionary but rather one who carefully and methodically fulfills his perfect and holy plan. In this great apocalyptic vision we are gloriously shown just how God’s grace opens for us a way of escape and reconciliation.
The texts from Revelation for this week display just what God’s wrath really is. These texts also help us to see the very core of the Gospel creatively shown in Revelation by allowing us to see to whom God’s wrath is directed. But even more and as strange as it sounds, we see that God’s wrath is profoundly good news! How is it possible that wrath is good news? Revelation shows us in dramatic images and pictures.
From these verses in Chapter 14, 15, and 16, we will become better prepared for the celebration of Christmas by gaining a deeper image and understanding of the heart of why God came to us in human flesh. Waiting for the wrath of God will not drive us away to find shelter but rather it will draw us nearer to very grace of God.
For Sunday please mediate on Revelation 14:6-20; 15:1; 16:1,17 and pray for a bold new understanding and grasp of what God has done in sending his Son, Jesus Christ.
Revelation 14:6–20
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Revelation 15:1
1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.
Revelation 16:1,17
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!”