“Who Is Able to Stand?” (Revelation 6:16)

Who Is Able to Stand?

Sunday, February 27, 2022

At the beginning of this year I decided to do a “fast” read-through of the Bible, marking all the questions. Having completed this, I’ve paged back through, noting what I call “Critical Questions in the Bible.” The very first question in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, I included in my subjective list of critical questions. It was a question asked, surprisingly, by the serpent, or, the devil. “Has God really said …?” I wrote about this a few weeks ago.

I’ve got several pages of handwritten questions. The plan is to continue to write about a number of these, though I’m not sure how to order the list. Since I’ve written about the first, maybe it would be good to note the last critical question in the Bible: Revelation 6:16, “Who is able to stand?"

The scene from Revelation is the “revealing” of God’s wrath upon godless humanity. The definition of “godless” can be framed by morality (or, a lack thereof). Or it can be defined as a rejection of God, or, more specifically, a rejection of God’s Son. The Son is presented as the leading agent for the “pouring forth” of judgment throughout the chapters of Revelation. This onslaught of judgment produces as response from mankind, from the leaders of mankind, who are regarded as mighty and fearsome in the world. But now they are cowering. They would rather die than face this kind of judgment. And so the question, “Who is able to stand?”

There are situations in life that we think we can manage. We have an “eternal” optimism that we can avoid the worst, and often make things better. We can weather the weather. We can survive economic downturns. We’ll find a way to defy external threats, from nations, and maybe from climate itself. But who gives a thought to how we manage the unmanageable - the wrath of God? Now that’s a critical question.

The only answer to the dilemma of avoiding God’s unavoidable wrath is through the escape that God Himself has intentionally and graciously provided. It involves our recognition of God’s Anointed One, Jesus, and a submission to Him as Savior and King. We receive the gift of salvation, which is purchased for us by Jesus Himself, a gift that we could never earn or purchase ourselves. It requires a confession that we are not the kings of the universe or the lords of our lives, but that we owe our lives, and our future lives, to Him. We humble ourselves before Him, something that the men of our (uni)verse would rather die than do. 

“and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”” (Revelation 6:16–17 NAS95)

“O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

 “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Abraham asks a good question, if, in fact, it is good to ask God such questions. God had made a promise three chapters earlier, and three chapters is a long time to wait. God was reiterating the promise, even showing Abraham the stars of the nighttime sky, comparing their number to the number of Abraham’s descendants. Except that Abraham didn’t have any - not even one. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it (the promise).”

I suppose the short answer would be, because God had promised it. There’s the old saying, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.” But it’s not always that easy. When the situation seems impossible, well, it seems impossible. When the promise is delayed (according to our expectation, not God’s), we easily think it might never happen.

God has promised that Jesus is coming again. That kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. It almost seems impossible that Jesus would “break through the blue” and interject Himself (again) into human history. Also, Christians for many, many generations have been awaiting this event for a long, long time. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"

In Genesis 15, God responded to Abraham’s question with a ceremony - a covenant ceremony. It was a little like a wedding, other than the split-open animals. But God was showing that He was serious about His promise, and bound Himself with an oath. Some have suggested that the meaning of this ceremony was: “and so may it be done to Me if I fail to honor My promise.” So may God be split in half?

The covenant ceremony by which the Lord has affirmed the potency of His promises to us is somewhat different than Abraham’s, but in a strange way, somewhat the same. You see, when God promised us forgiveness of sins and eternal life, including a home in heaven, it seemed impossible, and far away. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"

God enacted another ceremony, on Golgotha, confirming His seriousness about the promise. But this time, it was not a threat of being split apart, but a reality: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And that’s how we know. If God takes His promise that seriously, then we should trust it that sincerely.

 Who Warned You to Flee from the Wrath to Come?

Sunday, February 13, 2022

John the Baptist was just slightly older than Jesus, related to him. But John was different from Jesus. John was different from most people, what with his leather belt and the locusts and and honey. He wandered the land, living off the land, and had little to do with the niceties of life. He was concerned about something else. People’s eternal destiny.

Prophetic figures are often quite different. They don’t fit well in this world. They have a view of another world. Further, they don’t say what’s on their mind. Rather, they say what is on God’s mind. And it most often does not match what is being spoken on the street.

It’s easy to ignore a prophet. It was easy to ignore John. He was strange. And yet, there was something compelling; something urgent about his message that rang true. And many people responded, and believed, and were baptized.

The religious leaders were curious in a critical sort of way. They were listening to see what John got wrong, and were not considering that he could be right. And so it was to them that John posed this important question: “Who Warned You to Flee from the Wrath to Come?”

Now let’s leave the 1st century and come to the 21st century. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Maybe no one. Maybe you have only heard the silly mantras of the world, like “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die;” or “follow your passion” or “if you only believe, it will happen.” You are not aware of a warning of a coming wrath. If not, you’ve not read the Bible or heard someone actual tell what the Bible says. Or, you’ve read and listened with your ears closed, like John’s religious leaders.

In the Old Testament, God warned Lot to flee from the coming wrath. Lot responded with a lot of “not so fast” and “not so far.” His wife hesitated, and the coming wrath caught up to her. That story, true as it is, is just a small picture of what John the Baptist spoke of at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which culminated in His death, which in itself was a pouring out of the wrath of God, sparing those who would believe in Jesus.

Who warned you? Did you listen? Have you responded by trusting the salvation that God has provided in Christ, and in Christ alone? Because the Bible says, it’s coming. God’s wrath is still coming.

“how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 ESV)

Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?

Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?

Sunday, February 6, 2022

This is the question, verbatim, from Genesis 18:14 - “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The story occurs long after the promise to Abraham had been given that he and Sarah would have a son. But years have passed, and they have gotten old. The couple, ten years apart, are now 99 and 89. The Lord appears and promises at this time next year, they would have a son. Sarah laughed out loud.

The truth is, nothing is hard at all for the Lord. We think of things being hard when it requires great might. But God is - wait for it - the Almighty. Things are hard when they require great coordination of many moving parts. But God has in mind at once all coordinates and permutations. We find things to be next to impossible when we are opposed by powerful figures or forces who are set against us. But God has no true rivals. He is un-rivaled. When the doctors say it can’t happen, well then, who in their right mind would argue? But God isn’t limited by medical experience.

God promised a son. God does not lie. And He promised. Abraham and Sarah wondered. No, they doubted. And then God said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

The Hebrew word for “hard” can also be translated “wonderful.” What are the limits on the wonders (hard things) that God can perform? The hymn, written by early American pastor Samuel Davies, goes “Great God of wonders! All Thy ways are matchless, godlike and divine.” It is put to a tune by John Newton called “Wonders (Sovereignty).” And then Davies takes this wonderful matchlessness of God and applies it to grace and forgiveness: “Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?” 

We don’t often think of God stooping in tenderness and compassion down to the level of self-willed, rebellious sinners as a “too hard” thing. But if God is holy, the easiest thing for Him to do would have been to mete out the punishment that we deserve. Instead, He did the hard thing and the holy thing. That is, He sent His Son to bear our sin (a hard thing) so that we could be holy (a wonderful thing).

Once again, an angel appeared to a man, Zecharias, and said that his old, barren wife, Elizabeth, would have a child. When the New Testament angel quotes the Old Testament angel to Mary, he says, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Elizabeth’s baby, John the Baptist, says of Mary’s baby, Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”