Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Since we are talking about the destruction of the earth today, and the different ways that it can happen, here is a little cheery story about an asteroid that will be making a close approach next week:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060626/sc_space/hugeasteroidtoflypastearthjuly3   

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 16 (all), Barclay 139-145

 

-- Chapter 16 is clearly the beginning of the end.  God has called forth seven angels to pour out his judgements upon the earth.  These judgments/plagues are similiar in nature to the plagues that Moses called down on Pharoah, and also similar to the plagues that we saw earlier in Revelation when the seven seals were broken and when the seven trumpets sounded.  However, there are three key differences between the trumpets and the bowls:

 

-- The bowls are complete, the trumpets were partial.  In the trumpets, it was 1/3 of this, or 1/4 of that affected.  With the bowls, it is everything.

 

-- Second, the trumpet judgments gave people an opportunity to repent, whereas the bowl judgments don't.

 

-- Third, mankind is directly affected by all seven of the bowls, whereas they were only indirectly affected by some of the trumpet judgments.

 

-- As Barclay notes, John says that the people knew these plagues came from God, because they cursed him as the cause of them.  It is amazing that people can be so stubborn in the light of the awesome power of God, but I guess we see that on a smaller scale everyday.  But I think we all know people who would do exactly as John has written -- who would suffer these great plagues, know that they were from God for their disobedience, and still be angry and curse God and try to fight God rather than submit to him and admit to his power and rule.

 

-- On page 143, Barclay says of these seven plagues that "John seems to have gathered together the horrors from all the stories of the avenging wrath of God and to have hurled them on the unbelieving world".  He writes as if John made all of this up, instead of this being a vision of the end times that John was observing.  My impression is that Barclay is saying that John made all of this up, to make his point.  Yet another example of Barclay's skepticism.

 

-- In our effort to think about the timeline for the events in Revelation, I'm pretty sure that these events have not happened yet.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

 

Romans 8:28

 

Today's prayer requests:    Gracie Barrett

 

From Ellen:

Could you please add Gracie to the prayer list? She fell off a hammock yesterday and fractured her right arm. We are going to see an orthopedist today to get a cast. Our biggest problem right now is that she can't suck her thumb. (won't suck the left one for some reason) Thanks!    

Today's class member prayer: 

 Megan Douglas       

 

Jay