Things certainly get worse. The descriptions are like watching a horror show… terror on every side. Torture, mayhem and pain for 5 months followed by more death. This is not random mayhem, but wrath, retribution for unfaithfulness and rejecting the Lord.
This becomes clear in verse 4 where the destroyers are told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. The seal harkens back to 7:3 where the people of God are sealed against this day of wrath.
What we are witnessing is the beginning of judgment against the unfaithful. At the same time it is a last call to repent and put one’s trust in the Lord. Unfortunately no one does this…
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts (20-21).
The walk through this chapter only heightens the sadness I felt yesterday. I am an ambassador of God’s Good News. I need to be ambassadoring. I need to be opening my telexes from God and doing everything The Lord tells me to do so that I fulfill my assignments and advance His Gospel so that people are saved from the wrath to come!
Lead me, show me, command me, direct me, push me… for the sake of the unsaved and the advance of Your fame and name around the world. To be a soldier in Your army no matter the tasks You have for me. This is my pledge. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord, I pray. Amen.
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