Finale Revelation and Imagination Daily Devotional-36

REVELATION 6:15-17 | ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and    everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; ¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Reading Revelation means coming to grips with the wrath of God. Visions of judgement constitute about one half of the book.  Organized in groups of seven, there is judgement via seven seals in 6:1-8:1, seven trumpets in 8:2-11:19, and seven bowls in 15:1-16:21 and 17:1-19:10. There are two great conflicts with judgement overtones in 19:11-21 and 20:1-6 and a depiction of final judgement in 20:11-15.

There is a sense of shock and awe reading these accounts, a  rhetorical power that employs vivid symbols to awaken and disturb. My study of these passages has led me to see these dramatic scenes not as literal depictions but as provocative images employed to capture the high stakes and genuine pathos of God’s battle to overcome evil with good.

What does the wrath of God mean to you? 

Tags: meaning, wrath of god