Opening of the seals
Day 703, Wednesday, July 15
Revelation Chapter 6
The next segment of Revelation will be the opening of the seven seals of the scroll, which will be followed by a similar seven-part section about the sounding of seven trumpets.
One of the clues about the likely time of the writing of Revelation is found in verse 6 of chapter 6. During the reign of Emeror Domitian (81-96), rapid inflation made basic food nearly unaffordable. However, he prohibited any harm to vineyards, as olive oil and wine were valuable exports that enriched the taxpaying landowners.
Domitian ruled right after the sadistic Emperor Nero (54-68) who persecuted Christians and killed many martyrs. Some Romans believed that Nero would return from the dead and continue his reign of terror; he is identified with many of the references to the Beast and the Antichrist in Revelation.
The pleading of those martyrs in verse 10 for God to avenge their sacrifice foreshadows much of the conflict to come later in the book, as God promises judgment upon those who are his enemies. They ask, “How long, Soverign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood.” Their cry from under the altar inspired part of “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” “Crown him, ye martyrs of your God, who from his altar call.”
Verse 17 begins the response to the martyrs’ cry, “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can understand it.”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Wednesday meditation

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Prayer focus
May we see the mercy in your wrath.