Prayers and destruction
Day 705, Friday, July 17
Revelation Chapters 8 – 9
The opening of the seventh seal is going to be even greater than the opening of the ones before—if we didn’t know that already, the period of silence preceding it heightens the anticipation. As the silence continues, an angel stands at the altar and offers up incense that combined with the prayers of the people, calling to mind David’s words in Psalm 141:2, “May my prayer be set before you like incense.” In verses 4 and 5 we read, “The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
In our time we don’t usually think of prayer as bringing on disaster; we usually pray for peace or restoration. But to a brutally persecuted people the coming of God’s just vengeance is an answer to prayer: their persecution is being avenged.
Perhaps it’s significant that in our day we are more likely to fear God’s justice than pray for it. We may be more aware than we like to admit that we often benefit from the inequity of society; justice against the oppressors may not result in good things for us.
What follows is a series of destructive events that remind us of the plagues Egypt suffered. As in that case, those who have oppressed God’s people suffer punishment.
(As a historical note, verse 8’s description of “something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea,” likely reminded the readers of what they had heard of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which engulfed Pompeii and destroyed ships along the shore in 79, just a few years before Revelation was written.)
Even these great catastrophes leveled against the enemies of God’s people served as an invitation to repentance for those who survived—an invitation they did not take advantage of. In verse 20 we read, “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.”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Friday meditation

Ecclesiastes 10:1-11
As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are. If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.
There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler: Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones. I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.
Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.
If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.
If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee.

Prayer focus
May we live lives that give us the confidence to pray for your justice.