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Behold I Am Coming Like a Thief

January 15, 2017 Speaker: Series: Revelation: A Spiritual Vision for Strength and Blessing.

Topic: Judgement Passage: Revelation 16

Even the most challenging chapters in Revelation have a message for all of us that speaks to our lives today. In this particular chapter about the seven bowls of wrath there is a moment in which in the midst of the vision the voice of Jesus interrupts John’s description to deliver a message to all of his followers.

But here’s the thing, while this in itself needs to be explained it is clearly the heart of what our response should be to this whole chapter. The idea of being asleep is a common metaphor for a low level of awareness with which you engage life. In the movie Joe Verses The Volcano from the 90s there is a scene in which Patricia, played by Meg Ryan says: “My father always says almost the whole world’s asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says only a few people are awake.” The idea that people can be living in something less than a fully awake fashion has an ancient history. Jesus talked about the need to stay awake and so did the apostles. In Revelation 3:2-3 Jesus told the church at Sardis to wake up and strengthen the things that remain. He comes back to that here in Revelation 16. Are you living as one who is fully awake and aware spiritually and ready for whatever might happen? What can help us to wake up spiritually is to clearly see three things that are taught in this chapter. This is a symbolic vision so it doesn’t unfold like a highly structured outline but it does develop three key truths.

More in Revelation: A Spiritual Vision for Strength and Blessing.

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