The Wrath of the Lamb
(Rev 6:7-17)
The Lamb is meek. However, He is enraged today. We are overwhelmed by those who are slow to anger but abound in rage rather than those who frequently lose their temper. How then was the Lamb enraged?
1. He shows his wrath through Death of Hades. When the fourth seal was broken, there came a pale horse and its rider named Death as an envoy of disease and Hades. We are often tempted to go with the pale horse because of our physical and spiritual loneliness. But going to Hades for ourselves brings the judgment of the Lamb on ourselves. God is enraged at our wrong choice because He doesnt want us to fall into eternal hell through the way of earthly Hades. We can restore our sense of self-esteem by accepting that we are helpless sinners and devoting ourselves to the Lord. Yet we often cling to our pride without self-esteem, which leads to suicide. We need to understand that it is not us, who already died in God, but Jesus, who died for us, who is actually living in us. Therefore, we should not live as we please. We need to be light enough to be lifted up easily when God raises us up by the hair. But deeply rooted in the earthly soil, well leave a handful of our hair in Gods hand. The only solution to our problems is the Lamb, not changing our circumstances.
2. He shows his wrath through the sacrifice of the Lamb. The book of Revelation is not merely a book of woes or judgment, but also that of Gods consideration and consolation. How then should the church respond to a series of woes? As in todays passage, Gods people will be killed one after another by their persecutors until the number of the martyrs is completed. Therefore, we need to pray that God will enable us to endure the suffering, and that He will verify our patience for his righteousness and suppress the rampant evil. Gods protection is not about no disasters, but about confronting them in the midst of suffering. There are two kinds of death that of Hades and that of eternal life. In the same incident, some people experience Hades, while others experience the heavenly kingdom. Some people are wondering why others are not suffering like them, grumbling 'Why me?' instead of pondering why they need to suffer. The catch-phrase of our KSAT repeating examinee community is Repent when you pass the exam and praise God when you fail it.' They need to thank God for their failure, through which they will cling to God the more. Those who succeeded need to repent of their little faith so little that God needed to use his success carrot! Through trials, we can move from the death of Hades to that of eternal life, recognizing Gods love for us in the midst of His wrath.
3. He brings the universal disaster of defunctionalizing the sun, the moon and stars. We all need to face the question in verse 17 of who can stand his wrath, including the last person we guessed would fall. Stars dont collide with one another because God holds them in their orbit. When he lets go, the universe will fall into great catastrophe. In the catastrophe, no one can stand firm in his place. Obadiah chapter 1 says 'The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights...' The prideful parents of a model student can be the dwellers in the clefs of the rocks. They never turn to the Lord until they face the universal woe. Nothing happens on earth by accident. We need to turn Gods judgment into his salvation through the wrath of the Lamb. May God bless us to carry out our mission through our tough times converted into holy trials!
4. God wants to show us that theres another opportunity. In a respect, Gods wrath is the proof of his mercy on us. As in Jeremiah 29:11, God wants us to prosper, not to harm us and give us hope and a future. The phrase, a fourth of the earth to killed by sword and famine in verse 8 actually implies that God will preserve three fourths. God wants all of us to turn from sin. Thats why he silently waits for us to return to him. Without Gods wrath, the Lamb couldnt have shown perfectly the personality he had. He needs to show his wrath to the world through us, Christians united with the Lamb. For this, we need to make our application of the Word in a way that non-Christians never imagine. In order to survive woes, we need to share our suffering with honesty. God wont use the one who says after resolving this. God gives us the wrath of the Lamb in order for us to be refined as a priest and a Christian, ready to be devoted to Him, whether living or dying. May the Lord enable us to understand His great love for us and fulfill our mission through our trials.
'I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.' (Rev. 6:8)
