Only By Faith
( Rev 8:6~13 )
The only way to salvation is by faith, not goodness as Duke Robinson said in 'How to Stop Making 9 Self-Sabotaging Mistakes' in his Too Nice for Your Own Good. The woes of the seven trumpets which brings the destruction of circumstances happen along with the woes of the seven seals and seven bowls simultaneously. The more we are bent on conquering, the more woes from the earth and the sea we encounter. Truly dreadful judgment is the one that comes upon s us without any notice. So it was with my husband. Without any warning, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away the next day. Despite the dreadful judgment, however, his soul was saved by God in a day, thanks to the Word, which had been given to a person in his family as Gods warning. The trumpet disasters come upon those who stubbornly live according to their own way. Therefore, we need to be all our ears to the alarm of Gods trumpet sound.
The first trumpet sound brings the disaster of the land. It is the same kind as the seventh of the ten plagues, described in Exodus. The hail refers to small balls of ice that strike things on earth, symbolizing the miserable result of nuclear war etc. Thus God shakes the foundation of the earth in order to warn the people, who rely only on the visible but ephemeral things on earth. So we need to step forward to share the invisible but eternal gospel by faith only. Gods chosen people, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb humbly respond to this disaster with repentance. However, those who belong to Egypt stubbornly remain unfaithful to God till the very last moment of the ten plagues, God will put to his judgment without fail. The woes of the seven trumpets and bowls are not only about Gods warning for our repentance but also his demonstration that both judgment and salvation belong to Him. In Rev 9: 21 to 22, however, people still did not repent of their sins, remained stubborn-hearted, and committed the sins of blasphemy and idolatry.
The second trumpet sound brings the disaster of the sea. The fact that one third of the sea would become blood and many ships be destroyed showed the possibility that natural disasters would finally bring countless human casualties. When the people heard this message in the early Church, few of them would have imagined that things would be exactly like the prediction 2000 years later. We need to accept the word by faith only. However, many people in the world are like Pharaoh, whose heart became hard and wouldnt listen to God even while the Nile was being changed into blood. They say 'We are the superpower of the world. Whom on earth should we believe in? Jesus? No way! Over my dead body!'
The third trumpet sound brings the disaster of water. The third disaster is a shortage of drinking water due to water pollution. A great star, seemingly the everlasting object of peoples trust falls from the sky. The name of the star is Wormwood. Those who believe in God have no fear of anything and wont be hurt by anyone because they know that nothing on earth will last. However, the polluted water, which runs through the world flows back to our home because theres no justice and fairness in the world. Thus the disaster brings the total destruction of human relationships and ecocide with its poisonous wormwood.
The fourth trumpet sound brings the disaster of darkness. It matches the ninth disaster of the ten plagues in Exodus, which also implies that God is ready to save his children from the Roman persecution. God let John write the book of Revelation in order to console the Christians under persecution, saying the power of the world is to fall in the end. We need to share the gospel with our Pharaoh spouse and child constantly in preparation for the inescapable night of the disaster lest they should say that they didnt hear the gospel. We all can face the same disastrous situation of getting sick, having bankruptcy, or finding our spouses unfaithfulness, but we can show a different response. One leader like Moses is important. With him, we Christians need to pass over the great disaster caused by Pharaoh. No matter what decision we make, we need to put the seed of Jesus in it. We also need to have our spiritual perspective in order to interpret all disasters from the context of Gods redemption history with faith.
Lastly, we should read the hidden affection of the Lord with faith. In verse 2, the seven angels of God received their trumpets, got ready to blow them in verse 6, and finally blew them in verse 7. Here we need to feel the love of God who still waits for us to come back to him intact in his judgment. Life is empty no matter how much we have in the world like Pharaoh, which we clearly recognize when our magic staff is swallowed up by Gods staff. Therefore, we need to pray that God will put an end to the emptiness of our life by letting our own staff of money, pride, reputation, school background and appearance be swallowed up by Gods staff. That will be the starting point of our mission. Eunseong Seo, a missionary to Niger, Africa told us through email that he was impressed by the life style of Wooridle Church, which seemed radical to him, where people meditate on the Word everyday, make an application in their daily life, get along well with their problem family members who hurt them. No one in the world is special whoever he might be Pharaoh in Egypt or Domitian in Rome. They just belong to the object of Gods salvation or judgment. We can be saved only by faith.
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them (Rev 8:6).
