The very Hour, Day, Month, and Year
(Rev 9:12~21)
Joe Girard, the Greatest American Salesman of cars made his great achievement on the basis of understanding that each person we meet, if we treat them with our open heart, can be a link in a great social network of 250 people. In short, our truthful attitude to one person can be the key to all human network of that person. Therere two Greek words that refer to time. One is Chronos, the physical time simply passing and the other is Kairos, the absolute time which reflects our will. We all have the same hour, day, month, and year given to us. Yet we live totally different lives according to whether we spent them as Gods time or ours. No one is more blessed than those who do their best, accepting whatever happens in the light of Gods Kairos. Lets see the characteristics of those who disobey Gods time His hour, day, month, and year.
1. They are the victims of Satans attack. The great river Euphrates in verse 4 is a borderline determining whether we are Gods people or not. Those who dont have Gods seal dont understand that this world is actually governed by Gods Kairos. Thats why God commanded the angel of the 6th woe to release the four angels who are allowed to kill a third of mankind. Behind our battles among families, couples, nations, and peoples is always Satans manipulation. And God fulfills his salvation project through his angels in his sovereignty. He holds back or releases the agent of the authority over us in order to train us. No matter whatever authority we are put under, if we fail to accept it in the light of Gods time, we are under His judgment. Even though we might have the right to raise 200 million troops, we should not release them at our pleasure. One of our small group leaders submitted a petition against his boss in his work place. As a result, he had to work with the boss, who failed to be promoted in the same office every day, which drove him to depression. On the other hand, one of our new-comers was exposed to adverse publicity because of a person with the same name. He was ready to sue for defamation. But he heard Gods message to be silent in his QT and he made his application, which brought him a correction report in the media and even a national medal. Thus we should not pose as a judge by raising our own agents of execution.
2. They are to die a dreadful terrible. The two hundred million mounted troops are 2 x 10⁴x10⁴, who attack the 144,000. They say 'You 144,000! Come on and make my day, Im 200 million!' We 144,000 often feel that we are small and overwhelmed by the 200 million attacking us. They attack us because we let go of our Lord in the midst of our suffering. Revelation is the book of Gods love. We need to interpret it as Gods urging us 'Please, come back!' We are to face more trials because we still have further to go in our faith training courses. We are to be killed by the fire, smoke and sulfur that come out of the horses mouths because we dont understand the Word. The mouth is a powerful weapon as in verse 19, 'the power of the horses was in their mouths.' Especially the Word coming out of Christians mouths is like a double bladed sword, which makes people repent. Satan tries to copy Jesus. His agenda is to catch people by their words. Therefore, we need to discern the power of words. We can be easily caught by the trap of words when we are weak in faith. We need to discern the reality, whether abused or flattered, and stay calm. But if we judge a book by its cover, we cant discern.
3. They wont repent up to the very last moment. They are not interested in people at all even though a third of mankind were killed by two hundred million troops. They despise trivial people. Instead they worship their idols of gold, silver and copper. What are they like who survive all those woes like? They dont regard the woes as woes, which they should because we all are evil and adulterous by nature. Thats why optimists are further away from believing in Jesus than pessimists. The features of those who wont repent are keeping hatred, the cause of murder, magic arts, sexual immorality and thefts. No matter how smart they may seem, their 666 can never become 7, the number of Gods wisdom.
4. Gods hour, day, month, and year will be revealed only by prayer. As in verse 13, everything was fulfilled according to the voice that came from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. God will wipe away our tears when we pray with tears. The most consoling part of the trumpet woes is that God always sets limits to our misfortunes. Any type of woe whether locusts or horses whose mouth pours sulfur are under Gods control. Revelation is not the book of Gods woes, but of His love. Those who keep company with God by prayer will have the miraculous experience of converting their physical time, Chronos into Gods Kairos. The act of wasting our time, that is, every single piece of our life is despising Jesus. May God enable us to regard each day of our life as the only time for our ministry, not merely as an incident, and enlarge our spiritual network up to 250amptimes250 people even in the midst of woes!
And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind (Rev 9:15).
