Revelation: Warning for the World
Revelation: Warning For the World
Standing Firm When the Trumpets Sound: Finding Hope in Revelation's Warnings
The imagery is startling: angels with trumpets, smoke rising like incense, locusts emerging from an abyss, and voices crying out "How long?" The book of Revelation can feel overwhelming, even terrifying at times. Yet within these apocalyptic visions lies a message we desperately need today—a message about God's unwavering love, the reality of suffering, and our calling to be witnesses of hope in a broken world.
The Brutal Honesty of Scripture
One of the most striking aspects of Revelation—and indeed, the entire Bible—is its brutal honesty about pain and suffering. There's no sugar-coating, no promise of an easy journey, no formula that guarantees a life free from hardship. Scripture doesn't offer us a comfortable escape route from the difficulties of being human in a fallen world.
This honesty is actually a gift. We live in a culture that constantly tries to sell us solutions: the right product, the perfect routine, the ideal mindset that will supposedly shield us from all discomfort. But the Bible meets us in reality. It acknowledges that both the righteous and the wicked experience suffering in this world.
However—and this is crucial—they suffer in fundamentally different ways.
Two Types of Suffering
The seven trumpets of Revelation paint a vivid picture of warnings sounded over an unrepentant world. Like the plagues that fell upon Egypt when Pharaoh refused to let God's people go, these trumpets represent God's persistent call for humanity to turn back to Him. Each trumpet is another opportunity, another warning, another display of God's power meant to awaken hearts to truth.
The fifth trumpet brings a particularly sobering image: creatures that torment people to the point where they seek death but cannot find it. They long to die, but death eludes them. This is suffering without hope, pain without purpose, agony without end.
Contrast this with the suffering of believers described elsewhere in Revelation. Yes, they face persecution. Yes, some become martyrs. But their response is radically different: "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death" (Revelation 12:11).
For those covered by the blood of Jesus, death is not a terror—it's simply a doorway into the presence of God. Physical death loses its sting because eternal life has already begun. This doesn't minimize the grief we feel when we lose loved ones, but it fundamentally changes what death means.
Prayers Rising Like Incense
In Revelation's vision of the golden censer, we see something beautiful: the prayers of God's people rising like incense before His throne. This imagery reminds us that no prayer is lost, no cry goes unheard.
All our prayers matter to God because we are His children. Whether we're praying for a sick kitten as a child or crying out in the midst of unimaginable tragedy, God is moved by what moves us. Yet not all prayers carry equal weight. The prayers of a community devastated by violence, the cries of believers facing persecution, the desperate pleas of those watching their loved ones suffer—these ascend before God with a weight that demands His attention.
The early church knew this reality intimately. Imagine attending church and discovering your Sunday school teachers won't return—not because of an accident, but because the government has executed them for refusing to worship the emperor. Imagine your entire church leadership disappearing overnight, sent to arenas to be killed by wild animals for public entertainment.
"How long, O Lord?" they cried. And God heard them.
The Danger of Waiting
One of the most sobering truths in Revelation is that even after devastating plagues, many people still refuse to repent. Revelation 9:20-21 tells us that despite a third of mankind being killed, "the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent."
This shatters a common assumption: that tragedy automatically brings people to their knees before God. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn't. There's a dangerous tendency to think, "I'll repent later. When I'm older. When I'm facing death. Then I'll get right with God."
But hardened hearts don't suddenly soften in crisis. In fact, when people face their final moments without having cultivated a relationship with God, they often respond with anger, bitterness, and cursing rather than repentance.
Today—right now—is the day of grace. Today is the day of salvation. Why would we wait for tragedy to strike when God is extending His invitation in this moment?
We Are the Witnesses
The book of Revelation speaks of two witnesses who prophesy and call people to repentance. While scholars debate their identity, one thing is clear: we who follow Jesus are called to be witnesses today.
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
The world around us is searching. People are looking for answers, grasping for hope, seeking something of real substance beyond the next social media post. Everyone knows that suffering is real. The question is: where will they find hope in the midst of it?
As followers of Jesus, we carry that hope. We've been marked by the Holy Spirit. We've experienced real forgiveness, genuine freedom, and a hope that doesn't disappoint. And the world is watching.
The Final Word: Victory
When the seventh trumpet sounds in Revelation, there's no more silence. Instead, loud voices in heaven declare: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
This is the final word. Not suffering. Not death. Not the temporary victory of evil. The final word is that Jesus Christ reigns forever.
Satan may have claimed earth as his dominion when he fell from heaven, but Jesus declared, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). The battle is already won. The outcome is certain. Our Lord sits on the throne.
Living as Witnesses Today
So what do we do with all this? We live as witnesses. We extend the kingdom of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. We love one another genuinely. We share the truth of the gospel. We offer hope to a world desperately seeking it.
We don't have to wait for the seventh trumpet to worship our King. We can worship Him now, confident that He is faithful, that He hears our prayers, and that nothing—absolutely nothing—can separate us from His love.
The trumpets of Revelation are warnings, yes. But they're also reminders that God is patient, giving opportunity after opportunity for people to turn to Him. And until that final trumpet sounds, we have work to do: being faithful witnesses of the hope that lives within us.
May we live today as people who know how the story ends—with every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The imagery is startling: angels with trumpets, smoke rising like incense, locusts emerging from an abyss, and voices crying out "How long?" The book of Revelation can feel overwhelming, even terrifying at times. Yet within these apocalyptic visions lies a message we desperately need today—a message about God's unwavering love, the reality of suffering, and our calling to be witnesses of hope in a broken world.
The Brutal Honesty of Scripture
One of the most striking aspects of Revelation—and indeed, the entire Bible—is its brutal honesty about pain and suffering. There's no sugar-coating, no promise of an easy journey, no formula that guarantees a life free from hardship. Scripture doesn't offer us a comfortable escape route from the difficulties of being human in a fallen world.
This honesty is actually a gift. We live in a culture that constantly tries to sell us solutions: the right product, the perfect routine, the ideal mindset that will supposedly shield us from all discomfort. But the Bible meets us in reality. It acknowledges that both the righteous and the wicked experience suffering in this world.
However—and this is crucial—they suffer in fundamentally different ways.
Two Types of Suffering
The seven trumpets of Revelation paint a vivid picture of warnings sounded over an unrepentant world. Like the plagues that fell upon Egypt when Pharaoh refused to let God's people go, these trumpets represent God's persistent call for humanity to turn back to Him. Each trumpet is another opportunity, another warning, another display of God's power meant to awaken hearts to truth.
The fifth trumpet brings a particularly sobering image: creatures that torment people to the point where they seek death but cannot find it. They long to die, but death eludes them. This is suffering without hope, pain without purpose, agony without end.
Contrast this with the suffering of believers described elsewhere in Revelation. Yes, they face persecution. Yes, some become martyrs. But their response is radically different: "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death" (Revelation 12:11).
For those covered by the blood of Jesus, death is not a terror—it's simply a doorway into the presence of God. Physical death loses its sting because eternal life has already begun. This doesn't minimize the grief we feel when we lose loved ones, but it fundamentally changes what death means.
Prayers Rising Like Incense
In Revelation's vision of the golden censer, we see something beautiful: the prayers of God's people rising like incense before His throne. This imagery reminds us that no prayer is lost, no cry goes unheard.
All our prayers matter to God because we are His children. Whether we're praying for a sick kitten as a child or crying out in the midst of unimaginable tragedy, God is moved by what moves us. Yet not all prayers carry equal weight. The prayers of a community devastated by violence, the cries of believers facing persecution, the desperate pleas of those watching their loved ones suffer—these ascend before God with a weight that demands His attention.
The early church knew this reality intimately. Imagine attending church and discovering your Sunday school teachers won't return—not because of an accident, but because the government has executed them for refusing to worship the emperor. Imagine your entire church leadership disappearing overnight, sent to arenas to be killed by wild animals for public entertainment.
"How long, O Lord?" they cried. And God heard them.
The Danger of Waiting
One of the most sobering truths in Revelation is that even after devastating plagues, many people still refuse to repent. Revelation 9:20-21 tells us that despite a third of mankind being killed, "the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent."
This shatters a common assumption: that tragedy automatically brings people to their knees before God. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn't. There's a dangerous tendency to think, "I'll repent later. When I'm older. When I'm facing death. Then I'll get right with God."
But hardened hearts don't suddenly soften in crisis. In fact, when people face their final moments without having cultivated a relationship with God, they often respond with anger, bitterness, and cursing rather than repentance.
Today—right now—is the day of grace. Today is the day of salvation. Why would we wait for tragedy to strike when God is extending His invitation in this moment?
We Are the Witnesses
The book of Revelation speaks of two witnesses who prophesy and call people to repentance. While scholars debate their identity, one thing is clear: we who follow Jesus are called to be witnesses today.
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
The world around us is searching. People are looking for answers, grasping for hope, seeking something of real substance beyond the next social media post. Everyone knows that suffering is real. The question is: where will they find hope in the midst of it?
As followers of Jesus, we carry that hope. We've been marked by the Holy Spirit. We've experienced real forgiveness, genuine freedom, and a hope that doesn't disappoint. And the world is watching.
The Final Word: Victory
When the seventh trumpet sounds in Revelation, there's no more silence. Instead, loud voices in heaven declare: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
This is the final word. Not suffering. Not death. Not the temporary victory of evil. The final word is that Jesus Christ reigns forever.
Satan may have claimed earth as his dominion when he fell from heaven, but Jesus declared, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). The battle is already won. The outcome is certain. Our Lord sits on the throne.
Living as Witnesses Today
So what do we do with all this? We live as witnesses. We extend the kingdom of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. We love one another genuinely. We share the truth of the gospel. We offer hope to a world desperately seeking it.
We don't have to wait for the seventh trumpet to worship our King. We can worship Him now, confident that He is faithful, that He hears our prayers, and that nothing—absolutely nothing—can separate us from His love.
The trumpets of Revelation are warnings, yes. But they're also reminders that God is patient, giving opportunity after opportunity for people to turn to Him. And until that final trumpet sounds, we have work to do: being faithful witnesses of the hope that lives within us.
May we live today as people who know how the story ends—with every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Recent
Archive
2026
No Comments