Does the altar have its own words?
That may be entirely symbolic or it may be a way of expressing one of several alternatives. Perhaps this was really the martyrs under this altar of incense. Perhaps the inanimate is not unvoiced in God’s economy. When the earth cries out, maybe it has a voice we know not. Dolphins and whales have noises of their own which try as we might we don’t really grasp. Perhaps the things of God’s creation, too, are imbued with voices, different than ours, but still voices.
Regardless there is unanimity of voice in God’s sphere. Discord comes from man and the devils who work around and among them.
Can God destroy the world? Yes, and he will. Is this a crime? No the crime is man’s; the response is God’s. In some manner the world is right when it says that humanity is destroying the planet. Those most vocal with this, though, are prone to be the ungodly, those on the self-service plan. To restore and preserve the planet is good. It is among excellent things, but if preserving the planet is being done while raising a fist of doing it our way then the context of the planet preservation spoils the effort.
The fourth bowl: Global warming
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. (Revelation 16:8-9–ESV)
As I am typing this the day outside is still dark the sun being still off in the east somewhere. It being cool outside I have the window open for the early morning air and I hear a bird chirping. I just finished scanning through an article on CNN about Hurricane Irma and the Florida Keys and I am preparing a Sunday school lesson on the final devastation of the earth. Such an odd compilation that is.
Global warming is a hot button issue in our world and has been gathering steam, so to speak, since the early 1970s. Indeed for several hundred years there have been dire predictions about what will happen on earth if things continue as they have been.
…and they cursed the name of God…
…who had power over these plagues…
…they did not repent…
…and give him glory…
Many of us like to stack up our opinions on the various sides of these issues. Even God has stacked up his opinion and in Revelation 16 he shows John how the earth temperature will rise causing no small consternation on the earth. The ice caps will melt and the shore lines disappear. As the populations of the earth still alive move inland overcrowding will swell. Little water will be available given the prior destruction poured upon the waters of the world.
lulrich says
In class we use the NIV version and in that version verse 9 says “…but they refused to repent and glorify him.” One class member raised a question about this phrase. If these people are all those who have taken the mark of the beast defying God and discarding the warning of the missionary angel that went about the earth in chapter 14 then why does this verse say they refused to repent. That implies that the choice was still available to them. The Bibles that have Strong’s numbers attached to the words (NASB, KJV, and Holman Christian Standard Bible) do not include a word for refused. The original languages did not imply a choice was available. The phrase before what I mentioned here says that the people cursed or blasphemed God. The lack of repentance and lack of God glorifying is not meant to speak of an optional response for these people, but to emphasize the thorough rejection of God on the part of these people.