Revelation 16-20: The Sixth Facet

Week 8, Saturday: Sin’s end is total
The judgment of God against the sinful world is total. All the familiar ways of sinful men will be finally and completely overthrown.

Read Revelation 18

Meditate on Revelation 18.21-24
1.      Verse 21 is terrifyingly final, in particular the final clause: “and shall not be found anymore.” How can you use this prospect to improve your prayers for the people in your Personal Mission Field?

2.      Verses 22 and 23 depict the complete destruction of culture, society, institutions – an entire way of life. Does this mean that nothing in unbelieving culture today is of any value or use for those who are called to overcome? Explain.

3.      Why are we not surprised by what we read in verse 24?

4.      This chapter depicts the destruction of the City of Man at the end of time, expressed as a catalog of activities, institutions, artifacts, and so forth that “shall not be found anymore.” Yet all culture has the potential to bring glory and honor to God (1 Cor. 10.31). What advice or counsel does this chapter hold for overcomers, as we engage in culture and society in these last days?

5.      This chapter – and, indeed, much of Revelation and the entire New Testament – reminds us that there is thin line between using culture to serve and glorify God and using culture as an end in itself, for personal enrichment and satisfaction. How can we know when we have begun to cross from the one into the other? What should we do at that time? Meditate on Psalm 119.59, 60 in your answers.
 

My Reflection
How would you evaluate your use of culture at this time? Is your use of culture more like those in the City of Man or like those who are working through patient endurance to overcome for Christ and His Kingdom? Explain.

The Glory of God
Meditate on 1 Corinthians 10.31. If people in the City of Man use culture in a way that God considers an abomination, how should overcomers use culture, so as not to fall under His wrath?

Glory to Glory
Given that sin is coming to a complete and terrible end, what should our attitude be toward the sins that continue to present themselves as options to us daily? Meditate on Psalm 97.10, and suggest some ways of making this verse a practical reality in your daily walk with and work for the Lord.

Memorize
Recite Revelation 19.7-9. Pray through these verses in the light of everything we’ve seen so far in Revelation 12-14. Make the words your words. Declare to the Lord your longing for His return, and for you to be united with Him forever in glory.

Closing Prayer
Unto You I lift up my eyes,
O You who dwell in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God,
Until He has mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us!
For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Our soul is exceedingly filled
With the scorn of those who are at ease,
With the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 123

T. M. Moore

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The book of Revelation is the culminating episode in the story of God’s covenant. To learn more about that covenant, and to discover the way it integrates all of Scripture into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, order a copy of T. M.’s book, I Will Be Your God, by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.