Revelation 11:18: “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, / And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, / And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, / And those who fear Your name, small and great, / And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

September 4th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

These nations, who were originally frightened of God’s judgments, are no longer afraid but are actually filled with defiant hostility. It seems that the nations of the world will become angry because God wants to come and rule. They will even attempt a foolish physical war against the Messiah, because surrendering to God is an unbearable option to them. It is in fact the stumbling block to many who have examined the biblical mandate of God’s claim on humanity. But God’s people are described as quite the opposite; they “fear [His] name” and are protected. The word fear is something positive that does not mean cowering or hiding from God, but respecting Him and being confident in what He has done for us. Any sane person should consider both the judgment and the justice of God, and then come to respect Him since everyone will someday stand before Him.

The French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623–1663) suggested a wager in his little book Pensees. At least one biographer claims it was an actual discussion between Pascal and an unbeliever. His argument was, that since he believed in the God of the Bible, Pascal was living a clean and happy moral life. However Pascal’s friend, who did not believe that God existed, was living his life in open sin, not respecting God; trusting that he would never have to face eternity and the judgment seat of God. Pascal’s argument was that the consequences alone should make a person carefully consider the claims of Jesus Christ. If Pascal was wrong, his life was still a good, wholesome one; but if his friend was wrong, there was no way to recover after death. We also wager our lives. If you wager Jesus, you either gain all or lose nothing; but if you wager sin, you lose much in this life and everything in death.

“LORD, we chose to surrender to You; we chose life.”