And They Did Not Repent [Revelation 9]

15And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.16The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

 17And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. 18A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. 19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. 20The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

 

As I am reading Revelation I am also reading Jeremiah in preparation for our Semester Three classes.  In both of these books I am amazed at how God gives mankind so much room and time to repent and that they don't.  I don't think I give the deceitfulness of sin the full credit it deserves.  In my mind watching a third of mankind killed by those three plagues would put others on their knees before the almighty God.  But God says the opposite is true - "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts."  So in the end, even seeing God's great power at work does not change their minds about Him. 


God, I praise You that You know this about man and yet you do not cease in Your patience for us.  You are still not willing that any should perish but You want all to come to repentance.


2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Verna McCrillis, 10/12/2009