The judgment Jesus speaks is a warning of what the opposition will reap if they did not stop sowing seeds of rebellion. To reject Jesus’ words of life is to die. This image in Revelation is intended to be Christ’s last call for repentance.
God’s wrath is never spontaneous, irrational, and unpredictable but always is in reference to the behavior of humankind and motivated by God’s intimate concern for right and wrong.
The subordination of our religion to the State or the exchange of worshiping God for worshipping the State or something more sinister is always easier to see in others than in ourselves. The challenge is to have and to cultivate the self-awareness as to whom we are following.
The seven trumpets are part of the seventh seal. These trumpets announce God’s coming judgment and war against the forces of evil.
A book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and thought on his name. Mal. 3:16
Revelation is an amalgamation of Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pastoral Letter.
In his wish for death, however, Jonah is simply stating the obvious that a refusal to change is a choice for death.
It is the king of Nineveh and his subjects who fulfill the perfect fast of repentance as described in Isaiah 58:6.
The sign of Jonah goes beyond simply the understanding that Jesus, like Jonah, will spend three days in the belly of Sheol. The Sign of Jonah is only complete when the fish vomits the incorruptible Jonah out.
