The blowing of the trumpet in Zion is a call to the people
to come and meet with the Lord, normally a call to worship, but here a call to
meet Him in judgment. The army here
described is the army of locusts and caterpillars that destroy the land and
devour all its produce. We are so far
from being an agrarian-based economy that we lose sight of how important it is
to grow our own food. In Rwanda there is
much anxiety each year over the banana crop as it is such a staple of the diet
and if it is not a good crop it means devastation for the country, starvation
for man and beast in some cases. A bad
rainy season can be disastrous. The
economy of Israel, the future of the nation, was at stake when the crops were
ruined, it weakened them economically and physically and made them a tempting
target for other nations. Here, it is
not a climactic coincidence, it is judgment for the sin of the people and the
blowing of the trumpet was the announcement of that judgment.
Surely Jesus doesn't mean we have to literally renounce all,
including our family, to be His disciples.
Indeed He does, and His disciples knew it, they had already left
everything behind to follow Him, future and family. We have tended to make discipleship something
far less than Jesus did. The call is
clear, everything potentially stands between us and Him and the Lord has always
said that He is a jealous God. The cost
of discipleship is clear, come and die.
If we would be salt and light in the world then we have to have the
properties of saltiness and light restored in our lives by ridding them of all
else.
The scene in heaven is the celebration over the demise of
the great city. She has seduced all the
peoples of the earth and caused them to commit immorality and the heavenly host
know this is nothing other than rebellion against the Lord, the creator. Again, it may seem wrong to us to celebrate
such things as the destruction of the city and its inhabitants, but from God's
perspective it is righteousness. When we
fail to surrender all things to Him, when we continue to pursue the stuff of
earth, we are clinging to that which is passing away, we are giving it the
honor due only to Him, we are idolaters.
The announcement is the wedding feast of the Lamb and the bride is the
church, the church that has kept it simple, maintained her purity in seeking
only One bridegroom. Let us be
single-minded and faithful to our bridegroom.
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