Come and see
Every day I do devotionals...two in the morning, and one at night. For the last couple of years, because of the brain fog from fibro, I assume, I have a hard time concentrating very long. Reading is difficult because at some point I will not be able to completely comprehend what I just read, and have to go back to read it again, or I fall asleep. So the devotionals help me to stay in God's Word, even if it's just a little bit.
In my reading today a passage popped up that I don't ever recall reading, but having read the Bible through at least a couple of times, I know I have. It was Malachi 3: 1-6a.
MALACHI 3
That, in and of itself is frightening, if you are not a Child of God. If you are, then you can rejoice in the fact that God Himself is fighting for you, that the battle is already won, and those who choose to persecute and destroy will have their comeuppance.
Another passage that I read, that I am very familiar with is Revelation 6, which deals with the Seals. The first Seal granted a rider on a white horse the ability to conquer. The second Seal deals with conflict on Earth. These next three Seals got my attention rather quickly. Given the state of this world right now, this made me sit up and take notice.
Rev 6:3-4
When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come and see." Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
Granted, this world hasn't seen peace for well, ever, but with all that's going on it still caught my attention. The third, fourth, and fifth Seals are what really what interested/frightened/excited me.
Rev 6:5-11
Third Seal
When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come and see." So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not ham the oil and the wine."
The people of the world will find themselves in a position of want. When this passage was written, a denarius was worth a days wages. This is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
In the New Testament, the gospels refer to the denarius as a day's wage for a common laborer (Matthew 20:2,[21] John 12:5).[22] In the Book of Revelation, during the Third Seal: Black Horse, a choinix ("quart") of wheat and three quarts of barley were each valued at one denarius.[23] Bible scholar Robert H. Mounce says the price of the wheat and barley as described in the vision appears to be ten to twelve times their normal cost in ancient times.[24] Revelation thus describes a condition where basic goods are sold at greatly inflated prices. Thus, the black horse rider depicts times of deep scarcity or famine, but not of starvation. Apparently, a choinix of wheat was the daily ration of one adult. Thus, in the conditions pictured by Revelation 6, the normal income for a working-class family would buy enough food for only one person. The less costly barley would feed three people for one day's wages.
Fourth Seal
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come and see." So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
Fifth Seal
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Now, I don't know about you, but I found these three seals to be very relevant to our present time. Currently, there are roughly 7.8 billion people inhabiting the earth. One quarter of that is 1,950,000,000. As of this writing, the number of COVID deaths around the world is 2.8 million, and climbing, and that does not include the number of deaths from the vaccinations. These are some stats according to KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor:
In California, the percentage of the black population receiving (at least one of the) vaccinations (currently) is, 4%. Of that percentage, 6% have died due to the vaccinations. The percentage of Hispanic population who have had the vaccination is 23%, with 25% deaths. 14% of those with Asian descent have taken at least one of the vaccinations, and 13% have died, and finally, those who are Caucasian, 34% have taken a shot, and of that percentage, 32% have died.
The reason for these stats, and this is only one state out of the fifty, DC and Puerto Rico, for me, and this is my opinion, the 2.8 million deaths just from COVID or in relation to it are going to put the earth in proximity to that 1/4 mentioned in the fourth seal. Understand, I could be, and probably am wrong about my assumption, but it does not negate the fact that we need to be paying attention...now more than ever.
The fifth seal also is interesting. It deals with the persecution of the Church. Here in the US, we are finding that Christians and Jews are being targeted with hate crimes now more than ever. If you are a Christian, or lean conservative in your views, you are viewed with contempt and sometimes worse than that. The conservative is being pooh-poohed and it's only going to get worse, folks. Now, I'm not trying to scare anyone, truly I'm not, I'm trying to get you to open your eyes, and ears, and see and hear what is going on around you. God has allowed those who reject Him to continue in their sins, and Satan has delighted in perpetuating and even intensifying the evil that exists in this world. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 says this:
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Godlessness in the Last Days
3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Isaiah 5:20 addresses the fact that in the end days, people will call evil good, and good evil. I found an interesting article from the Huffington Post which addresses this subject (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/calling-good-what-is-evil-and-evil-what-is-good_b_5852eac9e4b0b333cf73ec52).
I'll wrap this up with this...it doesn't matter what side of the spectrum you fall on, political or religious, this all is relevant to you, to us, to the world, whether you think so or not. Watch what is going on in this world...while we may see seasons of peace and prosperity, they will soon be few and far between. We will see the passages from Malachi, Revelation, 2nd Timothy and Isaiah unfold right before our eyes. It is my prayer that you will have eyes to see, ears to hear, and that you will have wisdom to understand. And that in all of that, you will "Come and see" what God is trying to show you.
*https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/
*https://askinglot.com/open-detail/137928
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