Observation: In John's heavenly vision, six out of seven angels have blown trumpets unleashing plagues on the earth, intended to drive people to repent of their sin and worship God. Before the seventh trumpet blows, John is given a scroll of God's word to eat. It is sweet to the taste, but makes his stomach bitter. The message John hears is, "you must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings."
Application: This isn't the first time this image of God's word, as a sweet scroll that gives you a bitter stomach, is used. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel has a similar vision. And it's really perfect to describe what God's word does.
When we first hear God's word, it's often sweet. We hear Jesus say something like, 'I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,' and we nod and smile. "Yes, Jesus! We should be nice to outsiders. Sounds good."
But then we internalize God's word. We swallow it. We digest it. We start to see how well it agrees with our system. And there is some indigestion. Because it's one thing to hear Jesus' words, and quite another to make them part of our lives, and every decision we make. And it's another thing again to do what John is asked to do: to prophesy, not just about our personal spiritual walk, but about "many and nations and languages and kings." I don't know, Jesus, that sounds really political. It sounds controversial. Can't I just keep this word to myself?
Bad news: it sounds political because it is political. It's in no way partisan, it's not about left or right, but it is about seeing our whole world, even controversial subjects, from God's perspective, and speaking about world events as though we really have internalized Jesus' words about "the least of these." And that will offend some folks.
The Bible is not just a self help book for personal, spiritual growth. It is God's Word for the whole world. We can certainly hear it as individuals, but if we're going to internalize it, it absolutely will shift our way of living in society. And that's scary. I honestly get heart burn every time I see a confrontation coming. But God's Word is sometimes bitter going down. It's best to get that kind of medicine from a friend you trust.
Prayer: God, your word sometimes disagrees with us. In fact, sometimes it makes us feel sick: not because it's bad for us, but because it doesn't sit well with other attitudes we've already taken in. Help us sit with the discomfort. Help us swallow your words, and really digest them. Amen.
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