Life was filled with guns and war,And everyone got trampled on the floor,I wish we'd all been ready,Children died, the days grew cold,A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold,I wish we'd all been ready,There's no time to change your mind,How could you have been so blind,The Father spoke, the demons dined,The Son has come and you've been left behind.
This is the big headline this week: Grain prices pushed to record highs on Thursday as scattered rains in Midwest did little to douse fears that the worst drought in half a century will end soon or relieve worries around the world about higher food prices.
The story goes on to explain the economic effects of a severe rain shortage: 70% of the US corn crop will not be harvested this year. This will drive up the cost of everything from corn flakes to meat and poultry. Ranchers are quickly liquidating their livestock herds because later this summer there won't be anything to feed the animals. Even our fuel costs will go up, since the government has mandated at least 10% ethanol added into gasoline formulations. And as we all know, ethanol is made from--you guessed it--corn. Unemployment will go up in the United States, as more of our food will be imported from around the world.
In the sixth chapter of the book of Revelation, John describes a worldwide famine brought on by the Wrath of God.
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine." (Revelation 6:5-6)
As we have seen in prior studies, the third creature is identified in Revelation 4:7: "The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had the face of a man...." You will recall that the lion creature summoned the first horse, a white horse, whose rider was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. He was sent to defeat sin. The ox summoned the second horse, which was fiery red, whose rider was given a sword and was sent out to make war on mankind. He was sent to divide men against each other. So where the lion was swift and the ox was powerful, the figure of the man is crafty and intelligent--he gives orders on commerce and interest rates, and rationing during the severe drought.
In ancient times, when people lived in walled cities, opposing armies would set up a siege and not allow any of the food grown by local farmers to come into the city; nor would they let any traders leave the city to buy food from surrounding cities. In later battles, an invading army may have set fire to the crops of the defenders of the land, causing a shortage of food. This was a common tactic.
So it stands to reason that after the angel of war is sent to the earth, and is given authority to make men slay one another, that famine would follow. A quart of wheat was just enough for one man to eat in a day; three quarts of the less nutritious barley would barely feed a small family. The prices of these goods would be pushed to ten times their normal cost. And yet the prices of oil and of wine would remain constant. In the ancient world, when olive oil was used for cooking, this might have meant that the olive trees and grapevines had a deeper root, and might have survived the scorched-earth policy of the angel on the red horse. In modern times, there may be government price subsidies for these commodities, so that oil and other petroleum products might still be available, and wine might still be abundant as men abuse it to try to escape reality for a time.
A parallel passage is found in Zechariah 6:2, 6: "The first chariot had red horses, the second black....The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the whit horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south." The country to the north of ancient Israel was primarily Babylonia, but it was also the direction from which most of Israel's foes invaded them. Verse 8 says those going toward the north have given God's spirit rest--thus the angelic beings sent to the north have triumphed over the enemies of God's people, and have pacified or appeased God's spirit (or anger). See Zechariah 1:15, "But I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity."
Little did the residents of those countries know that their sin would bring on calamitous ruin. Little do we today know that our sin will bring about the same results. Ezekiel 4:16 and 17 says, "God then said to me: 'Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.' "
Yet even in God's wrath, he shows favor to His chosen people. Revelation 7:1 and 3 says, "After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree...Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." In coming blog posts we will see the protection God gives to His people, to help them survive and avoid the calamitous ruin brought on by sin. The Lamb of God provided his own body as a sacrifice for our sin, so why wouldn't God protect us from the effects of sin.
The Wrath of God is as much a theme in the Bible as the endless love of God. It is a shame that more of us do not think more about BOTH attributes of God, in order to avoid his wrath.
A man and wife asleep in bed,She hears a noise and turns her head, he's gone,I wish we'd all be ready,Two men walking up a hill,One disappears and one's left standing still,I wish we'd all been ready,There's no time to change your mind,The Son has come and you've been left behind.
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