Prayers and Praise (Revelation 8-11)
11:53 PM
Do our prayers have power? Do they really matter to God? And what about our praises? Just how important in the end times will Prayers and Praises to God really be?
In the end times, God will pass judgement on the wickedness of the Earth. Interestingly, the collective voice of those who believe in God and desire for His will to prevail will factor into those judgements. The Bible emphasizes the importance of our prayers and often pairs them with references to incense.
“Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” Psalms 141:2
Prayer is important to God. He cares about what His people have to say. Our prayers are like a sweet aroma that rises before Him.
“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Revelation 8:1-4
Before the judgements of the 7th seal are put into motion, God considers the prayers of His people and those prayers become empowered by Him. “More potent, more powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth.” (Torrance)
The judgements that come will seem harsh and terrible but they serve a purpose and they do not come without warning. As Mattew Henry says,
“Where the gospel comes to a people, and is but coldly received, and has not its proper effects upon their hearts and lives, it is usually followed with dreadful judgments. God gives warning to men of his judgments before he sends them; he sounds an alarm by the written word, by ministers, by men’s own consciences, and by the signs of the times; so that, if a people be surprised, it is their own fault. The anger of God against a people makes dreadful work among them; it embitters all their comforts, and makes even life itself bitter and burdensome. God does not in this world stir up all his wrath, but sets bounds to the most terrible judgments.”
Initially, the world will be severely shaken but not all will be destroyed. Sadly, even though these trials are meant to get the attention of the wicked and give them the opportunity to change, the truly wicked hearts will remain hardened and unrelenting.
“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”Revelation 9:20-21
God has given mankind much grace, and undeserved opportunity to choose righteousness over wickedness. Every man to walk the Earth will choose a ruler of his heart. He will either choose the Lord God or he will choose to worship Satan and the powers of darkness and corruption. But, thankfully, there will come an end to the reign of Satan. The spirit of antichrist will be dethroned. God will then reign eternal and heaven will be filled with His praises.
“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”” Revelation 11:15-18
So, yes, our prayers and our praises really do matter...today and for eternity.
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