SCRIPTURE: Revelation 16
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. [Revelation 16:9]
This vision is shaped after God’s judgment against Egypt and Pharoah, with the many signs and plagues, and the people refusing to repent.
The things that happen in the world as it moves towards judgment day should be enough to get people’s attention, to make them think, to make them repent.
Wars, disasters, tragedies and crises, all of these are the birth pains that precede the final event, and should provoke us to see our need for God’s help and mercy.
And still people refuse to repent and glorify Him.
God is actively revealing Himself to humanity, and there is ample evidence of His glory and grace, so that we are without excuse [Romans 1:18-20].
Everything God does and allows is intended to get us to seek Him [Acts 17:26-28].
But they refused to repent and glorify him. [Revelation 16:9]

Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. [Matthew 11:20-22]
The many miracles and signs that Jesus performed were intended to get peoples’ attention, to confirm that He was the promised Messiah.
And yet so many people refused to believe, even with all the signs; they refused to repent.
To repent means to admit our sin and our guilt, and this goes contrary to our pride.
We take pride in ourselves, our accomplishments, our innocence, our self-help.
After all, we are masters of our own fate, who needs God!
God provides so many clues that we do need Him – including the wars and disasters and tragedies and crises – all more than sufficient to prove it, leaving us without excuse.
Jesus warns that refusal to repent comes with harsh consequences!
God is patient [Romans 2:4], but eventually He will call us on it [Romans 2:5-11]

“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” [Revelation 16:15]
We are living in the season of mercy, when God arranges our lives and circumstances so that we will seek Him – everything that happens is designed to draw us to Him!
This is the time when we need to awake and come to our senses, the time when we need to reflect on our lives, and our need for God, and seek Him for mercy and help.
He is holding off for a season, allowing us time to repent…
But He will come one day, unexpectedly, and then it will be too late.

Now is the time to repent, while the signs and crises are still happening.
Now is the time to respond, while the door is still open.
But they refused to repent and glorify him. [Revelation 16:9]

PRAYER:
Lord, may this not be my epitaph. May the last words spoken of me be: and he repented and glorified Him!