June 25 ▪ Day 176

Scripture Readings

Psalms 47:6
Lamentations 1–2
Revelation 10–12
Proverbs 26

Verse Focus (Psalms 47:6)

Sing praises to God, sing praises;
     sing praises to our King, sing praises.

Meditation

Today’s verse focus, Psalms 47:6, is one of worship. “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.” The psalmist commands us to sing our praise. Not just be thankful, not just speak about what God has done, but to actually sing. I don’t know about you, but I know I don’t sing my praises to God nearly enough. So I’m glad of this verse’s reminder to worship in song.

This verse also reminds us, as does the psalm, that God is our King. God rules over us. But not as some distant or absent figure. Sometimes we perceive God that way. But a king — or the president, or any earthly ruler — what they do very much affects what we do. The laws of the land affect how we drive, how we shop, how much we pay for things, and so much more. My point is simply that even if we might feel removed from the king personally, we are constantly hemmed in and out by the king’s laws. So with God being God and King — well, it affects our daily lives in deep and profound ways.

I should also point out that this is a quadrupled command. Singing our praise must be pretty important! Why else would Scripture repeat, repeat, and repeat again? So, join with me in singing some praise.

I will give thanks to thee, O LORD among the peoples. I will sing praises to thee among the nations. For thy steadfast love is great, is great to the heavens. And thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness, to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory, let thy glory, let thy glory be over all the earth.

Today we start reading the book of Lamentations. This is a book of poetry — a collection of laments over the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Traditionally, this book is attributed to the prophet Jeremiah. Each of the five chapters in Lamentations is a different song, and four of the songs are acrostic poems — that is, the first verse starts with the letter A, and each verse after that begins with succeeding letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This is why there are 22 verses in most of these chapters (since there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet).

The English translations we have of these laments give us the language and images of the poetry, but the standard translations do not attempt to put the English words into an acrostic format. Nor are most translations able to capture the rhythm and meter of the poetry. The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) is one translation that does attempt to capture a sense of the Hebrew meter in the English words. So most of the quotes I use for Lamentations will be taken from this particular version.

Even if our translations lack something of the original poetry, we can still understand the anguish and suffering expressed in these songs. Jeremiah and other prophets warned of coming destruction should the people of Judah not mend their ways, but that doesn’t make the fall of Jerusalem any easier for a people of faith to process and understand. These laments remind us that grieving over the brokenness of our world is not only a legitimate way of relating to God, but a healthy way of processing our suffering.

Chapter 1 — the first lament — speaks of Jerusalem’s desolation. As NABRE translates verse 1:

How solitary sits the city,
     once filled with people.
She who was great among the nations
     is now like a widow.
Once a princess among the provinces,
     now a toiling slave.

All throughout the chapter are references to their pain and suffering. The people are desolate and in misery. “How bitter I am!” says verse 20. And yet the poet also recognizes their guilt and sin. As verse 8 says, “Jerusalem has sinned grievously.” What struck me as I read this chapter was the comment — repeated more than once — that there was no one to comfort them. Verse 17 says, “Zion stretches out her hands, with no one to comfort her.” Indeed, if God is our comfort, what are we to do when He disciplines us?

The second lament — chapter 2 — speaks of how God is the one who has done this to Jerusalem. Verse 3 says, “He burned against Jacob like a blazing fire that consumes everything in its path.” As verse 5 says, “The Lord has become the enemy, he has devoured Israel.” The sanctuary has been spurned; the altar of the LORD is scorned (v. 7). The prophets receive no visions (v. 9).

As verse 13 remarks, “For your breach is vast as the sea; who could heal you?”

In Revelation, we read chapters 10 through 12 today.

Chapter 10 appears to be an interlude again as the action does not immediately connect it to the sixth trumpet in chapter 9. John sees “another mighty angel (v. 1)” coming down from heaven. The angel stands on the earth with one foot on land and one on sea. He holds a small scroll in his hand. His shout is like a lion. Seven thunders speak, but John is instructed not to record what they say.

This mighty angel raises his right hand up to heaven and he swears “by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay (v. 6).” No more delay! The angel also tells John that in the days when the seventh trumpet is blown, “the mystery of God will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.” Although the text does not tell us here what the mystery of God is, I am reminded of how Paul spoke of the mystery of God as the revelation of Jesus Christ as redeemer for all mankind (Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8). So perhaps this verse in Revelation 10 speaks of Christ’s return or the fulfillment of Jesus’ rule on earth.

In a scene reminiscent of Ezekiel 3:1-3, John is given the scroll and told to eat it. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey,” the angel tells John in verse 9. After eating the scroll, John is commanded to prophesy.

Chapter 11 begins with John being told, in verse 1, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.” It is another nod to the prophet Ezekiel, although in Ezekiel’s vision it was the angel who measured the temple (Ezekiel 40). The chapter soon introduces the “two witnesses (v. 3).” These witnesses will prophesy on earth for 1,260 days (not quite three and a half years), and they will have powers similar to what Moses and Aaron had during the plagues of Egypt. They will also have power over the rain, like Elijah. Verse 6 tells us that they may turn “the waters” into blood and they may “strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.”

After the two witnesses finish their testimony, chapter 11 tells us that “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit (v. 7)” will make war on them. They will be killed in Jerusalem, and will lie dead in the streets for three and a half days. But then they will be resurrected by “a breath of life from God (v. 11).” They will rise up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watch. This is, of course, a reference to how Jesus ascended to heaven in Acts 1:9. There is a huge earthquake; a tenth of the city falls and many thousands are killed. And thus the second woe — the judgment of the sixth trumpet — ends (v. 14).

When the angel blows the seventh trumpet, loud voices in heaven declare in verse 15, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (This suggests that the mystery referred to in chapter 10 does indeed refer to Jesus Christ’s reign.) Those in heaven fall down to worship. And the temple in heaven opens, showing a view of the ark of the covenant. There are “flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and severe hail (v. 19).”

Chapter 12 speaks of two great signs. The first is a woman, “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars (v. 1).” The second sign is of a great red dragon “with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads (v. 3).” The tail of the dragon sweeps a third of the stars out of the sky and casts them down to earth.

The woman gives birth to a son who will “rule all the nations with an iron scepter (v. 5).” The dragon hopes to devour the child, but he is taken up to God’s throne room in heaven. The woman, meanwhile, goes to a sanctuary in the wilderness where she will remain for 1,260 days.

War breaks out in heaven. Michael and the angels fight against the dragon and the dragon’s angels; but the dragon loses and he is thrown down to earth along with all his angels. Here the Scripture identifies the dragon for us, telling us that he is “the ancient serpent [from Genesis 3], who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world (v. 9).”

Satan tries to persecute the woman, but she is given the wings of an eagle to fly her away to her wilderness sanctuary. The dragon tries to destroy her by flood, but the earth helps the woman and the river spewing from the dragon is swallowed up. Furious, the dragon goes to make war on the woman’s other offspring — “those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus (v. 17).” And so chapter 12 ends.

It is difficult to write much about the two witnesses in Revelation 11 and the woman in Revelation 12. Interpretations of these passages vary widely, and always have. Some see the two witnesses as two literal people who will appear to testify to Jesus Christ during a time of great tribulation. Some interpret the two witnesses to be two groups of people — Jews and Christians, for example. And still others interpret the two witnesses to be concepts. For those that do see the two witnesses as people — well, ideas differ as to who they are. Some say Enoch and Elijah (since these are both prophets who were taken up to heaven without dying); others say Moses and Elijah because they appeared during Jesus’ transformation (and because the powers they are granted are similar to the powers Moses and Elijah had). For others — and I fall into this camp — the two witnesses will be completely new people, although they may be like Moses and Elijah. I think, just as John the Baptist was said to be Elijah come again, the two witnesses will be — in spirit, at least — like prominent Biblical characters, possibly Moses and Elijah.

But, when it comes down to it, one of the reasons why interpretation is so difficult is because the symbols used in Revelation have multiple meanings. The woman in chapter 12, for example, can be a symbol of the nation of Israel, the Church, Eve, as well as Mary, the mother of Jesus. Likely she is all of these. For some, the description of the woman with the sun, moon, and twelve stars brings up Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37 — his parents were the sun and moons, and his brothers were the stars — and thus the woman becomes symbolic of the nation of Israel. Because the dragon makes war against her offspring, that also makes the woman symbolic of the Church. Because the dragon is identified with the serpent in Genesis 3, that makes the woman like Eve — and we recall that there would be longstanding enmity between Eve’s descendants and the serpent. The son the woman bears is Jesus, the child who will rule the nations with an iron scepter — and thus the woman is also Mary.

But even as the woman symbolizes more than one thing, not every event in the chapter refers to every symbolic meaning. For example, when the woman gives birth to a son, she symbolizes Mary but not the Church.

Even with as many unknowns as these chapters present, there are still some very clear truths that we should focus on. Yes, there is war in heaven — but Michael and God’s angels win. Satan is thrown out of heaven. There is no longer a “place (12:8)” for him there. There may be tribulation on earth, but God provides. The woman was given a sanctuary. Believers were sealed for God. The two witnesses were slain — but they rose again and ascended into heaven.

Proverbs 26 has has three repeating themes: fools, sluggards, and gossips. Hezekiah’s collection has thoughtfully lumped all the proverbs about fools together, followed by proverbs about sluggards, and then proverbs about gossip or other malicious speech. A few of these proverbs are actually repeats of proverbs that Solomon included in his original collection. Verse 22, for example, is a repeat of Proverbs 18:8, which we looked at on May 26th (Day 146).

One of my favorites in this chapter is verse 7. “Like lame legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.”

But the one that I stop to really think about today is in verse 15. “A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.” This is actually a repeat of Proverbs 19:24. It seems like hyperbole to to say that a sluggard is too lazy to eat. But I actually saw this happening with a relative. Someone who had refused to work for years — a case of terminal laziness, so we thought — actually got to the point where he forgot to eat. When I would read this proverb I would think of him. Later, we found out he had a case of early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Perhaps he had been suffering for years before we recognized it. So, yes, he did have dementia. But I think Proverbs speaks of all kinds of brain dysfunction when it talks about how fools think and behave. The causes of that dysfunction might be moral, cultural, or even biological. But wisdom is learning to think about and perceive things from a godly point of view; it’s about retraining your brain. I can’t help but think that my relative might have been able to delay the progression of dementia if he had he stopped indulging his laziness — but now it’s too late.

Father God, we all make mistakes and reap the consequences. Help us, by your grace, to live in a manner pleasing to you. May we be diligent and hardworking; may we speak with kindness — may our words bring healing. May we not be foolish, but may we seek your ways and always be filled with your Holy Spirit. Continue to give us wisdom as we read your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.