#DailyDevotion The Book Of Revelation Is The Church’s Exodus

December 20th
Read Rev 8:1–13
Rev 8:2-5 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. (3) 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, (4) and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. (5) Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Hail and fire, water turned to blood, undrinkable water, the sun and celestial lights darkened, does any of this sound familiar? The next several plagues in the next chapter will continue the theme. What is that theme that will be expressed by the trumpets and vials as well as the rest of Revelation? It is that of the Exodus. If you read Exodus the first chapters you will find the Ten plagues. The ten plagues of Exodus are the plagues of the seals, the trumpets and the vials. Revelation is the book of Exodus for Christ’s Church.

The key to the trumpets is that their damage is a 3rd. You see the destructive nature of the plagues in Revelation are progressive. If you think things are always getting worse, you are correct. The plagues of Revelation repeat themselves over time. They are all calling us to repentance and to faith in God and his Christ. But when you see these things happen what do you do?

We see here something particularly interesting. Your prayers are precious before God. They rise before God with the heavenly incense. In fact your prayers are like incense before God. And unlike most western moderns, God apparently likes incense. It is a sweet smell to him, i.e. your prayers are a sweet smell to God. He is well pleased with them.

The very censer filled with our prayers is cast to the earth. It is our prayers that bring the destruction of the earth. What exactly are we praying for that has so much power? We are praying for the people of the earth to repent and believe in Christ. We are praying for Christ’s return. We are praying for a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness reigns. We are praying for our Savior to save us and deliver us. For that to happen even as God came to pharaoh to call for him to release the Israelites with great signs and wonders so they may know the Lord is God, so too he will deliver us from Satan with great signs and wonders so the World will know Jesus is Lord.

Heavenly Father give us such faith that we may persevere in faith through this great tribulation and bring the world to repentance and faith in Christ through these signs and wonders. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.