Death Knocks

Scripture:

Revelation 6:7-8 (NIV)

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Devotional:

One thing is for sure; death does knock on your door.  The question is when.  Listening to the news you hear about someone being killed.  This group slaughtered a bunch of people.  In the nineteen hundreds we had World War One, World War Two, Korean War, oh wait it was a conflict, Vietnam.  Finally in the late eighties and nineties there was the Golf War.  This doesn’t cover all the conflicts or wars.  Scores of people were either hurt or killed, and not just soldiers either.  Today it seems things are just getting worse.

In any of these events people thought for sure the end was here and it was the “End Times.”  Some people think we have been going through Revelation for generations now.  In fact some of the events in Revelation have already taken place.  To be honest I don’t think it matters where we are in the timeline.  A few things I do know.  One is that God is in control.  He is the master planner and no one is greater than He is.  Second, we must be prepared.  We need to live each day as if it were the last.  1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 (ESV):

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

We have been told more than once that Jesus will return unexpectedly.  We also know that there will be death.  There will be wars and rumors of wars all the way until the end. 

One thing you can count on, God.  He is steadfast, trustworthy, reliable, loving, merciful, and most of all in control.  There have been wars and conflicts in the past.  There will be more wars and conflicts in the future.  Through it all Death does come knocking in times of war as well as times of peace.  I do believe when the sixth seal is unbroken it will be unlike anything else we have ever seen. 

The Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared”