The audio for this devotional is not available for now, but you can have your device read it to you.
Reading options
Verse:Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” —Revelation 14:9, 10
It is not easy to fully understand the events that will take place shortly before Jesus returns to this earth. Students of prophecy know that fulfilled prophecy is easier to interpret than unfulfilled prophecy.
As we look into the future, God, in His mercy, provides us with an outline of coming events but does not always supply every detail about times that are yet to be. The messages of the three angels culminate in what is likely the Bible’s most solemn warning in history. After being told we are living in the time of heaven’s final judgment; after being called to true worship; after being informed of the fall of spiritual Babylon, God alerts the world that those who have chosen to remain unrepentant will receive the mark of the beast and will not be saved. We cannot yet know exactly what will transpire to bring about the events that lead to the mark of the beast being forced upon the inhabitants of the earth. But we do know that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will have been made known as the seal of the living God. The claims of God’s law will have been presented to the world. The Holy Spirit will have pleaded with individuals all over the planet in an attempt to draw people to surrender to Jesus. It will be an intense time for all.
Lines will have been drawn.
The minority who remain faithful to God will have been identified as being in opposition to the majority, who by this time have repeatedly rejected God’s appeals. The wrath poured out on those who have the mark of the beast is not from a short-tempered God venting His wrath on the unsuspecting. In a time of immense crisis, God will have done all He could to reach the willfully unrepentant. As David said in Psalm 119:126, “It is time for You to act, O LORD, for they have regarded Your law as void.” Warning after warning has been ignored. Appeal after appeal has been rejected.
Those who have determined not to yield their hearts to God will be lost. Only those who have clung to Jesus and His Word will be saved.