Heaven Is Closed - Prophetic Gallery Series预览

Heaven is Closed  

Thoughts on the Passage

We are starting the section of the book of Revelation that talks about the second woman – the whore (prostitute) of Babylon and her judgment. This is another wing of the art gallery and the pictures here are not beautiful. They tell a story that is difficult to read and the pictures they show are graphic and tragic. However, we need to go through this part of the gallery because it tells an important story of God’s judgment and what God wants mankind to avoid. Today, we see the seven bowls of God’s wrath that get poured out on mankind.

There is another part of this picture that I want to focus on. It is the fact that heaven is closed during this time. There is no opportunity to receive forgiveness. There is no opportunity to come into God’s presence – heaven is closed. When the bowls get poured out, we would hope that there was a measure of mercy, as we have often seen in the book of Revelation in some of the other calamities that have happened. Not this time. God is pouring out His wrath and there is no option for repentance, forgiveness, or mercy – just judgment. What a terrible place to find oneself. In John 9 Jesus warned that a time is coming when no one can work – that means there is no opportunity for people to repent. This is one of those moments.

However, it is not the final judgment – that comes later. Here the judgment is administered by angels. When the final judgment comes, it will be administered by God Himself as the Judge. So we see in this passage that although heaven is closed, we are told it will open after the judgment is released. There is still hope – even in the midst of this judgment.

Prayer

Father, this next few days as we look at the bowls of Your anger being poured out, we see some terrible things. They show us another side of You that is difficult to understand – Your righteousness and holiness. You hate sin and evil and will judge it. I have seen You release mercy in Your anger so much in the book of Revelation, but this is the first time I see just judgment. It is hard to see. We see pictures in the Bible where this happened – Sodom and Gomorrah, the Amalekites whom Saul destroyed, the people in the land of Canaan. We saw it but now we see it happening in real life pictures. Help me to work hard while it is day – and I can share the good news with people and they have the chance to receive forgiveness. A time comes when I cannot share, and they do not get another chance. Until then, give us a heart to release Your Good news to our world. In Jesus Name, Amen.