Gnats, Flies, and Pestilence

This past week, with the new construction at the church, there has been an over abundance of flies and gnats in my office. They could fly anywhere they want and I would be ok to share my space, but they have this annoying drive to buzz around me. Before you think it, I have showered. Swatting at them makes me feel powerless, I’m not as fast as they are. I think that’s why they come around, to taunt me; Belzabub, lord of the flies.

But I will not be undone, I remembered a simple gnat catching solution. Fill a small comtainer with water and add a little dish soap. The solution attracts the gnats, it’s too slippery for them crawl out, and walla they are dead. The gnat filled container gave me a sort of macabre satisfaction. The problem now is the flies, or rather The Fly. There is always just one, and if I do manage to kill it, there is one waiting in the wings to take it’s place. An odd sort of tag team torment. And so it is with the way of the world.

The best known pestilence of the Bible is Moses and the plaques. The Egyptians were tormented with gnats and flies respectively. My own experience, however slight, has given me a new appreciation for the Egyptians’ torment. I would have gone mad, and so upset where the Egyptians, Pharaoh almost let the Israelites go. Hard hearts and misery go together.

Revelation 6:8; 9:1-11 speaks of two more times of pestilence; much worse than the plagues of Egypt. In chapter six the fourth horse of the apocalypse let’s loose famine, diesese, and pestilence to torment the people of the earth. In chapter nine the fifth trumpet is blown and a terrible creature, that is a mixture of a locust and scorpion, is let loose, “And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them” (Rev. 9:6). Only those who are of the elect will be spared. 

Revelation is a fascinating book full of imagery, that is often not taken literal and is spiritualized so as not to make it as awful as it sounds. Imagery or real, the fact is that it will be terrible. The horror of the event would make Hercules shutter. But we read it with morbid curiosity, a fascination that is rivaled only by a Stephen King novel. Yet, we, as followers of Jesus, should be motivated by this book. It is both a warning and a comfort. A comfort, because it is a reminder that the wicked will not get away with their injustice. A warning, because the horror will fall on all those who do not believe—even our loved ones.

Take a moment to pray for a lost family member or friend. Ask the Lord for an opportunity to share the gospel with them. Become the beautiful feet that brings good news. I’m just saying...