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Revelation 8:13-9:6. I don't often get Revelation, thank goodness! John sees an eagle soaring "midheaven" and crying "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets which the three angels are about to blow." Then the fifth angel blows its trumpet and a "star" falls to Earth and is given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit which he opens, releasing smoke that darkens the sun and the air. From the smoke come swarms of locusts which have been given the power of scorpions - to sting and torment - but they are not permitted to harm any grass or green thing on Earth. They are to torture those "who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads" for five months, but not to kill them. "And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will fly from them."

 

A couple of things occur to me here. First, it is noteworthy that the locusts are not to harm any green thing. Harming green things is what locusts do! But we see here that God did not create the world to be destroyed but to be lived in (Isaiah 45:18). He loves his creation, and is saving it from the evil influence that came over it at the Fall. The apocalypse is not the end - it is a cleansing, a new beginning, a "great reset" back to the way it was meant to be from the beginning of time. It is not going to be destructive of God's creation, although it will be destructive of man's, and that is a good thing!

 

Second, the people tormented by the locusts are not to be killed - even they, those without the seal of God, are to be saved. Their torment is necessary to get them to the point where they beg for death but it does not come. Some people are so stubborn in their sin, they have embraced evil so strongly, that the bottom that they have to hit before giving it up is pretty deep indeed. Those who turn from their sin and follow the Lamb sooner will have the seal, and will not suffer this torment. But those who do are suffering for a reason - to cleanse them of their sin and bring them, hopefully, into the new world being brought about. They still, of course, have free will, and some will steel their hearts and still not turn to God, but he will give them absolutely every chance before the end. Ours is a God of mercy and of justice!

 

Lastly, we are watching the Netflix remake of Dracula, a classic exploring the effects of evil on us and our world. In the first episode, Jonathan, having become a vampire, tries to kill himself by driving a stake through his own heart. The audience, Mina, and Van Helsing (who is a nun! It's awesome!) believe him to be dead, but Dracula speaks to him and wakes him up. Dracula says it's not that easy, killing yourself; don't you think the undead have tried that to alleviate their suffering before? Also, at one point, Dracula promises eternal life to whichever nun is the first to let him into the convent, and Van Helsing replies "We already have that." (Yes, we do;))

 

All of this came to mind when reading today of the people seeking death, but it flees from them. God is lifegiving - he created us as eternal creatures, not as creatures who are going to die. The devil cannot take that from us, no one can take that from us. Death of the body came into the world with the Fall, but Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. We are each going to live forever. How do we want that forever to look? Do we want to be begging for a death that will not come? Revelation, and Dracula, are warnings against letting it get to that point.

 

P.S. Amazingly, after writing this, I listed to The Bible In a Year Podcast (episode 161), and Father Mike talked about this very thing - we are going to live forever; death is just our birth into eternal life.

 

"Death is our mother. " Father Mike Schmitz