Almost 9pm now. This crazy icy day is coming to a close—but the ice isn’t. Although Becki reports that the predictions are for warmer temperatures that begin tonight. So it looks like things are on the thaw.
It’s clear that we human earthlings are naturally afflicted with a temptation to critique The Almighty—to pass judgment on THE JUDGE. But our limited range of awareness, perspective, and capacity are simply not adequate to provide us with all the satisfactory answers we crave. And the dangerous tendency is to conclude that The Almighty is not really as almighty as our traditional Bible theology presents Him to be. After all, this is not fair, and that’s not fair. It’s not fair that our good friend would be killed by a drunk driver while being such a fine husband/father/provider—or that another friend would be stricken with cancer and die at such a young age—or that bad people would be allowed to perform such atrocities against good innocent people—the global threat from unchecked radical Islam—the mass suffering and death from a tsunami—starving children in Somalia, etc., etc., etc. How could a good Almighty God not direct more of His almighty-ness toward resolving or preventing all this suffering and unfairness?
This scene in Revelation 15 actually goes a long way toward shaping and supporting my personal faith. For if I can believe that this setting in our reading is true, where faithful believers are gathered in a heavenly celebration having been killed by tribulation persecutions (which also doesn’t seem very fair), then I have to also believe that what they are saying in song form is true—that the Lord God Almighty is beyond fair in all His ways. I believe they are being endued with a special gift of revelation so as to be seeing things with a whole lot more clarity than I have right now. The end of their brief song declares that “your righteous acts have been revealed” (v. 4). The Almighty, for His own reasons, obviously withholds that full revelation for that point in time—but not now—not yet.
This is not a unique theme within the repertoire of heaven’s songs and testimonies. Looking ahead into chapter 16 I notice that a major angel affirms, “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One” (16:5). Even the altar in this heavenly drama is given a voice that states, “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments” (16:7).
I’m thinking that if I fail to bolster and maintain my faith foundations with this kind of information and reasoning, I can too easily yield to the kind of temptation I mention in my lead sentence. And that is both dangerous and not fair—not fair in this sense: It’s not really fair for puny limited knowledge (like mine) to think it can adequately contend with inexhaustible Infinite Knowledge. Like, why don’t I pick on someone my own size?!? Besides, this opportunity of relationship with the Almighty is one of faith—not perfect and complete knowledge and understanding. This very faith with all its seeking, serving, and trust is what we are supposed to be full of—thus, faith-full. So let’s sing to each other at heart level, “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant…O come let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.”