No More Delay
5 min read
5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
Revelation 10:5-7
This revelation sounds like it is referring to future events. But one way to understand this text is that the “mystery of God” has been accomplished (Colossians 1:26-27) when our Lord Jesus went to the cross to pay the penalty for all the sins of all of humanity for all time. Understood in that way, we are in the “days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet.”
The benefit of reading the text in that way is to motivate the people of God because “There will be no more delay!”
The second advent of Christ is still shrouded in the mystery of God because the apocalyptic language of Revelation is difficult to understand. The effect of reading the Apocalypse is to fill me with a sense of dread, hope, and urgency—dread because of my sin and my lack of faith, hope because the corruption of this world is coming to an end, and urgency because … Jesus is coming soon enough.
My sin and lack of faith is what causes me to sweep the Apocalypse under my mental rug. I know it’s there. But I just don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want anybody to see the messiness of my heart and mind.
But God has given us the Apocalypse to inspire hope and urgency, not dread.
The world needs Jesus, and the world needs Jesus now. I need Jesus, and I need Jesus now. We all need Jesus, and we all need Jesus now.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Father, Forgive me for my sin. But more than that, forgive me for my lack of faith. Father, I want so much to understand Your word. But more than that, I know that You want me to align my life to Your purpose. My I delay no more in my obedience. May this Canvas family delay no more in our obedience. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
