Oct 12
9
ChristianGovernance eletter – October 9, 2012
The following is a key aspect of Christian reformation. It is a comment on Revelation 6:10 in a commentary on the book of Revelation.
Revelation 6:10 – They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”
“And so the blood of the righteous cries out: the saints pray that Christ’s prophecy of ‘the days of vengeance’ (Luke 21:22) will be fulfilled.
“That this blunt cry for vengeance strikes us as strange just shows how far our pietistic age has degenerated from the Biblical worldview. If our churches were more acquainted with the foundational hymnbook of the Church – the Book of Psalms – instead of the sugary, syrupy, sweetness-and-light choruses that characterize modern evangelical hymnals, we would understand this much easier. But we have fallen under a pagan delusion that it is somehow “unchristian” to pray for God’s wrath to be poured out upon the enemies and persecutors of the Church. Yet that is what we see God’s people doing, with God’s approval, in both Testaments of the Holy Scriptures (see e.g., Psalm 5, 7, 35, 58, 59, 68, 69, 73, 79, 83, 109, 137, and 140). It is, in fact, a characteristic of the godly man that he despises the reprobate (Psalm 15:4). The spirit expressed in the imprecatory prayers of Scripture is a necessary aspect – though not the whole – of the Christian’s attitude (cf. II Timothy 4:14). Much of the impotence of our churches today is directly attributable to the fact that they have become emasculated and effeminate. Such churches, unable even to confront evil – much less ‘overcome’ it – will eventually be captured and dominated by their enemies.”
The Great Tribulation, by David Chilton. Pp. 81-82.
So true!