During prayer time, I reflected on my relationship with a brother in Christ and fellow minister. I felt honored to know this man of God. He left this world and I am assured he is with the God he knows. A nagging scripture keeps occupying my mind and I would like to share it with you. Revelation 12:12 says the devil has a short time. Why should I care if the devil has a short time? Actually, that would be a good thing. Right?
Let’s do a deep dive. Ephesians 6:12 days that our struggles in life are against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. So, in other words the devil is out to get us. The good news is in Revelation 20:2 and 3. The devil will be bound for a thousand years and sealed in an abyss, then released for a short time. Continuing with verse 10, the devil will be thrown in the lake of fire and brimstone where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Hooray! But, we have to look at the rest of the Book of Revelation to see what happens during the time we have left to get to this point.
I suggest we look into that. But, let’s look at a shorter story back at the beginning of the Bible with Genesis 6 and 7. God saw humankind was wicked and He was sorry that He had made humankind. God decided to blot out humankind with a flood except for a family whose head was Noah. Noah found favor with God and God told him to build a big boat to escape the floodwaters. Because Noah was in right standing with God, his family prepared themselves and obeyed God.
A descendant of Noah had faith in God. Hebrews 11 says Abraham obeyed God and if you were to read in Genesis the willingness to sacrifice for his faith you would see why he was named the “Father of Faith”. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. The bottom line is the future may be somewhat rocky, but we have a blessed assurance. If someone needs hope, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible is a good source.
