Wed.’s Devo - The First Six Seals

Read: Micah 1:1-4:13; Revelation 6:1-17; Psalm 134:1-3; Proverbs 30:1-4 Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah who were kings of Judah. Jotham was a good king, Ahaz a bad one and Hezekiah was both. Amos was shown visions concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria was the capital of Israel and was responsible for the sins of the whole nation. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and responsible for the whole sins of Judah. Washington D.C. is our capital and responsible for the whole sins of our nation. God said that Samaria’s wound was too deep to heal and had reached into Judah and the gates of Jerusalem. Micah gave a list of towns mainly in Judah where God was going to judge with the meaning of their names. For example, Beth-leaphrah in verse 10 means “house of dust” and God said that they would roll in the dust to show their despair. Maroth in verse 12 means “bitter”. God said that they would wait for relief but only bitterness would await them. Judah and Israel were about to be humbled and destroyed and their land divided. Micah told them all of this prophecy and the people told him not to say those things to them, hoping that if he didn’t say them they wouldn’t come true. LOL! Micah’s response was that if they did what was right then God’s words would be comforting to them because they would know that He was judging sin. They hated good and loved evil. They did horrible things to each other and their false prophets were leading the people astray. In the last days, God’s mountain and influence would be the highest of all. People will want to hear God’s words and learn his ways. Peace and prosperity will come for God’s people and God will judge all matters fairly. At that time, the people of Jerusalem will crush God’s enemies. Revelation 6 reveals the first six of the seven seals. The first seal reveals the rider of the white horse, the Anti-christ who will get the victory over many battles. He stands for Babylon. The second seal reveals the rider of the red horse of Persia who brought war and slaughter everywhere. The third seal brought forth the black horse who brought famine and inflation. He stood for Greece. The fourth seal brought forth a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was Death and his companion was Grave. He stood for the Romans. They were given one forth of the earth to kill with the sword, famine and disease and wild animals. The fifth seal revealed the should of all who had been martyred for being faithful to the Lord. The were given a white robe and told to rest until their fellow brothers and sisters joined them. We are given the same colors of the seals. The robes are white, the sun becomes black, the moon becomes red and the stars fall like green figs. The people left on the earth will run to the calves and hide month the rocks and pray for death. Lord, help us to stand with righteousness and justice in our lives and in our nation.