By Campus Missionary Mary Rowley, based on Revelation 14:6-7
When I was about to graduate from Concordia Wisconsin, I was beyond stressed about my job prospects. Church wor
k careers are never easy to get into, and especially as churches are still in recovery from the recession, not as many churches are hiring youth workers. One day my roommate came in and found me crying my eyes out on our couch. I got my story out between sobs, telling her how I was convinced I would be jobless and that I didn’t want to be a bum until I got a call and I didn’t know what to do. After about 10 minutes of crying on Rachael’s shoulder, I glanced at my phone and saw that I had a missed call. It was the YMCA calling about a job I’d applied for at least a month prior. They wanted to hire me. The person leaving that message brought me such amazing news. At that point in time, I really needed some good news.
My new manager at the YMCA, Gretchen, was the bearer of good news that day. I’m sure she had no idea how desperate I was at that moment, but her news brought me out of that desperation. The angel in this passage of Revelation was also the bearer of good news – the ultimate Good News. When it all comes down to it, an angel is just a special type of messenger from God. Aren’t we messengers from God, too? After all, we have some incredible news to share. We might not be able to fly, but we can still proclaim our God. There are some important reasons that we should share our news. This passage of Revelation mentions two blessings from God, and those blessings are the reasons we should be witnessing.
First, the angel shares some information about God as creator. He “made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” God gave us this incredible world we live in. Not only that, he created us. He created great things for us to enjoy like chocolate and ice cream. He created all these things despite our sin, and he even created our salvation story and sent our Savior. Creation happened at the beginning of time, but it is a blessing for us still today.
The second blessing mentioned by the angel is an interesting one. After all, the angel is proclaiming this news because God’s judgment has come. Doesn’t that sound ominous? But when you think about it, the Last Day will be an incredible blessing for believers, especially considering everything else that is going on in the Last Days. It will be a permanent escape from persecution and hardship, the time when we enter into Heaven and never experience pain again. This promise of eternal redemption is a blessing we don’t see now, but we will see in the future.
This is the Good News we can share. We need to share it so that as many people as possible see the Last Day as a blessing, so that they can experience the amazing joy of meeting their Creator face-to-face. And unlike my manager at the YMCA, we know how desperate people are for the love of Christ. We are the bearers of Good News, so let’s go out and share it!