A great disappointment follows. No one in Heaven is worthy—neither the cherubim, nor the seraphim, nor the ‘zoo-a’, the living creatures, nor the twenty-four leaders of the angels, nor the millions of angels themselves, nor even the seven Spirits of God, the Holy Spirit. Apparently, nobody on earth or in Heaven is worthy—neither the greatest and wisest philosophers, the most distinguished inventors of science and technology, the impassioned artists, the democratic parliaments, the mightiest dictators; the most innocent child nor the finest adult. No one on earth is worthy or able to unroll history. Even the best futurologists, the rationalistic ‘soothsayers of the future’ are unable to look into the scroll, let alone to unroll it. Natural man is not granted even a glimpse. We continue guessing and speculating, and things turn out very differently from what we had thought or planned. The future of mankind is resting in God’s right hand, however strong the demonic powers, the ‘authorities and the powers of darkness’ in this world may be. ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the Heavenly places.’1 These forces will not succeed to guide planet earth and its inhabitants to a Kingdom of Peace and Righteousness ‘in the name of man’. Ultimately, they will not be able to determine the course of history and of humanity at all. That lies in the hand of God. Neither will the occultly ‘gifted’ nor ‘possessed’ succeed, claiming to receive insight from the invisible, supernatural world.
Whatever has been sealed, is unassailable. No one can stretch out his or her hand and open it. The Lord will do as it pleases Him. We will not be able to bring about real righteousness and justice. He will do it. And when He does, it will include His righteous judgments. Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” Vengeance and retribution are His prerogative. The enemies’ deeds are sealed up in His vaults.2 Sealed means unassailable,3 unattainable4 and inviolable.5 One day God will come into action. One day enough will be enough.
Who then is worthy? Who can ‘redeem’ Creation and mankind? Who will bring the rule of the prince and the powers of darkness to an end? Who will restore the plundered, polluted and exhausted Creation? Who has the power to turn around the principle of death, the entropy, which reigns like an iron ‘law of nature’?
No one? If that be the case, it is quite understandable that John is weeping bitterly, and that we are too. Will this then always be the case—horrific cruelties, hunger, diseases, humiliations, sexual exploitation, mass destruction, psychological torture, coarseness, tastelessness, excessive egoism, deformities, natural disasters, extinction of plants and animals and so on? The whole of Creation is groaning. It is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. And one day it will. The Son of God6 must, however, be revealed, made known first!
• The law of entropy is the second basic law of thermodynamics. In short, it says that everything levels out. At the end of the day, there will not be enough ‘differences in level’ to still have useable, workable energy. Hot places cool off and cold places warm up. Suns burn out so that the Universe is ‘dying’ and will be ‘extinguished’ in the end.
• Instead of a natural upward motion (evolution), nature only follows a natural movement downwards (entropy, ‘devolution’). To whatever height local developments in nature may rise (growth), the end will nevertheless be decay (death). Who is able to alter that process? Only the Creator Himself. But by Whom?
Bible References:
1.Ephesians 6:12 2. Deuteronomy 32:34–43 3.Matthew 27:66 4. Isaiah 29:10–12 5. 2 Corinthians 1:22; Revelation 7:1–8; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30 6. Romans 8:18–23
