The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. – Revelation 8:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 27, 2018): Revelation 8

I am a child of the cold war. I remember the days before the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain fell. I remember the suspicion and fear that the Soviet Union brought to the world that existed outside of the Soviet Bloc. I can still see the old videos in my mind teaching children to “hide under their desks” in case of a nuclear attack, and the belief that such an attack could happen. It is likely that in the real threatening times, such as the Soviet arming of Cuba in 1963, we were all kept blissfully ignorant of everything that was going on and all that could have happened to spark that feared nuclear holocaust. And yet, children kept hiding under their desks.

And then the Iron Curtain fell, and for a time we breathed a little easier. The world seemed to be a little less threatening. We laughed together as we thought of the kids hiding under their desks. I mean, when a nuclear bomb went off, a desk was going to be of little help. Slowly, the world seemed to become a more livable place.

Lately, we seem to be heading back in the wrong direction, returning once more to the days similar to the days of tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. But today might be even worse. It is not just Russia, China, and the United States that can wreak nuclear horror on the earth. There is beginning to be a host of other nations with the capability, including some of the most unstable governments on the planet like North Korea and Iran. And the reality seems to be that there are more nations with nuclear capability than we are even aware.

One repeated theme in Revelation is that John reported what he saw. While we can’t completely rule out other interpretations of John’s words, for the most part, this is what he saw. And a lot of what he saw, John struggled to put into words. And so we have to use our imaginations when we read John’s writing. John was unfamiliar with a nuclear war. He would not have had the words to describe such an even. So, for some, it is a nuclear conflict that John’s words might bring to mind. A third of the earth being destroyed, and all of the grass is something that we can imagine in the midst of a nuclear conflict. In fact, a third of the earth might be just a limited nuclear conflict. After all, the governments of the earth have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth several times over.

Of course, that interpretation might also be wrong. We just don’t know. But one thing that is for sure is that when these events happen and however these events happen, it will be with the full knowledge of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 9