Today’s devotion comes from Revelation 6:9-11.
“9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” Revelation 6:9-11.
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Yesterday, we considered: “But, we need to remember that those seals need to be broken to open the book of life. … Random “helter-skelter” did not break out in the breaking of the seals. These are no “Pandora’s boxes”. God is still sovereign and in perfect total control.”
Yet, there is a big difference between the death of the ungodly and the death of the godly. We may have thought regarding the deaths that occurred in the breaking of the second, third, and fourth seals that those were “just” the deaths of the ungodly. But, we are confronted with the deaths of the godly (the martyrs) in the breaking of this fifth seal.
We may wonder like the martyrs: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
But, God is still sovereign and in perfect total control as is evident by His calm response: “they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
Not one of the godly slips through the fingers of God. “Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones.” Psalm 116:15
We may not fully consider that godly people may die unexpectedly. But, today’s Scripture reminds us that godly people may die as martyrs or otherwise die unexpectedly in our eyes.
We may think that God somehow lost control and that there are godly people who slip through the fingers of God and die. But, the will of God is always “completed”.
Most importantly, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:27-30.
In conclusion, there are those who teach that man’s free-will trumps God’s sovereignty, but today’s Scripture and Reformed Doctrine teach that God’s sovereignty totally controls everything, even the death of godly ones, such that the will of God is always “completed”.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 