Do you ever gloat?
Merriam-Webster defines “gloat” as “to observe or think about something with triumphant or often malicious satisfaction, gratification, or delight. To gloat over an enemy’s misfortune.”
Gloating is a bit like winning a contest, then rubbing your opponent’s face in his loss. Batters sometimes gloat over a home run. Football players gloat when they trash talk after touchdowns.
In the book of Revelation, two witnesses are sent to preach God’s truth in the center of Jerusalem for 1,260 days (3.5 years). This follows the rapture of the church, so there are few believers in the audience. But the two men of God preach fearlessly, killing anyone who attacks them with fire that comes from their mouths.
“If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies: if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These men have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy. They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want.
“When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, conquer them, and kill them. Their dead bodies will lie in the public square of the great city …. And representatives from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will view their bodies for three and a half days and not permit their bodies to be put into a tomb. Those who live on the earth will GLOAT over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another because these two prophets brought judgment to those who live on the earth” Revelation 11:5-10.
Imagine it. Two men have preached God’s word for three years. When they die, people around the world are so excited, they give each other gifts to celebrate the death of God’s two witnesses. And they refuse to allow the bodies to be buried. How much do you have to hate your enemies to enjoy watching their bodies lie in the sun, covered in flies and beginning to decay—on television around the globe? That is some serious gloating.
There is a Biblical truth here about an unrepentant heart: The End Times will be characterized by hearts grown cold and unrepentant.
God forbid that you or I be stiff-necked, stubborn, and unrepentant. “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy” Proverbs 29:1. Instead, may God give us the humble faith of children: The kingdom of God belongs to those with the humble hearts of little children, Luke 18:16.
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