6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
For those who are familiar with the Old Testament prophets, these types of things sound familiar. A prophet is a person chosen by God, usually through some miracle event, to be both a leader and a spokesperson for God. Moses was the greatest of these. We see Moses showing up at Jesus transfiguration along with Elijah, another great Old Testament prophet. Moses was used by God to lead the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Elijah prayed that it would not rain for three years and it didn’t. God used Moses to turn the waters in Egypt into blood, unusable in a desert land. This was just one of a series of disasters that God brought on Egypt in an effort to get their attention and release the Israelites. These disasters were brought as singular events. Each one came at God’s command through the prophet. The prophet did not choose the time or frequency, God did. At the end of time as we know it, outlined here in this passage, God gives these two prophets control of these events, these plagues. They choose which ones and how often they come. They have tremendous power to witness to God’s greatness. Their purpose is to demonstrate the power of God over all events on earth. The goal is to bring people to repentance. These plagues are just a tool that God will use to bring people back to Himself. And the two prophets get to exercise these powers for three and a half years. That is a long grace period. The people who refuse to listen have been given many opportunities to repent during this time period. They don’t have any excuse for not responding to these repeated wakeup calls. So what are you waiting for? Is God speaking to you through circumstances in your life right now? Is He calling you to turn from a sin and walk in obedience? Then turn and obey. You will find a peace and contentment that you didn’t think possible.
The Arnold Journey 