In Revelation 9:15 John writes about four angels who “had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year.” It’s not difficult to determine who had prepared them, but it is beneficial to meditate on it. God prepared them, to do what He wanted (which for these angels was to wipe out a third of mankind) at the exact moment He wanted (which I believe is still in front of us on history’s timeline).

I was talking with Jim this past week about the class he’s going to teach this fall at Comeford College, an Old Testament survey class. One of his first-level goals is to see how God puts nations in place, like pieces on a game-board, but centuries ahead of time, to write His story just so.

It doesn’t always look like we thought it would. Those without God’s Spirit won’t see it, due to spiritual incapability which includes culpable blindness. Paul told the Corinthians that if the rulers of the world had understood what God was doing, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” And even for us, the only way that sounds like good news is because God has revealed to us through His Spirit the atonement and accomplishment and power of Christ’s crucifixion.

Just as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
(1 Corinthians 2:9)

Which is itself a quote of Isaiah 64:4.

God has prepared life, blessing, honor, and glory in His presence with all the saints. It has not been revealed yet, but it’s just a matter of time, down to the hour. Even as we eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Jesus He is preparing us for what He’s prepared for us.