The Greatest Problem in the World Today…
By Ps Vernon Quek
Imagine for a moment that someone asked you what the single biggest problem in our world today is. What would your answer be? The news headlines this past week alone gives us plenty of options.
The Bible gives a clear Christian answer to this question: sin is the world’s greatest problem – it has been since the Fall! Do you believe this to be true? How does the Great Problem of sin shape your perspective of any problem you see around you in this world, or the problems that you are personally facing in this season?
Our passage last Sunday, the great vision of the Throne in Revelation 4, gives us another perspective of the Great Problem. The Old Testament parallel of this vision is given to the prophet Isaiah, who writes:
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” 1
Notice the difference to what the Apostle John records the four creatures say in Revelation 4:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!” 2
Why is there a difference to what Isaiah records? It’s to highlight the fact that the whole earth is currently NOT full of God’s glory. God is not acknowledged and not given the glory He so rightly deserves – that’s the definition of sin.
This sinful world was certainly the Apostle’s reality at the time that he wrote his Revelation, exiled on Patmos. It was certainly the reality of the seven churches in Asia – as they struggled both with giving God the glory in their own hearts and with being persecuted by those who refused to give God His rightful glory. And it is certainly our reality today, isn’t it? This world that we live in is NOT full of God’s glory.
The book of Revelation is all about how God is going to restore the earth to the way it should be: with Him rightfully glorified on the Throne: just as He WAS at the very beginning when He created all things and just as He IS currently on the Throne in heaven. What does living each day with this heavenly reality look like for you?
As we continue in our series in Revelation, let’s continue praying that the Spirit grows us all to have hearts that long more and more for Him who IS TO COME to return and complete the Great Solution to the world’s Great Problem – that the earth may once again be filled with His glory forever!
1 Isaiah 6:1-3
2 Revelation 4:8
