Revelation 9.20-21 records the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

While most people believe if there is a God that He is loving and good, and He is, they extrapolate from this that He will not punish people for their disobedience against His will. Nothing could be further from the truth, at least the truth recorded in the Bible.

God appears to allow us to get away with our disobedience today because He desires us to ask His forgiveness and reconcile ourselves to Him before we die. It is God’s desire to restore us not condemn us but failure to seek Him for restoration in this life will result in eternal separation from Him in the life to come.

Why are we so slow to reconcile ourselves to God and seek His forgiveness and a right relationship with Him? He gives us three reasons in these verses.

First, we believe we are good enough to get to heaven without needing a Savior. We measure the work of our hands, our good works, by the works of others and decide for ourselves we are good people. God’s judgment is not based on a curve, it is measured against the perfect life of His appearance in Jesus the Lord. No one compares to Him and thus we all fall short of His perfect standard revealing we need a Savior.

Second, we have determined that all religions are the same and thus God is content to be called by various names. One of the most constant themes of the Bible is that the One True God insists upon being worshipped His way, by His Name by His people. God does not think all roads lead to His house neither is He acceptable with us calling Him by any other name than the Name He has chosen for Himself. God has declared when He lived among us as Jesus that He alone is the way to eternal life and no other Name than Jesus will be accepted for reconciling humanity with God.

Finally, we are more interested in the pleasures of this world represented by the things money or gold can buy, than seeking God or obeying His commands. Some will just always refuse to believe in God and will insist upon getting all they can from this world betting on there being no world to come.

Everything within us and all of human history point to the truth that there is more to us and life than what we see and experience in our own world. We are fools to ignore the homing device God has placed within us for drawing us to Himself.

There really is a God and He really does love us and He really does desire a relationship with Him through Jesus His Son and He really will hold each of us accountable one day for how we responded to His plea for reconciliation with us.