Revelation - Wrath of God

                Did you hear the one about the atheist orator who was contracted to a speaking engagement at a large university?  He was unable to attend his own lecture due to a hurricane that shut down all travel.  As he had already been paid for his appearance and refused to return the payment, the university sued him for breach of contract.  His legal defense maintained that he had been unable to travel due to an act of God.  He was immediately charged with fraud.

                In legalese, “Acts of God” are situations, generally referring to natural events such as tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, and the like.  Often, defendants use Acts of God to describe situations beyond their control.  According to one website, “The Act of God designation on all insurance policies…means, roughly, that you cannot be insured for the accidents that are most likely to happen to you.” [i]

                Religion journalist Cathleen Falsani writes:

A judge in Nebraska threw out a 2007 lawsuit filed against God by state Sen. Ernie Chambers, who had sought permanent injunction against the Almighty for bringing “acts of terrorism” against the Cornhusker state.  Chambers…asked that an order be issued demanding God to cease and desist from causing ‘fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.’  Judge Marlon Polk threw out Chambers’ case because the defendant in the case a.k.a. God, could not be served with a summons. [ii]

               

Today in the book of Revelation, we look at Acts of God for which Ernie Chambers might sue, assuming the events happen within the senator’s lifetime.  In chapter six, Jesus the Lamb of God breaks open a book with seven seals.  With the opening of the book, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are unleashed upon the earth.  Riders on white, red, black, and ashen horses bring conquest, war, famine, and death.  Martyrs cry out for vengeance with the opening of the fifth seal.  When the sixth is opened there is a worldwide earthquake, a darkening of the sun, reddening of the moon, and blotting of stars from the sky.  The sky itself is split apart.  All humanity hides, wishing for death “for the great day of…wrath has come (Rev 6:17[iii]).”

When the seventh seal is opened in chapter eight, seven angels blow their trumpets, which bring further destruction.  Hail and fire mixed with blood fall from heaven, burning up a third of the earth.  A burning mountain falls into the sea, killing a third of all sea life.  A falling star called Wormwood poisons a third of all water.  A third of the sun, moon, and stars are darkened.  The Bottomless Pit is opened and from it comes a demon prince ruling a hoard of unearthly locusts which plague humanity.  Murdering horseman-angels are released upon the world, killing with smoke and fire and brimstone. 

                In chapter sixteen, the seven bowls of wrath are poured out upon the earth.  Those who worship the Beast are plagued with sores.  The springs and rivers and the sea are filled with blood.  The sun scorches people with fierce heat.  Darkness and pain and drought plague humanity.  The Euphrates dries up.  Armies gather for the Battle of Armageddon.  Lightning and hundred-pound hailstones come from the sky.  But amid all these curses, I think the key verse in chapter sixteen is found in verse eleven: “…They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains…and they did not repent of their deeds.”  God’s entire purpose in all these plagues is to get people to repent—and yet their hearts are so hard that they will not.

                There is a problem with using the term Act of God to describe wildfires, windstorms, tsunamis.  These occurrences are natural events, caused by laws that God set in motion at the foundation of the world.  God does not plan every weather pattern.  Extraordinary events like the ones mentioned in Revelation, or like the Great Flood, or the destruction of Sodom, or the plagues of Egypt, are not natural occurrences but supernatural ones.  They are exceptions to the rule, not God’s usual method of dealing with sinful humanity.  Does God sometimes use these astonishing means to deal out His wrath?  Yes—the Bible confirms it.  But the problem comes when people try to read divine retribution into every hailstorm or hurricane.

                In 2005, many religious leaders said that Hurricane Katrina was divine retribution against both the immorality and Voodoo practices of the New Orleans area.  Evangelist Pat Robertson said that the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was the wrath of God for a pact that previous generations had made with the devil.[iv]  Of course, natural disasters aren’t the only things people point to as examples of the wrath of God.  Some religious leaders are saying that Ebola is God’s wrath against “sins including corruption and immoral acts such as homosexuality.”[v]  People who believe the Bible understand that at times God does use war, natural disaster, and disease in order to bring divine wrath.  Yet, we also must recognize that not every occurrence of these kinds of things is an indication of God’s displeasure with specific people and specific sins.

                First and foremost, the Bible says that God is our loving Creator, who wants to bless rather than curse.  Luke 9:55-56 says that when Jesus’ disciples wanted to call fire down on their enemies, “…He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’] And they went on to another village.”  Where there may be exceptions to the rule, compassion is generally the way of God.  In Matthew 18:14, Jesus says, “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

                Yes, we realize that death and destruction are part of the human experience.  Since death came into the world through sin in Eden, it has continued to reign to this day.  Every creature that has ever been born has died[vi].  This isn’t the wrath of God, but the consequence of human sin.  Romans 5:12 says, that “through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”  Therefore physical death is the inheritance of every human being, and not the direct wrath of God against specific sins.  Since everybody will die, it seems silly to point to this specific death or those specific thousand deaths and say, “See there—in that particular case, that’s an example of the wrath of God.”

                The book of Job is an example of a righteous man who endured great trouble.  Job’s friends said that his suffering was God’s judgment on a sin that he had allegedly committed.  The story’s narrative disputes this, insisting on Job’s innocence.  Rather than God smiting Job, Satan is the culprit.  We learn that there are times when God removes divine protection for the sake of our personal growth.  God can even bring great glory out of human suffering.  Romans 8:28 says, “…We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  This doesn’t mean that God causes disaster, but that God can use it to accomplish His will, as He did in the life of Job.

                Many ancient people (and many modern ones too!) believed that tragedy was always a sign of God’s wrath.  Yet Jesus contradicts this notion by saying that God  “… causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).”  Jesus often dealt with people who wrongly attributed disasters to the wrath of God.  In response, He said, “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish (Luke 13:4-5).”  While God did not cause this tragedy, Jesus says that events like this bring our own mortality more readily into focus.  Disasters like this ought to lead us to repentance, so that we are ready to meet our Maker when the time comes.

                So we understand that death and suffering and pain are just a part of life.  Rather than being the result of specific sins, they are the result of humanity’s general fallen nature.  It wasn’t just people who experienced the curse of sin—all of creation suffers along with us.  In Matthew 24:8, Jesus describes wars and disasters as “birth pangs.”  Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now (Romans 8:18-22). 

                So if we realize all these things, how do we then differentiate between regular (and sometimes extreme) suffering, and the wrath of God?  First, we have to understand that these occasions are exceptions to the rule.  Jehovah is not Zeus, always ready to smite people with lightning bolts.  Second, as in the cases of the Great Flood or the destruction of Sodom or the plagues on Egypt, God announces judgment beforehand through prophets or angels.  The Book of Jonah demonstrates that God’s purpose is to bring people to repentance—God is not some bloodthirsty punisher who takes delight in destruction.  As in the case of Nineveh, God forgives when His threats of destruction lead people to repentance.  Even when people don’t repent and suffering results, God reminds them that their suffering is because they wouldn’t listen.  He gives them another opportunity to repent.  Yes, God does at times cause sorrow, but 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

                This brings us back to some key verses in the book of Revelation that demonstrate God’s purpose for this time of Tribulation.  In Revelation 3:19, Jesus says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” The word “repent” appears twelve times in the book of Revelation.  God’s clear desire is not to punish people, but to discipline them with the rod of suffering, and lead them to repentance.  Yet Revelation 16:9 says, “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”  God longs for human repentance—even His wrath has restoration as its goal.

                What did these passages about God’s wrath mean for the original readers of the book of Revelation?  That while persecution under Roman oppressors was terrible indeed, things could be much worse.  That one day all suffering will come to an end when the world is made new. What will it mean, to a last generation of humanity that goes through this painful time of Tribulation?  That godly sorrow leads to repentance, and that the Lord will give them one last chance to turn to Him.  What does it mean to us today?  That while suffering is a part of everyone’s life, God wants to use it to bring about our good.  Through today’s study in Revelation, I hope that we’ll learn that not every disaster or tragedy is an act of God—that would paint God with a terrible kind of brush.  Generally, we simply accept suffering as a part of life in this fallen world.  I hope we’ll realize that God loves us, and that even when we do suffer, through our tragedy God is trying to bring us back to Himself.

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[i] http://www.barricksinsurance.com/insurance_jokes2.html.  March 14, 2015.

[ii] Falsani, Cathleen.  “You Can Sue God, But You Can’t Win.”  November 21, 2008.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathleen-falsani/you-can-sue-god-but-you-c_b_136453.html.  March 14, 2015.

[iii] All scriptures taken from the NRSV.

[iv] “Pat Robertson Blames Earthquake on Pact Haitians Made with Satan.”  Jan 13, 2010.  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/01/pat-robertson-blames-earthquake-on-pact-haitians-made-with-satan/.  March 14, 2015.

[v] “Is Ebola a Curse from God?  Some African Christian Leaders Think So.”  August 11, 2014.  http://www.religionnews.com/2014/08/11/ebola-curse-god-african-christian-leaders-think/.  March 14, 2015.

[vi] With the exceptions of Enoch (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11)

Revelation - Heavenly Worship

If I were to ask you, “What is worship?” there are many answers you might give.  You might say that worship is a church service on Sunday morning or a quiet reflection on your front porch at sunrise.  To you, worship might be a hymn or praise song, Scripture readings or sermons, liturgies or doxologies or offerings or Communion.  But I suggest to you that while all of these things are elements of worship, none of them are worship in and of themselves.  While each of these are expressions of worship, worship itself is the soul’s stretching toward God, as my seminary professor Glenn Hinson said, “opening ourselves before [God] like a flower to the morning sun.”  While worship can have many expressions, what it must always be (and what it can never be without) is a genuine human response to God’s infinite grace.

                Unfortunately, too often we get worship mixed up with the forms of worship.  We go to church, sing our songs, read the Bible, give our money, hear some scripture and a sermon, and we think we have worshiped.  It reminds me of the little boy who knelt by his bed, saying his prayers on Sunday night.  He said, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today—but I wish you had been there!"  Sometimes I think that if God were to answer a prayer like that, He might say, “My child, it was good seeing you in My house today—but I wish you had really been there!”  All too often, we bring our bodies to church but nothing else.  Mentally and spiritually we check out, and we leave without worshiping at all.

                The book of Revelation shows many scenes of heavenly worship that can teach us how to approach the living God.  John witnesses angelic worship as the heavenly court celebrates the Lord.  Revelation 4:8-11[i] says:

And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

⁹ And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹ “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

When we worship God, we praise Him for who He is.  Our first desire should never be to ask God for the things we think we need, but simply to love our Lord.  The living creatures sing of God’s holiness.  This word holy means “other” or “different.”  It means that God is not like us.  God’s ways are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.  And that should make us glad—because if God were simply a reflection of who we are, if we had made God in our own image, we would be in trouble.  But God is holy.  Then, these magnificent creatures sing about God’s eternal nature.  Because God is eternal, we know that He is also reliable.  He never changes, but will be as He has been forever.

Next, we see that heavenly worship involves paying honor to God.  No dollars are dropped into the plate, but instead the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks.  I wonder—do you think that God is somehow improved by these gifts, as if He gets more glorious or more powerful than He was before, simply because we give Him glory and power?  No—but He is pleased when we relinquish our own glory and power and strength to Him, recognizing Him as the Source of everything good in our lives.  The twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne, rejecting their own treasures and their own egos, declaring instead God’s worthiness to receive glory and power and strength.  At church I’ve seen too many peacock shows with people strutting around showing off their own glory.  Whether it’s proudly parading their fine clothes or flaunting their gifts to the church or reminding people of all the acts of service they’ve performed, they wear their crowns to honor themselves.  Oh, we’ll get crowns in heaven,[ii] but they won’t be for our benefit—they’ll be so that we can have something to abandon at the feet of Jesus.

Finally in this chapter, the elders proclaim, “for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”  Whenever worship happens, worshipers are reminded of the things that God has done.  This is done through the proclamation of the word.  Preachers declare God’s mighty deeds so that worshipers are reminded of God’s worthiness and trustworthiness.

In chapter five, we learn of prayer and music and in heavenly worship.  Verses 8-10 say:

⁸ When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

¹⁰ “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

                Often at our church we spend more time talking about people on your prayer list than you do actually praying for them.  That’s why I instituted the prayer bowl.  Instead of talking about these prayer needs, we simply fill out a prayer request card before the worship service.  When I lead the congregation in prayer of supplication, I take these cards from the bowl, along with our printed prayer list, and just pray.  Our prayer shouldn’t be a gossip session, but incense lifted before the throne of God.

                Churches ought to have music like there is in heaven.  Yes—there are harps in heaven (and I imagine a thousand other instruments as well) that people use to make melody and harmony before the Lord.  Just as the living creatures sang (and still sing) a new song, our music should always be new in our hearts.  This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t cherish the old songs of the faith—but when we sing them, they should be current and fresh and meaningful in our souls, not dutiful dirges that we sing simply because the music director demands it.  And, of course, it means that we should welcome new songs in our worship services, vibrant expressions of worship that reflect the styles of younger generations and old.

                Imbedded in this new song is proclamation of the Gospel—of what God has done and what we must do.  The Lamb who was slain to redeem His people has now given us a mission to the rest of humanity.  What would worship be without a reminder to the people that they have a task to perform?  Our job is not simply to come to church and worship, but to engage in service, to be a kingdom and priests and ministers to the children of God.

                Verses 11-14 describe “myriads of myriads, thousands of thousands” of angels praising God. 

“And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,

“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

¹⁴ And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

               

When we worship the Lord, we join in the song of the angels, and raise the cry of all creation, blessing God and recognizing His authority over all.  This word “Amen” is a continuous chant in heaven.  It’s an unending word of submission that means, “Let it be,” declaring God’s sovereignty over the universe and over our individual lives.  And it’s not simply a word of submission, but a gesture of prostration and obedience to God.  So too, our ‘Amen’ ought never to just be the end of our prayers—instead it should be the way we continuously live our prayer throughout the day.

                 Chapter nineteen shows the final scene of worship in the book of Revelation. Four times in the first six verses, a great multitude and the living creatures shout, “Hallelujah!”  This is a compound word, which is a shout of command for the people to give a hallel to Yah.  A hallel is a foolish, crazy, exuberant exclamation of joy.  It’s an enraptured outburst of praise and worship.  Yah is simply an abbreviation of God’s name—Yahweh.  Like David who danced before the Ark, those who shout hallelujahh ought to be undignified before the Lord, giving their all to Him in celebration.

                In verse five, heavenly worship reflects the fact that all people are equal in God’s kingdom.  “And a voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.’” People of all social statures are alike in God’s eyes.  All are servants of God.  As it is in heaven, worship in our churches should reflect egalitarianism among the Lord’s people.  No one is less than another, and no one is more important[iii].

                Revelation’s final word on worship is verse seven, where the redeemed say, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”  Worship is the way we prepare ourselves to meet the Bridegroom when He comes.  It’s our garment of praise[iv] that makes us ready to be with our Beloved.  Each Sunday when we come to church, and each day in our private time of worship, we prepare ourselves like a bride for the Lord. 

                Worship on earth ought to be modeled on worship in heaven.  It means preparing ourselves to meet our Master.  When we worship the way the saints in heaven and angels do, we clothe ourselves in beauty as we await the coming King.  Worship means singing and shouting, submitting to God and serving humanity.  I pray that worship in your church and in your heart is genuine, and that you live your ‘hallelujah’ and your ‘amen’ every day.

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[i] Scriptures taken from the NASB.

[ii] “What are the heavenly crowns that believers can receive in Heaven?”  http://www.gotquestions.org/heavenly-crowns.html.  March 11, 2015.  1 Cor 9:24-25; Mt 6:19; 1 Pet 1:3-5; 1 Thes 2:19; Php 4:4; Lk 15:7; Rev 21:4; 2 Tim 4:8; Php 3:20; 1 Pet 5:4; Ac 7:55-56; Isa 42:8; 48:11; Gal 1:5; Rom 8:18; Rev 2:10; Jn 10:10; 4:10; 6:35; 1 Jn 2:25; Jas 1:12; 1 Jn 5:3; Heb 12:2. 

[iii] Mt 20:26; 23:11; Mk 9:35; 10:44

[iv] Isaiah 61:13

Revelation - Apocalypse Now

            In his book, Discover the Book that God Wrote, Bill Bright writes about Anne Sullivan, introducing her blind and deaf student Helen Keller the concept of God:

Using a unique form of “finger language,” Anne began “spelling” words into the child’s hand, and eventually Helen recognized the link between the words and objects.  Once Ann Sullivan had given Helen the names of several physical objects, Miss Sullivan attempted to explain the existence of God.  She tapped out the symbols for the name God.

Much to Miss Sullivan’s surprise, Helen spelled back, “Thank you for telling me God’s name, Teacher, for He has touched me many times before.”  Even in her darkness, Helen Keller already knew that God existed.  With the help of Anne Sullivan, the young blind girl had the ability to “see” and learn more about who God is and what He does for us.[i]

            Like Helen Keller, each of us feels spiritually blind and deaf at times—like we know inherently that God exists, but we need help understanding.  We need God to take off our blindfolds, to lift the veil so that we can know Him better.  2 Corinthians 4:4-5[ii] says that the Gospel is veiled to those who are perishing.  Satan “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  While unbelievers are blind to God’s glory and deaf to His voice, even believers can be a bit impaired when it comes to experiencing the Lord.  It’s like we’re wearing blindfolds and ear muffs, that we need God to remove. 

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 says, “…Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”  Yet the mirror that Paul refers to is still darkened, and our image of Christ is a bit foggy at times (1 Corinthians 13:12).  Yet there are times when God lifts the veil completely, when God cleans our looking-glass and shows His glory the way that it really is.

            I love the story where the prophet Elisha was beset by the soldiers of Aram.  His servant went outside the tent one morning to find them surrounded by enemies.  In fear, he cried out.  But the prophet could see something that his servant was unable to imagine.  When Elisha prayed that God would remove the veil from his servant’s eyes, the man saw horses and chariots of fire—the host of heaven protecting them.[iii] Ordinarily we can’t see this kind of thing, but every now and then, God lifts the veil.

            Unveiling—this is what the book of Revelation is all about.  In fact, embedded in the word revelation is the word reveal—to lift the veil and show what’s underneath.  When a bride walks down the aisle and her veil is lifted, everybody can see her beauty.  Her loveliness is there all along, but it remains hidden until the groom revealed her.  So too the church—the Bride of Christ—needs our Groom to lift the veil so we see clearly and be clearly seen.

            For the next several weeks, we’ll be looking at an overview of the book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse of St. John.  This word apocalypse has taken on a real negative meaning, evoking fear in those who hear it.  People think that apocalypse means worldwide disaster, tragedy, and suffering.  Movies depict the end of the world coming through global warming and floods, super-volcanoes, mutated viruses, technology run amok, and asteroids hitting the earth.  The term zombie apocalypse is on everyone’s lips.  Yet the word apocalypse simply means the same thing as revelation—it means an unveiling of God’s person and purpose in creation.

            Apocalyptic literature was a genre of Hebrew literature in biblical times.  The book of Revelation is one example.  Other examples of Old Testament apocalyptic are found in the books of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah.  In the New Testament, we find apocalyptic literature in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and 2 Thessalonians 2.  But before the Biblical books were canonized, other apocalyptic books were also popular.  In that library we find books like Gabriel’s Revelation, The Apocalypse of Elijah, and The Apocalypse of Thomas.  Canonical and non-canonical apocalyptic literature follows themes of persecution and endurance, natural disaster and war, death and judgment, and the Messiah ushering in God’s kingdom on earth. 

            Today, there are so many different theories on the book of Revelation (we’ll restrict our study to this book alone) that it is impossible to say which one is correct.  In a group of five Baptist preachers, I recently took a poll and got six or seven different views.  Some are preterists, who believe that Revelation refers all or mostly to the situation in the Roman empire at the time it was written and that it isn’t really about the end of days.  Some are futurists, believing in a literal unfolding of prophecy in the future.  Others who follow historicism believe that symbolically the narrative is being fulfilled in the scope of all of the church’s history.  Still others are idealists, seeing an ongoing fulfillment in symbolic or allegorical ways.

            Literalists are divided as to the timeline of events found in the Bible’s apocalyptic literature.  Post-tribulational premillennialism sees future events one way, while Pre-tribulational (dispensational) millennialism views it another way.  Then there are postmillennialists and amillennialists, and people who have long ago given up trying to figure out the timeline.  Since there are so many good Christians with so many views, I intend to take a different approach with this study of Revelation.  Instead of trying to figure out a timeline of future events, I purpose to look at a few themes within the book of Revelation, and ask three questions:

1.      What did it mean to the first generation of Christians who received the Revelation?

2.      What does it mean in my life today?

3.      What will it mean to the last generation of Christians, before the return of Christ?

While it will be impossible for me to not display my biases, the goal is to dispense with dispensationalism or any other time-sensitive view and simply seek to understand what our life-altering take-away might be from a study of this remarkable book.  At the risk of oversimplification, we’ll spend several weeks in Revelation, not digging too deeply into the details, but learning to live its principles out in our lives.

Within the first five chapters of the Book of Revelation, we read about several apocalypses, several unveilings, or revealings, or revelations of Jesus.  First, in 1:4-5, John says that the book of Revelation isn’t from him alone, but also from “Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ.”  This book is divinely inspired, and adds a blessing for those who read and follow it (1:3), and a curse for those who adds to or takes away from them (22:18-19). 

Next, we find a promised apocalypse, or unveiling, in 1:7, where Jesus promises to come in the clouds.  (We’ll talk more about that later). 

Then, in 1:9-20, Jesus unveils His glory by appearing to John on the island of Patmos, who was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (1:10).”  Instead of donning His earthly appearance as the Carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus displays his divine glory in a way that makes John fall to his feet like a dead man.  His hair is white and his eyes are flames of fire.  Bronze feet glow like they’re in a furnace, and his voice is like many waters.  He holds seven stars in his hand, and from his mouth comes a two-edged sword.  Despite His unearthly appearance, Jesus tells him not to be afraid, but to write everything he sees and hears.  The rest of the book is a record of that vision.

In chapters two and three, Jesus continues to reveal Himself by personally writing messages to the seven churches in Asia.  In each of these letters, Jesus greets them, reminds them who He is, gives some insights into their personal lives, gives criticism if necessary, warns them of danger, exhorts them, and gives them His promises and assurances. 

Then in chapter four the scene shifts to the throne room in Heaven, which reveals God seated on the throne, surrounded by the heavenly court who praise His name.  Chapter five peels back more of our understanding of Jesus’ cosmic role as both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God who offers Himself as our sacrifice.  He alone is worthy to open the book with seven seals.  5:10 reveals something about the future of believers as well.  Addressing the Lamb, the heavenly court sings about the saints: “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

Revelation’s first five chapters are full of apocalypses, unveilings of God’s character and humanity’s identity in Christ.  To the first generation of Christians who suffered persecution under Rome’s cruel thumb, this strange book gave assurances that there’s more going on in the heavenly realms than what we can imagine.  Spiritual realities that were actually “more real” than their physical suffering promised that God was with them to see them through. 

The take-home for believers today is that just as He did in the past, God continues to reveal Himself to the churches.  God is still speaking to each believer today, if we’ll listen to His voice and seek His vision.  Believers can still get a glimpse of glory as we pray in the Spirit.  Of course, when God reveals Himself to us, it is often what we think of as a personal apocalypse—in the more common usage of the world.  We experience a real apocalypse—now.  God’s revelations are often devastating.  Like Isaiah, we often respond that we are undone by our own sin in the face of His holiness.  Our egos are devastated when we come face to face with the Alpha and Omega.  God’s revelation changes everything. 

The final generation of believers that witnesses the veil’s last lifting will be astounded as they see heaven and learn that it was all that they’d read about in this great book of Revelation.  If there are those who are “left behind” after the Rapture (as some interpret eschatological literature), then books like Revelation will reveal God’s purposes and His plan of salvation to those who remain.

What a marvelous book is this Apocalypse of John!  I look forward to the next few weeks with you, learning from God’s Word and discovering what it has to say in our lives today.  As we begin our journey, let us be reminded of the blessing God gives to all who seek to understand this great book:  ‘Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it: for the time is near[iv].’

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[i] Bright, Bill.  Discover the Book God Wrote.  Tyndale House Publishers: Carol Stream, Ill.   2004.  Pg. 4.

[ii] Scriptures taken from the NASB.

[iii] 2 Kings 6:15-17

[iv] Revelation 1:3

Divine Discipline

As I write this post, snow is on the ground.  I don't know about you, but personally I look forward to Spring thaw.  As the weather warms up, I’m excited to get back to my regular running routine.  I started running last May—something I said I’d never do unless someone was chasing me.  Then I realized that the Grim Reaper is chasing me, so my wife and I laced on some running shoes and got started.  We ran our first 5k in September, and ran a 10k in October.  Then it began to cool down.  Then it began to COLD down.  Then, I quit running—not because of the cold air on my skin, but because cold air in your lungs hurts.  But now as it’s warming up, I’m beginning to run again. 

Since it’s not exactly summertime yet, I dress in layers to stay warm at the beginning of my run.  But as my body temperature heats up, I begin stripping off layers.  When I was new to all this, I would tie my jacket around my waist, tuck my extra shirt into my waistband, stick my hat in my pocket, and so on.  But getting all tied up in extra clothing tangles me as I run—so I’ve just begun dropping the extra clothes on the side of the trail, and picking them up when I’m done.  Even if somebody decided they wanted a sweaty shirt (which they wouldn’t), it’s pretty low-risk compared to the risk of tripping over something tied around my waist.

The author of Hebrews must have been a runner, and must have understood this exact thing, when he wrote, “let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us (1:1[i]).”  If the Christian life is like a race, Hebrews tells us that our sin is like that extra clothing that easily entangles us.  When you begin the race of faith, it’s like your core temperature heats up.  You decide you don’t need that sin anymore, so you strip it off of yourself—but you tie it around your waist, just in case you want to put it on again later.  Instead, you need to get rid of it—and keep your eyes on Jesus, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” 

When I first started running, I did all kinds of research on the best kind of running shoe, what type of fabrics to wear (and not to wear) for hot weather and for cold weather, and every other subject I could imagine.  But better than any research I did was the advice I got from actual runners—people who knew what they were doing because they had made running their life.  In the same way, we’ve got to look to Jesus, who ran this endurance race before us.  Just as a runner might need a physical trainer, let Jesus be your spiritual trainer.  Keep your eyes on Him, and let Him discipline you.  That way you won’t “grow weary or lose heart (v. 3).”

“Discipline” isn’t a word that most people want to hear.  It makes us think of punishment and pain.  But there’s a difference between punishment and discipline.  Punishment is to satisfy an offended person’s desire for power, after a violation has been committed.  An example of punishment is when a parent smacks a child on the mouth after the child speaks rudely to the parent.  The main purpose of punishment is to make the parent feel better.  Unfortunately, many people view God as a punisher rather than a trainer.  Like good parents, trainers teach by using discipline, correcting and encouraging along the way.  God wants to be that kind of a trainer to you—if you’ll agree to His discipline.

Hebrews 1:3-11 talks about parental discipline.  Just as good parents train their children, God is teaching us every day.  Parents have all kinds of methods of disciplining their children—all of which may be necessary at different times, depending on the situation.  From gentle rebuke to louder rebuke, and even enforced silent time-outs, God corrects His children.  Like a good parent, God sometimes takes away His children’s privileges or allows natural consequences to teach us or even (though rarely and in a controlled manner) spiritually spanks us when we refuse to listen.  Nobody enjoys discipline when it comes, but God’s word tells us, “The Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts (Heb 1:6).”  The child whose parents never discipline him don’t really love him; but the child who is corrected is greatly loved.

It would be a sad case indeed if a child grew to maturity, yet continued to need her parent’s discipline.  It would prove that she hadn’t learned anything at all.  The goal of divine discipline is to get you to the point where you don’t need it—where you begin to exercise self-discipline instead.  You’ll know when you’re beginning to exercise self-discipline when you can shed that extra sin that so easily entangles, leave it on the side of the trail, and run away from it without thinking you have to tie it around your waist.  Verses 12-15 (emphasis mine) talk about the things that you need to do, in order to exercise self-discipline, training yourself in God’s way:

¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. 

Spiritual self-discipline involves Bible study, prayer, fasting, solitude, simplicity, giving, worship, meditation, submission to godly authority, service, confession, seeking spiritual guidance, and celebrating God’s blessings.[ii]  By exercising these spiritual disciplines, we ensure that we don’t stumble over roots of bitterness that may be in our path as we run the race of life (Heb 1:15). 

As we enter the season of Lent, I hope that you’ll consider the ways in which you can practice self-discipline in your own life.  Many people practice a form of fasting, giving something up for Lent.  Others increase their times of worship and fellowship with other believers.  Still others commit to a more intensive time of Bible reading and prayer.  I hope that this season of Lent will lead you to understand that sometimes life’s suffering is God’s way of disciplining His children.  I hope that you’ll grow past divine discipline, into the practice of self-discipline so that you can grow more like Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  I hope that you’ll “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and… run with perseverance the race that is set before [you].”

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[i] All scriptures taken from the NRSV.

[ii] For more about this, please read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. Harper Collins.  2009.

Good Guys and Bad Guys

 I grew up watching those old black and white Westerns—the kind where the bad guys wore the black hats and the good guys wore white hats, and you always knew which one was which.  Those were the days of heroes.  The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad.

But movies changed with the advent of color.  What you thought was a black hat turns out to actually be royal blue.  What you thought was a white hat is actually bright yellow.  And the gray dress that the leading wore—it's a red dress after all.  Does that distort the way you see her?  It may, if you understand color symbolism at all.  The fact is that color changes everything.  Red dresses mean something, don't they?  And if the hero turns yellow, what does that say about him?  And what about a royal color worn by the "bad guys?"  Now we're all confused, aren't we?

Modern writing recognizes that real human beings are more complicated than the flat characters of black-and-white Westerns.  Modern movies are more apt to reveal both a hero’s flaws and a bad guy’s conflicted emotions.  Good guys aren’t all good, and nobody is completely bad.  The anti-hero has emerged in literature and in movies, realistically revealing the internal struggles experienced by all good guys and bad guys.

But that’s not the way we see it—at least not in our own lives.  We tend to group people into categories of “good” and “bad.”  And, of course, we’re the ones wearing the white hats.  It’s impossible that we might be the bad guys, isn’t it?  And, since we’re the good guys, then the ones who oppose us—let’s call them “enemies”—they must surely be all bad.

Of course, we have good reason for perceiving people as bad when they appear to us as threats.  Some of our enemies threaten our physical safety.  Terrorist organizations like ISIS and nations like North Korea appear at the top of our lists, while certain individuals may come to your own mind.  Then other enemies threaten relationships.  While they are no physical danger, they mistreat or mislead the ones you love.  You may feel your place has been usurped in a friendship or marriage.  Perhaps your younger teenager is hanging out with a new bunch of friends, and you’re having a difficult time dealing with the fact that as a parent you are no longer the primary influence in his life.  All these can qualify as enemies if they make you feel defensive.

Your enemy might not be a physical or relationship threat, yet they challenge your ideologies in a way that makes you angry.  Maybe they have a different morality from you, and you’re concerned about the influence they will have on your grandchildren, or on society as a whole.  Ideological enemies might have different politics than you, or a different biblical interpretation from you.  They make you feel uneasy because, if you’re honest with yourself, you just don’t know how you might handle the shift if you were to find out that they were right and you were wrong.  (And, of course, you’re positive that you’re right.)

Financial enemies might be the people who moved in next door to you, who have those loud parties at night, and who throw trash around their yard.  Because they let their house get run down, it brings down the property value of the whole neighborhood.  Maybe they’re even willing to work the same job for less money than you, or maybe they don’t work at all, so you see them as a threat to your financial security.   This makes you feel selfish in your dealings with them. 

Defensive, angry, selfish—the list goes on and on.  An enemy is someone who brings out the negative in you.  When you cry out for justice, what you really mean is revenge.  They make you rage.  They make you want to launch a preemptive strike against them.  Get them before they get you. 

But is this God’s way?

In Luke chapter 6, Jesus gives a different strategy for dealing with enemies.  He tells us to love them and pray for them.  Bless them, do good to them, and even yield to them.  Give to them.  Lend to them, expecting nothing back in return.  In short he said, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you (6:31 NASB[i]).”  We call this the “Golden Rule.”  You see, Christians are supposed to be different.  We’re not supposed to act like the rest of the world, which cries out for an eye for an eye.  Instead of a preemptive strike of violence or hatred or manipulation, why not try a preemptive strike of love?

You might say, “You just don’t understand who I have to deal with.  This person is just plain evil!”  Yet Jesus says that the Father is “kind to ungrateful and evil men (6:35b).”  Christians are supposed to be like Christ—it’s just that simple.  Jesus says that in response to people like this you should “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (6:36).”  You may insist that these people are horribly sinful, and deserve judgment or punishment.  But the Bible says, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”  This includes you, too.  The more you insist on judgment and punishment for them, the more you insist on it for yourself, because you’re no less a sinner than they are.  It’s so much better to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matthew 6:12).”  In Luke 6:37-38, Jesus says:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

This means that God will use the same measure to judge you that you have used to judge others.  God will use the same measure to punish you that you have used to punish others.  So, even if you’re thinking selfishly then you should know that treating your enemies with love is just spiritual self-preservation. 

So be good to your enemies—and not so that you can transform them, but so that you can change your own heart towards them.  One mistaken way that Christians often “love” “sinners” is that we forgive and accept them as long as they change their ways and become “like us.”  We tell them that God will love them if only they will stop being—well, them.  We make public statements about how bad they are just so that no one will mistakenly believe that we actually approve of them.  We want them to know just how bad they are so that they will want to be like us.  But why would they want to be like us if we’re going to be like that?  Which is worse, their sin—or your judgment and treatment of them because of their sin?  How are you any less of a sinner than they?  Maybe it’s your heart that needs to change, before they’re ready to change theirs in response to you.  In Luke 6:39b, 41-42, Jesus says:

“A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?...Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Jesus says there are a lot of Christians who are locked in a blinding sin of judgment of our neighbors, labeling them as “bad guys” when they’re really just “guys” who are struggling the same way that we are.  Who is worse—the one who is honest about the speck that she has in her eye, or the Christian who denies the log that he has in his own, all the while trying to make the speck-eyed person more like himself?  Why would she want to be like him?

When it comes to our enemies, our goal is not to destroy them by violence or hatred, or even by making them “fix themselves” and become like us.  Abraham Lincoln had it right when he said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”  In other words, don’t change them—change yourself  by praying for them and doing good things for them until your attitude toward them has become like Christ’s.  God wants to help you stop seeing people as if they’re characters in an old black-and-white Western.  He wants to open your eyes and help you see in vibrant color, to understand that your friends and your enemies are deeper human beings than you once imagined.  Instead of pointing your finger in judgment, open your arms in acceptance and friendship.  “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (6:36).”  And the Father of mercy will have mercy on you as well.

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[i] All scriptures taken from the NASB.