revelation

COVENANT LAWSUITS AND ROMAN WILLS (Revelation 4-5)

The visions from Revelation 6 onward flow from the vision that begins in chapters 4 and 5. When a scroll is opened. It has a lot – a lot – to say. Scott gave us a ton of insight into those chapters last Sunday; I am going to build on that and unpack some narrative imagery that will, I think, come in handy down the road.

Chapters 4 and 5 are a blend of a) Old Testament imagery and b) temple and throne-room scenes from the Ancient Near East/Roman Empire. [1] Scott focused on the former; here’s some examples of the latter: 

  • the presence of attendants around the imperial throne

  • the offering of hymns and acclamations to the emperor

  • the practice of attendants and lesser kings giving golden crowns to him.

  • the title “our Lord and our God” (4:11) is from the title Dominus et Deus Noster, which was how people referred to Domitian

First point: This imagery is purposeful. We have already heard hints of the power struggle (the kingdom of God against the kingdoms of the world) in the opening three chapters. Now, by strong implication, we are being invited to see that the powers of the world are simply parodies, cheap imitations, of the one Power who really and truly rules in heaven and on earth.[2] John sees that His kingship is an inaugurated reality.[3] There is a sense in which Revelation is deeply political: John wants to leave no question about whose in charge of the world. It’s not emperors no matter how much they are worshipped. It’s as if John is the Crocodile Dundee of prophets: “That’s not a king? THIS is a king.”

Second point: This is a 1st Century Paw Patrol[4] courtroom scene. Biblical scholar Michael Heisser thinks (and I think he’s on to something here) that this is a courtroom scene best understood as a ‘covenant lawsuit’ familiar to John’s largely Jewish audience.[5]

We’ve got two trials in the national spotlight right now: Kyle Rittenhouse and the shooters of Ahmaud Arbery. We know how this works: the prosecution presents a case, the defense counters, a verdict, a judge oversees the process, a jury reaches a conclusion, a decision is rendered.  

John’s audience would recognize the start of Revelation God (as judge, jury and prosecutor) bringing a rib (pronounced ‘reev’) or lawsuit against his people for violating their covenant with him. You can see this numerous times in the Old Testament:

  • God ‘files a lawsuit’ because of Israel’s breaking of the covenant agreement.

  • A prophet (the baliff?) leads Israel into the reality of the celestial courtroom and reads the indictment of the people of Israel.

  • God begins to build a case against his people Israel. 

  • The people can state their defense

  • A verdict is rendered, with the accused either being cleared of charges or assigned a punishment. 

The prophets are using the known mechanisms of human justice through the court system to show how God’s actions are functions of divine justice.

(Side note: this might sound harsh to us, but for Jewish people in the Ancient Near East, that idea that God would make clear his expectations, and the make clear their success and failures, and methodically explain why what was going to happen to them was going to happen to them was fantastic news in a world of capricious and moody gods.) 

Most of the book of Hosea, for example, is an extended covenant lawsuit. The lawsuit starts in chapter 4 (in the NET version, the title is “The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel.”) We don’t have time to read that this morning, but portions of Micah 6 and 7 lays out another example of God bringing a case against His people.[6]

The Prophet’s Intro

6 Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say...2 For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.3 

The Lord’s Case Against Israel

 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.

Israel’s Non-Answer (they have no defense)

6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

The Prophet’s Response To Their Non-Answer
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God… 

God Continues
10 Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house… Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales… 12 Your rich people are violent; your inhabitants are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.3 [Read: “You did not do justly and love mercy.”] Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins.

14 You will eat but not be satisfied…You will store up but save nothing…15 You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine. 16 You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”[7]

This is the courtroom, the covenant lawsuit. The Israelite reader knew that Judah was on trial then.  Revelation 2-5 works in the same genre. Someone is on trial now in an investigative-type judgment, God’s forensic examination of his covenant people.  (“I like this…. I have this against you”). They get praise, warnings and indictments, including being connected to Balaam and Jezebel,[8] which Micah 6 and 7 also noted.[9]

God the Father functions as both the prosecutor and judge. God the Son – Jesus, the Son of Man, the Lamb- is a witness,[10] a vindicator,[11] a mediator,[12] an intercessor,[13] and an advocate before God.[14]

The 1st century readers knew the history of covenants God made with humanity, and they knew how often they had been broken. And now, even with a reboot with the New Covenant, it only took 50 years for the church to be found wanting with that brand new covenant. It turns out we are really proficient covenant breakers.

So that’s the setting.  What is happening with Jesus opening the scroll, and how does this tie in to what I just presented? Let’s refresh our memories.

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.[15] 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth[16] could open the scroll or even look inside it.[17] 

4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 

6 Then I saw a Lamb[18], looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders… 9 And they sang a new song[19], saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”[20]

This scroll is really, really important in this trial. The contents need to be revealed before the verdict can be rendered.  Unfortunately, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. Is there anybody out there who deserves to open this scroll? Is there anybody who has not, themselves, contributed in some way to the problems of creation, to the age-old spoiling and trashing of God’s beautiful world? 

John’s answer shows that he, like the other New Testament writers, had a realistic view of the deep-rooted problem of all the human race. There are no covenant breakers who deserve to open the scroll.[21]

But God’s covenants with His people had always pointed toward a remarkable promise about the salvation of humanity. There was always a Messiah somewhere on the horizon. There was someone who would heal, vindicate, make righteous; someone who would free and rescue them from bondage; someone who would make right the broken covenants on their behalf; someone who would lead them to a Promised Land that would surpass the mere acreage of the Old Testament. 

I didn’t give you a key passage from Micah 7, which follows God’s riv against His people:

But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. 8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.9 Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness. (7:7-9)

The plan for resolution in which the guilty will rise into a forgiveness granted not earned, in which God pleads the sinner’s case and brings them into the light so that they can see his righteousness and participate in it – this plan is found in the scroll. 

Greg Beale believes this scroll is best seen as a Roman will.[22]  Such wills were witnessed or sealed by seven (#lovemesomesevens) witnesses with the contents sometimes summarized in writing on the outside of the document to protect against changing or falsifying the document. Only upon the death of the testator (one who makes will) could the will be unsealed and the legal promise of the inheritance be executed. A trustworthy executor (the person named to carry out the wishes of the deceased) had to be found for the will to take effect. 

God’s plan to wipe away all tears from all eyes (7.17; 21.4) begins here. ‘Don’t cry,’ says one of the elders. ‘Here is the one who can do it.’ Here is the one who can unveil the full contents of the document and put the will of the one who died into force.  Jesus is both testator and executor: he made the will, died, then returned to life and carried out his own wishes so that the plan could be put into effect.

Daniel was told this would sealed up until the end time; now the ‘end time’ has come, and now, we discover what was “in God’s will,” so to speak: the solution to the problem of covenant breakers.[23]  

It’s Jesus, of course (spoiler alert). The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. The Lamb whose sacrificial death (5:6) has redeemed people from all nations (5:9–10). This image draws on both the Passover lamb (Exodus 12) and the suffering servant of God, who is led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7; Jeremiah 11:19).[24]

Jesus is found worthy because he – as the perfect human – fulfilled the stipulations of the broken covenant by suffering the judgment of covenant-breakers on behalf of his people, whom he represented and consequently redeemed.[25] So Jesus is both the executor and the inheritor of the promise just like he is both the high priest and the sacrifice. His death and Resurrection have resulted in the redemption of believers and their present participation in a priestly kingdom.[26]

No wonder the everybody watching this worships. Three doxologies are sung by ever-increasing choruses:  

  • The first group sing a new song – a song of Christ’s redemption -  more perfect than any hymn before, to the Lamb (Christ), for He has inaugurated the new age (21:1, 5; Is 42:10), rescuing  people by his death so that they could participate in God’s royal and redemptive purposes (‘kingdom and priests’) for the wider world.

  • More join for the second song, seven-part doxology to the Lamb (5:12). This turns from what the lamb has achieved to what he has deserved: all the honor and glory of which creation is capable.

  • All creation, the whole cosmos, joins in a third song of glory that address the same praise to the Father and to the Son (with the Holy Spirit, as mentioned in 5:6) [27]: “the One on the throne and the Lamb”.[28]

* * * * *

John’s vision of the slain Lamb emphasizes the centrality of the Cross to the plan contained in the scroll. Christ’s overcoming began, counter-intuitively, at his death.[29]  This is why when we celebrate Communion, we remember His body, broken for us. It’s why we remember His death until He returns. 

The slaughtered Lamb reveals how God saves humanity through his sacrificial life and death - and how humanity, in turn, can serve God through the worship of a life lovingly given in a sacrificial response to Jesus and the cause of the kingdom. “This do in remembrance of me” is more than just remembering: it’s reenacting. It’s overcoming in the same way Jesus overcame. 

The cross is both the source and the shape of our salvation. A faithful victory will only come about as we follow the Savior raised from the cross in the way of the cross.

Final thought: There is always hope for covenant breakers. 

  • The God whose holy justice demands that we give an answer for our covenant keeping also has a holy mercy that provides our divine advocate, who is the covenant keeper on our behalf. 

  • The one who demands our righteousness applies His righteousness to us. 

  • The only perfect sacrifice saves and redeems our imperfect offerings.

  • The one who insists we overcome and endure empowers us to overcome and endure. 

  • The one who knocks from outside the door of our hearts also works on the inside to move us to open it. 

  • The One who will one day make all things new is even now bringing all kinds of dead things back to life.

 There is always hope. Let’s close by reciting they hymns of praise. 

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” 

“Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise!” 

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power forever and ever!


________________________________________________________________________

[1] Reading Revelation Responsibly talks a lot about this overlap.

[2] N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone

[3] The New Testament is both consistent and clear that the last day started with the resurrection of Christ. Acts 2:17-21, citing Joel 2:28-32 as fulfilled. 1st Timothy 4:1; 1st Peter 1:20; Hebrews 1: 1-2; James 5:3; 1st John 2:18; Jude 18.

[4] Remember Scott’s example from last week?

[5] Read “The Covenant Treaty In Ancient Scripture,” at Agape Bible Study for more info.

[6] As I read the book of Hosea and spent some time digging into Micah a bit more, I found myself thinking, “This sounds a lot like Revelation.” They share a lot of language, imagery and focus in common. 

[7] Note how verses 12 and 16 say functionally the same thing, with God active in the first (“I have begun to destroy you”) and passive in the second (“I will give you over.”) Often, God’s harshest judgment is simply giving us over to the consequences of our sins.

[8] She was married to Ahab.

[9] “After you find these passages where he’s speaking against his people, he then turns and says, “Now, Babylon, I’m going to judge because of what they’ve done to you. And Egypt—I’m going to do this to them…” basically saying, “Because they hurt my people, and they work with their idols, I’m going to judge them…” So I argue that there’s a pattern: oracles against God’s people (covenantal lawsuit), oracles against the nations (which are also framed in legal justice language), and then oracles of salvation depicting what God’s deliverance and vindication will look like for his faithful people.” (Michael Heisser) 

[10] Job 16:19

[11] Job 19:25

[12] Job 33:23-24

[13] Isaiah 53:11-12; Hebrews 7:25

[14] Dan 7:13, 27

[15] “And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.” (Ezekiel 2:9-10)

[16] Aune, quoted by Heisser: ”In the T. Sol. [MH: the Testament of Solomon] 16:3, Beelzeboul is referred to as the ruler of the spirits of the air and the earth and beneath the earth.” So Beelzeboul is given credit over the spiritual beings in all three zones who are allied with him. And if that’s the case, if that’s what John intends the reader to think of, basically he’s saying, “None of the spiritual bad guys know what’s in this scroll. They’re going to get blindsided too. And they are unable to open it and read it. And it’s in God’s right hand. And only the Lamb can open it.” 

[17] “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. (Daniel 12) 

[18]  “Revelation uses a special word for “lamb” (29 times in Revelation and only once elsewhere in the NT—Jn 21:15). The idea of the lamb as a victorious military leader seems to come from the apocalyptic tradition (1 Enoch 90:9; Testament of Joseph 19:8; see also the warrior ram of Da 8). (NIV Study Bible Notes) “Jewish apocalyptic literature portrayed the Messiah as a horned lamb who would fight for His people and conquer the forces of evil. The Jews, however, never expected this warrior-lamb to suffer and die, and did not consider Him to be God. The warrior-lamb is both with God (in the midst of the throne) and with man (in the midst of the elders), for He is the union of God and man without the merging of the two natures.”(Orthodox Study Bible)

[19] “A new song — Composed on the matters and blessings of the Gospel, which was just now opened on earth. But new song may signify a most excellent song; and by this the Gospel and its blessings are probably signified.” (Adam Clarke) 

[20] Note the allusion to Exodus 19:6. 

[21] N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone

[22] In a cache of scrolls found in a trash pile in Egypt, archaeologist found a last will and testament with seven seals on it.

[23] Beale believes this, but takes it further. I don’t disagree; I’m just keeping the focus narrow in this message for the sake of time and, well, focusJ “This open book thus represents a covenantal  promise. It includes God's plan of redemption in judgment formulated throughout the Old Testament, which encompasses the development of all sacred history, especially from the cross to the new creation. What is decreed concerning redemption and judgment is explained in detail throughout the visionary section of Revelation. Christ sovereignty over history, the reign of Christ and the saints throughout the course of the church age and in the new cosmos, Christ protection of his people who suffer trial, his temporal and final judgment on the persecuting world, and so on.”

[24] When God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, (and following) He used a standard form of suzerain covenant-making. Interestingly, there were only two stipulations for Abraham: leave his home/the gods of his fathers and follow God, and be obedient to the voice of God (Genesis 22). On the other hand, there were at least 14 very specific promises that God puts on himself (http://www.lifeinmessiah.org/resources/articles/gods-covenant-with-abraham). Abraham killed some animals, cut them in pieces, and arranged them to walk through.  While they were waiting, great darkness fell.  God, the stronger party, passed through (as a fiery pillar) – but never made Abraham, the weaker party, do the same. By passing through the slaughtered animal, God was saying that if He didn’t bless Abraham and honor the covenant, God – the stronger, initiating party - would have to pay the penalty. That alone would be unusual, but that wasn’t the most incredible point. God was saying that if Abraham doesn’t keep the covenant, God would pay the penalty for Abraham. Which God did in the person of Jesus Christ. On the cross, a great darkness descends again, and Jesus fulfilled the conditions of the covenant by paying Abraham’s penalty so that God could receive us unconditionally. We commemorate this every time we partake in communion – His body broken, His blood spilled. The covenant must be honored. Someone must pay for breaking the agreement.

[25] The seven seals point back to Daniel 7, in which there are books of judgment in God's Heavenly Court that contain God's plan of judgment and redemption.

[26] From Revelation: A Shorter Commentary, by G.K. Beale

[27] Pretty sure this was highlighted in N.T. Wright’s book. It was in my notes, and I lost track of where I got it L

[28] As Scott said last week, if you don’t think the Bible makes clear that Jesus is God, you aren’t looking J

[29] He overcomes in the same way in which is people overcome (Revelation 3:21).

Sardis: Church Of The Living Dead (Revelation 3:1-6)

When John was writing Revelation, Sardis was a city that had seen better days. Remember Bruce Springsteen’s song “Glory Days”? Something like that. 

It was once a capital city under the Persian government. Aesop came from Sardis. King Midas was supposed to have been there (in legend). It was kind of a big deal. The Hebrews referred to the first Lydian king, Gyges[1], as “Gog”; he was followed by the next king, Magog.[2]  Eventually, Sardis was ruled by Croesus, who was famous for his wealth.  Sardis had a river in which to pan for gold where (according to legends) King Midas dipped his finger to lose that pesky golden touch.  Gold and silver coins were apparently made for the first time in Sardis;[3] some historians credit that with the beginning of money as we know it.   

Sardis was famous for having been built on an acropolis. It had cliffs on three sides and only one major access to protect. Armies never pulled off a frontal assault in the history of the city.  

Sardis engaged heavily in the worship of Cybele, who was said to be able to restore the dead to life. Maybe that’s why its necropolis (graveyard) was as well known as the acropolis on which the city was first built. 

 However…. those cliffs and wealth and gods and goddesses didn’t guarantee their safety as much as they thought.

·    Croesus’ army was destroyed by the Persian king Cyrus after Croesus misread the Oracle of Delphi’s prediction about a great empire falling if Croesus attacked them. It was Croesus’s empire. 

·    In 546 the city fell to Cyrus when Cyrus’s army spotted a weakness in the cliff walls

·    In 214 BC the city itself was taken by surprise attacks from Antiochus the Great (the father of the “little horn” in Daniel 7), once again literally by a thief in the night sneaking up the walls.

Given to the Romans in 133 BC, it flourished. By this time it had lost political prestige and power, but not wealth. It was still a major town on trade routes, famous for gold, silver, and precious stones. It did not lead to the moral betterment of the people. “Even on pagan lips, Sardis was a name of contempt. Its people were notoriously loose living, notoriously pleasure-and luxury loving. Sardis was a city of the decadence.”[4]

 In 17 AD, it was leveled by an earthquake. Tiberius helped rebuild, and that’s when the cult of emperor worship kicked Cybele out. However, Sardis also had a large Jewish community with which they lived in apparent harmony. The Jews would later build a synagogue the length of a football field, one of the largest in ancient times. Apparently, Sardis got along with Christians just fine also.[5] 

With this background in mind, let’s read Revelation 3:1-6 (The Voice).

The One: Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Sardis. “These are the words of the One who has the seven Spirits of God[6] and the One who holds the seven stars[7]: 

“I know the things you do—you’ve claimed a reputation of life, but you are actually dead.[8]  Wake up from your death-sleep, and strengthen what remains of the life you have been given that is in danger of death. 

I have judged your deeds as far from complete in the sight of My God. Therefore, remember what you have received and heard; it’s time to keep these instructions and turn back from your ways. If you do not wake up from this sleep, I will come in judgment. I will creep up on you like a thief—you will have no way of knowing when I will come.[9] 

  But there are a few names[10] in Sardis who don’t have the stain of evil works on their clothes. These people will walk alongside Me in white, spotless garments because they have been proven worthy. 

 “The one who conquers through faithfulness even unto death will be clothed in white garments,[11] and I will certainly not erase that person’s name from the book of life.[12] I will acknowledge this person’s name before My Father and before His heavenly messengers.[13] 

6 “Let the person who is able to hear, listen to and follow what the Spirit proclaims to all the churches.”

 It would appear that Sardis was unique among the seven churches in that it was not facing any of the persecution of the other congregations. They were apparently active,[14] but,  much like the city, they were coasting of past achievements, indulging in pleasure and luxury, thinking they had built the church on a spiritually safe acropolis when actually they were living in the necropolis.[15] 

The Church of Sardis was busy, but not alive. There’s no “seat” or “temple” of Satan here; Satan didn’t need to attack. The church wasn't alive enough for the culture to care that it was there; their neighbors weren’t excited or offended.  A lack of being counter-cultural, a lack of recognizing threats, and a lack of seeing the need to be salt and light had left it at peace, but it was “the peace of the dead.”[16]

Think of starlight. When you see the Big Dipper, you are looking at light that began its journey earthward over a century ago. It is possible that some of those stars no longer exist. A star might be dead while the light we see makes it look alive. This was the church in Sardis. [17]

For the Christians in Sardis, the call to overcome and remain faithful to the end was not a call to resist a harsh attack from outside the church. It was a call to resist something far more subtle: the spiritual complacency and self-righteousness that too easily follows luxury, comfort, ease. They had become what Jesus applied to the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27-28:

“You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside, are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean….on the outside you appear to people as righteous, but inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

 What characterizes the Living Dead? I confess I’m pulling from zombie tropes now, but I think they actually make some sense. For centuries, entire cultures have told stories about what the Living Dead are like. They understand the horror of it.

  • They follow their bodily appetites above all else. A fruit of the Spirit is self-control.[18]This is not present for those who are full of death and not life. In an indulgent town like Sardis, that would be a common problem in line with the Nicolaitan problem we’ve seen already that plagued almost all the churches in Revelation so far. “How do I meet my needs?” is the #1 question.

  • They are the ultimate consumers. It is all take and no give. There is no sense in which they live for others – and when it appears that they are, you can be sure it’s going to benefit them. What feeds me?  What satisfies me? What will I get out of this? You scratch by back and…then scratch it again. It’s the exact opposite of the covenantal approach to life a Christian should have.

  • They are never satisfied. Spiritually, it’s “always learning but never able to come to the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7) It’s always hungry and thirsty without Jesus (John 6:35) C.S. Lewis described it this way in The Screwtape Letters: “An ever increasing craving for and ever diminishing pleasure is the formula...to get a man's soul and give him nothing in return.” And the dissatisfaction is never seen as a sign that might be asking too much of material pleasures; it’s seen as a sign they just aren’t trying hard enough.

  • They are totally unaware of their impact on others. They have no idea the chaos and pain their relentless self-centeredness leave behind them. They never look in the rearview mirror. They never ask how others experience them. They never enter into biblical accountability. They never speculate about the ripple effect of what they have done. 

  • They fit in with the crowd. The culture doesn’t attack them because they fit in. And this was the problem in Sardis. They fit in. They had traded the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped the creature side of the world more than the Creator.[19] They loved the Beast more than the Lamb.

 However, there is Good News (as there always is): 

·      ‘You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.” (Colossians 2:13)

·      “Even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved! (Ephesians 2:5)

We see this at work as the history of Sardis unfolded. We have sermons from Melito, bishop of Sardis in the second century; representatives from Sardis attended the First Council of Nicaea (325), Council of Ephesus (431).[20] So the church did not wither away.  

How did those embers of life fan into flame? Well, the work of Jesus, of course. That’s the foundation. Unless he builds the house, we labor in vain.[21] But Sardis receives some clear instruction on what God expects of them as well. 

Wake up and keep watching

Scott Daniels,[22] when asked by a friend how he was doing spiritually, responded, “I'm doing okay. I mean, I think God and I are just fine, I would say we are just coasting along through life together.”  His friend replied, “I will really be praying for you, Scott, because I'm sure you are aware, there is only one direction a person will coast." 

It is too easy to think we have built unassailable spiritual fortresses when we don’t.  It can be too easy to only resist the frontal assaults and miss the thief sneaking in to kill and destroy. I am far less concerned about the times culture blatantly promotes sin than I am about the times it just subtly blends into the background and becomes part of the moral ecosystem that nurtures us. Here’s how subtle sins work:[23] 

  •  “Who wants to join me in a murder?” Hard pass. The spiritual fortress is solid. “Who want to join me in expressing how much we loathe Person X on social media?” I’m in! The spiritual fortress is breached.[24]

  •  “I can’t sleep with you; I’m married.” Spiritual fortress is solid. “Listen, porn is just not a big deal. It’s normal, and nobody gets hurt.” Spiritual fortress breached.[25]

  • “I won’t take revenge on you even though you hurt me; vengeance belongs to God.” Spiritual fortress is solid. “But I sure hope somebody does and I hope it hurts you like it hurt me!” Spiritual fortress is breached. (Matthew 5:38)

  • A healthy sense of self-worth… subtly becomes pride. 

  • Enjoying the material luxuries around us… becomes materialism.

  • Prayerfully sharing a concern… turns into gossip.

  • Righteous discernment… morphs into unrighteous judgment.

  • A good track record of not stealing physical things… blinds us to our theft of intangible things (like purity or innocence).

  • Being a good steward of money… becomes greed. 

  • A desire for seeing people held accountable/responsible… becomes unforgiveness.

  • Wishing you could have some of the success people around you have (which can be a good motivator)… becomes envy (they actually don’t deserve it and I do.)

  • Trying to connect the dots to better understand the actions and motivations of a public figure… becomes slander based on rumor and innuendo, 

  • The gift of persuasion… turns into the art of manipulation.

  • A love of direct honesty… becomes an excuse for harshness.

  • Being responsible with what you have been given… becomes being selfish with what you have been given. 

It’s subtle. We have to wake up and keep watching to see the thief sneaking into our city. This is what we pray for – revival, a renewing of our hearts and minds that begin with Holy Spirit clarity.

Strengthen what remains. It’s not entirely clear what remained. A little bit of their first love? The rituals of corporate worship? Disciplines and practices?  Good deeds? Strong theology? Whatever it was, it was something that was meant to build a spiritual fortress on the foundation of Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is why we don’t downplay any of these things. Sometimes the structure is the glue that holds things together. What Sardis needed was a renewed filling of God’s Spirit so that the very little they had left could be brought back to life. 

 How many movies have a boxer or a policeman or doctor who made a terrible error, and they become just a shell of themselves. Then somebody swoops in and revives what’s left, usually to a montage of scenes while “Eye Of The Tiger” plays in the background. Or “My Heart Will Go On.”  That’s the idea here.  This is what we pray for: the embers of our righteousness fanned to life by the Holy Spirit.

Remember what you received and heard. 

The teaching of the gospel message and apostles is a point of reference for past, present, and future faith. The fundamental foundations of the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be forgotten. There is no replacement for orthodoxy (right belief) with a foundation of biblical truth on which we build our lives. This is what we pray for: that we not only learn but long to learn, and that we always remember Gospel truth.

Repent and keep the instructions.

From orthodoxy (right teaching) comes orthopraxy (right action) and orthopathy (right emotions). The church is the chosen instrument of God to expand his kingdom through the person and work of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, on the foundation of biblical truth, represented by His ambassadors, His children. This is what we pray for: faithful and consistent endurance.

When we are faithful to endure until the end, a reward awaits: full fellowship with God, purified and renewed in ways we can’t imagine,  with our name secured for eternity.   

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:3-5)


_______________________________________________________________________________

[1] Plato recorded that Gyges (Gog) gained power with the help of a magical ring that made him invisible. #Lordoftherings

[2] “The word of Yahweh came to me: ‘Mortal, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him and say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.’” (Ezekiel 38:1–3)

[3] “It is of interest to note that the first coinage ever to be minted in Asia Minor was minted in Sardis in the days of Croesus. These roughly formed electrum staters were the beginning of money in the modern sense of the term. Sardis was the place where modern money was born.” (Barclay)

[4] Biblical Sites In Turkey: Sardis. https://www.meandertravel.com/biblical_asia_minor/biblical_asia_minor.php?details=sardis

[5]  Hat tip to NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible for good background info.

[6] A repetition of Revelation 1:4. See also Revelation 4:5 and 5:6.  Note the 7-fold Spirit in Isaiah 11:2 and compare the seven lamps and seven eyes of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:9; Zechariah 4:2; Zechariah 4:10), “the symbols of eternal light and all embracing knowledge” (Ellicott’s Commentary For English Readers). 7 Is a symbol for fullness and completion.

[7] A repetition of Revelation 1:20 in which they are identified as angels.

[8] From nekros, which is also the root word for Sardis’s famous necropolis.

[9] “Here the reference is not to Christ’s second coming (cf. 16:15; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10), but to His sudden and unexpected coming to His unrepentant, dead church to inflict harm and destruction.” (NKJV MacArthur Study Bible)

[10] “3686 ónoma – name; (figuratively) the manifestation or revelation of someone's character, i.e. as distinguishing them from all others.” (HELPS Word Studies)

[11] White clothing stood for purity, righteousness, and sanctification (Ps. 51:7; Is. 1:18; Rev. 7:14; 19:14). “This image is rooted in Old Testament purity laws. The priests and the people wore white robes on the Day of Atonement according to Jewish tradition. The Dead Sea Scrolls community also wore white robes every day as a sign of their constant purity. God also wears a white robe in Da 7:9. The “soiled” clothing of those in Sardis is likely rooted in the imagery of Zechariah (see Zec 3:1–3). In a Greco-Roman context, white robes were often worn by the emperor and by athletic victors.” (NIV First Century Study Bible)

[12] Cities in Asia Minor had citizen-registers; in an earlier period Sardis was known for its royal archives. In some cities, names of errant citizens were deleted from the register immediately prior to their execution. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) A divine ledger is first mentioned in Ex 32:32–33 (see note on Ps 69:28; cf. Da 12:1). It was a register of all citizens in the kingdom community. To have one’s name erased from this book would indicate loss of citizenship (see 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; Php 4:3). (NIV Case For Christ Study Bible) See also Revelation 20:12–15; 21:27. “The names of sinners are also blotted out of the book of life in the noncanonical book of 1 Enoch 108:3.” (NIV First Century Study Bible)

[13] This resembles what Jesus said in Matthew 10:32: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” Luke 12:8 substituted “the angels of God” for “my Father in heaven.” 

[14] “We are not to get the impression that Sardis was a defunct affair with the building a wreck, the members scattered, the pastor ready to resign. It was a busy church with meetings every night, committees galore, wheels within wheels, promotion and publicity, something going on all the time.” (Vance Havner)

[15] Hat Tip Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation’s Letters for Today's Church, by T. Scott Daniels, for offering good perspective on which I have built. 

[16] William Barclay

[17] HT to “Sardis: Warning To A Dead Church” by Andrew Davis for this illustration.

 https://twojourneys.org/sermon/sardis-warning-to-a-dead-church-revelation-sermon-6-of-49/

[18] Galatians 5:22-23

[19] Romans 1:25

[20] Biblical Sites In Turkey: Sardis. https://www.meandertravel.com/biblical_asia_minor/biblical_asia_minor.php?details=sardis

[21] Psalm 127:1

[22] Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation’s Letters for Today's Church, T. Scott Daniels

[23] “What Exactly Are Subtle Sins? ”http://www.amyfound.org/a_discipled_nation/downloads/oss.pdf

[24] See how Jesus connects murder and hatred in Matthew 5:21-22.

[25] See how Jesus connects adultery and lust in Matthew 5:27-28.

The Day After Christmas: The Story Of The Christmas Dragon (Revelation 12: 1-6, 13-17)

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars[1] on her head.  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon[2] with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns[3] on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.  

The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[4] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days[5]… 

The dragon pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,[6] so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time,[7] out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.  

 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.[8] Then the dragon was enraged at the woman[9] and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. (Revelation 12: 1-6, 13-17)

 

Did you know that was a Christmas story? Here’s what part of it looks like in Matthew’s Gospel.

When [the Wise Men] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  (Matthew 2: 13-18)

 

What happens after Christmas? “The dragon will wage war against those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” I think John intended his audience to understand Rome/Herod/Caesar as the dragon. It would make sense considering how biblical writers used the image of Babylon.

  • Babylon, the actual city, become an image of all great cities and empires whose love of pleasure, indulgence, and excess wreaks havoc among God’s people. In Revelation, she is represented as a prostitute seducing the people of God.

  • Rome, the actual city, represents the power empires used to undermine and attack God’s people. 

 We can be attacked by both; we can fall in love with both. Revelation’s ‘prostitute’ (Babylon’s pleasure) and ‘dragon’ (Rome’s power) have made war with us for 2,000 years.

I think John was reminding God’s people that what the old map-makers wrote was right: “Here there be dragons.” Except now it’s everywhere. Isn’t Revelation the first version of Huxley’s Brave New World (Babylon) and Orwell’s 1984 (Rome)? In the United States, I think we get to battle both: the spiritual war we face in a culture infatuated by both pleasure and power.[10] But that’s another sermon….  

* * * * *

We've already talked about life in between the two Advents, the birth of Christ in the return of Christ. We've already talked about how while Advent begins in the darkness it ends in the light. We have the hope of Jesus behind us and in front of us. There is a stabilization in our lives because of this. The Advent focus on peace, hope, love, and joy all depend on the reality of the life, death, resurrection and future return of Jesus.

That foundation is in place.

But we see how life unfolds between the two advents right away in scripture. After Jesus is born, Mary and Joseph have to flee with him to a foreign land, a land that represented a history of bondage and slavery to the people of Israel. They live separated from family and perhaps livelihood for months, perhaps years. In the area from which they fled, Herod promptly slaughtered children.[11]

The dragon was unleashed. Just like that, the darkness begins to push in to the light. As John made clear in his apocalypse, that war would continue. Indeed, it has, in great and small ways. The dragon hates the light of truth, love, goodness, hope, joy, peace…. When life feels ‘kingdom good,’ expect pushback. Expect war. It’s after Advent begins and the gymnatorium gets decorated and peace on earth starts for feel tangible after a hard year that a fire forces us to pivot yet again in a year with an exhausting number of pivots. 

It's often after great moments of God's revelatory light that the darkness pushes in hard.[12]

I’ve not been persecuted in any meaningful sense of the world, so I don’t want to compare my experience with that of the persecuted church around the world. When I talk about the dragon in my life, I’m talking of the ways in which spiritual/emotional/relational darkness presses in to spiritual light. I don't know if you've experienced this in your life, but I've often found moments of great depression after times of great satisfaction.  

  • I go teach in Costa Rica, and it's a profound experience, and I come home and I wrestle with physical and emotional health.  

  •  It's the sermon that feels really good followed by a Monday of doubt and anxiety and second-guessing. 

  •  It's the fantastic vacation with my wife, and two weeks later feeling like there is a relational chasm between us. 

  •  It's feeling really good about my fathering one day, and then having the wheels come off the next.

  • It's thinking one day how much I love the people in my life and the next day having my heart torn out by one of them. 

  • It's having a much better financial year at church than I would have anticipated because of Covid, only to realize we have to cut budget for next year because we lost momentum in the latter half of the year.  

  • It’s going from a moment where I think, “I am finally grounding my identity in Christ” to days of thinking, “Dear God, I am such a screw-up.” 

  • Sheila and I both had bad experiences with dreams this past week. We went to sleep after a meaninful evening at home, and woke up from inexplicable chaos in a way that darkens and disorders our day. I told Sheila, “I think the dragon is making war.”

This is the pattern.[13]

But how does it end? With the resurrection and life. How will history end? With the return of the king to make a New Heaven and New Earth. What happens when my life ends? Joy unspeakable and full of glory.

So we know the beginning, we know the middle, and we know the end of the story. We're just in the middle right now. The light shines, the dark pushes in, the light shines, the dark pushes in. This is life between the advents.

This, too, is an apocalypse of sorts, an unveiling that the Bible makes clear to us and that is confirmed throughout our life. We think of the apocalypse as something earth-shattering and perhaps catastrophic, but in some ways it's the ongoing pattern of our life. Truth is constantly being unveiled to us by the grace of God. We see through a glass darkly on this side of heaven (1 Corinthians 123:12), so there is a constant need for an unveiling.

·      It's when we finally understand that obscure passage of scripture. 

·      It's when we finally see how a biblical truth applies to our life in a life-changing way. 

·      It's when we begin to actually understand the power of repentance, and grace, and justice, and mercy.

·      It's when the biblical interplay of both grace and works clicks. 

·      it's when we see the flow of our life in the reality of God's plan. 

·      It's when one our Christian brothers or sisters speaks truth into our life that opens our eyes. 

·      It's when we see ourselves as God sees us. 

·      It's when we learn how to lift up our heads (Psalm 27:6; 3:3; Luke 21:28)

·      It's when we understand how God in his mercy and power could take people like us and tell us to arise and reflect his light  (Isaiah 60:1) in a way that will bring glory to him. 

These, too, are unveilings. We participate in an ongoing apocalypse. So one of the questions I have between the two advents of God is this: “How do these dark valleys work in our favor? How does God take the war leveled by the dragon and use it for our good and God’s glory?” 

Apocalyptic literature in scripture was always literature of Hope. How does my life participate in that kind of story?

Think back to what we've read the last two weeks from the prophets in the Old Testament. What was the key to living in the light? It was repentance. 

Those who walked in darkness had often walked in the darkness of their own making. In fact, the Bible has far less to say about the attacks from the dragons “out there” than the ones that have burrowed into our hearts. We tend to think of dragons like Smaug in The Hobbit: huge, overwhelming, flying over out towns or churches and just breathing fire, and so we pick up weapons and fight the dragon that came from over there, on that mountain. Let’s go take that mountain! That feels like a noble quest, right? It fits with the image in Revelation nicely.

To be sure, the dragon will make war against the saints in a very public way, no doubt. There are Smaugs that fly over our spiritual Laketowns. The church for 2,000 can give testimony to persecution and martyrdom. In those situations, we are told to be strong. The story ends in glory for the people of God, even if we wade there through blood.

But that’s only part of the story. God’s people in the Old Testament didn't get taken into exile in Babylon and bondage in Rome because Babylon and Rome were overwhelmingly strong. Israel had Yahweh. If Yahweh was for them, who could take them? 


God’s people ended up there because they trashed their covenant with God and reaped the consequences of what they sowed – consequences God had made clear. And if Old Covenant physical realities are meant to teach us truths about New Covenant spiritual realities – and I think they are – I find myself with this conclusion: Our greatest threats as Christians and as a Church are not out there. Diablo- the devil, the dragon - is in here too, ever since Eden. “The call is coming from inside the house!” 

There is no person, politician, law, educational system, Hollywood star, or organization that can make us give in to Babylon or Rome. There is no dragon that can force our hand or batter down our spiritual doors. The gates of hell cannot prevail against a holy church. But… we can embrace temptation.  

They may not be able to force my hand, but I can choose to lie in Babylon’s bed or sit on Rome’s throne. They can’t storm the gates of heaven, but I can begin to worship their power and influence and pleasure. The most thoroughly conquered people are not those who are too weak to plot resistance; it’s those who see no reason to resist.[14]

If you read through the Old Testament prophets, they don't pull any punches. God's people gave in, and they did not see their sin. They did not see the darkness as darkness, and they embraced it. 

“Arise, shine – absorb the light and shine in the darkness.” A crucial step to staying in the light of salvation in the Glorious kingdom of God is to repent. Since we started with a passage from Revelation, let’s look at where John goes with this. 

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven. (Revelation 18:4-5) 

God told his people through the Prophet Jeremiah that if they humbled themselves and sought the face of God, their nation would experience the blessings that God told them were in store for them if they were true and loyal to God. If they didn't (as Jeremiah warned so vividly), it wasn't going to end well for their nation at all. They were always going to be God’s covenant people, but their experience of that covenant, their experience of life, was going to be radically different based on the posture of their hearts. 

Their flourishing in the Kingdom God had planned for them had almost nothing to do with what the nations around them did. It had everything to do with how seriously they took the covenant. And if Old Testament physical realities teach us something about New Testament spiritual realities, our flourishing as Christian individuals and as a church will have almost nothing to do with what our Empire does to us or for us. It will have everything to do with how seriously we take our covenant. 

This, I think, is the way in which we experience life more abundant, the fullness of the richness of God’s redemption of the world in our lives. And that can’t help but make us the kind of salt and light in the world that God intends.

We want revival in ourselves and in our nation; we want holiness in ourselves and in our nation; we want a rejection of sin and a love of justice and mercy in ourselves and in our nation. We want the light of Christ and his gospel to push back the darkness of sin. Where does this start? In the church (1 Peter 4:17). Revival begins here.[15]

Cultures cannot become more holy if the church does not become more holy; churches cannot become more holy if we fail to repent of our sinful contribution to the brokenness of the world and beg first for forgiveness from God and those we have wronged, and then for God’s wisdom, love and strength to walk in righteousness.[16]

We are going to take time for repentance this morning. I’m going to pull from the list of sins that were undermining Timothy’s church because it’s fresh in our memory.[17] You don’t have to limit yourself to this, but if you follow these categories as far as the Holy Spirit takes them in reference to your life, I think you might be surprised how much territory this will cover. 

Areas of Repentance

1.  proud/boastful  “Boasting to anyone who is foolish enough to take him seriously! This kind of person claims many things he can't really do, so he must always keep moving on to new, naive listeners.”  (HELPS Word Studies).  Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you humility. God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5) “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”  (James 3:13) “Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” (Proverbs 16:19) 

2.  arrogant/haughty  “Literally, ‘hyper shiny’. These are they who contemptuously look down on others beneath them, either in social position or wealth (the boasters), or perhaps in natural gifts (the proud).” (Ellicott’s Commentary)  Pray for Holy Spirit to help you “honor everyone” (1 Peter 2:17) “above yourselves” (Romans 12:10). “God has put the body [the church] together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” (1 Corinthians 12:24-25) “Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) 

3.  abusive “Revilers/railers/blasphemers. Reverses spiritual and moral realities” by calling evil good, and good evil. (HELPS Word Studies) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you gentleness and truth. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2)  “Let every word you speak be drenched with grace and tempered with truth and clarity. For then you will be prepared to give a respectful answer to anyone who asks about your faith. (Colossians 4:6)

4.  Treacherous; Traitors.—Or, betrayers… of their Christian brethren. It does not mean traitors to their king or country, but generally betrayers of the persons who trust in them, and of the cause of the trust committed to them; perhaps specially… of their brethren in times of persecution. (Pulpit Commentary) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you loyalty. “Never let loyalty (steadfast love) and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3) “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1) “Be devoted to one another in love.” (Romans 12:10)

5.  Reckless - Better rendered “headstrong” in words, or thoughts, or actions. Rash. "Headstrong" rather denotes obstinacy which will not be influenced by wise advice… the person who acts from impulse, without considering consequences, or weighing principles. (Pulpit Commentary) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you prudence and self-control. “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.” (Proverbs 16:32) “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” (Proverbs 25:28) “The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” (Proverbs 14:8)

6.   Self-important - Highminded.— blinded by or inflated by  pride. (See 1Timothy 3:6.) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you humble self-awareness. "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." (Lamentations 3:40) "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." (James 1:22-24)  “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3)

7. Rebellious against parents [authority] ’Unwilling to be persuaded (by God), which shows itself in outward disobedience (outward spiritual rebellion).” (HELPS Word Studies)  Pray for the Holy Spirit to help us honor our parents/spiritual authorities. Pray for the ability to “add wealth” or “give weight” (biblical imagery) to godly voices in your life.  Paul planted and Apollos watered (1 Corinthians 3:6-7); we all need holy planters and waterers in our lives. Hebrews 5:12 says, "you need someone to teach you." Pray for those that ‘have weight’ in your life; they are in desperate need wisdom, grace and truth.

 8.   Ungrateful – “properly, without God's grace (favor) which results in unthankfulness (literally, "ungrace-full"). (HELPS Word Studies) Pray for the ability to respond to God’s grace by “presenting our bodies (lives) as a living sacrifice” as a “reasonable act of service” (Romans 12:1). Pray for the Holy Spirit to enable you to pass this grace on to others.

9.   Unholy - “A lack of reverence for what should be hallowed.” (HELPS WORD STUDIES) Pray for Holy Spirit to help you treat with reverence, or set apart as holy, all that should be hallowed. What are those things? God, clearly, and people (who are all image bearers (Genesis 1:26-27, 5:1-2); followers of Jesus are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3 and 6). Now ask yourself, “Am I treating everything in God’s created world with appropriate  honor, with appropriate care and reverence?

10.  Without restraint  - “Incontinent.—Having no control over the passions or urges – emotions, words, appetites of all kinds.” (HELPS WORD STUDIES) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you temperance and restraint, especially when it comes to moral and relational issues. Between the Holy Spirit, the guidelines of God’s Word, and the company of God’s people, there is no temptation to sin that we cannot bear (1 Corinthians 10:13)

11.   Savage (bestial) - Fierce.—Inhuman, savage, or merciless, harsh, cruel. They are both soft and hard, incontinently indulging themselves and inhuman to others, when they should be hardened to self-indulgence and soft toward others.” (Pulpit Commentary) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you the ability to be hospitable (merciful), or “soft toward others.” God is described as “abounding in mercy.”  Jesus told people to learn what it means that God desires mercy more than sacrifices (Matthew 9:13).  Blessed are the meek and the peacemakers (Matthew 5). Greater love has no one more than laying down your life (John 15:13). Serve others sacrificially. Turn away wrath with a soft answer (Proverbs 15:1). Overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). If someone strikes you or takes your cloak, don’t seek revenge (Luke 6:29). ‘Shame’ them with kindness (Romans 12:20). Give food and water to your enemy, and the Lord will reward you. (Proverbs 25:21-22)

12.  Haters of anything good - “Despisers of those that are good; that is, hostile to every good thought and work and person.”  (HELPS Word Studies) Pray for the ability to be lovers of good (good thoughts, actions and persons), the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report (Philippians 4:8). Pray for the ability to not only dwell on them, but to celebrate them everywhere we see them.

 13.  “Uncaring, coldhearted; without natural affection.” “Careless and regardless of the welfare of those connected with them by ties of blood, like spouses, parents and children. Plato says, ‘A child loves his parents, and is loved by them;’ and so, according to St. Paul's judgment in 1 Timothy 5:8, were "worse than infidels."  (Pulpit Commentary) Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you the ability to love your spouses, parents, children and extended family. This may be a hard prayer. Remember: you are praying for a miracle, as supernatural gift from God. Also, pray for the wisdom to know what genuine love looks like in your situation. This may be a good one to pray in a small group of people who can offer wisdom. 

14.  Slanderers/false-accusers - the word is diabolos. People who a) have no regard for truth and b) like quarrels. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth (John 16:13), beginning with Scripture and extending into the rest of the world (Proverbs 23:23). Pray for the ability to know which ‘hills to die on,’ and which ones to give ground. Pray for the abilit to listen before you speak, and long for peace rather than thrive on conflict. 

15.  Despisers of covenant - Those unwilling to embrace bonds of treaty or covenant….one who will make no truce or treaty with his enemy.”  (Pulpit  Commentary)  Pray for the longing to enter into biblically covenanted relationships (spouses (Genesis 2), friends (1 Samuel 20), family (see #13), church (Hebrews 10). Pray for the strength and grace to endure. Pray for wisdom to know how to be faithfully present in the covenants in your life. 

 

THREE QUESTIONS

In what ares of your life do you need to repent?

To whom, besides God, do you need to repent?

What does it look like for you to move forward in a lifestyle of repentance?

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[1] “The woman is commonly thought to represent Israel. The imagery is similar to the sun, moon, and 12 stars that bowed down to Joseph in his dream (Genesis 37:9–11). In Revelation 12:2 we see Isaiah’s prediction (Isaiah 66:7–8) of a woman (Israel) bringing forth a man child fulfilled.” (Halley’s Bible Handbook Notes). The 12 stars are the faithful remnent from the Tribes of Israel. “The prophets portrayed righteous Israel as the mother of the restored future remnant of Israel (Isa 26:18 – 19; 54:1; 66:7 – 10; Mic 4:9 – 10; 5:3), and also as the mother of the leader who embodied Israel’s restoration (Isa 9:6; cf. Mic 5:2 – 3).” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)  In this case, the mother of Jesus, Mary, arises from ‘mother’ Israel. 

[2] The dragon is commonly understood as the Roman empire.

[3] These symbols represents great power.

[4] This is Jesus, the Messiah. See Isaiah 7:14 and Psalm 2:7–9.

[5] “1,260 days. The time of spiritual protection corresponds to the time of persecution (see Revelation 11:2; and 13:5). (NIV Study Bible Notes)

[6] Exodus 19:4

[7] See Daniel 12:7. This is also 1,260 days. 

[8] Jesus is delivering them from bondage, just like Moses. Thus the borrowing of image from the Exodus. “A flood of water could represent any sufferings (Ps 32:6; Jer 47:2), including unjust opposition (Ps 18:3 – 4; 69:1 – 4,14 – 15; 124:2 – 5); serpents’ mouths represent slander in Ps 140:1 – 5. But God would be with his people through the waters (Isa 43:2).” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[9] “The victory that God has previously accomplished over Leviathan is the pattern for the woman’s triumph over the dragon.”  See Isaiah 51:9-10; Psalm 74:14; Job 41. (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary)

[10] “If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take his place. It will be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner.” – Malcolm Muggeridge

[11] “Advent is the right time for the asking of hard questions. Advent comes to a climax, not only on Christmas Day but also in the massacre of the innocents by Herod. The church has historically observed the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 27, a remarkable conjuncture that remembers a massacre of infants in the same season that we rejoice in the birth of Christ. The great theme of Advent is hope, but it is not tolerable to speak of hope unless we are willing to look squarely at the overwhelming presence of evil in our world.”  Fleming Rutledge

[12] It’s a pattern found in Scripture. 

·       After God calls light into the world in Genesis 1, in Genesis 3 the darkness moves in with serpents and sin. 

·       After God Saves Noah and his family, Noah falls into sin almost immediately. 

·       Joseph gets miraculously insightful dreams from God, and it turns him into an arrogant, boastful jerk. 

·       Moses meets God on the mountain, and yet his sin keeps him from entering the Promised Land. 

·       Israel gets the promised land and then ends up in Exile when it all falls apart.

·       Mary gives birth to the Messiah, but will eventually lose her husband and watch her son be crucified.

·       Paul’s account of what his life was like after a personal apocalypse of the Risen savior is characterized by persecution.

 

[13] It doesn't surprise God. He entered into a world in which he experienced life in this pattern. He was revealed in the light of God's glory, only to go to a wilderness to endure temptation. (Matthew 3-4) He entered Jerusalem to adoring crowds who would eventually kill him. (Matthew 21:1–11, Mark 11:1–11, Luke 19:28–44, and John 12:12–19).He surrounded himself with 12 disciples, only to have one of them betray him. (Luke 22)

[14] Me. I just put it like a quote so I could read it word-for-word J

·       [15] Isaiah 30:15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”

·       Psalm 139:23: “Search me o God and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and Lead Me into life.” 

·       Acts 20:20-21 "I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus."

·       1 John 1: 8 "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 

·       2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." 

·       Acts 3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” 

·       Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

·       Matthew 3:8 “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

·       Romans 2:4  “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

·       1 John 1:8-9  “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

·       Revelation 2:5  “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

·       Proverbs 28:13  “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

·       Acts 26:20  “[They] declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.”

[16] What about Ninevah? Jonah told Ninevah that there was one particular thing God was going to judge them for: violence. They paid attention. There is every reason to believe the rest of life in Ninevah remained as pagan as ever. They did not become holy. What about Constantine’s embrace of Christianity for Rome? That, too, did not bring about holiness. It doesn’t appear much changed in daily Roman life except that Christians weren’t persecuted. And because Christians (understandably) were quite pleased not to be killed, they eventually began to support the nationalistic agenda of Roman to stay on Rome’s good side. And that, friends, is called syncretism.

[17] We went through in our 2 Timothy series in the three “Roots and Fruits” sermons.