Harmony #94: Do You Know Jesus? (John 18:13-24; Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22)

Head’s up: the ‘harmony of the gospel’ approach is going to make it look like there are 6 times Peter denied Jesus. Some thinks that’s what happened (3 before the rooster crowed, 3 times after); others think that the listing of individuals in one account and crowds in a different account just meant the individual asked the question for the groups. I just don’t want you to be confused when we read six denials of Jesus.

They brought Jesus first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.) Simon Peter and another disciple followed.

(Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.)[1]But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside.

The girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” He replied, “I am not.” (Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made in the middle of the courtyard, warming themselves because it was cold.) JnThe high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

 Jesus replied, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. They know what I said.”

When Jesus had said this, one of the high priest’s officers who stood nearby struck him on the face and said, “Is that the way you answer the high priest?”  Jesus replied, “If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?” Then Annas sent Jesus, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, in whose house all the chief priests and elders and experts in the law had come together. And Peter had followed him from a distance, all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. After going in, Peter sat down with the guards warming himself by the fire, waiting to see the outcome.

The guards said to Peter, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” Peter denied it: “I am not!” [Meanwhile] the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find anything. Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimony did not agree.

Finally two came forward, stood up and gave this false testimony against Jesus: “We heard this man say, ‘I will destroy this temple of God made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.’ ”Yet even on this point their testimony did not agree.

Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?” But Jesus was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned Jesus and said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God, the Blessed One.” [2]

But Jesus said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.” So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then? Jesus said, “You have said it yourself, I am. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power of God and coming on the clouds of heaven.”[3]

Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need further witnesses? Now you have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?” They all condemned him, and answered, “He is guilty and deserves death.”

Now the men who were holding Jesus under guard began to mock him and beat him. Some began to spit on him, and to blindfold him, and to strike him with their fists. And some slapped him, saying repeatedly, “Prophesy for us, you Christ! Who hit you?” They also said many other things against him, reviling him.

While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s slave girls came by. Seeing Peter as he sat in the firelight warming himself, she stared at him and said, “This man was with him too! You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus of Galilee.”

But Peter denied it in front of them all: ”Woman I don’t know him!” Then he went out to the gateway, and a rooster crowed. When Peter went out to the gateway, another slave girl saw him and said to the bystandersc there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene. He is one of them too.” But Peter denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!”

Then a little later, one of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the orchard with him? You are one of them too.” Then Peter denied it again and said, “Man, I am not!”

After about an hour, the bystanders again came up to Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are also a Galilean—even your accent gives you away!” Then Peter began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about!”

At that moment, while Peter was still speaking, a rooster crowed a second time. Then the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before a rooster crows twice today, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down, went outside and wept bitterly.

When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law. Then they led Jesus away to their council, the whole Sanhedrin, [where] they plotted against Jesus to execute him. After forming a plan, the whole group of them rose up, tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

* * * * * 

I’m going to do a shapshot approach today. Four snapshots in this story that I hope coalesce into a unified picture. We will start with the Sanhedrin, and end with Jesus.

SNAPSHOT 1: THE SANHEDRIN

Though they were the ruling body for the Jewish people, they did not seem to care about following the law. They didn’t like Jesus. They wanted him gone. They would do what it took to get what they wanted. 

• Trials were supposed to be conducted during daylight, not at night.

• ·Unless they met in the Hall of Hewn Stone, in the temple area, their verdicts were not binding.

• ·They allowed of false/contradictory witnesses. By their own law, the case should have been thrown out.

• ·A death verdict was not to be carried out until a night had ended.

Multiple sources from the period (the gospels, Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, writings from the Pharisees) agree that a corrupt priesthood controlled Jerusalem in collusion with Rome and abused its power against others. Their treatment of Jesus fits their usual behavior toward those who challenged their authority.[4]

A commentator named Poole noted,

“Nothing is more common than for persons overzealous about rituals to be remiss about morals.”[5]

I have a less fancy way of saying it: the Sanhedrin had a very human problem: it’s too easy to let the ends justify the means. It’s too easy to think that if our cause is righteous, we can baptize anything in the service of that cause and call it righteous as well. And that’s just not the way it works.

Even if Jesus had been an imposter and blasphemer, they would not have been justified in the approach they took. Why not? Because not only does the means impact what we achieve in the end, the means determines who we are in the end. Both the means and the ends reveal us for who we really are.

The Sanhedrin can’t be taken seriously as the lawkeeping body of leaders and break the law themselves, because they automatically become a law-breaking body of law-keeping leaders. The Sanhedrin can’t claim a righteous ruling after using unrighteous means like false witnesses and improper means. That kind of leaven spoils the whole loaf.

If the Sanhedrin wanted to truly lead God’s people in God’s ways to fulfill God’s plans, they needed to lead by example in words and actions. If they didn’t commit to that, they would get confused about God’s ways and God’s plan, and just like that they would be leading God’s people somewhere that God did not intend, following a God that is increasingly created in their image.

Our reminder: we must live with integrity. We must stay in the path of Jesus; aligned with the heart, mind, and footsteps of Jesus; so that we can be God’s people leading others in God’s way to fulfill God’s plans.

SNAPSHOT 2: THE SERVANT GIRLS

In Matthew, the first servant girl said, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” The second girl said to other people who were standing around, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” John writes that one asked a question to Peter: “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” The Gospel writers did not give unimportant detail. There is something we are supposed to learn about that fact that it was servant girls identifying the followers of Jesus.

The text isn’t clear if they were curious, or accusatory, or even hopeful. Maybe they wanted more information about Jesus and saw somebody who could answer their questions. Maybe they were Sanhedrin spies, looking out for people who might fight for Jesus (like Peter did). Maybe they though Jesus was going to fight, and were wondering where the army was. We don’t know. We just know they asked, and Peter was not about to give away his relationship with Jesus.

But the servant girls are important. So, here’s what I wonder. How would they know who had been with Jesus? They didn’t have Instagram posts or wanted posters or polaroids. How would they have found out?

I’m going to suggest that they had spent time around Jesus. Maybe they were part of the 5,000. Maybe they heard the Sermon on the Mount. Maybe they were occasionally part of the large crowed of disciples that consistently followed him. I don’t know, and the text doesn’t say.

I just suspect they had seen Jesus before, because they recognized His disciples. And this leads me to an interesting thing about the life of Jesus as recorded by the Gospel writers.

Virtually every time the writers record Jesus encountering women, Jesus validates and values women. In a time when both Jewish and Greco-Roman culture did not generally value women, Jesus did. For example, in Jewish culture, women could not testify in religious court because they were considered unreliable narrators, untrustworthy in their perspective.

But here are several servant girls who a) had apparently spent time with Jesus, b) who might not have been as embarrassed as Peter about having been around Jesus, and c) whom readers would have to seek out to ask if this story was true, thus treating them as reliable narrators of the truth. 

Our reminder: over and over, Jesus elevated those in the culture around him that were often overlooked, dismissed, or even despised: tax collectors, Samaritans, the sick and crippled, servants, women and children, those caught in sin, the list goes on. 

Isaiah pointed toward Jesus when he wrote, “A bruised reed he will not break" (Isaiah 42:3). This just means that God will not crush those who are weak or vulnerable; rather, he will gently care for them. Jesus was full of compassion for the weak, the outcast, the powerless, and the hurting. 

May we follow in that path of Jesus on our way to fulfilling the plan of Jesus.

SNAPSHOT 3: PETER

Since we focused on Judas last week to talk about Jesus’ love remaining steadfast throughout the worst things we can do even against Jesus himself, let’s look instead on what it looks like for followers of Jesus to deny that they know Jesus.

How can we communicate that we don’t know Jesus? Through our words and actions. Peter obviously used words. We often say that actions speak louder than words. Peter’s words were plenty loud; Peter’s action in the Garden might have been louder. Using a sword to defend Jesus, thinking His kingdom was an earthly kingdom that wanted us to kill others as a way to usher it in? Yeah, Peter really didn’t know Jesus.

If we use our words to deny our relationship with Jesus, we have betrayed Jesus. But we do this with our actions as well.

• If we refuse to help the needy – the hungry, thirsty, sick, naked, imprisoned, to quote Jesus - we communicate with our actions that we really don’t know Jesus.

• If we use our words to gossip, slander and wound instead of speak life and truth, we communicate with our actions that we really don’t know Jesus.

• If we take advantage of our employees, we communicate with every paycheck and belittling experience that we really don’t know Jesus.

• If we use people sexually, financially, relationally, we communicate with our actions that we really don’t know Jesus.

• If we refuse to love our neighbors as Christ loved us, we communicate with our actions that we really don’t know Jesus.

• If we refuse to commit to honoring, serving and loving our spouse, we communicate with our actions that we really don’t know Jesus.

Our reminder: being truthful and faithful to Jesus – showing people that we know him – includes our words and our lives. We want it to be obvious to those around us that we are following the path of Jesus to fulfill the plan of Jesus.

JESUS

When Jesus ‘turned and looked’ at Peter, the words the writers chose are so great.

“It implies more than a casual glance, suggesting a deeper level of observation or contemplation. In the New Testament, it is often used to describe moments of significant insight or recognition, where the observer perceives something profound or meaningful. The act of looking intently was not merely a physical action but was also linked to mental and spiritual insight.” (Strong’s Lexicon)

Oof. Jesus looked deep into Peter’s soul in the moment of Peter’s greatest betrayal. What will Jesus do? He will forgive and restore Peter, of course. And Peter will love Jesus because Jesus first loved him.

A year or two later, John and Peter healed a lame beggar outside the temple in the name of Jesus. They were arrested and brought before Annas and Caiaphas. By this time Peter was a changed man. He had been teaching and preaching, and bringing in followers of the "Way" of Jesus. Here’s what happens in Acts 4 following the healing of the lame man.

“The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day….[6]

The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!  If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel:

It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.  Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it… They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened.

Jesus loved Peter until the end. Jesus did not give up on the one who betrayed him so deeply. When Jesus rose from the dead, the angel said to make sure Peter knew. Jesus gave his life so that greatest moments of failure in people like Peter can become their greatest platform for ministry. Don’t ever believe that Jesus has given up for you. He is here to make broken things whole and dead things come to life.

He loves you until the end.

_______________________________________________________________________________

[1] This un-named disciple is likely John. James and John were Jesus' cousins, related to Zacharias, one of the priests who served in the temple, and possibly had been introduced to Caiaphas…John had to intercede with the servant girl and vouch for him. (“Did the High Priest know John the Apostle?” http://rolinbrunoauthor.blogspot.com)

[2] According to Old Testament law, a Jew must testify when put under oath by the high priest (Lev. 5:1).

[3] Jesus likely alluded to a Messianic prophecy from Daniel: “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” 

[4] HT NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[5] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[6] Hey! They are following their own law!

Harmony #89: Being Loved and Hated (John 15:17-16:10)

 This is My command to you: love one another. If you find that the world [order] despises you, remember that before it despised you, it first despised Me.  If you were a product of the world order, then it would love you. But you are not a product of the world order because I have taken you out of it, and it despises you for that very reason. 

 Don’t forget what I have spoken to you: “a servant is not greater than the master.” If I was mistreated, you should expect nothing less. If they accepted what I have spoken, they will also hear you. Everything they do to you they will do on My account because they do not know the One who has sent Me.

If I had not spoken to them and done among them the works no on else has done, they would not be guilty of [this] sin [of despising me]; but now they have no excuse for ignoring My voice.[1] If someone despises Me, he also despises My Father. If I had not demonstrated things for them that have never been done, they would not be guilty of [this] sin. 

But the reality is they have stared Me in the face, and they have despised Me and the Father nonetheless. Yet their law, which says, “They despised Me without any cause,”[2] has again been proven true.

Notice how this portion is for people who “stared Jesus in the face.” I believe this is specifically an indictment on the Sadducees and Pharisees, religious leaders who a) knew their Scripture and b) knew first-hand what Jesus was doing, and they rejected him. Their dismissal of him was not because of ignorance of his words or to lack of miraculous evidence revealing who he was; they willingly and blatantly refused to believe what was made clear to them.

I will send a great Helper to you from the Father, one known as the Spirit of truth. He comes from the Father and will point to the truth as it concerns Me. But you will also point others to the truth about My identity, because you have journeyed with Me since this all began….

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue[3], yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me.[4] But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

…But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate [Holy Spirit] will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world order wrong[5]concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…

—concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; and concerning judgment, because the archon of this world has been condemned.

When the Holy Spirit arrives (most people assume this is a reference to Pentecost on the book of Acts), Jesus will be vindicated. The original word carries with it the idea of a defense attorney making an argument that will show a client’s innocence.

In all that our Lord says here, there seems to be an allusion to the office of an advocate in a cause, in a court of justice who, by producing witnesses, and pleading upon the proof, convicts the opposite party of sin, demonstrates the righteousness of his client, and shows the necessity of passing judgment upon the accuser. (Adam Clarke)

Concerning sin: This could be a reference to the general conviction of humanity that exposes our sin in order to lead us to repentance and salvation. I think it might be more specific than that in this immediate context because of that “face to face” comment. “They” – the Sadducees and Pharisees – did not believe in Jesus in spite of seeing him in person, hearing his teaching which they could not refute, and seeing his Messianic miracles. Meanwhile, they accused Jesus of blasphemy (a definite sin) because he claimed to be God. But he was correct. He did not sin as they supposed.

Concerning Righteousness: Righteousness is being in right relationship with God and others. Think of “rightness” as a synonym.  It’s internal and external alignment with God and God’s plan demonstrated in life. Jesus rising from the dead showed that He and the Father were one, as he so often claimed. The pouring out of God’s Spirit for the reunification of humanity (all the separated people from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11) reveals the plan of which Jesus was a part.

Concerning Judgment: the ‘archon’ of the world stood condemned. A couple weeks ago, we talked about a previous use of that word in this same speech in the gospel of John where it seemed to point toward the flesh and blood rulers of the world order (the Sanhedrin and Rome). This could be restating that, or it could be referring more broadly to Satan as a leader of the world order. Either way, they and their ‘world order’ stand condemned. As Jesus will say later in this same speech, “Be of good cheer. I have overcome this world order.”

* * * * *

Re: The world loving and hating Jesus and followers of Jesus

I like the translation of “world order” over just “world.” The latter makes it sounds like everybody who is not a Christian is going to hate Christians. But that’s not true. As history shows, a whole lot of people who weren’t Christians have become Christians because they found Christ compelling, often because of the compelling nature of the Christians around them. “World Order” captures the idea of the cultural power structures the run earthly empires, not every individual.[6]

The World Order reacted differently to Jesus than the masses of the people did. The ones with power, prestige and comfort on the line reacted differently to Jesus than the poor and powerless.

• Rome, the Sadducees/Herodians, Pharisees and Zealots responded differently than did the Essenes – the one group not seeking earthly power positions. 

• The outcasts in Jewish society – tax collectors, prostitutes, the physically sick, the Samaritans, the – they seemed to get along with Jesus really well.

• ·The overlooked and underappreciated – women, children, slaves, the poor – they find Jesus and his path of life really compelling (the early church filled up with them!).

People with a lot of earthly clout, those with a lot to lose by following the Messiah who taught love over coercion, servanthood over power flexing, humility over pride, generosity over materialism – well, they tended to push back against Jesus pretty hard. They have bought in to what Ephesians 2 calls “the course of this world.”

• The world order values coercive power; Jesus values a servanthood that invites.

• The world order thrives on identifying and hating enemies ; Jesus values loving even our enemies and doing good to those who hate us.

• The world order tramples on people to get things; Jesus used things to care for people.

• The world order insists that “greed is good”[7] and plays favorites with the rich; Jesus insisted that the love of money was a trap for our souls, and there should be no favorites in the Kingdom of God.

• The world order admires the Alpha with arrogant pride; Jesus values humility and honest self-reflection.

• The world order controls through fear and manipulation; Jesus compels with hope and invitation.

• The world order values luxury and indulgence; Jesus values generosity and self-control.

• The world order admires those who take what they want; Jesus values those who give to others who are in need, and who look out for others who are in want.

• The world order exploits and belittles others to get to the top; Jesus said it would be the meek who inherit the kingdom of God.

• The world order dismisses “the least of these”; Jesus placed a premium on their worth.

Jesus was here to save the world, but not the world order. He was there for the people in the Empire, not to prop up the Empire’s culture. He was there to upend the order of the world (in Rome and the Romanized Sadducees) and redeem both the sin of the people of the world and the sinful ideals embedded in the systems of the world.

How did He go about doing this?  By changing individuals who then permeated their communities and their cities. It was not a top-down authoritarian coercion; it was a grass roots spread of the Kingdom of God sabotaging the Empire of Rome, one individual at a time, one changed heart at a time, one soul transformation at a time. If we go back to the previous list, that means the church was intended to be a community characterized by:

• Displaying servanthood

• Loving everyone, even our enemies.

• Using the things we have to care for people.

• Not playing favorites based on, well, anything.

• Valuing humility, generosity and self-control

• Offering hope

• Looking out for those who are in want.

• ·Living with meekness (controlled strength) and kindness

• Placing a premium on everyone’s – everyone’s! - worth

The Empire agenda is threatened by that kind of counter-cultural community; I don’t think our average neighbor hates that. Thousands of people were drawn to Jesus. The Jewish communities most vilified sinners were drawn to Jesus. When the early church formed this kind of community, it grew like crazy, but I will get to that in a moment.

I am pointing this out because I worry that we can start to think that being hated is a sign that we are following Jesus correctly. In this view, the more people around us dislike us, the more holy we are. If people outside the church actually like us, well, clearly compromise has crept into our witness.

But that just doesn’t match the ministry of Jesus or the early church. Jesus’ detractors called him a “friend of sinners” because the outcast sinners in their communities were drawn to Him. This trend continued when the Holy Spirit filled his followers. Within 70 years, there were around 25,000 in the church. By 300 AD, it was probably around 20 million.[8] Even in the midst of persecution by the Roman government, even Roman and Greek people filled the church. And why not? So many had grown weary of the exploitation, violence, and debasement the Roman World Order had imposed on them. A Jesus-based vision of community looked pretty compelling.

{Hot historical tip, painting with a very broad brush: church history shows us that when those entrenched in the halls of power – the world order - hate us and our neighbors find us compelling, we are probably representing Jesus well. When those entrenched in the halls of power – the world order – love us and our neighbors hate us, we are probably not representing Jesus well.}

I read a book called The Patient Ferment Of The Early Church. I would like to offer some of the great insights from this book about how the early church changed the world.

People who study shifts in religious adherence pay attention to the “push” and the “pull” that are at play in every conversion. What in the existing religious options so dissatisfied some people that it pushed their adherents to explore new options? And then what was it in Christianity that so attracted people, that it pulled them to explore something that might be very costly? 

The early Christians proliferated… because faith embodied was attractive to people who were dissatisfied with their old cultural and religious habits, who felt pushed to explore new possibilities, and who then encountered Christians who embodied a new manner of life that pulled them toward what the Christians called “rebirth” into a new life. 

Christians, said Cyprian (210 - 258), are to be visibly distinctive. They are to live their faith and communicate it in deeds [to] demonstrate the character of God to the world. “No occasion should be given to the pagans to censure us deservedly and justly… It profits nothing to show forth virtue in words and destroy truth in deeds.” 

According to Clement (35-100), ‘When the Christians talked about loving your enemies, their neighbors had been interested. But when they found that the Christians didn’t do what they said, they dismissed Christianity as “a myth and a delusion.’ From Clement’s perspective, Christians had to embody the message if the churches were to grow.

Justin the Martyr (100-165) noted that his community doesn’t consider people true Christians if they simply quote Christ’s teachings but don’t live them. Jesus himself had insisted on this (Matthew 7:21). Further, Justin believes that the effectiveness of Christian witness depends on the integrity of the believers’ lifestyles.

As an example, Justin points to the area of business. “Many who were once on [Rome’s] side . . . have turned from the ways of violence and tyranny, overcome by observing the consistent lives of their [Christian] neighbors, or noting the strange patience of their injured acquaintances, or experiencing the way they did business with them.”

Christians behaved in ways that their pagan contemporaries found intriguing. In fact, some pagans found the Christians’ behavior unsettling enough to convert to Christianity.

Tertullian (155-220) admonished his readers: “If one tries to provoke you to a fight, there is at hand the admonition of the Lord:  ‘If someone strike [you] . . . on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’ [And if someone] burst out in cursing or wrangling, recall the saying: ‘When men reproach you, rejoice.’

 Let wrong-doing grow weary from your patience. It attracts the heathen, recommends the slave to his master, the master to God. It adorns a woman, perfects a man. It is loved in a child, praised in a youth, esteemed in the aged. In both man and woman, at every age of life, it is exceedingly attractive.”

Tertullian indicates that…the Christian family was not defined by the vertical values of the wider society; it was horizontal in its solidarity, making all its members brother and sisters…The community’s worship was designed to empower all members and to give them a sense of their worth that expressed itself in courageous living and bold testimony.

But what the outsiders saw was not their worship. It was their [habits]. And they said, “Look! How they love one another.” They did not say, “Listen to the Christians’ message”; they did not say, “Read what they write.”

Hearing and reading were important, and some early Christians worked to communicate in these ways too. But we must not miss the reality: the pagans said look! Christianity’s truth was visible; it was embodied and enacted by its members. It was made tangible, sacramental.

The Christians were socially active: they had intensive, embodied forms of care for members and others. The believers, whose dress was often simple and unostentatious, did not immediately reveal their identity to passersby, but their identity could emerge as relationships developed. Sometimes this came as a surprise: “‘A good man,’ they say, ‘only that he is a Christian.’

Scholars have seen the church’s growth as coming about through something modest: “casual contact.” In all relationships, “affective bonds” were formed. The most reliable means of communicating the attractiveness of the faith to others and enticing them to investigate things further was the Christians’ character, bearing, and behavior.

Writing in the 180s, the Roman Celsus noted with distaste that Christians formed groups to which they attracted… “the most illiterate and bucolic yokels.” To him these were people of no account, who in a hierarchical world knew that they were the dregs of society and that they had no views worth expressing or being listened to.

But care for these very people, especially the poor, was another area in which the Christian communities had habits... Outsiders looked at this and were impressed. According to Henry Chadwick, “The practical application of charity was probably the most potent single cause of Christian success.”

In 305 during the Great Persecution, in Cirta in North Africa, imperial officials raided a house church and (conveniently for our purposes) compiled a list of its possessions. On this list the examiners found, along with chalices, candleholders, and other liturgical equipment, a stock of clothing.

The church had what was evidently a clothes store, to which members contributed clothing that other members could claim when they needed it. The clothing included “eighty-two women’s tunics . . . , sixteen men’s tunics, thirteen pairs of men’s shoes, forty-seven pairs of women’s shoes.”

The Didache[9] notes, “bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies,” and goes on to present other ways that the Christian habits differs from “the way the heathen act.”  “Do not hesitate to give and do not give with a bad grace. . . .

Do not turn your back on the needy, but share everything with your brother and call nothing your own. For if you have what is eternal in common, how much more should you have what is transient!” More surprisingly, they loved their enemies: “They comfort such as wrong them, and make friends of them; they labor to do good to their enemies.”

The Didache did not discuss how the life of the community impacted the world or attracted new members, possibly because such discussion seemed unnecessary; the habits of the community were attracting as many people to its life as the community’s catechetical formation could cope with.

Then, there is a sobering turn.

In the 240s in Caesarea in Palestine, as Origen prepared catechumens for baptism he struggled against the unfaithful behavior of the faithful. ‘The Christians’ public behavior belied their convictions: they “agitate the forum with lawsuits and weary [their] neighbors with altercations. They are completely disgusting in their actions and habit of life, wrapped up with vices and not wholly ‘putting away the old self with its actions.

[The people] come to church and bow their head to the priests, exhibit courtesy, honor the servants of God, even bring something for the decoration of the altar or church—yet they exhibit no inclination to also improve their habits, correct impulses, lay aside faults, cultivate purity, soften the violence of wrath, restrain avarice, curb greed.”

According to Clement, when the Christians talked about loving your enemies, their neighbors had been interested. But when they found that the Christians didn’t do what they said, they dismissed Christianity as “a myth and a delusion.” From Clement’s perspective, Christians had to embody the message if the churches were to grow.

By the early fifth century the problem had become so acute that some theologians updated the church’s theology of witness so that they no longer emphasized the Christians’ exemplary behavior.”

* * * * *

There came a point in church history – after Constantine legalized Christianity and intertwined it with the Roman agenda – theologians in the Western church specifically changed the discussion about what it mean to be a faithful follower of Jesus by moving the focus of what it meant to be a good witness away from the witness of an integrated, holy life and moved it into the realm of thoughts and beliefs as the most important marker. In other words, for 350 years, orthodoxy (right belief) was being clarified, but orthopraxy (right action) was the exhibition of faith and the witness to the world – until Christian leaders began moving the orthopraxy markers so Hellenized Christians could more comfortably support Rome’s agenda and fit into Roman culture. 

When we live like Jesus and his first followers, we will feel dangerous to those who control Empire culture. Peace, love, humility, servanthood, generosity, patience, kindness, self-control, repentance, forgiveness – this is not the fuel of Empires. Valuing every person as an image bearer of God worthy of dignity, justice and mercy – that’s not a value of Empires. We ought to expect as Christians to always live in an uneasy tension with the halls of power in our nations.

But our neighbors? It ought to be good news to all those beat up by the values of the Empire’s world order when Christians move into the neighborhood. “Finally! Someone who loves us!” And it is from these good deeds, Jesus said, that they will glorify our Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

__________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Jewish teachers recognized that knowing the truth increased one’s moral responsibility.

[2] Psalms 35:19; 69:4

[3] Without the protection of being recognized as part of the Jewish community, believers could lose their Roman worship exemption and be charged with disloyalty to the state. (Rev 2:13; 13:15).

[4] “Because they have not known the Father — John 15:25; John 15:25. Ignorance of the benevolence of GOD, and of the philanthropy of CHRIST, is the grand fountain whence all religious persecution and intolerance proceed.” Adam Clarke

[5] “Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked.” (Psalm 43:1)

[6] I don’t mean like a deep state New World Order. This is more like “the course of the world” in Ephesians 2.

[7] To quote Michael Douglas’s infamous line from Wall Street.

[8] I have seen very different statistics on this. Hopefully this represents the middle ground.

[9] An early church document compiled over years that reveals church teaching and practice.

Harmony #36: Sending Out the Twelve (Matthew 9:35-38; 10:1, 5-15; 11:1; Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6)

 Then Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.[1]

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.[2]  Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” Jesus called his twelve disciples[3] and gave them authority over unclean spirits so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness.

Jesus sent out these twelve two by two[4] to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is near and to heal the sick.[5]He instructed them as follows: “Do not go to Gentile regions and do not enter any Samaritan town.[6] Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Take nothing[7] for the journey except a staff,[8] and put on sandals. Do not take gold, silver, or copper in your belts[9] – no bread, no bag for the journey, or an extra tunic, or sandals or staff,[10] for the worker deserves his provisions.

“Whenever you enter a town or village, find out who is worthy there and stay with them until you leave the area.[11]As you enter the house, give it greetings. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.[12]

And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, as you leave that house or town, shake the dust off your feet[13] as a testimony against them. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town![14]

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their towns. Then the disciples departed and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and preaching that all should repent. They cast out many demons and anointed sick people everywhere with oil and healed them.

A few comments on some dynamics at work here.

• The disciples would do the things that Jesus had been doing to prove their power and message were from him. They were given Christ-like credentials to confirm their message.

• They were to stay in the first house that welcomed them —no rejecting poor accommodations or working toward getting to a nicer place. The value of their host and their relationship with their host was more important than the comfort of their bed. 

• They were not to pressure those who refused to be hospitable to them or their message, but were to shake off the dust from their feet (hospitable hosts would have cleaned their feet for them) and move on.[15]

• This was not to be a means to accumulate wealth. Jerome (347-420) wrote, “Spiritual gifts are defiled if connected with rewards.” He was very concerned that it would look like “they were preaching not for the sake of humanity’s salvation but for the sake of their own financial gain.”[16] They had received their blessings without cost and were to pay it forward on the same basis.[17] Neither the miracles of the Kingdom nor the good news of the free gift of grace in the Kingdom were intended to make one wealthy by earthly standards.

This passage could be mined pretty deeply. There is a lot of treasure here below the surface. I am going to offer six points to ponder in hopes that at least one will challenge or encourage you.

1. The transformative reality that “the kingdom is near” needs to take root here before we take it there.  Jesus wasn’t telling them to only go the Jewish people because he disliked the Gentiles and Samaritans. He had already spoken to the woman at the well  in Samaria (who brought the whole village to see him), so the Kingdom tree was growing in Samaria. He had been healing Gentiles (we read last week that an entire household was converted), and the former demoniac was telling people about Jesus in the largely Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, so it’s not as if the Gentiles had been ignored.

I suspect he steered the 12 toward the Jewish people for two reasons.

First, the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” are his children, his family. His sheep are wandering around like sheep without a Shepherd because they don’t know who the shepherd is. The Father loves his children, and he begins with them. He has not given up on them. His ministry will not end with his family, but it will begin with His family.

I’ll just note: if God has given you the gifts and talents to do ministry for the Kingdom on his behalf, begin with your family. It probably won’t end there, but it should start there. Trust me, as one for whom it took a long time for this to sink in. This is important.

Second, I wonder if it has something to do with the development of truth and character in those who will spread the message before they spread the message. There was some work that needed to be done so the ambassadors could represent the King well. For example, his disciples will soon ask him to call down fire on a Samaritan town.[18] Yeah, you might not want to send those guys to the Samaritans just yet. They might have known the message of Jesus, but they didn’t understand the heart of Jesus.

There is a lesson here :) It is important that we not neglect our spiritual formation as we build the reach and impact of the Kingdom. We don’t have to be perfect, obviously. We can a mess, in fact, as God is working to heal all the many ways we are broken. But we need to understand the heart of God for people, and we need to be committed to the ongoing serious discipleship that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, increases our likeness to Jesus. If we are planning to head out and beg God to call down fire on those who are lost, we aren't ready. When we see them as lost and confused sheep who need to meet the Shepherd, we are.

2. The crowds were like sheep without a shepherd, a ripe harvest with no one gathering. Is that how we view the lost or wandering crowds around us? It’s worth noting that it’s likely at least some of these people eventually clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion. Perhaps being able to view even hostile enemies this way is how, Jesus, while on the cross,  could say, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

When we see news coverage of THAT group marching for THAT issue, how do we see them?  Do we see sheep without a shepherd? When we walk downtown during Cherry Festival, do we see a field ripe for harvest, needing to have someone who an ambassador for Jesus enter into their lives with the good news of salvation? And what does your response motivate you to do: retreat in fear, lash out in anger, take an eye for eye, get a hostile bumper sticker that’s sure to trigger somebody? Or are we moved to prayerfully seek them out to share the message - and show with our lives-  that the good news that the Kingdom of heaven is here?

3. What does it look like to live prophetically? “Biblical prophets had to live simply in times of widespread apostasy, not dependent on decadent society (1Kings 17:4 – 6; 18:13; 2Kings 4:38; 5:15 – 16,26; 6:1).”[19]

Do we live in times of widespread apostasy (followers of Jesus falling away from the faith)? Yes, at a record pace for the United States. Is our culture decadent?  Almost 50 years ago, Francis Schaeffer argued vigorously that it is, and I don’t know of anyone who disagreed then or now.

We often talk about speaking prophetically, which 80+ percent of the time in the Bible meant proclaiming God’s word and plan boldly in what called forthtelling as opposed to foretelling about future events (that’s the other percentage points).

We talk about speaking prophetically in both of those ways (as we should), but we don’t so often talk about living prophetically. Why? It’s a lot easier to say some words than it is to change a lifestyle.

I wonder what it looks like for us to live prophetically? I’m not sure where to go with this: maybe… it’s this?  Or that? These are just ideas. I’m spitballing. There is something important here, and I feel like I’m nibbling at the edges. Maybe in Message+ we can get to the core. These are things I thought of this week.

• We refuse to support the destructive nature of greedy consumerism by reigning in our consumption and from our savings, practicing generosity.

• In an age of indulgence - often at the expense others - we practice self-restraint so that we are better able to serve others.

• We refuse to live in luxury when those around us live in squalor. Where is that line? I have no idea. But it’s somewhere.

• We fight the culture’s objectification and exploitation of people sexually and financially by determining to honor the intrinsic value of people with our thoughts, our words, and our actions.

• We refuse to go about our daily life as if everything is okay when it’s not okay. We commit to holy disturbances in the rhythm of our lives to spread the Kingdom.

I’m sure there’ more here. I hope this inspires us to think about it.

4. It is just as important to receive hospitality as to give it. In Jesus’ time, people honored others by showing hospitality. But it works both ways. Hosts were honored when people received their generosity, as simple as it may be. Imagine if a disciple had stayed one night at a house and the next day said, “Hey that was really nice, but I’m going to THAT house.” (Points toward the mansion up the block). Imagine how the poorer host would feel. I love that Jesus’ instructions required his disciples to appreciate people rather than the things that they had.

Also, there is something very, very important about receiving hospitality that affirms the value of the person giving. From a reddit post:

"I heard my mother asking our neighbor for some salt. I asked her why she was asking them as we had salt at home. She replied: 'It's because they're always asking us for things; they're poor. So I thought I'd ask something small from them so as not to burden them but at the same time make them feel as if we need them too.'"

5. The messenger of the Kingdom are purposeful, but not pushy. Notice that the disciples did not hound, berate, yell, march, picket, boycott those who were inhospitable to them or their ideas. They tried, and then moved on to those who were hospitable. I suspect, given enough time, they would have tried again or at least encouraged others to give it a shot. It’s not that they didn’t care. But they had a message of good seeds that needed to be sown in good soil, and there was only so much time.

There’s something here about discerning the moment. Of all the points, this might be the one that most obviously requires a sensitivity to whether the Holy Spirit is pushing you toward or pulling you from someone. The best explanation I have in my life is that there have been times when I’ve been talking to both Christians and non-Christians and it was clear they had heart soil ready for truth about all kinds of things, from who Jesus is to how to love others well or be honest about themselves…you name it, they were ready to have truth planted in their hearts.

In other conversations I’ve had, it became clear after a while that they were only in this to show me how smart they were, or to try to humiliate me, or to defend themselves from any and all attempts to help them see themselves as God and others saw them.

I don’t have a template or a scientific explanation about how you know the difference, but when you know, you know.

I don’t believe for a minute God was done with those villages when the disciples moved on. The Holy Spirit, the Hound of Heaven, will pursue them through someone else. When we feel nudged to move on, remember that just because we aren’t the messenger doesn’t mean there will be no messenger. I suspect God will send other people into their lives who will be far more effective than you or I ever would have been.

6. I wonder what signs are ‘credentials’ in our culture? What things would lay out our credentials as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God? For the disciples it was those specifically miraculous things, many of which directly pointed back to Old Testament prophecy concerning what the awaited Messiah would do. In many times and places throughout history, that kind of miraculous work has been like planting a flag in the ground and saying, “This is Kingdom territory,” and everybody got it.  

In increasingly secular cultures, where all miracles are explained away as unknown science, I wonder if the signs and wonders are sometimes something different. It’s not like God can’t be creative with how He displays His power and goodness to the world.

• In the book of Acts, miracles were the primary credentials. That continues today in many parts of the world, especially in countries where the supernatural world clashes very publically.

• In the first few centuries of the early church, miracles didn’t stop, but it was their love for everybody that awed the Gentiles more than anything else.

• Throughout history, faithful martyrdom has caught the attention of those far from Jesus.

• In the Middle Ages (when things went well) it was hospitable communities and the preservation of schools and libraries that shone like a city on a hill.

• In the Great Awakenings, it was repentant, transformed individuals, who often led the charge to address social issues (poverty, racism, alcoholism, orphans).

• In the Asuza revivals, it was the gifts of the Holy Spirit being used in power and love for the building of the church.

• The 2000s began with a proliferation of apologetics, philosophical, historical and theological arguments in defense of the faith that for many skeptics removed the hurdle of feeling like faith was not for the intellectual or scientific.

• Now, I think the most powerful credentials in the United States is increasingly returning to 1) the testimony of transformed lives, and 2) the witness of church communities characterized by embodied truth, love and grace displayed in the family, church and broader community. As has often been noted, people don’t care what we know until they know that we care.

 None of these are never not important. What is important is “understanding the times,” and entering into what God is doing at a particular time in a particular place for a particular people.

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[1] Ezekiel 34:5

[2] “The state of things suggested two pictures to His mind: a neglected flock of sheep, and a harvest going to waste for lack of reapers. Both imply, not only a pitiful plight of the people, but a blameworthy neglect of duty on the part of their religious guides—the shepherds by profession without the shepherd heart, the spiritual husbandmen without an eye for the whitening fields and skill to handle the sickle.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary) 

[3] “The Twelve were evidently not together all the time (some had homes and families).”

(ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[4] “[This] satisfies the requirement of two or three witnesses and provides them a measure of protection.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds of the New Testament)

[5] “[This] is not appointment to a permanent office but commissioning for an immediate task.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[6] Jesus had already been to Samaria. Also, “That Jesus felt it necessary to mention the Samaritans at all presupposes John 4. The disciples, happy in the exercise of their ability to perform miracles, might have been tempted to evangelize the Samaritans when they remembered Jesus' success there. Judging by Lk 9:52-56, however, the Twelve were still tempermentally ill-equipped to minister to Samaritans.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary) 

[7] He will send out others where the instructions are different (Luke 22). Don’t think of the specifics as a timeless command. The specifics are for this group of people, at this time.

[8] “According to Mark 6:8, the disciples were allowed to take a staff. Here in Luke’s account, Jesus is probably not prohibiting a staff altogether but prohibiting taking an extra one, as Luke 10:4 prohibits extra sandals.” (ESV Global Study Bible)

[9] “Biblical prophets had to live simply in times of widespread apostasy not dependent on decadent society (cf., e.g., 3:1,4; 1Ki 17:4 – 6; 18:13; 2Ki 4:38; 5:15 – 16,26; 6:1).” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[10] Remember how John the Baptist was likely an Essene, or at least heavily influenced by the Essene community? “When Essenes (members of a strict Jewish sect) traveled, they traveled light, depending on hospitality from other Essenes.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) Then, consider how all of Jesus disciples either followed John or were influenced by him. In other words, these instructions would not have felt unusual.

[11] “Rather than moving from house to house, perhaps in a quest for better housing, the apostles were to establish their ministry headquarters in one home. (ESV Global Study Bible) “They would rely on hospitality, but staying in one house limited the time they spent in any one place.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible) “The disciples should receive hospitality graciously. Hospitality was important as well as necessary in days of difficult travel conditions and poor accommodations at inns. The disciples were not to move about from house to house, a practice that might gain them more support but would insult their hosts.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[12] “The conventional Jewish greeting was shalom, “May it be well with you.” This was a blessing, i.e., an implicit prayer to God.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[13] “Proper hospitality included offering water for guests to wash their feet; here the travelers’ feet remain conspicuously unwashed. Jewish people sometimes shook profane dust from their feet when entering a more holy place (Ex 3:5) [or] leaving pagan territory to enter the Holy Land.” (NIV Cultural Background Study Bible)

[14] Note that this is not a judgment on Gentiles. This is a referendum on God’s people, those who have the Law and are not practicing hospitality. The prophets said that one of the prominent sins of Sodom was inhospitality (Ezekiel 16:49). The people of Sodom were (in a sense) Gentiles who didn’t know any better. What they did was bad, but God’s people knew better. It’s worse.

[15] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[16] As found in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Matthew 1-13

[17] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[18] Luke 9

[19] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

7 Trumpets (Revelation 8-11)

 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour[1].  Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne.  

 The Old Testament associates silence with divine judgment.[2] This seems to be a response to the death of and the prayers of saints that bring about the judgment on those through whom evil and suffering have been unleashed in the world. 

The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth[3], and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.[4]

The prayers go up; fire, a common biblical metaphor for a judgment that either refines or destroys, comes down. Now, the trumpets show how God’s judgment of evil impacts the earth as we groan our way toward the end.   

 Now the seven angels[5] holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.[6]

Remember we talked about the "birth pangs" Jesus warned would start in the generation of his listeners? The birthing process is a lot of pain, a lot of unpleasantness, but a good result at the end. There will be life on the other side, but the process is going to be hard. 

We are going to see the removal of peace; the destruction of the things that prop up the idolatry and empires of the world; deprivation; suffering; loss; despair.  This is reaping what was sown.  Consumer cultures consume themselves. Violent cultures ruin themselves. Indulgent cultures soften themselves. God sends the whirlwind. 

[Babylon’s] sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup... God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Revelation 18:5-6; 20)”[7]

A third will be impacted,[8] meaning it’s not total judgment. There is time for people to see what is going on and repent. In that sense, while this judgment is certainly about retribution for the evil done, it also holds the potential to be rehabilitative and restorative. It’s a good reminder of how to pray for justice/judgment: may it not only stop the evil, but may it be the means by which the evildoers come to their senses.

The images are apocalyptic: flaming mountains that are nations; stars that are angels; a speaking eagle. I think we are meant to see “through” them, weighing them like we do numbers.[9] There is room for the famine to be deprivations of all kinds, or the bitterness of the water to be a contrast to “the living water,” which speaks to spiritual realities. We are going to see everything shake. The people have placed their trust in idols, in false gods, in what is unstable and chaotic, and it’s not going to end well.[10] 

 The first angel[11] blew his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown at the earth so that a third of the earth (soil) was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The fire and blood are symbols of the wrath of God.[12] They can’t be literal: the blood and hail would put out the fire; a fire that destroyed 1/3 of the dirt and trees and all the grass would destroy the globe.

The first 4 trumpets are modeled after the plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7-11). Revelation 15:3 compares the return of Jesus to the first exodus;[13] it would make sense that the second exodus is ushered in in similar fashion.[14]  

Since the plagues of Egypt directly challenged the gods of the Egyptians, I am inclined to see this trumpet as a spiritual warfare broadside against the gods of this world, judging the world systems behind the evil and corruption of the world (which we will say more about at the 7th trumpet).[15]However, just like the first Exodus, it’s not too late repent and join those about to head to the Promised Land.[16]   

 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea.[17]A third[18] of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were completely destroyed.

In the Bible, mountains often stand in for kingdoms[19] or nations, many subject to God's judgment.[20] Jeremiah speaks of Babylon as a destroying mountain which would be burned by fire (Jeremiah 51:25) that will sink into the waters never to rise again.[21] We will see this again with the destruction of Babylon’s global maritime commerce in chapter 18.[22] Rome depended on the sea for food and commerce; the sea captains lament Babylon’s ruin.[23]

Once again, see ‘through’ this: it’s an indictment on nation(s) plural. All nations. God’s judgment will rock the gods of this world, and then hit the issue most talked about in the Bible: money, the idol of wealth, commerce, power and security. Look how rocked we have been by the shipping issues in the last few months (“We can’t have Christmas!”). There is nothing new under the sun.  

Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star burning like a torch fell from the sky; it landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (Now the name of the star is Wormwood.) So a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned.

In Jewish apocalypses, stars sometimes appeared like burning mountains; one fell into the sea and burned both the sea and Israel’s oppressors.[24]  1 Enoch 18:13 and 21:3[25] describes the preliminary judgment of the fallen angels as “stars like great burning mountains.”[26] Stars represent angelic beings in Revelation (see on 1:19). OT angels often represent earthly peoples and kingdoms.

In fact, the rabbis interpreted the Exodus 7:16–18 plague on the waters as a judgment on the Nile god, who represented the people. They would quote Isaiah 24:21 - “the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth on earth.” Here Babylon’s ‘angel’ appears to be judged along with the nation. It was prophesied. Not only are the nations shaken, but any spiritual powers behind them have been toppled from their place of authority as well. 

O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations…  But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15) 

Wormwood recalls the bitter water at Marah - still on an Exodus theme (Exodus 15:23). If the “living waters” of chapters 7 and 21 represent the reward of eternal, spiritual life for faithfulness through suffering (7:17; 21:6; 22:1), then the waters of death in Chapter 8 represent a punishment of suffering associated with eternal, spiritual death. 

Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.[27] And there was no light for a third of the day and for a third of the night likewise.[28] 

Our earth is too finely tuned to not be destroyed by literal celestial events like that. It’s a known image of judgment to John’s audience: at God’s judgment of Edom, “all the starry host will fall” (Isaiah 34:4).  The Dictionary Of Bible Themes notes the many ways in which celestial bodies played multiple roles in the Bible, but here’s what’s relevant to us today. Under the category of “Worship of the Stars,” we find: 

·      Prohibited by God Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3 2 Kings 23:4-5

·      Judgment of star worshippers Jer 8:2: 19:12-13; Amos 5:25-27; Acts 7:42-43

·      Examples of star worship 2 Ki 17:16; 2 Ki 21:3-5; 2 Chronicles 33:5; Acts 28:11

·      Idolatrous worship of the moon Deut. 4:19; 17:3; 2 Ki 23:5; Job 31:26

·      Sun Worship Forbidden to God’s people Deut 4:19;17:2-5; Job 31:26-28

·      Practiced in Israel and Egypt Ez 8:16; 2 Ki 23:5,11; Jer 8:1-2; 43:13

 Judaism has long interpreted The Exodus plague of darkness as a spiritual, cultural, or mental darkness. It's the darkness of despair when people realize the futility of their idolatry and the disaster that is coming up on them (Jeremiah 15:19, Amos 8:9, Joel 2).[29] 

 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying directly overhead[30], proclaiming with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe[31]to the earth dwellers because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!”

 God’s people are spared the following plagues, as happened with the later Egyptian plagues.[32]Since God’s people are spared, this is good reason to think that what follows has to do with spiritual judgment that will ‘pass over’ God’s faithful people sealed by the Lamb’s blood.   

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace[33]. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.  Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.[34] 

The “star” that John sees is an angel (20:1) with the key (3:7) to open the Abyss. The Abyss was believed by John’s audience to be the underworld prison of evil spirits.[35] 

 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree,[36] but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. Now the locusts[37] looked like horses equipped for battle.[38] On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces.  They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

Notice that the locusts don't do what no locusts normally do. They can't touch any green thing - or those who have the Seal of God upon their forehead. One assumes the threat is non-physical: for example, the devastation and famine of the soul (Amos 8:11-14).[39]  I favor the view that this describes demonic activity on earth.  

• “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…” (1 Timothy 4:1). 

•  “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit.” (Revelation 18:2)

• “The horses are men, and the riders are evil spirits.” (Primasius and Andrew of Caesarea, 500s)

• “A terrifying picture of demonic oppression.” (Orthodox Study Bible)

• “These locusts probably represent demons.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

• Demonic forces out of the abyss… [John uses] frogs to represent demonic powers in the recapitulation in Revelation 16:13. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: New Testament)

 This aligns with Christianity’s view of an active supernatural world that tries to influence, oppress, and even seek to take control of humanity to bend them away from God. John’s view of this is sobering. It sounds like he is showing a practical application of what Paul wrote: when you offer yourself as a slave, you are a slave of the one you obey. (Romans 6:16)

 The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things! Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God, saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” Then the four angels[40] who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity. The number of soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000; I heard their number.

The Euphrates was the boundary behind which enemies lurked. [41] It’s a physical image for a spiritual reality. The numerical background for this huge number is Daniel 7:10. It just means there’s a lot. A lot a lot.

 Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths. For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes/scorpions[42], having heads that inflict injuries. 

This invasion is often compared to the daunting Parthian army. See ‘through’ it. You think they are scary? The spiritual battle is worse.  

The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk about. Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.

INTERLUDE

An angel measures the temple, John eats a scroll that tastes good going down (this story ends well!) and then does not sit well at all (#birthpangs). Then two witnesses show up in a city for 3 ½ years, breathe fire on anyone who challenges them, get killed, then come back to life. 

MEASURING THE TEMPLE

Measuring the temple is best understood against the background of Ezekiel 40 – 48 in which measuring is associated with establishment and protection. Measuring suggests God's presence, which is guaranteed to be with the temple community living on Earth before the Lord's return.[43] But the angel didn’t measure the outer court of the temple. Short version: your soul will be safe, even if your skin is not.

THE TWO WITNESSES

• 2 lampstands, which are identified as churches in chapters 1 & 2,[44] have the powers of both Moses (law) and Elijah (prophet) and establish the truthfulness of the gospel message. (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16, Luke 10:1-24). 

• The three and a half years (Daniel’s “time, times, and half a time”) is from Christ's resurrection until His final coming.[45]

• The fire is God's judgment on the world’s sin through the spoken word of Scripture.[46] In Luke 9, the disciples wanted to copy Elijah by calling down fire upon some Samaritan villagers. Jesus rebuked them, but then sent out groups (of two) to declare the danger of judgment (and the good news of mercy) through the proclamation of the Gospel. 

• The great city where the bodies lie is the world: Rome is Sodom, Egypt, Babylon. It’s all the troublesome nations that have plagued God’s people in different ways. 

• The restoration to life is taken directly from the “dry bones” resurrection of Ezekiel 37:5 -10.[47] God’s church will not stay down.

• The people repent – or at least acknowledge the power of God, which might not be the same thing…[48]

The Seal Interlude: “You are sealed. Endure.” 

The Trumpet Interlude: “You are secure. Witness.” 

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God  with these words: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was[49], because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy[50] those who destroy the earth.” Then the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple.[51] And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

 This is still a “woe,” because the ‘woes’ are from the perspective of the world.  God’s reign means evil’s judgment. It’s not good news for everybody. 

However, The picture of God’s judgment here in Revelation shows a God who has been restraining the full, devastating consequence of the sin we have sown. It also shows a God who, when “our iniquities are full,” will no longer hold back the chaos from the abyss. He will give us the full experience of our masters. 

If paradise is being fully in the presence of the one we serve with all the blessings that follow, perhaps hell may be thought of as fully experiencing the presence of the one we have been serving (the dragon and his servants) with all its cursings.

Meanwhile, God sends warnings. There are not only little oasis or outposts of heaven that function as signposts for eternity with the Lamb; we find the same kind of signposts for an eternity with the Dragon. 

·      What we think will never fail, fails.

·      What we think will always provides, stops providing.

·      What once measured our success begins to measure our failure. 

·      What we thought filled us was actually consuming us.

·      What we thought was refreshing us becomes bitter and sickening.

·      What we thought brought flourishing brought destruction.

·      What we thought made life matter made life meaningless.

No matter who you think the witnesses are, their purpose is clear: with holiness, grace, and hope, faithfully preach and model the message of the Slain Lamb to all inside and outside church walls so that as many as possible may be delivered from the judgment to come. 

The witnesses are never promised a time of prosperity of wealth or independence or popularity or even freedom to practice our faith. What they are promised is that God’s grace will be sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9), and that the true church will rise from the ashes.

No matter what happens, I know this: We are called to be faithful witnesses to God in a sin-captured world.[52] Yes, this is daunting, but if you are committed Jesus, you are sealed. You have been claimed. 

For the true church, Revelation is sobering but also exciting: the cost may be high, but the end will be glorious. Revelation is supposed to bring hope. The king is returning. Evil will be undone. God’s originally good Earth will be renewed. Bear holy and faithful witness to it. [53]

___________________________________________________________________________

[1] Don’t sweat the time frame. It’s just a literary device that means it happened :)

[2] Habakkuk 2:20 -3:15; Zechariah 2:13 -3:2; Zephaniah 1:8 7-18

[3] “The smoke of the incense…shows that the petition of chapter 6:9 -10 is now being presented before God. Their petition for judgment has been found acceptable.” (Beale)

[4] “Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” is almost identical to the description of the last judgment in 11:19 and 16:18 as well as 4:5. (Beale) 

[5] Jewish tradition identifies seven angels who offer up the prayers of the saints as they enter before the glory of the Holy One (Tobit 12:15). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)

[6] “The primary perspective of the first five seals was on the trials to which believers must pass; now, the focus in the first six trumpet are on the judgment which unbelievers both inside and outside the church must endure.” (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary)  “In the first round, we were looking at the tribulation through the lens of the church. In round two, we see it from the vantage point of the world.” (Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation) 

[7] “Sometimes, God’s judgment in Revelation takes the form of imperial practices themselves, or the consequences of such practices. War, famine, pestilence, death, injustice in the marketplace, and rebellion are all…human evils rather than cosmic events… We would  be misguided not to see these also as divine punishment, similar to the snowball effect of sin unleashed in the world according to Paul in Rom 1:18-32. The question “human sin or divine punishment?” presupposes a false dichotomy and asks for an unnecessary choice; the answer is of course, ‘both’”. Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[8] “Third part is a rabbinism, expressing a considerable number. "When Rabbi Akiba prayed, wept, rent his garments, put of his shoes, and sat in the dust, the world was struck with a curse; and then the third part of the olives, the third part of the wheat, and the third part of the barley, was smitten.” (Adam Clarke)

[9] “Cosmic signs [are]symbols of the distress and disease generated by human evil. [This is] indirect divine judgment.” Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[10] Greg Beale notes that while we are told serious things about the ‘world’ collapsing under God’s judgment, physical symbols are meant to point us toward spiritual realities.

[11] Heisser points to Moyise’s Old Testament in Revelation to note the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8, 9, and a bit of 10 follow the themes of Joel 2-3 and Amos 1-2.

[12] Tyconius (370), Oecumenius (500s), Andrew of Caeserea (563) thought it might come through warfare. “The land was wasted; the trees-the chiefs of the nation, were destroyed; and the grass-the common people, slain, or carried into captivity.” (Adam Clarke)

[13] The redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb

[14] From Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation:

 Israelites in Egypt - Christians in Asia Minor/All of us   The people of God suffer oppression; God sends plagues to demonstrate his power/provoke repentance; repentance does not follow; God defeats the oppressor; God’s people praise the God who will reign forever; the ark of the covenant is present with God’s people

[15]  Michael Heisser notes, “Where do we get the nations and their gods to begin with? Genesis 11. Babylon.” And that’s the mountain that is about to be thrown into the sea…. 

[16] When Israel left Egypt, “a mixed multitude went up with them.” (Exodus 12:38) 

[17] “Mountain, in prophetic language, signifies a kingdom; Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:27; Jeremiah 51:30; Jeremiah 51:58. Great disorders… are represented by mountains being cast into the midst of the sea, Psalms 46:2. Seas and collections of waters mean peoples, as is shown in this book, Revelation 17:15. “(Adam Clarke) 

[18] A fourth of the earth was affected by the seal judgments; a third is now devastated by the trumpet judgments. There is a progression in intensity.

[19] Revelation14:1; 17:9; 21:10

[20] Isaiah 41:15, 42:15; Ezekiel 35; Zechariah 4:7

[21] Babylon’s judgment is as a stone thrown into the sea in Revelation 18:21 

[22] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[23] “Every shipmaster and all who sail anywhere and every sailor and as many as work on the sea... cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning... and they were weeping and mourning, saying ‘woe, woe, is the great city, through which all those who have ships in the sea became wealthy because of her wealth.’ ” (18:17–19) 

[24] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[25] Revered Jewish literature from around 200 BC. While not Scripture, it functioned as a commentary that was highly influential in shaping Jewish thought. 

[26] Heisser, from an episode on the Naked Bible podcast

[27] Parallel to Exodus 10:21–23.

[28] Early church fathers were inclined to see the celestial bodies as the church, and the darkness as the result of heretics dimming the light of Scripture.

[29] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[30] This eagle is in the “middle heaven,” the home of the sun, moon, planets, and stars (Revelation 14:6; 19:17).  It’s a place where all the world will see/hear.

[31] “Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab ... Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed.” (Jeremiah 48:40, 46).

[32] How do they do this? “‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

[33] The abyss in the Old Testament represents chaos. Here, the abyss seems to represent part of the spiritual world that is the home of evil that will be judged. That’s why it can be referred to as watery (chaos) and also fiery (judgment). 

[34] Many of the early church fathers were convinced this was about heretics, though a few chalked it up to demons… that were inspiring heretics. (All my notes on Early Church Fathers come from Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture.)

[35] Demons pleaded with Jesus to spare them the Abyss. (Luke 8:30–31)

[36] Once again a reminder this is imagery, as all the grass was already gone.

[37] Like horses prepared for battle: a conquering host. Gold-like crowns: authorized to rule in people’s lives. Human-appearing faces: creatures of intelligence. Hair like women’s: hair was considered seductive. Lion-like teeth: ferocious and cruel. Armor-like iron breastplates: difficult to attack and destroy, etc. (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[38] OT imagery. “They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry” (Joel 2:4). An army of locusts “has the teeth of a lion” (Joel 1:6) and make a noise “like that of chariots” (2:5). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[39] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[40] This seems to be a recapitulation of the 4 Horsemen.

[41] Heisser notes that beyond the Euphrates was the domain of Baal. The language of the Old Testament relates not just to the invading armies that Israel had to put up with, but also the idea that there are cosmic powers itching to invade.

[42] Jewish tradition held that in Sheol and Abaddon there were “angels of destruction,” who were in authority over thousands of scorpions (Heisser). Scorpions and serpents were associated in Old Testament and extra-biblical Jewish writings as metaphorical images for false teaching. (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary)

[43] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[44] Only two of the seven churches/lampstands remained faithful in Revelation 2-3: Smyrna and Philadelphia. Perhaps these two churches represent the faithful church. The whole world will see the two witnesses, which is understandable if they're a global church. That the witnesses are called trees comes from the vision of Zechariah in chapter 4. 

[45] Funny but true story: the Babylonian kings tried to predict what Daniel prophesied by doing the math of the 70 weeks. When nothing would happen in a literal 70 weeks, they would recount and try again…because the numbers were meant to be weighed, not counted.

[46] “I and making my words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.” (Jeremiah 5:14).  

[47] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[48] Compare to Egypt: “And the Egyptians will know that I am Yehovah when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” They knew and acknowledged, but that’s not the same as salvation.

[49] Ooh. No more “and is to come.” He has arrived! 

[50] Here’s another reason I tend to see most of God’s judgment in Revelation as God giving people over to themselves. The word here for ‘destroy’ is the same word ‘destroy’ at the end of the verse that they did to the earth! “’Diaphtheírō (from diá, ‘thoroughly,’ which intensifies phtheírō, ‘defile, corrupt) properly, thoroughly corrupt, totally degenerate (disintegrate); waste away by the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; ‘utterly corrupt’; becoming thoroughly disabled (morally depraved), ‘all the way through’ (‘utterly decayed’).” #windandwhirlwind (HELPS Word Studies)

[51] In the Old Testament, the ark was a sign of God’s presence. It was usually behind a veil, but here it is fully revealed and accessible to all. 

[52] Thanks to http://newlisbon.church/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Revelation-Workbook.pdf for some really helpful insights.

[53] How do we do this? Faith/trust/belief based on the person and work of Jesus; commitment that orients/prioritizes our life; lifestyle committed to holiness (set apart for God); words that speak truth righteously; consistent, conscientious witness.