Sabbath Rest (Hebrews 4:9-10)

Last week was about finding rest through the centering of our lives around God; today will be on establishing the principles and rhythms of Sabbath rest in our lives- which is actually about a lot more than just what we do with our Sabbath days. Let’s begin with the passages in the Old Testament that talk about the command to the Israelites to honor the Sabbath.  

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you….The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. (Exodus 31: 12-16)

 “Sabbath” is related to the Hebrew word for “rest.” It is the only one of the 10 Commandments given as a covenant sign. We see elsewhere in the Old Testament that covenants have signs, so that the sign of the Noahic covenant is the rainbow (Gen. 9:8–17) and the sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision (Gen. 17).[1] The observance of Sabbath was a constant re-honoring of the covenant between God and Israel.  It was an act of covenant renewal, a reminder and a refocusing on the God with whom they had a covenant. Resting wasn’t just personal renewal; it was relational renewal with God. 

The primary duty for observant Jews was to stop working on the Sabbath. Over time, the rabbis listed 39 categories of Sabbath work that was out of bounds.  This was an attempt to “put a fence around the Torah,” a well-intentioned effort to make sure they honored God as precisely and carefully as possible. See if this list makes you restful.  

• ripping up a piece of paper or sharpening a pencil was forbidden since it resembles “cutting to shape” or could be confused with it.[2]

• agreeing to buy something was prohibited, because most agreements are confirmed in “writing”

• climbing a tree is forbidden, because it may lead to breaking twigs or tearing leaves, which could be construed as “reaping” (i.e., separating part of a growing plant from its source)

• adding fresh water to a vase of cut flowers (“sowing” — any activity that causes or furthers plant growth).

• opening an umbrella or unfolding a screen (“building”).

• wearing eyeglasses not permanently required (“carrying” from private to public domain and vice versa).[3]

• you could carry on your property, but on public property you could only carry the clothes you needed to wear – even keys and handkerchiefs had to be left at home.

• they didn’t blow a temple shofar on when Rosh Hashana happened on the Sabbath. Sure, there was a shofar at the temple, but what if it got broken and someone had to carry one there to replace it?

• a Sabbath’s journey could be no longer than 2,000 cubits (3,000 feet) from one’s house. In some parts of Israel today, residents have been known to throw stones at those driving through their neighborhoods on Shabbat. However, they must set aside the stones for use on Shabbat.[4]

 There is some irony here: Sabbath was supposed to remind them how God freed them from bondage, and it turned into bondage to the Law.[5]  Which wasn’t the point at all.  Sabbath was made to bring us rest.  That doesn’t sound like rest.[6]

* * * * *

While it is the only commandment given as a covenant sign, it is also the only one referred to as a type pointing toward the True Sabbath. Many of the early church fathers compared Sabbath to the other covenant sign, circumcision: both were physical ways of enacting a covenant with God; both were now enacted spiritually in Christ.

“True circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. “(Romans 2:28-29)

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." (Colossians 2:16-18 ) 

“There still remains a place of rest, a true Sabbath, for the people of God because those who enter into salvation’s rest lay down their labors in the same way that God entered into a Sabbath rest from His.” (Hebrews 4:9-10)

Literal Sabbath Day rest functioned as important enactment of the spiritual rest in Christ. The seriousness with which the Old Testament treats the observance of Sabbath rest and the assumed continuance of it by the early converts sure seems to suggest there is a spiritual weight to this rhythm of purposeful rest that ought to order our lives.[7]

But Jesus pointed out that so many of the Pharisee’s laws were missing the point of Sabbath. Sabbath is for us. It had become a burden to keep, and it should not have been a burden. It should have been a blessing. 

"Sabbath isn't about resting perfectly; it's about resting in the One who is perfect." - Shelly Miller

Jesus didn’t un-command it, but – like all the times he said, “You have heard it said…but I say unto you,” he clarified that the heart of the command has something to do with the heart of the people keeping it.

One of the reasons Sunday rose in importance vs. Saturday in the early church had to do with the question of where we find rest in New Covenant enacted by Jesus.  

• In the Old Covenant, rest followed our work at the end of the week (Saturday) Once we had accomplished, we got a reward for what we did. 

•  In the New Covenant, it is only after resting in Christ’s completed work for us on the first day of the week (Sunday) that we even begin our work. Our rest comes not from what we did, but from what Jesus did.

The new covenant radically alters the Sabbath perspective. Current believers do not first labor six days, looking hopefully towards rest. Instead, they begin the week by rejoicing in the rest already accomplished by the cosmic event of Christ’s resurrection. Then they enter joyfully into their six days of labor. - O. Palmer Robertson, (slightly modified)

 “The Sabbath teaches us that we do not work to please God. Rather, we rest because God is already pleased with the work, he has accomplished in us.” A.J. Swoboda

I want to talk more about resting in God’s completed work in us by looking at some principles for observing and experiencing rest in Jesus as an ongoing experience, not just something we pursue one day a week. Let’s start with a verse we looked at last week.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”—Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Jesus and take His yoke.  “Take my yoke” was a common saying of rabbis. It meant, “If you are going to be a disciple, you must obey my teachings and follow my example.” If you want rest – deep, spiritual rest of the heart and soul - don’t pursue rest. Pursue Jesus. 

Learn about Jesus.  Rest is connected to trust. My cat sleeps on me without a care in the world because she trusts me. If you trust the driver, you can rest on a trip. I can bare my soul to my wife because I trust her. Rest is connected with trust. If you can’t seem to rest in Christ, learn more about a Savior you can trust. 

And you will find rest for your souls.  Is there a formula for how we can practically experience this rest (and I’m talking about soul rest that permeates every aspect of our life)? I am going to offer a couple ideas built from a list taken from some of Tim Keller’s writing on the Sabbath.

First, consciously enjoy[8] God and His good gifts. Practice acknowledgment of God throughout the day ( let’s call this “improving purposeful contact with God”). 

• Appreciate salvation, sanctification, grace, forgiveness, the fruit of the spirit, the love and faithfulness of God: basically the good and perfect gifts given to us by Jesus. 

• Celebrate the freedom Jesus offers from all kinds of slavery: slavery to sin, slavery to achieve, slavery to impress, slavery to earn, slavery to addictions of all kinds, slavery to your past, slavery to the gnawing need to be good enough to matter… 

• Consciously rest in the identity we have in Christ. We are loved children. We aren’t perfect children, but God’s love for us never depended on our perfection. It flowed from His.   

Second, do something that frees you from the tyranny of being amazing.  This has to do with organizing, building, creating, accomplishing, making a mark on the world, being noticed. The rabbis who created the fence understood the importance of getting out of the rhythm of the ‘rat race’, and into the rhythm of the Kingdom.  

"If we only stop when we are finished with all our work, we will never stop, because our work is never completely done... Sabbath ... liberates us from the need to be finished." —Wayne Muller

 It turns out that the world turns even when we take time off! (I know, right?) Israelites had to let their fields lie fallow every seventh year. (Leviticus 25:1–7). This stopped them from over farming.  They could enjoy whatever grew on its own.  You need time to make sure you don’t “overfarm” your life or your schedule; plan fallow time, and enjoy it. Consciously let God take care of the ‘being amazing’ part.  

• some meals can just be Ramen noodles and leftovers

• your house can be a mess when people come over

• your lawn doesn’t have to be immaculate all the time

• you can cry in front of others

• you can show up at church looking like you need a hug

• you can let your burdens show, and ask others to help you carry them. 

• you can let your guard down and let the real you show

• you can make mistakes, do dumb stuff, show up grumpy, post something you regret

• you can own your sin in front of God and others

•  you can go back and apologize (which, I know, means you were wrong in what you did or said or thought)

 You can’t be amazing all the time.  Jesus knows this – and friends, I hope we all do too. God forbid we use this as an excuse to be lazy, but God forbid we don’t rest in a Divine love that has covered a multitude of our sins and imperfections on the Cross.

Sabbath ceasing means to cease not only from work itself, but also from the need to accomplish and be productive, from the worry and tension that accompany our modern criterion of efficiency, from our efforts to be in control of our lives as if we were God, from our possessiveness and our enculturation, and, finally, from the humdrum and meaninglessness that result when life is pursued without the Lord at the center of it all. —Marva J. Dawn

When we are weak, the strength of God shines. His glory is perfected in our weakness. We don’t try to be weak so His glory can abound, but we rest in knowing that God uses our worst to point toward His best. 

Plan rhythms that lead to spiritual rest. Notice fear/worry/anxiety and invite the peace of Christ.  I don’t know what your schedule is. Sometimes we are at a place in life when we have time to stop everything and carve out chunks of time. Sometimes our days (or weeks or months) keep us hopping. 

·      I can breath a prayer in the checkout line instead of check my phone. 

·      I can listen to music in my truck that points me toward God. 

·      I can download a Bible App or get a short devotional book that orients my mind. 

·      For parents with young kids, bring ‘em to church when we offer stuff for kids and take some time to re-orient and rest.  Hmmm…I bet a ministry of babysitting would be deeply appreciated….

It is so easy to get swept up in life – it comes at us relentlessly at times. 

Paul summarized the solution this way:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

 Do something that refreshes you when you can. Hopefully, the things mentioned above do that. In addition, there are activities we (hopefully) have time and opportunity to do.  Enjoy things that are good and that you find beautiful, and thank God for it. I know what those things are for me: puzzles and podcasts; fishing; napping (is that recreation?), gardening, sitting by a fire pit and watching a sunset… I’m not sure what they are for you. I just think they involve enjoying God’s good world. 

Contribute to restful spaces in the community of the Kingdom.

In relationships, seek peace and as much as it is up to you, and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14) As much as is possible, live at peace with all. (Romans 12:18) Like Jesus said, peacemakers are blessed. (Matthew 5:9) Do not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21) Let the Lord who leads us into the Sabbath rest of salvation rule and reign your heart and mind such that those around us experience the peace God has given us. 

This is not a cowardly or weak position. Peacemaking can involve hard truth and bold confrontation at times – but it will never be absent the kind of Christ-centered agape love that motivates to be broken and spilled out as we work for the good of God’s image bearers and children. 

“I have come to think that the moment of giving the bread of Eucharist as gift is the quintessential center of the notion of Sabbath rest in Christian tradition. It is gift! We receive in gratitude. Imagine having a sacrament named “thanks”! We are on the receiving end, without accomplishment, achievement, or qualification. It is a gift, and we are grateful!” ― Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance

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[1] Circumcision was not unique to the Israelites, but the type of circumcision may have been. The Egyptians, for example, appear to have used circumcision as an act of initiation or rite of passage for boys entering manhood. Circumcision was an act of initiation; the style of circumcision showed what you had been initiated into. This may seem odd to us, but it made sense to everyone in the Ancient Near East. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/55911658.pdf

[2] https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shabbats-work-prohibition/

[3] https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shabbats-work-prohibition/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_on_Shabbat#cite_note-23

[5] “Anyone who cannot obey God's command to observe the Sabbath is a slave, even a self-imposed one. Your own heart, or our materialistic culture, or an exploitative organization, or all of the above, will be abusing you… Sabbath is therefore a declaration of our freedom. It means you are not a slave—not to your culture's expectations, your family's hopes, your medical school's demands, not even to your own insecurities. It is important that you learn to speak this truth to yourself with a note of triumph...” - Tim Keller

[6] “If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath…our accidents create Sabbath for us.”  ― Wayne Muller, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives He doesn’t mean that if you get sick or dangerously sloppy, it’s always because you dishonored God’s command to rest. His point is that our bodies need rest, and if we don’t set time aside for to rest our bodies (as best we can), our bodies keep score in some fashion. For me, it was a nervous breakdown. God didn’t smite me: my body needed rest that I wasn’t giving it. 

[7] “At least one day in every seven, pull off the road and park the car in the garage. Close the door to the toolshed and turn off the computer. Stay home, not because you are sick but because you are well. Talk someone you love into being well with you. Take a nap, a walk, and hour for lunch. Test the premise that you are worth more than you can produce – that even if you spent one whole day of being good for nothing you would still be precious in God’s sight. And when you get anxious because you are convinced that this is not so – remember that your own conviction is not required. This is a commandment. Your worth has already been established, even when you are not working. The purpose of the commandment is to woo you to the same truth.” —Barbara Brown Taylor

[8] https://tifwe.org/the-sabbath-and-your-work/ 

“Restlessness and Rest (Part1): Ecclesiastes"

I’ve been thinking about restlessness vs. rest since last Sunday. If John sees fit to make that contrast as a vision in Revelation of future hope or despair, it seems appropriate to consider the importance of both for our lives now. This is going take two sermons: today is about finding rest through the centering of our lives around God; next Sunday will be on establishing the principles and rhythms of Sabbath rest in our lives- which is actually about a lot more than just what we do with our Sabbath days.

We are going to talk about Solomon this morning. His wisdom and wealth was perhaps unparalleled in ancient times. He is responsible for three books in the Old Testament: The Song of Songs, written first; Proverbs, written second; and then Ecclesiastes, most likely written at a time his kingdom was crumbling around him due to the idolatry he had allowed in the land. And by the time he wrote Ecclesiastes,[1] he may have also been one of the most restless men on earth.

He is addressing a universal human condition.  What is the point of life?  How does one find meaning and purpose and hope in the midst of a world that can be very confusing? 

The Problem: Meaninglessness, or “Hebel” (1:1 – 1:11)

The Search for Meaning (1:12-6:12)

The Solution (7:1-12:14)

Ecclesiastes is not a smooth read.  Solomon focuses on particular ideas, then summarizes by giving short lists of principles that he wants to make sure the reader remembers (they read a lot like proverbs).  He goes back and forth a bit – just like real life.  I was reading this again thinking, “This reads like a journal in some ways.”  It seems to chronicle a journey, and it has to be understood in its entire context.  It’s not the kind of book that you necessarily want to pull individual verses from because, like David in Psalms, Solomon has some ups and downs here. So, I decided to write Ecclesiastes like a journal. 

Each entry summarizes the main thoughts of a section. In doing this, I consulted a number of different translations and commentaries to be sure I stayed true to the main ideas, though as you will see I added a little of my own tone here and there.  You may hear some pop song lyrics and bumper stickers.

It’s a chronicling of the search for meaning.  Not every entry is easy to read or hear; the book is not what I would call “inspirational,” but it’s honest, and its conclusion is true.  And it will help lay the foundation for the next couple weeks. 

King’s Log, Entry 1 (Ecclesiastes 1)

Okay, God, here we go. This is going to be very different from that Song I wrote about love, and the Proverbs I compiled.  I was younger then.  A lot of life has flowed under the bridge.  This time’s going to be tougher, but I am committed to being honest with you in what I write.  It’s not like anyone else is going to read it. 

Here is my opinion about life:  everything I see around me is meaningless, insignificant.  I see the vapor rising from the lake in the morning, and I think “That’s what life is like.”  It’s worthless. It’s….hebel.   Everything we do in life vaporizes like that mist under this hot, miserable sun.  We are like mice in a wheel; we run in circles for no apparent reason. I’m sure it’s entertaining to watch, but it’s pointless. All in all, it’s just another brick in my palace wall.   

Honestly, God, looking at the world you made doesn’t help.  The earth, the sun, the wind, the rivers - it’s just the same thing over and over again – the earth spins, the sun rises, the wind blows, the rivers run to the ocean. Then they do it again. Sure, it’s pretty, but it’s pointless. I don’t find this encouraging.  I am afraid that’s my life too – pretty but pointless.

“All things are wearisome…I’ve seen so many wonders, but all I think about is what I haven’t seen yet. I have heard so many things, but it just reminds me of all the things I haven’t heard yet.  There is nothing new under this blazing hot, predictable, futile sun.  Nobody even thinks about things that don’t happen to them right here, right now. When my friends die, we mourn for an hour and forget them.  Is that what’s waiting for me? 

HOW CAN I BE SIMULTANEOUSLY SO SELF-CENTERED AND SO UNSATISFIED? 

(I am thinking of a new bumper sticker for my chariot: “Hebel happens.” Or something like that.)

King’s Log, Entry 2 (Ecclesiastes 2)

Okay, I gave it my best shot.  I am really trying to find a way to make this life meaningful. 

You would not believe how much I studied.  I tried to learn as much as I could about as many things as I could find.  It was like chasing the wind.  I never quite caught it, and even if I would have, what’s the point?   

I hired all the best comedians, They were stupid. Nothing is funny anymore.  A man can walk into a bar only so many times.  Good humor is based in reality, and reality is hebel. (Have I said that already?)

Did I mention I drank a lot of wine?  And it wasn’t the cheap stuff in a box?  I didn’t just do it to get drunk. I tried to do it purposefully, as an experiment.  Nothin’.

I built a ton of stuff.  I had over 100,000 people working on just the temple and my palace.  I built vineyards and gardens and blah blah blah.  One day they will all crumble, thanks to that sun and rain I mentioned last time..

So I went shopping.  I bought everything I wanted.  Now, even the singing fish on my wall is getting old.

 I hired musicians and started Solomonpalooza.  It was boring.  There is only so much you can do with a harp and a zither.  And nobody had a bass player, so whom was I supposed to pay for the pizza?

So…I got some more wives.  If they looked good at all, I brought ‘em home.  I probably should not have done this when I was experimenting with the wine. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but they bored me too.  (I recently re-read that Song about love I wrote when I was a LOT younger, and I think I may have overstated my case). Bottom line? 

“ I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom was well known. All that my eyes desired I indulged in. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure... I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”   (Ecclesiastes 2:9-11)

(Bumper sticker idea; “He who dies with the least hebel wins.”  I hope people don’t mess with this one like they did with “Hebel  happens”.)

King Log, Entry 3 (Ecclesiastes 3-4)

I think I have nailed the problem: Everything is in flux, everything changes, and it’s unpredictable.  And I can’t stand unpredictability.

I understand you have to have change: One day you are born, one day you die.  One day you kill, one day you heal. One day you laugh, one day you mourn.  One day you war, one day you have peace. One day you marry, the next day you shop.  

There is a season for everything.  Fine. Why can’t I know what season is coming up, or why I just had the season I did? Is it too much to ask for a “heads up”?  I know my chariot has to break down….I know I’ll probably get sick from green figs…my wives and I will disagree…my son will one day want to be king…I just want to know when.  I want to be able to prepare. I WANT PREDICTABILITY!!!!!

God, in my clearer moments, I know you plan the right seasons of life for the right time – that predictability I complained about in nature makes that possible.  I get it.  I just wonder why you can’t show us what you have planned from the beginning to the end. The seasons of the year are predictable; why not life?

We’ve got tons of information directly from you about what seafood not to eat, and how not to yoke an ox with a donkey. Would it be too much to talk about life – specifically, my life - with me?  At this point, the best I can conclude is that people should be happy with what they have. It is what it is. My friends don’t have answers, and neither do politicians. No one can help anyone else understand what’s to come.

   I used to be  angry at how futile and unfair life is; now, I’m just a fatalist. 

(New T-shirt idea:  It will say, “I’m with hebel” and have arrows pointing all around.)

King’s Log, Entry 4 (Ecclesiastes 5)

I’ve been trying hard to find a way to live a meaningful life in spite of how I am feeling about everything.

Here is what I have seen to be good, to my best definition of good:  eating, drinking wine, and enjoying yourself during the few years of this brief life you have given us; as far as I can tell, this is our reward in this life.  If you allow people to have stuff, you must want them to enjoy it.  It’s a reward for hard work.  This isn’t a bad thing; it’s a gift from you. And since we can’t take it with us, we might as well enjoy it now. 

If we can just embrace what we are given, and focus our attention on what’s right in front of us, we won’t worry about what’s going to happen, or how long we have to live.

Maybe this is how you offset our ignorance about life.  You wants us to enjoy life, to seize the day and the things in it. For whatever reason, You can’t let us see everything you see – but you expect us to enjoy what we have.  Anything less would be…uncivilized. And let’s be honest, I kind of like this approach, because I have a lot :)

God, you give us a few unpredictable years. I’m still not happy about that “unpredictable,” but I’ll take the years and enjoy what I’ve got.  

(Wow, that T-shirt really tanked.  I’m thinking of another bumper sticker, “Life is like a box of fig dates – sweet.  Or rotten.  Eat em’ up anyway.”)

King’s Log, Entry 5 (Ecclesiastes 6)

I heard a guy say recently, “All a man’s labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied.” I get that now.  I was feeling good about my new embrace of life, but… how do I know what’s good for me during this lifetime, during the few years of this vaporous life?   I mean REALLY, truly good for me?  I have seized day after day, I’ve tried to enjoy what you have allowed me to have, and I still feel empty.  I feel this overwhelming guilt like I am still wasting something that is already so fleeting.  

I know you gave me something substantial – my life – and you gave me this new desire to maximize my days (whee!)…but I feel like I am wasting them because I don’t think I actually know what true enjoyment looks and feels like.  I am experiencing a shadow of the real thing.  I’m playing at the mud puddle when I should be at the ocean, but I don’t know where the ocean is.

Someone should write a song: “If it makes you happy, why are you so sad?”  

King’s Log, Entry #6 (Ecclesiastes 7)

Feeling a little better for this reason:  I believe I now know what it takes to focus me, to center me, to help me see life for the precious gift it is.  

 Feeling a little worse for this reason: I believe this new appreciation for life was found by looking into the face of adversity. I thought maximizing my personal happiness and trying to overlook the harshness of life would help me appreciate life, but it turns out that confronting the reality of death, and entering into mourning and sorrow  - these are  the  things that make us take life seriously. The more I grasp that one day life will end, the more I appreciate that the life I have has not. I tried to drown Hebel in pleasure.  Bad move. Maybe now I will starve it with pain.  (But even as I write that, I think I’m still missing the point). 

HOWEVER…. I also feel a little better for this reason:  I used to think you messed up the world, and that my disillusionment was your fault. Bad God!  But I have been reminded again that you made the world good; we messed it up.  I need to stop blaming you for something we did.  What’s the problem with the world?  We are.  Wait…I am.  The sickness is myself.  Oddly enough, that’s comforting.  I couldn’t fix you to my liking, and that was depressing. But you can fix me to your liking and to mine, and that’s not depressing at all J

King’s Log, Entry #7 (Ecclesiastes 8)

 Wow. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by what I see and hear as king.  Clearly I was right: we are the problem.  It weighs on me, but it also gives me perspective.  

I’ve seen evil people get away with a hundred atrocities and still live a long life.  That used to make me question your justice, but over time I have seen that the truly good life is reserved for those who fear you, and who aren’t ashamed to let people know. Evil people might live long, but that’s not the same as living well.  They fear things to – just not you – but that doesn’t make them better people at all.  Those who fear you build towering lives that cast a long shadow: people find shade and rest close to them.  

But the Others, the evil ones…they cast a small shadow, or no shadow at all. They are nothing, even if they think they are.  What they do and how they live is truly hebel, no matter how long their life lasts.

But those with the good life….hmmm…..  They live well – their reputation covers the land - because they fear you.  It’s not the work of adversity and pain in their life that casts this shadow; it’s not their enjoyment of the wealth you gave them either. This is different. There is nothing hebel about them.

I’m trying to understand how their fear of you nourishes them.  I don’t usually associate fear with well-being.  Honestly, I’ve been afraid of a lot of things, but never you.  I have been afraid of boredom, and loneliness, and emptiness, and poverty…but not of you.  None of those fears served me well, which is why I need some help on this one. 

I read somewhere “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Where was that again?  :)

King’s Log, Entry #8 (Ecclesiastes 9-10)

I want wisdom more than anything.     

 I’m struggling with the unpredictability of life again. I have looked everywhere, and I can’t figure what you are ultimately doing on this earth.  I have been having these great revelatory insights about you, I have learned to embrace the hard times and the good times, I have been getting a handle on “the good life” – I thought I was really doing well.   I’m back to the beginning again.  Back to the basics.  

    Premise 1: All of us will die (and pay taxes, one of those comedians said.)

    Premise 2: I can’t figure you out. 

    Premise 3:  I can’t figure life out.  

    Premise 4: If all the news I get in court is true, the swift don’t always win the race; the warriors don’t always win the battle; the wise and noble don’t always prosper; no one knows when they will die.  The deck is stacked; Time and Chance are the house, and the house always wins.   

   Conclusion:  Whatever I do, I’ll do it well until time and chance overtake me.  I’ll eat happily and drink cheerfully; clearly, if you bless me with stuff, you want me to enjoy it. I’ll dress up and put on cologne, and enjoy life with my spouse.  Spouses. (What was I thinking?!?!)  This is what I have worked for and earned. And if I can be wise instead of stupid, I will do even better.

 Life is fleeting and temporary, so I will enjoy it with gusto.  

This is the best I can do with the wisdom you have given me.  But you know what?  At one time that would have upset me, but it doesn’t anymore. Oddly enough (for me), I’m good with this.  I am content to know just this much.  It is enough.  If this is how God made this life to be, I accept it. 

King’s Log, Entry #8 (Ecclesiastes 11)

Sorry I haven’t written in a while.  I tend not to write when life is good.  After I “gave up” last time, something settled inside me.  I recently realized there have been a couple cool changes in me.

I don’t live in fear. I don’t understand the wind, but I still sail and do business on the seas.  I prepare for the unexpected  - I send boats out 8 different directions, so that if storms sink one, the other still go on. I don’t know when it will rain, but I don’t stop planting.  I just plant at different times. I don’t understand how babies are formed in the womb, but I still have children. I don’t understand how you work any better now than I did then, but that’s okay.  Wind, rain, and life are in better hands than mine.

 Life is sweet. I have finally stopped looking to this world to give my life meaning, and have started looking to God. I’m learning to appreciate the good years I have had, while not forgetting I had some bad years too – and I will have more of both. 

Nothing has fundamentally changed about the world.  I could still complain like I did before.  I have changed. And that makes all the difference, come hebel or high water. 

Kings Log, Entry #9 (Ecclesiastes 12)

 If I were to give the younger me some advice now, I think it would be this.

 Live boldly. You won't be young forever; your youth is fun, but it’s a vapor. Make the most of your youth and vitality. Be bold; go after good things. Don’t live in fear! But…. know also that at some point you will have to answer to God for every last bit of what you do, so make sure it’s truly good things you pursue, not just things that look good. Choose wisely.     

Fear God. Commit yourself to love, serve, and be in awe of Him while you are still have energy and enthusiasm. If you do this, you will live a meaningful life; the towering life you build will cast a long shadow. You will never fear anything else. You will not fear the future, or uncertainty, or loneliness, or poverty, or boredom. None of them can control you.

Revere God, because if you don’t, you will revere something else that does not deserve your worship.  If you revere God, you won’t put so much weight on fleeting pleasure to meet your needs, and you can avoid the addictions of overindulgence. If you revere God, trials and adversity will be trusted to him rather than hoarded inside as you turn cynical, bitter, and despairing.

Keep His commandments.  That which we fear and revere will control us, for better or worse.  God’s commandments are good and true (Thanks, Dad, for writing some good stuff on this in your psalms). The more they guide your life, the better off you will be. 

Serve God… Worship God… Obey His commands. 

It is here we find rest.  

* * * * * 

Remember how John described those who overcome in Revelation? They hold fast to the testimony of Jesus, and keep His commandments. There is rest in surrender and obedience to Jesus.  

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

______________________________________________________________________________

[1] The title means “one who addresses an assembly.” The word he uses for God is Elohim, which – more than other words he could have used- focused his audience on God as a Creator, and us as the created. Solomon is apparently wanting to address a wider audience than just the Jewish people.

An Interlude: Revelation 14

We are getting into the part of Revelation where your eschatology (view of the End Times) is going to have a big impact on how you interpret what is happening. I mentioned in Message+ last week that you are probably not going to hear me land on any one view. I’m going to try to get to the underlying truths that are present no matter the view. 

The Song of the 144,000

Then I looked, and here was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000, who had his name and his Father’s name[1] written on their foreheads.  I also heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.[2] 

Zion

• In Psalm 76  Zion symbolizes the defeat of God's enemies and the salvation of his people.

• Zion is the entire city of Jerusalem (Isaiah 4:3–4; 52:1–2) or the temple mount, considered the dwelling place of God 

• In Hebrews, Zion is viewed as a heavenly city where God, angels, and the church reside (12:22–23; also 2 Esdras 2:42), and Christ has begun his messianic reign (Psalm 2:6).[3]

• The 144,000 are destined for the celestial city with a wall of 144 cubits (21.16–17),[4]suggesting Zion here could be the church.[5]

 So is it a geographic location, a symbol for heavenly realities, the church? Sure - as long as the conclusion is that the crucified and resurrected Lamb is enthroned, and those who follow him repeat His victory over the dragon and the beast by following the commandments of God and holding fast to the testimony of Jesus 

Now the sound I heard was like that made by harpists playing their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

This is a new song of redemption[6] sung by those who have been redeemed.[7] It is a hymn to the Lamb (Christ) who has inaugurated the new age (see also 21:1, 5), rescuing people by his death so that they could participate in God’s purposes as ‘kings and priests’ in the world. No one else can sing it, not even the 4 living creatures and the elders: they aren’t human beings who have experienced the glorious redemption Jesus provides.  

[The 144,000] are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, and no lie was found on their lips; they are blameless.[8] 

The 144,000

Numbers in Revelation are weighed rather than counted; I suspect a lot of descriptions are the same – they should be treated as symbols rather than literal descriptions. Revelation is apocalyptic literature, and pretty much everything is an icon we click to take us to a deeper reality. 

• The 144,000 males were first introduced in Revelation 7:4 as "sons of Israel."[9]  We talked then about it being a census for the mustering of an army. A battle is going on in Revelation; these are the people who signed up.

• Taken literally, it’s 144,000 male virgins. So the ability to follow the Lamb wherever he goes would be limited to 144,000 men who have not had sex.  Since the Bible nowhere else suggests that having sex ruins the holiness of a person,[10] I’m going to opt for seeing this as a symbolic group. What does virginity symbolize?

• The 7 churches were not to cheat with Jezebel or "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes" (17:5), who "made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries"(14:8; compare 17:1-6). They have not defiled themselves through spiritual fornication. Paul once wrote, "I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him" (2 Corinthians 11:2).

• Communities are personified as women in Revelation: the church is a mother (chap. 12), Babylon is a prostitute (chap. 17), the church is a bride (chap. 21). Personifying redeemed individuals as male and redeemed communities as female says nothing about their actual gender. [11]

 So this group should be weighed. It’s a group of faithful followers of Jesus[12] who are the firstfruits…..

Firstfruits

“Firstfruits” point toward the much greater harvest to come (think of the first portions of the harvest given as an offering to God in Exodus 23:16 and Nehemiah 10:35, for example. A couple examples:

• Paul used ‘firstfruits’ to describe Israel as the spiritual root of the church (Rom. 11:16), as did James (1:18) and Jeremiah (2:3)[13] 

• Paul described his first converts in Asia and Achaia as the ‘firstfruits’ (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15)

• James said that God “gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18)

• “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” (1 Cor. 5: 20-23) 

 John presents the 144,000 as the first installment of redeemed humanity,[14] along with the "great multitude that no one could count" from 7:9-17.[15]  This is sometimes seen as those redeemed from Israel (the faithful remnant[16]), and then the multitude of Gentile converts. However you want to parse that out, it’s faithful followers of Jesus whose entrance into heaven is the beginning of a much greater harvest.

So far…. Jesus is enthroned; the faithful, the firstfruits of the redeemed, are having a glorious time. 

Three Angels and Three Messages

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel[17] to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!” 

A second angel followed the first, declaring: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city![18] She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.” 

 A third angel followed the first two, declaring in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.[19]   

And the smoke[20] from their torture will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.” 

This requires  the steadfast endurance of the saints—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus.  Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’” Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them.”

Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man! [21] He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!” So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.  Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe.” 

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth and tossed them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.[22]  Then the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles for a distance of almost 200 miles.[23]

Judgment

Those who drink Babylon's wine cup of idolatry will eventually drink the cup of God’s wrath.[24] Considering that during this time God’s people are called to “patient endurance,” and that later we will see this cup is filled with the blood of the martyrs, I tend to see the primary (though not only) reason for God’s anger as the killing of his children.[25]  Those who poured out the blood of His people will reap what they have sown; [26] “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”[27] What was planted will be harvested. 

Apparently – since this cup is unmixed - the cup of God’s wrath is usually diluted. I think (?) this means that throughout human history, God has diluted the full strength of judgment. He has not intervened as maximally as He justly could have: 

• Egypt (though idolatrous) could have avoided God’s anger and carried on if they hadn’t enslaved God’s people. 

• God could have destroyed violent Ninevah instead of warning them about the upcoming punishment for their violence.

• The nations Israel fought in Canaan had to have “their cups full” of evil doing before God brought judgment to them. 

Historically, God let cups get pretty full before people drank the wine of their own brewing. Eventually, “the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18). It’s grim. 

“thoroughly corrupt, totally degenerate; waste away by the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; utterly corrupt; becoming morally depraved all the way through’ (‘utterly decayed’).”  (HELPS Word Studies)

 As they did unto others, it will be done unto them. They corrupted others; they encouraged them toward depravity; they decayed them. God will make Babylon drink her own mixture, experienced as the wine of his wrath in retribution for her immoral deeds.[28]  [29] [30]  One of the most sobering things God can do is “give them over to themselves” (Romans 1).[31] We’ll see this later when the nations mourn that Babylon the Great has fallen even while they are the one tearing her apart.  

The wording of ‘those who worship the beast’ suggests not only that they worship the beast, but they “persist in worshipping him, even to the end. This characteristic is so strongly marked that they are here represented as keeping it even after their death."[32] Sometimes we get what we want - and it’s a terrible thing.[33] 

[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)”[34]

Now, to the bloody imagery. This was how people of that time consistently described times of judgment and death.

• Ancient descriptions of wars spoke of rivers flowing with blood. 

• Blood obstructed ships; trees dripped with gore dropped on them when satiated birds grew weary of feasting on corpses. 

•  In 1Enoch, sinners’ blood covers chariots; horses walk up to their chests in the blood. 

•  rabbis lamented horses drowning in blood and blood rolling huge boulders 40 miles out to the sea.[35] 

This passage says blood will stretch out for 200 miles - on a flat plain. It’s clearly not literal.  It is, however, devastating and final.

Fire and Smoke[36]

Throughout Revelation, fire has been a symbol of judgment: 1:14, 2:18, 3:18, 4:3, 8:5, 15:2, 19:12.[37]  The language is drawn from the description of the overthrow of the cities of the plain under the rain of brimstone and fire; cf. Gen. 19:24, 28; Isa. 34:9 f.; Jude 7.[38]  It also draws from Isaiah 34:9-10, the judgment of Edom:

Edom’s… dust will turn to brimstone, and the land will ignite with burning pitch. Edom’s fiery judgment will burn day and night for all time; the smoke from it will ascend forever.[39] For generations to come it will be a wasteland, and no person will make it their home ever again…When God measures the land, desolation will be its width and chaos will mark its length. (Isaiah 34)

Notice what the fire does and for what the smoke stands as a memorial: utter desolation and chaos (or emptiness, as some translations say). And this note of desolation, chaos and emptiness brings us to our final point.  

Rest vs. Restlessness (for their deeds will follow them)

In Revelation 6:11, the souls of the martyrs were told to "wait" (literally "rest") until their number was complete. In both passages those who die in Christ are said to be at rest, in contrast to the worshipers of the beast, for whom "there is no rest day or night" forever (14:11).[40] “Those who worship the beast and his image….have no rest day and night” is an almost verbatim repetition of how the cherubim worship God in heaven.[41]

While the Bible uses vivid imagery to describe hell as a place you don’t want to go and heaven as a place you do, the role of rest stands out to me in this particular passage. The Bible is thick with the discussion of rest.

•  Ex. 33:14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

• Jeremiah 6:16  “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.’”

• Psalm 116:7  “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”

• Jer. 31:25  “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

• Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.[42] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

• Matthew 12:43; Luke 11:24 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest[43] and does not find it.”

• 1 Corinthians 16: 17-18 “I rejoice at the coming of [a few dudes]; they have made up for your absence, for they have refreshed[44] my spirit and yours.”

• Philemon 1:7; 20  “Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed[45] the hearts of God’s people... Yes, brother, let me have some benefit and joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.”

• Hebrews 4:9-11  “There still remains a place of rest, a true Sabbath, for the people of God because those who enter into salvation’s rest lay down their labors in the same way that God entered into a Sabbath rest from His. So let us move forward to enter this rest, so that none of us fall into the kind of faithless disobedience that prevented them from entering.”

 If the righteous rest from their hard work because their deeds will follow them, then the unrighteous can’t rest, because their deeds have followed them also. 

“But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.” (Isaiah 57:20)

What if, in the next life, we have chosen a path to a place where our wants and needs and desires are never satisfied? What if we can never rest?  

• That affirmation we crave? Never happens. 

• That sense of self-worth? Eternally elusive. 

• The pleasure of actually feeling good enough? Never felt. 

• Rest from needing to earn the love or admiration of others? Failure after failure. 

• The desire to be seen and known? Not going to happen in a world of the relationally blind. 

• Moments of tranquility and peace? Ever elusive. 

• Being loved? Never. 

• The relentless, addictive nature of sin? Unrelenting. 

• The gnawing sense that there is another person who can make me happier than the one I am with, another job that will fulfill me, another house in which I will be happy, another vacation that will finally relax me…. “How much money does it take to make a man happy? Just one more dollar.” — John D. Rockefeller.

• The despair of hopelessness? Every present. 

• Every increasing cravings with ever diminishing returns? Constant.[46]

“Our heart is restless until it find its rest in thee.” – Augustine

That is in sharp contrast with those who have rest. The deeds that followed them were that they kept God’s commandments and clung to the testimony of Jesus.  There is a Someone standing between us and that curse. The trajectory of a life that finds its fulfillment in Christ in the end has already begun.  We find rest now when… 

• we accept that Jesus affirms our status as image bearers and children with dignity and worth. We don’t have to earn that; God has given us that

• we realize Jesus grounds our identity in Him as redeemed and made holy when Jesus gave us love simply because He loved us; we don’t have to be good enough to be loved; we are loved because God is good enough to love even us. 

• we accept that Jesus fully know us and fully loves us; nothing is hidden, yet grace is still offered

• we experience the peace of God keeping our hearts and minds in the storms of life; they may be hard, but we are never alone 

• we discover that Jesus is enough to satisfy us in the midst of our lack – his grace is sufficient for us even when stuff around us crumbles

• the light of the empty grave illuminates the darkness at the end of our despairing tunnels. 

 There will be a day – the ‘not yet’ -  when everything that we experienced in part we will experience in whole as we drink fully from the cup of the love of Jesus.  

 _______________________________________________________________________________

[1] The names written on the foreheads fulfills the promise given to the victors (3:12). 

[2] The sounds of judgment. We’ve heard this sound several times already in Revelation.

[3] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[4] NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[5] Orthodox Study Bible

[6] This song was sung in Chapter 5 also.

[7] Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[8] In contrast to the Beast and those who follow it, who spew lies.

[9] Well, not Dan, but Levi steps in to take Dan’s place. It’s complicated.

[10] See Song of Songs. Sex was God’s idea. He intends for it to be a wondrous thing within His design.  

[11] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[12] The Lamb was first seen as if "slain" or "slaughtered" (5:6), and to follow the Lamb wherever he goes is to be "slain" as he was and for his sake (6:9), [12] suggesting the 144,000 are martyrs (6:11). This seems to suggest (?) the song may be even more specific than simply the song of redeemed: it may be that those who have given their lives for the sake of their faith have had such a terrible experience on earth transformed into a uniquely glorious experience in heaven. 

[13] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[14] Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[15] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[16] Isaiah 10:20, Jeremiah 31:7, Micah 2:12 and Zephaniah 3:13

[17] Reminder: it was said that Augustus “was the beginning for the world of the good tidings (euangeliōn; gospel) that came by reason of him.” This directly challenges that claim notion: it is God who is the source of euangelion,not the emperor. The angel flying in mid-heaven seems to correspond with Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[18] “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great…” is from Isaiah 21:9, which adds, “and all the carved images of her gods [God] has shattered to the ground.” In Daniel 2, the kingdom made without hands is the kingdom of God that shatters the other kingdoms. This was inaugurated by Jesus. Its inevitable demise is now in progress. Again, this is the “already, but not yet” sort of thing that you see going on in the New Testament. (Michael Heisser)

[19] This suggests this is still part of temporal judgment rather than eternal. There is no other indication in Scripture that those in eternity with Jesus are aware of what is happening to those who are not. 

[20] In Chapter 7, the smoke is “the prayers of the saints.”  In Chapter 15, the temple is filled with the smoke of God’s glory and power. There is something about the smoke that is an icon for a message ‘behind’ the smoke. 

[21] “The language is derived from Dan. 7:13 (and Rev. 1:13).

[22] Wine was sometimes called the “blood of grapes” (Gen 49.11) NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[23] Writing against the background of America's own Civil War bloodbath, Julia Ward Howe captured something of the spirit of this graphic vision in her famous lines: “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.” IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[24] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[25] This would correlate with the Horsemen as being primarily (though not only) about what Christians will experience in terms of persecution.

[26] There is an ironic parallel between Christ (through his angels) treading the bloody winepress of God's wrath here, and Christ enduring God's wrath against sin on the cross by shedding his own blood. The further irony that both this judgment and the judgment of sin at Jesus' crucifixion took place outside the city (see Hebrews 13:12 and perhaps Mt 21:39) may well be intentional. IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[27] Matthew 26:52

[28] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[29] Joel located this final judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2), or Hinnom, which lies south of Jerusalem. This was the traditional valley of judgment in the Old Testament (Jer. 7:31–32; 19:5–6) that was the model for Gehenna seen in Jewish intertestamental literature (cf. 2 Esdras 7:36) and the New Testament (Matt. 5:22). Later traditions believed it to be the valley as the Kidron, east of Jerusalem. John places the location outside of the city of Babylon: basically, outside of the secular city in a broader sense. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[30] Yet the remark that the vintage was trodden outside the city may remind us of one who absorbed in His own person the judgment due to mankind, and did so outside the city (cf. Jn 19:20; Heb. 13:12)Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[31] “Revelation does not contain two competing Christologies and theologies—one of power and one of weakness—symbolized by the Lion and the Lamb, respectively. Revelation presents Christ as the Lion who reigns as the Lamb, not in spite of being the Lamb. This means also that Revelation presents God as the one who reigns through the Lamb, not in spite of the Lamb. All of this means that judgment by God/Christ in Revelation must be an expression of divine identity that is not in conflict with Lamb power. The judgment of the world originates in its failure to believe and be faithful to this God. When it creates its own deities, it suffers the natural consequences of deifying the non-divine. In this sense, judgment proceeds from the throne of God and from the Lamb (6:16–17) because the rejection of the divine gift of life carries with it inherent deadly consequences…when humans reject Lamb power they experience it as imperial disaster—disordered desire, death, and destruction. The first tidal wave of violent imagery expresses the apocalyptic insight that the world’s suffering is allowed by God, but is more fundamentally a result of sin. We would of course 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.” (From Reading Revelation Responsibly)

[32] Pulpit Commentary, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/revelation/14-11.htm. Check out C.S. Lewis’s book The Great Divorce for a novelized version of this idea.

[33] We may sow the wind, but who can stand the whirlwind? See Hosea 8:7

[34] “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

[35] NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[36] Smoke shows up everywhere: there are constantly smoky things rising to God. 

·      Smoke means the glory (greatness) of God (Revelation 15:8).

·      The smoke of the incense purified the prayers of the saints, ((Revelation 8:4)

·      A symbol of destruction (Revelation 9)

·      A sign of spiritual pollution (Revelation 9)

[37]  “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.” (Revelation 8) 

[38] Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[39] In the context of Edom, ‘forever’ either means ‘people will never forget this’ or ‘it stretched so high into the sky it looked like it went on forever.” Or both. 

[40] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[41] Revelation (Beale)

[42] HELPS Word-studies: 372 anápausis – inner rest (tranquility). “Rest, cessation from labor, refreshment.” 

[43] Ibid

[44] HELPS Word-studies 373  completing a process…" properly, to give (experience) rest after the needed task is completed; to pause (rest) "after precious toil and care."

[45] Ibid

[46] HT C.S. Lewis for that phrase

THE MARKS OF THE BEAST AND THE LAMB (Revelation 13)

 I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the blackness of the sea. On its horns hung ten crowns, and on its heads were inscribed blasphemous names.  This beast was like a leopard, its feet were like the claws of a bear, and its mouth was like the jaws of a lion.[1] 

The dragon bestowed it with his power and his throne and his great authority.  One of the beast’s heads appeared to have suffered a fatal blow,[2] but its mortal wound had somehow been healed. Amazed at the miracle and its power, all the earth followed the beast. 

  People worshiped the dragon because he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast because of its power. The Earth-dwellers said, “Who can like unto the beast?[3] Who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth that bellowed arrogant boasts and uttered great blasphemies, and it was permitted to do what it willed for 42 months.[4]  

 Its mouth opened with a stream of insults against God, blaspheming His name, cursing His dwelling and those who live in heaven. Also it received permission to declare war against the saints and conquer them. Not a single nation, people, language, or ethnicity could escape its dominion. 

 The inhabitants of the earth will worship it, that is, all those whose names have not been recorded before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. Let the person who is able to hear, listen carefully. “If someone is destined for captivity, a captive he will be. If someone is destined [to die] by the sword, by the sword he will die.”[5]

The beast from the sea:

•  Its body is an amalgamation of Daniel 7's beastly empires. It’s an “it”, a political/economic/religious power (1Jn 2:18, 22; 4:3).[6]  

•  It brings of persecution, deception, and idolatry to the entire world. The blasphemous names remind us of the titles of the emperors (e.g., "Savior" and "Lord"), or of those at Smyrna who had spoken against the lawful messianic claims of Jesus.[7]

• Its seven heads and ten horns (13:1) indicate the vastness of its totalitarian empire/culture with rulers and kings (17:9, 12).[8]

Eugene Boring writes:

[T]he beast is not merely “Rome” . . . It is the inhuman, anti-human arrogance of empire which has come to expression in Rome—but not only there . . . All who support the cultural religion, in or out of church, however Lamb-like they may appear, are agents of the beast. All propaganda that entices humanity to idolize human empire is an expression of this beastly power that wants to appear Lamb-like.”

The only sufficient conqueror of the beast and the dragon is the slain Lamb we met in chapters 4-5, together with his faithful saints (12:11; 19:19-21). The mortal wound of the beast[9] is the same thing that toppled the dragon: Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation (1:5; 5:9; 12:11; cf. Lk 10:17-24; 11:14-22; Jn 12:31-33; Col 2:15; also Ge 3:13ff.). 

While the dragon was cast out of heaven (D Day), he still has time and ability to wage war against followers of Jesus until V Day.  Similarly, the beastly empires have been dealt a fatal blow by the cross of Christ, but they still have time, ability and permission to wage war against the saints.  

As I watched, I saw a second beast, this one rising up from the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it was speaking with the voice of a dragon. This earth-beast exercises all of the authority given to it by the first beast, and it forces the earth and all its inhabitants to bow down and worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.  

And the earth-beast performs fantastic miracles. Like Elijah on Mount Carmel, it even causes fire to blaze down from heaven to earth for all to see. Since it is allowed to perform these miracles in the presence of the first beast, the earth-beast deceives the inhabitants of the earth, commanding them to make an image of the first beast that had survived the mortal wound inflicted by the sword.[10] 

  And the earth-beast was granted permission to breathe into the image and to animate it so that it could even speak. It decreed that those who refuse to worship the image of the first beast must be killed, and the earth-beast mandates that all humans must carry a mark on their right hands or foreheads: both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave. 

Those who do not carry this mark, that is, those who do not have the name of the first beast or the number representing its name inscribed on them, are not allowed to sell their wares or buy in the market. Here is divine wisdom: let anyone who understands these mysteries figure out the number of the beast because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

A second beast promotes worship of/allegiance to the beast.  The empire appears amazing: it becomes a source of hope; the empire dictates priorities; the empire establishes what the good life is and how it ought to be lived. This second beast is the propaganda machine (media, entertainment, education, politicians, industry heads, civic organizations… anything that promotes the agenda of the Empire.) 

It has a lamb-like appearance and the signs deceive people into false worship.[11] There’s at least a part of the false prophet/second beast that will look like home to Christians. It will be easy to compromise: “Yeah, but…look at those lamb-like horns!! I know, I know, it says dragony things, but…look at those little lamb horns!” 

John’s concern is theological more than political,[12] even thought the two are deeply intertwined. The big question is what kind of worshipful allegiance “marks” you. [13] For 2,000 years, there has been a danger that religious or political leaders will blend the Empire and the Cross into a civil religion that confuses allegiance to the state with allegiance to the Cross.[14]

* * * * * * * * * *

 THE BEAST/THE ANTICHRIST

A connection if often (though not always) made between the beast and other biblical references to the ‘anti-christ,’ though that term is not found in Revelation (it describes false teachers in 1 and 2 John). 

• The amalgamation of all the beastly images in Daniel identify an empire(s) that embodies the worst of all Israel’s enemies.

• The 2nd beast, the false prophet, is all the structures and systems of cultural propaganda. 

So far, this is about the evil in systems and worldviews. But Paul talked about a “Man of Lawlessness” (in 2 Thessalonians), and passages in Daniel talk about future kings, as if we ought to be watching out for a particular person or persons, an individual in whom this all comes together.

We have clearly seen the apocalyptic image of empires unfold throughout world history, though that certainly leaves room for a final empire that surpasses them all. Speculation swirls around the identity of a final global empire or global leader that will usher in the end of history.[15]

I want to offer some cautions about speculation.[16]

Have you seen pictures where things in the foreground are clear, while things in the background are blurry? Revelation intends to put Jesus in the foreground. Nothing else is intended to become a fixation. The point of Revelation is that even in the face of beasts and dragons, the outcome of the battle has already been decided because of the Lamb who was slain.  That’s the idea. We don’t want to overly focus on things John leaves blurry or make blurry those things on which John wants us to keep our focus. 

The second part of the caution comes from the track record of the church trying to decipher blurry things.  

The identity of the Beast/Antichrist has often reflected current fears points of tension.[17]

• To the early church, it was Roman rulers.[18]

• Hippolytus and Irenaeus thought it would be a Jewish false messiah, as did Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, and likely Augustine.[19]

• Protestant Reformers picked the Popes or the Catholic church.[20]

• American colonists chose King George III.

• Northerners saw the Antichrist in the slave-holding South, and Southerners in the abolitionists.

• It was Hitler in World War II, and Mussolini when facism rose.

• Cold War Christians suspected the Soviet Union/leaders. 

• Post-9/11, the Muslim world has become a favorite source (or someone promoting “Chrislam,” a charge leveled against Rick Warren that put him on the anti-christ list.[21]

• The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church recently warned the antichrist was whoever was behind the internet.[22]

• The other party’s president has always been a popular one here in the U.S. Here’s how this works with our last 3 presidents.

IS BARACK OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?[23]

• 6+6+6  Barack Hussein Obama (if you move the ‘n’ to join ‘Obama’, I guess); The day after he was elected, the winning Pick Three in his home zip code (60606) was 666.  6x6x6 = 216, and his birthday is the 216th day of the year; his birthplace, Honolulu, is at longitude 21.6. 

•  Luke 10:18 says, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lighting.” Since the Hebrew for “lighting” sounds like ‘Barack’, and the heights from which he falls sounds like ‘Obama’ in Hebrew, that verse should read, “I saw Satan like Barack Obama.” 

IS DONALD TRUMP THE ANTICHRIST?[24]

• The Trumps purchased 666 Fifth Avenue; Trump Tower is 666 feet tall; Trump's name equates to 666 in Jewish gematria, Trump won in 2016:  = 666+666+666+6+6+6.

• The Antichrist will come from among 7 tall “hills” that each act as a “head.” (Revelation 13:1, Ch. 17) #7trumptowers

• The Antichrist will give speeches where he speaks “great things” and then about things that are even “greater.” (Daniel 7:20) #maga

• The Antichrist will feud with the southern border nation. (Dan. 11:25)

• The Antichrist will survive a fatal wound (Revelation 13:3) #COVID-19 or impeachment

• Followers will wear a sign of their allegiance to him on their foreheads. (Revelation 13) #baseball caps

 IS JOE BIDEN THE ANTICHRIST?

Biden hasn't gotten as much press on this issue; there seems to be a general perception that an antichrist would have a much more commanding presence. Still, a very popular youtube presentation notes:

• Joe Biden in Hebrew is “Alas, judgment.”

• One kind of gematria comes up with 52, equal to Elijah (who announces the Messiah) and another kind with 24, making him comparable to David. The conclusion? Biden is going to play a role in the coming of the false Messiah. #notsurehowthosedotsgotconnected

This is not helpful or healthy. Fear-inducing speculation at times approaching slander is not what John intended to inspire with Revelation, which was intended to be “a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Neither the dragon nor the beast are the stars of the show. They shouldn’t be the focus of our obsessions.[25]

What would identifying them inspire us to do? Step up our spiritual game? Increase our fervor for those far from Christ? Increase our prayer life? Press us more deeply into the Word? Order our thoughts and steps more righteously? If all that should happen if we can identify the antichrist, why isn’t that happening now? John told us in his letters they  were already in the church. 

In the story of the Rich Man and Abraham[26], the rich man suffering in the afterlife begs Abraham to send a warning word to his relatives so they will change their ways. Abraham responds, “Moses and the Prophets warned them.” The Rich Man says that if someone returned from the dead and warned them, then they would listen. Moses’ response? “‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

I wonder if we have a desire to precisely identify the Beast/Antichrist because we believe that will focus us and get our house in order. Surely when the stakes are that high, we will live powerfully and righteously. 

I think we may be fooling ourselves. The stakes are already high. If we refuse to let that move us now, I am not so sure it would move us then.

* * * * * * * * * *

THE MARK OF THE BEAST (AND OF THE LAMB)

God once put a Name on the Israelites: [27]

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:  ‘The Lord bless you and keep you;  the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;  the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’  “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 26: 22-27)

It wasn’t literally inscribed; they were spiritually marked.[28] It represents ownership and loyalty.[29]  You see the equivalent for followers of the Lamb in the verses immediately following Revelation 13: 

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads… They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.”  (Rev. 14:1-4)

[30] Think of the “forehead” as the ideological commitment of the mind and the “hand” the practical outworking of that commitment.[31] The mark is a parody of the seal received by the 144,000. 

666

Every theory about 666 has a weakness.

• Gematria[32] identifies all kinds of people (usually Nero or Domitian), especially if you use variant spellings of their names. It can be used to identify just about anybody or anything if you work it right. 

• Writing less than one hundred years after John, Irenaeus had no idea to whom John was referring.[33] He didn’t even mention Nero as an option.[34] If anything, he was partial for the gematria favoring “titan,” semi-divine and kingly beings associated with Babylon that often represented power and oppression.[35]

• 666 is probably best understood as a parody of perfection, which would be 777.[36] It’s an unholy trinity of evil or the imitation or mockery of God rather than a cipher of a name.[37]

Like looking for the antichrist or predicting the end of the world, I’ve lived through a number of ideas already for the ‘mark’, none of which panned out: Social Security Numbers; Credit Cards;  Bar Codes, Taxes[38]

The mark is about ultimate allegiance, about ownership of our heart. It will be the thing(s) that mark us as an anti-Christ ambassador in the world. Could it be physical, like the paper received from the burning of incense to the emperor in order to do business in the 1st century? Sure. But note when John wrote in his letters of the antichrists in the church, and when he wrote of the synagogue and throne of Satan in the churches in Revelation, he reference no mark. It was association, allegiance, worship. 

When you compare those passages where the mark of the beast is discussed with passages like Rev. 7 and 14, it is plausible to think that the mark of the beast is most likely a sign that identifies you as something you already are… a person of the dragon.

 I say this because when you read Rev. 7:1-8 and 14:1 (where the mark of the Lamb is discussed), you’ll notice it is a mark given to God’s people, God’s servants, in order to identify them as such and, of course, to protect them. They get the mark of the Lamb because they are already united with the Lamb.[39]

It’s about who you are united with heart, soul, mind and strength.  

* * * * * * * * * *

Fortunately, Revelation has already told us how to live as people marked by The Lamb: 

• Hold fast to the testimony of Jesus (salvation/allegiance)

• Keep the commandments of God (discipleship/obedience)

• Follow the Lamb wherever He goes (endurance/faithfulness)

If you live this way, you need not need live in fear of any kind of mark or any kind of person or institution that is anti-Christ. This is how followers of the Lamb overcome all beasts and dragons.

 This is the Path of the Sealed[40] that will lead us safely home. 

_____________________________________________________________________________
[1] Daniel 7 references four beastly empires: Babylon, Medea, Persia, and Greece.  

#1 was like a lion with eagle’s wings; #2 was like a bear with three tusks ; #3 was like a leopard with four wings and four heads; #4 was strong and had iron teeth for devouring and crushing its victims. This beast (Greece) has ten horns, symbols of rulers who governed for Alexander the Great after his death. John sees a single beast that combines the characteristics of Daniel’s beasts.  #legoshakeup in Revelation 13. John’s readers would have recalled what Daniel had to say about beastly empires and their leaders.  

[2] The death/resurrection of one of the heads parodies that of the Lamb (5:6) and the two witnesses (11:7–11). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[3] “Who is like the beast?” is an allusion to Michael the Archangel, whose name means “Who is like God?” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[4] The beast’s reign is forty-two months, the same period the Gentiles are given to trample the holy city (11:2). This time frame is used exclusively for the period in which God’s enemies persecute and oppress his people. The beast’s persecution is a trampling on God’s temple, which is to be identified as his people and represented by the two witnesses. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[5] The pronouncement of the unidentified speaker—“If anyone is to go into captivity .... If anyone is to be killed with the sword”—is drawn from a dirge in which God described the judgment of disobedient Judah at the hands of the Babylonians (Jer. 15:2; cf. 43:11). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[6] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[7] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[8] The heads and horns seem to have correlation with the world at that time. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[9] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[10] Even as the two witnesses brought forth fire in the spirit of Elijah (see comments on 11:5), the second beast likewise produces fire. This power encounter is reminiscent of Moses’ confrontation with the Egyptian magicians (Ex. 7:10–8:19). Trickery was commonly practiced by sorcerers in antiquity, and special-effects machines producing thunder and lightning were used in theatrical productions. In fact, the emperor Gaius had a device “by which he gave answering peals when it thundered and sent return flashes when it lightened.” Yet John seems to regard this supernatural activity as genuine, although its source is demonic and not divine. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[11] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[12] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[13] In John's description of the beast, there are numerous parallels with Jesus that should alert us to the fact that John is seeking to establish, not a historical identification, but a theological characterization: 

·       Both wielded swords (2:12, 16; 13:10)

·       both had followers on whose foreheads were inscribed their names (13:16-14:1)

·       both had horns (5:6; 13:1)

·       both were slain (5:12; 13:3, 8)

·       both had arisen to new life and authority (1:18; 11:15-16; 13:3-4)

·       and both were given (by different authorities) power over every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, and over the kings of the earth (1:5; 7:9; 13:7; 17:12). Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[14] This requires several myths to be treated as if they were true.

a.   a “myth of righteousness” that  sets values of the Empire on par with the values of the Kingdom (in which both are seen as part of the euangelion, the good news of God’s plan for the world).

b.   a “myth of greatness” as defined by the standards of Babylon and Rome: financial, political, and/or military strength as the markers of success. 

c.   a “myth of innocence” that sees the power, prosperity, and peace of the (apparently) righteous and great Empire as achieved by and sustained by thoroughly righteous means and people. 

d.   a “myth of worthiness” that demands an appreciation of and allegiance to the state as a profoundly moral responsibility for Christians. (from Reading Revelation Responsibly)

[15] “Satan does not know when Jesus will return (Mark 13:30) and must always have an antichrist in waiting. Because neither we nor Satan know the time of the end, all such antichrists are experienced as antichrists, but what will finally indicate that we have witnessed the final Antichrist will be Jesus’ return to wipe him out.” https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast

[16] “As always in the area of prophecy, there are a variety of views. The older historicist approach usually identified the beast (“out of the sea”) as the Roman emperor, while the second beast (“out of the land”) of Revelation 13, together with the false prophet of that chapter, were associated with the papacy. The man of sin was also the pope, for he sat in the temple (the church) and exalted himself. Modern futurism links the man of sin and the beast, and says that this is a man who will arise in the future just before Christ returns. He will be the false Christ, the antichrist, and will unite the world in a new tower of Babel against the remnant of the faithful. Preterists usually see 666 as a symbol for the name “Nero Caesar,” and thus they identify the beast as Nero, while the second beast and false prophet are identified with the Sanhedrin and Judaizers who sought to stamp out the early church. The man of sin is taken by some to be Nero, and by others identified as the high priest, who literally sat in the temple and opposed Christ. Modern futurism tends to have a very political understanding of this figure. Beast/antichrist/man of sin is a world leader, not an ecclesiastical opponent of the faithful. The older views (preterist and historicist) focus attention more on the church. The greatest enemies of the faith, they say, are in the church, as the serpent was in the Garden.” https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/who-is-the-antichrist

[17] “How The Antichrist Reflects An Era’s Anxiety.” https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-02/how-antichrist-reflects-eras-anxieties

[18] “Thomas Aquinas points out in his Summa Theologiae that the early Christians thought they were living in the “end times” and that the Antichrist was near, if not already there in the form of the Roman Emperors.[I]t is impossible to fix what amount of such calamities will immediately precede the judgment day or the coming of Antichrist, since even at the time of the Early Church persecutions were so bitter, and the corruptions of error were so numerous, that some looked forward to the coming of Antichrist as being near or imminent.” https://aleteia.org/2021/11/18/who-is-the-antichrist-in-catholic-church-teaching/

[19]https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=pretrib_arch

[20] Martin Luther(1483-1546) was convinced that he was living in the last days. For him, the Pope fitted all the criteria for the Antichrist. The Pope, he declared, “is the true end times Antichrist who has raised himself over and set himself against Christ”. https://theconversation.com/five-things-to-know-about-the-antichrist-148172.  “As John Foxe (author of the Book of Martyrs) pointed out, it was obvious that 666 added up to A MAN OF ROME.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/apr/05/who-is-the-antichrist-obama-satan

[21] https://www.beliefnet.com/news/home-page-news-and-views/rick-warren-and-chrislam.aspx

[22] https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-46794556

[23] Got these sample from an online source I don’t want to honor by mentioning by name.

[24] To give you an idea of the kind of argument made, I’ll pull from another article that was pointing that prophecy can be manipulated to make it apply to just about anyone we want to if we are creative enough:

[25] https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

[26] Luke 16

[27] Naked Bible Podcast Episode 383: Revelation 13 

[28] In the OT God told Israel that the Torah was to be “as a sign on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead” in order to remind them continually of their commitment and loyalty to God (Exod. 13:9; so also Exod. 13:16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18). This was done with phylacteries (leather pouches) containing portions of the Torah. (Beale and McDonough) The mark of the beast is a perversion of this custom: most phylacteries were worn on the left hand; the mark is on the forehead, not over.

[29] “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:3) They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Rev. 9:4)

“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion, stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” (Rev. 14:1) “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Rev. 22:4)

[30] Two marks on the righteous and sinners are  described in the Second Temple writing Psalms of Solomon (14:6, 9.)Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[31] Micheal Heisser notes this passage from Psalms of Solomon 15:9-11 (Second Temple Jewish literature): For they will flee from the holy ones like those pursued in battle, and they will pursue and capture sinners; and those who do lawlessness will not escape the judgment of the Lord; they will be captured as if by experienced warriors. For the sign of destruction is upon their forehead. And the inheritance of the sinners is destruction and darkness, and their lawless acts will pursue them to Hades below.”

[32] Examples of gematria have been found in graffiti at Pompeii (c. a.d. 79). One reads, “Amerimnus thought upon his lady Harmonia for good. The number of her honorable name is 45 (me),” while another states, “I love her whose number is 545 (phme).” After Nero murdered his mother in 59, a Greek verse circulated around Rome lampooning the emperor: “Nero, Orestes, Alcmeon their mothers slew/A calculation new. Nero his mother slew.” The name Nero is the numerical equivalent of 1005 in Greek, the same as the phrase “his mother slew.” Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[33] Orthodox Study Bible

[34] Irenaeus best guesses were “Teitan,” the mythological Titans who rebelled against the gods, or “Lateinos,” the Roman empire. Irenaeus records that a variant, 616, was already known in some versions. Could John’s audience have known the identity of the beast? Probably so, otherwise John would not have encouraged the Asian believers to calculate the beast’s number. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[35] Pop culture reference: Marvel’s The Eternals has some Titans in it (Gilgamesh).

[36] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[37] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[38] The concern that the COVID vaccine is the mark will fall to the wayside like the others when COVID is past. Really excellent article here: “The Covid Vaccine has 666 Written All Over It…and Why that Doesn’t Matter According to Revelation.”

 http://academiclogos.wpengine.com/the-covid-vaccine-has-666-written-all-over-it-and-why-that-doesnt-matter-according-to-revelation/

[39] https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

[40] “Revelation allows for no divided allegiance: We must decide between God and the world and between what each side values. Yet we cannot read this passage’s warning properly without also grasping the rest of the book: Every Babylon of the past has fallen, and so will every empire that oppresses us (18:2; 19:2). The future belongs not to Babylon but to the faithful, whose home is the Jerusalem to come (21:2–8).” https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast

Realms Seen and Unseen (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 Peter 5:8-9)

C. S. Lewis once wrote, 

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."

In Message+ last week, we jumped right into a discussion of what it looks like to do spiritual warfare against evil. 

•  Chapter 8’s trumpets had revealed that the dragon’s demonic servants are at work in the world. 

• The 7 letters talked about Satan’s synagogue, throne, and secrets. 

• Chapter 13 ended with the idea that we crush the dragon and his forces by keeping God’s commandments and clinging to Jesus. 

Yet, as some of you noted, there are many other places in Scripture that also talk about other ways in which we do battle against the forces and presence of evil. So let’s talk first about what the Bible unveils about spiritual realities in the unseen realm around us, and second about the ways the Bible shows Christians fighting this spiritual battle.  

First, Christianity teaches a multi-dimensional universe. That is, we are dualists. We believe there are two parts to reality: the physical (or material) and the spiritual (or immaterial).  Some worldviews are monistic – that is, they think the ‘furniture of the universe’ is either all material or all immaterial, but the Judeo/Christian worldview rejects that notion. There are two dimensions that overlap, usually invisibly but sometimes in a way that can be seen. This is the biblical nature of reality. 

Just like the seen realm, the unseen realm is populated with beings.  The Old Testament uses language of structure, organization, even courts and forms of government in this realm. Whether this is a down-the-line literal reality or God’s way of using language to help us understand how things work behind the scenes, it’s an inhabited and ordered world.  

At the time the Bible was written, every culture took this for granted. You do not see the Bible taking the time to argue, for example, that God or gods existed. There was no need to convince anyone in the world of that outside of a few sporadic philosophers.[1] 

Homer (in The Iliad) illustrated another very common belief: there was a class of lesser divinities, intermediate beings between the gods and humans called demons (in Greek), which by the time of Jesus were acknowledged even by the Greeks to be bad news. Some philosophers had even begun to argue that they had gotten the Pantheon wrong: there was no way ‘gods’ would be that bad. They must be worshipping demons mistakenly. More on what Paul has to say about that later….

The notion that there was a ‘divine council’ in the heavens was everywhere in Ancient Near East cultures, including Israel. That Yahweh was The Lord of lords, The King of kings and Most High suggested lords, and kings, and beings lower than God but higher than us. The Old Testament is quite comfortable with this. There is a key distinction that drew a sharp line between God’s people and the surrounding cultures: there is only one truly Divine Being, one True God, One Creator, etc. Yahweh was in a category of his own.  No one was like Him. However, a realm of angels both true and fallen, populated with other beings that went by various names was all part of the furniture of the biblical universe. 

As you might expect, people were eager to be on the good side of these beings or recruit them to their side. TONS of literature has survived from the ancient world that references incantations, amulets, spells, wards…anything to use, control or tame this unseen realm.  When God tells his people not to use sorcery or witchcraft to pursue magical powers through contact with or attempted control of these spirits (e.g., Dt 18:10–12)[2] he is probably talking about that kind of thing.  

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.”[3]

Most of the origin story to these beings is missing from the Biblical text. However, we know a few things.

• They must have been created, as only God is Uncreated.

• God gives them tasks, assignments, and responsibilities. Much like the first humans were given things to do as stewards of God’s physical world, these beings are apparently intended to be stewards of God’s spiritual world.[4]

• Some chose to rebel against God and His plan and fell, and others stayed loyal.[5] The good are the servants of God; the evil are hostile to his government and plan. [6]

• The one behind those who fell is Revelation’s dragon: the Satan, called by many different titles in the Bible. 

• A war has been and is being waged in the unseen realm that spills  over into the seen realm. We have been recruited into it, like it or not. 

 One of the main tools of those beings hostile to God’s government appears to be deception that leads people away from the true God and toward idolatry and the lifestyle that followed.  

“They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.” (Deuteronomy 32:17)

"They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood." (Psalm 106:37-38)

By the time Jesus arrived, Jewish tradition had a robust body of literature about demons (bad) and angels (good) and how they worked in the world. Think of it as constant commentary being written that filled in the biblical blanks. A lot of the way we think about the unseen realm can be traced back to this more than to simply Scripture.[7] It doesn’t mean those traditions are necessarily wrong, but they are commentary rather than Scripture. 

The NT gospels contain fifty-three references to "daimonia" (going back to Homer’s words in the Iliad). Think of our word “pandemonium.” It comes from that root word. Chaos is everywhere. Luke uses "pneuma ponera" (evil spirit) or "pneuma akatharta" (unclean spirit), which is pretty much the same thing. [8] Angels make 18 appearances in the NT.[9] I suspect there is less said because there was no need to warn about those :)

The human desire to worship these beings remained. Paul echoes the Old Testament:

Therefore, my beloved, stop the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread…  

What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.  You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Cor. 10: 14.-22)

Once again, the primary tool seems to be deception, and concerted effort to pull people into a different kingdom with a different Lord. The churches in Revelation that wrestled with “Satan’s throne” and the synagogue of Satan? False teachers. It’s a pattern of concern in the New Testament.[10]  More often than not, we fight by embracing truth: walking in the light ( 1 Jo 1:5-7 ), putting off of the old and joyful putting on the new ( Eph 4:22-29: Col 1:13 ), being transformed ( 2 Cor 5:17 ) as we grow into the full measure of the stature of Christ ( Eph 4:14-16 ).[11] Those are our primary weapons, as we will see when we finish with Ephesians 6.

The New Testament also talks about “demonization,” a catch-all term that covers the influence of demons on the lives of people. Over the centuries, the church has developed lots of language and categories to describe how this might play out differently depending on the level of demonization, but the NT word is much more basic. It just means demons are influencing or manipulating people to varying degrees.[12]

When Jesus is establishing his power and authority over everything, especially over things the people feared, he has what some have called “power encounters” with the demonic. We see this several different times in his ministry. We are not told how these people got demonized, or why. We are just told that they are, and then Jesus frees them. 

The book of Acts only has three incidents involving evil spirits: the fortune-telling slave girl of Philippi (Acts 16:9-21), Simon of Samaria (Acts 8:5-24), and the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:11-17). 

It’s recognized as part of reality, and the incidents recorded seem to serve the purpose of establish Jesus’ power and authority. The point wasn’t to go demon hunting or find one behind every tree; the point is that Jesus is stronger than anything you will encounter.[13] 

As the early church unfolded, this kind of spiritual reality remained part of the ‘furniture’ of the church.  This link[14] will give a ton of info from the first several centuries, as will the summary and the last few pages of your notes.  It was just assumed by all to be a part of ongoing life in the Kingdom of God.  

This kind of confrontation of spirits eventually worked its way into all kinds of ceremonies, beginning to border on the kind of superstition if not outright attempts at magic (especially in the Western church) warned about in the Old Testament.  

Part of what the Reformation challenged was the sense that Catholic ceremonies and rites had become superstition and magic rather than a legitimate, Christ-centered exercise of God’s authority over the spiritual powers of darkness. Like other areas of the Catholic church, their desire was primarily to reform it, though for many it looked so ugly they rejected it all together.[15] 

Over time, there has been an ebb and flow to how different church branches and denominations in different times and places have handled this supernatural element. Many maintained teaching and structure for ‘power encounters’ throughout their existence (Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican); many of the Reformers put it on a back burner. though there is record of ongoing acknowledgment that strange things from the unseen realm intersected with ours. The renewed interest in the 70s of ‘spiritual warfare’ in the U.S. felt new, but it really just connected us with the broader church experience historically and globally.

* * * *

So that brings us to three key passages looking at what the Bible has to say about doing battle in the unseen realm.  

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) 

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

 So what is spiritual warfare based on these passages of Scripture?

• the tensions, the conflicts, the ethical options, and the worldview choices which Christians must face

• the spiritual conflict between those who inhabit and/or serve the heavenly and demonic kingdoms

• the fight for truth

Since I talked last week about doing battle by keeping God’s commandments (that’s ‘worldview choices’) and holding to the testimony of Jesus (‘fight for truth’), let’s chat about the spiritual conflict in light of these beings around us. Hollywood can fill our heads with craziness; some Christian practices and teaching go beyond what Scripture in describing what must be happening in the unseen realm and how it must be influencing us and here’s the only way to deal with it… It can become frightening, confusing and overwhelming, none of which should follow when reading Scripture on this issue.

· Don’t ignore it. It’s real, and it’s happening. “There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” (C. S. Lewis). 

· Don’t be afraid. Nothing the Bible tells you about this realm is meant to make you scared. It’s meant to have you be sober-minded and on guard. 

· Pray a lot - “...without ceasing...” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ) and “...on all occasions...”  (Ephesians 6:18)

· Don’t learn more about evil than about good. (“Whatever things are good...pure...of good report...think on these things.”  Philippians 4:8)

· Study the Bible. Jesus quoted Scripture when tempted by Satan - Matthew 4.

· Don’t crave a glimpse into the unseen realm.. People have told me they think it would be neat to see a deliverance because they want to see the demonic manifest.  That’s a terrible reason. Don’t be fascinated by evil. 

· Keep the commandments of God and trust his testimony. That was our Revelation 13 reminder last week. 

Ephesians 6:11-19

 “Take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the deceit of the devil… take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

· the belt of  truth   biblical accuracy; certainty, sincerity

· the breastplate of righteousness   Moral uprightness, justice

· feet laced with the gospel of peace   shalom; harmony; wholeness

· the shield of faith[16], with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one trust; loyalty; reliance

· the helmet of salvation   deliverance; preservation

· the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

· And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers...” 

And pray for me, that words may be given to me when I open my mouth, to proclaim boldly the mystery of the good news [of salvation].”

____________________________________________ 

NOTES FROM CHURCH HISTORY ON THE UNSEEN REALM 

• Justin Martyr (ca. 160 A.D.): “For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served… For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judæa, they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of His suffering” (Dialogue, 30,3). “He (Christ) said, “I give unto you power to tread on serpents, and on scorpions… and on all the might of the enemy”. And now we, who believe on our Lord Jesus, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, when we exorcise all demons and evil spirits, have them subjected to us (Dialogue 76,6).

• Irenaeus’ (130 - 202) writings include evidence of a Church community actively gathering, praying, and fasting to bring about the raising of a dead member to life.

• Theophilus of Antioch (ca. 180 A.D.) said the Greek poets were inspired by demons. “This is clearly evidenced by the fact that even today demons are exorcised from possessed in the name of the true God, and then the deceiving spirits confess themselves that they are the demons who once worked in the poets…” (Ad Autolycum II,8).

• Cyprian, bishop of Carthage (210-258), was the first to establish an order of exorcists.

• In Hippolytus’ (170-235) conditions for admission for those who want to follow the baptismal instruction we read the following, “If anybody has a demon, then let him not hear the Word from the teacher before he has been cleansed (Apostolic Tradition 16,8). “From the day that they (who are to be baptized) are elected, let there be laying on of hands with exorcism every day. When the day of baptism approaches, let the bishop perform exorcism on each one of them, so that he may be certain that the baptizand is clean. But if there is anybody who is not clean, he should be set aside because he did not hear the instruction with faith. For the alien spirit remained with him.” (Apostolic Tradition, 20,3).

• Tertullian (155-220) marveled of demons that, “at a touch, a breath from us…and they leave the bodies of men at our command.” He tells about a Christian woman who went to the theatre (where people slaughtered and maimed one another as entertainment for the masses) and came back possessed. “In the outcasting, accordingly, when the unclean creature was upbraided with having dared to attack a believer, he firmly replied, “And in truth I did it most righteously, for I found her in my domain””(De spectaculis, 26).

• Origen (184-253): The critic of Christianity, Celsus (ca. 175 A.D.), “asserts that it is by the names of certain demons, and by the use of incantations, that the Christians appear to be possessed of power”. Origen continues, “Hinting, I suppose, at the practices of those who expel evil spirits by incantatons. And here he mainfestly appears to malign the gospel. For it is not by incantations that Christians seem to prevail (over evil spirits), but by the name of Jesus, accompanied by the announcement of the narratives which relate to him; for the repetition of these has frequently been the means of driving demons out of men, especially when those who repeated them did so in a sound and genuinely believing spirit. (Contra Celsum I,6). “If then the Pythian priestess is beside herself when she prophesies, what spirit must that be which fills her mind and clouds her judgment with darkness, unless it be of the same order with those demons which many Christians cast out of persons possessed with them? And this, we may observe, they do without the use of any curious magic, or incantations, but merely by prayer and simple adjurations which the plainest person can use. Because for the most part it is unlettered persons who perform this work: thus making manifest the grace which is in the word of Christ, and the despicable weakness of demons, which, in order to be overcome and driven out of the bodies and souls of men, do not require the power and wisdom of those who are mighty in argument, and most learned in matters of faith” (Contra Celsum, VII,4). (11)

Athanasius (292-373) “And how does it happen, if he is not risen, but is dead, that he expels the false gods who by the unbelievers are said to live, and the demons whom they worship, and persecute and destroy them? For where Christ is mentioned, and faith in him, all idolatry is eradicated, all demonic deceit is revealed, and no demon even tolerates that the name is mentioned, but hurries to flee, as it hears it mentioned. This is not the work of a dead man, but a living and first and foremost God” (Der incarnatione verbi, 32). “It is clear that if Christ were dead, then he would not expel the demons…, for the demons would not obey one who is dead. But when they obviously are chased away at the use of his name, then it should be clear that he is not dead, especially because the demons who see the things that are not visible for humans – should know it if Christ is dead. Then they would simply deny him obedience. But now the demons see exactly what the ungodly do not believe; that he is God, and therefore they flee and fall down for him and say that which they also said when he was in the body, “We know who you are, you the Holy One of God” (De incarnatione verbi, 32). 

Lactantius’ (250-325) observed that demons fear Christ but not Jupiter, since Jupiter is “one of them.”

Eusebius of Caesarea, the “Father of Church History” (260-340) records exorcisms and healings of the time and is one of the first leaders to exhort against the use of amulets for these purposes.

Saint Ambrose (339-397) described his personal experience with laying on of hands to produce healings or exorcisms.

Saints Jerome (347-420) and Basil (330-379) both note that while medical care is important, it must be stressed that “physicians labor in vain without God’s aid.” This positive impression likely led to the copying and preservation of ancient medical writings by monks, especially the works of Galen. In turn, the combined forces of faith and medicine led to the establishment of the first hospitals, including Saint Basil of Caesarea’s in Cappadocia in the late fourth century.[i]

 _________________________________________________________________________

[1] Christians were called atheists at one point because they didn’t believe in enough gods, but it was really unusual to find an atheist who didn’t believe in any gods.  

[2] https://www.olivetree.com/blog/demons-in-the-bible/

[3] Wikipedia, of all place, does a nice summary footnoted well. “‘The Old Testament description of the "divine assembly" all suggest that this metaphor for the organization of the divine world was consistent with that of Mesopotamia and Canaan. One difference, however, should be noted. In the Old Testament, the identities of the members of the assembly are far more obscure than those found in other descriptions of these groups, as in their polytheistic environment. Israelite writers sought to express both the uniqueness and the superiority of their God Yahweh.’ The Book of Psalms (Psalm 82:1), states "God (Elohim) stands in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods (elohim)." Later in this Psalm, the word "gods" is used (in the KJV): Psalm 82:6 – "I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High." Instead of "gods", another version has "godlike beings", but here again, the word is elohim/elohiym (Strong's H430).This passage is quoted in the New Testament in John 10:34. In the Books of Kings (1 Kings 22:19), the prophet Micaiah has a vision of Yahweh seated among "the whole host of heaven" standing on his right and on his left. He asks who will go entice Ahab and a spirit volunteers. This has been interpreted as an example of a divine council. The first two chapters of the Book of Job describe the "Sons of God" assembling in the presence of Yahweh. Like "multitudes of heaven", the term "Sons of God" defies certain interpretation. This assembly has been interpreted by some as another example of divine council.  ‘The role of the divine assembly as a conceptual part of the background of Hebrew prophecy is clearly displayed in two descriptions of prophetic involvement in the heavenly council. In 1 Kings 22:19–23... Micaiah is allowed to see God (elohim) in action in the heavenly decision regarding the fate of Ahab. Isaiah 6 depicts a situation in which the prophet himself takes on the role of the messenger of the assembly and the message of the prophet is thus commissioned by Yahweh.”

[4] What are we told in the Bible about angels when they appear to people? Virtually nothing. Jacob’s vision of a ladder, and his wrestling match…nothing.  The angel to Mary and Joseph…nothing.  The angels appearing to the shepherds…nothing.  The angel that saved Daniel…nothing.  They announce Jesus’ birth, and rescue Peter from jail. All that mattered was why God sent them to say or do what they said or did. There is also no physical description of demonic creatures, though they are compared to certain animals in the OT. If the Bible didn’t find it necessary to give us details, we probably ought not worry about that kind of information too much. 

[5] "And the angels that did not keep their own positions but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day. " Jude 6

[6] Old Testament Word Studies: Angels, etc. Demons. P. A. D. Nordell. 

[7] Some of these books (Enoch, for example) are referenced by Peter and Jude. 

[8] Why should a spirit be described as unclean? Because not all of them are, such as the Holy Spirit. (Baker Evangelical Dictionary Of Biblical Theology)

[9] https://jesusalive.cc/angels-in-new-testament/

[10] From Possession and Exorcism in the Literature of the Ancient Church and the New Testament, Dr. Oscar Skarsaune “Let me begin with Tertullian, his Apologeticum (Defense, written 197 A.D.: the book is regarded as the most outstanding book within the Latin apologetical literature prior to Augustine). Tertullian constructs this book as a commentary on two accusations that are directed against the Christians: (1) “You do not worship the gods”; and (2) “You do not offer sacrifices for the emperors”. The first half of the books, ch. 10-27, is a comment on the first accusation, and the answer is short and pointed: “We do not worship your gods, because we know that there are no such beings” (“Deos vestros colere desinimus, ex quo illos non esse cognoscimus”, Apol. 10,2) Tertullian then starts with the critique of Greek mythology which for a long time ago had become customary within parts of the ancient philosophy, and which had been taken over by the Jewish and Christian apologetical tradition. One notices soon, however, that Tertullian intentionally steers towards a climax, which comes in ch. 23-27. Here the common critique against polytheism is left for – I believe – a specifically Christian motif. The saying “your gods do not exist” does not mean that the Greek-Roman gods are mere phantoms due only to human projection. In the Greek-Roman cults one related to real powers, who do exist, but they are not what they purport to be. They are not gods. They are demons. “And we affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual essences; nor is their name unfamiliar. The philosophers acknowledge there are demons” (Apol. 22,1). The activity of the demons consists in deceiving human beings, tricking them into worshiping the demons as gods. In this way they lead people away from the true God. Tertullian gives this bold assertion, which probably sounded quite provocative in the ears of a reader in antiquity, a rather surprising basis in Ch. 23ff. Let me quote an excerpt: “But thus far we have been dealing only in words; we now proceed to a proof of facts, in which we shall show that under different names (god and demon) you have real identity. Let a person be brought before your tribunals, who is plainly under demoniacal possession (daemone agi). The wicked spirit, bidden to speak by a follower of Christ, will as readily make the truthful confession that he is a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted that he is a god. Or, if you will, let there be produced one of the god-possessed (de deo pati), as they are supposed, ….if they would not confess, in their fear of lying to a Christian, that they were demons, then and there shed the blood of the most impudent follower of Christ…. The truth is… that neither themselves nor any others have claims to deity, you may see at once who is really God, and whether that is He and and He alone whom we Christians own; as also whether you are to believe in Him, and worship Him, after the manner of our Christian faith and discipline.But at once they (the demons) will say, Who is this Christ … is he not rather up in the heavens, thence about to come again… All the authority and power we have over them is from our naming the name of Christ, and recalling to their memory the woes with which God threatens them at the hands of Christ as Judge, and which they expect one day to overtake them. Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they become subject to the servants of God and Christ. So at our touch and breathing, overwhelmed by the thought and realization of those judgment fires, they leave at our command the bodies they have entered… It has not been an unusual thing, accordingly, for those testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity (“haec testimonia deorum vestrorum Christianos facere consuerunt”; Apol. 23,4-18) (6)

[11] Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary Of Biblical Theology

[12] “Someone once said, ‘Does it really matter whether the demon is tempting me from across the room, sitting on my shoulder, or inside my head?’ And the answer is no, it probably doesn’t matter. What matters is how you respond to it.” (Sam Storms)

[13] The exorcism is a sign event which with evidence for all demonstrates that the house of the strong one has been robbed by the one who is stronger; that Christ has conquered Satan and all his army. It is obvious that Christian exorcism made a deep impression on people in antiquity, both Christians and non-Christians. I once again would remind of Tertullian’s words: “It has not been an unusual thing for these testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity.” In the exorcism one saw before one’s very eyes that the name of Jesus had power over the strongest that one had known so far. The exorcism functions so to speak as a “miracle of confrontation”, where the demons loudly are forced to proclaim who Jesus really is, and that he is their superior…When Jesus expels demons from tormented people, it is visible evidence that the power of Satan is broken. Satan is bound by Jesus, and Jesus is plundering his house; that is, reconquering and reestablishing that which the Devil has destroyed. Hence, Jesus’ conclusion, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28). (Possession and Exorcism in the Literature of the Ancient Church and the New Testament, Dr. Oscar Skarsaune)

[14] “Spiritual warfare in early church history.” https://www.trustworthyword.com/sw-church-history

[15] “Although some Protestants stopped exorcising in any way, others continued to do so, but ‘reformed’ their exorcisms. Protestants began to speak of ‘dispossession’ rather than ‘exorcism’, with its negative connotations of Roman Catholic ritualism.” (https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/a-history-of-anglican-exorcism-deliverance-and-demonology-in-church-ritual/introduction?from=search)

 [16] "A strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God." (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)

[i] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6699044/. Book Review: Healing in the Early Church: The Church’s Ministry of Healing and Exorcism from the First to the Fifth Century

The Dragon And The Woman (Revelation 12)

Close to the end of the 1st century, John received a vision that gave the readers hope in the midst of suffering while pointing toward the end of history. Here’s the CliffNotes version.

• The historical setting is conflict in the last days, which is simply they time between the first and second coming of Jesus. Front and center for John’s audience were the fearsome power and seductive allure of the Rome (Babylon/Egypt) and its (assumed or believed to be) divine emperors.

• The values of empires like Rome/Babylon are beastly rather than divine. The god-like rulers are only pretenders to the throne.

• Revelation begins with, “This is the revelation of Jesus the Anointed,” and ends with, “the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Revelation is about Jesus above all else as the source of our hope.

• Only God is worthy to receive worship, so check your allegiance – which will “mark” you as a follower of the Conquering Lamb or the devouring Dragon.

• Faithfulness will cost you; God will be with you, and indescribable goodness and beauty of an eternity with God awaits the faithful.

So far, we have covered 7 letters that addressed threats coming from inside and outside the church; 7 seals that revealed the forces of evil unleashed against first believers and then the world in general; and 7 trumpets that heralded God's judgment on hardened humanity modeled after the god-toppling plagues of Egypt, with the hope of repentance.

In all of this, the souls of God’s people are kept safe, even when their bodies were not. It’s the history of the church. None of these things can separate God’s true people from His love or their eternal reward. And one day, there will be a final reckoning as the cycle ends in this life and world and we move into our existence in the next.

Ch. 12 begins the second half of Revelation. As always, it’s going to be thick with ‘hyperlinks’ to Old Testament references, which is our primary tool for understanding this text (along with extra-biblical Jewish literature and culture events that formed John’s audience).

• 12:1 Genesis 37:9-11

• 12:2 Isaiah 26:17; 66:7; Micah 4:9-10

• 12:3 Isaiah 27:1; Daniel 7:7, 20, 24

• 12:4 Daniel 8:10

• 12:5 Psalm 2:8-9; Isaiah 66:7

• 12:7 Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1

• 12:9 Genesis 3:1; Job 1:6; 2:1; Zechariah 3:1 12:10 Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5; Zechariah 3:1

• 12:14 Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11; Isaiah 40:31: Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Hosea 2:14-15

• 12:15 Hosea 15:10 12:17 Genesis 3:15

* * * * *

12:1-5(ish)

As I looked, a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman came into view clothed in the radiance of the sun, standing with the moon under her feet, and she was crowned with a wreath of twelve stars on her head. She was painfully pregnant and was crying out in the agony of labor… She gave birth to a male child, who is destined to rule the nations with an iron scepter

The Woman

John clearly says this is a sign, a symbol pointing toward something else, just like the other women in Revelation. So, what is this symbol pointing toward? Some people favor the woman being Eve because of this reference:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise (crush) your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15).

There will be war between the lineage of Eve (the mother of Life) and the serpent (the father of chaos). That is the story of the Bible. Revelation12 has a woman, the Serpent (Satan), and their offspring at war. There is clearly a correlation.

But… in the Old Testament, Israel is constantly pictured as the wife of God (Is. 54:5, 6; Jer. 3:6–8; 31:32; Ezek. 16:32; Hos. 2:16), a mother giving birth (Is. 26:17, 18; 54:1; 66:7–12; Hos. 13:13; Mic. 4:10; 5:2, 3; Matt. 24:8) or as the mother of the leader who embodied Israel’s restoration (Isa 9:6; Mic 5:2- 3). So is Zion (Isa. 54:1–3; 61:9–10; 65:9, 23; 66:10, 22.) This mother had agonized and suffered for centuries, longing for the Messiah to come and destroy Satan, sin, and death, and usher in the kingdom. ,

There’s Mary too, of course. A very real child who “rules the nations with a rod of iron” is a clear reference to Jesus (Psalm 2). But the details that follow after the birth don't match the timeline of Mary’s life, the Bible never describes her as ‘travailing in childbirth,’ and the upcoming reference to the woman’s children is clearly more than just Mary and Joseph’s biological kids.

This is ‘lineage of Jesus’ symbolism, “seed” language if you will. The descendent of the promise will crush the serpent. So, from what women is the serpent-crusher descended: Eve? Israel? Zion? Mary? Because it’s a sign, I lean toward this woman in Revelation 12 being the true Israel, the true children of Abraham who are the true people of God, through whom both Jesus and the church are birthed. And in the end, the child is the point, so let’s not get too hung up on who the woman is ☺

* * * * *

Then a second sign appeared in heaven, ominous, foreboding: a great red dragon, with seven crowned heads and ten horns. The dragon’s tail brushed one-third of the stars from the sky and hurled them down to the earth. The dragon crouched in front of the laboring woman, waiting to devour her child the moment it was born.

Before the dragon could bite and devour her son, the child was whisked away and brought to God and His throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place of refuge and safety where she could find sustenance for 1,260 days.

A battle broke out in heaven. Michael, along with his heavenly messengers, clashed against the dragon. The dragon and his messengers returned the fight, but they did not prevail and were defeated. As a result, there was no place left for them in heaven. So the great dragon, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was cast down to the earth along with his messengers.

The Dragon (drakon)

1. Recalls OT descriptions of the sea monster Leviathan, representing chaos and God’s enemies (Ps 74:13–14; Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3)

2. In Isaiah, God promised the suffering, pregnant Israel that she would bear new life in the time of the resurrection (Isa 26:17 – 19) when God would slay the serpent (Isa 26:20 — 27:1).

3. Isaiah 27:1, referring to the future Day of the LORD. “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan (livyathan; drakōn) the fleeing serpent (nachash ), Leviathan (livyathan; drakōn) the twisting serpent (nachash), and he will slay the dragon(tannin; drakōn) that is in the sea.”

4. Remember the tie-in to the Exodus motif? “Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a drakōn” (Ex 7:9). It’s Egypt in Psalm 74:13-14. “You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters (tannin; drakōn) on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan (livyathan; drakōn) you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.”God crushed this monster when he brought his people through the sea (Isa 51:9 – 10).

The dragon is clearly Satan under all names and aliases. He can’t destroy everything (remember our discussion of “a third” language with the trumpets?), but he can wreak havoc either in the heavens (if stars are celestial beings) or on earth (if stars at God’s people), or both.

* * * * *

Then I heard a great voice in heaven. “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Anointed One have come. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who relentlessly accuses them day and night before our God has been cast down and silenced. By the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witnesses, they have become victorious over him, for they did not hold on to their lives, even under threat of death.

Therefore, rejoice, all you heavens; celebrate, all you who live in them. But disaster will befall the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to your spheres. And he is incredibly angry because he knows his time is nearly over.

The victory predicted in Genesis is now explained as having happened. Jesus threw down/cast out the Dragon when he was lifted up at the cross-resurrection-ascension (Revelation 12:5). Look at what Jesus said in John 12:30-33:

“ ‘Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”

This is a part of the “now and not yet” dynamic we have discussed before. The fate of Satan (not yet) was assured and inaugurated (now) in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (v. 12; John 12:31; Col. 2:15). Satan is now being repeatedly crushed since the death and resurrection of Jesus. His final and complete destruction has not yet happened, but will happen when the Lord returns to establish the New Heaven and Earth.

The present eschatological period between Christ’s two comings is often compared to two decisive events in World War II—D day (a term for the day it happens) and V(ictory) day. D day marked the landing of Allied troops in Europe. This decisive operation guaranteed the final defeat of Germany. The beach has been taken. The war’s outcome has been decided. However, the final surrender of the Axis forces did not occur until almost a year later on V day. The land still needed to be taken.

Think of D day as the first coming of Jesus portrayed in Revelation 12. Christ’s second coming—the V day for the church—remains a future event.

* * * * *

When the dragon realized he had been cast down to the earth, he pursued the mother of the male infant. In order to escape the serpent, she was given the two wings of the great eagle to fly deeper into the wilderness to her own special place where she would find sustenance for a time, and times, and half a time.

Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a raging river that chased after the woman, trying to sweep her away in the flood. But the earth came to her rescue. It opened its gaping mouth and swallowed the river that spewed from the dragon’s mouth.

Revelation loves stuff coming out of people’s mouths. With God, it’s a sword (His word). With Satan, it’s chaos words, deception leading to death and persecution. , Scripture poetically depicted the defeat of Israel’s pursuers in the sea as the earth swallowing them (Ex 15:10,12). The targum (Aramaic paraphrase or interpretation of the Hebrew Bible) of Moses’ great Song of the Sea says,

“The sea spoke to the earth, Receive your children: but the earth spoke to the sea, Receive your murderers. And the sea was not willing to overwhelm them, and the earth was not willing to swallow them up. The earth was afraid to receive them, lest they should be required from her in the day of the great judgment in the world to come, even as the blood of Abel will be required of her. Whereupon You, O Lord, did stretch forth your right hand in swearing to the earth that in the world to come they should not be required of her. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed [the Egyptians].” (Ex 15:12).

It just means God fights for His people in language John’s audience understood.

* * * * *

As a result, the dragon was enraged at the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children —those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.

The offspring are “those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” So, that’s the true church ☺ The targum (Aramaic paraphrase or interpretation of the Hebrew Bible) of Genesis 3:15 says,

“When the children of the woman keep the commandments of the Law, they will take aim and strike you [the Serpent] on your head ...”

The offspring of Jesus – the true church, the true children of Abraham – participate in serpent-crushing through the power of the blood of the Lamb, their faithful testimony, and their commitments to living in the path of righteousness.

There are times when we read of visible spiritual warfare: Elijah and the prophets of Baal; Moses and Pharaoh; Jesus casting out demons, stories throughout church history of the clash between the power of the Holy Spirit and other spirits. I have seen this with my own eyes and have heard incidents recounted from trustworthy friends.

That is important, but it’s not where John lands for his audience on the primary means of doing spiritual warfare in their time and place. You want to participate in crushing the head of the serpent? Keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.

* * * * *

Two things stand out to me in this section.

First, the Satan's chief role as ‘adversary’ or ‘accuser’ in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, was directed toward accusing God's people of disobedience to God. The framework in the Old Testament seems to be that in God’s court, the Satan had a role allowed by God. He tested people, then reported to God how they were doing and apparently demanded that justice be meted out. At least some of these accusations were true– why else would Old Covenant sacrifices and Jesus’ eventual death establishing the New Covenant be necessary?

But the crucified Savior provided the required satisfaction of God's justice regarding our sins (1Jn 2:1-2; 4:10). The Satan no longer has a place in the divine courtroom, He has been cast out – and he’s pissed. In his anger, it become quite clear that he was not an impartial adjudicator advocating for justice - he was a hostile accuser bent on unleashing pain and suffering. He comes after us like a dragon. He has lost his voice in heaven, but not on earth. The flood that pours from the dragon’s mouth is his ongoing accusatory hatred poured out into the world. Satan's not tattling to God (fairly or unfairly) anymore - he's whispering self-condemnations and lies to everyone who will listen.

The good news: if you have trusted your life to obedience to and worship of Jesus, you are no longer being accused of your sin before the court of heaven. Instead of an accuser, you have an advocate. Advocates don’t ignore wrongdoing – Jesus doesn't pretend our sin didn’t happen – but He is there to offer Himself as the price that needs to be paid on our behalf.

Second, the Apostle ends his letter to the Romans by saying,

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Rom 16:20).

We have been delivered from the penalty of sin (the Accuser’s voice is no longer accusing us in the heavenly court, because our eternal debt has been covered by Jesus). In addition, the chaining power of sin has been broken: that dragon cannot control us as slaves because Jesus has broken that power. However, we will not be free of the presence of sin or the pursuit of the dragon until V day.

As we live between D day and V day, we are called by God to overcome the dragon and his forces by putting on the spiritual armor that he has given us (cf. Eph. 6:10–18) and crushing his power by keeping the commandments of God and holding fast to the testimony of Jesus.

“Holding Spaces” In Holy Places (1 Peter 2; Ephesians 4)

Last year we talked about how church is an impossible community. It’s just a way of saying the assemblage of people who congregate together in a church is s counterintuitive, at least culturally, and we are no exception. This is as old as the first churches. 

In a world where male/female, slave/free, Jew/Gentile marked huge cultural divides, the church was full of all of them. Zealots (insurrectionists) and Pharisees (who worked with Rome) broke bread together with tax collectors and Roman soldiers and Jewish slaves. Paul no doubt did church with families of people his persecution impacted. Read the letters in the New Testament and look at what spiritual and relational issues were challenging churches. 

It should have been impossible. But it wasn’t. Part of the beauty of the gospel message was the Jesus came to tear down barriers between people (Ephesians 2:14), to remind us through his actions and teachings that in Christ there is a new kind of humanity that arises (Ephesians 2:11-13), one meant to baffle and compel a watching and skeptical world. “How does this happen? Jesus who? Tell me more…” It’s meant to baffle and compel those on the outside… and create a holy and compelling space for those inside.

That’s hard, y’all. The things we don’t want to do, we do; the things we know we should do, we don’t[1]. #paulsproblem  Add to that the principalities and powers aligned against us[2], and it’s hard. But Paul also added that Jesus can give us victory in the midst of that struggle. When God calls us to be a particular kind of people, He equips us to be that kind of people: His Word guides us; His Spirit indwells us; His people surround us. And it’s still hard, but not actually impossible.

As we start 2022, I want to focus on a really practical way in which we can live together as this new humanity in a way that I believe is compelling and beautiful and necessary if we are to experience life in the Kingdom of God within the local church as God intended. 

I recently ran across the phrase “holding space.” It’s not a new phrase, but it was to me. I was describing some counseling/mentoring I had received in which the other person simply spent time with me, and in that space I found a lot of help and healing and growth simply because someone “held space” with me and listened. 

To be sure, this person was a pastor, and my chaotic emotions and thoughts wrestled with life but from a biblical view of the world we both shared. Though he was usually silent, he was not always silent (I would ask him to reflect on what I said and advise me when I was stuck). And in that space the Holy Spirit did a work.

When I found out this was called “holding space” (or was at least a way to do it) I started reading up on the term. I realized two things.

First, I love the idea. It’s the kind of commitment almost anyone can make to another person because you don’t need to bring anything other than yourself. It’s what Job’s friends did right. When Jesus asked his disciples to go with him to the Garden, he said, “Sit here as I pray.” Basically, you just say, “I can be with you. I can sit with you. I can set aside space in my life just to be present with you to see and hear and know you.” The Bible talks about time when we will fully know God as we are fully known[3], and I think that phrases captures a longing of the human heart not just with God but with others: to be known and loved, the more fully the better. 

It’s a way in which we love. My wife and I both feel like we didn’t love each other like we thought we did when we got married because we didn't know each other like we thought we did. We knew in part and loved in part. Over the past 31 years, knowing has increased, and with that knowing has come the opportunity to love more deeply and fully. So I love the idea of holding space. It’s a love language. 

Second, I realized I was not completely satisfied with simply “holding space.” I love it as a page or chapter in the story of our relationship with other people – in fact, if we rip that page out, the story is incomplete.  But the whole story – and genuine relationship – is more complicated than that. 

“Holding space,’’ at least the way it is generally presented, is a neutral experience of presence and an affirmation of the other’s existence. Once again, a beautiful thing. I don't mean to be critical of that. 

But I have discovered that, as a Christian, I need spaces that are not neutral. Why? Because I need someone who speaks truth into my life (with grace), someone who loves me and is committed to my growth, who lovingly challenges me, who actively affirms me, who lovingly points out my weaknesses, lovingly doesn’t let my sin slide. 

I asked my pastor/mentor/friend to, at times, step out of his role of merely holding space and step into the role of filling the space with elements that may have been lacking. As much as the Holy Spirit used the space and my friend’s silent presence to do a work in me, the Holy Spirit was at work in my friend to, and he had things to offer that I was too thick to see. 

So I found myself with some tension: I loved the quiet, non-judgmental, life-affirming presence of my friend (it was safe, which was very important to me), but because I knew he had godly wisdom, and he cared about me, I wanted him to speak godly truth into my life, whether to affirm or to challenge where I was going. 

Instead of “holding space” with people, I wonder what it looks like for Christians to create “holy space” with people. It’s going to include “holding space,” but it’s going to be more.  Let’s call this “holding spaces in holy places.”

* * * * *

Let’s clarify terms. Biblically speaking, when something is holy it is simply ‘set apart for God’s purpose.’ It occurs over 400 times in the Old Testament alone. It includes terms translated as “consecrated, ”“dedicated,” “hallowed,” “sanctuary.” God and His name are holy; so are people, and places, and land, and food, and clothing, and just stuff. Let’s not make the term overly mystical as if there is a glow around it. It simply means that God has set apart something for a special purpose. It’s his territory. God has staked claim on it. It’s like a pearl that is not to be cast before pigs, or something sacred given to dogs (Matthew 7:6). It’s to be kept pure, untarnished or unmixed with vulgar things. 

So when I talk about being in “Holy Space” with people, I mean setting apart a space (time, place, presence, etc.) for a godly purpose. It will be hallowed time, a consecrated experience. 

Next, who we are. #identity

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him -  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…  But you are a chosen people (select for special service), a royal priesthood, a holynation, acquired as God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:4-9)

We are always on sacred mission. Where we are, God’s presence is embodied. We like to say that we are the hands and feet of Jesus because the church is a type of incarnation modeled after the Incarnation. We aren't Jesus, but we are ambassadors whose presence is meant to represent Jesus.  Where we are, there is a spiritual house, because we as individuals build the church. Where we are, there is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are now intrinsically and inescapably set apart for the work and purposes of God. We are set apart, holy people wherever we go and whatever we do.

In the Old Testament, though God’s presence was everywhere, there were places treated as “hot spots” of God’s glory, places that God specifically claimed as his own and insisted be respected. Two times in the Old Testament, people were told to take off their shoes because they were on Holy Ground. People speculate about what this means: 

1. a token of respect and submission 

2. symbolically putting off the earthly or profane. Don’t drag in common dust and trample around like you own the place. It’s God property.

3. forfeiting rights (Jewish people claimed land with shoes)

4. a sign we have come home[4]

5. a reminder to stay in God’s presence rather than wander 

I like them all.  And now, in the New Covenant, we are God’s property, set aside for God’s purposes. So, because God has set us aside for His purposes, 

• our body is set aside (holy) for His purposes

• our words are set aside (holy) for His purposes

• our attitudes, thoughts and presence are set aside (holy) for His purposes. 

• When we go into a space, that space becomes set aside (holy) for God’s purposes. 

I say all that just to establish the profound reality of who we are when Christ is in us. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a profound reality.   

Now, back to “holding space”. How do holy people “hold space” in this eve present Holy Space in which we live?

First, you just have to bring yourself. This is part of the beauty of this idea. You don’t need to have a special set of skills. Your presence is sufficient. If you can just sit with someone and say, “I’m here. I see you,” you’re good.  Watch a movie, sip coffee, fish, do a puzzle, play dominoes, sit by a bedside, hang out with another parent at the Germ Tree, take a walk, nap on a beach…so many ways. Sometimes it will be really purposeful – “I need to talk” – but sometimes it’s just, “Want to hang out?” David Augsburger wrote, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.” I think that’s true of being seen as well, which is part of being known…

Second, practice seeing, hearing, and knowing. Jesus was really good at that.[5] The language of Scripture when applied to Jesus almost always suggests something more profound than using his senses. There was something soul-searching about those actions when he did them. God may grant you Holy-Spirit inspired insight into people, but I think more often than not God grants us this kind of sight through patience, time and presence. It’s taking the time to listen and know. It’s learning about family of origin, traumatic and beautiful life experiences, triggering language, what was spiritually nurturing or spiritually wounding, personality types, love languages, quirks…. If that sounds like a lot, it is. It’s okay. It’s one of the most important investments you can make in the process of building true community.

Third, be okay with times of mere presence. “Holding space” in the way I just described has not been written on every page in our life stories, but I hope it’s on some pages. I hope you have written that page for others at times. It’s okay to hear and see the best and worst of someone and simply say, “I love you and God loves you.” That can be enough for a moment. It’s the opportunity to validate the fact that an image bearer of God sits with you, that their life has eternal worth, that you see and care about them simply because they exist. Many times, the only thing we need to “fix” for someone is the empty, lonely space around them.

Fourth, pray for wisdom as to when it’s time for input. There is something to be said about knowing when to hold ‘em and knowing when to fold ‘em. Not every moment is a time to speak; not every moment is a time to be silent. Sometimes we must be blunt so truth lands hard; sometimes we must be gentle so truth whispers. One thing I love about the model of Jesus is how he was so adept in the moment with the individual. 

• Pharisees? “Brood of vipers.” The teacher of the Law in Mark 12? “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

• To Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” When Peter fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemene: “I know you spirit is willing...”

• David caught in adultery: “Thou are the man!” Woman caught in adultery: “What, no accusers anymore? I’m not here to accuse you either. But don’t do that anymore.” 

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to being a truthful presence with people. We can tend to think, “That blunt person is the right example!” or “That diplomatic person is the right way!” This is not an either/or approach. Both can be right at the right time, and in the right way. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pitchers of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) There will be a time to be a truthful presence. Pray that you can build that truth wisely on a foundation of love.

1.    Shake the dust off  your world-walking shoes.

We we can have the best intent in being present in other people’s lives, but – here me out - we take ourselves wherever we go. We will never be perfect – we’ve got to let that standard go – but the Bible gives us really good insight into how to be present with others in a way that sets us apart as holy people. That means differentiating between what a holy approach looks like vs. one soiled by the dust of the world.  I’m pulling all of this from Ephesians 4. 

“Live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 2 #holy  with all humility (not full of yourself) and gentleness (constrained power), with patience (long-tempered[6]), persisting with one another in agape love, 3fully applying yourself to preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (a shared identity that produces harmony)  (Ephesians 4:1-3). 

Speaking the truth in love[7] (v.15)… Each one of you speak the truth (reality) with his neighbor (v.25) let no unwholesome  (rotten; unfit for use) word come out of your mouth; say what is good[8] for building[9] others up according to their needs (v.29), kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. (v.32)

Put away all bitterness (rooted and ‘fruited’ anger)[10], wrath (hostilely vented anger), anger (simmering disposition bent on revenge), clamor (screaming and shrieking), and slanderous talk (blasphemy; switching right and wrong) —indeed all malice (desire to injure) (v.31)

Be kind (eternally useful) and compassionate to one another (gut-level sympathy), forgiving each other (extend favor or grace that cancels debt), just as in Christ God forgave you.

If this is our goal?  That’s the kind of holy place in which we would all like to share space. “Thy Kingdom come; they will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

[1] Romans 7:15-20

[2] Ephesians 6:12

[3] 1 Corinthians 13:12

[4] https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/why-did-moses-remove-his-shoes-in-front-of-the-burning-bush.html

[5] Matthew 9:36, John 5:6, Mark 10:21, John 1:48. “He sees the faith of a paralyzed man and the friends who brought him to Jesus: “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven’”. Next, Jesus saw Matthew, the tax collector-turned-disciple: “‘Follow me,’ He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him”. Then, in the midst of a crowd, a bleeding woman touches just His cloak and finds herself healed: “Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ He said, ‘your faith has healed you’”. Finally, Jesus saw the crowd of people who had come to hear Him preach the Good News and receive healing. Verse 36 says, “When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like a sheep without a shepherd.” https://youngadults.lifeway.com/2020/01/do-you-see-like-jesus-sees/

[6] Slow to anger does not mean there is no placer for anger. See v. 26-27: “Be angry, but don’t sin.” Don’t give the devil an opportunity to use that anger for his purposes.

[7] Cognate: 226 alētheúō (literally, "truthing") – speaking reality (truth) into a person's life, making a record of what God deems is truth (reality, fact).  See 225(alētheia).

226 /alētheúō (literally, "to truth") includes Spirit-led confrontation where it is vital to tell the truth so others can live in God's reality rather than personal illusion. (HELPS Word Studies)

[8]  “Intrinsically good, good in nature, good whether it be seen to be so or not” (Strong’s Concordance)

[9] This can included constructive criticism “that builds a person up to be the suitable dwelling place of God.” (HELPS Word Studies)

[10]  A form of hatred; Hebrews 12:15 warns of a bitter root that produces bitter fruit.

The Love of God (1 John 4:9-11)

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9-11 )

During Advent, we talk a God who ‘put on flesh’ (incarnated) and took the penalty for our sins against Him upon himself (John 3:16-17). In many different places, the Bible is clear about why that happened: Jesus loves us (1 John 4:19; Romans 8:35-39).  

This is pretty straightforward, but to understand what it means that God loves us, we have to understand what love is. So let’s talk this morning about how we get past our filters and misunderstandings to better appreciate God’s love for us and better pass on God’s love to others. 

First, God’s love is supernatural. In the New Testament, the word for the love God has for us is the Greek word agape.[i]  In the Greek literature we have recovered, there is very little use of this word because it wasn’t a kind of love they valued that highly. In the New Testament, agape is used 320 times. The church took a seldom used Greek word, refined it, and introduced a radical new way of understanding love in light of God’s love for us.[ii] 

Agape love… is the most self-sacrificing love that there is.  This type of love is the love that God has for His own children. This type of love is what was displayed on the cross by Jesus Christ.  In John 3:16 it is written that “God so loved (agapao) the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”[iii] 

"Unconditional love that is always giving; it is impossible to…be a taker. It devotes total commitment to seek [the other’s] highest best no matter how anyone may respond. This form of love is totally selfless and does not change whether the love given is returned or not."[iv]

Through common grace, all other forms of love are accessible to everyone. If I am reading Scripture correctly, no one can experience or give biblically defined agape love apart from the supernatural work of God (1 John 4:8 – everyone who agape loves is born of God, and knows God). So what does this look like?

“Jesus gave himself up for us. Jesus the Son, though equal with the Father, gave up his glory and took on our human nature (Philippians 2:5ff). But further, he willingly went to the cross and paid the penalty for our sins, removing our guilt and condemnation, so that we could be united with him (Romans 6:5) and take on his nature (2 Peter 1:4).  

He gave up his glory and power and became a servant. He died to his own interests and looked to our needs and interests instead (Romans 15:1-3). Jesus’ sacrificial service to us has brought us into a deep union with him and He with us.“ (Timothy Keller)

Second, we don’t have to earn it. God loves people: not because he needs us; not because we complete him; not because we are worthy, or lovable, or pure, or spiritually impressive; not because we please God or represent Him well. As one pastor noted,

While eros and philia thirst, agape simply overflows. This means – please stay with me here – that God’s love for us, in the end, has absolutely nothing to do with us. In other words, God does not love us because of who we are. Or because of what we do, or can do for God. Or because of what we say, or build, or accomplish, or change, or pray, or give, or profess, or believe… God simply loves us...[1]

·      When I pray regularly and passionately, God’s love does not fail. When I don’t, God’s love does not fail.

·      When I was chained in sin and when I was freed…

·      When I ignore Him and when I am enamored with Him…

·      When I am depressed or happy, anxious or at peace, self-loathing of self-loving…

·      When I pastor well and when I do it terribly...

·      When I am loved by others and despised by others…

If you ever think, “How can God possibly love me? I’m a disaster,” take heart: God specializes in saving disasters. God has never waited to love people until they were good enough to be loved. He loves people because He is God. And that gives me great hope indeed.

Third, God’s love will never be seen perfectly as it is passed on through people. None of us are Jesus. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit in surrendered lives, we are being transformed into his image, and we are becoming more and more like Christ. But we won’t nail it until we are in Heaven, so on this side of eternity we will fail to adequately represent what the love of Jesus looks like. 

We have to be ready for this. We will inevitably distort the genuine nature of godly love, and so will others. I don’t mean to be depressing; I’m just trying to be honest. With God’s help, we will often represent God’s love well, but we will never be perfect. 

That doesn’t bring me despair; that actually brings me hope. God’s love is better than even the best love that I have experienced when it comes to human love. God’s love is deeper, more faithful, more present, more life-changing, more holy and pure. Awesome. I love the glimpses I get from others, but I’m never going to mistake them for the fullness of the kind of love God has for me.

That gives me the freedom to see failure in others and not be disillusioned. It gives me the freedom to take people off a pedestal and let them be people instead of wishing they were perfect like God. And it gives me hope that people who do it so badly still bring such tremendous love into the world.  If there is this much good in a fallen Earth, I can’t imagine the goodness in the New Heaven and Earth.  

Fourth, God’s love helps us love others well.

·      “This is my command:  love (agape) each other.” (John 15:17) 

·      I am to love (agape) my wife like Christ loved (agape) the church (Ephesians 5:25)

·      “Anyone who does not love (agape) does not know God, because God is love (agape).” (1 John 4:8)

“We are thirsty, thirsty people. We long to know that we have worth, and value, and beauty. We ache to belong, to be included. But we run around our whole lives going after the sorts of love which will never completely satisfy this thirst. But in Christ, in the agape love of God, we find a love, the only love, which can fill us, and satisfy us so that we find ourselves, now overflowing, finally able to also love in a way that no longer seeks to take, but only to give.

Yes, Jesus wants you to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Jesus wants you to love your neighbors as you love yourself. He wants us to love with agape love. But if we try to love others, even God, like this without first realizing that we are already loved like this, all our efforts will only lead to despair. You see, agape love never flows from us. It only flows through us from the one who loves like we, on our own, never could.[v]

When we have trouble loving God or others well, we often focus on how to love better. That’s a good and necessary focus, but it’s the wrong starting point. We need to first refocus on the one who loves us. We need to experience and understand God’s love. 

If a person is not loving, John says, he or she does not know God (1 John 4:8). How will that individual become more loving, then? Can we grow in love by trying to love more? No, our attempts to love will only end in more frustration and less love. The solution, John implies, is to know God better. This is so simple that we miss it all the time: our means for becoming more loving is to know God better. (Marva J. Dawn, Truly the Community: Romans 12) 

Fifth, love is costly. Paul talks about Jesus taking on humanity and “becoming obedient unto death, even a death on the cross” (Philippians 2:8). David said that he would not give God a sacrifice that cost him nothing (1 Chronicles 21:24). 

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”  C.S. Lewis

 Love will be costly because it will break our hearts.  It will force us to walk into the hard work of life when all we want to do is wrap ourselves carefully with hobbies and luxuries and silence and entertainment and selfishness.  

-       I cannot love my boys without a cost to myself: time, energy, priorities, attitudes, money… I can lock my heart in a coffin of selfishness, or I can be poured out for my boys.

-       I cannot love my wife without a cost to myself:  conversations about hard things; late nights and long days because of work, or household chores and juggling responsibilities; forgiveness. I can lock my heart in a coffin of selfishness, or I can be broken for my wife.

-       We cannot love our friends without a cost to ourselves.  Sometimes it’s messy (hurtful things said or done). We can lock our hearts in a coffin of selfishness, or we can be tender-hearted.

-       We cannot love our neighbors without a cost to ourselves. If my neighbor is far from Christ, then a lot of things they do, say and love will be far from Christ. Love – real love – will be costly as we get to know and understand, as we listen and love, as we seek to speak truth with love and grace, and we seek to represent Christ and speak the gospel with humility and boldness.

-       We cannot love the church, the body of Christ, without a cost.  We are not perfect people.  We will have to “bear each other’s burdens,” because we all bring burdens that other people will have to bear.  It is not a question of if.  It is a question of when.  Showing the kind of love to others that God showed to me demands something of my life.  Love is costly. Like Paul said, there will be times we are poured out like an offering (Philippians 2:17).

Sixth, God’s love is transformational. The cost is only part of the story of love, and by itself, sounds hard.  But what love offers – what Christ offers -  in exchange for that cost is transformation. 

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

It’s the exchange of beauty for ashes. 

-       The disciples – from petty, self-centered cowards to martyrs

-       Mary Magdelene – from demon possessed (7!) to eyewitness to the Resurrection

-       Paul - from persecutor to follower

Is there anything else that captures this transformative power of God’s love better than this commentary Paul offered on the church in Corinth:  “All these things you once were…” (1 Corinthians 6:11) he says after listing off the sins that had defined their lives.

When Jesus came, he offered LOVE, and in this love was the hope of transformation of the world that is also played out in individual lives all the time.  It wasn’t some generic “Heal the World” campaign, it was a deeply personal offer to transform you into something new, and keep transforming you until you are perfected in eternity. 

_________________________________________________________________________
[1] http://faithpresby.org/archives/sermons/written/files_4d2a59265361b.pdf

[i] The Greeks used a number a words for love:  there is one for erotic love (eros), one for friendship love (philia), one for family affection (storge) and one for self-sacrificial love (agape).

[ii] From Strong’s Concordance: agápē – properly, love which centers in moral preference…. In the NT, (agápē) typically refers to divine love (= what God prefers).

[iii] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/05/02/what-is-agape-love-a-bible-study/

[iv] https://www.ezilon.com/articles/articles/7675/1/God-is-Agape-Love

[v] http://faithpresby.org/archives/sermons/written/files_4d2a59265361b.pdf

Christians, Christmas and Christ

Is Christmas based on pagan celebrations? Is there a War On Christmas? Why do we have the decorations we do? What does it even mean to get into the spirit of Christmas? What follows starts 2,000 years ago; meander through the Middle Ages, Puritans, and your local Starbucks, and end up in your heart. I hope you enjoy the journey!

BIRTH

·      The date of Jesus’ birth is not known. Dionysius (1st century) is known for doing the historical math and arriving at a birth year around BC 12.[1] Others disagreed.[2]Generally, Jesus’ birth date is now placed around 4 BC, but there is nothing of theological or spiritual significance that hangs on this date. It was not a priority in the early church, and no writer of Scripture saw fit to include a date.  

·      The early church associated birthday celebrations with the pagan gods.[3] Early Christian writers (Irenaeus, 130–200; Tertullian, 155–240; Origen of Alexandria, 165–264) mocked Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as “pagan” practices—a strong indication that Jesus’ birth was not marked with  festivities at that place and time.[4]Origen(c.185-c.254) said it would be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and Herod were honored. Tertullian did not list it as a Christian holiday for sure.

·      When Jesus’ birthdate was discussed, the date would have been figured out from a tradition that martyrs died on the same date they were conceived. If Jesus died on 14 Nisan (March 25), he was conceived on a March 25, which meant he was born on December 25 if the timing was perfect J.

·      Hippolytus' Commentary on Daniel (AD 200) claimed either March or December 25 as the date for Jesus' birth; Clement thought March 25 as the date of Jesus conception, thus 9 months before his birth and death.[5]

* * * * * *

THE ROMAN INTERLUDE: Did Christians Join A Pagan Holiday?

SATURNALIA: In the time that Jesus was born, Roman had been observing Saturnalia starting December 17 and generally lasting 6 days. It was a holiday in honor of Saturn, “the birthday of the unconquered sun,” and it was a party (to say the least) characterized by a lot of personal and societal chaos. It was a mix of good and bad for sure. 

There seems to be little reason to think Christians chose December 25 to join or subvert a pagan holiday. The Jewish population from which Christianity emerged was quite good at establishing their own holidays;  their math was based on Jesus’ death date/conception date.  Really, because the early church did not celebrate birthdays, the likelihood of Saturnalia influencing a Christmas celebration is small. The more likely candidate for potential overlap is the next one. 

SOLIS INVICTI. “On December 25th, 274 AD, the Emperor Aurelian created a holiday called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birthday of the Sun – officially elevating the Sun to the highest position among the gods.”[6] This would be a better candidate for the melding of Christian and pagan holidays, but by the time December 25 becomes a time for Christian celebration, Solas Invicti was largely more of a cultural festival than a religious one.[7] In fact, a Christian writer, in 320: “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”[8]

* * * * *

A Roman almanac from 336 that lists the death (and thus birth) dates of various Christian bishops and martyrs, the first date listed, December 25, is marked: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae: “Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea.[9]

By AD 386, Chrysostom celebrated December 25th as Jesus’ birthday, preaching, "Without the birth of Christ there is no Baptism, no Passion, no Resurrection, no Ascension and no Pouring out of the Holy Spirit..."[10]

Augustine (354-430 AD) wrote: “So then, let us celebrate the birthday of the Lord with all due festive gatherings.”[11]

In 389 St Gregory (one of the Four Fathers of the Greek Church) warned against 'feasting in excess, dancing and crowning the doors'. [12] Things were already getting a little rowdy. 

The Feast of the Nativity spread to Egypt (in the 400s), England (in the 500s), Scandinavia by the 700s (we get the language of “Yule” and the tradition of Yule logs from them), and Russia by the 900s.

During the Middle Ages (400-1400) the church formally increased the focus on Jesus’ birth, but a lot of the informal celebration was not as focused. This is where one could argue that a Saturnalia-type of influence began to significantly overlap. Wikipedia’s article on Saturnalia actually has a really good article making some correlations. 

From the mid-fourth century on, we do find Christians deliberately adapting and Christianizing pagan festivals. A famous proponent of this practice was Pope Gregory the Great, who, in a letter written in 601 C.E. to a Christian missionary in Britain, recommended that local pagan temples not be destroyed but be converted into churches, and that pagan festivals be celebrated as feasts of Christian martyrs. At this late point, Christmas may well have acquired some pagan trappings. But we don’t have evidence of Christians adopting pagan festivals in the third century, at which point dates for Christmas were established. [13]

One overlap was that the poor would go to the rich and demand their best food and drink, like a Christmas version of trick or treat. There was a significant economic Reason For The Season as Christmas became a time when the poor demanded that the rich unScrooge themselves for at least one holiday. 

The Catholic Church had the first Midnight Mass on Christmas (“Christ’s Mass”) Eve 1039; it was a celebration that marked a transition from fasting to feasting. [14]As much as the Church formally focused on Jesus, Christmas was never fully able to avoid excess in all kinds of feasting once it got outside the confines of the church building. 

In the 12th century, we find the first suggestion that Jesus’ birth was deliberately aligned with pagan feasts. A biblical commentator from Syria claimed the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 to align with the Sol Invictus holiday. There is no reason to believe this is true, though I think it’s fair to say the raucous cultural celebrations had an influence on the informal celebrations of Christmas.

Reformers (beginning 1517) hit the holiday celebration issue pretty hard, which is understandable considering the partying that was going on informally. 

In the 1640s, Puritan Separatists who ‘separated’ from the Church of England sailed across the pond and came to America, with no desire to continue the observation of Christmas practiced in England. (Christmas was a time of drunkenness, rioting and “misrule’, unfortunately, and the religious tension was, uh, strong).

When Oliver Cromwell and the Long Parliament took over England around that same time (1645), they vowed to rid England of decadence and, among other things, cancelled all Christian holidays except Sunday. They even changed the name of Christmas to “Christ-tide” to avoid the word “mass.” 

AMERICAN HISTORY

The Puritans did NOT bring Christmas with them to what we now call the New England states. In fact, from 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston (you could be fined five shillings for exhibiting Christmas spirit). In the War on Christmas in the history of U.S. culture, the Puritans win hands down. On the other hand, John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all at Jamestown, which was settled by Anglicans, people who still were loyal to the Church of England. 

Whatever Christmas momentum might have started in Jamestown faded for a while after the American Revolution (English customs were not popular, as you might imagine). Still, the Anglican South was for more hospitable to Christmas than the Puritan North. 

Fast forward to the 1800s. Unemployment and poverty were high, and actual riots by the poor often occurred during Christmas. A policeman was killed trying to stop a fight between Catholics holding a Christmas Mass and Protestant fundamentalists trying to stop them.[15]

“Christmas joined Sabbath observance, slavery, women’s rights, corruption, immorality, crime, drugs, prostitution, gambling and alcohol, as major moral issues that risked plunging the city and the nation into chaos during the early decades of the young republic. In fact, daily violence reached such proportions that in 1828 the city established its first professional police force following an especially violent Christmas riot. “[16]

In 1819, Washington Irving wrote a book (The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent) that was basically a series of stories/essays that featured an English squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday where the two groups mingled in friendship. To Irving, Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday that united people from every walk of life. He also wrote "Diederich Knickerbocker's History of New York," in which Sinterklaes rode through the skies in a horse and wagon and went down chimneys to deliver presents to children.[17][18]

Around that time (1843), Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, a novel which had a huge impact in both England the U.S. It prominently features not a conversion to celebrating Jesus, but a conversion to a spirit of generosity (Dickens himself likely saw this as a necessary outworking of honoring the birth of Jesus). “God bless us, everyone” is experienced through the practical provision charity and generosity and the warmth of family. 

The U.S. being the melting pot that it was, people began building traditions from all sorts of sources,[19] [20] Still, as late as 1855, Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists did not celebrate Christmas, while Episcopalian, Catholic and German churches did.[21] Southern Baptists started moving in that direction after the Civil War ended in the 1860s.

In June 26, 1870, Christmas was officially declared a federal holiday (a number of states, especially from the Anglican tradition in the South, had already made it a state holiday).

Interestingly, by the mid 1900s, the main opposition to Christmas celebrations had been either within the church or between Christians and their Jewish spiritual cousins. The growing Jewish population in the U.S. found themselves very much at odds with a celebration of the birth of the Messiah, so they decided to join in attempts to secularize the holiday so it would be more like an American national holiday rather than a religious one. One of the main contributors was Irving Berlin (1888-1989), a Jewish immigrant whose family fled the pogroms in Russia.[22] He composed the all-time Christmas favorite “White Christmas” in 1942. The wait for snow replaces any expectation of the arrival of the Messiah. [23]

What I Find Interesting So Far

This holiday has been full of tensions not over how to properly celebrate. It has been profoundly holy and amazingly vulgar. There is a significance here. There is a lot at stake.  Nobody started a riot over Groundhog Day. If the Messiah was born, it’s a big deal, and how we acknowledge and celebrate that fact is also a big deal. I would expect this space to be a spiritual battleground of sorts in the sense that our allegiances and our hearts are tested. 

“So no one is really neutral about whether Christmas is true. If the Son of God was really born in a manger, then we have lost the right to be in charge of our lives… if Jesus Christ is really Mighty God and Everlasting Father, you can’t just like him. In the Bible the people who actually saw and heard Jesus never reacted indifferently or even mildly. 

Once they realized what he was claiming about himself, either they were scared of him or furious with him or they knelt down before him and worshipped him. But nobody simply liked him. Nobody said, ‘He is so inspiring. He makes me want to live a better life.’ If the baby born at Christmas is the Mighty God, then you must serve him completely.”  - Tim Keller

Christmas reminds us there was an Incarnation, a time when God became Man and lived, died, and rose again among us.  Christmas is a celebration of the birth of The King, and as such is loaded with implications of allegiance. If King Jesus is celebrated, it’s unsettling to the leaders of earthly empires and spiritual principalities and powers that there is King to whom millions give their highest allegiance.  The true celebration of Christmas will always be joyfully tumultuous in the world.

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS[24]

THE CHRISTMAS TREE
Pagans had long used trees as an accompaniment to their worship (the oak was a popular one). Christianity did not ban trees; it reframed the use. Around 700, the trees associated with pagan worship were replaced by the fir tree as symbol of Christianity (because of its triangle shape /the Trinity). The ‘ever green’ was also associated with eternal life. 

CANDY CANE: the shepherd’s crook of the Good Shepherd.

POINSEETTIAS: the star of Bethlehem. 

WREATH: a symbol of true love, which never ceases.

HOLLY: a symbol of the crown of thorns worn by Christ on the cross.

BELLS: they stand for joy, and as a reminder that Jesus is the Great High Priest (Jewish priests had bells attached to the hem of their robes).

TREE BAUBLES OR BALLS: in early church calendars of saints, December 24th was Adam and Eve's day.[25] The Christmas tree became a symbol of the tree of Paradise, and people started decorating it with red apples. Originally the apples were a reminder of sin; they morphed into a symbol for the fruits of the Spirit. 

LIGHTS: around 1500, Martin Luther brought a tree indoors and decorated it with candles in honor of Christ’s birth (indoor stars!). [26] Interesting side note: Thomas Edison (1847-1931) presented his first string of electric Christmas tree lights in 1880.[27] To advertise his new lights, Edison and his General Electric Company sent picture postcards to families in which strings of lights not only decorated the tree but were strung throughout the house.  Since these indoor trees needed decorations, a businessman named Woolworth signed a monopoly agreement with the German manufacturers of glass ornaments which he marketed at his growing national chain of stores. The smaller ones sold for 5 cents and the larger ones for 10 cents, thus the origin of the 5 and 10 cent store. [28]

MISTLETOE (“dung twig”): In the Middle Ages in England, it was hung to ward off evil spirits and witches. In Scandinavia, it was a plant of peace. In Norse legend, it was a symbol that reminded them to protect life. In many cultures it was considered a cure-all medicine. The Catholic church banned it for a while because of how much the pagans loved it, but it’s easy to see how it blended into a celebration of a baby that would heal all nations and bring peace, and who died so we could live. 

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS: a reminder of the gifts of the Magi, and of God’s gift of Jesus to us.

SAINT NICHOLAS/SANTA CLAUS The Catholic Church associated gift giving with Saint Nicholas, one of the bishops who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325. Legend says he became aware of some desperate needs in his congregation (a family selling their children into slavery, among other things), so he gave money, fruit, food, etc.[29] 

In 1087, a group of sailors moved his bones to Italy and basically worshipped him. This group (a cult, really) was eventually adopted into German and Celtic pagan religions. These Celts worshipped Odin/Woden (from whom we get the word Wednesday), who had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens. As these Celts converted into the Catholic Church, the church moved that horse ride through the heavens to December 25. St. Nicholas was the rider, not Woden. Problem solved. 

In 1809, Washington Irving (remember him?) wrote a story[30] that featured a white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus.[31]

An illustrator named Thomas Nast drew more than 2,000 cartoons of Santa for Harper’s Weekly during the mid-late 1800s. Nast added the North Pole, a workshop with elves and the good/bad list. [32] In 1931, Coca Cola insisted that Santa, who was the face of their new campaign, be in a bright, Coca Cola red suit.[33]

Santa Claus: A Christian bishop from the Council of Nicaea filtered through Celtic gods, Dutch culture and American cartoons, and brought to you by Coca-Cola. J  

ADVENT (ARRIVAL) Advent as a season had been around a long time, but the first printed Advent calendar appeared in Germany in the early 1900s. During WWII, the Nazi Advent calendar included swastikas and took traditional pictures (like Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus) and retold them (this was a woodcutter, a soldier, and a king who get lost, then meet a woman whose baby has wise advice).

After the war, commercial production of Christian Advent calendars ramped up. Between that and the GIs who sent them home to their families in the States, it caught on here.[34]

CURRENT APPLICATION

First, I think we need to relax with our concern about the War on Christmas. The early church didn’t celebrate for at least 250 years. For a lot of history, the birth of Christ was probably dishonored by how Christians informally celebrated. 200 years ago, if Starbucks had existed, and if they had put out cups promoting Christmas, we would have boycotted them. 200 years from now, that might be the case again. It’s a good reminder that, no matter how well or poorly the trapping of the celebration unfold, the whole point was Jesus. The Bible gives us the template for how to celebrate the birth of Jesus no matter what is happening around us.

"Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you." ―Steve Maraboli

Second, I can’t imagine Jesus or the early church encouraging Christians to be offended that those outside the church don’t embrace this time as a celebration of Jesus like we do.  We, of all people, ought to be showing what good will on earth looks like.  We glorify Jesus in this time; welet our light of kindness and joy point toward the Light of the World. If Starbucks wants to print a cup that says “Happy Saturnalia,” and businesss require employees to say “Happy Humbug,” that’s their call. They don’t worship Jesus like I do. The church has always lived in this tension. Our job is to be Christ-like in the midst of it. 

Third, probably our biggest challenge as Christians is to make sure that our Christmas celebrations do not settle into the secularized version that focuses merely on giving gifts, feeling good and warm, and offering vague sentiments about peace and happiness.

I am not opposed to those things – I like all of those things, in fact – but I suspect we are far more likely to miss the heart of Christmas when our hearts are distracted rather than when a courthouse lawn doesn’t have a crèche or a school says “holiday break” instead of “Christmas break.” Donald Heinz[35] notes we must be careful not to focus 

“…on all the materials that claim to be good instead of on the Good that claims to be material [in Jesus].” 

Considering the history of Christmas, that appears to be an easy trap in which to fall. Our celebration must involve the elevation of Jesus above all else. The other things can be a great and meaningful contribution – our gift-giving reminds us of the One who gave his life; our blessing others overflows from how God has blessed us; our feasting mimics the love feasts of the early church and points toward the Marriage supper of the Lamb – but those find their meaning, and the eternal hope, peace and joy we celebrate at Christmas - through Jesus. [36] 

"May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen." —Robert Louis Stevenson

______________________________________________________________________________

[1] He received a tradition that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years and was followed by the emperor Tiberius. Jesus was 30 in the 15th year of Tiberius’ reign (Luke 3), which meant he lived 15 years under Augustus (so, born in the 28th year of Augustus reign).

[2] An anonymous document from North Africa placed Jesus birth on March 28; Clement (bishop of Alexandria) thought Jesus was born on November 18.  

[3] https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/august/why-december-25.html

[4] https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/

[5] https://apologetics-notes.comereason.org/2015/12/no-christmas-is-not-based-on-pagan.html?utm_content=bufferc1d95&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[6] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-very-non-christian-history-of-christmas_us_5a30701de4b04bd8793e955d

[7] https://www.historytoday.com/archive/did-romans-invent-christmas

[8] http://www.religionfacts.com/christmas

[9] https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/

[10] https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/the-origin-of-christmas-traditions-and-christs-birth-1457395.html

[11] http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1046

[12] http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/christmas_1.shtml

[13] “https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/?fbclid=IwAR2fPwOV2O-kks_7IJwDMbm-cBf0ZCpcB_DIzTv-JhaF8avlh9J0u3Mlcd4

[14] http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=996

[15] https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=nyscas_pubs

[16] https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=nyscas_pubs

[17] https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/new-york-invented-christmas-article-1.276163

[18] In 1821, an American children's book called "The Children's Friend" changed Santa's horse and wagon to a reindeer and sleigh.

[19] https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas

[20] For example, German immigrants brought their tradition of putting lights, sweets and toys on the branches of evergreen trees placed in their homes.

[21] https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=nyscas_pubs

[22] His family left Russia 3 years before the setting of Fiddler On The Roof. The only memory he would talk about was watching his family’s home burn to the ground. 

[23] In Philip Roth’s novel Operation Shylock (1993), Roth boasts that Irving “de-Christs” Christmas. “He turns Christmas into a holiday about snow—he turns their religion into schlock (Yiddish for something cheap, shoddy, or inferior)… If supplanting Jesus Christ with snow can enable my people to cozy up to Christmas, then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=nyscas_pubs

[24] As for nativity scenes…the Gospels do not mention there being any oxen, donkeys, camels or Magi at the manger. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, a medieval text, has heavily influenced the images in our heads as well as our Christmas songs.

Tradition about the Magi built from some assumptions from OT passages (Isaiah 1:2-3; 60:3, 6, 10-11;Psalm 72:10). An early church leader named Origen decided that Genesis 22 had something to say about the Magi, so he set the number at 3. Don’t ask me to explain why.

[25] https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/trees.shtml

[26] A story is told that, one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. It was so beautiful, that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas.

[27] My Grandma was 6 years old when Thomas Edison died. 

[28] https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=nyscas_pubs

[29] https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/the-origin-of-christmas-traditions-and-christs-birth-1457395.html

[30] A satire of Dutch culture called Knickerbocker History. 

[31] In 1822, we got this iconic poem (based on Irving’s writing): “Twas the night before Christmas… in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…”  

[32] “During the American Civil War, Nast mobilized Santa as a representation of American nationalism, often portraying him wearing a blue outfit with stars distributing gifts to Union soldiers and referring to him as ‘Santa Claus.’” https://touroscholar.touro.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=nyscas_pubs

[33] https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/history-of-christmas/2566272.html

[34] The first chocolate Advent calendar appeared in 1958; by 1971, Cadbury was all over it. Advent is now a chocolate cash cow.

[35] I am quoting from a review of his book, Christmas: Festival Of Incarnation  

[36] “The incarnation means that [God] himself has gone through the whole of human experience—from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. . . . He suffered infinite pain—all for us—and thought it well worth his while.” - Timothy J. Keller

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.