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Previously in Revelation

¹¹Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Day 16 – 4th Monday

Revelation 11:1-19

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, ²but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. ³And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. ⁶They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.

⁷When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, ⁸and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; ¹⁰and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.

¹¹But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. ¹²Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them. ¹³At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.

¹⁵Then 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 Messiah,
and he will reign forever and ever.”

¹⁶Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ singing,

“We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
¹⁸The nations raged,
but your wrath has come,
and the time for judging the dead,
for rewarding your servants, the prophets
and saints and all who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Points of Interest

• Where are we again? Since chapter six, we’ve been reading a coded historical review – John’s perspective of God’s perspective on history. It’s been portrayed as a written announcement with seven seals and an oral proclamation of seven trumpets.
• “the temple” – The chapter begins with John measuring the temple and ends with him finding the ark of the covenant inside, which is confusing because Jerusalem Temple 2.0 was destroyed by Rome a generation before this and the ark was lost when version 1.0 was destroyed by Babylon centuries earlier. But the temple always symbolized God’s presence with God’s people on earth. To me, this sounds like John is saying that all is well. God is still here, still with people that love and wait for God.
• “forty-two months” – Various versions of three and a half years and three and a half days are all over the middle of Revelation. It’s half of John’s number of perfection and means something like “feels like a long time, but it’s only a little while.”
• “two witnesses” – We don’t know who these two witnesses are that speak for God. Jewish law and culture required two witnesses for any trustworthy statement. These could reference lots of Old Testament prophets. The best scholarship I’ve read is that this may be Jesus and the church of Jesus. The rest of this review has been threats of plagues and suffering if people don’t shape up, and we saw in 9:20 that punishment doesn’t work to change hearts and minds. So, near the end of this section, we see God taking another strategy – speaking truth, dying, and rising again. This is to be the pattern of Jesus’ church in the world too – speaking and living the truth in love, even to the point of suffering, and trusting God for resurrection.
• “the seventh angel blew his trumpet” – We’re ready for the final beat in this long historical review. More punishment, more suffering, more plagues, right? Wrong. There’s a surprise coming. Death and resurrection leads to a new community, a new way of God on earth, and a different kind of victory.
• “the kingdom of the world” – This is radical stuff. In John’s time, the kingdom of the world was the Roman empire, looking like the mightiest force the earth had ever seen. John says it’s breathing its dying gasps. The kingdom/Empire/country of God is just beginning.
• “destroying those who destroy the earth” – Scripture teaches that God’s deepest ways are grace and mercy. But there’s a form of karma in God’s ways as well. People and empires that destroy will themselves be destroyed, if we don’t call out to God for mercy and start to change. That looks like wrath when it happens, but really, it is justice.

Spiritual Exercise

This week, we’ll respond to the idea of judgment by practicing critique and truth telling – noticing places in our own contemporary American consumer empire that overpromise, lie, or do violence. Is there a distraction or pleasure that culture promotes that you’ve hoped will shield you from suffering and pain? Ask God for the courage to let it go, and trust God to comfort and deliver you from pain.

A Direction for Prayer

Pray for your church’s witness in your city, that your church would remind people God is with us – not as another destroyer of the earth, but as one who has died and risen to establish a better community and a better way of life.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. On Sundays, we’re exploring this with our sermons; on weekdays, we’re doing so with our bible guide. The bible guide series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

²⁰The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.

Day 15

Revelation 10:1-11

And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. ²He held a little scroll open in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded. ⁴And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” ⁵Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land

raised his right hand to heaven
⁶and swore by him who lives forever and ever,

who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will be no more delay, ⁷but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

⁸Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” ¹⁰So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

¹¹Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Points of Interest

• • “another mighty angel … wrapped in a cloud” – While we’re waiting for the seventh trumpet, which is the climax of the seven heals, an enormous messenger of God bursts onto the scene. A digression? Dramatic build-up? Part of the non-linear unfolding of God’s purposes on the earth? Hard to say.
  • “face was like the sun” – This angel looks kind of like the opening vision of Jesus from Revelation 1. Maybe that’s part of being God’s messenger, that for your message to be valid, you also need to look and sound like God’s beautiful self.
  • “He held a little scroll” – Kind of a funny image, this mighty angel with his mini-scroll in hand. What does it say?
  • “do not write it down” – Stay focused, John. Maybe in much of our speech about God, there’s more sound than fury, more distracting buzz than helpful message. Or maybe this moment reminds us that there’s lots to God’s world that we’re not going to understand.
  • “raise his right hand to heaven” – The messenger is taking an oath, promising that whatever is being announced that will complete history, it is sure to be true. You can bank on it.
  • “when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled” – More dramatic build up. We’ve been hearing revelation about the way things are with God and the way things are on earth. It sounds like the end of this section is going to bring the two together – that the previously unknown ways of God will come to fruition.
  • “Take it, and eat” – These words sound like communion. But rather than welcoming the person of Christ into his body, John is welcoming the word of God, all that is sweet and all that is bitter. I like this as an image of listening to what God has to say. Don’t just think about it, take it in, chew on it, digest, eat. Internalize God’s message.
  • “many people and nations” – This line again stands for all people on the earth. So far, we’ve heard about all peoples suffering under the evil of history and the violence of empire. John reveals Rome and all dominating human societies to largely be up to no good for most of us. We’ve also heard about great multitudes from all peoples being comforted and fed and satisfied as they worship God together. The underbelly of our reality that we don’t usually see, and the great hope of God that we don’t usually believe – both are core to the message of Revelation.

  
  

Spiritual Exercise

Each day this week, you’re invited to withdraw from the stress and urgency of daily life and reflect on God’s power and goodness. Have you ever felt that you’ve heard a true word from God? Perhaps while listening to a sermon or reading the Bible or in prayer? Perhaps through the words in a song or the words of a friend? A god who isn’t silent and isn’t a violent bully, but who speaks good news of truth and who listens is a god we can love. Praise God for being communicative and ask God if you like, to deepen your experience of God speaking and listening to you.

A Direction for Prayer

For your six, pray that each will come to hear the voice of God to them, whatever messenger God uses to communicate.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

¹³Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Day 14

Revelation 9:1-21

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit; ²he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth. ⁴They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷In appearance the locusts were like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, ⁸their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; ⁹they had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months. ¹¹They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

¹²The first woe has passed. There are still two woes to come.

¹³Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. ¹⁶The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. ¹⁷And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they inflict harm.

²⁰The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.

Points of Interest

• A public service announcement: This might be a good time to remember how weird Revelation is. Have you noticed yet? John wrote this almost two thousand years ago, steeped in the symbolic literary conventions of a way of writing about faith and life that we’re not used to. The best way to read this isn’t to try to decode everything but let it wash over you like a vivid zombie movie – enjoying the strangeness and chewing on the meaning in the parts that speak to you.
• “the bottomless pit” – The tale of the fifth trumpet might be the spookiest scene in all Revelation. Death personified emerges from a smoky pit.
• “not to damage the grass” – A reminder that the tragic tale of history unfolding under the seven seals is descriptive, not prescriptive. This is a God’s-eye view on our history, not God’s will being done on earth. But under God’s watch, there’s a always a limit to evil and violence.
• “they will long to die, but death will flee from them” – Misery and psychic pain are part of the worst suffering. I think of victims of the Holocaust or the Middle Passage or in John’s age, the Roman siege of Jerusalem, and the suffering victims preferring death over their fate. Revelation exposes the violent underbelly of all human civilizations, our own included.
• “locusts like horses” – In his locust army of death, you can’t fault the vividness of John’s imagination!
• “his name is Abaddon” – In Hebrew, this is the pit of death personified; in Greek, “destroyer.” Who is this? Not just one person. Abbadon is Emperor Nero, scapegoating and killing Christians for his city’s fire. Abbadon is Hitler, exterminating classes of people he despises. Abbadon is the drunken man abusing his step-daughter. Abbadon is Satan, the personified spiritual force of all human evil, the “star fallen from heaven.” Abbadon is death in its many wretched forms.
• “the number of the troops .. was two hundred million” – As with the sixth seal, the sixth trumpet works its way toward violent cataclysm – an army even larger than Rome’s, a violence more total than we can imagine.
• “a third of humankind was killed” – good news, bad news here. A third of humankind is horrific, apocalyptic violence. And yet still two thirds survive. The worst of human history, the spirit of Abaddon, cannot prevail.
• “did not repent” – There is a long history of viewing God’s judgment as the source of human suffering. From this point of view, God causes human suffering to punish us or get us to change our ways. The word “plague” at the end evokes the Exodus story, when God hurts the Egyptian people and economy to push them to free their Hebrew slaves. There’s a shocking admission in Revelation – this does not work. Punishment doesn’t usually change people. Perhaps God will lead humans toward repentance through kindness, love, and self-sacrifice instead.

Spiritual Exercise

Each day this week, you’re invited to withdraw from the stress and urgency of daily life and reflect on God’s power and goodness. Praise God that while human authorities use violence and threats and suffering to advance their own agenda, God uses love and kindness to advance our healing.

A Direction for Prayer

All times and cultures have the spirit of Abaddon at work within them. Pray that your church will announce and embody good news that runs counter to the violence and psychic misery of the times you live in.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
¹⁷for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Day 13

Revelation 8:1-13

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

³Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. ⁴And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. ⁵Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

⁶Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.

⁷The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. ⁹A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.

¹²The 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 their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.

¹³Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Points of Interest

• “seventh seal” – After a dramatic pause, we return to the unfolding of history from God’s perspective. John’s been honest. It hasn’t been going so well for people.
• “silence in heaven” – One more dramatic pause. God waits, there is a rare moment of silence in the noisy scene of Revelation’s throne room for God to do what none of the ancient gods were ever purported to do: God listens to people. God will wait to hear what people have to say.
• “the prayers of the saints” – If the purpose of heaven’s pause is for God to hear prayers, poetically at least, we’re told they make a difference. The prayers are like temple incense, meaning they reach God and are pleasing to God, and they impact what God returns to the earth. That sounds great until we see what comes next – more chaos and violence. How is this in any way an answer to prayer? The many commentaries I’ve read largely sidestep this question. I think the only satisfactory answer is that the first six trumpets seem to recapitulate the first six seals, with new imagery. The seventh trumpet, though, will take us somewhere new. Perhaps the answer to prayer comes then. But we’ll have to wait until next week in our guide – when we look at Revelation 11 – to see it. Maybe there’s a lesson here. God has compassion for us but doesn’t share our experience of time and maybe takes the long view sometimes on answering our prayers.
• “the seven trumpets” – These aren’t our modern brass instruments, but rams’ horns. They had more to do with power – king’s announcements and battle cries – than music. The seven trumpets together seem to make up the seventh seal, seven inside of seven in John’s complicated symbolic universe.
• “hail and fire” – The first four trumpets tell the same story of human suffering under the violence of nations that the first four seals told. But they use more vivid language for it, often the language of the plagues on Egypt from the Bible’s Exodus story.
• “the star is Wormwood” – The one image that isn’t from Exodus evokes another Hebrew scripture – Jeremiah 9 – of something good that is ruined. Wormwood was a shrub with some medicinal use but also bitterness. Every time humans spoil the environment, every time we mix power into sex, every good word we use to manipulate, all the ways we corrupt something good, we rewrite the bitter story of the third trumpet for ourselves.
• “woe, woe, woe” – Revelation is brutally honest about how hard life is and how tragic much of human history has been and still will be. The eagle is right – it is full of woe. John makes a subtle poetic point, though. In Revelation, he’ll mark the first of these two woes in upcoming chapters, but the third will never come. God will rescue us from our worst possible story we could write for ourselves

Spiritual Exercise

Each day this week, you’re invited to withdraw from the stress and urgency of daily life and reflect on God’s power and goodness. Consider today this chapter’s image for your destiny. Return to yesterday’s image of God wiping your tears. If anything in your life is troubling you, tell God about that today. Thank God that woe will have an end and that God is listening to you. Imagine God as attentive to you, catching each tear that falls.

A Direction for Prayer

Today, be the person who prays for God’s mercy on each of your six, sparing them from the worst that life could bring, and asking God to rewrite the end to any bad stories playing out in their lives.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

“Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; ¹⁷for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Day 12

Revelation 7:1-17

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree. ²I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, ³saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”

⁴And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:

⁵From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
⁶from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
⁷from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
⁸from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed.

⁹After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

¹¹And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²singing,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
¹⁷for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Points of Interest

• “the seal of the living God” – Kings had these stamps to indicate a letter was under their power and protection. This angel has either been marked as God’s or symbolically is flying around with God’s seal to mark others.
• “a seal on their foreheads” – This reminds me of the old story of guilty brother Cain being given a mark on his forehead by God so that others wouldn’t murder him. At the end of chapter six, the rulers of the earth asked how they would endure history’s trials. The answer here is to come under God’s protection. Experience teaches us this won’t protect us from the struggles of circumstance that all humans face, but experience also teaches us that God can often give people other-worldly joy and courage that is its own kind of protection.
• “people of Israel” – This chapter has two visions of people of God. I wonder if this first vision is the worshipping community in the present or past. It’s large (in John’s numerology, also perfect – 12 groups of 12,000), but you can name them and count them, and they live under a form of God’s protection during hard times.
• “great multitude…from every nation” – In the second part of the vision, the community is uncountable and unnamable – drawn from all peoples on the earth. These people maintain their beautiful human diversity but share in common victory and common love and gratitude for God. This strikes me as the future destiny of God’s people, one we get only occasional glimpses of in this life.
• “Salvation belongs to our God” – God isn’t hording the power to save but sharing it widely. God does what human empire claims to do but can’t – rescue and liberate us, effect joy and freedom.
• “white in the blood of the Lamb” – Chemically, this makes no sense, of course. No one washes their clothes in blood to clean them – don’t try this at home, please. But John is saying the slaughtered Lamb doesn’t only represent the sacrificial, co-suffering love of Jesus but is the means by which humans find cleansing and victory.
• “The Lamb … will be their shepherd” – Another irony. This Lamb steps up and leads the flock. Jesus will guide us toward rest and satisfaction and fulfillment.
• “the seal of the living God” – Kings had these stamps to indicate a letter was under their power and protection. This angel has either been marked as God’s or symbolically is flying around with God’s seal to mark others.
• “a seal on their foreheads” – This reminds me of the old story of guilty brother Cain being given a mark on his forehead by God so that others wouldn’t murder him. At the end of chapter six, the rulers of the earth asked how they would endure history’s trials. The answer here is to come under God’s protection. Experience teaches us this won’t protect us from the struggles of circumstance that all humans face, but experience also teaches us that God can often give people other-worldly joy and courage that is its own kind of protection.
• “people of Israel” – This chapter has two visions of people of God. I wonder if this first vision is the worshipping community in the present or past. It’s large (in John’s numerology, also perfect – 12 groups of 12,000), but you can name them and count them, and they live under a form of God’s protection during hard times.
• “great multitude…from every nation” – In the second part of the vision, the community is uncountable and unnamable – drawn from all peoples on the earth. These people maintain their beautiful human diversity but share in common victory and common love and gratitude for God. This strikes me as the future destiny of God’s people, one we get only occasional glimpses of in this life.
• “Salvation belongs to our God” – God isn’t hording the power to save but sharing it widely. God does what human empire claims to do but can’t – rescue and liberate us, effect joy and freedom.
• “white in the blood of the Lamb” – Chemically, this makes no sense, of course. No one washes their clothes in blood to clean them – don’t try this at home, please. But John is saying the slaughtered Lamb doesn’t only represent the sacrificial, co-suffering love of Jesus but is the means by which humans find cleansing and victory.
• “The Lamb … will be their shepherd” – Another irony. This Lamb steps up and leads the flock. Jesus will guide us toward rest and satisfaction and fulfillment.
• “wipe away every tear” – Maybe I’m working the poetry too literally here, but God’s promise isn’t that we’ll never cry again, but that we’ll have each tear personally wiped away as it falls. I find this presence and comfort more moving and hopeful than a flat, low-emotion existence.

Spiritual Exercise

In the midst of Revelation’s drama, we see this week our third of seven scenes of worship. These remind us that in the drama of our times, we can still find solidarity with one another and connect with a good God who listens to us through worship. Each day this week, you’re invited to withdraw from the stress and urgency of daily life and reflect on God’s power and goodness. Consider today this chapter’s image for your destiny. Express to God any gratitude or praise it stirs in you.

A Direction for Prayer

For your city: Think of some people who are hungry, thirsty, or have eyes full of tears. Pray that God will start to fulfill the promises of today’s passage for them.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Day 11

Revelation 6:1-17

Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!” ²I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come!” ⁴And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.

⁵When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, ⁶and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

⁷When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come!” ⁸I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; ¹⁰they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” ¹¹They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.

¹²When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, ¹³and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. ¹⁴The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; ¹⁷for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Points of Interest

• “seven seals” – In Ch. 5, Jesus the Lamb arrived to open a scroll with seven seals, with a version of human history from God’s perspective, through a kaleidoscopic lens of symbolic imagery.
• “white horse” – Evoking the crazy history of Revelation’s interpretation, the seals begin with the famous “four horsemen of the apocalypse.” Each represents some of the worst trials of human history – military invasion, death in war, economic injustice, famine, disease. Unlike the Lamb, the horses are aggressive & violent. They don’t suffer for others’ good, but slaughter & cause suffering.
• “its rider was permitted” – While these horses and riders are not from God or of God, they are permitted by God. I think John means this to be comforting – that even the worst collective human evil is still under God’s control. Yet it is disturbing as well. While Revelation promises God’s victory and our victory over evil, it doesn’t try to answer why God doesn’t insist on a history without violence and suffering. Perhaps the image of Jesus knocking is helpful here – God will gently intervene in history but not crush our will and micromanage. Perhaps we can remember the slaughtered Lamb as well – that Jesus interrupts human violence by becoming a conquering victim, suffering with us now and promising a future age without violence and suffering.
• “Sovereign Lord” – The first century and all of history also includes the unjust suffering of people who refuse to respect corrupt human authorities but pledge their allegiance to God instead.
• “How long” – Human victims utter the age-old question that is stated twenty times in the Hebrew prayer book of the psalms.
• “white robe” – Seems odd at first that the innocent victims of history are given a lousy bathrobe and told to wait around. The white robe, though, is an answer to part of the “how long” question. It symbolizes victory. Unjust suffering is always temporary. God will vindicate.
• “a great earthquake” – The cataclysm of the sixth seal is typical symbolic biblical language for massive societal and political upheaval. This too is occasionally part of history.
• “the wrath of the Lamb” – This is an unexpected, ironic phrase. Overpowering anger isn’t the first thing we’d expect from a gentle, slaughtered lamb! Many theologians – particularly from Eastern traditions – point out that anytime God is personified, there is symbolism at work. Here, the symbol would be for the consequences of human evil. God doesn’t magically wipe out the enormous suffering that comes with personal and collective human violence. God allows the fearsome consequences captured in this chapter, leading John to ask, “How can we endure?” We’ll come back to that tomorrow.

Spiritual Exercise

In the midst of Revelation’s drama, we see this week our third of seven scenes of worship. These remind us that in the drama of our times, we can still find solidarity with one another and connect with a good God who listens to us through worship. Each day this week, you’re invited to withdraw from the stress and urgency of daily life and reflect on God’s power and goodness. Today, consider that in all of the very worst evil and suffering in the human story, both present and past, God is still alive, still good, and still promises victory and redemption. Let God know you know that is true, or that you hope that is true, or even that you want to hope that is true.

A Direction for Prayer

Pray for each of your six by name, that wherever they are asking “How long?” they will experience hope, faith, and courage.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Day 10

Revelation 5:7-14

⁷He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. ⁸When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹They sing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; ¹⁰you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.” ¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹²singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” ¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” ¹⁴And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Points of Interest

• “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb” – The Lamb gets the same worship as Creator God did in the last chapter. In many ways, Chapter 5 is a parallel to, or a recapitulation of Chapter 4. Stories are told about this Lamb, songs are sung, just as with God. This is part of the first century Jesus community’s working out what it means that Jesus and Creator God are two persons that share the same nature and identity. It’s also part of their working out that Jesus is the deepest, clearest, most accurate picture the world has yet seen of the nature and character of God. Want to know what God looks like? Look at Jesus.
• “the prayers of the saints” – Our worship and prayer on earth reaches God and are both beautiful and valuable to God.
• “You are worthy… for you were slaughtered” – Jesus can see and reveal God’s plans for history because Jesus endured suffering on all humanity’s behalf. Conquering comes through self-giving, vulnerable suffering, not through violence. This would have shattered the Roman ideal of redemptive violence that peace is secured through war, that military conquest brings glory. The myth of redemptive violence is also an obsession of contemporary American entertainment and nationalism. We see and hear that through violence, heroic victories are won, national freedoms are protected, and justice is secured. But God doesn’t use violence as a tool or a means to an end. Jesus is worthy for using sacrificial love and powerful vulnerability as a means to redemption.
• “and by your blood you ransomed for God saints” – Ransom is an old metaphor for the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion. People were enslaved to our own foolishness and addiction and the power of evil. Jesus can free us, and his blood is the ransom payment. It’s metaphor. No one is necessarily being paid off, but God pays the full cost of our freedom, not us.
• “from every tribe and language and people and nation” – Jesus is drawing people to God from every conceivable human demographic across the globe.
• “to be a kingdom and priests serving our God” – The destiny for God’s children isn’t just freedom but authority. Keep in mind that many of the first century believers were slaves. What good news this is that all people, regardless of how much they have been diminished, are made to be co-rulers with God on earth.
• “to receive power and wealth…” – A second worship song, sung by millions in full voice, to the slaughtered Lamb. It’s a stunning scene of hope and victory. Jesus has the right to all the things the most powerful emperor could ever dream of having. His victory is total. For people who suffer or make counter-cultural choices to align with Jesus, this is a scene of great hope for them as well. Team Jesus wins, but not at any one else’s expense.

Spiritual Exercise

This week we invite you to welcome Jesus to knock on your door, to center your life, and to shape your vision of God. Imagine yourself among the millions singing around this throne. Are you comfortable there or not? What victory do you hope Jesus has achieved for humanity?

A Direction for Prayer

Pray for your city: that people and churches and media and arts would learn to tell stories of redemptive suffering rather than redemptive violence.

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

Day 9

Revelation 5:1-6

Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; ²and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” ³And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁴And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” ⁶Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Points of Interest

• “a scroll” – Kings would write decrees and plans on scrolls. God’s got an important one here. Tradition has it that this scroll represents something far more comprehensive than usual – like all God’s plans to judge and save the world and otherwise reckon with human history.
• “sealed with seven seals” – Royal scrolls were closed with a single wax seal, as marks of royal authority and disincentive for the wrong person to open it. Security on this one is tight. In John’s world of sevens, perfectly tight. None of us mortals should claim to know God’s plans.
• “I began to weep bitterly” – But John really, really wants to know, and he really wants God’s plans to proceed, good as they must be.
• “The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” – Good News. God’s warrior, God’s human ruler is in town to do the job. These titles evoke royal strength – the king of the jungle and Israel’s greatest king. They also were recognizable Messianic images – Messiah being the promised ruler of God on earth.
• “a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered” – Well, that is unexpected. The Messiah, the scroll-breaker, the conqueror with the victory wreath was called a king and a lion. When John sees him in the heart of the throne room, though, he looks more like a lamb soaked in its own blood. In Jesus, God is radically reframing what power and strength look like. The whole point of power in the Roman imperial system and pretty much any other human system is to stay at the top of the pyramid – to avoid suffering for yourself, and subject others to it as needed for your own security and wealth or for the supposed greater good. Jesus embraces suffering and is unashamed to continue to be marked by vulnerability and gentleness. As the Lamb is a central image for John, we’ll have more opportunities to reflect on it. For now, consider how this image might reframe your conception of God, or of power, or of leadership, or of masculinity, or of any number of
  things.
• “having seven horns and seven eyes” — Seven is John’s number of completion or perfection, and horns in his tradition symbolize strength. Though he is a lamb, in this vision the poetic symbolism indicates Jesus also has complete power and perspective, seeing and knowing all things. He sees and knows all things — not just in this throne room, but by the Spirit of God, everywhere, in all the earth.

Spiritual Exercise

This week we invite you to welcome Jesus to knock on your door, to center your life, and to shape your vision of God. Imagine the risen Jesus telling you that he wants to show you what God is like. I’m not sure that the bloody lamb image works as well in our century. Perhaps you could imagine Jesus appearing to you as a hunger-weakened refugee or a prisoner of war. How does being with Jesus the victim of violence shape your image of God? Is it easy or hard to picture Jesus like this?

A Direction for Prayer

Many of our views of God are influenced by our experiences of our parents and other leaders. Pray for your six, for healing from any abusive, controlling, or power-hungry leadership they have seen or experienced in their lives. Pray that Jesus’ spirit sent out into all the earth would encourage and nourish them today.

Bible Guide – Day 10

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.

Previously in Revelation

To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat
down with my Father on his throne.

Day 7

Revelation 4:1-6a

After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! ³And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. ⁴Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; ⁶and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Points of Interest

• “a door stood open” — Heaven in the New Testament isn’t a particular place or time, certainly not just some realm in the skies where dead people go. It’s the sphere of reality where God lives and rules, both outside of space and time as we know it and yet accessible in our space and time as well. Mysterious, but accessible – the door is open.
• “in the Spirit” – Chapter four begins the first of seven visions which make up most of the rest of Revelation. John’s vision is described metaphorically as a journey he takes into heaven – God’s realm – to see what’s going on with God behind the scenes of what we see on earth.
• “there in heaven stood a throne” – This throne-room scene feels like a mash-up of two places familiar to John: the center of a temple and the center of a palace. From the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and the imperial cult of the Roman Empire, these centers of beauty and power and mystery were familiar to John. The Old Testament often pictures God living in a temple or ruling from a throne. Each time, the writers go overboard with the imagery to communicate that God is more powerful and more beautiful than anything they have yet seen. At least one goal of this imagery is to re-center us. No president or boss is the center of power on earth – God is. And no celebrity or marketing prop most radiates beauty – God does.
• “jasper and carnelian” – God’s looking pretty fly. Jasper is a stone that, when clear, sparkles and flashes, and carnelian is a deep red. What this evokes for me is that God is stunning and beautiful, on the one hand absolutely transparent with nothing to hide, and on the other hand, possessing the depth and power and light of fire.
• “a rainbow” – Above everything that is powerful and mysterious and fierce around this throne is a beautiful, green-hued rainbow. Dating back to the ancient flood story in Genesis, this has been an image of the kindness and mercy and promise of God.
• “around the throne are … twenty-four elders” – God isn’t ever alone in this temple or throne imagery. There are always loads of messengers and worshippers and helpers. Here God’s council or cabinet is two groups of twelve – perhaps representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 first apprentices of Jesus, representing Jesus’ whole Jewish heritage and the worldwide church of Jesus.
• “lightning… thunder… torches… sea of glass” – The throne of God also is never a dull place. It’s electric with power and busy with God’s Spirit going out, symbolized by messengers or angels or flashes of lightning. And yet it’s somehow still peaceful. The ocean for Jews was a place of terror. Here it is replaced by a sea of crystal glass – still and beautiful.

Spiritual Exercise

This week we have the image of Jesus knocking at our door and of Jesus – pictured as a strong lion and also as a vulnerable, slaughtered lamb – being our picture of the nature of God and sitting at the center of our worship. So this week we invite you to welcome Jesus to knock on your door, to center your life, and to shape your vision of God. Imagine for a moment that Jesus is taking you to see what God looks like. Center your imagination on one of today’s images of God’s beauty or power. Hold that picture for a few moments. Notice if anything changes in your mind or body or feelings.

A Direction for Prayer

Pray for your six, that however close or distant God has seemed to them, they would come to see that God’s door is open. Pray that their greatest ever experience of power or beauty would become an image of part of what God is to them.

Bible Guide – Day 8

The Bible Guide

This blog post is part of a Lenten journey through the book of Revelation. Every year during the season of Lent, we take a focused look at a portion of Scripture as part of our communal spiritual practice. This year, we are exploring what it means to be Children of God in a Fractured World, with Revelation as our lens. The series starts here.