AtomRevelation Part 3
Revelation 7:9-17
Grace to you and peace that comes from God our Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who comes to us through His Holy Spirit. Amen.
I must say…it has been a DELIGHT to walk this journey through the first part of Revelation. I hope and pray that you have been blessed by what you’ve received as much as I have through the preparation and presentation of this incredible book.
I caught just a glimpse of this through the responses from last week’s vision of the lamb on the throne offering forgiveness, mercy, and courage and hope in the midst of so much of life’s stuff that happens.
To be more specific, I had NO IDEA of how many people today are living with the heaviness of the suicide of a loved one weighing heavily on their minds and in their hearts!! I had no idea of the number of God’s People who needed to hear that God’s love and grace extends to all people…and that there is NOTHING…NOTHING that can separate us from the love of God given in Christ Jesus.
What a humbling thrill (and chill) it was this week to hear not 1, not 2, but many stories from God’s people saying they had a weight lifted off of their shoulders through the words spoken last week…words of the Vision from Revelation 5 that bring hope and courage and mercy and grace and so much more to God’s people!!!
This week, we hear the Vision from Revelation 7. However, my sense is that, in order to really be captured (and blessed) by Rev 7…we need to take a look at Revelation 6…which is printed elsewhere in the bulletin!! Let’s turn to this…and…also note the picture of the wood carving from Rev. 6 of the four horsemen…we’ll get to that today also.
Note also: The primary resource that I’m using for today to help us interpret and receive God’s blessings. I’m planning to utilize this resource and offer a 7 week study this fall…it’s filled with such helpful material…Craig is a professor at Luther Seminary.
When we left Revelation 5…we left it with the living creatures and the elders falling down before the throne and worshipping the Lamb. Now, comes Revelation 6…the opening of the seven seals…by the one who is worthy…the Lamb who sits on the throne. Note the powerful imagery in this very statement…
A official seal CANNOT be opened except by the one who is worthy and certified to open it, and, a search throughout all of heaven was made to find one worthy and the search landed on the Lamb of God…who made the sacrifice for sin, and is alone worthy.
You’ll notice, as you read…that, as the lamb opens each seal, the voice of one of the living creatures says “COME”!! And, in order, 4 horseman come galloping before John’s eyes.
READ 6:1-7…
Over the years, much has been made of these horseman. In the last 150 years or so, it’s been popular in the Western world to use these horseman to try and set up a time line for the return of Jesus and the end of the world. This includes folks like: Miller, Scofield, Lindsay, LaHaye,
Those who do this suggest that we’ll know the end is near and that Jesus’ coming is real soon when one world power enters into a path of conquest (the first horseman) in the world.
The timeline is further developed as the threat of violence grows (2nd horseman) as people “slay each other”.
This also leads to incredible economic hardship (3rd horseman), and ultimately in end of world…death (the 4th horseman)…
followed by the kingdom of God arriving with the opening of the 6th and 7th seal.
And…over the course of the last 150 years, many, many such timelines have been developed!!
About this, Koester writes: (page 81)
“Prediction” is not the right words for these visions…rather the four horsemen have a symbolic and representative quality. Almost all people realize that the text is not telling us to expect the end times to begin when we see a solitary figure with a bow in his hand riding a white horse through the streets of our city, but recognize that the visions stand for larger realities: genuine threats for people in the first century and for us today.
They are word pictures that those in the 1st century would have readily understood!! He continues…as he focuses on the picture in your bulletin…(page 82)
Albrecht Durer’s woodcut of the four horsemen show how these threats work on readers. The first horseman with his bow appears in the background of the picture…because fear of conquest is often furthest away from reader’s minds. However, the second horseman brings the threat closer by pointing to the violence that people perpetrate on one another (notice the sword). The third horseman is the largest and most prominent in the picture, depicting economic insecurity as he grasps the scales like those used in commerce. (notice his words…”a quart of when for a day’s wages”…in other words, just barely enough to survive…and not much more!!!)
The fourth horseman, who represents death, is the final image…often overlooked as the attention is drawn to the large horseman representing economic uncertainties; but, death is the threat that sits in the lap of each viewer. NO one escapes it!!
While these images are word pictures from the culture of the 1st century church (horses were key parts of the armies of that day)…there is no doubt that the meaning they bring is as current today as it was back then. Threats of conquest, violence, economic insecurity, and death itself are just are real today as they were in the day and age when Revelation was written.
Think about our parents…grandparents…how the threats of economic insecurity and violence and death brought fear, anxiety, and so much more in the day of the great depression….WWI and WWII!!
Think about how these threats are real for us today…let’s ask…
Is there anyone here today who does NOT struggle with any anxiousness about violence, economic insecurity, death?? Of course we do…we all do!!!
A shortage of time brings us to the end of chapter 6…a chapter filled with violence, anxiousness, a crying out of God’s people under that altar…the stars falling (remember the song – My Lord what a morning??)…until at the end, when we find all the kings and generals and rich and powerful and slave and free…hiding and crying out that all too human question that comes many times in life…“Who can stand??”
And then, when expecting the answer to be “NO ONE”…comes chapter 7!!!
To the Question: Who can stand?...comes the answer…
Now…chapter 7…Who can stand??? The ones who are MARKED and SEALED by God!!
Does this ring a bell, people of God who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit and Marked with the Cross of Christ FOREVER”??
Then, notice John HEARD the voice say 144,000 in verse 4…and then the division was made into the tribes of Israel…(let’s remember that 12, 1000, and multiples of these numbers signify completeness…wholeness…perfection)….
And yet in saying this, while he HEARD the number 144,000….in verse 9, he SAW a great multitude that NO ONE could count…of those who had been sealed by the Living God, from every nation, tribe, people and language…standing before the throne…
And, it’s proclaimed loud and clear!!!
THESE are the ones who can stand…and there are so many, no one can count them. THESE are the ones who:
Are before the throne of god and serve him day and night in his temple.
Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; (catch this??)
He will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
We say it again: Revelation is not a timeline, it’s a message!!
I can only imagine the message of hope and courage this vision gave to the 1st century Christians??
In the midst of their incredible persecution…with border threats, violence, barely enough food to survive…and death a constant companion…
THIS MESSAGE gave to them the courage to step forward and boldly give witness to the faith of Jesus…as they faced persecution and death…the four horsemen…
Consider how this message that “God is with you always…” spoke to our grand-parents and parents in faith??
In the midst of the great depression…tough economic times…WW1 and WW2…Korea and Vietnam…
THIS MESSAGE gave to them determination, courage, perseverance…
THIS MESSAGE inspired God’s People to sign and to say…
My Lord, what a morning…as they toiled in slavery
It is well, with my soul…as death and economic disaster occurred..
And today, consider, what THIS MESSAGE gives to you, God’s people who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit and Marked with the cross of Christ FOREVER”…as you face the everyday fears and worries of Conquest, violence, economic security, and death???
Consider what message this gives to you, God’s people as you ask the question sometimes (maybe many times) in your life,
“WHO CAN STAND??”
This message sends chills up and down my spine…
In the midst of ALL THINGS…be it economic issues, violence issues, health issues, death issues, worry, anxiousness, floods, tornadoes, cancer, suicide, fires or whatever…
In the midst of those times when you think you just cannot stand…when you just cannot have one more thing happen or go wrong…
In the midst of those times when your resources are completely drained…
Look up people of God!!! Look to the Lamb of God of Revelation 7…who gives the gift of a vision…a gift given to sustain you, to give you Hope for tomorrow and Courage for Today. A gift from the “God who was, and is and is to come!!!”
Always Remember, people of God…you are the ones in chapter 7…You are the ones who:
have been SEALED by the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever!!
Three weeks ago, we started our journey in Revelation with chapter 1, verse 3…
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it;
I trust you are…we are together discovering that…We indeed are the BLESSED people of God.
This blessed journey continues next week with Pastor Wade. Thanks be to God!!! AMEN.
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