Revelation 5:11-14 – All Heaven and Creation Worships God!

We’ve seen that the Lamb has been declared worthy to open the scroll because with his blood he “purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” These multitudes will be “a kingdom and priests to serve” God, “and they will reign on earth.” Then something that must have been very loud causes him to look, and he hears the voice of innumerable angels (“thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand”). The sight was surely breathtaking. John sees them encircling the entire scene, the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. Then they start to sing:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

When I read this verse I think of another great declaration of praise to God in one of my favorite Old Testament passages (how many favorite passages is one allowed to have, I wonder), where David near the end of his life declared praise to Yahweh, Israel’s God (I Chron. 29:10-13):

“Praise be to you, Lord,
    the God of our father Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.
¹¹ Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
    you are exalted as head over all.
¹² Wealth and honor come from you;
    you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
    to exalt and give strength to all.
¹³ Now, our God, we give you thanks,
    and praise your glorious name.

There was no doubt whatsoever that to the early Church Jesus was fully divine, and fully human. They offer the same praise to him as Israel offered to their God Yahweh because in some sense he was Yahweh. They never bothered themselves with how all this could be true, but to them it obviously was.

There is also the insanity, in human terms, of a man tortured and dying on a Roman cross being the means by which he is declared worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Living 2,000 years post-crucifixion we often don’t give it a second thought that the most horrific means of torture and death the world has ever known became the means of our salvation. This upside down, inside out insanity is one of many reasons the entire story of our redemption could never have been made up. It is all true. I’ve mentioned this book before, but I highly recommend Tom Holland’s Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. We so take for granted the world Christianity has made that we fail to realize just how radical a transformation it was from the ancient world it replaced, not to mention how unlikely. Christianity should have never succeeded, but it did because it is true.

When I read this declaration I also think of the concept of God being worthy of such praise and adoration. The word axios-ἄξιος, means to weigh in, assigning the matching value (“worth-to-worth”); worthy, i.e., as the assessment in keeping with how something “weighs in” on God’s balance-scale of truth. We are used to such weighing and assigning because we do it all the time. We know when some work, and the person behind it, is worthy of praise and adoration. We really can’t help that reaction because the nature of the thing invites and compels it. How much more God! This may seem obvious, not even needing to be said, but as Calvin rightly pointed out, the sinful human heart is an idol factory, and our tendency is to worship everything but God. This is why the first two commandments are the first two!

The challenge is how do we develop a heart, a state of being, a mentality of such worship for a God so worthy of it? First it is not an emotional state that can be generated at will, as if we know we should feel a certain way, and then determine we shall have it! The emotion only comes at the end of our truly understanding why he is worthy. I suggest we start with creation. All through Scripture God is acknowledged as the Creator God, and praised for his great works. We have so much more at our disposal today to know just how great those works are. In the last century, and especially the last 50 years, scientific discoveries have revealed the stunning, mind-blowing, preposterous complexity of the material universe. If that doesn’t leave us in awe, then secularism has sucked us in to its vortex of lies that it’s all just “natural.” There ain’t nothing natural about it! It is all, every cell, every molecule, every atom and nanoparticle, every everything super-natural! We need to develop the ability to see what’s actually there, even if we can’t see it, and marvel at the God who could create such things.

That is God’s revelation of himself in creation. Next we need to learn of the magnificence of his revelation of himself in Scripture. If this book doesn’t also blow our minds, we’re not trying hard enough. First that it even exists. The Bible we hold in our hands (66 books by 40 or so authors) was written over 1,500(!) years in primarily two languages (with a bit of Aramaic thrown in), and copied faithfully for another 1,500(!). The story of redemption it records is stunning in its coherence. It reveals to us our desperate need of a Savior, and how God accomplished that in Christ, his ultimate revelation of himself in his holiness, justice, and love. The greater we understand our desperate need, the greater we appreciate the greatness of his mercy and grace. And throw on top of all of this that it’s actually true! This is the answer to the human dilemma, everything we are looking for, hope, meaning, purpose, love and acceptance. When we understand all this, we will worship.

Then John tells us the praise extends from heaven to “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them,” and that it encompasses both:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

All of creation is caught up in the greatness of its Creator and Savior. Then the four living creatures say, “Amen,” and the elders fall down and worship. What a scene. Now to the scroll.

Revelation 5:7-10 – Worthy is the Lamb to Open The Scroll

The Lamb that John just described now comes and takes the scroll from the one who sites on the throne. The heavenly creatures we’ve been introduced to, the four living ones, and the twenty-four elders, are getting ready to sing a song of praise to the Lamb. As one of the elders told John as he wept fearing no one could open the scroll, The Lamb is the one who is worthy. Each of those preparing to sing is holding a harp, and golden bowls “full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” John doesn’t say the incense represents their prayers, but are the prayers themselves. Incense has a pleasing aroma, and our prayers to God are something pleasing.

Then they sing “a new song.” Why new and not old? As we see throughout the Old Testament, singing songs to the Lord is a consistent feature of God’s people, and often songs were composed and sung at great events in the history of redemption, like Moses and the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt, and in the New when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and God confirmed his word to her. We also see in the Psalms the exhortation to sing a new song to the Lord, pointing forward to when he would make all things new. This song is the new song fulfilled because it reflects everything in every song that came before:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    people from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”

John said in verse six the Lamb looked “as if it has been slain,” and now we read that he actually was. His bloody death on a cross is what makes him the only being in all creation worthy to open the scroll, specifically because his blood purchased multitudes of people for God. Jesus bought us! He owns us! This is why I always say an actual transaction took place on the cross, not a possible or potential transaction; it was an actual purchase. Jesus did not die on the cross for the sins of all people, each and every human being who ever lived so they could possibly be saved if they believed in him, but for his people. It is why I constantly emphasize that Jesus was given his name, to “save his people from their sins,” not make it possible for all people. If he purchased people for God on the cross with his blood, those people were purchased!

The scope of this transaction was immense, and it was always intended to be. Unfortunately, by the time Jesus came on the scene, the Jewish people had forgotten this, and constricted God to Jews and Jews only. Half-Jews like Samaritans were their enemies, and they wouldn’t even eat with Gentiles. They seemed to have not remembered or ignored God’s promises to Abraham, especially those in Genesis 17, 18, and 22, that all the nationals of the earth would be blessed through him, and God’s promise through Isaiah that Israel would be “a light for the Gentiles.” The fourfold designation of the people God has purchased is used in slight variation a perfectly biblical seven times in Revelation. I think God wants us to know how truly universal this salvation is, and we see after almost 2,000 years how amazingly universal. Christianity is the only truly universal religion, at home in every culture, because it is the only true religion.

We learn here those purchased would have specific tasks “on the earth.” The idea that we get saved to “go to heaven” is only a partial truth. The objective of our salvation was always a new heavens and a new earth, where we will live forever in physical bodies. Heaven is the place our souls reside (our souls are the real us, who we are, you and me) until the resurrection and what we read about in Revelation comes to pass. We also learn that these tasks were always part of God’s plan, what his people he rescued from slavery in Egypt were saved for (Exodus 19:5,6):

⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.

The problem, of course, was that they didn’t obey him and keep his covenant because they couldn’t. It took another 1,500 years after he spoke these words to Moses who spoke them to the Israelites for this to be fully understood and revealed through the apostles, and most definitively through Paul. Israel’s utter failure to keep the covenant was the canvas upon which the glorious gospel of God’s grace was painted, and he had to do it himself. God had to come to earth, become a man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and be the only human being who could obey God fully and keep his covenant, and then because of his perfect obedience pay the price for our utter failure, in the words of Isaiah:

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

That’s how we were purchased, by his blood, God’s wrath for our sin fully satisfied in him.

The kingdom and priests phrase was used earlier by John (1:6), but there was no mention of earth. Here, the song gives us the context of how we will serve God, by reigning, ruling, with and for him on earth (we were never intended to be disembodied souls, but we are souls with bodies). This is God fulfilling the original dominion mandate he gave man when he created him (Gen. 1:26), a mandate the original man, male and female he created them, could not fulfill. Fallen man has tried to exercise this dominion from the moment he was cast out of the garden, and he’s done a pretty good job, but it always ends in failure and frustration, and always will. We were specifically created to successfully rule over all of God’s creation, and God in Christ made sure of it. Revelation will give us a glimpse of this in his new creation.

Revelation 5:1-6 – The Lion who is A Lamb and The Scroll

Now we are introduced to a second figure who is worthy to receive the same kind of worship and honor as the one who is seated on the throne, the Lamb. We read the first of 31 references to him in this chapter. John’s focus turns from the one on the throne to a scroll he is holding in his right hand with writing on both sides sealed with seven seals. Scrolls were rarely written on both sides because they were read right to left being unrolled and rolled as they were read. Written on both sides, though, is an allusion to Ezekiel 2:9,10 where Ezekiel is given a scroll written on both sides with “words of lament and mourning and woe,” and there will be plenty of that described on this scroll. Important scrolls were sometimes sealed in the ancient world and could only be broken by one who had the authority to do so, and that is the point of the scene here:

² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴ I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 

We’re not told who this angel is, but he is the one chosen to issue a challenge to all of creation if anyone is worthy to open the scroll, but no one can be found. For some reason, we’re also not told, John finds this very sad. He must have connected the scroll to what Jesus had told him previously (4:1), “what must take place after this,” and now he’ll never know. Then one of the twenty-four elders comforts him, telling him not to weep because there is someone:

“See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

The lion reference would have been familiar to John’s readers, going back to when Jacob blesses his sons near the end of his life (Gen. 49), and specifically to Judah. It was the first Messianic prophecy of the one who will come to rule the nations. It also mentions a donkey and colt, a specific reference that comes through the prophet Zechariah (9:9) some 1,500 years later. Matthew quotes this verse when Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday because at that moment everyone thought he was or might be that one to come, Israel’s true King. Which is of course related to the next reference from Isaiah 11, but there it is not David, but his father, Jesse who is the root. If you read that chapter (highly suggested) it’s almost like God is predicting Revelation in outline, and using John to fill in the details of how all that will be accomplished. The root is also referred to as a stump in verse 1 because it’s just a remnant that will return (chapter 10), and out of something so little will come the salvation of the entire cosmos. Then we are introduced to the Lamb, the one who brought that salvation:

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 

You almost get whiplash going from verse 5 to 6 because John was told it’s a lion who can open the scroll, but then he sees a lamb. And it’s not just any old lamb (the Greek word typically used for that is amnos-ἀμνός, the word John used for Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel), but arnion-ἀρνίον, which is a young or diminutive lamb; so the contrast is even greater. It is also not much of a conquering lamb because it looks as if it has been mortally wounded, killed, yet it stands at the very center of this unfolding drama. Not only that, but the horns symbolize power and the eyes wisdom, insight, and knowledge, which together are symbolized by these spirits going into all the earth. Commentators seem to agree that this is a symbolic reference to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to his people when he went away. That promise was visually fulfilled at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to apply to his people the redemption the Lamb accomplished on the cross.

The Triune nature of this entire scene (chapters 4 and 5) is stunning, and the most explicitly implied in all of Scripture. That seems like an oxymoron because if something is explicit, it isn’t implied, but John isn’t working out a Nicene philosophical statement about the nature of the Trinity, but describing what he sees, and what he sees is God three in one, one in three. Trying to explain it is another matter beyond human comprehension. God himself is at the center of that throne, and worshiped as the Lord God Almighty, and here is a lion like lamb, or lamb like lion, also at the center of the throne, and the lamb is also the Holy Spirit who goes into all the earth.

Back to the lion who looks like a slain little lamb. The symbolism here is also stunning. A lion is fierce, one who conquers and rules his domain, majestic looking with his main as he surveys all that he rules, while a little lamb (couldn’t help the tune Mary Had a Little Lamb playing in my head as I wrote those words) is innocent and defenseless. What John sees makes sense in light of how he described Jesus Christ in chapter one as he who “has freed us from our sins by his blood,” and who was pierced and described as the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

John seeing the lion as a lamb “as if it had been slain,” is an image of Jesus’ sacrifice as perpetual, the marks of his suffering for us clearly seen as once for all time. When Jesus had risen from the dead, the slaughtered lamb killed for the people’s sin was the only thing that could make sense of the cross. They could finally see what Isaiah 53:7 mean, that it was Jesus who was “led like a lamb to the slaughter,” and it was upon him whom the LORD has laid “the iniquity of us all.” There was also the first Passover we read about in Exodus 12 in which lambs were slaughtered and the blood put on the door posts so the angel of death would pass over the houses of the Israelites. And of course lambs were used in the temple sacrifices for the individual’s sins. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King David’s heir to rule Israel and the world, was the lamb who was sacrificed for his people and the Savior of the world. The drama will continue to play out even more explicitly so there is no doubt that he has the authority to open the scroll.

Revelation 4:8b-11 – Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!

In the first part of the chapter, John has tried to describe what he sees when he is taken up into heaven and given a glimpse into the throne room of God. It is clearly a challenge to describe the indescribable. Via metaphor and simile, John creates for us a mental picture to set up the heavenly reaction to the indescribable being who inhabits this throne. He is also giving us more than a hint of what our proper response should be as well. The four living creatures he tried to describe react in the only proper way created beings should respond to their creator:

Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

When most Christians read this, they will hear in their minds the great 19th century hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy. More on that in a moment. But first, our tendency as sinful human beings is to forget that God is holy, and at our worst we think he’s really not much different than us, maybe just a bit more powerful. Let’s consider what the word holy does not mean. It does not mean moral, or doing morally good works, or being sexually pure, or being a prude. Sinful people always want to make anything to do with God about external conformity to some moral standard, but it has almost nothing to do with that, although in another sense it has everything to do with it. That standard is God himself, and as we grow to know him our lives reflect him, inwardly and outwardly.

What sinners don’t do by (fallen) nature is understand and acknowledge that God is wholly other, a phrase it is good to remember. The word holy, hagios-ἅγιος, means set apart, therefore different from the world because like the Lord. God’s holiness means he is nothing like us, and we are nothing like him. He is completely different and set apart from his creatures and his creation. We know this by definition, but sinners very often forget the definition. The reason this is so critical to remind ourselves every day, and every moment of every day, is found in Genesis 3. The tip of Satan’s spear, the heart of his enticement to draw human beings into rebellion against their Creators is, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

This ever present temptation is why the first commandment is the first of the ten: “You shall have no other gods before me.” This is an indication that our number one sin problem is exactly this, that we are always tempted to put other gods before God, mostly ourselves. This leads to why the second commandment against idolatry follows, and that we “shall not bow down and worship them,” which is of course exactly what we do. We are worshiping creatures, and we were meant to worship God, or Creator only. I’ve heard skeptics say God is some kind of monomaniac because he needs to be worshiped, but they have it exactly backward. We are the ones who need to worship! We are designed to worship. Does the phrase “teen idol” mean anything to you? When we’re children we “look up” to our idols. Adults worship all kinds of things, athletes, sports teams, musicians, their cars, their kids, women, men, the list is practically infinite.

Thankfully, God has put us in right relationship with him in Christ so we don’t have to worship idols, because we will worship something. That’s why this portion of God’s revelation to us is so incredible and so needed. Here is the only proper response to a being who is the origin of all things, and why nothing else in all creation should be worshiped. John tells us that the living creatures from time to time (whenever in the text) “give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne,” and this starts a cascade of events. John describes the one who sits on the throne twice as “him who lives for ever and ever.” God’s eternality is what sets him apart from all other things; he is the only non-contingent thing that exists. Everything else is dependent on him; if he doesn’t, it doesn’t. The twenty-four elders fall down and lay their crowns before the throne.”

These crowns are not just a sign of authority, but John uses a specific word for crowns that tells us why they lay their crowns before God. They are stephanos-στέφανος, a wreath (garland), awarded to a victor in the ancient athletic games (like the Greek Olympics), so a crown of victory. The elders are acknowledging that all victory comes from him, that he himself is our victory. We don’t earn our victory or victories, as if we could put God in our debt, but he who is the reason we even exist, grants us our victories, enables victory, so we can worship him! That’s why God on the throne somehow is the same as Jesus, the one “who was, and is, and is to come.” Jesus says in Rev. 1:8 that this is who he is!

Understanding the true nature of our relationship to him leads to worship and gratitude and humility and love and grace and mercy and kindness and hope and purpose and meaning, and every single thing human beings are really looking for and need! If we keep the crowns for ourselves, as if we earned them (“Look at my crown, ma, ain’t I grand!”), that only leads to misery and death, self-obsession, and the opposite to every word in that list. As we grow in our relationship to God, and in our understanding of him, we get an increasing glimpse into the picture John is seeing, and can’t help but break out in worship of our God and Savior, like the living creatures and the elders:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”

We know more and more to the very depths of our being that he is worthy to receive such worship, and the health of our souls depends on it. It is what we were created for! As Augustin eventually realized and then said so eloquently, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” And part of our ability to achieve that rest is affirming and acknowledging that God is Creator of all things. It is why the first words of God’s revelation to us are, “In the beginning God created . . . .” And why in the very last book of his revelation the apex of the worship of God is acknowledging him as Creator. As I ended my last post, I’ll end this. Nothing makes us more human, more who we were intended to be, than living our lives knowing he is God and we are not!

Revelation 4:1-8a – The Majestic Throne in Heaven

From the letters John transitions with an “After this,” from earth to heaven. Jesus had told him in chapter 1 (v. 19) using the same words he was to write about “what is now,” which was obviously about life on earth in the churches, and what will take place “after this” (the same phrase in Greek). We might see this as a behind the scenes look to what happens in every day mundane life on earth because we must remember, and be reminded, there is a spiritual reality behind everything. He’s sees “a door standing open in heaven,” and hears the same voice “like a trumpet” he heard earlier, and Jesus tells him, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Chapters 4-19 mainly deal with God’s judgment on the world prior to Jesus’ earthly reign, and we see the difference between how he treats his people with affirmations and calls to repentance, and those in rebellion with judgment.

Again as he said in chapter 1 he is “in the Spirit,” which is the only way he can see what is beyond this earthly veil. He sees “a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it,” which harkens back to Isaiah’s vision (6:1-8) where he sees the Lord seated on a throne, and Ezekiel 1 where the heavens are opened and he sees visions of God. Then tries to explain what he sees.

³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

To say this one had the appearance of these stones means he is impossible to describe. Metaphor and simile is the best he can do. How can a rainbow shine like an emerald? Emeralds are green, and rainbows as colorful as they are, are not. We are to be reminded of the significance of the rainbow in redemptive history, God’s covenant promise to Noah, which itself is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to his promises.

The throne represents authority and power, sovereign rule because in the ancient world anyone who sat on a throne had absolute power. The one who rules from this throne is alone worthy to pronounce judgment upon the world. Then John sees twenty-four other thrones surrounding this throne, and on those thrones are twenty-four elders. We can only speculate what the number twenty-four refers to, maybe twice the twelve tribes of Israel or the apostles. But we can see the the ultimate authority of all reality is supported and served by other thrones or authority. And these elders were “were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.” The word white is used 15 times in Revelation, the implication being purity, and that everything to do with God’s coming kingdom is right and true and good. The crowns of gold simply heighten the authority. This is all very serious business.

⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

Anyone who has experienced a serious thunderstorm up close knows how amazing and terrifying it can be. This one on this throne is infinitely more amazing and terrifying than any thunderstorm could be. The perfect biblical seven lamps represent the lamps kept burning in the tabernacle, but these lamps are not just lit, they are blazing and represent God’s Holy Spirit. Being invisible he is represented in Scripture, for example, in physical form as tongues of fire as in Acts, or as a dove when Jesus was baptized. The sea of glass is deeply symbolic of God’s sovereign, irenic reign over all things, specifically in contrast to the sea as chaos, something of a common symbol in the ancient world. There are also allusion to something like this in Ezekiel, and in the new heaven and earth there will no longer be any sea (21:1), no more chaos. John continues his description:

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.

These four living creatures specifically point back to Ezekiel’s description of four living creatures in Ezekiel 1:4-14, and living creatures in Ezekiel 10:20-22, and he tells us these spectacular angelic beings were cherubim surrounding God’s throne. These angelic beings were also significant in the design of the temple, specifically in the most holy place (Exodus 25:17-22 and 26:1-31). We also learn in Exodus that the tabernacle was in some sense a model for God’s dwelling place, and thus throne, and John is seeing the heavenly reality of that earthly type. The eyes symbolically represent insight, perception, alertness, and these creatures have a staring role to play in Revelation, so it’s important that they can see all things.

He then tries to describe their appearance:

⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.

The creatures appearance differs from Ezekiel, so instead of one face with all these features, here each creature is different in appearance. Another difference is here they have six wings, and in Ezekiel four, and the vision emphasizes the eyes again, that the cherubim can see all things. And as we’ll see, their job is to affirm the greatness and majesty of the one who sits on the throne, and remind us of something we should never forget: He is God, and we are not!

Revelation 4 – The Awesome Power and Reality of God

Now we get into the fun stuff, and where most of us get lost in the strange language and bizarre images we find in Revelation. Before I tackle the details, though, I want to present an extended quote from one of the books I’m reading to help me make sense of it all, this one by Dennis Johnson. What stood out in what he says is to me the point of Revelation. It is not to understand everything, not to try to make sense of every detail. That isn’t possible for us, and wasn’t even possible for the ancient Jews who were steeped in apocalyptic literature. The objective, I believe, of God’s revelation to us in Revelation is to induce in us an awe in one so inconceivably great as our Creator God, who is also the sovereign ruler over all of reality, spiritual and material. The other which flows from this, is to trust in him beyond our seeing and perceiving and understanding. I’ve quoted Isaiah (26:3) many times in this regard, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Perfect peace . . . . That, of course, is impossible in this life in a fallen world, in a fallen body, lived among fallen people, but we can all get closer to perfect. The Book of Revelation will help us do that.

To Dr. Johnson:

The loss of awe in the modern world could be attributed to the expansion of scientific understanding, the democratic impulse in world politics, or our growing technological capacity to simulate the miraculous on film, television, and computer screens, where we can create a virtual world in which anything can happen but nothing actually happens. Yet the attempt to replace awe with explanation and artifice fails to convince people who, though they deny or ignore it, are nevertheless created in the image of the God who is awesome in glory. The reduction of human experience to the explicable is a desperate act of faith in our power to create reality (“what we cannot explain cannot exist”), but this faith cannot satisfy. Into the vacuum of transcendence created by naturalism and technolatry, New Age spirituality is rushing, promising the experience of mystery and awe turned inward, without the troubling concept of accountability to the Creator.

The Book of Revelation wages war on the reductionism that chokes awe. Among its most pervasive motifs is that those who see only the surface, who explain human history and experience merely in terms of observable (physical, economic, political, societal) forces, are blind to the pattern that explains why things happen as they do. To see that deep pattern is to experience an awe impervious to cynicism because it is to stand in the presence of the God who is worthy of our fear and wonder.

There are so many incredible insights in these few words, but I want to focus on the main theme, which is the inadequacy of human attempts to replace God. Notice he does something very important to frame his argument. He identifies this reductionism that mitigates against true awe as and “act of faith,” and one that can’t satisfy. Why this is so critically important is that it counters the illusion of secularism, that there is a such a life, such a human being, that does not require faith. I argue this in more detail then I can here in a blog post I did earlier this year titled, What the “Nones” Get Wrong: Everyone is “Religious.” One of my pet peeves, and God willing, the subject of another book, is that there is no such thing as an unbeliever. The pet peeve comes in when people describe Christians as “believers,” and non-Christians as “unbelievers.” Or Christians as “people of faith,” as if there could be such people who don’t require faith. I hear this all the time, from “believers” and “unbelievers” alike, and it drives me crazy. By using such words or phrases we give secularists ammunition to marginalize Christians, and justify their reductionism.

The reason he identifies what I’ll call secular faith as “desperate,” is because it stems from Satan’s temptation in Genesis 3 that we can become “like God, knowing good and evil.” That, my brothers and sisters, is the fundamental definition of sin, pure, rank rebellion. It is cosmic treason worthy of eternal death (an unpleasant topic I’d rather not have to contemplate). Man thinks he doesn’t need God because he can be his own God, that he can, as Dr. Johnson says, “create reality.” It is the illusion that we are not completely dependent creatures who depend on God for every moment of our existence. As the Apostle Paul says, “God gives all men life and breath and everything else.” That pretty much covers it all! As we contemplate our own faith in light of the Book of Revelation, it is critical to contrast it with the pathetic nature of secular faith, a faith that can never, ever deliver. Our faith, our worldview, is infinitely superior to the secularists, and it’s not even close.

As we engage the challenging parts of Revelation, we must remember it’s purpose is to wage “war on the reductionism that chokes awe.” The reason John uses metaphor and simile to explain what he sees and experiences is because it cannot be explained! It is beyond human comprehension and human imagining. It is meant to instill awe at the greatness of a being so immense, so powerful, so incredible, so incomprehensible, that he could create everything out of nothing, as we’ll see, the declaration of the last verse in chapter 4. His greatness is the reason we live by faith, by trust, by hope, and not by sight, merely by what we can see, as if what we can see defines the scope of reality. He alone defines what is real, and we get a glimpse into the nature of a cosmic reality in this most amazing, last book of God’s revelation to us in Scripture.

Reflections on the Letters of Revelation-Getting Excited About Life After Death

It is difficult to imagine life beyond this life. We are so tethered to this one, are in effect such prisoners of it, that it seems like the only life that could ever be. The entire book of Revelation blows up the walls of that prison and tells us we can count on that next life more than we can count on this one. And Jesus wants us to know what is waiting for us, his people, the ones who overcome, on the other side. One of the things we learn about our next life is that it is going to be spectacular, beyond comprehension. As Paul says quoting Isaiah (KJV):

Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Nowhere else in the Bible does God give us the kind of specifics about the things he hath prepared for us as he does in these letters. And we are going to be busy! No lounging around on clouds strumming harps for those Jesus brings to heaven, and those who will populate and run the new heavens and earth.

Have you ever gotten excited about something? Of course, everyone does. It could be an upcoming vacation, a meeting with a good friend you don’t see often, or a new love’s amorous rendezvous. It’s common, right? Especially when we’re younger and haven’t experienced as much life. Knowing what we know, and trust is real, about eternal life, why don’t we get excited about that? We should! Yes, death is a bummer, and it’s hard to imagine life without our family and friends we leave behind, but think of all the new friends we’ll have in eternity!

Like the descriptions of Jesus, I will bullet point them here. One post is going to be too little for all of them, but it will have to do this time. To those who overcome:

1. He will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
2. They will not be hurt at all by the second death.
3. He will give them some of the hidden manna. He will also give them a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
4. He will give them authority over the nations—they will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery—just as he has received authority from his Father. 
5. They will be dressed in white. He will never blot out their names from the book of life, but will acknowledge their names before his Father and his angels. 
6. He will will make them a pillar in the temple of his God. Never again will they leave it. He will write on them the name of his God and the name of the city of his God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from his God; and he will also write on them his (Jesus’) new name.
7. He will give them the right to sit with him on his throne, just as he was victorious and sat down with his Father on his throne. 

I notice all these things granted to those who overcome are deeply personal. To God we are not just a number, because he created each one of us specifically, as David says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” He also died for each one of us specifically. Think about number 5. If you’ve ever been in a situation with a crowd of people and someone you respect, or some leader known to everyone, calls out your name for some kind of recognition. How does that make you feel? Imagine Jesus himself doing that before God the Father and all the angels of heaving, calling out your name, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Or number 2, when he gives us a new name known only to him and to each one of us. Or number 6, he writes on us God’s name, his city’s name, even his own new name. That’s a lot of attention! And number 2 means there is no judgment; Jesus took care of that for us forever on the cross. So we won’t be scared or intimidated by all God’s attention.

I mentioned above that we are going to be busy. Ruling over nations is a lot of work! Not only will he give us authority, number 4, but we share his authority, number 7. We learn in this life that authority is an inescapable and intrinsic aspect of existence. I know when I was younger I disliked authority (what young person doesn’t) and chaffed against it, but as I grew up and matured I began to understand how absolutely essential it is to a well functioning existence. We also know from Scripture not least these letters, that authority is so intrinsic to reality that it will function in our forever existence as well. The reason is that authority is inherent in God’s Triune nature, as we see in Jesus’ earthly life in his submission and obedience to the father. We’re not told who the nations are, but as we know there are many different levels of authority, and there will be a lot of people inhabiting this new forever reality. So there will be a lot of work to do!

I said all this is difficult to imagine, but it’s really impossible to imagine a physical reality where there will be no sin and death, no misery and pain and sorrow, no loss, no sadness, no unfulfilled longing, but that is the promise and the hope for which we live. What we have to look forward to could not be said any better than in the words of Isaiah over 700 years before the way to this reality was fully revealed:

⁶ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
    a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
    the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
⁸     he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

So knowing all this, let’s get excited!

Reflections on the Letters of Revelation – Jesus who Saves

Having written through the seven individual letters, I realized I could have written twice as much on every one. On thing we realize as we read through them is the similarities, although Jesus addresses the unique needs and challenges of each one. As I said, and commentators agree, while the letters are written in specific cultural and historical contexts, and to specific Christians in the churches, the messages apply to all Christians for all times. It is that universal application that I’d like to focus on as we reflect on what the letters have in common. I’ll start with Jesus and how he introduces himself in each letter, and what we can learn from them about his character and what that means for us in our life and times.

He starts each letter with, “These are the words of . . . . “, and then he describes himself. As with the promises he makes to those who overcome, the cumulative impression one gets from the descriptions is powerful. If I were to boil down the essence of the Christian life, I would describe it as trusting God in all things, and that is what Jesus is telling us to do as he reveals himself for who he is to us. Here are his descriptions:

• He holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 
• He is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 
• He has the sharp, double-edged sword.
• He is the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
• He holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
• He is the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
• He the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 

The word that comes to mind is sovereign, all powerful, and he is a Savior fully invested in the salvation of his people. If you’ve read these blog posts for very long, you’ll likely know I’m fond of referring to Jesus’ name, and why he was given it. We find this in one of my favorite verses in Scripture because it affirms not only who Jesus is, but what he came to earth to do. In Matthew 1:21 we read that while Joseph is pondering what to do about his now pregnant wife to be, the Angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and said:

²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

I always say the same thing, that Jesus didn’t come to try to save his people, but to actually save them. All these descriptions portray Jesus as the one who has the power to save, the one who can pull it off, the one we can trust and look to no matter our struggle, no matter our doubts or fears or confusion. The point is we don’t look to us because we can’t save ourselves! People, I’m thinking primarily of skeptics and the ignorant, think of Christianity as this big guilt inducing trip of a God who makes unreasonable demands for perfection. Jesus, though, came not for the healthy but the sick! He came for you and me to save us, his people, from our sins, not to try to save us. He did it. It is done. The rest, the working it out is just details.

Another aspect of the letters that reflects on Jesus as our saving Savior who saves is that he knows his churches, and he knows his people, intimately. It’s hard for us as finite people to wrap our minds around the omni everything God, but the important thing to remember, and it’s reflected in the letters, is that Jesus knows us not to judge us (he can’t, that’s already been done on the cross, God’s wrath fully satisfied, the price fully paid, judgment satisfied), but to love us and sanctify us. He is actively involved every moment, molding us into a people, a person, who reflects his glory in a fallen world, and advances his kingdom amidst a cosmic spiritual war “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We see this in both his rebukes to the churches, and his exhortation for them to repent. In the Christian’s life, repentance isn’t a power play by God, as if he’s pulling rank by getting us to feel remorse for our sin, but a fact of existence for sinful creatures trying to live in relationship to a holy God. It is God loving us by giving us opportunity to repent, and us loving him by our repentance. It it acknowledging his holiness, and our unworthiness, that the relationship is all of his mercy and grace, his loving us when we were his enemies, and we hated him. It is letting God be God, and not insisting that we be God, “knowing good and evil.” As Luther said, the Christian life is repentance. I love that because it is a frank, and often painful, acknowledgment that we can never live up to the standards of holiness God requires, that we can never pull it off, that we can never measure up. If we think we can, we need to stop it! That only leads to legalism and self-righteousness, and that somehow we really don’t need God after all, independence (delusional as it is), rather than total dependence. One of my other favorite verses (the Bible is full of them) in this context is found in Isaiah 26:3, and it speaks to the nature of our relationship with God at it’s most healthy:

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trust in you.

The entire chapter gives me goosebumps because it’s all about Matthew 1:21! It’s all about understanding this:

¹² Lord, you establish peace for us;
    all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

When we read Jesus’ rebukes and exhortations in these Revelation letters, we tend to get confused, as if our salvation (justification, sanctification, and glorification) is somehow up to us. It is not! Of course we are involved, of course we must ask, seek, and knock, of course we must seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, but in it all we look to him, we depend on him, and ultimately we rest in him. And we find ourselves falling in love with him.

And speaking of all this, I will do another post on how all of God’s sovereign saving power in Christ is reflected in the overcoming available to us that is part of the salvation package.

Revelation 3:14-22 – The Church in Laodicea

We come to the final letter to the final church on the postal route furthest southeast and due west from Ephesus. As in the other letters, the history and the nature of the city are reflected in the church that dwells there. Laodicea was a wealthy and important city, and prided itself on its self-sufficiency. After an earthquake in 60 AD, the city refused help from Rome and rebuilt itself. The city also had a challenge with a poor water supply, having neither cold nor hot springs nearby, so had to get water from an aqueduct six miles away. This made the city vulnerable to attack by siege.

Unlike the other letters, Jesus doesn’t identify himself from John’s description, but by three affirmations of his character. He wants them to know they can trust his words, and take them very seriously, especially because they will bring a harsh rebuke. He identifies himself as “the Amen,” meaning he is the sure, the certain, the truth. He also says he is “the faithful and true witness,” so what he testifies to you can take to the eternal bank. And finally, he says he is “the ruler of God’s creation,” which we know is his creation. You can’t get much more in the way of, You better listen to what I say! And it’s not pleasant:

 ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 

Yikes! The reference is something the people in the church can relate to because getting cold or hot water is a challenge, and the lukewarm water they got was often laced with minerals because of the long way it had to travel to get to them. This passage is often believed to refer to the spiritual state of these Christians, but Jesus says right out of the gate it has to do with their deeds. Cold water is refreshing, and hot water good for health, but lukewarm water is good for nothing. The issue is their Christian life reflects little of the fruit a passion for Jesus naturally brings with it. As James says, we show our faith by our deeds. The Christian faith and religion isn’t a mental construct, but a living, breathing reality that reflects itself in everything we think and do. It is all pervasive, colors everything, in the title of a book I once read, it is a Magnificent Obsession.

Given the wealth of the city, it doesn’t surprise us the character of the church was infected by it:

¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 

Beware anytime we are tempted to think we are in any way self-sufficient. As Paul says, what do we have that we did not receive. And elsewhere, God gives to all “life and breath and everything else.” That pretty much covers it all! The state of our being, our souls, has nothing to do with our material condition, but everything to do with our attitude toward God. This is the reason we are so often commanded in Scripture to be thankful, to develop a proper attitude of gratitude in all things because all things are of him! Then Jesus gives them three pieces of advice, to buy from him

gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

These are metaphors for spiritual health, first what do we value most. As Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Is it in heaven or on earth? Laodicea was famous for sheep that produced beautiful black wool and garments, but being clothed in spiritual garments that covers our sin is infinitely more valuable, and being clothed in white robes or garments is a theme in Revelation. Finally, some ancient sources mention Laodicea as a medical center that produced some kind of salve for the eyes, but Jesus will give them spiritual salve so they can see the truth, what really matters in life. He wants them to know that he isn’t being harsh, but that he loves them because he rebukes and disciplines those he loves. So he tells them to be passionate or zealous about their faith, and repent. Then we come to one of the more famously misunderstood verses in the Bible:

²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

When I became a Christian in the late ’70s, the term born-again was used all the time to identify conservative Protestant Christians who had a conversion experience. Even Jimmy Carter saw the need to identify himself as a “born-again Christian” when he ran for president in 1976, as did many conservative Christians. I remember hearing many a preacher use this verse in Revelation to appeal to the heathens in their audiences to let Jesus in. The problem is that Jesus is speaking to Christians, and he wants these specific Christians to know that despite the rebuke, he is always available, will always love them, and break bread with them. In the ancient world having a meal with someone was the highest form of compliment and acceptance. You were basically one of the family if you were invited to a meal, and Jesus wants them to know they are still part of the family of God. It’s interesting that Jesus takes this tack with the Laodiceans when he previously said he is sovereign over all open and shutting. God’s sovereignty and our accountability are in perfect harmony, and we ought never to play one off of the other. I’m just thankful I know God’s grace is as sovereign as every other aspect of his character.

Finally, Jesus adds something to those who overcome their spiritual self-sufficiency, he will give the right to sit with him on his throne, just as he was victorious and sat down with his Father on his throne. This is astounding when you consider the common image is sitting at the right hand of God (see Rom. 8:34 as an example). These who got the harshest rebuke, get the most intimate of rewards for overcoming, actually partaking of the authority of Almighty God himself! I have no idea what that means! I just know I prefer that to any of the alternatives.

I’m going to do one or maybe two overviews of the seven letters because they are too rich to have just one pass through.

Revelation 3:7-13 – To The Church in Philadelphia

To the penultimate church Jesus turns next, the church of brotherly love, a bit further southeast. One more and the route will be finished, and then on to the revelation. The church in Philadelphia, like Smyrna, gets no rebuke from Jesus, and because of the trials they have to endure, he wants them to know he is the one who calls the eternal shots:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

While the translators of the NIV make the words holy and true adjectives to describe Jesus, the better translation is that Jesus is The Holy One and the True One, monikers that emphasize his divinity and power. The reference to holding the key of David, and the sovereign over shutting and opening, is a direct reference to Isaiah 22:22. In the context of that chapter the one holding the key refers to an historical figure of the time, but clearly “in that day” points well beyond that time to he who ultimately holds that key, the Lord Jesus himself. He wants the Philadelphians to know (and of course always us), that regardless of what they are going through, Jesus is in total and complete sovereign eternal control of all things. We can trust him.

He again points to deeds, that he knows theirs, and obviously approves. He also opened a door for them, to what we’re not told, but no one can shut it. It is likely a door to his kingdom and the life he offers those who are his, who depend on him. He knows they have little strength, but they have kept his word and not denied his name. They have remained faithful in the face of what they they’ve had to endure:

⁹ I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 

There were a lot of what were called “God fearers” in the city, Gentiles who had converted to Judaism, but not completely. If the men were really serious about being fully identified as Jews, they would undergo circumcision, but since that was exceedingly unpleasant, not many went all the way. The reason we can presume these are the kind of “Jews” that Jesus is referring to is because there was not a big Jewish community in the city. These people are not even real Jews, though they claim to be, and they are persecuting the Christians in the city. From what Jesus says, it seems these “Jews” are claiming Jesus doesn’t love them, or likely that Jesus isn’t the Messiah and so it doesn’t even matter. Because they have remained faithful, he will protect them from what is coming:

¹⁰ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

There is a tendency among many Evangelical Christians to read words like this in an apocalyptic sense, that it’s referring to “the end times” when all hell breaks lose and God brings judgement and suffering on the earth just prior to Jesus’ glorious second coming. I don’t think that is what Jesus is referring to. One of the consistent themes of Revelation is the exhortation to “endure patiently.” Such a mentality doesn’t fit with a warning of a cataclysmic ending of things quickly, so the “hour of trial” isn’t referring to a set period of time, but to an extended period of time of suffering that is to come. Whatever the trial is, and whatever the time frame, nobody is going to escape it, except those who are faithful. This is a paradox, though, because we are promised suffering in this life, and being a follower of Jesus doesn’t keep us from such suffering. In fact, as those Jesus is speaking to know, it is a recipe for suffering, for having to endure persecution. So keeping them, or us, from the hour of trial is more of an eternal promise, that he will keep us safe forever long after any suffering passes. Regardless, we must always be ready:

¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

This theme of soon is not to infer that his coming is right around the corner, but that it will happen quickly and be unexpected. We are to be ready by holding on to what we have, the message, the gospel, Jesus himself! In fact, it’s often easier to be focused on eternal things when times are toughest. In prosperity and peace, when we’re fat and happy, it’s very easy to lose focus on what we have, what is really important. The point is that nobody can take our crown, our reward in Christ, unless we give it away. As we’ve seen throughout the New Testament letters, there is always the indicative (the objective state of things) that goes along with the imperative (what we ought to do). We saw this many times in the use of the word therefore. We know who we are, and to whom we belong, therefore, for example, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”

As in all the other letters, Jesus is ready to reward those who overcome. Here Jesus will make then “a pillar in the temple” of his God (note the Triune implications of this passage), and never will they leave it. Talk about eternal security! A pillar speaks of permanence and endurance, things this world could never offer, but God can. These people hold up God’s house, where God dwells, which is all creation, the old and the new to come. But that’s not all:

I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. 

A name used in the Bible is more than just a way to identify one person over another, but it is their identity, who they are. It has a significance we don’t attach to names today. In this context it is also associated with the pillar because names were written on pillars to identify important persons or patrons. Jesus is saying this is also a deeply personal thing between God and those he saves. We are not just a number to him. I often wonder why God would care about little old (increasingly:) me, and I have to say to myself that he created me, and died for me, so there’s that. Of course he does, and he will forever.