When we get through this sermon today, since this is the fifth in our series of 10, we’ll be half way through our series here in Revelation.
• 7 Churches
• 7 Golden Lampstands
• 4 Creatures
• 24 Elders
• A Scroll with 7 Seals
• 4 Horsemen
• 144,000 and a Great Multitude of Worshippers
Dr. Herms brought us through 7 chapters, and just into the beginning of chapter 8. To keep us on track, I’m supposed to get us through 8, 9, 10, and 11.
• 7 Trumpets Sounded by 7 Angels
• Three Woes
• 4 Death Angels
• 200 million mounted troops
• 2 Witnesses
All this has made Revelation 10:4 my favorite verse in these chapters that I’m supposed to cover. You know why? Take a listen:
When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”
I’m simply grateful that I don’t have to decipher 7 thunders on top of everything else! If John would have written down what he heard in the seven thunders, it would have likely been just another couple of chapters of confusion for me to untangle.
The truth is, with these 25 minutes or so that we have, we’re not going to be able to meaningfully untangle all that is here in this section of John’s apocalypse, this Revelation of Jesus Christ. We won’t, for example, be able to decode each of the seven trumpets, or three woes, but I am confident that, with the leading and empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit, we will mine something meaningful for us today.
Without belaboring these simple points, I want to again remind us of these three simple assumptions that Ron introduced in the first sermon in this series. I think they will be important throughout the series, and are certainly important as we look at these passages today.
First, this text has a context. I am confident that this text is meaningful to us, in this church in 2008. I am equally confident that this text was meaningful to the church in the first century, especially to these seven churches who were the original readers and hearers of this text. Furthermore, whatever it means to us should be not merely coincidental to that original meaning, but entirely in concert with what would be understood by our brothers and sisters in those churches
the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Second, we need to remember that this text is presented in a particular genre: apocalypse. We can expect that the first century churches who first read and heard this text were better versed in dealing with an apocalypse. For us, apocalypse is probably a clumsy language or form… so we probably have to be a bit more thoughtful and careful as we handle this text. It doesn’t mean that it is beyond our grasp; it just means that, if you are at all like me, we may need to work a little harder to get it.
And finally, this is a Christian text. This Revelation of Jesus Christ, presented to us in this apocalypse, this record of these visions written down by this pastor/prophet John, is for us too.
There is important meaning for us; this is for Christ’s Church: then, now, and through the end of time.
I think that the plain existence of this Book of Revelation is meaningful.
I believe it is important for us to be mindful that this text finishes the story. There is order to God’s Book. God’s story, His Word, begins with creation and ends with this Revelation. These 66 books, 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament, are not aimless ramblings that merely stop… no, it is a complete story that finishes. This Book of Revelation is God’s “and in conclusion.”
This is the complete account of time. Genesis gives us the beginning of time. The eternal God, who stands outside of time, created everything that we know, including time. Revelation gives us the end of time.
This brings me to another point. I hope, today, to relieve a bit of anxiety. When it comes to this Book of Revelation, there is a great deal of energy expended on placing each of the pieces of this apocalypse into a discrete portion of time. Is this about things that happened in the past? A description of the present? Or a description of the future?
If you’d like to sell some books, make it about the present or the not too distant future. Go ahead and make the two witnesses George Bush and Shimon Peres; make the dragon Bill Clinton and throw in the EU and modern day Babylon and you might just have a best seller. We can puff ourselves up with the satisfaction of secret knowledge that only someone in our time and space could possibly comprehend… put some charts together, and make an impressive road show.
Others go to history books and explain away every image in the Revelation as something that has already happened in the past. Still others can only view this account as something that is in the far-off future. If this truth is far in the past or far in the future, then we can either simply move on with our lives or procrastinate because the Truth of these pages is of little consequence today.
If asked the question as to what I think (past, present, or future), I say YES. It is past in that it was lived out in the lives of those first century Christians and our brothers and sisters through the ages. It is present in that what is described, and prescribed, here is for us today. It is future in that what is described will be played out consistently until the end of time… and it is future in that there will be an end to time and creation as we know it... and that end is presented to us here in Revelation.
Remember the scene that we described in previous sermons. What is being played out before us, these events on earth, is from the perspective of Heaven. These pages are describing time from the perspective of timelessness. This is the way God sees the events of human history and they are True. It is True as timelessness looks at all time, and it is true as timelessness looks at a slice of time. It is True as timelessness looks at the full course of history, and it is True as timelessness looks at the first century or the 21st century.
I think this perspective of timelessness, looking into time, is vitally important.
You can come to my office and I can pull books off my shelf that will, for example, explain that the scene that we’ll soon get to in chapter 11 is precisely 3-½ years after the pre-trib rapture of the church during the seven year Great Tribulation. Although I am not sure, at all, about that… I think that limiting ourselves only to that narrow view misses the point. I believe that this text applies to days like that in the future, and I believe that this scene applies precisely to today, and I believe that it applies to the Church throughout history: past, present, and future.
I said I wanted to relieve anxiety (and I’m afraid that I might only be stirring up confusion). My point is this: Embracing any one of these perspectives (past, present, or future) does not necessarily negate the others. We can hold all of these views in tension with one another to get the full picture. We can, and probably should.
With all of that background (3 assumptions and the perspective of eternity/timelessness), let’s look at the text.
In the first verses of chapter 8, Jesus (the Lamb) opens the seventh and final seal on the great scroll, thus completing this vision. Immediately, then, another vision unfolds, this time with seven trumpets sounded by seven angels.
The first four trumpets hold much in common with the four horsemen that we saw last week in chapter 6. We can see again this cycle of John’s apocalypse, coming from the perspective of Heaven, painting more detail into the picture. It is, again, like those balloons I inflated, one inside the other, a few weeks ago. Each new idea adding meaning to those that came before.
So, quickly working backwards, we can see something in 7 trumpets, that expands our understanding of 7 seals, that expands our understanding of what is being said to 7 churches… and all of it expanding our understanding of this Revelation of Jesus Christ.
There is terrible destruction and judgment associated with each trumpet blast.
• Hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth.
• A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
• A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
• A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
Then, here at the end of chapter 8: an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”
The firth trumpet (first woe) opens the Abyss, unleashing torment.
The sixth trumpet (second woe) unleashes death killing a third of all humanity.
All but the last trumpet sounded. All of the wrath of God, the destruction of sin, and the fury of Hell is unleashed. Agony, torment, suffering, and even death are raging. Everything but the final trumpet, the ending trumpet, the end of the story, is before us.
This has been a race through chapters 8 and 9, I know, but I we need to get to chapters 10 and 11. But before we do, let’s take note of the end of chapter 9.
20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
All of this judgment… yet no repentance.
Before the final trumpet sounds, and John shows us another picture of the end, there is this episode in chapters 10 and 11.
John was confronted with an angel who commanded him to take a scroll, this time described as a little scroll. Unlike the scroll that only Jesus, the Lamb, could open, this little scroll was for John. Not the book, but a booklet if you will. Not the incredible God-sized scroll, but this man-sized tract.
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10 I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
John was commanded to eat, completely ingest, the Words given him and then told to prophesy. Not just prophesy, prophesy again; John was told to continue his work and to continue the work of God’s people: to be God’s witnesses. John was commanded to take God’s Word, again, to all people.
The vision that follows is of two witnesses.
3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
We have to ask ourselves, who are the two unnamed witnesses? Some say Moses and Elijah. This is reasonable with the images of commanding plagues and rain. It would be consistent with their witness in the transfiguration. But I think there is a better explanation.
Now if you hold to the idea that this is solely a picture of the future, and that scene is 3 ½ years after the pre-trib rapture of the Church, I’m going to tick you off with this. I think these witnesses are the Church.
Will there be a Great Tribulation from which we will be spared? I hope so! If given a choice among pre-trib, post-trib, or even mid-trib I wish I could pick no-trib… but what I really have to decide is trib. There is tribulation: Jesus promised it: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We also have this promise: We are sealed with the Great Multitude described in chapter 7. We are sealed so that this trouble will not drive us from God (like what we saw in chapter 9) but we are sealed so that trouble (tribulation) will drive us to God.
Here is chapter 11 it is unmistakable. The complete witness (it always takes the testimony of two witnesses to be binding) is described as the two olive trees (a sign of Holy Spirit empowerment) and the two lampstands. We don’t have to guess what the lampstands are; lampstands are plainly spelled out at the end of chapter 1 as the Church.
Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
Just as Jesus was crucified, so are His witnesses. All of us Christians are “crucified with Christ.” We have all died with Him when we are truly His. And some are martyred. The Church’s witness has been squelched in parts of our world today, and there have been dark ages when the Church’s witness has been weak.
Here the picture is of the Church speaking prophetically to the world in a way that is:
1. Faithful to the witness of Jesus
2. Willing to suffer at the hands of those who don’t believe, and
3. Able to see its own suffering as a means by which some are moved to repentance
When the World perceives a victory over the Church’s witness, when they feel that they have thrown aside the “torment” of the Church, there is celebration.
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then 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 looked on.
13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Gave glory to the God of heaven? Note the stark contrast between 11:13 and 9:20. In chapter 9, after all that judgment, there was no repentance. But now, here in chapter 11, there is repentance.
Let me ask the big question now. So what? I am confident that the so what for us is precisely the same as the so what for the first century Church and the Church throughout the ages. The so what is this:
The witness of the Church is indispensible in salvation. Trumpets, angels, beasts, horsemen, and all the rest did not produce repentance. Judgment, severe and catastrophic, did not produce repentance. Witness produced repentance.
Do not misunderstand. We, the Church, do not have the power to save… but our witness is an indispensible piece of the God’s plan for salvation.
Many have misunderstood the purpose of Revelation, thinking that the message of Revelation was for the world, and that the message of Revelation for the world is simple: Turn or Burn. They view this apocalypse as a blunt instrument that might be used to beat folk out of Hell and into Heaven.
But even the most simplistic reading of the opening of the Book of Revelation reminds us that this is written for the benefit of believers.
This specific text for us, and the original readers and hearers, was meant to inspire. It is a reminder of the importance of our testimony. It is an imperative to be witnesses.
We are to be humble, just as these witnesses in chapter 11 are depicted in mourners’ clothes (sackcloth). They are to take the death and resurrection of Jesus right to the city streets.
This is a story of evangelism and a parable of mission.
We held off on receiving Communion today, on our customary first Sunday of the month, until now because I wanted to make this point.
Here in the bread and the cup we have the Gospel. Let’s go to that familiar passage.
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
The bread represents His Body, broken, paying the penalty for sin.
The cup represents His Blood, spilled, cleansing us and presenting us new before a righteous and holy God.
With these both we proclaim the Lord’s death and resurrection. It is the Gospel.
It is our little scroll. It is God’s story given to us. We could not save ourselves, and certainly not anyone else, we cannot open the scroll that only Jesus can open… but we have this little scroll. We have this Gospel.
And just as John was commanded to eat his little scroll, we are commanded to eat. We are told to take in the Gospel, to fully ingest it.
And to take the comparison further, it should be both sweet and bitter.
It should taste sweet in that we are given this delicious Communion with Christ by no merit of ours. We are given this precious gift of the Gospel, this promise of eternal life, and it is the most delicious meal.
But it is bitter too:
• Bitter because we are confronted with our own weakness and failings, and
• Bitter because we know that many will reject this message, and some will even hate us, and maybe even destroy us, because of it
When we come to the Lord ’s Table here at The Chapel, we usually try to focus on a special aspect of what it means to be invited to this celebration. Today that aspect should be this: we are given this Gospel freely and we should, in turn, be witnesses to this great gift.
The seventh trumpet, the final trumpet, has yet to sound. There will be that great day when:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
But that day is still in the future. This is the time to be His witnesses.
Come today, receive the free Gift of God, the Gospel. Receive it and give thanks. Eat it; take it fully and make it part of you. And pray, today, for strength, and courage, and opportunity to be His witnesses.
