Revelation 14:6-13 – First Time’s a Charm
They say that good things come in threes. Apparently, so do some things that aren’t quite as good. This passage introduces us to three angels and the messages they bring to the world. As their proclamations go on, they get more and more ominous. So it would be great to respond to the first angel and not have to deal with messages of the second two!
These angels appear in John’s vision after he has described the demonic forces at work in the world and God’s glorious and powerful presence in the midst of it. The final conflict between these two forces is shaping up. The angels are like the sports commentators before the big game, telling us all what to expect. Except in this case, we’re not spectators sitting on the sidelines or in our living rooms; we’re out on the field and have some choices to make.
The first angel brings good news. After all, that’s literally what the word “gospel” means (“gospel” is a variant of the Old English “god spell,” or good tale or story. It’s an apt translation of the Greek “evangelion,” which means “good message”). The good news, or gospel, is available for everyone: all the peoples across the entire globe. That was a radical notion for John’s Jewish readers (or Christians with Jewish roots), because Judaism like many other ancient religions was national. Each nation had its own God. The Lord was the god of the Jews. If you weren’t a Jew, tough luck. It was a major change for the early church (which considered itself to be a form of Judaism) to recognize that its message wasn’t limited to any particular nationality but was for all people. This is still a relevant issue for us today, for two reasons. First, as Christians we need to break out of the parochialism of thinking that God’s family only includes people just like us. We sometimes confuse Christianity with our culture or our nationality. That was a big issue for missionaries of the 19th century to deal with, as they confused the gospel with their culture. As they shared the love of Jesus with people of other lands, they also tried to turn them into Europeans or Americans. And even today, we may be tempted to think of Christians from other cultural backgrounds as somehow not being, well, as “normal” of a Christian as we are. That’s one of the important aspects of mission work today: not only to share the love of God in places and to people who haven’t learned it yet, but to experience the trans-national aspect of our faith. We learn more about our faith when we see that it’s not confined to our version of it. There’s a second important aspect of the universal claim of the gospel: God’s love includes “them.” “They” are the people that really don’t deserve any consideration, the ones that we do our best to avoid. And when we actually do have to associate with them, we hold our nose and do our best not to sneer. Sometimes “they” include the monsters of the world: men who kidnap adolescent girls and hold them captive for 18 years, terrorists who devote their lives to killing as many innocent people as possible, and drug bosses who live large and flash lots of bling at the expense of lives ruined by cocaine, heroine, or crystal meth. How can the gospel be available for horrible people like that? At other times, “they” include people that we meet everyday, or that we avoid every day. It may be the loudmouthed and obnoxious co-worker, or the other student in our class who is just plain weird. It may be the neighbor with the junk in the yard and the loud parties night, or the people with different lifestyles or objectionable viewpoints. We want to believe that they have to become like us before the good news of the gospel applies to them. Not true, says the first angel. The message of Christ’s redeeming work is for everyone.
Of course, there’s more to the angel’s message than that. The gospel calls for us response from us. We normally consider our response to God’s message of love and redemption as the process of discipleship: opening our lives to the transforming work of the Spirit to turn us into the people that God wants us to be. It is, but the angel’s message focuses on a different aspect of the gospel call. It is a call to worship: to give glory to God. In a utilitarian, practically-oriented society like ours, worship almost seems like a waste of time. To understand this, think not only of the worship of God, but other celebrations that we have. There are plenty of them: birthday parties, holiday gatherings (like the ones we’ll have this weekend), and cheering for sports teams (like we’ll do Thursday night for the Steelers). These are things we enjoy and sometimes put a lot of effort into. But they are the icing on the cake of life. They are fun distractions from what really matters, from what life is all about. We have to get things done, even if what we’re accomplishing is something fun or enjoyable. We have to switch gears in our minds if we want to recognize the power of worship. Bringing glory to God isn’t something that pulls us away from the important things of life; it is the most important thing of all. We acknowledge his place in our lives and we recognize his majestic, sometimes frightening, power. This is the first and foremost call of God in our lives. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
Unfortunately, however, not all of us listen to the invitation of the first angel. If we did, then things would be so much easier for us, and for the entire world. And even those of us who do fear God and worship him have our moments – or longer – when our devotion is weak and fades away. For those times and those people who ignore the first angel’s message, a second angel brings his proclamation. He predicts the doom of those who oppose God’s good work. If you’re not following God, you’re following something or someone else. So the second angel brings in the bad news of what happens to them. God is glorified, but “Babylon the Great” has fallen. So what or who is “Babylon the Great”? It’s obviously not the Babylonian Empire itself; it had collapsed centuries before John had his vision. However, Babylon continued to evoke the imagination of God’s people as a symbol or representative of those who are opposed to God. So in essence, the second angel’s message is something like this: “Alright, you’ve already heard the call to worship and serve God. If you don’t, then you’re in cahoots with God’s enemies. Those who aren’t with God are against God. And that other leader that you’ve chosen to follow is doomed.”
That still begs the question: what does “Babylon the Great” refer to? It’s an important question, because we meet it again in Chapter 17, a pivotal chapter that describes the evil and corruption of the world. One idea is that “Babylon” is a reference the Roman Empire. The association of Babylon with Rome is one that Peter made in his first letter (5:13), and it makes sense. Like the ancient Babylonian Empire, Rome is a pagan empire that oppresses the people of God and demands an abandonment of true religion. It’s an oppressive power. A second idea builds upon this first one. References to Babylon aren’t just secret code language for Rome, but refer to any human power that functions as Babylon did. We continue to encounter human institutions and forces that demand total allegiance and actively disrupt devotion to God. Take a moment and I’ll bet you can come up with a list of candidates for Babylon today. There’s a third option: “Babylon the Great” refers to the demonic forces at work in the world: the dragon, sea beast, and land beast. But that isn’t really a different option; just a different way of looking at the same one. As we saw in our examination of Chapter 13, Satan works through human social, political, cultural, economic, and military institutions. It is the human as it is influenced by the demonic. The second angel provides a warning. If you’re giving your allegiance to one of these other forces in your life, be prepared to watch it crumble before your eyes. Every mighty human empire that ever ruled over the world has faded away. Institutions that seemed impregnable are mere historical curiosities. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the institutions or ideals that you’re following now will be any different.
The third angel pounds the final nail in the coffin. The first angel gives a positive call to worship and serve God. The second angel gives a warning: don’t follow or serve Babylon, whatever form it takes today. If you don’t accept the first angel’s invitation, and if you don’t heed the second angel’s warning, you’re left to deal with the doom that the third angel announces. If you’re following Babylon, it apparently means the same thing as worshiping the beast and receiving his mark. Those who receive the mark of the beast will face eternal torment. And John gets pretty gruesomely graphic in his description of that torment. Now, this leads to a serious conundrum. According to Revelation 13:15-16, you need the mark of the beast to buy or sell (this is part of what leads me to believe that the beast needs to be understood primarily as economics). But here, we read that if you have the mark of the beast, you go to eternal torment. On the one hand, that’s a pretty easy choice: do you want to go to heaven for all eternity, or be able to shop at Wal-Mart this afternoon? On the other hand, it is a tough decision. If you can’t buy or sell, how are you going to survive? Life is tough when you live a in a world dominated by demonic powers, and you give your allegiance to God.
And that’s exactly what John tells us. As he puts it, “this calls for patient endurance.” Or, you need to have a long-term perspective. Put up with today’s struggles, as hard as they may be. Don’t give up, or you’ll regret it. There’s blessing waiting for those who hang on to God until the end of their lives.
These angels appear in John’s vision after he has described the demonic forces at work in the world and God’s glorious and powerful presence in the midst of it. The final conflict between these two forces is shaping up. The angels are like the sports commentators before the big game, telling us all what to expect. Except in this case, we’re not spectators sitting on the sidelines or in our living rooms; we’re out on the field and have some choices to make.
The first angel brings good news. After all, that’s literally what the word “gospel” means (“gospel” is a variant of the Old English “god spell,” or good tale or story. It’s an apt translation of the Greek “evangelion,” which means “good message”). The good news, or gospel, is available for everyone: all the peoples across the entire globe. That was a radical notion for John’s Jewish readers (or Christians with Jewish roots), because Judaism like many other ancient religions was national. Each nation had its own God. The Lord was the god of the Jews. If you weren’t a Jew, tough luck. It was a major change for the early church (which considered itself to be a form of Judaism) to recognize that its message wasn’t limited to any particular nationality but was for all people. This is still a relevant issue for us today, for two reasons. First, as Christians we need to break out of the parochialism of thinking that God’s family only includes people just like us. We sometimes confuse Christianity with our culture or our nationality. That was a big issue for missionaries of the 19th century to deal with, as they confused the gospel with their culture. As they shared the love of Jesus with people of other lands, they also tried to turn them into Europeans or Americans. And even today, we may be tempted to think of Christians from other cultural backgrounds as somehow not being, well, as “normal” of a Christian as we are. That’s one of the important aspects of mission work today: not only to share the love of God in places and to people who haven’t learned it yet, but to experience the trans-national aspect of our faith. We learn more about our faith when we see that it’s not confined to our version of it. There’s a second important aspect of the universal claim of the gospel: God’s love includes “them.” “They” are the people that really don’t deserve any consideration, the ones that we do our best to avoid. And when we actually do have to associate with them, we hold our nose and do our best not to sneer. Sometimes “they” include the monsters of the world: men who kidnap adolescent girls and hold them captive for 18 years, terrorists who devote their lives to killing as many innocent people as possible, and drug bosses who live large and flash lots of bling at the expense of lives ruined by cocaine, heroine, or crystal meth. How can the gospel be available for horrible people like that? At other times, “they” include people that we meet everyday, or that we avoid every day. It may be the loudmouthed and obnoxious co-worker, or the other student in our class who is just plain weird. It may be the neighbor with the junk in the yard and the loud parties night, or the people with different lifestyles or objectionable viewpoints. We want to believe that they have to become like us before the good news of the gospel applies to them. Not true, says the first angel. The message of Christ’s redeeming work is for everyone.
Of course, there’s more to the angel’s message than that. The gospel calls for us response from us. We normally consider our response to God’s message of love and redemption as the process of discipleship: opening our lives to the transforming work of the Spirit to turn us into the people that God wants us to be. It is, but the angel’s message focuses on a different aspect of the gospel call. It is a call to worship: to give glory to God. In a utilitarian, practically-oriented society like ours, worship almost seems like a waste of time. To understand this, think not only of the worship of God, but other celebrations that we have. There are plenty of them: birthday parties, holiday gatherings (like the ones we’ll have this weekend), and cheering for sports teams (like we’ll do Thursday night for the Steelers). These are things we enjoy and sometimes put a lot of effort into. But they are the icing on the cake of life. They are fun distractions from what really matters, from what life is all about. We have to get things done, even if what we’re accomplishing is something fun or enjoyable. We have to switch gears in our minds if we want to recognize the power of worship. Bringing glory to God isn’t something that pulls us away from the important things of life; it is the most important thing of all. We acknowledge his place in our lives and we recognize his majestic, sometimes frightening, power. This is the first and foremost call of God in our lives. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
Unfortunately, however, not all of us listen to the invitation of the first angel. If we did, then things would be so much easier for us, and for the entire world. And even those of us who do fear God and worship him have our moments – or longer – when our devotion is weak and fades away. For those times and those people who ignore the first angel’s message, a second angel brings his proclamation. He predicts the doom of those who oppose God’s good work. If you’re not following God, you’re following something or someone else. So the second angel brings in the bad news of what happens to them. God is glorified, but “Babylon the Great” has fallen. So what or who is “Babylon the Great”? It’s obviously not the Babylonian Empire itself; it had collapsed centuries before John had his vision. However, Babylon continued to evoke the imagination of God’s people as a symbol or representative of those who are opposed to God. So in essence, the second angel’s message is something like this: “Alright, you’ve already heard the call to worship and serve God. If you don’t, then you’re in cahoots with God’s enemies. Those who aren’t with God are against God. And that other leader that you’ve chosen to follow is doomed.”
That still begs the question: what does “Babylon the Great” refer to? It’s an important question, because we meet it again in Chapter 17, a pivotal chapter that describes the evil and corruption of the world. One idea is that “Babylon” is a reference the Roman Empire. The association of Babylon with Rome is one that Peter made in his first letter (5:13), and it makes sense. Like the ancient Babylonian Empire, Rome is a pagan empire that oppresses the people of God and demands an abandonment of true religion. It’s an oppressive power. A second idea builds upon this first one. References to Babylon aren’t just secret code language for Rome, but refer to any human power that functions as Babylon did. We continue to encounter human institutions and forces that demand total allegiance and actively disrupt devotion to God. Take a moment and I’ll bet you can come up with a list of candidates for Babylon today. There’s a third option: “Babylon the Great” refers to the demonic forces at work in the world: the dragon, sea beast, and land beast. But that isn’t really a different option; just a different way of looking at the same one. As we saw in our examination of Chapter 13, Satan works through human social, political, cultural, economic, and military institutions. It is the human as it is influenced by the demonic. The second angel provides a warning. If you’re giving your allegiance to one of these other forces in your life, be prepared to watch it crumble before your eyes. Every mighty human empire that ever ruled over the world has faded away. Institutions that seemed impregnable are mere historical curiosities. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the institutions or ideals that you’re following now will be any different.
The third angel pounds the final nail in the coffin. The first angel gives a positive call to worship and serve God. The second angel gives a warning: don’t follow or serve Babylon, whatever form it takes today. If you don’t accept the first angel’s invitation, and if you don’t heed the second angel’s warning, you’re left to deal with the doom that the third angel announces. If you’re following Babylon, it apparently means the same thing as worshiping the beast and receiving his mark. Those who receive the mark of the beast will face eternal torment. And John gets pretty gruesomely graphic in his description of that torment. Now, this leads to a serious conundrum. According to Revelation 13:15-16, you need the mark of the beast to buy or sell (this is part of what leads me to believe that the beast needs to be understood primarily as economics). But here, we read that if you have the mark of the beast, you go to eternal torment. On the one hand, that’s a pretty easy choice: do you want to go to heaven for all eternity, or be able to shop at Wal-Mart this afternoon? On the other hand, it is a tough decision. If you can’t buy or sell, how are you going to survive? Life is tough when you live a in a world dominated by demonic powers, and you give your allegiance to God.
And that’s exactly what John tells us. As he puts it, “this calls for patient endurance.” Or, you need to have a long-term perspective. Put up with today’s struggles, as hard as they may be. Don’t give up, or you’ll regret it. There’s blessing waiting for those who hang on to God until the end of their lives.
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 5:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home