6/9/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Whoever has ears, let them hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” (Revelation 13.9-10)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

So before 9/11 (Revelation 9.11, that is) we find ourselves confronted with 9/10 (Revelation 9.10, that is.) There are many schools of thought about the events leading up to “the Revelation.” Most New Testament scholars, teachers, students and church members want to hold on to the “promise of rapture” which is their 9.10 before 9.11. Except no one really knows the timing of that “rapture” experience. They associate it with another promise called “tribulation.” When it comes to this “theological” timing there is “pre-trib,” “mid-trib” and “post-trib” (trib being short for tribulation.) Most people, being true to human nature, definitely want to avoid this “worse than holocaust” event in the scope of world history. It hasn’t happened yet. We have experienced some devastating events in the history of this world with man’s inhumanity to man. Some of those who lead the forces of evil against the rest of the world (in many cases, it would be the lesser of two evils) are seen and serve as images of the Anti-Christ. There are many image-bearers but fewer than the options for understanding the not yet discussed 666 persona. “666” is the parenthetical grandaddy of all those who are leaders of people against Christ. We have any number of them alive and well in the world and in the country. The worst of them would be those who declare they are ambassadors of God’s will and are bathed in the knowledge of God’s Word but steep themselves with the “blood of innocents” due to their leadership “as of the Gentiles” who serve their best interest first. That, for sure, is a topic for another day (wondering if anyone would dare ask.) Not to divert from the previous topic of “rapture and tribulation,” I would point us to the very word of revelation in the Book of Revelation which is presented in what we have called 13.9-10 .

Verse nine declares, “Let those with ears to hear, listen.” We would love for it to be left to the simple interpretation of “hear.” We would love it because it protects us from being “under authority.” Having to only hear but not respond puts the “control” factor in our hands. Like small self-absorbed children, such “hand” control would be putting their fingers in their ears and making noise to drown out the possibility of hearing, having to listen and thus be accountable for their actions and the subsequent consequences.

In doing so, we allow 13.10 to be simply a “matter of interpretation” or, if truth be common knowledge, edited from our ears, heart, mind, soul and experience altogether. What did 13.10 say? Well, let’s go to the end and visit the consequential command: “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” We could interpret this calling to be one of holding back the victory dance of “I told you so” from the saints gathered in Heaven pre-trib. But, that doesn’t seem to lend itself to the plan as it has been laid out for us since the beginning of the Revelation to John to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor to the Churches in the rest of the world at the time to the Church in the world for all time. Here in the “beyond the mid-point” of revelation, we have experienced two woes already with the greatest woe yet to come. In the midst of this “between beasts,” we find the warning to the faithful of God to “patiently endure and hold fast” since their names have already been written in The Lamb’s Book of Life. Why should they hold fast if they are in Heaven “safe and secure from all alarm” (to borrow from a valued hymn entitled “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”)? It would seem that the listening audience which would be those churches and the Church were “hearing” this word in the midst of tribulation already. We know this from our own history books. They serve as validation of what scripture reveals to us of the hardships of the early Church and the heretical forces moving against it. They were being forced to abandon the faith, face persecution by the sword, be locked up or locked down or driven out of their homes to some faraway land beyond the reach of Rome, if they could. What they were hearing, and we should be hearing it as well, was “woe in the moment knowing there was still more to come.” They were not excused from it. They still had a mission and a purpose to exercise and be witnesses of authentic faith made strong in their moments of weakness. They would cry out with the man whose son was brought to Jesus for healing because he continued to throw himself in the fire and in the water for deliverance. (Yes, those two images, I believe are intentional in that story.) Jesus said deliverance could happen if the man believed. The father responded “I believe; help me with my unbelief.” Here is the watchword of the modern Church as it should be. We dare not walk in arrogance as did the Pharisees, Saduccees, Teachers of the Law and the Judaizers saying “I believe, let me help you with your unbelief in what we believe is what you should believe.” There is little wonder why they and Jesus were in conflict. It was because Jesus was not in conflict with God! Regardless of the circumstances before Him, He believed. He heard the Word. He listened to the Word. He obeyed the Word. He became the Word. He was the Word. He is the Word. He is the Word that should be heard…and listened to. Regardless of our current life situation, God’s plan is formidable and transforming. He is under control without being controlling. He is under authority, albeit His own, and will not deviate from it. He has made a promise and is true to it. The question is not about “what will God do” but “what will we do in light of what God has promised.” What is that promise? John recorded it in his gospel concerning Jesus as the Christ saying, “For God so loved the world [that is, the people on earth] that He sent His only begotten Son so that those who would believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” In the words of the Apostle Paul, “To die is gain, to live is Christ.” (Philippians 1.21)

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.