We just finished a sermon series called “The Treasures of a Transformed Life” so after six weeks of talking about money, I decided to go for a more upbeat sermon....and chose to preach from the book of Revelation.
In all seriousness, though, I think the book of Revelation gets a bum deal. It rarely gets preached and most of us avoid it because it seems too intense. Too scary. We hear the word ‘Apocalypse’ and think of violent Martin Sheen movies or bad sci fi…
…but an apocalypse (a revelation) is a vision –not a nightmare. Especially in the Jewish tradition, apocalyptic literature is about hope and assurance that in a battle between good and evil, God wins. Our book of Revelation is no different. It was written during a time of great Christian persecution. The Roman emperor Nero was brutally torturing and slaughtering thousands of Christians. I don’t even want to think about how hard it would be to wake up and find that your whole church was killed, but I can imagine the questions that arose because we struggle with the same ones today:
Questions like, is God still God when people die? Is God still good when people suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people?
The book of Revelation speaks to these questions. It’s not a magic answer that explains everything
(How on earth do we expect to make sense of God when we can’t make sense of the world around us?)
…but I do think it helps.
(How on earth do we expect to make sense of God when we can’t make sense of the world around us?)
…but I do think it helps.
Sure, God didn’t step in and stop the Emperor Nero. But God wasn’t silent either. During the persecution, into all of the suffering, God spoke to a man named John who was praying on an island called Patmos. And God must have studied education or something because, like a good teacher, God used visuals and repetition to drive home Revelation’s main point: which is that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. In other words, death isn’t the end.
One of the images I find particularly compelling comes to us in chapter seven.
John looks up and sees a great crowd of witnesses too many to count—a ton of people from all over the world. All colors, all languages, standing before the throne of God.
John looks up and sees a great crowd of witnesses too many to count—a ton of people from all over the world. All colors, all languages, standing before the throne of God.
Can you imagine what it would look like (what it would be like) to be this close to God’s throne? To stand alongside every Christian who ever lived?? That’s what the kingdom of God looks like…and that’s better than Duke Basketball.
Anyways, this great crowd is standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white with palm branches in their hands.
Palm Branches. (I swear, the strangest details jump out when I read the Bible…I read this passage the other day and all I kept wondering was ‘why the palm branches?’ If they didn’t mean something, they wouldn’t have been remembered, so what did they mean to John?)
Palm trees are actually mentioned quite often in the Bible—often symbolizing life:
· They cover the Israelite temple to remind people of the Garden of Eden.
· During the festival of booths (the Jewish celebration of harvest and thanksgiving) Leviticus instruct people to “rejoice with Palm branches”[1]
· And in John, people waved palm branches to greet Jesus as Hosanna, king (Palm Sunday)[2]
But Palm branches were also part of Greco-Roman culture as signs of victory and triumph:
· The Romans awarded palms to the champions of the games and they celebrated military successes with palm branches.
So when John tells people that this crowd was carrying palm branches, they don’t just look like a crazy mob with a bunch of sticks –they represented victory and life.
Furthermore, the Greek word for palm branch is phoinikes – like “phoenix”—that mythical bird who rises to life from ashes. These are God’s people who have risen from their suffering—risen from death. This crowd—this huge crowd shouting ‘Salvation belongs to God and the Lamb’—this crowd is eternally alive. That’s what the kingdom of God looks like.
Furthermore, the Greek word for palm branch is phoinikes – like “phoenix”—that mythical bird who rises to life from ashes. These are God’s people who have risen from their suffering—risen from death. This crowd—this huge crowd shouting ‘Salvation belongs to God and the Lamb’—this crowd is eternally alive. That’s what the kingdom of God looks like.
Things like death, burn victims, the ICU, cancer, car accidents, starvation –these are not ok. They’re not part of God’s kingdom. And they’re not eternal. God’s kingdom is partially here because of what Christ has done, but it’s still coming. Eternity is coming.
We’re also told that the people in this crowd have been through a great ordeal and that God is taking care of them. God is sheltering, guiding them and wiping away every tear from their eyes.’
When I picture this scene—God wiping away tears—it’s tender and gentle. The image comes straight from Isaiah (25:6-9 and 49:8-14) but notice what it's not saying....
But it’s not saying that tears are bad. It’s not diminishing the pain or minimizing the suffering that has already happened. God gives space for grief.
In this vision of redemption, It’s not like *snap* and all of a sudden, sadness isn’t allowed.
(don’t get me wrong—I don’t think God’s kingdom is a place of pain or sorrow. I do think it will be right and good in every sense of those words, but I don’t think God’s kingdom is about cheap, trite, or plastic happiness that covers everything up. I think it’s about peace.)
True peace only comes through healing. And sometimes healing hurts. Sometimes healing involves tears, but God promises that healing will come—that pain will end. This means that in the process—especially now--if we need to cry, let God be us. Because God is here—palms up—holding us close and gently wiping tears. God doesn’t cause suffering, but God is fully present in the midst of our sorrows.
So is God still God when people suffer? Is God still good? Yes and yes. God never leaves us.
Why do bad things happen? It’s because God’s kingdom isn’t here yet. It’s because, mostly, the world is still broken…but in Jesus, there’s hope for redemption.
Why do bad things happen? It’s because God’s kingdom isn’t here yet. It’s because, mostly, the world is still broken…but in Jesus, there’s hope for redemption.
I’m not going to pretend like this answer satisfies every one of our logical questions. It doesn’t explain everything, but I don’t think I would worship a god smaller than my understanding.
But I do worship the Alpha and Omega, the living one who wipes away our tears.
I do know that when you’re in a place of hurting or mourning or when you’re aching from the heart out, it’s good to know that God cares. That God is present. And that God is bigger and stronger than anything we’ll ever face. When it feels like life is spinning out of control and nothing is steady, it might be just enough to be the kind of person who holds onto a palm branch and knows that God is victorious and that, as God’s people, we are never alone. More than anything, it’s important for us to remember that life matters and death isn’t the end.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment