The Big Reveal: Our Only Hope

 June 14 2026

Revelation 9:13-21

         I have a confession to make this morning that might surprise you which is that my wife, Jennifer and I met through alcohol. No, it wasn’t at a bar, but rather at a youth group meeting. You see, Jennifer’s first job was the Alcohol Prevention Educator for the Health Department. And her co-worker, Judy had two kids in my youth group. Now, Judy being the good Mom told me that I should get Jennifer to come and talk to the youth group to talk to them about the dangers of alcohol. That sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? Well, unbeknown to me, Judy was actually wanting to introduce me to Jennifer. You see, Judy was best friends with my Mom and they got their heads together and thought it was high time for me to find a wife. So even though Jennifer came to speak to the youth group about alcohol, the truth of the matter is that I was set-up in order to meet the wonderful woman who would eventually become my wife.

          Well, the truth is, that the kids in my youth group really did have to hear about the dangers of alcohol, even if there was something else going on that fateful evening. Alcohol can lead to addiction which wreaks havoc on many lives. One only has to consider the devastation that alcohol causes in the homes and lives of many people. There are far too many families who suffer from broken homes and abuse because of a person’s addiction to alcohol. And we can also think of the many lives that have been destroyed by those who get behind the wheel while under the influence who endanger themselves and others. So it should come as no surprise that in nineteen-eighteen, our country ratified an amendment to our Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcohol in America. Even though President Wilson vetoed this action, Congress nonetheless passed the Volstead act which resulted in America becoming a country without alcohol. Now it is hard for us to imagine a world without alcohol, isn’t it? I mean just what would life be like without all of the ads we see for beer? Well, this experiment at outlawing alcohol failed miserably for it lasted only thirteen years before it was officially repealed in nineteen-thirty three. You see, what this law did was to chase alcohol underground, out of sight. The result was that criminal activity ran rampant through the moonshiners and rum runners. Our country became much like the Pharisees who Jesus compared to white washed tombs. Yes, everything looked great on the outside, but inside their was nothing but rot. 

         So even though our country went through this grand experiment to erase alcoholism through legislation, in the end our society actually became worse. The truth is this: believing that our hope for a better society can be found through enacting greater and better laws is flat out nonsense. This is proven true by God’s own people, the people of Israel. God gave them a law system straight out of heaven which clearly prohibited them from taking an innocent life. And even living under this perfect law, they still killed the innocent Son of God upon the cross. So for us who follow Jesus, we must be never put our hope for a better world in the passing of better laws. To believe our world can be improved through the passing of more and better laws merely calls into question the necessity of the cross.  I mean, if there were indeed some perfect law which could solve all our ails than why did Jesus need to carry his cross?

         The reason why laws will always ultimately fail is that they simply do not address the the problem of the human heart. Jesus tells us in the sixth chapter of Matthew that our desperate need for the approval and honor of others is the real issue. What Jesus reveals to us is that we were created to seek only the honor of our Heavenly Father. The reason why we should seek only the honor of our Heavenly Father is that he has demonstrated just how esteemed we are in his eyes when Jesus died on the cross. There upon the cross, the Father offered up his only Son all for us. To the watching eyes of the world this was a terribly foolish act. Yet to our eyes of faith we see that God endured this humiliation so that we might forever know how honorable we are to him. We now are no longer sinners but we are indeed able to call ourselves, children of God.There in the misery of the Son of God we found mercy. And there in the disgrace of the death of Jesus we indeed found grace. 

The honor we received when Jesus died on the cross was given to us by our Father so that we no longer feel the need to appear wise in the eyes of the world. The wisdom of the world is, as we find in the second chapter of the first letter of John, based on the desires of our flesh, the desires of what catches our eyes, and the boasting and pride that is ours when we display our life before the faces of others. Now to many of us, such a life does not seem all that bad.  Yet, when a world full of people follow such wisdom the result is disaster. James speaks of this truth at beginning of the fourth chapter his letter. There James asks us this, “Have you ever wondered why wars and battles are found everywhere you go? This is a rather profound question because our human history is one that is constantly afflicted by wars and battle. So we are right to wonder just why it is that the human race is marked by such violence. Well, James goes on to say this, “Do not all these wars and battles stem from the fact of the desires for sensual pleasures of our bodies?” Here James is telling us that the root cause of our violence is found in the desires of our flesh. James explains this connection by telling us, “You set your heart upon, and your eyes become focused upon what you desire and when you can not posses what possesses you, then you murder, and envy one another because you do not have the power to obtain what controls you. The result is that you fight and are at war with each other.” It is the wisdom of the world, this wisdom found in seeking what our flesh desires, longing for what has caught our eyes, and the pride we find when we are able to satisfy these desires, this is the wisdom that sets us at war with each other. And to understand how easy it is for us to become enamored by this worldly wisdom, we must remember that this teaching of James is being written to the church, followers of Jesus. You see, when James discovers infighting within their church, he concludes that they have become friends with the world. They have settled for seeking the pride that comes through the satisfying of their own desire. And the result from loving the wisdom of the world is that war had broken out among their members of this church.

         When we understand this dynamic of how wars and battles become such a part of our humanity we are able to make sense of what John witnesses from his vantage point in heaven. John tells of how the four angels stationed at the river Euphrates are set free. This is perhaps the very angels who stand guard at the door of the garden of Eden. We are to remember that it was there in Eden that the world came under the curse because of Adam and Eve choosing to live by the wisdom of the world. John sees that the curse from that decision has wiped out a full one third of all humanity. As we might recall, this mention of one -third, is the amount of the younger sons inheritance in the story of the Prodigal Son. This younger son represents those who choose the wealth of the Father over a relationship with him. And just as the younger son squandered his inheritance, the people of this world are seen squandering this worlds greatest treasure, the people who live here. God’s highest creation is seen utterly destroying one another. The reason for this devastation is that those in the world continue to live by the wisdom which can only end in the curse of death. 

         Well, John also sees a vast number of mounted troops, the symbol in his day of war and battle. The number he sees is double ten thousand times ten thousand. This incredibly large number seems to represent all of those who have ever engaged in combat throughout the history of earth. These warriors bring about terrible judgment upon their foes which is symbolized by the fire and smoke and sulfur. When these troops pass judgment on their enemies, they inflict the power of the serpent, which is death, and when they do so they violate the law. This terrible scene is the result of people who choose the wide road, those who choose to seek only the honor of others. When people find their pride is on the line because they cannot obtain what their flesh desires, when they are unable to possess what possesses them, then the result is war. So this never ending cycle of war that we find ourselves in has its roots in their desperate need people have to preserve their honor in the eyes of others. 

         So through what John reveals to us, we can begin to understand that following worldly wisdom leaves humanity under a curse. No, longer do people see each other as those who are held to be of infinite worth in the eyes of their Heavenly Father. Once again when we read James, this time in the third chapter of his letter, we see how this curse pollutes our thinking. James tells us that with our mouths we bless the Lord and Father, and with that same mouth, we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. As James rightly teaches us, this should not happen. Yet it does happen when people are more concerned about their pride then seeing each other as those who are beloved of God. When our life goal is to boast and brag about our possessions then it is evident is that our sensual pleasures and desires are of utmost importance to us. When these passions consume us we will find it very easy to curse those who stand in the way of our possessing what has come to possesses us. We will begin to evaluate people on how well they are able to help us obtain what we need  in order to impress the watching eyes of the world.

         So it should come as no surprise that Jesus instructs us, in the fifth chapter of Matthew, that we are not to get angry with someone when we find them to be of no use to us in getting what we desire. We must never let our pride blind us to the fact that no one was ever created to be the means by which we can get what we desire. If we do such a selfish act, Jesus tells us that we will be liable to judgement. No, when we are in the presence of another person we to remember that we gaze upon one who has been adopted into the very family of God, one whom God calls his precious child. This is what is so easily forgotten when we follow the wisdom of the world. So as Jesus continues, we are to never hold another person in contempt, considering them to be worthless for every person is held to be of great worth to God. Jesus goes on to tell us that when we restore the honor of someone, this is of more value to God than bringing him offering a sacrifice upon the altar.

         So, when we seek to live honorably before God this means that we live in such a way that every person we meet is treated like a saint, a holy one, in the eyes of God. Every person is someone who God was willing to give his Son to suffer and die for all so that their sin is dealt with for good. And God did this all so that each person might know just how beloved they are to him. If we know this truth then we should never use someone as a means to obtain satisfaction for our desires. When we know this truth then we will uphold our commitments to each other even if doing so might result in being held in dishonor by the world. When we know this truth then we will treat others honorably even if they decide to dishonor us in the eyes of the world. You see, what is revealed to John in the ninth chapter of Revelation is that when we live by worldly wisdom, instead of honoring people that God regards as being of infinite worth, we will begin to show honor to worthless things which do not deserve any honor at all. We will give honor to demons, and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, things which have no power to do even the basics like see, hear or walk. When people honor worthless objects instead of giving honor to people that God holds to be of infinite worth then this will only leave people imprisoned in their addictions, their killings, their fornications and their stealing, unable to ever find satisfaction for their deepest needs. Are we able to now understand why just passing more laws will not correct the evils of our society? 

         What John witnessed is our world, in all of its warring madness. What has been revealed to him should serve as a warning to us. We are to know the real danger when we are tempted to follow the wisdom of this world. Instead of trying to impress the world, we should instead seek to put a smile on the face of our Heavenly Father.  You see, the only power that can set people free from the pull of worldly wisdom is finding out that they are no longer orphans but are indeed children of God, those who can cry out to God, saying, Abba, Father.  What we must get back to is the cross, the place where the Son of God was willing to set aside his honor, willing to look so foolish to the world, so that we might at last know our true status in the eyes of God. Jesus carried the cross so that all might now know how honorable we are in the eyes of God. Every person is someone who has been given this same great honor to share in the very glory that Jesus has always known. So in the eyes of God every person we meet should be given this same honor by us. We who know how honorable we are in the eyes of God  are to help others discover this great honor their Heavenly Father has for them. This means that we must be willing to show them how honorable they are to God even if to do so requires us to be dishonored by those in the world. This is what Jesus tells us in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, that as his followers, those who have discovered our true honor through the cross, the very cross where Jesus was dishonored, we must be willing to carry our cross. We too must set aside our honor in the eyes of the world all so that others might come to know the glory Jesus desires to share with them. As Paul tells us in the twelfth chapter of Romans, we are to be those who bless the very ones who want to hunt us down and destroy us. We are to bless and not curse them. As we remember, to curse another is to speak evil of them forgetting their great honor of being created in the very image of God. So to bless even those who seek to destroy us means that even these who war against us are those we must treat as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Only then will they have a chance to come to know they too have a home with their heavenly Father. And Paul does not leave us guessing just how are we to show honor to even our enemies, because at the end of this same twelfth chapter, he writes, “If your enemy is hungry, feed them; if your persecutor is thirsty give them a drink. For by doing these acts of love you will make them wonder just what you are up to because you act so vastly different then what they expect. In this way we will not be overcome by evil but rather we will overcome evil through our good love. 

          You see, only as the great honor shown to us by God at the cross replaces our desperate need to puff up our pride, only then can we find new desires, a desire to love our Heavenly Father by serving him alone. Thus the love of God shown to us on the cross can do what no law could ever do, and that is to set us free from the power of sin. This is why the cross where Jesus died remains our only hope. The cross is only hope for there we find our only hope of being free from all of our addictions. And it is the the cross that gives us hope that one day our world will be transformed so that wars and fighting are no more. To God be the glory. Amen!

The Big Reveal: The Only Honor Worth Living For

 June 7 2026

Revelation 2:12-17

         One of the thing that surprises people about Jennifer and I, is that we have turned our basement area into an Airbnb. Usually, when people learn of this they are either curious or concerned because for many people the thought of inviting total strangers into your house and having them live and sleep in your basement is somewhat unnerving. Well, the reason why we decided to go the Airbnb route is that we had fixed our basement up as a small apartment for our kids to live in, but when they all moved out it just sat there unused. So in twenty-twenty one, we fixed this space up to rent out to anyone who is interested for a place to stay, often just for a night or two. And the response has been very positive. Some of our guests have been back numerous times and have become our friends. Now what is interesting about working with the Airbnb app is that our guests are asked to rate how good of a experience they had staying with us. It is a simple little form they fill out after their stay and they are to rate us from one to five stars. We have been very blessed because after five years of hosting guests in our home our rating remains a steady five stars. This rating is rewarded by Airbnb by giving us the honorary title of Super-host. Now, while it is true that we do our very best at keeping the apartment clean, stocked up with snacks and water, and providing instructions to help our guests feel at home, we don’t just do all of this so that we can receive a high rating from Airbnb. No, what is more important than this rating is the rating we receive from God. You see, we don’t just have the Airbnb space to supplement our income. The truth is that we see our work as a way that we can show some love and hospitality to strangers looking for a quiet place to rest, something I believe that God expects us to be doing as those who love him. You see, the real rating that matters, not just in operating an Airbnb, is whether God is pleased with what we are doing. The way the Bible speaks of this approval is that we are to live so that in all that we do, God smiles at our work. When God smiles upon us, this is his way of giving us the best five star rating that one can ever get.

         Now, the importance of finding our honor in only the eyes of God is something that is of utmost importance in our walk with Christ. An important illustration of this important aspect of our relationship with God is clearly seen in the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand in the sixth chapter of the gospel of John. It should come as no surprise that the people that Jesus fed rightly understood that here in this one called Jesus was one who was at least a prophet, one whom God had raised up from out of the people of Israel to speak his words and do miraculous signs and wonders. So they decided to seize hold of Jesus and make him their king. Now as we are very much aware, the people of this world just can’t wait to be king. I mean isn’t this the longing of many hearts, to be raised up to the highest place of honor among people, to be able to be lord over the many. Yet, Jesus wanted no part of this, the highest of human honors. No, instead, Jesus turned and withdrew from the crowds, desiring only to go up the mountain to seek the face of his Father. Jesus was doing exactly what he had instructed his disciples to do, as we hear in his core teachings. There, in the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells his students that when they prayed,  they were to do so in private, coming before their Father in secret because their Father who sees in secret will reward such prayer. You see, what Jesus was doing in this moment of great temptation was to go and seek the only honor which mattered, which is the honor of our Heavenly Father. So Jesus went away from all those who sought to honor him with the highest honor of this world, the honor of being king and instead sought the honor found in the face of his Father who smiled upon him. Now, this is the same temptation Jesus had faced when he was led out into the wilderness after his baptism. There the devil took Jesus up to a high mountain and he showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world,  The devil told Jesus that he could be king over all of these kingdoms, all Jesus had to do is to honor and serve him. To this Jesus replied with a quote from the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, which states that as the people of God, we are to honor and serve God above all else.

         The importance of deciding just who it is that we will find honor and approval from is the foundation for all of the core teachings of Jesus. As Jesus comes to wrapping up what he has taught his disciples, he gives an illustration of two roads that all people are traveling on. The one road is a wide road, and this road is easy yet where this road ultimately leads is destruction. The other road is a narrow road that is found to be difficult, requiring one to endure affliction, yet this is the road, Jesus tells us which ultimately leads to life. When we hear of these two very different ways of life, we should be curious just what is it that separates people into those who choose the wide and easy road of destruction and those who take the narrow, hard road that leads to life. The answer is found at the beginning of this section of teaching found at the beginning of the sixth chapter of Matthew, where Jesus tells his disciples that they were not to display their righteous before the face of others in order to be honored by them. You see, if we desire the honor of others then we should not expect that we will receive any honor from God. So it is not enough for us, to hear the word God speaks, and then obey this word, but we also must do so all so that God alone is pleased. So when the people came to honor Jesus by desiring that he be their king, they represented those on the wide and easy road. Here were thousands who desired to honor Jesus for his righteous act of feeding them that day. Yet, Jesus was not interested in being honored by the crowd; traveling on this wide road to destruction held no appeal. No, Jesus turned and walked up the narrow road, the little path that led up the mountain, to seek the face of the only one who matters, the face of his Father. 

         Now it seems, perhaps, that we are far from our scripture about the church at Pergamum yet we simply will not understand their problems unless we are sure of who it is that is to be our true source of honor. It seems that when we live in a country where we are free from persecution that we find it difficult to handle the dishonor that is ours when we are faithful witnesses to the word of Jesus. We cannot forget we must, “pick a lane”. We can either choose the respect and honor of our neighbors and friends, or we can choose to seek honor found in the smile of our Heavenly Father, but we can not do both. And unless we rightly understand this crucial issue of our Christian faith, then we will not be able to are sense of what is written in the book of Revelation.

As we discovered earlier in our study of the book of Revelation, when we read that one-third of creation has been laid to waste, I believe that this fraction should make us think of the younger son spoken of in the well known parable of Jesus that we know of as, “The Prodigal Son”. You see, according to Jewish law, the eldest brother was to receive a double portion of their father’s inheritance. This means that they would receive two-thirds of their father’s inheritance and their brother would receive one-third. So when the younger son comes to their father and demands their inheritance, the father would have given them one-third of the estate. Now this request by the younger son would have been a terrible dishonor for his father to endure for it is, in effect, a desire that the father hurry up and die.Yet, instead of the father reacting to this disrespect with the required wrath, the father instead allows his son to go on his way. Now, what is also further surprising about this story is that this was not the only time that the father was facing dishonor in this story.You see, if you continue to read the story as found in the fifteenth chapter of Luke, you will find that the younger son wastes the inheritance he was given and in the end decides to head back home, hoping to be taken on by his father as a hired servant. Now when the father sees his younger son a long ways off, we are told that he runs down the road to reach him. To our modern ears, we do not see any problem with what the father has done but to the audience that heard this story  their reaction would have been one of shock. I mean, didn’t Jesus know that the elder Father was to only walk slowly, with an air of great importance. In order for anyone to run meant that they would have had to hike their long robe up around their waist, allowing their bony white legs to be exposed for all the world to see. This is hardly the image of honor. We are left wondering why the father has set aside his honor in order to run down the road to his son? Certainly, it was partially because of the great love the Father had for his son, yet I believe their was indeed more to the story. Jesus tells us that the Father upon reaching his son fell upon his son’s neck, which is a rather strange expression. Well, what has been discovered in recent studies is that there is a community that is also part of this story, after all this is who the father invites to the banquet. You see, the members. of this community would have also been watching for the son’s return because this son has dishonored his father. They knew that the dishonor the younger son had shown to his Father would have to be met with swift justice otherwise their sons would be tempted to do the very same thing to their fathers. So the younger son was in fact in grave danger and his father knew this. So by throwing himself over his son the Father saved his son from the wrath of this community. What Jesus has portrayed here is an image of our heavenly Father’s mercy, the willingness to run to us, and to cover us from the judgment of the world. This is the dishonor of the mercy found at the cross which Paul tells us that trips up the Jews and is foolishness to everyone else. 

         Now the father found in the story of the prodigal son was not finished, because not only did he cover his son from harm but he also instructed his servants to place a robe of great honor upon his son, and then place a ring upon his finger and sandals on his feet. These are emblems of the grace of our heavenly Father for he has given us grace as well as mercy. The Father has given to us his Spirit, who clothes us with the the robe of his power, the one who gives us the ring, or seal of his authority, as well as placing on us the sandals which represent the work of peacemaking. 

         This story Jesus tells is to let us know that all that our Father has done and continues to do is so that we as his people, might know the great honor he believes every person has in his eyes. You see, our God was willing to set aside his honor, to appear to be humiliated in the eyes the world all so that everyone might have the honor of sharing in his power, his authority and his work of peacemaking. So when we understand ourselves as being the very children of God, then we too are to be willing to set aside our honor in order to shield others from the judgment of the world. When the world judges the weak and vulnerable as being unworthy of life we run to them and we cover over them with our life. And when the people of this world offend us, and harm us and desire us to be silenced, we then once again run to them, and cover over them with our life when we offer them forgiveness. You see, mercy always requires a willingness to set aside our honor in order that someone else might know their true honor before their Heavenly Father. We are to offer mercy so that all people might know themselves as being worthy to receive the honor of being a child of God so that they too can experience being clothed with power from on high, knowing that they have been given the very authority of the Spirit so that they too might join in the work of peacemaking. 

         So now at last are ready to hear the performance review that Jesus gives to the church at Pergamum. Jesus tells them that he is aware that they live where Satan is king. This exact phrase is found in the ninth chapter, the eleventh verse, where it is Satan who rules over those on the wide road, those who seek only the honor of others. So Jesus knows that this church at Pergamum is alone in their pursuit to seek only the honor of their Father. So it comes as no surprise that Jesus honors a member from their church named Antipas, who has been put to death for being solely devoted to God. If you look at the meaning of this name, “Antipas”, you find that it translates to, “One like the Father”. This suggests that this saint lived before the face of his Father, honoring his Father by offering mercy and grace just as his Father had shown to him. 

         Yet, even though this church was alone in their seeking only the honor of their Heavenly Father, they nonetheless, had failed to guard over the honor their Father had given to them. We are reminded in this review by Jesus, of the story of Balaam. This story is found in the book of Numbers, beginning in the twenty-second chapter. As the people of Israel passed through the wilderness, the nations who witnessed this vast swarm of people, which numbered over half a million, they grew concerned that the people of Israel would consume everything in sight. So the king of Moab, named Balak, called for a man named Balaam. Balaam was known for his ability to place curses and blessings on people. But when Balaam tried to place a curse on the people of Israel, he was unable to do so because of the blessing God had already placed upon his people. So Balaam returned to Balak unable to destroy the people of Israel through a curse. Yet all was not lost, because Balaam told the king to that he should introduce the beautiful women of his kingdom to the young men of Israel, and let nature take its course. And so the men of Israel chased after these women and the women in turn, got these men to honor their false gods, bringing destruction to the nation of Israel.

         Now what was happening in the church at Pergamum was that some in the church went to the temples of false gods to buy meat. This was no issue for them because after all they all knew their was only one God who they were to live for. Yet, in doing so some of their weaker brothers, became enamored with the temple prostitutes. By yielding themselves to fornication they no longer honored God. They had had abandoned their true honor in the eyes of God in order to seek worldly pleasure. Yet the real issue was that this had happened because they had gone to this temple of idols because of someone in their church had brought them there. What Jesus has issue with is that the church had forgotten that all members have a sacred duty to watch out for their brothers and sisters so that they always honor God with all that they are, including their very bodies. So if buying meat leads to a brother or sister to be tempted to take their eyes off of God, then the honor found in eating meat needs to be set aside so that another’s honor might not be destroyed. Otherwise, through this dishonor of one member the whole church might be become dishonored before their Heavenly Father. 

         As Jesus concludes his review of the church at Pergamum, he urges them to continue to honor their Heavenly Father by reminding them of the food the people of Israel ate while in the wilderness. To the one who is victorious, Jesus tells them they would receive the hidden manna. Manna was the bread of heaven that God promised would be given to them every morning. Now in the eleventh chapter of Numbers we find that this manna had the appearance like tiny white stones upon the ground. So, as they went out and gathered up these white stones they were stating that they sought to honor their Heavenly Father even above their earthly fathers. In doing so they were given a new identity, for they now bore the name of their Heavenly Father. It is this name that will be ours for all eternity, the great honor which is given to us for always seeking to find our five star rating in our Father’s smile! Amen!

The Big Reveal: Whose Face will You Look To?

 May 31 2026

Revelation 8:1-12

         I’ve never paid much attention to all of the recent alarms about the climate and the concerns about the ozone layer. But having gone through two years where drought conditions have devastated a lot of my landscaping, I may begin to listen in. Now anytime a friend of mine brings up this idea of climate change, he scoffs at the idea mostly because he because he has a hard time believing that people actually have the power to change something as immense as the climate of the world. And I have to agree with him that it does seem somewhat outrageous that we who inhabit this world have enough influence upon our world that we can alter the very climate we live in. Yet, what is making me believe that people actually affect this world far more than we realize is what we have just read in the book of Revelation written by John. As we consider what we just read from the eighth chapter of this book, we hear of how every part of God’s creation, the earth, the seas and the rivers, is found to be damaged and destroyed and the culprit behind this destruction is us, the very people God created to rule and reign over his creation. So, perhaps we do have far more influence over our world than we could ever imagine.

         This announcement of the destruction of creation is what is heard as we enter into this eighth chapter of Revelation. This sad state of affairs comes on the heels of the last seal of the scroll being opened. As we may recall, the scroll is the future that God has in store for humanity. This future is opened up to us through Jesus,  the Lamb of God, being slain for us. Through his resurrection from the dead, Jesus now has the authority over the future he offers to us. So he alone is able to remove all of the seven seals off of the scroll which contains our future. So here in the beginning of the eighth chapter, we hear of how the last of the seven seals is removed. The result is that there is silence in heaven. This is a rather peculiar finding because up until this point, the heavens have been overflowing with the sounds of great worship. But now we are told that there is silence, as if all of heaven holds its breath awaiting God to speak. You see, when the previous seals were opened it was revealed that even though Jesus has come forth as a conquering hero riding on a white horse, the world still remains plagued by evil. Even though Jesus has conquered death and the grave, there is now persecution instead of peace, the worship of wealth instead of the worship of God and death still unleashes hell upon the earth. The answer God gives to all of this evil are the faithful witnesses who are willing to love with the great love which they had first experienced from Jesus. These are the ones who have offered up their very lives to be the faithful witnesses to a life lived in obedience to the word of God, those who witness to the very goodness of God. These are the ones we see, in the ninth verse of the sixth chapter, who are covered over by the altar, which represents the sacrifice of Jesus who covers the faithful so they are forever safe and secure. These faithful witnesses cry out to God, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? This is the question which hangs in the air, as the other two seals are opened. The sixth seal reveals that a day of great wrath is coming for those who thumb their nose at God, yet the question remains just how soon will this cleansing of the world’s evil take place? So when the seventh seal is at last opened there is silence in heaven as those around the throne wait for God to speak. Just what will be the fate of those who those who seek to persecute the saints, of those who continue to worship worldly wealth and power, and those who serve the power of death? Well, those in heaven do not have to wait very long, not even a full hour, before the decision of God is heard. There appearing before God are seven angels who have seven trumpets. The trumpets would have been known as a method of warning for the people of Israel. So it appears that God is going to issue a final warning before he unleashes his wrath upon the earth. You see, as we hear in the third chapter of Second Peter, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but he is patient, not wishing that anyone might perish, but that all might come to repentance.” So, in this time before the wrath of God arrives, God is sounding the trumpet, warning all those who are caught up in evil to repent and turn to find eternal life with him.

         Yet, God is not just going to sound the trumpets for we also read that another angel stands at the golden altar with a golden plate upon which incense would be burned. The smoke from the incense is mixed with the prayers of the saints on the earth, and this sweet smelling offering rises up to God. Yet these prayers are not just lifted heavenward for we are told that after they rise up to God, they then are hurled down to the earth where their power is evident in symbols of judgment, peals of thunder, lightning and earthquakes. So the prayers of the saints will also make it abundantly clear to those who rebel against God that judgment is coming, and now is the time to return to God. 

         So as the first four of the seven trumpets sound the alarm, the sum total of the situation currently at hand is revealed to us. While it is difficult to figure out the intense imagery that John writes about, the bottom line is that creation is being destroyed in this conflict between the good of heaven and the evil of earth. The result is that one-third of creation has been affected, destroyed through the rebellion of humanity against the good rule God intended. This situation is aptly described by the prophet Jeremiah, who writes in the fourth chapter, “I looked upon the earth, and behold it was without form and empty.”. Here, Jeremiah is using the very words found at the beginning of Genesis, where in the beginning the world was without form and empty. So we are to understand that when we rebel against God the result is the very unraveling of creation. John seems to be echoing the words of Jeremiah who goes on to say that he looked to the heavens and they had no light, and he looked to the mountains and they were quaking, the hills were moving to and fro. Then Jeremiah says, “Behold there was no man, and all of the birds of the sky had fled. I looked and behold, the fruitful orchard had become a wilderness.” 

So we are left wondering, just what is the root cause of this devastation? I believe the clue that helps us understand these warnings, is the odd mention that one-third of the earth has been destroyed. Now, throughout scriptures, this fraction is extremely rare, and the one place where this fraction is heard of is when a father’s inheritance is divided between his two sons. You see, unlike our custom of dividing a father’s inheritance equally among his children, in Israel, the custom was that the firstborn son would receive a double portion of the inheritance. The reason for this is that the firstborn son was to take the father’s place in the family upon the father’s death. So in order for the firstborn son to receive a double portion when there were two sons, the inheritance would be divided into thirds. The eldest son would receive two-thirds, and the youngest son would receive one-third. Now when we consider this distribution of a father’s inheritance, the parable of the prodigal son should be on our minds. This is a story Jesus told that is recorded for us in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. The story goes that a father had two sons and one day the youngest son comes to his father and asks for his share of the inheritance, a full one-third of the father’s assets. When the audience listening to Jesus heard that the son had done such a thing they would have gasped, for by asking for his share of the inheritance, the younger son had implied that he wished his father were dead. The youngest son treasured the wealth of his father above the relationship he had with his father. The younger son, then, had dishonored his father. So the father would have been expected the to punish his son severely for not honoring him. Yet, as Jesus continues the story, the audience would have been surprised to hear that the father instead gave the inheritance to his younger son without any concern for his honor. Jesus then goes on to tell of how the younger son threw his inheritance away through his reckless living. Now here we must pause to consider just who is the father and what is the inheritance that he gave to his younger son? Well, if we turn to the fifth chapter of Matthew, we read of how God promises those who are willing to learn from him as his child, these are the ones who will inherit the earth. So, the younger son represents those who want nothing to do with their Heavenly Father as they are only interested in the riches of the world which is their inheritance. The picture given to us in the first four trumpet sounds are the ways that this inheritance of the world is squandered through the reckless living of those who live apart from their Heavenly Father. The result is that all of creation suffers as the inheritance of our world is squandered in reckless living. 

  Now it is important for us to remember that the root cause of the destruction of creation is that much of humanity refuses to honor God. This gives us a clue to figuring out the strange scene that John records when the fifth trumpet is heard. A star is seen falling from the sky to the earth. This echoes what Jesus tells us in the tenth chapter of Luke where he says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” This agrees with what we are told in John’s vision for he tells us that it is indeed Satan who is the one who has opened up the shaft of the abyss, the place of final destruction. Out of this horrible pit he sees a great a great swarm of locusts coming forth who were given the power of scorpions. Here we have to pause to consider just what does this vision represent? We are told that this angel of the abyss, Satan, he is the king over these locusts, and he is to be known as the Destroyer. Well, what we also know is that the Greek root word for, “Destroyer”, is found in the core teachings of Jesus. In Matthew 7, the thirteenth verse, we are told by Jesus that,“…wide is the gate and easy is the way that leads to destruction, or better, destroying, and many are those who enter through it.” If we consider what this great swarm of people living a life which destroys might look like it is not difficult to imagine them being much like a great swarm of locusts, who are ever on the move, destroying everything in their path. Now what those who enter through this wide gate do not realize is that the beginning of the wide highway that they are on has its beginnings with the one called the Destroyer, Satan, who dwells in the great abyss of destruction.

Well, Jesus goes on to tell us that there is a contrasting narrow gate. This doorway opens instead to a way of suffering, yet it is this narrow way that also leads to life, not destruction. Jesus goes on to tell us that very few find this gate and enter into life. So we are left wondering just what is the criteria that separates this narrow way from the wide road of destruction? Well, what we must remember is that what Jesus is teaching about here is the conclusion of a section of his core teaching which begins at the start of the sixth chapter of Matthew.There we hear Jesus tell us, ‘Take care not to perform your righteousness before the face of others in order that they might look upon what you have done. If you desire the honor of others then you will receive no reward from your Father in heaven.” You see, Jesus is speaking about the ones called Pharisees in the New Testament. These were the ones who were religiously devout, the ones who sought to bring the holiness found in the Temple out into every day life. So often we are told that the problem with the Pharisees was that they were legalistic, following the Law to a fault. Yet, this is not the issue with them according to Jesus. No, the problem was not that they followed the Law, for even Jesus warns against being lawless people. What the real issue with the Pharisees was that they performed the Law not to receive the honor of God. No, they were good law abiding citizens all so that they might receive the honor of others. You see, the Pharisees did not understand that the very reason why God is holy is that he alone is the one we should seek to please. To be holy people means that we desire the honor of our Heavenly Father above all else. 

         Now, the reason why the Pharisees sought the honor of others over seeking to be honored by God, is that when we seek only the honor of God we must be ready to find ourselves without honor in the eyes of those of the world. You see, to seek the honor of God means that we must demonstrate mercy and grace to all people. But what Jesus continually saw was that the Pharisees refused to offer mercy to those in need.Yes, even though they upheld all the commands of the Law they nonetheless, were those who refused to offer mercy and grace to those who needed it, and this was a great dishonor to their Heavenly Father.

         Well, when we understand the scandal that mercy and grace looks like to the world, we can begin to understand why the Pharisees wanted no part of it. To the world, mercy is a misery and grace is a disgrace. It seems so miserable to the world, to offer mercy to those who do not deserve it, to forgive those who stand condemned. What a disgrace to offer grace to all people equally when it so apparent that some people are obviously more worthy to receive it. Yet God in his mercy does what the world finds so dishonorable, setting aside his judgment in order to give us life. And God goes even further, for God not only offers us mercy and forgives us, but he also gives us the undeserved gift of the Holy Spirit, the unlimited presence of his love, a gift we have done nothing worthy of receiving such a gift. What a disgrace these seems to the world. 

Now the way we seek the honor of God is when we as his children, imitate the goodness of our Heavenly Father. We are to follow his lead and offer mercy and grace to others, even though it may be a misery and a disgrace to do so. When we act like our Heavenly Father we are known by him as being children who deserve our inheritance. If we refuse to do so then when we follow the way of the world, we end up destroying our inheritance as we see in this revelation of John.

         As followers of Jesus we must understand the crucial importance of seeking only the honor of God. You see, once we have experienced the mercy of the cross, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, the only right response is for us to bring honor to our Heavenly Father no matter what those who watch us might think of us. No more are we to ask the question, “Well, what will people think of me if I forgive those who have hurt me? I mean, what will others say when I take what is rightfully mine and give it to one who does not deserve it? No, now we must continually ask ourselves in every action, “Will God be honored by what I do? Or perhaps we might ask, “Will the way I treat people me put a smile on the face of God? The importance of asking such questions, is that seeking the honor of others can only lead to destruction for such a desire originates in Satan. In doing so, we will only end up squandering our very inheritance putting our very future with God in jeopardy. So let us live so that God is now and always honored. Let us turn from the eyes of the world and look full in the wonderful face of God as we go forth to give mercy and grace to all! Amen!

                   

The Big Reveal: The Word and Our Witness

 May 17 2026

Revelation 2: 8-11

         As I look back on my life I can see that God was teaching me some hard truths about being a follower of Jesus at a fairly early age. On of these lessons God gave to me had to do with my being confirmed when I was fourteen years old. You see, back in the day, churches expected those who had been baptized as a baby to take classes so that they might accept the faith they were baptized in for themselves. These classes were held over a two year period, so it was a really big deal back then. So finally, there I was, one Sunday in May, standing with thirteen other confirmands before the congregation of the First Dover United Methodist. As we stood there we nervously recited by heart the Ten Commandments and the Apostles Creed, hoping to get them right. Then we each individually professed our faith in JesusChrist publicly before the congregation. Now, for me, in that moment, I realized that what I had just done was a life changing moment for I had pledged my allegiance to Christ and his kingdom.Well, fast-forward four years, when I graduated from high school, and turned eighteen. One morning in early September I walked in to the Senior High/Post High class, and I find myself there alone with the teacher. And to this day, I still am not over the fact that in just four years, those I had gone through confirmation class for two years, and those who stood with me before the congregation and professed their faith in Jesus, not one of the rest of those confirmands were anywhere to be found. In that moment God spoke clearly to me and his lesson was that what people confess and profess to believe in can never really be a true measure of ones faithfulness to Jesus. Or to put it another way, if you talk the talk you have to walk the walk. And so I never stop wondering just why so many who went through confirmation simply walked away.

         Well, what caused me to remember this memory from fifty years ago, is that today in our study of the book of Revelation, we come to a section that is concerned with our calling to to be a faithful witness. Now as we probably know so well, being a faithful witness is fairly easy when life is going smoothly and all is well. But what happens when the clouds gather, the storms of life come, and you are called to remain faithful in the middle of pain and suffering not just in their absence? Well, what is an invaluable help for us in figuring out the key to remaining faithful to Jesus no matter the circumstances we face, is found in a little phrase we may have often said, yet one which we may not have understood what it truly means. This phrase is found at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, where we ask God to, “lead us not into temptation or hard trial”.  What is implied when we ask God to lead us is that God will do so through his word. This is what Jesus teaches us in the tenth chapter of the gospel of John, where Jesus our Good Shepherd says this about himself, “The sheep hears the Shepherd’s voice and he calls his sheep by name and he leads them out. When he has brought out all of his sheep, the shepherd goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” So when we know that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, then when we pray for him to lead us not into a place of hard testing and temptation, this is perhaps more a profession of faith then it is a petition for guidance. We are to understand that the we can trust our Good Shepherd will lead us not to the place of failure but to a position of faith. Even though our circumstances may be bearing down upon us, nonetheless if we keep listening for the voice of Jesus then we can be assured that he will indeed lead us through our difficulties, otherwise he would not be a good Shepherd to us, would he?

         You see, we must be certain that our ability to remain faithful to Jesus totally depends upon knowing the voice of Jesus. We are to rely upon the fact that Jesus will always be faithful to be with us. Jesus alone can say that he will never abandon us. This important understanding is crucial for us to make sense of what we see revealed to us, here in the book of Revelation. John, the elder who is overseeing seven churches, is given a glimpse of the future God has in store for those who follow Jesus. As we follow John through the open door that enters into heaven, we are called to ask the question, “ Where do I see ourselves in this story?” Last week, Jesus told the church at Ephesus that they had abandoned the call of Jesus to love others as he had first loved us. Sure they hated evil, which is the fear of God, yet instead of being praised for their wisdom they were instead confronted by Jesus for using their hatred of evil as an excuse so that they could limit just who they might demonstrate their love to. You see, our hatred of evil is to spring from the fact that evil has all people trapped, making everyone unable to do the good that they might desire to do. So, even though we have a body of death because it has been imprisoned in evil, Jesus through his forgiveness, assures us that we are not condemned. So when the church at Ephesus placed themselves within what was revealed to John, the church at Ephesus was to witness to those who had never given up on their first love shown to them by Jesus. The church at Ephesus was to notice that these who were willing to love greatly were the very ones who are forever secure beneath the altar of heaven. So the church at Ephesus was to called to join these who had been faithful unto death. They were to once again hunger and thirst for righteousness, no longer withholding their love from those they thought to be evil. No, now they were to long to be one of those found to be clothed in white, those who at could at last rest from their labor.

         So the church at Ephesus was to know the importance of being those who remained a faithful witness to the word of God. You see, only those faithful who live according to the word of God are able to overcome the evil of our world. John further records in the sixth chapter of Revelations, that those under the altar were to rest until the full number of their fellow servants, those brothers and sisters who remain faithful, has at last been reached. These are the servants who are being described in the seventh chapter. John tells us that these are the ones who have a  seal placed upon their foreheads. Now, this seems to be a rather strange way to speak about these priests of God, yet if we look at what is written in the third chapter of John, we find that Jesus teaches us that those who have taken hold of his witness, the truth he has brought to us from heaven, these are the ones who God will seal in his truth. This seal, Jesus goes on to tell us is the Spirit of truth, for the Spirit speaks to us the very words of God. Now just like the seals that closed up the scroll pointed us to the one who has the authority to open the scroll, so too, when we have been given the seal of the Holy Spirit, we now have the authority to witness to the truth.  John also tells us that those in heaven who have been sealed by the promise of the Holy Spirit make up a great multitude that no one can number. And one more important fact about this multitude, is that these are the ones who have come out of the times of great testing and suffering. So here we appear to have proof of what we pray, that when we ask the Father to lead us not into temptation or hard testing. Through the Spirit speaking to us the truth of heaven we are able to come through terrible testing and suffering, to live in praise of God. 

         With all of this in mind, let us imagine what would happen if the church at Smyrna would ask the question: “Where do we see ourselves in this story?” Well, right here at the beginning of what Jesus says to them we hear that Jesus knows of their testing  and their suffering. They find themselves in the midst of great affliction, having been stripped of all worldly wealth, and slandered by those they thought would have accepted them. We are told that those who were harassing the church at Smyrna are the very people of Israel, those referred to here as being a Jewish synagogue. Yet in spite of their supposedly being God’s people we are told that they are instead a synagogue of Satan. Now it is rather shocking to hear Jesus use such harsh language but if we are aware of the teachings of Jesus we should know that this is not the first time this has happened. If we turn to the eighth chapter of the gospel of John, we are find Jesus speaking to some Jews who had placed their faith in him. So they were followers of Jesus for as Jesus tells them, “If you abide in my word,  if you take and live through obedience to my word, this is when you are truly my disciples.” Jesus continues by telling us this,” If you indeed find life through the obedience to my word, then you will know the truth and this truth will set you free.” Now, when Jesus questioned the very idea of their freedom, insinuating that these disciples just might be be slaves, they were quite offended. What did Jesus mean by implying that they had been captured by one who seeks to use and abuse us? Well, as Jesus continues, he explains that if they were indeed children of their Heavenly Father and not slaves, they would love Jesus because he had come directly to them from the Father in heaven. So not only is Jesus telling them that they are not free, but he is so telling these disciples who believed in him that that did not truly love him, talk about confronting them about their sin. You see, the problem was that they could not accept the word that he spoke to them. So because the word that Jesus spoke to them was simply too difficult to obey they instead began to listen to another voice, the voice of the devil or Satan. No matter what he is called, the evil of the evil one is that he is another voice which challenges the validity of what Jesus speaks to us. So, because they were listening to the devil, Jesus told them that it is the devil and not God who is their true father. When they obeyed the word the devil spoke to them, then they were doing the will or desire of the devil so that the devil was indeed their father. So here in this gathering of Jews was a synagogue of Satan because they were obeying the word Satan speaks to them instead of obeying the word of their Heavenly Father, the word brought to them by his Son, Jesus. So we are left wondering just what is the difference between the word of Jesus and the word of Satan? The answer, Jesus tells us is that the devil is and always has been a murderer, a taker of life. Our God, in contrast, is always and only a giver of life. So when the followers of Jesus decided to join their Jewish brothers in the violent overthrow of Rome through their desire to kill those who afflicted them, they had nonetheless become enslaved to doing the desires of the devil. So, as Jesus pointed out, if they were not willing to obey the word God spoke to them through Jesus, then they could not consider themselves to be true children of Abraham because Abraham obeyed God, no matter what.

         So the synagogue of Satan thought of themselves as being the true people of God, but they nonetheless could not justify this claim because they refused to obey God choosing instead to listen to the voice of Satan. Of course when the church of Smyrna proclaimed themselves as being the true children of God, this brought this synagogue of Satan under judgment causing this synagogue to blaspheme them, saying the church at Smyrna was caught in a lie. Their situation was described by Jesus in the third chapter of the gospel of John, where he tells us that everyone who does evil works hates the light and they will not come to the light so that their works can be clearly seen for what they truly are. The silver lining surrounding their situation is that at least now the church at Smyrna knew that they were indeed children of the light. This is why Jesus could tell them that they had nothing to fear, even if they were to face the suffering that was in their future. This little church was told by Jesus that they were to be tested, having to endure much affliction as those who obeyed Satan thought nothing of throwing many of their congregation into prison. 

         Now all that Jesus has to add concerning this churches upcoming suffering is the admonition that they were to hold onto their faith in him, even unto death. This seems to be a very difficult expectation that Jesus has for this church, yet what must not be forgotten is that Jesus himself faced temptation and testing. In the fourth chapter of Hebrews, we hear that Jesus speaks from experience when he tells us to be faithful when we find our faith being tested. We can read of this testing of Jesus in the fourth chapter of Matthew and Luke’s gospel accounts. In Matthews account, we find that the first lesson we can learn from this testing of Jesus is a truth taught to the people of Israel as they wandered there in the wilderness after being rescued from slavery in Egypt. God spoke to Moses and told him that every morning God would supply the people of Israel with bread from heaven, something like white flakes that would be gathered up to eat. They were to only gather as much as they needed for one day, otherwise this heavenly bread would rot. Now the reason why God fed them in this way is found in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy where we hear that the people were to know, that we as people do not live by bread alone but we live by every word which proceeds form the mouth of God. So listening and obeying God is found to be of utmost importance when we face hard testing. So when Jesus tells the church at Smyrna to be faithful, even if they face death, he follows this by further telling them that their ears should be tuned to hear every word the Spirit speaks to them. As Jesus teaches us in the sixteenth chapter of John, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but the words he hears, these he will speak to declare to you the things that are to come.” You see, only those who is willing to be lead by the speaking of the Spirit, only these will be known as being conquers, those who indeed have overcome the world.

         This church at Smyrna then would have resonated with what is revealed to John when the first seal of the scroll was removed. When the first seal was removed we hear that one has come forth riding on a white horse wearing a crown. This is the one who conquered and who continues to conquer. This conqueror is of course, Jesus, the very one who conquered death through his resurrection from the dead. But Jesus keeps on conquering when all those who listen and obey the Spirit who speaks the words of Jesus to them. This is why the church of Smyrna could say that they were those who had been sealed by the Holy Spirit because they were obedient to do all that Jesus the conqueror commands them to do. 

         This church in Smyrna, then, serves as a bridge between the first section of this revelation and the next. As the first section focused on how Jesus conquered over the evil of this world through his love and mercy, the second section will give us instructions on how to live in a world where there is not peace but persecution. And the very means by which we face this affliction that comes on account of our faith is prayer. The essence of this lesson on prayer is the truth that the church at Smyrna already knew so well, that our prayer must be all about hearing and and obeying what God speaks to us, for it is these words that will guide through every affliction until at last we are at home with God. To God be the glory! Amen!

         

         

         

The Big Reveal: The Light of Our Wisdom

 May 10 2026

Revelation 2:1-7

         Well, I have to admit that with the coming of all of gray hair I thought that I might have more wisdom to offer. I guess that this is a common assumption, you know, that after making a certain number of trips around the sun that we are supposed to be not just older but overflowing with learning and knowledge, a real master of wisdom. The person who comes to mind when I think about being just such a wise person is my late father-in-law, Ted. Even though Ted had grown up poor, and had graduated from the school of hard knocks, he nonetheless made something of himself. But Ted did not just keep what he had learned through the years to himself. No, one of his greatest joys was to have his family and friends gather around him so he could share his stories about the wisdom that life had given him. Sure those stories were slightly embellished but in those stories were always little nuggets of wisdom, something that he had learned or discovered along the way that he hoped would help someone else to make wise choices. 

         Well, when we think about what it means for us to make wise choices, we are faced with first having to define just what to we mean by this thing called wisdom. I guess the easiest way to consider wisdom is to know that the opposite of wisdom is foolishness. It is probably a universal longing to never look foolish before those we hold to be important to us. No one really likes to be embarrassed no matter how often it might happen.  So to be wise is to be certain that our life will be marked by good choices. And as it turns out, it is this search for wisdom, this is he unspoken problem plaguing the church at Ephesus. 

         You see, wisdom is all about living life in a right and good manner. We discover just such a life described for us in the book of the Bible called Proverbs. There in the eighth chapter, the thirteenth verse, we hear a well known saying: “The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil”. And then in the ninth chapter of Proverbs we find, “The fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom.” So when we learn that that church at Ephesus hated evil, not being able to put up with the evil of others, we might assume that Jesus will praise them for their wisdom. Yet, perhaps much to their surprise, this church at Ephesus is not given two thumbs up as being wise people; no, instead Jesus states that they have fallen from where they had first been. So rather than being complimented on their wisdom they are instead told that they are foolishly headed in the wrong direction. And Jesus goes further by telling them that their foolishness has caused them to walk away from the loving others with the greatest love which Jesus had first loved them. 

         Now, we are left wondering, just what are we to make of such a statement? I mean is it not true that wisdom is found by hating evil? Of course, this must be true. So yes, we should hate evil but the real question is this: just what are we to do with our hatred of evil?  You see, we can use our hatred of evil to either be the cause of division or we can use our hatred of evil as being that which unites us with others. For the church at Ephesus, their hatred of evil was seen as being the reason why they had separated themselves from all those who did such evil. The church at Ephesus had taken their knowledge of evil as used this as an excuse to limit their love of others. Their knowledge of evil caused them to consider themselves superior to those who did not fear the Lord. So when they understood their fear of the Lord in this way, then they had no trouble finding some not just worth the effort it takes to love others with the love Jesus had first gave them when he offered his life upon the cross. 

         You see, our hatred of evil is to never be used as an excuse for withholding love from anyone, far from it. No, the hatred we have for evil is to make us aware that evil is a trap that all people are unable to be free of under their own power. This is the tragic conclusion discovered by the people of Israel, who even though they could state that the wisest choice was to fear the Lord by hating evil, they nonetheless, ended up being so evil that they had to be thrown out of the land promised to them by God. The law God had given to them clearly outlined what was forbidden yet the people of God seemed powerless to do the good that was set before them. This is what Paul explains at the end of the seventh chapter of Romans, where he says, ‘For we know the Law is spiritual, but I am under the power of the desires of my flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to do, but instead I do the very thing I hate.” Here Paul appears to be giving a nod to wisdom, because the very thing that he hates is evil, yet even the fear of God is unable to move him to obedience. What Paul concludes is this, “I know that nothing good dwells in me through doing what my flesh desires. I may have the desire to do what is right but I do not have the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good that I want to do, and the evil I do not want to do, the evil that I hate, this is the very thing that I keep on doing.” When we listen to Paul lay out the dilemma that all of us face, we all can cry out with Paul, “Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” This is where our hatred of evil is to bring us, to this point where we do hate evil yet knowing that we stand in need of someone who will set us free from the terrible hold which evil has on us. This is why we hate evil because it is a force that has imprisoned us, all of us. And it is this evil which is what ruins any hope we might have of a future with God.

         To this rather somber account of our situation, Paul then exclaims this wonderful declaration as found at the beginning of the eighth chapter of Romans,  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Jesus does not hate us for the evil we have done but instead, out of his great love for us, Jesus offers us forgiveness. Now it follows that if Jesus does not condemn anyone then neither can someone condemn or judge anyone else as being unworthy of the forgiveness of God. To judge another person as being worthy of condemnation and then  justify our action because of our hatred of evil will only cause us to place ourselves under the judgment of God. This is why Jesus sternly warns us in the sixth chapter of Matthew that we are not to judge others for the measure of judgment we use on others will be the measure of judgment that will be used upon us. 

         You see, when the church at Ephesus received this letter from John, they were supposed to ask the question, “Where do we see ourselves in this revelation that John has shared with us?’  Well, it is rather obvious that when they heard of the Lamb who is slain, they would have remembered the great love that Jesus had for those he considered his friends. This love compelled Jesus to offer up his life as a shield to cover our life with his very own.  So how could the church at Ephesus forget this love which they had experienced from God when they had first begun their relationship? This was the love they had abandoned and clearly in this heavenly scene, Jesus is inviting this church to return to this love they experienced when they first encountered him. They were to remember that before Jesus, the future held securely within the scroll was not open to them. As they listened to what was revealed to John they were to know that what has forever opened up this future is this great love Jesus has for all people.  Jesus alone is worthy to create for us future, for he is the one who offered his life for us, becoming for us the Lamb who is slain. Only the life blood of Jesus, poured out for all of us, only this could pay the price necessary to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death. Thus it is only Jesus who is able to take those caught up in the slavery of evil, and transform them into being kings and priests to God. This is the power of the love of Jesus, his agape love, the love of God that is without limits, reaching to all people, in all places, at all times. Jesus, in the fifteenth chapter of John, tells us this, “The greatest love is this, that one would offer up his life for his friends. And you are my friends if you do what I command you, and you go and love with this same great love, offering up your life for your friends.”  This love of Jesus is a love which moves him to take his life and place it over our life, covering us from harm so that we might experience a security like no other. So as the church at Ephesus found themselves in this story they would have been confronted by the fact that when they had abandoned this love of Jesus then they had walked away from the life that Jesus had secured for them through this very love.

         As the church at Ephesus refused to love others as Jesus had first loved them, they forgot the very source of this life God offers us. In doing so, the very basis for our worship of God, that God is the giver of life, this has been lost when the church at Ephesus walked away from their first love. All they were left with was just a knowledge of evil without any hope of a future beyond this evil. Gone was the praise to God for his great love that thought nothing of giving his only Son so that we might not perish, but instead have a life eternal. So when the church at Ephesus abandoned this love they had first had received from God they no longer could worship as they do in heaven, finding God worthy to receive the sum total of their life. And this then affected how they served God through their love of others for they no longer loved others as God had first loved them. No longer did the church at Ephesus witness with their lives that there is a source of love which can transform us into people who can love with a love that has no limits, loving all people in all places and all times. No, they instead they decided to place limits on their love, withholding love from all those they judged as being controlled by the evil they thought they knew so well. In that decision, the church at Ephesus forgot that they too had once been people who had been controlled by evil, in that time before they had experienced the unlimited love of Jesus. 

Now just as this church at Ephesus were called to find themselves in this story, I believe that all who read this revelation of John are to do the same. We must consider just what does this story say to us as the church in America?  We too must remember the love of Jesus who became the Lamb of God slain for us. We must allow this love to confront us and cause us to consider if we, like the church at Ephesus, have perhaps walked away from loving others with this greatest love? I believe that if we are honest, there are signs that do indicate that we have much in common with this church at Ephesus. I say this because it appears that the lost in America seem to know way more about all the behaviors that the church hates and they are so unaware of just how unlimited is this love with which the church is given to love others. How tragic it is that all some people know about the church is that it seems that the church hates people who aren’t like them, looking down on all those who don’t follow our ways of doing things. Somehow the church never seems to get around to just loving others without judgment as Jesus first has done for us. The problem is that there are simply too many who claim to be followers of Jesus who keep looking for ways to limit their love of others believing that all that is necessary is for us to just love the people who look like us and act like us. Yet if Jesus had used this same standard with us then none of us would have made the grade for none of us can claim to be without sin, as he is.

Now why it is so crucial for us as a church to return to loving others without limits is that unless we do so, Jesus warns us that we will be removed from the lamp stand. The reason why Jesus would do such a drastic measure is simply that the church at Ephesus, and all the churches who are like them, have stopped being what Jesus expects that they should be. When we think about the church being a light in a lamp stand , how can we not hear the words of Jesus found in the middle of the fifth chapter of Matthew, “ You, the church, are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and then hide that light under a basket. No, they take and place that light in a lamp stand so that it gives light to the whole house. In the same way let your light shine before others, so that they may see what is good and give glory to God.” You see, as we live in an evil world it is not enough for us to merely stand and curse the darkness, which is all that we do when we point out all the ways people no longer fear God. No, God expects that our life will witness to his goodness, this is how we demonstrate that he alone is worthy to receive all the glory, honor and praise. If we have experienced the goodness of God, if we have known of his great love for all of us, and we refuse to demonstrate this goodness to others then Jesus warns us that we will be like salt which has lost its flavor, no longer good for anything but to be thrown out into the street to be walked on. This is the dire future for all churches who follow in the footsteps of the church at Ephesus.

You see when we realize that God expects our lives to radiate with a holy difference called goodness, then what we see revealed in heaven begins to make sense. If we return to the opening of the seals which open up to us our certain future, when we come to the fifth of those seven seals being opened we see an unusual sight. John tells us that he sees that there under the altar are the souls of those who had offered up their life on account of the word of God and because of their witness before the world. Now clearly, the altar represents Jesus, the Lamb who gave himself as a once-for-all offering for us. When Jesus describes this act of love he says this greater love is a love which moves someone to set their life over another, covering another person’s life with their own life. This is what we see when the followers of Jesus are seen to be under the altar, an image of being covered by the very love of Jesus. These who are sheltered by the very presence of Jesus respond to this act of love by doing two things. The first is that they obey the word of God. I believe that in this instance that this refers to the word of judgment that Jesus teaches us when he says that we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness and that we are to be merciful to others as God is merciful to us. The righteousness we are to long for is a world where all people are found to be equally deserving of life. This speaks to the unlimited nature of the love of God. This love then, is seen living in us as we offer mercy. To those considered to be the least of these in an evil world, we are to offer them the life the world has no problem taking from them. And to those who oppose our efforts to offer life, those who refuse to have anything to do with loving others without limits, this mercy is offered to them by the forgiveness of their trespass against us. The reason why we choose to obey this teaching is solely because of  the mercy God has first shown to us. When we love like God just as he first loved us, then we witness to the goodness of God in a world held captive by evil, becoming a light the world so desperately needs. This is what Jesus expects from the church at Ephesus, and all churches like them. True wisdom is for the church to be a light for our dark world. Only as we shine can we be part of the future that is dawning before us.So as our Lamb has conquered, let us follow him. Amen! 

The Big Reveal: A Future Worth It All

 May 3 2026

Revelation 4:9-11, 5:10,

         One of the interesting aspects of getting older is that the value you place on things changes over time. I now value the simple joys of life over just filling my life with stuff. Jennifer has helped me to understand that what should be worth most to us are the little things do on a daily basis. So while it might seem odd to spend the money to remodel our bathroom to have a walk in shower, but it is worth it just to have a safe and comfortable experience every day. The same goes for why we decided to purchase a decent car in our later years. When you get to a certain age you no longer want to drive a car that’s twenty years old hoping that it won’t die before you get where you want to be. At our age, we would rather have something safe and reliable. So what determines just what something is worth to us depends on how much that this purchase will such give us what we value, things such as comfort and reliability.

         In much the same way, we must decide just what value or worth do we place on our relationship with God. This is a crucial point that confronts us as we tag along with John as he enters through the door to heaven. You see, that doorway  enters directly into the heavenly Temple where a great time of worship is witnessed by John. Yet before we get our bearings in this sanctuary we  are told, right here at the beginning of the fourth chapter, that our time of worship will be joined by some strange beings that John merely calls living creatures. These four beings recall the vision of Ezekiel as recorded in the first chapter of his book. There is a lot of speculation as to who or what these four beings are so for now we will have to allow them to be to us just an unsolved mystery. What we do know about these creatures is that they worship God continually crying out, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, who is and who is to come!’ As these creatures worship God, we are told that there are also twenty four elders who surround the throne of God in great worship of God. These elders go so far as to take the golden crowns, their heavenly reward, and they offer this to God, crying that he alone worthy to receive their treasures. Now it might come as a surprise to learn that this term, “worthy”, comes from the same root where we get the word, “axle”. You see, in ancient times the worth of something was done on a balance scales. This was is a simple arm that pivots upon an axle, looking much like a teeter-totter in a school yard. When weights are placed on either end of the beam, they are said to be equal when the arm is horizontal. So, when the worshippers cry out that God is worthy, they are implying that if God is on one end of the beam of the scales then for the scales to balance out we must place all of our glory and honor that we long to  receive from others, all of the power and influence that we believe we possess, on the other end of that beam. This is simply the worth or value that God is to be for us. So we might say that the value we place on God, what he is worth to us, ought to be the sum total of who we are. This is what we mean when we say that we, “Worship”, God.  What God is worth, the worth-ship of God, is that he alone is worth the glory we live for, and his is the only honor that we should seek, and he alone deserves to receive all we bring forth through our power and might. 

         Now, when we define worship as they do when they exalt God in heaven as we see here in the fourth chapter of Revelations, we naturally want to know the reason just why is God found to be of such a great worth? Why is it that we should be willing to give up all that this world seems to hold so dear, like fame, honor and wealth, and come and lay those worldly desires at the feet of God? Well, the reason we why God is to be worth everything to us is simply that we know that it is God who has created us. But this is not the entire reason because we are to also know that the very reason why we exist is that God desires us to live, and not just have life but to have a life with him.  This longing of God is the essence of his love for each person. You see, none of us are some kind of cosmic mistake that should not be here; no, the life of each person can be traced back to the heart of God where he had a desire for each person to experience life. And knowing that our life has sprung forth from of the love of God, it seems right that we would respond in love and then offer God our only possession which is the life he has given to us. 

         So, here in the fourth chapter, we remember the God who was there in the beginning, that God from the start is always to be found worthy of receiving glory, honor and power solely because created us and gave us life. This means that from that morning when Adam first had breath, the good and right response of all of humans is that we would find God worthy to receive the offering of ourselves.  So as God was indeed worthy of receiving all glory and honor from our life there in the beginning, so too he is worthy to receive these here in the present and unto all eternity.

Our worship of God then flows from the fact that God has given this gift of life to us and this is important for us to hold fast to this truth when we come to the fifth chapter of Revelations. As we enter this chapter we discover that there is a crisis that has developed in heaven because there has been found a scroll written on both sides, and this scroll is found to be unable to be opened because of seven seals or locks. So if we think about a roll of paper, we can understand that if there is writing on both sides of the paper then only what has been written on the outside layer of paper can be read. In order for the message on the inner layer of paper to be read requires that the roll of paper be unrolled and the paper be stretched out. In this way  the message hidden within the scroll can be read. So here in the heavenly court, the scroll, our roll of paper, is unable to be unrolled because there is, as it were, seven drops of glue along the edge of the paper. In order for the inside message to be read, then, we need to find a way to dissolve the glue. Now instead of glue preventing the scroll from being unwound, we are told that there are seven seals. These seals in ancient times were drops of wax on which a ring was pressed onto. This ring was property of the king and when he would send a message he would seal it with a wax seal that was imprinted with his distinctive image. Only those who were authorized by the king were allowed to open the message and read its contents. So this scroll is in fact a message sent by the king but alas there is no one, it seems, who is authorized to break those seals and open the scroll. What we are told is that the one who has the authority to break the seals is the one who is found to be worthy of this task. So here again, we hear the language of worship, the asking of who is worthy, only this time the reason we place value upon this one is that they alone are authorized to open the scroll and read the message. So we are left wondering, just who is this one who is able to open the scroll, and why has he been given the authority to do so? The answer is found in the fifth verse, where we hear about one called the Lion, who comes from the tribe of Judah, the very king who has sprung up from the dead stump of David’s legacy, this is the one has won the victory. This victory has given this one the authority to break the seals of the scroll. Once again, we are left wondering, just what victory has this king won that he now has been granted all authority? Well, as we continue to read, we find that between the Throne of the king and the four living creatures, there appears a lamb that has been slaughtered. This Lamb is found to have seven horns, which speaks to complete power, and it also had seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that go into all the earth. So the Lamb that has been slain is now to be known as being all seeing and all powerful. So we are to make the connection that because of the willingness of this Lamb to offer his life to do what his Father desired, the Father is now justified in declaring that this Lamb is indeed the king over all.

         Now when we witness this Lamb take hold of this scroll, we notice a subtle change in the worship of the elders and the four living creatures. There around the throne is heard the singing of a new song because obviously there is something new to sing about. You see, in addition to finding God worthy to receive all of our glory and honor that occurs through the power he has given to us, now we too can cry, “Worthy”, before the Lamb for he is the one who offered his life to do the desire of God. This is why he alone is able to break the seals and open the scroll. The Lamb has authority because he has won the victory, and the victory is that he was slain, his blood poured out, his life offered up for us.  Through the price of his own precious blood, now people from every tribe, tongue and nation are ransomed from their slavery to sin. And this Lamb has not only secured freedom for all people but he also has taken these former slaves and through his power he has made them be his kings and his priests. These are the ones who will reign with him on the earth forever. 

So what the Lamb has done through his opening up the scroll is that he has opened up our future. You see, before Jesus offered up his life upon the cross in this great act of love, focusing on the future only caused doubt and despair to spring up in a person’s heart. There simply was nothing certain on which one could anchor their hope. Yes, throughout the Old Testament there are glimmers of a life in eternity yet much of what is written is only speculation. The future remained on the other side of the scroll, tightly sealed until Jesus came and offered his life in order that we all might have a life safely anchored in eternity. This is why Jesus, the Lamb who is slain, is worthy of all that we are because he is why we now have life, a life which death cannot defeat.

         So our worship of God is grounded in the fact that God alone is our source of life. We exist solely because God created us and gave us life, and therefore God alone is worthy of all that our life produces. Yet this is not all, for God goes further and through Jesus, his Son, God has ransomed us from our slavery to death and the fear of death, giving us a life eternal through his mercy, therefore God alone is worthy of the offering of our life. Jesus who is human just like us, witnessed there upon the cross that when we offer our life through acts of mercy we  witness that eternal life lives within us. Jesus, as the sinless, innocent Lamb, united himself forever with those whose lives have been damaged and destroyed by the evil generation of this world. Through this act, Jesus proved that God is indeed found there among the broken and crushed of this world, seeking them out in order to give them life. Yet the same love that caused Jesus to be united with all the poor and powerless is, in the same breath, the love which cries, “Father, forgive them”, to all those who seek to take the life of the least of these. In either case, the love of God is seen offering life. Yet this should not be something new or unusual for as Jesus teaches us at the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew, our Heavenly Father makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, just as he sends the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. Through this steadfast, faithful love of God, which gives us life, our fear is cast out, faith rushes in to take its place, a faith that empowers us to overcome the world. This is why God alone is worthy of everything, for he alone gives us a life which is victorious.

         So at last the scroll is opened here in the sixth chapter of the book of Revelation. Now in each of the three divisions of this book we find that there are seven objects that are the focus of what is happening. In each of these seven, the first four of these seven describe the whole of the situation being addressed. Then in the fifth, sixth and seventh parts, God addresses how he will deal with all that is revealed in the first four statements. So when the first four seals are opened we first hear of one who comes riding on a white horse, the one who is crowned as king who goes forth conquering and to conquer. This is obviously a depiction of Jesus, the risen one who has conquered death. Now just because Jesus has conquered what we find is that the world has not automatically become a paradise, far from it. No, when the second seal is opened we hear that a rider has come forth on a red horse and this one is taking all of the peace from the earth. Well, we may at first be alarmed but then we should remember that Jesus himself teaches us in the tenth chapter of Matthew, that he did not come to bring peace but instead a sword. As Jesus say in the third chapter of John, he has brought light into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does wickedness hates the light, and this is the very source of much of the unrest in our world today.

         Well, when the third seal is broken we hear of yet another rider who is on a black horse this time. This rider represents the buying and selling of trade, the endless pursuit of worldly riches. And again, this is no surprise because in the seventeenth chapter of Luke, Jesus tells us that just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, and drinking, they were buying and selling, they were planting and building, but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, fire and suffer rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Jesus continues, “ This is how it will be when the Son of Man is revealed”. So even though Jesus is proven to be the Son of Man nonetheless this means nothing to those caught up in the trappings of this world.

         The fourth seal is then opened and this horse is often called the Pale rider but the original wording the horse is green. Talk about a horse of a different color! Well, the rider upon this horse is Death and wherever he rides, hell follows him. So we do see people dying by the sword, famine, disease, and wild beasts. This is just an apt description of what we witness on any given day. So as we pause to consider just what the situation is that is described in these four acts, we conclude that yes, Jesus has conquered death and the grave, and he continues to conquer the death of those who believe in him. Yet the world seems to go on as if nothing has happened. The light has dawned and the only reaction by the world is hatred because the light exposes the truth of the evil we live in. The world continues to buy and sell as if they have no clue the day of judgment gets closer every day. And death still at work turning the paradise of creation into yet another hellscape. So we are left wondering, just what is God’s answer to us as we live in these in between times? The answer we are given is found when the fifth seal is broken. We are told that under the altar are found the souls of those who had been slain on account of the word of God and for the witness they possessed. These are the ones who desperately want to know, just how long will it be until God acts and judgment comes? The only answer they are given is that they are clothed in garments of white and are told to rest until the full number of witness at last is reached.  God’s answer for our times, is that we be one of those who find him worthy of their witness. We are to everyday find God worthy of our life, by offering mercy, which is giving life to the least of these, and forgiveness to those oppose such efforts. This is how we live under the altar, by carrying our cross day by day,  to the glory God! Amen!