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Well, this experiment at outlawing alcohol failed miserably for it lasted only thirteen years before it was officially repealed in nineteen-thirty three.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!
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