The Big Reveal: Working While We Wait

 August 16 2026

Revelation 21:1-8, 15-17, 22-26 22:1-5

         One of the many things that pops up on my Facebook feed is called the Babylon Bee. The posts they put forth are a tongue-in-cheek look at our world today. So while they may look like a legitimate news feed, the fact is that they are just poking fun at the world we live in with all of its weirdness. And they also come at life through a Christian lens which is humorous as well. A while back they posted that a new Bible was being published for progressive Christians. What made this Bible unique was that it had perforated pages which made it easy for the reader to tear any pages out of their Bible that they didn’t agree with.So, yes, totally not true but, also yes, rather funny because many progressive Christian’s don’t agree with all that they find written in the Bible. So why not make it easy for them to rid themselves of all those pesky verses which trouble them? 

         Well, as I finish up this series on the book of Revelation, I am glad that my Bible did not have perforated pages because I may have been tempted to tear out more than a few pages. I mean, in Revelation I encountered a lamb, and dragons and beasts and terrifying grasshoppers, the list just goes on. So as I made my way through this very profound and dense book of the Bible, I had to take it slow because the meaning of what was written was not always very obvious. More than ever, I had to pray my way through the pages of what was written, hoping that God would shed some light on what I was reading. And then when God did provide the insight I needed, I then had to figure put how to write what I was given so that all those listening didn’t get lost as I explained it. 

Now in case you lost count, we have been walking through the book of Revelation for the past seventeen weeks, which is a third of the Sundays in the year. With this message, that adds up to close to fifty-one thousand words spoken to you all about the book of Revelation. So, yes, a much bigger project than I had anticipated when I decided to take a quick look at the last book of the Bible. You can at least understand why I am glad that a Bible with perforated pages doesn’t actually exist.

         Well, as we come to the last chapters of the book of Revelation, for most people what is written here is what they are really longing to hear. At last we hear the great news that the new heaven and the new earth have finally arrived. The first heaven and the first earth have been taken away and something brand new has taken their place. Now what makes the new heaven and the new earth new and improved is that they are now united together.This is is much more evident in the description that the writer of Hebrews gives to us as we hear in the twelfth chapter of his book. There we read that, “…we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to a vast multitude of angels, to a festival celebration, and to the church, the firstborn whose names are inscribed in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous ones who have been perfected, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant….”. Here at last, God’s intentions have become the new reality for us to live in. This is also what a loud voice proclaims from the throne in heaven, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with humanity and he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be their God.” This is what God has desired from the very first moment of creation, that he might be united with his image-bearers forever. What caused heaven and earth to be separated was that we rebelled against God, and through our rebellion, sin and death entered into God’s good creation. But here at last, through the blood of the Lamb slain for us, sin and death are a thing of the past. Listen again to what the loud voice shouts from the throne of God, “…God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more for the former things have been taken away. And the one seated on the throne said, “Behold I have made all things new”. This new reality is marked by a new relationship between God and his people, as we also hear proclaimed there in the new heaven and the new earth, “ The one who thirsts will be given freely to drink freely from the springs of living water, this is what those who conquer will inherit and I will be his God and they will be like sons to me.” So God will not just be our God but he will be known as our Father who gives to us, those he sees as his sons, an inheritance of eternal life.

         Now, I imagine there are those who may wonder, if this is where we are planning to end up as those who inherit eternal life, then why did John need to write all that he did, in all those many pages after we read about the Lamb being slain? I mean for most of us, we probably just believe that if we confess that the Lamb, this one called Jesus, shed his blood for me, then I stand to inherit eternal life, the life we find here at the end of Revelation. Yes, we studied all the many chapters of Revelation but why did John believe that we needed to read what he had written down throughout this book? The answer to this important question is found at the beginning of the seventeenth chapter of the gospel of John. There we find Jesus praying with his disciples before going to the Garden of Gethsemane. And while it may not be obvious to us, I believe that what Jesus is praying in his final moments in the Upper Room is an extended version of the beginning of the prayer that he taught to his disciples, what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. As Jesus prays, he is heard to say that his Heavenly Father has given him the authority over all flesh in order to give eternal life to all those you have given to him. Jesus continues, saying, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” What Jesus says here sounds a little odd to us who define eternal life as being the life we live in heaven, doesn’t it? Yet, what Jesus is saying is that eternal life is about a relationship between us and God and the one he sent, Jesus Christ. This is similar to what we heard proclaimed from the throne in the book of Revelation. Now the way that we come to know God is as Jesus says in his prayer, “I have made your name known to those you gave to me out of the world.” If we remember the first lines of the Lord’s Prayer, we recall that we pray, “Our Father, your name be holy…” So what Jesus reveals to his disciples and us is that the name of our Heavenly Father is holy. This means that his unchangeable character is only and always, holy. So if eternal life is that we know God, the Father and Jesus Christ the one he sent, then this means that we know our Heavenly Father and Jesus as being holy. So eternal life can be said to be that we have experienced God and now know the holiness of God. 

         Now the reason why I believe that we must understand that our eternal life depends on us having a personal knowledge of the holiness of God is that Jesus teaches us something rather disturbing in the seventh chapter of Matthew. There Jesus teaches us, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven for the kingdom of heaven is for those who do the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, and in your name we also cast out demons and in your name we did many powerful works! And then I will say to these, “I never knew you, go away from me for you do works of lawlessness.” If ever there were a page that we would want to rip from our Bibles, it would probably be this one! Yet what Jesus wants us to understand is that we come to know him and the holiness of his character only by doing the will of our Heavenly Father. This is the focus of the Lord’s Prayer. We pray, “Our Father, your name be holy, your will be done, your kingdom come…” The way that we come to know that our Father is holy is only by doing the holy work that he desires that we do. And when we do the holy work of our Heavenly Father then, as Jesus tells us, we come to know that Jesus also is holy. So when we  know that God and Jesus Christ are holy through doing the holy work he has for us, this is eternal life. This is what Jesus wants us to understand through this tough teaching, that to know God and to know Jesus only happens when we do the will of our Heavenly Father.

         When I state that we have to do something more than just say a prayer in order to enter into eternal life, I realize that this might surprise many who follow Jesus today. Yet it seems that we must take seriously the prayer that came forth from the mouth of Jesus himself. We must heed the warning that he gives to us and take seriously his admonition to do the will of our Father so that we never have to hear Jesus say to us, “ I don’t know who you are.” And through studying the book of Revelation, I believe that this was the concern for John as well. From the moment that we hear about the Lamb being the only one worthy to open the scroll, to open up to us our future, until that future arrives, what we are taught is how we are to do the will of our Father. Through the doing of what he requires, we learn what it means when we say that the unchanging character of our God is that he is holy. We understand holy through doing what our holy God requires of us, so that eventually, can say that we are holy. And when we know holy because we are holy this is when we are certain of our eternal life that is written about here at the end of the book of Revelation. 

         What proved to be a great help in understanding the book of Revelation is discovering that this complicated book is divided into three sections. These three sections are marked off by the three sections that were once found in the Jewish Temple that was built in the center of Jerusalem. Just as in the Temple, there in heaven John records that there was the altar upon which the sacrifices were offered. There John also records that in heaven there was the Holy Sanctuary just as once was found in the earthly Temple. And in todays reading we read of how John was given the task of measuring the city with a golden measuring rod. As we find out in the sixteenth verse of the twenty-first chapter, the city was laid out as a square it length being the same as its width. John also discovers that the height of the city was exactly the same in measurement as the length and its width. Now if we had no knowledge of the Temple that once stood in Jerusalem we might think this is a bunch of useless knowledge. But when we know that within the Temple was a sacred room whose length and width and height were all the same measurement, then we should know that here is the final room fashioned after the one once found in the earthly Temple. This sacred room was known as the Holy of Holies and it was so sacred that it could only be entered into on one day, the day when the sins of the people were dealt with so that God and his people could be reunited once more. So it makes sense that the final image is one where all people will dwell with God in a place that can also be called the Holy of Holies for here is found holy people who are united at last with the holy God for they know him as holy through doing his will. 

         So what John has been teaching throughout the book of Revelation is how the people of God continue doing the will of their Heavenly Father until they at last know him as holy and are known by him as being holy themselves. The good news is that doing the will of God is is just responding to what God has already done for us. You see, those same three sections of the book of Revelation corresponds to the love God gives to us as we see in the latter part of the Lord’s Prayer. We pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we are forgive our trespasses. And lead us not into hard testing and deliver us from evil.”  First, we called to remember how God has forgiven of our sins. In the fifteenth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus teaches us this, “Greater love has no one than this, that a person lays down his life for the ones that they love.” In order for us to be forgiven, Jesus had to lay down his life for us. What we pray here is that the forgiveness that Jesus has offered us through the laying down his life will move us to forgive those who have owe us a debt that our life demands be paid. Then, the way we learn to love each other as Jesus first loved us is that we allow Jesus to lead us on the narrow way which leads to life. This is the way of life where we seek only the honor of our heavenly Father.  Through seeking his honor alone we are set free from the power of sin so that we can at last love others just as Jesus first loved us. As we learned in our travels through the book of Revelation, the manner in which of our Heavenly Father loves us is that he blesses us. We learned that God blesses us through his belief that we are able to share in his authority and power. We learn of how our Father keeps our life safe through his perfect love and how his face shines as he smiles on us. Our Father graciously opens up his life and he serves us, suffers with us and he sacrifices for us all so that we might be at peace with our Heavenly Father, no longer estranged from him. When we follow his lead, and prove ourselves to be peacemakers then we no longer face the hard testing that will one day come upon the earth. So it follows that that we know that the love of God will deliver us from the evil of this world. You see, when we know ourselves to be the very children of our Heavenly Father, our hope is that one day we will at last be at home with him in the new Jerusalem. This is the very ground of our faith. Yet, this also means that as a child of God we will accept the discipline of our Heavenly Father so that we will at last share in his holiness, his other worldly way of life marked by a love without limits. All of this is what we found when making our way through the book of Revelation.

         Now what John expects the people who made up the seven churches in his care to do was to compare their life together with the way of life that Jesus calls us to live as found in the prayer that he teaches us. And as we found, the church at Ephesus stopped loving others with the greater love given to us by Jesus. They thought that it was enough for them to point out the evil every one else was doing but then doing nothing to overcome the evil they experienced by doing the good that comes through the loving of others. As we read of each churches story, we learned that the issue Jesus had with the churches is that he was upset that they had not responded in a right way to the love that they had been given to them by God. Through their fear of suffering or their blatant compromise with the world, these churches simply had forgotten that God expected his will to be done, no matter what. Only by doing his will could the people of God come to know the God who called them his own. And only as the people of God loved others as he had first loved them could they really say that they knew the God who is, who was and who will always be love. So as we wait to be taken home or for Jesus to return, we must be working while we wait, working at loving others just as God has first loved us, for this is the will of God. Such is the message of the book of Revelation. To God be the glory! Amen!

The Big Reveal: All for Jesus

 August 9 2026

Revelation 3:14-22, 19:1-10

         One of the undeniable truths about our current culture we live in is that compromise is seen to be an important part of our life together. We are often told that we have to give a little in order to get a little. The problem is that compromise becomes such away of life that we stop considering just what we are giving up to get the little that we are given. A good story that illustrates this point is one about a father who had two teenage boys. The father had told his boys that they were not allowed to go to any R-rated movies until they were an adult. So he was a little surprised when one day his boys came to him and pleaded with him to see a certain R-rated movie because all of their friends had seen this movie and they felt like  oddballs for never seeing it. They made their case to their Dad, telling him that this movie wasn’t all that bad. From what their friends had told them, this movie only had a little swearing in it, and it only had a little blood and gore, and yes, just a little bit of drug use. So, nothing too bad. Well, the father told them that he would think on it and let them know the next day when they got home from school. Well, the next day when the boys arrived home from school, the whole house was filled with the warm, sweet, aroma of chocolate brownies which had just been taken out of the oven. They rushed to the kitchen where their father was just slicing the pan of brownies into nice big, pieces. The boys mouths watered as they thought about devouring those delicious treats. As they began to scoop the brownies from the pan, though, their father interrupted them. He said, that oh, yes, these brownies were made from the very best ingredients, but there was only one thing that they had to know about these brownies. The boys stopped dead in their tracks. Just what was it that was so important about these brownies that their father had stopped them? Well, their Dad continued, when he mixed up the brownies he added just a little bit of dog poop. It was just a little bit, just as the movie has just a little bit of swearing, a little bit if gore and a little bit of drug use. The father’s point was quickly made as it only takes a little bit of something awful to ruin the whole batch.

         I thought of this story as I read about the review Jesus gave to the last of the seven churches that John was writing to in the book of Revelation. The name of the place where this church was found is Laodicea. Jesus tells us that this church had the same effect on him that a batch of brownies with a little dog poop added to them has on us, it made him sick to his stomach. And the reason why Jesus felt this way was caused by the same reason why the brownies were so gut wrenching, and that was that it only takes a little compromise to ruin a good thing. The church at Laodicea thought they could just be a little more like the world and that little bit of compromise would not matter all that much. How very wrong their thinking was, as we find out when Jesus decided to evaluate just how they are doing at being his church.

         Jesus begins his review of his church at Laodicea by letting them know that he is the Amen, the faithful and the true witness. Jesus is here using three different terms that all convey essentially the same idea, that Jesus is uncompromisingly the truth. There is absolutely nothing false to be found with him. We are to be wise enough to see the contrast between who Jesus is and who the church at Laodicea actually is, one pure and holy and one terribly compromised. Jesus also states that he is the beginning or the first of all creation, the human prototype to which all humanity is to be conformed to his likeness. Well, Jesus goes on to tell this church at Laodicea that he is well aware of the works that they are doing. Their works Jesus states, are neither cold nor hot. Jesus would have preferred that their works be hot or that their works be cold but what he cannot stand is that they have become mixed together so that they are now a vomit worthy lukewarm mess. Ouch! To understand what Jesus is getting at in his illustration of a stream of hot water and a stream of cold water becoming mixed together, is compromise. In the Jewish way of thinking, compromise is known concretely when a stream of hot water is combined with a stream of cold water. The result, as is the case in most compromises, is a meeting in the middle, a lukewarm stream which as Jesus states is neither hot nor cold. All that is to be found is a lukewarm glass of water, good for very little, or as Jesus puts it, only fit to be thrown up or thrown out.

         You see, why Jesus is being so dramatic over a lukewarm class of water, is that he is speaking about the church’s compromise with the world. The hot, passionate love of God found in the church gets lost when the church brings into its life, the cold, calculating cruel judgment of the world. The result is a new entity which cannot be said to be truly the church not can it be said be the world either. No, all that is left is a confused, muddled mess that no longer witnesses that it belongs in either category. This is perhaps why this church at Laodicea has the distinction that unlike all of the rest of the churches that Jesus reviews, there is absolutely nothing good to be found in any of its members. The whole church can be said to be compromised.

         Now as we ponder just why this church has ended up being in such a state, Jesus quickly answers us. He states that the church says that they have prospered and they stand in need of nothing. Can you hear the pride that stands behind such a statement? This is the pride that is a hallmark of the world’s way of living, the pride that is found in the power of the people of the world. Through their power the people of this world seize ahold of whatever they desire and claim for themselves whatever it is that catches their eye. Then they go about bragging about their ability to satisfy their never ending appetites.So we should be shocked to hear the same story coming from those who insist that they no longer listen to the wisdom of the world but instead claim to listen only to Jesus.

         Well, even though this church takes great pride in their plenty, Jesus is not impressed, quite the contrary. Jesus, the truthful one, states that the truth about this church is that are actually, afflicted enduring significant hardship. They are people who are pitiful, desperate people who stand in great need of mercy. They are beggars who are deeply, destitute. They are blind, those living in terrible darkness. And they are naked, unclothed, totally exposed. Now, we need to sit for a moment with how Jesus understands those who brag about how they have prospered, those who flaunt their riches stating that they need nothing for they have everything. It becomes quickly apparent that we buy into their assessment of their life, don’t we? But Jesus, the truthful one is aware of their situation and how awful their their life actually is, even if we might think otherwise. Rather than desiring to be like those who seem to have all they could ever want, we should instead, feel sorry that such people have ended up in such a terrible state, at least according to Jesus.

         What makes such a life so wrong is that such a miserable, wretched, life is found to be lived by those who say they are the church. Yes, we can expect those who live by the wisdom of the world to be living such a awful life, but why is this life to be found among those who confess to belong to Jesus? The answer is perhaps found in the rather odd term Jesus uses for the church goers of Laodicea, where he tells them that rather than being seen in all their Sunday best, they are instead quite naked when he gives them a look over. This is where what is written in the later chapters of the book of Revelation proves quite helpful. In the nineteenth chapter we hear that God has brought his judgment against those who have corrupted the earth with their immorality. The source of this corruption is found to be coming from the great prostitute, the name used for the city called Babylon. As we learned last week, Babylon is the place where all those enslaved by their desires are gathered. Those who allow their desires to take hold of them find themselves trapped by those desires. Then these same desires drag a person away from God so that they live a life opposed to God, bound to sin. In the end, their sin results in death.  When we understand the evil that results from those who live to fulfill their desires and chase after whatever catches their eyes, we can then know that God must rid the world of such a life. All the people who live such a life are collectively found in the city that is called Babylon in the book of Revelation. Not only has such people corrupted the earth with their evil ways but it is these who are the ones who persecute the all those who serve God. So at last, God will rid the world of this source of all suffering, and those who serve God will rejoice. Now will be the time when we are told that the Lamb will marry his bride. To our modern ears, this is rather an odd statement, but what this is saying is that Jesus, and those who are his church, those who worship and serve him, will at last be united forever. The church is compared to a bride who prepares herself to be married. Since my daughter is soon to be married, I know just what a big deal it is to pull this off. She had to make many decisions, one of which was just what would she wear, to find just the perfect dress that makes her look radiant to her fiancé on her wedding day. So it makes sense that if we understand the church as being in a way, like the bride for Jesus, then she too must be dressed in that which brings her glory. The fine white wedding dress for the church is as John record, all of the righteous actions of the holy ones of God.

         So when we are told that the church at Laodicea is found to be naked by Jesus when he reviews the works she has done, we can conclude that she has no righteous actions to cover her when she stands before Jesus. Instead of working at bringing the justice of God to bear upon the world, this church has used her energy in stockpiling worldly wealth, becoming satisfied in their fulfilled appetites while those hungry and hurting souls crying out in pain go unnoticed. Now it wasn’t like this church simply did not know the righteousness that we are to do, far from it. You see, those who serve Jesus know that he is the righteous judge, the one whose very life will be what will judge our life in the end. So as Jesus is righteous, we too are to follow his lead so that our actions imitate his actions. Just as we hear in the thirteenth chapter of John, as Jesus loves us, so too we must love one another. The way Jesus loves us is that he has blessed us, believing that all of us are able to become like him, those worthy to inherit the world. Yet what this requires is that we learn from him his way of living. We need to know that to be children of God means that we must be peacemakers, this is the ultimate goal of the blessing of God. This requires us to love others as God loves, providing for friend and foe alike. We must live for his glory alone never worrying about what others might think of us. We are to be gracious to others offering mercy to all just as God has always been merciful to us. We are to be willing to serve others, suffering with those who suffer and sacrificing for them if necessary. This then is the way God expects us to go about making peace with those around us, opening up our lives so that strangers might become friends, no longer there being us and them but instead, just us. You see, bringing people together in the name of God makes his name holy.

         So when we remember how God’s justice is found through people who bless others, then we are right to wonder just where did the church at Laodicea lose their way? Jesus gets to the core of their problem when he pleads to this church to heed the counsel that he offers them. He first, tells them to purchase from him gold refined by fire. In these words of Jesus we hear echoes of what is written in the third chapter of Malachi. There we hear that God is the one who purifies his servants just as one refines silver or gold. Only as they are servants who are purified can they present offerings to God that are righteous. What Jesus seems to be telling this church at Laodicea is that the worldly wealth symbolized by gold, has made them impure, unfit to serve a holy God. They needed to trade the impure riches of this world for the riches which matter, pure and righteous actions which will cover them so that they will no longer be ashamed when they stand before Jesus. When they figure out what really matters is not temporary riches but eternal glory, then they will begin to see, no longer blind, unable to discern what is truly important.

         The reason why Jesus is being so harsh with this church is that he loves them as a brother who desires all of us to belong to his family.  This is why he has gone to great lengths to tell them how wrong their behavior is, and to discipline them. Now when we hear this word, “discipline”, many of us get a little uneasy, don’t we, because this is a word often associated with punishment like when we did something wrong. And while it is true that punishment is often a part of discipline, the truth is that discipline is simply the way we become people of integrity. Punishment is merely used to keep us us from being someone that we are not supposed to be. In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, the authors writes that as children of God we are to know that the discipline of the Lord is not a minor aspect of our life. No, when the Lord disciplines us we should remember that he corrects those he loves, and he sometimes he even gets tough with us just because we are his children. The writer of Hebrews explains that the reason why God disciplines us is so that we might share in his holiness. Yes, God’s discipline is not always pleasant but in time it will produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness. This is why Jesus is being harsh with this church at Laodicea so that they will be dressed with righteousness when the time comes to stand before Jesus.

         Now the seriousness of what Jesus is telling this church is found in what Jesus tells them next. Jesus says to them, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If someone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and be with them, so that we might eat together.” Here again, is another verse that has been terribly taken out of context so that people believe that Jesus is knocking on the door to our hearts, so that we should allow him into our lives. Yet this is missing the point entirely. What Jesus is saying to this church at Laodicea is that while they are eating at his table, presuming that Jesus is with them in this time of communion, the truth is that he is not there. No, Jesus, far from being present with them as they eat the bread and drink the cup, is standing outside the door to the church. What Jesus is waiting for is for his church to recognize his voice from among the many voices they are listening to. Then when the church at last hears his voice, they are to allow Jesus to once again be apart of their life, no longer living life without him. In other words, when they are ready to be the church, ready to get busy blessing others instead of stockpiling worldly riches, then he is more than ready to join them. What they have to decide is if they will once again heed his voice, listening only to him, and having nothing to do with the wisdom of the world. The question that remains for us is this: Are we listening to the voice of Jesus? Can we hear him above the call of the world? And when we hear his voice, will we let him in and commune with him? May we accept the discipline of Jesus so that we might share in his holiness, for without holiness we will not see the Lord! Amen!

         

 

The Big Reveal: Worth the Wait

 August 2 2026

Revelation 14:1-13, 15:1-6,18:1-10

         Well it won’t be long until all of my brothers and sisters will be gathered together for my daughter, Sarah’s wedding. My oldest sister, Hilary, and her husband Paul, will be the first to arrive as she is going to say with us for a week before the festivities. Hilary is, one might say, the free spirit of our family. She got her degree in Art, and then headed out to California where she found work in an art gallery. The art gallery she worked for eventually opened up a new gallery in New York, so she and Paul moved to the SoHo district for a while. Then they moved back to San Francisco where they still live, While Hilary and Paul lived in SoHo, Jennifer and I went to visit them. Now for a country boy like myself saying that New York City was overwhelming is an understatement. There simply no way to describe the vast number of people all on the move, and the constant noise, and the continual hustle and bustle that never seemed to cease. Hilary and Paul had a tiny little apartment that was somewhat suffocating. So I was glad when they offered to take us up on the roof top of their apartment building. As we stood there on that rooftop and looked out upon the city, all that could be seen for miles in every direction was row upon row of buildings with the skyscrapers way off on the horizon. It was so unbelievable to imagine all the people who lived there. Needless to say, I was quite happy when the time came to leave. 

         What brought this memory to mind is that in this week’s scripture verse, we hear mention of Mount Zion. This may not seem like much but in the New Testament the ultimate goal for the people of God is depicted as being a city, the new Jerusalem which sits upon a hill named Mount Zion. For me who does not think favorably about city life, this is rather a disappointing image. I mean, yes, eternal life is a great hope but why, we must wonder does this life have to be described as living in a city? 

         Well, as it turns out, this image of our eternal dwelling being the city of New Jerusalem, is not only found here in the book of Revelation but in other places in the New Testament, especially in the book of Hebrews. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is known as being where we can find one of the clearest descriptions of faith. There in the very first verse, faith is described as being the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Well what is not yet clear, the thing that is hoped for is in fact an eternal life lived in the New Jerusalem. This becomes clear to us when the author of Hebrews writes about the faith of Abraham. In the eighth verse, we are told that Abraham obeyed God when God called Abraham to go to the place Abraham would receive as an inheritance from God. Abraham set out not knowing where he was going, how’s that for faith? By faith, Abraham migrated to the land God promised to him, a foreign land where Abraham and his family, lived in tents. Abraham’s child Issac and his grandchild, Jacob also lived in tents in that land as they inherited what God had promised to Abraham. The author of Hebrews then tells us the reason why Abraham and his family were content to live in tents is that they were waiting for the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Now, if we move to the thirteenth verse, the writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham and his family died in faith because they never received fulfillment of what God had promised to them. Instead, they saw the fulfillment of these promises from a distance and they welcomed their arrival. This is why they spoke of themselves as being strangers and exiles while living in the land because they knew this was not their permanent home. They spoke of themselves like this because they were looking for a land of their own, a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, for they never stopped believing that God prepared a city for them to one day dwell in.

         So when we read in the book of Revelation about Mount Zion, we are to know that here is where the city is located that God has prepared for all of his people. It is this city that is the very focus of our faith. The image of a city has perhaps been chosen so that we might know that in the age to come our life will be lived together with all of the rest of the people of God. This city will be a holy city because there will only be us, citizens of the heavenly city. This is the way Paul states that we are to understand ourselves. In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul writes that we should no longer have our minds set on earthly things but instead we are to know that our citizenship exists in heaven, this is where we are to know we are from. So, Paul, explains, we wait for the arrival of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly bodies into the likeness of his glorious body, bodies worthy to live in our glorious home.

         Now if you listened closely to what is said about our life in the heavenly city, the emphasis is on waiting. This is a very important aspect of knowing that our final destination is the New Jerusalem found on Mt. Zion. I don’t believe that it is an accident that after we read in the book of Revelation about a time of great suffering that is coming upon the people of God, as we find in the thirteenth chapter, that John turns to speak about Mount Zion. John is helping those listening to his story to focus not on the hardships but to instead turn their attention to their hope in heaven. I’m sure that when people hear that in times of great trial we, as God’s people, are to be at rest, to find contentment through the strength we have through Christ, most people find such an idea rather unbelievable. Yet what makes such rest a real possibility for us is that our hope is knowing that we are citizens of a heavenly city. As the writer of Hebrews tells us at the end of the sixth chapter, our hope is an anchor for our life, both sure and steadfast. So it makes sense that our faith is tied directly to our hope. Going back to the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we remember that there it tells us that faith is the assurance things hoped for. Yet if we look at the original Greek, what is actually written is that faith exists through standing under what we hope for or expect. The imagery we find here is that our hope in a heavenly city acts as a shelter over us so that we can stand confidently in faith. This is the reason why we can find rest and find contentment no matter what our circumstances because  our confidence is found in the unchangeable nature of our hope, the firm reality of our heavenly home.

         So as we rest we aren’t just doing nothing, far from it. No as we rest we are actively awaiting for this promise of a permanent home to become a present reality. Now if ever there were a universal dislike it would probably be that we all hate to wait. We can’t imagine living without our microwave or our instant mash potatoes. When we order online we want it delivered the next day. So scriptures insistence that we have to wait patiently for our joyous homecoming makes us all a little uneasy. Yet this waiting is an important part of our salvation. We discover this important aspect of waiting when the writer of Hebrews describes the faith of Moses. In the twenty-fourth verse of the eleventh chapter, we are told that it was by faith that Moses, when he became a grown man, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. If you recall, the mother of Moses had placed her baby, Moses, in a basket and and sent him floating down the Nile so that he would not be killed. Moses was found by the daughter of Pharaoh who brought the mother of Moses to the royal palace to be his nurse. So Moses was raised as an heir to the throne but when he became an adult he made a choice to suffer hardship along with the people of God instead of enjoying the temporary pleasures of sin. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Moses considered abuse for the sake of Christ to be a greater wealth than all of the treasures of Egypt.because he was looking ahead to his reward. This testimony of Moses is to cause us to ask ourselves, this question: do we consider suffering for Christ to be of greater value than the temporary riches that we might possess right now? Or to put it another way, are we indeed like Moses, able to turn our back on the pleasures of today and instead wait for the imperishable treasure that is found in our heavenly home?

         As I pondered how to make sense of this choice between demanding pleasure now versus waiting for an eternity filled with joy, I thought of the times we would take our family to Texas Roadhouse. Now if you have ever ate there you know that as you wait for the waitress to bring your order they give you all the warm rolls and honey butter you can eat. My son, Matt, would naturally see such an offer as a challenge and proceed to eat so many rolls smeared with butter that when his steak arrived he found that he was no longer hungry for the sizzling, delicious steak set before him. This is much the way it is for us as we wait for to enter our heavenly home, the New Jerusalem built on Mount Zion. If we begin to seek to ease our hunger for pleasure by indulging in all the temporary delights we desire, then we will find that we will have no desire for the greater and more permanent joy that is eternal. Even worse, what will happen when we keep indulging our every desire is that we will become addicted to those desires.  This is what James tells us in the first chapter of his letter, that it is our desires that drag us away from God so that we become trapped by them. We end up no longer free but instead we find ourselves enslaved by our own desires.

         Now it should come as no surprise that those who are addicted to their own desires and pleasure have a city where they belong. John writes of this city beginning with the eighth verse of the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. There we hear an angel proclaim that the city named Babylon has fallen. It is Babylon which has made all the nations drink of her wine, the wine of passionate immorality. Babylon is the true home for all those who have been caught and enslaved by their own desires.Now it should come as no surprise that this city Babylon is closely associated with the all powerful ruler and his followers that we learned about last week because the ultimate purpose of power is to be able to take pride in the fact that one can possess whatever their desire craves. This is the reason John states that Babylon has dominion over all the kings of earth because those in power are actually slaves to their base desires which drives their ambition.

         When we understand Babylon as being the collective of all those addicted to their base pleasures, then we know that the sin that comes forth from those who live there is very great. Going back to the first chapter of James, we hear James explain that when when a person’s desires enslave them then those desires take hold of them and the result is sin, a life that goes against the goodness of God. And when sin comes to its ultimate end, the result is death. This is the reason why our righteous God must eventually destroy the great city called Babylon, this collection of souls dominated by their desires. Those who seek the pleasures of the moment, fulfilling all of their desires no matter the cost, indulging their every fantasy having not a care for all those who suffer on account of their indulgence, all these will most assuredly come under the judgement of God. You see, when people are driven by their desires they have no trouble trampling under their feet those who stand between them and their pleasure. They have no problem taking more than their fair share so that others do not have enough. They have no trouble using and abusing people also that they can obtain their endless pursuit of worldly wealth. So it is only right that God must put an end to this city which represents those who destroy innocent lives in order to chase after their never satisfied appetites.

         The story of Babylon in the book of Revelation is to serve as a warning to those who read of this city’s downfall. When the suffering that Christ calls us to endure becomes too difficult, the temptation will be to seek some worldly pleasure which may offer us some relief. Yet we must never forget that indulging our desires is always dangerous. There is a certainty that we will become addicted to our desires if we keep chasing after the things of this world. Yet all is not lost because we have a God given gift which helps us to keep on waiting for the best life that is to come. Going back to the example of eating at Texas Roadhouse, imagine that while you waited for your steak to arrive the waiter would bring to your table a sample of that delicious steak that you are waiting for. In that little morsel you could taste that mouth-watering savory goodness that will be on your table before you know it. So when the rolls are passed around you refuse to indulge in eating those because what you are now hungering for is more of that steak which you have just had a taste of. Well, in much the same way, we are told at the beginning of the sixth chapter of Hebrews, that it is possible for us to have a taste of the goodness and power of the age to come. This is what Jesus speaks of in the twenty-second chapter of Luke, when he states that the bread we eat and the cup we drink when we partake of the Lord’s supper will one day find their fulfillment when the kingdom of God comes at last. Perhaps this is why we only take but a morsel of bread and a small cup of juice when we come to his table because what we partake of is just a sample of the great life which will be ours one day in the age to come. In these few moments when we share in the life of Christ around his table we experience the peace and unity together that will one day be ours as we share life together in the great city of New Jerusalem. Our communion together calls us to remember Jesus yet we do not just remember the past when Jesus went to the cross and allowed himself to be broken and his blood poured out for us. We also are to remember what we are reminded of in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews. There we are told to remember to fix our gaze upon Jesus who is the pioneer and the perfection of our faith. Jesus turned his back on worldly joy and instead endured the cross, having no regard for its shame, and now is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. This is why we are now able to lay aside all earthly burdens and the sins that constantly distract us so that we are now able to run with endurance the journey that takes us home to our eternal home. So as we sing our songs of praise to God here on earth we do so remembering that we join those in heaven who sing a new song before the throne in heaven. We, like those who have gone before us can also claim that we too follow the Lamb wherever he goes. We are certain that through the suffering and death of Jesus that we too can know ourselves as being those who are redeemed from the human race. Indeed we, like those in heaven, are an offering of the first fruits for God and for the Lamb. 

         This gift Jesus has given to us of being invited to come and share together around his table gives us then the foretaste of the great banquet we shall feast on when we arrive at the city of New Jerusalem seated there on Mount Zion. Even though this world is filled with many pleasures which call out to our desires, we find that we are no longer tempted to indulge in these delights. No, we have had a taste of something far greater that is worth waiting for, a taste of home, a home for us eternal in the heavens. Praise be to God. Amen!

         

         

The Big Reveal:Living in An Evil Age

 July 26 2026

Revelation 13

         On the Fourth of July, Jennifer and I found ourselves in Ragersville to watch the fireworks. My Mom and Dad had heard that they put on a pretty good show so we all piled in the car and off we went. Well, we got to Ragersville around a little early, so we decided to enjoy the ice cream sundaes that the historical society were giving out. While we sat at our table, some old friends stopped by that we had not seen in awhile and we enjoyed catching up with them. One of these friends was someone a had been in 4-H with, and I had a long chat with him. As we talked, he remembered that I was now a pastor, which seems to always catch him off guard. Well, now that he had the full attention of someone who ought to know his Bible, my friend decided to ask some really important questions, like: In Revelation, it says there will come a time when the beast will come, who do you think that is? And, it also says that the people who follow this beast will be given a mark on their forehead and their hand, in order to buy and sell stuff, do you think this is some kind of computer chip? And who do you think the number 666 refers to? All I kept thinking is that I finally get a Sunday off so that I don’t have the book of Revelation on my mind, and I still couldn’t be free from being confronted by it. Yet, I also knew that my friend is just like a lot of people who when given a Bible full of all kinds of good news still just want to fixate on one chapter of Revelation.

         Well, the biggest problem with questions like the ones my friend asked me, is that people tend to see the book of Revelation as being in the same category as crystal balls and tarot cards, just one more means of seeing what the future holds. Yet Biblical prophecy is not a means of peering into the future. If this were the case then this book would have little to say to us today. You see, scripture must be able to speak to the truth about our human nature, a nature which does not change with the passing of time. So instead of understanding this book of Revelation as holding some hidden meaning pointing to a future prediction we should instead know this book as holding out for us an always present possibility. 

         So keeping that in mind we come to one of the most disturbing and confusing chapter in the book of Revelation. As always we need to understand the context of this chapter which means we must first, see what has happened just before the events we see in the thirteenth chapter. Well, at the end of the twelfth chapter we find that the dragon, who is a depiction of Satan, is furious because the long awaited Messiah has arrived and now reigns in heaven. So, the dragon decides to make war on those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the witness of Jesus. So in chapter thirteen, we discover that the way that Satan makes war against those faithful to Jesus is that he is going to raise up a beast. Now, just as Satan is not an actual dragon, the beast is not an actual scary monster. The description we are given is merely describing in a artistic manner, the power and strength of a king. The audience who first read this account would have understood that horns are a common Biblical means of stating how strong a person might be, because a bull ox that has horns is a visible image of strength. Likewise, saying that this king had feet like a bear might indicate that this king is capable of great destruction. The leopard would mean that this king could move his army with incredible speed. And saying that his mouth was like the mouth of a lion would possibly mean that his appetite was insatiable, always wanting more. 

         Now if we remember that what John records is to speak to our human condition, then what we hear at the end of the third verse should make us perk up our ears. There we hear that the whole world was filled with wonder and amazement as they followed this powerful king. Now if this were not alarming on its own, what we hear next is even worse. In the fourth verse, we hear that because of this king that the whole world had exulted to such a great honor, now the whole world worshipped the dragon, Satan, himself. This is quite an astonishing claim, to state that the world has become a place where all people who dwell here are Satan worshippers. John tells us that the reason why this worship of Satan had happened is solely because the world figured out that it was Satan who had given the king his authority to rule. This we must remember, is the way that Satan is making war against the those faithful few who still obey the commandment of God and the witness of Jesus. The battle is to live in a world where the vast majority of people worship the king who rules over them, those who wonder aloud, “Who is like this king?”, and “Who is able to make war against a king such as this?”.

In this section of the thirteenth chapter of Revelation we find one of the most concentrated uses of the word, “blasphemes”, in all of scripture. John tells us that the beast, this king who finds his authority in Satan rather than God, speaks arrogantly, defying the ultimate rule of God. This is the very definition of the word, “blaspheme”.  To say that this all powerful king blasphemes means that this king speaks evil, slanderous language against God, obviously holding God in contempt. Now while this might seem to be something that will only happen in the future, the truth is scripture has many instances of kings who become so arrogant that they begin to defy the ultimate authority of God. In the book of Exodus, we are told that the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt had a hard heart when confronted by God who ordered him to release the Israelite slaves. And in the fourth chapter of the book of Daniel, we hear of how the king of Babylon had become exceedingly arrogant before God. Through the prophet Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar found out that his arrogant days were coming to an end through the superior power of God.

         Now as we consider the examples from scripture, what we discover in every case where a king was found to hold God in contempt, speaking evil about God, what accompanies this blasphemous speech is unrighteous behavior toward those these kings were to rule over. Instead of being a guardian for the poor and powerless to keep them from being used and abused by wrong doers, the kings themselves were found to be guilty of using and abusing the vulnerable people they rule over. The Pharaoh of Egypt enslaved the people of Israel who had come to live among them. And when the people of Israel grew to be a great nation themselves, the Pharaoh decided to kill the male children to keep the people of Israel from growing any larger. King Nebuchadnezzar acted in an unrighteous manner by refusing to offer mercy to the poor. These examples help understand what John means when he tells us that the beast, this all powerful king, held in contempt not just God, but this king spoke evil against the very character of God, the holiness and righteousness of God. Not only that but the king even spoke against the holy dwelling of God in heaven. So it just makes sense that those who bear the characteristics of God, those who live righteous and holy lives would become a target for the evil hatred of this king.

John then gives us an understanding of the difference between this king and those who worship him and those who worship the true king named Jesus. He writes that the beast, this all powerful king was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. In other words, these who live in the common way of dividing up the world, these are the ones who will be alright living under the authority of this so called all-powerful king. Those who are living holy lives though, will be persecuted for going against the authority of such a king. Those who come under the authority of the king will be those who curse others, seeking to do evil and harm to others while those who live holy lives will continue to bless others no matter what the cost. So it is no surprise then that those who live under the authority of the king are the ones John implies are walking on the wide road, seeking the honor and glory of others especially the king,  Those who find their honor only by living before the face of God are the ones who walk on the narrow road with Jesus. These are the ones who will have their names written in the book of Life. John says that this is the very book of the Lamb, the one who was slain from the very beginning of the world. 

         Now why John is speaking about our walk on the narrow way is found in what John writes next. He writes, “If one is taken into captivity, then into captivity they will go. If one is killed by the sword, then by the sword they will be killed.” What John is reminding his readers of is that the narrow way is the very way of suffering. In such a world where the ruling authorities find their authority not from God but instead from Satan himself, the possibility is great that those who live holy righteous, lives will be hunted down, persecuted for their allegiance to Jesus alone. So as Jesus is the Lamb who knew he would suffer and die from the moment of creation, so too those who follow him must also be prepared to experience loss on account of being united with him. Now if we consider that this persecution is a result of Satan waging war against the people of God, we are right to wonder has Satan won now that we find ourselves conquered? The answer is a firm, “no”! We cannot forget that when we die a death like Christ this is when the life of Christ is most clearly seen to be living in us. Satan may have won the battle but never forget he has not won the war.

         Well, as if one beast were not enough, John goes on to reveal that there will come yet another beast. This beast as will later be revealed, is a false prophet who speaks like Satan himself, which means that he speaks only lies. He calls the whole world to come and worship the great king whose authority is Satan. As he speaks only lies, it is no surprise to find out that the whole world becomes deceived by him. This false prophet goes so far as to make an image of the king, an idol, so that no matter how far people were from the king they might know that his rule was over all the world. The worship of the king thus becomes mandatory so that those who would not worship the king or the image of the king, they would be killed. So we can see that where once authorities were permitted to use the fear of death to deter people from wrong doing, now the fear of death has become a means to insure absolute allegiance to a king. So it could now be said that if one desired to live that they had better become united with the king and his cause. 

This understanding assists in figuring out the great mystery found in what is known by many as being, the mark of the beast. If we look at the original Greek, what we find  is that this word for, “mark”, is actually the sound made when a chisel hits a piece of stone. This sound is where the word, “character”, comes, the sound being, “charac”. Thus a persons character is that their life bears a certain mark, an unchangeable quality. So the people living under a king who believes he is all powerful will become so influenced by this king they worship that their lives will be marked by his characteristics. This characteristic of the king according to John will be seen most clearly on the foreheads and the hands of the people who worship this king. The mark upon the forehead is most likely the haughty attitude of those who judge others to be something less than they are. This smug attitude justifies their need to look down on others. So when they interact with others, they will determine who are the people who are less than they are, and so it follows, less than human. This justifies the mark upon their hand, the characteristic of the closed fist, the very symbol of violence. Unlike the act of blessing where the stranger is treated with respect, and a longing to know them, now violence merely seeks to eliminate those believed to be in some way, inferior. The blasphemy of the king, their evil contempt toward God, now influences those who worship him. They now hold in contempt those who bear the very image of God , doing evil against them. So it follows that those who refuse to bear the characteristics of the king will not be allowed to buy and sell as they are considered barely justified to even exist. In such a world, those who come under such cruel wrath are justifiably those who get used and abused. 

         You see, the tragedy that occurs when such a king comes forth from the pits of hell is not just his contempt and defiance of God. No, the terrible outcome of such a reign is that those under his rule become like him, justifying their cruel and inhumane treatment of others because this is the way of the one who rules over them. At last we understand why in this account this king is identified as being a beast. When he severs himself from the goodness of God this human being becomes something less than human, nothing more than a terrifying beast. And those who worship such a king also become less than human as well.  In such a world the people of God will be greatly tempted to respond to the terrible suffering imposed by this king and his followers with hatred, lashing out at those who persecute them with judgment and violence. If they do so, this is when Satan will have truly won the war. 

Well all is not lost for the people of God. They will be able to overcome this temptation to respond with violence by instead, patiently enduring through abiding in Christ. You see, what the most powerful king in the world cannot give to those who worship him is hinted at in this strange number which has piqued the curiosity of many a reader of the book of Revelation. Just what or who is it that bears this number, this six, six, six? Well, my take is that it is a number that is very close to the number seven, seven, seven.The number seven causes us to remember the beginning of creation. There we read that God, after he created humans, rested on the seventh day. So a complete state of rest, comfort, contentment could be stated by using the number seven, seven, seven. So, the number six, six, six, implies to us that the people who live under such a number never can find the rest that they seek. These arrogant, evil people never know the comfort found in the life that only God can provide. In their violent struggle for life, there is never any hope of experiencing true contentment because they always must be on guard to never be judged by someone else as being inferior. So there is a constant need to always portray themselves as being, strong and dominant people, something that is a wearisome pursuit. They are left with a restless, discontented life, the terrible plight for those who become enamored by the greatness of those who govern over them. 

So in times of great evil God calls us to do what the world cannot do and that is that we must rest and not react. In the fourth chapter of the book of Philippians, Paul teaches us the how we are able to rest even in an evil age.. There Paul tells us that the secret of being contented, of experiencing peace in a world at war, no matter if one has nothing or plenty. The answer is this: we must find the strength we need to endure the times we are face solely in the one who empowers us, the one who is the Lord of the Sabbath, the one named Jesus. It is when we allow Jesus to be our source of strength, this is when we are able to find rest and contentment even in times when it seems that earthly rulers are all powerful. It is only through Jesus that we can find a peace beyond our understanding even when Satan wars against us. This is our true victory!To God be the glory! Amen!

 

 

         

The Big Reveal: The Power of Holiness

July 19 2026

Revelation 1-6,10-12,17, 3::7-13

         As I have read through the parts of Revelation, I was reminded of Indiana Jones, how’s that for a weird connection. Well, at least the first in the series of movies about him entitled,”Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark”. This movie came out clear back in 1981 and even so, I can still remember going to the movie theater and really enjoying watching this flick. If you remember the movie, you know that Indiana Jones leads a double life because he is not just a professor of archeology but he is also a globe-trotting swashbuckling hero saving priceless artifacts from ending up in the wrong hands. In this first of many movies, Indiana learns of an attempt by Adolf Hitler to get his hands on the mysterious Ark of the Covenant because he believes it will make his army invincible. Totally believable, right? Well, after much searching the Ark is finally found but Indiana cannot bring himself to destroy such an invaluable treasure. So the Nazis capture Indiana and his girlfriend and they decide to see if the power held within the Ark is indeed for real. Indiana tells his girlfriend to close their eyes because he knows what is about to happen. When the bad guys open the lid of the ark of the covenant, it releases spirits, flames and bolts of lightning. All of the flesh of the Nazis begins to melt like wax figures on a hot day. When Indiana  opens his eyes he and his girlfriend are the only ones left, everyone else has been destroyed. 

         Well, what got me thinking about this movie is something that was actually part of last weeks scripture found in the eleventh chapter of Revelation. There in the fifth verse John writes that if, “ … anyone tries to harm the two witnesses, those who have the life of Christ in them, fire comes forth out of their mouth and consumes their enemies. And if anyone is inclined to harm it is only fitting that they be destroyed in this way.” Sounds like taking the lid off of the Ark of the Covenant, doesn’t it? Well, I believe that what John is referring to here is the consuming presence of the holy that causes a person to die to the common way of life. Through being given a chance at a new way of living, a person finds themselves being consumed by what it might mean to live a holy life. Suddenly life is no more being about us and them, but now its all about the us who live in the kingdom of God. 

         As we might remember, the holy life is the life of blessing others because we understand ourselves to be priests to God. A priest is simply a holy person who serves a holy God. The way we bless others is the same way God first blesses us. This blessing is as we find in the sixth chapter of Numbers, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face smile upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look up at you and give you peace.” This is the holy way of life that shapes the core teachings of Jesus. So as his holy servants, we follow the leading of God, seeing everyone as being worthy to be blessed, because we are to see others to be just like Jesus, his first born. We are to keep safe all we meet by giving all them the basic needs of life. We are to smile upon the strangers who came our way. Then we are to open our lives to others and offer the grace of hospitality even if it means we are left open to be hurt. The hope is that as we serve our guests, suffering with them and sacrificing for them, the result will be peace. Where there was once a stranger will now be found a friend, yes, we might even say, family. This is the peacemaking that Jesus teaches us, in Matthew five, verse nine, that proves what God believes about us, that we are indeed his holy children. 

         Now this way of life is, admittedly, a very different way of living. It’s a life that gets noticed. I  mean, would it mean for a person who is continually humiliated and looked down, to suddenly be treated with the respect and honor due the king of kings? And what happens to the heart of the one who every day is anxious because they don’t  know where their next meal is coming from, now finds themselves being cared for as if their life is precious? What is the reaction when  a person sees someone smile at them, looking at them not just through them? And  then when that person who smiles at them, opens their life and they share their with this one others don’t even notice, what could be the result of doing such a thing? What would it be like to be around people who aren’t just looking for people to serve them, but instead are genuinely interested in serving others, listening to the needs of others and doing what they can to make some else’s life a little better? I mean wouldn’t it make people curious if there were these holy lives who were interested in drawing people together instead of drawing circles around who those who are not one of them? You see, when we  bless others it causes those who witness this holy living to be consumed with wonder, wondering mostly why holy people live like they do. 

         So yes, when holiness becomes our way of life, the hearts and minds of those around us will become consumed, and their hearts will begin to burn with a longing for just such a life. The hope is that by seeking answers as to why holy people behave so differently they too will have a desire to know themselves as being God’s kingdom as well. As Jesus teaches us in the seventeenth chapter of Luke, “… whoever loses their life for his sake will find it”. We must be willing to lose this life lived by the agenda of the common way of doing things in order that holy living found through the blessing of others might live in us. 

         It is this new life of holiness that is displayed in the church at Philadelphia. This holiness is even found within their name, “Philadelphia”. In the original Greek Philadelphia means, “dearly loved as brothers and sisters as one would find in a family”. This is the ultimate goal of being a kingdom of people who bless others, that all know they belong in the very family of God. And if we had any doubt that this church is a place of holy love, Jesus introduces himself first and foremost as the holy one, the one who truly holy. Yet, this is not all that Jesus has to say about himself because he also is the one who has the key of David. This key of David is an expression that is first heard in the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah. There, the key of David is given to a loyal servant. This key gave this servant absolute authority over the royal palace, giving them even the power to make binding decisions. So Jesus has been given this same absolute authority so that his decisions alone are what matter. When Jesus opens a door that door cannot be closed. When Jesus closes a door that door will be unable to be opened. This matters to this church at Philadelphia because Jesus tells them that because he is aware of their works, he has presented before their face, an open door which no one is able to close. Now it is not difficult to understand that Jesus is here speaking about the very same door that John sees at the opening of the fourth chapter of Revelation. This is the door which is open in heaven. The implication is that because of their holiness, heaven is now open to them forever.

         Now this great promise from Jesus is not because this church at Philadelphia has demonstrated great power in their witness. No, just the opposite. Jesus tells then that he knows that they have little power. This is a great comfort to every church which despairs when their power seems so little compared to the power demonstrated by the world. You see, Jesus is not at all concerned about our power. What matters to Jesus is our obedience. What the church at Philadelphia has done is that they have guarded over the word he has given to them. And they have not denied the name of Jesus. What Jesus is saying here is that this church proudly claims the same name of Jesus, which is the very essence of his nature. This, of course, means that the church at Philadelphia has not once refused to display the holiness of Jesus in their own lives. The word of love that Jesus taught to them is what they regarded as their greatest treasure, something to be guarded over so that this word might never be taken from them.

         Now when we read this review that Jesus gives to us about the church at Philadelphia, we find that it helps us make sense of what is written in the twelfth chapter of Revelation. There we hear of a woman who is clothed with the sun who has the moon on her feet. On her head is a crown with twelve stars. We then discover that she is pregnant. As we continue with the story we find that the male child she gives birth to is the one who is spoken of in the second Psalm, the one who will come to rule over the nation with a rod of iron. This is none other than the long awaited Messiah. So if we allow the Spirit to speak through these images I believe we are to know the woman as being Israel, the twelve stars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Israel is often spoken of by the prophets as being the wife of God, as we find in books such as Jeremiah and Hosea. The purpose of Israel then was to bring forth the long awaited king out of the line of David. Jesus is this Messiah, who has ascended to the throne where he now reigns as king of kings. John reminds us that because of this there is now the salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of our Christ. So when the church at Philadelphia was told by Jesus that they did not possess much power, this was a good observation because this meant that they knew not to rely upon their own power but instead they relied upon the one who has all power, the one named Jesus.

 So the church at Philadelphia was now certain that with Jesus we are safe, and we can rely upon his power.  We can be certain that with him we belong to the kingdom of God and  he alone has all authority. This is why John assures us, that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are able to conquer over the evil one, through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of our testimony. So if we wonder why the church at Philadelphia guarded over the word that Jesus gives to them it is solely that through this word of truth that they were victorious over the evil one. You see, the blood of Christ forgave them of their former life lived by common wisdom so that now they could live a new and holy life through their obedience to the word Christ spoke to them. So now they no longer lived in fear of death which is the very power of the evil one.

This twelfth chapter of Revelation also helps us understand what Jesus means when he tells the church at Philadelphia about a so called synagogue of Satan. They claimed to be Jews yet as Jesus claims, they are not actually Jews but instead they lie about who they really are. Jesus can make this claim because as we hear at the end of the twelfth chapter, the true children of Israel, which these Jews say that they are, are those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus. The commandment that Jesus gives to us is found in the thirteenth chapter of John, the thirty-fourth verse, where Jesus tells his disciples that they were to love one another in the same manner that he loved us, this is the way we are to love each other. When Jesus says that we are to love others in the same manner that he first loved us, he is saying that we are to look at his life to see the love that was witnessed in all that Jesus said and did. We are to know that this love of Jesus followed the very contours of the holy life found in the blessing of God. If we look at the core teachings of Jesus, we notice that he begins with teachings about blessing, holding out to all that hear those blessings that they can know themselves as being children of God. Jesus then goes on to teach us that through his perfect love, God provides all that everyone needs, the just and the unjust, the good and the evil, alike. And Jesus goes on to say that we should love others in this same way. Then Jesus teaches that we are to live before the face of God who honors us, seeking his honor alone. Jesus tells us this is the narrow way that leads to life. To walk on the narrow road means that we must offer grace and mercy just as our Heavenly Father first has been gracious to us. And we are to know that our Heavenly Father serves us by providing all that is necessary for life. Since we have set free from worrying about our daily needs, we are to go and serve others in the very same way our Father serves us. Jesus ends his teachings with the promise that if we hear and obey his teachings we will have the peace of knowing that our life is built on the rock, the result of our life being forever united with the eternal life of the God who loves us.

So what the so called synagogue of Satan had refused to do is to love others in the same manner that Jesus not only taught about but also displayed in his life, loving us all even unto death. Jesus makes the claim that this synagogue, this gathering of Jews, obeyed Satan. Jesus spoke of this very way of life in the eighth chapter of the gospel of John. There Jesus tells a group of Jews that they listened to the Devil. The word Jesus uses for the Devil means one who throws apart, or the one who divides, which gives us a clue to the problem. Jesus goes on to tell them that the Devil they listen to is a murderer from the beginning who never stands in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies he speaks to his own nature for he the one who speaks falsehoods, the father of all lies. So it is no surprise that when Jesus tells this church at Philadelphia that this synagogue of Satan lies about who they really are, he is pointing out the true source of their falsehoods. Now the reason Jesus why Jesus is certain that this synagogue listens to Satan is that most likely they are those Jews who desired to go to war in order to become a Jewish nation that is no longer under Roman rule. This is why Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, because the very people who said they were the people of God no longer desired to be those who blessed others with the hope of creating peace. Their hatred of their Roman overlords had consumed them so much that the lies of the devil were all that they could hear and obey. They wanted to cause more division in the world instead of seeking first the kingdom of God.

Well, as we continue to listen to what Jesus tells this church at Philadelphia, we hear him predict something strange will happen to them. Jesus states that this synagogue of Satan, will come and bow down before the church of Philadelphia. The reason why this synagogue would give this church at Philadelphia such humble adoration is that they realize that God loved this church. Reading between the lines, we are to know that this realization has come about because this church at Philadelphia had obeyed the word Jesus had given to them and they blessed this synagogue. Through their giving the members of this synagogue the same dignity they gave to Jesus, and through sharing their life with them, smiling on them and being gracious to them, serving them in any way possible, something happened to the hearts of those in this synagogue. These Jews that had so much hatred in their heart saw in this church a living example of the love which their God had for them. So just as they once worshipped God, they now came to adore the God who had united himself with this church at Philadelphia. This church had guarded over the teachings of Jesus by putting these teachings into practice. And this is why Jesus could promise this church at Philadelphia that they would be kept from the severe testing that is coming for those who live on the earth. They had become so immovable in their obedience that Jesus could say that they were to know they were a pillar in the Temple of God. So their obedience gives us hope that we too are able to become just as immovable in our obedience to the blessing of others. So let us go and be a blessing, loving others as Jesus first loved us. Amen!