Revelation 6: Where’s the Conquering?

Today’s reading is Revelation 6.

Jesus, the Messiah, the anointed of God, incarnate deity, the Son of God, has gone forth conquering and to conquer. What do you expect to happen next? I expect instantaneous, immediate victory on all battlefronts. I expect Psalm 2:8-9 to happen immediately. Jesus has gone forth to conquer, I expect the conquering to be evident. I expect kings and rulers to fall in behind Jesus or He’ll condemn and punish them immediately. I expect Psalm 110:5-7 to happen immediately. The nations will surrender to the new cosmic King or judgment will fall on them right away. For all who surrender, I expect peace and harmony; for all who rebel and resist, I expect shattering, defeat, destruction, and judgment.

However, we already know that isn’t what was happening. The Christians in the first century were facing incredible persecution. John started this apocalypse saying he was a fellow participant in tribulation. The letters to the seven churches talked about testing and trial coming on the whole earth and on the churches. Jesus had come, He had conquered death, the grave, sin, and Satan. He rose again. He ascended to the right hand of God. But Rome was still in power. The Jewish nation was opposed to Christianity. Christians were being, targeted, belittled, persecuted, imprisoned, executed. When famines occurred, the Christians weren’t excepted, they went through it as well. If plague hit, the Christians weren’t protected, they died also. The apostles had been or were being systematically executed. John himself was exiled on Patmos because of the gospel. This is what the Christians were experiencing on the ground.

Jesus went forth conquering and to conquer, but where’s all the conquering?

As the Lamb breaks the next three seals on the scroll, we find the apocalyptic vision of these experiences. With each successive seal a new horseman follows in the wake of Jesus. Only one of the horsemen is named by John, but we often give the other two names as well: War, Famine, Death. Death does not ride alone. He brings Hades, the realm of the dead behind him.

This last one is shocking. Jesus came to bring life and to bring it abundantly. However, the horsemen that follow Him out of the scroll bring death, death, and more death. In fact, Death and Hades are given authority over a fourth of the earth. I thought all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20).

Delineating these seals and the riders does not provide much comfort. However, it does explain nothing was going against God’s plan. God was not surprised. These things were written on His scroll. He knew they would happen. He planned for them to happen. John was writing about the experiences of those early Christians. However, we may go through similar times whether individually and personally or congregationally and communally. It is not precisely comforting to hear that between the time Jesus goes forth to conquer and when He actually conquers War, Famine, Death, and Hades will very often hold sway. But it is comforting to know it only happens with God’s foreknowledge and planning. He is prepared for all of it. He is not taken by surprise and He is not overthrown by it. We can trust Him.

More will be said about this with the coming seals. But for now, when we live in a time of these seals, let us simply trust God. He knows what is coming. He knows how to deal with it. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 6.

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PATHS:
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How does Revelation 6 prompt or improve your trust in God?

John 4: Greater than Moses

Today’s reading is John 4.

Jesus traveled back into Galilee and came once again to Cana where He had turned the water to wine. John goes out of his way to remind us of that first sign in Cana. He even connects the two by telling them in such a way he can call turning the water to wine Jesus’s first sign and the sign we are about to discuss His second, not because they were Jesus’s first and second signs ever or even the first and second signs demonstrated in the book, but because they were the first and second in Cana of Galilee. John is clearly providing a rhetorical connection to grab our attention and prompt our meditation.

In this second sign, Jesus learns of an official’s son who is at the very point of death. If something isn’t done immediately, the boy will die. Instead of calling a crowd together, leading an entourage to the boy, making a grand display, and then presenting the boy in perfect health, Jesus simply tells the man to go home and find a healed son. That is precisely what the man does.

Why does our author go to great lengths to connect this sign with the water turned to wine. I admit, I don’t believe it is because he is encouraging us to count the signs and discover how many there are in the book, whether you want to count to seven or ten or potentially eleven. John draws attention to these two signs in particular by numbering only them. Why? Because John is still introducing us to the new Moses, the one who performs signs like Moses and is The Prophet coming into the world.

Recall, the first sign corresponded to and contrasted with Moses turning the water to blood, the first plague on Egypt. This sign now corresponds to and contrasts with the tenth plague, death of the firstborn. Between these two signs, John encapsulates in Jesus the great signs and wonders of Moses. Moses’s sign brought death to the healthy firstborn in Egypt, Jesus’s sign brought life to this man’s all but dead son. Which is greater? Which would you prefer to come into your home?

Don’t misunderstand. The point is not Moses was bad and Jesus is good. The point is Moses is incredible, Jesus is even better. It’s hard to do better than Moses. It’s hard to do better than the Law God gave Israel through Moses. In fact, only one other person in all history did better. Jesus.

Will you turn to Jesus? Jesus is the only one who brings life. Jesus is the only one who will lead you to resurrection. Will you follow Him? Can we help you give your allegiance to Him? Let us know by hitting the contact button at the top of the page.

Next week’s reading is John 5.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from John 4?

Psalm 106: Standing in the Breach

Today’s reading is Psalm 106.

Paul doesn’t specifically quote Psalm 106, but read the psalm and then read Romans 1 and tell me whether or not Paul had this psalm in mind.

They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.
They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt…

Psalm 106:19-21 (ESV)

For although they knew God, the did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Romans 1:21-23 (ESV)

First, perhaps this should cause us to reassess whom we think Paul is talking about in these verses in Romans 1. Second, this will help us find Jesus in this psalm. At least, it will help us find the foreshadowing that points to Jesus.

Our psalmist goes on to say…

Therefore [God] said he would destroy them–
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Psalm 106:23 (ESV)

Over and again, Israel escaped judgment because Moses interceded for them. He stood in the breach.

Then the psalm tells us about Phinehas when Israel yoked themselves to Baal at Peor.

They provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stayed.

Psalm 106:29-30 (ESV)

Do you recall how Phinehas intervened and staid the plague? He executed the Israelite Zimri while he was committing immorality with the Midianite Cozbi (Numbers 25:10-18).

Between these two types, we see the shadow of Jesus stretching back into the events of the Old Covenant. After all, we too have exchanged the glory of God. We have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. We deserved to die. But instead, Jesus interceded on our behalf. He stood in the breach for us. Not only that, He stood in the breach, not by executing someone, but by allowing Himself to be executed. Thus, in Romans as Paul continues his argument, he says:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8 (ESV)

Jesus stood in the breach for us. Praise the Lord! Let us bow our knee before Him and confess Him Lord. Let us repent. Let us follow in His footsteps, dying to sin and being buried for the remission of our sins, raised up to walk in new life (see Romans 6:5-11). If we can help you die with Jesus Christ in baptism and rise to walk in a new life, let us know.

Next week’s reading is John 1.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
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What do you want to share with others from Psalm 106?

Psalm 81: God Will Provide

Today’s reading is Psalm 81.

“Open your mouth wide,” God says in Psalm 81:10, “and I will fill it.”

Carrying on the message from the last two days, Yahweh will care for His people. No other god has done that. No other god will do that. Yahweh, the Lord will fill the mouths of His people.

But…with what?

Surprisingly, in the Old Testament, the concept of people having their mouths filled rarely means eating food. In Psalm 78:30, the plague came on the grumbling and complaining Jews while the quail was still in their mouths. A handful of proverbs speak of food in the mouth (Proverbs 16:26; 19:24; 20:17; 26:15). However, the great majority of OT passages talking about having the mouth filled refer to speech, words, teaching, songs, praise, etc. In Exodus 4:15, Moses would put words in Aaron’s mouth. In Numbers 23:5, 12, God put words in Balaam’s mouth. In Deuteronomy 18:18, God would put words in the mouths of the prophets. The words that filled people’s mouths were not always good. In Psalm 22:13 and 35:21, the mouths were full of mockery and reviling. However, in Deuteronomy 31:19, God wanted Moses to write a song (Deuteronomy 32) that would fill the mouths of the Israelites. And in Psalm 40:3, God put a new song of praise in the mouth of the psalmist.

Our psalmist may be explaining, consistent with the rest of the OT, when Israel cast down the other gods and only followed Yahweh, He would fill their mouths with praise, with thanksgiving, with instruction, with glorious things that are the natural response to being blessed.

On the other hand, this statement may be an exception as a parallel to the last verse in the psalm. God ends the psalm saying, if they would just listen to Him, “He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (81:16). This makes a nice symmetry. God may be driving home the one point that if Israel listened to Him, He would provide their food. This certainly fits the context of praise on a feast day (vs. 3), especially if, as seems to be the case, it is one of the seventh month feasts (see Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29) happening at the time of harvest.

Adding one more layer, this would be even more potent if the mention of the trumpet/shofar being blown calls to mind Leviticus 25:9 and the blowing of the shofar on the Day of Atonement during the Year of Jubilee. On that year, they quit working their fields for two years. One planting would provide for three years (Leviticus 25:18-22). What a time to be reminded that when they are faithful to the Lord, He will provide.

Psalm 63:5 may help us see both of the above possibilities at the same time. In that verse, we learn when the Israelite earnestly sought God, he could say, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips” (ESV). Granted, the food in this verse is spiritual. But we see the connection. When blessed by God’s provision, our mouths are full of praise.

Whichever view we take on God filling our mouths, the end result is the same. When we serve God, He will provide. As Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV).

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 81.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 81 prompt or improve your trust of God?

Friends of the Groom

Today’s reading is Revelation 11.

Every hero has friends. Remember Fezzik and Inigo in “The Princess Bride”? In modern weddings, we carry on this idea with the best man and the groomsmen. These are the men who were supposed to support the groom and fight off any who would challenge the groom for his bride. Our Hero, the groom of the church is no different. He has two friends, the descriptions of whom remind us of Moses and Elijah. Then we see the same story cycle repeated over and over in Revelation. At first, these friends are unstoppable. If any would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes the enemy. However, the seemingly unstoppable get stopped; the beast makes war on them and kills them. The people celebrate the death of the Hero’s friends. It looks like the Hero is going to lose. However, then the unimaginable happens. Just when the enemy believes it has won, the Hero’s friends are resurrected (just like the Hero) and are called to the Father’s throne. Judgment rains down on the enemies. God is glorified. Praise the Lord, Jesus always wins!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 12.

Plagues

Today’s reading is Revelation 9.

What is up with locusts and wild horses? There is no need to look beyond what the text says to figure out what John is seeing. In Revelation 9:18, John calls these strange events plagues. In other words, we don’t have to wonder if he is talking about some strange war that might happen off in the future. Rather, he is calling to mind something that happened in the past. He is calling to mind, as he will do several times throughout this vision, the plagues that God sent against Pharaoh and Egypt. The description here is much more intense. It is grander and greater and more destructive. But it is still supposed to remind us of those plagues. Why? Because the outcome is the same. No matter what God sends to teach the enemies about His greatness and how they should surrender to Him, they won’t. They don’t repent. They continue to rebel against Him instead of surrendering to Him as King. In other words, the King went out conquering and to conquer, but instead of the enemies recognizing His superiority and surrendering, they will keep fighting. God will extend patience. Instead of just immediately wiping them out, He will send only partial judgment intended to give many the opportunity to repent and give allegiance to Him. But they won’t. Of course, this means many faithful will get caught up in the crossfire. Remember, however, the Lord knows those who are His. Even if His faithful die as the enemy reacts, they will still be delivered. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 10.

Judgments and Plagues

Today’s reading is Revelation 16.

This may sound shocking, but Revelation is not looking ahead to literal plagues that will be coming, it is looking back to literal plagues that had happened generations ago. That is, do you notice how these plagues mirror several of the plagues surrounding the Exodus: boils, water turned to blood, hail, darkness, waters dried up (like the Red Sea). Then there are flashes of lightning, rumbling, peals of thunder, shaking earth like the Isrealites saw at Mt. Sinai. Granted, God can do what He wants. If He wants to send literal plagues like this again, He can. However, that is not really the point. The point is to tell the Christians under Roman persecution (or perhaps Jewish) and then by extension Christians under any other persecution afterwards that God knows how to judge nations, false religions, and enemies who oppress and persecute His people. Not only does He know how, He will. It may seem like the enemies are getting the upper hand, just as Israel once thought Egypt had the upper hand, but God always wins. And there is a message for the churches in this as well. Remember how many of the members of the seven churches were called to repent? These members and churches must not think they will miss out on the judgment if they don’t heed the call to repent any more than the worldly in this chapter. Don’t quit! Conquer! Hang on to Jesus, He always wins.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 17.