Most people I know believe that right now the world is a mess. We passed upside down awhile ago, and have fallen so far down the rabbit hole that if Alice meandered through a Looking Glass, she would have no idea where to even turn, what mushroom to eat (or not) or who to follow to find a way out. It doesn’t even matter what views people have: conservative, liberal, moderate, unaffiliated with any ideology, we all seem to have a predicament on our hands. Folks may not express consensus on just what is wrong with the place, just that
It.
Is.
One.
Big.
Mess.
Perhaps more distressing, the
vitriolic nature of the differences between us burn brighter than in the past.
I’ve had family members who love me—and they do love me--call me derogatory
names because I disagree with them on a particular issue.
We have children who ten years
ago caused adults to worry because they were eating Tide Pods. Now the same
aged children are supposedly mature enough to make life-altering decisions for
permanent surgical procedures to change their “gender” at frighteningly early
ages. People will take to social media and attack total strangers about
anything, like some unknown woman living in some unknown place like, maybe, Paris,
Arkansas, with whom they disagree, trying to totally destroy her life because
she doesn’t like their view and has expressed her divergent perspective. To mitigate
such attacks, you either have to be a big enough star with enough money and
power that people really can’t hurt you financially so a “boycott” of your
products won’t put your family on the streets or an insignificant enough person
that nobody cares what you think anyway. The woman in Paris, Arkansas, probably
isn’t hurt too badly, but that someone feels the need to viciously attack her doesn’t
speak well of our culture now.
Even Christians have deep
and, at times, venomous disagreements, calling each other names and inferring
that obviously this church is right and that church is wrong and MY church is
the one to listen to and YOUR church should just close its doors.
So, what to do?
A bedrock of the Christian
faith is that those of us professing Christian faith wait for Christ to return
to Earth and rescue us from all the heartache and dilemmas threatening to
engulf us. As well, the Earth itself waits for its creator to come make
everything right again. Romans 8:22-23 tells us that “creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until now, and not only this, but also
we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit; even we ourselves grown
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons.”
Until then, here we live, in the
world while chaos controls large swaths of real estate.
Truth be told, though, chaos
and confusion, war and atrocity have been around for most of Earth’s history. Since
that first failure of the first people, the waiting for renewal and
regeneration warred with the lost perfection of Earth before sin took hold to
destroy the creation and the people God loves. We know the world is wrong; as
with so many areas of life, the proposed solutions are what separate us. But what
Christians have beyond much of the other people with whom we share the planet
is hope and the promise of the remade Earth where all the consequences of the
first sin—and every sin thereafter—are redeemed and undone. How can we wait and believe with hope? Does this
question asked by believers have an answer? Where can we look?
And, then, we find Revelation
5.
Revelation? For many believers Revelation is ignored or glanced at only periodically, thought to be weird predictions of future events told in allegories or images we can’t understand. There are disagreements with scholars about various parts of the book. But, much of it is clear and full of promise and hope and the assurance of our faith and future so necessary in this crazy world.
The apostle John received the
Revelation of Jesus Christ who received it from God (Revelation 1:1). In Chapter 4, the Apostle John, now a very
old man, exiled to a rock in the Aegean Sea by the Emperor Domitian, sees into the throne room of Heaven with God on
His throne almost indescribable and amazingly glorious in sight; around him twenty-four
elders seated on their own thrones reining with Him. Lightning flashes! Thunder
booms!, Four creatures with heads like different animals (one a man) and lots
of eyes, so as to see everywhere and everything, and six wings whose job is to
cry praises to the God on the throne day and night surround Him. The
twenty-four elders praise Him and
worship, and Heaven reverberates with the sound of the praises given to God
sitting on His throne in heaven. John’s description blows away any namby
picture of us sitting on clouds, resting our heads on our hands, yawning on
occasion, waiting for something to do. Bored will be a forgotten emotion there
as John described every creature participating in Heaven’s worship.
And, then. . . . . .
John saw in the right hand of
God a rolled scroll. It was unusual in that it had writing on both sides, sealed
with seven seals. This scroll has been
the object of conjecture for as long as the book of Revelation has been written
and read. Most scholars believe it to be a legal document of some kind—perhaps even
a title to the Earth or a document detailing the events to come to finish the universe’s dealings, anticipation of the perfection of
what will be welling up in the hearts of believers, the plan for Earth’s
renewal and end time event. No one knows for sure, only that without someone worthy,
able, and willing to open the scroll, seemingly something wonderful will not
happen or something horrible will.
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| He is The Lion of the Tribe of Judah |
Whatever the document is,
until it is open, happenings seem to stop in that Heavenly scene. God on the
throne held the scroll in his right hand, and a “strong” angel called out, “Who
is worthy to open the book and to break the seals?” (Revelation 5:2). And the Scripture tells us that no one anywhere—no
one in Heaven, no one on earth, and no one under the earth—was found to be
worthy and able and willing, ready and willing to break the seals and open the
scroll.
John, watching in awe, having
been invited into the very throne room of Almighty God—the very heart of Heaven--watched
the happenings. He does not tell us how long passed, but at some point John
began to weep, to sob, grieving at the lack of one found who could open the
scroll. Like the movie line so iconic from Tom Hanks about America’s game, There’s
no crying in Heaven! (Tom Hanks referenced baseball; not really the same
thing, but the same idea). We are promised elsewhere that “He will wipe away
every tear” (Revelation 21:4), repeating in the New Testament the promise given
in Isaiah 25:8. The visitor John could not contain himself, and his tears
reflected his heartbreak.
Then one of the elders—not an
angel this time--spoke: “Stop weeping, behold
the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so
as to open the book and its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:5 italics mine).
In verse 6, though the elder
had declared the Lion was found to open the scroll, when John looked, he saw
standing between the thrown and the elders a Lamb. The word for Lamb here is
used to denote a “little” or “delicate” lamb. Our Lord is a Little Lamb
described “as if slain,” bearing the marks of His sacrifice. As I understand
it, the picture is of a sacrifice still fresh. The sacrifice and payment Christ
made 2000 years ago on Calvary is as fresh as the day He was crucified. And the
Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, reached and took the scroll.
He is the Lamb that was Slain
This chapter continues with praise
from the 24 elders and the creatures and all of Heaven. The text tells when
they start praising the Lamb personally in the manner they have praised God on
His throne—He is praised with the same authority and on the same level as Heaven’s
Holy One. Verse 9 tells that he is “worthy” to take the scroll and to “break
the seals;” that he “purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and
tongue and people and nation.” Praise for the Lamb continues until it culminates
in verse 13: “To Him who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever
and ever.” And who said this? The verse tells us “every created thing which is
in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in
them. . . (verse 13). From all the places where no one could be found worthy to
open the scroll came praise affirming the Lion worthy to open the scroll, the
Lamb who sacrificed Himself to bring us into fellowship with Him and He who sat
on the throne. That strength of the Lion carries in that brave heart the
humility and unlimited sacrificial heart of the Lamb.
As John tells us that the 4
creatures and the 24 elders fall on their faces to worship the Lamb, they each
hold a golden bowl full of incense—which “are the prayers of the saints.” We
don’t know which specific saints prayed those prayers, but, imagine! believers’
prayers are precious enough to God to save them for use in the remarkable actions
that follow. And the elders and creatures cradle the bowls of them in the middle
of their awe and praise.
Jesus is praised with the
same manner as God on the throne; we can never doubt that Jesus is God,
and He is worthy and able and willing in a world of chaos and uncertainty, sadness
and doubt, pain and fear, where upside down is celebrated as the way to fix a
world gone mad, He is worthy and able—and ready.
In the middle of it all, the
Lion and Lamb stands ready. That scroll in Revelation starts what might look
like more upheaval when seals start opening. My favorite part are the horses
released as seals break open, albeit some of their riders don’t have good
tidings. Even so, when He opens the seals, it is with authority. No matter what
follows, the Christ who opens one seal after another is worthy and able, willing
and ready.
And He is worthy and able,
willing and ready now. When my friends
turn away, breaking my heart over what should not matter, He is worthy and able;
ready and willing; when weather descends and destroys a lifetime’s possessions and
a community’s heart, He is worthy and able, ready and willing; when I fail
myself and my family and my church in ways I thought long past, He is worthy and
able, ready and willing; when unimaginable loss occurs so that I wonder if I
can breathe the next breath, He is worthy and able; ready and willing; when I again
fail the Christ who gave Himself for me, He is worthy and able, ready and
willing, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb slain whose sacrifice is current and
powerful enough to make it right.
He is worthy and able, ready
and willing whether I act like it or not. So my prayer is that He turns my
heart to Him instead of the million other ways that don’t help, but that I look
towards Him perpetually, when I hurt or fall or just don’t know what to do.
On social media this week, I
saw something that made me laugh: “The
older I get, the more I understand why roosters just scream to start their day.”
There are days I really understand that.
But, maybe I can get up and
start the day with a quiet, inner thought. “He is Worthy; He is Able, He is
Ready. He is Willing.” And when the world is too much for me, maybe realize,
and believe, it is never too much for Him, the Lion who fights for me, the Lamb
who sacrificed for me, the Christ who gave His all for me.
Maybe remember that on any
and every given day. And start now to join in the Heavenly throngs in the
praise of Him.
No seals, no situation, no
pain, no confusion, no sin too great.
Lord, seal that truth in my heart.
