This morning I am again, taking one extract from the lectionary text and then using it to comment on something a bit more difficult. I am taking steps, and the first one is difficult to swallow. and the second one is more so.
For the first step is to understand that the gospel is not one of peace, but division. That if you follow the gospel things can and will go wrong. Those who lead will have their children placed under great temptation: and they will find the same thing themselves.
And if they are faithful, but false doctrine can get in with their spouse, then the marriage will implode. That is reality in this world, and in this time. All will be tempted, all will be maneuvered into conflict. For the spirit of this age is opposed to anything that we do.
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
(Luke 12:49-53 ESV)
The fire that is lit will burn. Either in our souls, or our society, and purify, or our society will rot. We are not called to be accountable for the society we live in, but for what we do, and for many of us that will be not looking after the least and most deprived, but raising our children, earning out money, and then helping others. Paul was fairly damning to those who destroyed marriages by infidelity, polygamy and gossip, but he also said that if you do not work, you should not be fed, and that a man who does not provide for his family should be disciplined by the church. A burden we should not be.
But there is opposition. And sometimes when the memes of this world get in, we err, and in doing so our marriages implode, our children are damaged, incomplete, and grow up spineless. It is a terrible thing to walk away from one’s vows, and in a society where the very foundational blocks of a family are being destroyed, we need to stand firm. Because God works to a different accounting from this world.
Second step, into symbolism, and discomfort, being quite aware that there are theological rabbit holes here: the Jehovah’s Witnesses are but one group who built a heresy over the 144 000.
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
(Revelation 14:1-13 ESV)
There are three bits of clear text among the symbol and code, the meanings of which are not revealed. Let us look at them.
Fear God… . The angel goes to all nations, calling them back to the worship of the LORD: for his glory will be revealed plainly. This is universal: it is not limited to those on Mount Zion. It is a final warning. For after this Babylon will fall. The structures of this world, our vanities and concerns, will be as one.
This calls for endurance of the saints . There will be persecution and opposition. Those who choose a better path, of purity (I am sure that there have been thousands upon thousands of men and women who have lived their lives, far better than I have; in a holy sanctity that I cannot attain but for a mighty work of the Holy Spirit in my life. They are not merely chaste, but honest, straightforward and righteous. And when you meet these people — and I have — they converse in tears about their sins). There is a warning: those who succumb to the memes of this world will face great judgment.
Blessed are those who die in Christ . This is something our generation is spared from. Most of us live to a good old age: those who die in their 60s and 70s are seen as having their life cut short, to the point that the spirit of this age wants us to choose suicide as a cost saving measure (call it euthanasia if you will, it is a self willed death). But the previous generations of men, saints of God, had this burden. They buried wives, often multiple ones, the babe that killed them, or their children then plague or starvation ravaged the land. While the women (then and now) grieved over a man who did not return from work or war.
But in this time, death will be a mercy. The judgment of our LORD is coming, and it will be terrible. Satan roams this world, raging, for he knows his time is short. The hatred of Christ is increasing in both East and West.
It is a time for endurance. To hold fast to the gospel. to the habits of faith (which include doing good, and loving our brothers and sisters). I pray that the LORD will spare our society, and that revival will come: for without it there will not be peace in our time, and in our generation.
But that we are not responsible for: it is the work of God. It is our job to endure.
