There
are many times when my journey of meditating on God’s word brings me back to Jesus’
declaration that we must be like little children in order to enter the kingdom
of heaven.[1]
The children in my life cannot know how often I see something they are doing
and realize that God is giving me a living illustration of how to approach him
as his beloved child. This morning I found my mind once again wandering through
the meadow of childlike thoughts, leaving me with the feeling of peaceful
wonder at the things that surround me in my Father’s word, even though I wasn’t
exactly sure what he was saying!
What
I want to share today is not some grand insight in my journey through the
Revelation Museum. Rather, I want to share how a child-minded adult makes the
journey, and receives the blessing of Jesus taking us in his arms, holding us
close to his heart,[2]
and blessing us for reading aloud the book, listening to what is read, and putting
into practice all that is taught.[3]
When
I arrived at the sixth seal,[4] I
discovered that the unusual description of John’s vision allowed for two
possibilities. Did John see a vision that had only one part, and all the
details gave a symbolic description of something that would happen at the time
of Jesus’ return? Or, did John see a vision that had two parts, the first part
to set the stage in order to get John’s attention, and the second part to
present the main act that the sixth seal would play out at the end of time?
This
is very important. If the first part of what John saw is included in what will
play out on the stage of history to usher in the return of Christ, then we will
expect to see things taking place that fulfill the symbolic description of a
great earthquake, the sun turning black, the full moon becoming like blood, the
stars falling from the sky, the sky vanishing from sight, and every mountain
and island disappearing from its place.[5]
If,
on the other hand, the first part of what John saw was the drum roll to get his
(and our) attention on the second part, then we would not expect to see these
things appear in some symbolic way in history. We would treat the hiding of the
sun, moon, stars, sky, mountains, and islands, as a clearing of the stage to
get our attention on the thing that is played out as soon as the stage is clear
and we will not be distracted from the main event.
After
wondering if this vision was in two parts, rather than one, I took another look
at the previous five seals to see if they followed a pattern. Were they all
singular visions of what would happen throughout the last hour, or were they
two parts, the first to set the stage, and the second to fulfill the script, so
to speak. I decided to do a chart to see if things would become clear.
|
Seal
|
Setting Stage
|
Presenting Act
|
Application
|
|
First
Revelation 6:1-2
|
One of the living creatures calls out a white
horse. It’s rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him.
|
The rider goes out “conquering, and to conquer.”
|
The Church goes out under the authority of Jesus
Christ to conquer the world by making disciples of all nations.
|
|
Second
Revelation 6:3-4
|
The second living creature calls out a fiery
red horse. The rider is given a great sword.
|
The rider has permission “to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one
another.”
|
While the Church goes out conquering, seeking
to bring people to have peace with God, we will never bring peace to the
world.
|
|
Third
Revelation 6:5-6
|
The third living creature calls out a black
horse. The rider “had a pair of scales
in his hand.” Attention is drawn to a voice that appeared to come from “in the midst of the four living
creatures.”
|
The voice announces that there will be highly
inflated prices on the most basic and essential food supplies.
|
While the Church goes out conquering, bringing
the bread of life to the world, we will see food shortages, and inflated food
prices, continue through the last hour.
|
|
Fourth
Revelation 6:7-8
|
The fourth living creature calls out a pale
green horse. The “rider’s name was
Death, and Hades followed him.”
|
Death and Hades were given authority to kill
a fourth of the earth with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.
|
While the Church goes out conquering,
bringing the message of life to the world, the last hour will be
characterized by all kinds of deaths through unnatural causes.
|
|
Fifth
Revelation 6:9-11
|
John “saw
under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and
for the witness they had borne.”
|
The souls of the martyrs cry out from under
the altar, asking God when justice will be fulfilled. They were given white
robes, and told to rest a little longer. There would still be more martyrs until
their number was complete.
|
While the Church goes out conquering, seeking
to save people from perishing, the world will respond by putting some of Jesus’
disciples to death. We are assured that all is well with these martyrs so
that we will press on no matter how many believers are martyred in the process.
|
|
Sixth
Revelation 6:12-17
|
John saw, “a
great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became
like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as
the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The
sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and
island was removed from its place.”
|
History will conclude with the scene of
people “calling
to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who
is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for
the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’”
|
While the Church goes out conquering, seeking
to bring people to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we are
moved to earnestly persevere with this reminder of how horrified the lost
will be at the return of Jesus Christ to usher in the wrath of God against
the sin of the nations.
|
As
you may suspect, my time with God this morning ended with a suspicion that the
symbolic disappearance of the elements may have been more about introducing the
scene to John and his readers, rather than telling us anything that will happen
in the history of the last hour itself.
However,
I am NOT presenting this to you as a conclusion, or even as a valid
interpretation. In fact, I have been hesitant to share this at all in case it
makes anyone think that I am open to whatever rogue thoughts that flit through
my mind.
Rather,
I believe that there is a place for childlike considerations of God’s thoughts,
where we wonder what something means, consider ideas and options, meditate on
things with a dependence on the Holy Spirit to teach us what we don’t know, and
remind us of how other things help us understand the Scripture at hand, and
enjoy the wonder of the scenes even while not being absolutely sure what they
mean.
What
I know is that I see children communicating like this all the time. Many a
conversation have I had with children wondering how things work. I know what it
is like to hold back my many bits of knowledge because I recognize where a
child is in his or her discoveries, while, at the same time, enjoying listening
to the way he or she is learning things I have known for a long time.
If
nothing else, I think I must look to God like my little friend who has recently
understood how adding a 1 to any other number turns it into the next number.
While I have the understanding to tell him what happens when you move into the
two-plus tables, or learn to subtract instead of add, or begin playing around
with multiplication and division, it was not my knowledge that was on center
stage. It was a child’s wondering experience of understanding one more thing
about numbers, and feeling that childhood joy that made him exclaim, “I love
math!”
If
today’s meditation on God’s word is nothing more than learning how the one-plus
tables work, then I hope I can stir up your enthusiasm for God’s word with my
declaration, “I love the book of Revelation!” If, instead, I just shared with
you a bunch of rubbish thoughts that needed to be cleared out of my head so I
could settle into what God is really saying, I have seen children learn like
that many times as well. Wait for my next post and see what I have learned!
And,
since the earliest I will be preaching on this passage is five days away, I am
sure I will really get this passage by Sunday morning. With the Holy Spirit as
my teacher, I can hardly wait for the next insights into God’s word, no matter
whether the Spirit’s focus is teaching, reproving, correcting, or training.[6] I
know that what is waiting for me is the peaceful feeling of wonder that fills
the heart of those who are willing to become like little children in order to
get to know their heavenly Father better than they have ever known him before.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
No comments:
Post a Comment