Dear church,

When the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, he did so knowing exactly what he was doing. He was pushing them, in their flesh and blood, to desire only that – flesh and blood. The devil was on a mission to make sure that these new human beings would long and desire only more of this life, with all of its physical tastes, touches, and smells.

Human beings, filled with the breath of life from God himself, were made for something more. And so Satan tried to make them think they were made for something less. 

“You will not surely die,” he said. This was a truth and a lie. The man and the woman would not in that instant suffer a physical death, as if the apple were a physical poison that would put them directly into the grave. But the man and the woman would surely suffer death. And this was the lie. They no longer would be living for God in his Sabbath rest. They would be living for something else, for something lesser. 

When Adam and Eve took the fruit in the Garden of Eden, they began to see this life – this physical life – as the highest value. Nothing mattered more than this life and preserving this life and grabbing more and more for this life. People who had the very breath of life in them, the breath of the eternal, began to take limited, perishable goods to try to satisfy a longing inside of them for the inexhaustible and the permanent. 

“The eyes of both were opened.” They began for the first time to see themselves as physical beings who had something physical to protect at all costs. At the same time, they lost sight of, they became blind to, the reality that their relationship with God was the whole fact of life.

And God punished them accordingly. Childbirth and work are our chief vocations in life. They send life further down the field. We live longer and our people and families live longer through childbirth and work. These things, which became the chief ends of humanity the moment of the first human sin, were suddenly made to be full of “pain.” 

And humanity remains this way today. We remain running from death and fighting every moment against it, as if our physical death were a thing that mattered most in the long run. We gather up fading things, accumulating them in barns and protecting them at all costs. 

A writer complained recently about people who are not taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously enough. He wrote, “I want to find an antimasker and beat them to death.” His sister had been made a widow because of COVID, and now the writer was blaming those who don’t wear masks for her plight. 

This is pain. This writer was staring physical death in the face, despite all his efforts to avoid it for himself and his family. 

And this is life when “this life” suddenly becomes the full sum of our existence. We begin to compete. We begin to become violent. We begin to seek to end the lives of those whom we see as a threat to our own. This world, filled with sin, is an ugly place.

God’s plan was to re-open our eyes. Jesus after his resurrection met two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were transfixed by his teaching, and they invited him to dinner. “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 34:30-31).

In the eating was a new “opening” for our eyes. To see the resurrected Christ – who died on the cross for our sins – is to have our eyes begin to close to this winner-take-all physical life and to open again to the reality of God and the Sabbath rest he is inviting us to enter. 

The world quite obviously is living without God at this moment in world history. The very angst that drives people to threaten those who don’t wear masks is the angst that sees this life as the only kind of life there is. It’s the angst that cries out against the idea that we will “surely die.” Somewhere inside of every human is a cry of desperation as we look at others and look at ourselves, and we cry out in disbelief, “You will not surely die!”

We don’t want to die because have lost faith in what may come next. Well, at least some people have. 

In the church, we meet people who live with joyful acceptance that someday we will return to dust, as God had said. But we also recognize that this death, because of Christ, has lost its power over us. The apostle Paul reminds us we will be resurrected, just like our Savior:

            “’Death is swallowed up in victory.’

            ‘O death, where is your victory?

            O death, where is your sting?’

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

It is only those who inhabit the church who know this. It is only those who live freely in this body – who no longer compete with one another, who constantly forgive, who don’t lord it over others but serve them – who embody this truth. We no longer compete, we always forgive, and we always serve because we know we have nothing to lose.

Unlike Adam and Eve, we are not concerned any more about dying. This life has been given to us by the one who rose from the dead and who breaks bread for us.

Chris

Dear church,

Our family was reading the news and came across a story about a celebrity who had decided how the COVID-19 vaccines should be distributed.

Among those last in line for vaccination, the celebrity declared on social media, should be Republicans, those who don’t believe “science,” and those who don’t wear masks. This famous person had figured out who deserved to be helped and those who do not deserve help. Basically, those whom the celebrity disagreed with were not worthy of assistance.

One of our family had to ask, “How can a person think that way?”

I suppose for some in the world, this is a perfectly logical way to think. We can learn to hate some people because they oppose what we think is right. We can learn to despise them and wish that they would suffer, that they would feel pain and loss. We want them to feel rejected – not just by ourselves but by the entire culture. It is what they deserve.

This is dark thinking. And this is not how God designed humans to live. This is the image of God perverted. 

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” 

In this, we are different from every other animal – according to Scripture. We have been infused with the “breath of life.”

The breath of the one who IS life itself has breathed into us. It has turned us from dust into something more. We are living creatures animated by God himself. And this puts into us a longing for the things of life and for the one who gave it to us.

And we can think forward to Jesus’ own “breath” when he encountered the disciples in that locked room on that special Sunday night. “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). 

The disciples were living creatures already, given the divine image that they had somehow marred. But now they had received again the breath of life and were filled with the presence of that Life itself. 

And this new breath wasn’t given just to an individual to live as an individual, just as the first breath wasn’t given only to Adam but also to all who came after him and who were part of his family. 

We are the people of light, and we have the new breath of life in us. And we hear the words of the world, the words of hatred and evil, and the words that talk about what a person does and does not “deserve,” and we know these things are wrong. In fact, these things are evil. 

Because we are people of light and have been infused with the breath of life, we understand there is Something Else at work in the world – and not everything is a matter of what one “deserves,” and not everything can be boiled down to my rights and your rights. 

The Holy Spirit talks to us constantly of grace. If we get what we deserve, we would get nothing at all. What we have is a gift, and the renewed image of God in the life of a believer is one that shares the gift without conditions. 

But it is so easy to forget who we are and who we are becoming. And so we must be vigilant.

Chris

Dear church,

When God said, “Let there be light,” we think about the enormous implications of “light.” 

We think about the power of light to make us see and to give energy for the growth of vegetation. We understand what it means to be walking in a dark room and then to turn on the light – how everything is different once we do. 

And we know the power of the sun as it dips to the south each winter, leaving us cold and under snow. And when it returns in the spring, the earth warms up and trees sprout leaves and the grass grows green. This, too, comes from “light.”

But Scripture doesn’t leave “light” in the realm of the physical. Not even close. “Light” is more than that. 

Light is associated with the presence of God (Exodus 34:29; 2 Chronicles 7:1; Revelation 22:5). It is connected to the plan of salvation and is linked directly to the Messiah (Isaiah 9:2; John 1:9; 8:12). And it is bound to the concept of God’s Word. We can hear Amy Grant singing, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). We may think of light as God’s revelation of himself to the world (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Yes, light is something more than we see with our physical eyes.

Light also marks out the people of God (Isaiah 42:6; Matthew 5:14). Yes, in the opening scene of the Bible – “Let there be light” – we are reminded there is a people of light. And God had them in mind from the very beginning. 

In the church, we are “children of light” (Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5). I take this to mean we are people living in the presence of God. We are saved, and we know the Messiah. He has been revealed to us. And we are guided by his commands and promises. 

To come in among the people of the church is to come in among the light.  

We are likely to encounter many problems with this concept. The church, filled with the sinful people it contains, sometimes can feel like darkness. Bitterness and rivalry and selfishness and silence can mark out the church, and it no longer feels like light. 

And so some run away and declare they are still the “light,” off on their own little hill, shining for the world. “Let there be light,” for them, means something small and individual – like a flashlight. 

But we know this cannot be God’s intent. The isolated “light,” content to be separate from others of the “light,” is a contradictory thing. This is because if there is any virtue connected to the Person who is the “light of the world,” it is the virtue of grace. Some might call it forgiveness. Others might declare it to be reconciliation. “First be reconciled to your brother …” (Matthew 5:24).

We can’t be the “light” without grace, forgiveness, or reconciliation. To “let there be light” is to let these things, which were fully embodied by the “light of the world,” rule our hearts. 

And so what about the church, full of its sinners and its occasional ego-maniacs? What happens when we come in among the light – the “children of light” – and feel darkness closing in?

We push the darkness out. We see it for what it is. We don’t become discouraged. By the light of God, we dispel it. 

We forgive. We work for reconciliation within the church. We have hard conversations, again and again if need be, until we actually begin to feel like the brothers and sisters that we are. 

I am convinced this is not as hard to do as it may at first seem. It is Satan’s lie, the great deception of the world, that makes Holy Spirit-filled believers think we are so desperately far apart from one another. 

The darkest deception is the one that tells us it is better to leave than to open our mouths with words of reconciliation and to trust in the God who can lead us there.

“Let there be light.” Perhaps that is a prayer we ought to pray as a church. 

Chris

Dear church,

This ends our Bible-reading series that extended from Acts through Revelation. What a blessing! We’ll be starting another reading plan soon to see where God takes us as a church.

The Book of Revelation never allows us to take our eyes off God. And it never lets us forget our propensity as humans to worship something other than God. 

The minute John’s vision was interrupted – the second it came to an end – John inexplicably fell down at the feet of an angel to worship. The angel quickly corrected John. We are not to worship created things – not things made out of wood or stone or gold. We are not even to worship angels, which seem to be the mightiest of the created beings. No, we are only to worship the Creator.

“Worship God,” the angel said.

The first commandment for God’s people comes to mind here. “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). In fact, reverence for God made up the next three of the Ten Commandments as well – against idol-making, against taking God’s name in vain, and for keeping the Sabbath holy. God is God, and we are not to put anything before him. The angel said, “Worship God.”

We can see in John’s actions how people so quickly could fall prey to the antichrist and false prophet of Revelation 13. “And they worshiped the dragon,” we are told (Revelation 13:4). Somewhere deep inside us, we are looking for something to worship. And the closer it is to us the better. We tend, it seems, to worship things that are at hand and that seem to give us a bit of comfort in a difficult world. 

We are told these days to listen to “the science.” Sometimes, it seems like some people consider “science” to be a living, breathing thing that only speaks the truth. Science alone, it seems, is what will guide us through the difficult times. 

But “the science” seems to change everyday. It is a fluid thing. Scientific studies frequently contradict themselves. And “the science” is, by nature, very focused. It studies one thing to the exclusion of others. “The science” says it is best to close down restaurants and schools, but the science that tells us that does not answer how those closures might impact the people who are sent home. “The science” asking for shutdowns doesn’t concern itself with those questions. That would require an entirely different kind of scientific study. And that study might give different advice.

And yet we are told to believe in “the science.” We’re told to do what “the science” says, even if it is telling us to do two contradictory things – or a hundred contradictory things. 

In short, yes, it is possible to worship science – and scientists. We can fall down at the feet of science and give it glory. 

We also can fall down at the feet of ideas – like kindness, and love, and tolerance, and equality. Like science, these things can seem to promise us a way to navigate our difficult lives, and they seem to hold out hope for a better future, if only we would carry them out. These are wonderful ideals, but they must be undergirded by something even more fundamental than themselves. Showing “kindness” to one person in our culture can become a reason to be hated by others. And “love” may in fact be unloving if it allows people to continue on in self-destructive behaviors. The same goes for “tolerance” and “equality.” These are in the eye of the beholder, so they say.

And all of this false worship comes alongside those well-known idols of money, sex, and power. We can worship these things, too. We can fall at the feet of these things, seeing them as avenues to the good life. They hold out a promise to make all things better, if only we could grasp them. 

And we ought not forget we can worship ourselves. Tradition has it that Satan’s pride dropped him out of heaven. He would not submit to the rule of God. Satan thought he needed more. We can fall down at the feet of our pride – of ourselves – an awkward position indeed!

And so we are prone to worship things close at hand, whether people or ideas, objects or ourselves. But the angel said, “Worship God.”

One of the distinguishing marks of Christianity is that we be distinguishing people. We distinguish between eternal and temporal and between good and evil. Ultimately, we need to be able to distinguish between God and everything else. We need to know him to worship him. 

Our practices as Christians are designed to teach us to know him. Prayer and Bible study and singing and gathering and taking the Lord’s Supper and fasting and serving are designed to point us to him. Sometimes it is cognitive, like a good sermon sinking home. Sometimes it is experiential, like when we find ourselves serving unnoticed and unappreciated – like Christ. Sometimes it is emotional, like when we find ourselves surrounded by our brothers and sisters in prayer. 

These things point us to God. We learn to know what he’s like. And we learn to love him more and more. And we determine to worship God with more clarity and conviction.

In the Book of Revelation, we learn God is a God who makes and re-makes. He is a God of resurrection. The dead come to life. The created is re-created. Jerusalem will meet the new Jerusalem. The world of men will become the kingdom of Christ. 

This is God’s business. Our business is to worship. 

Chris

Dear church,

When Mary and Joseph found their way to Bethlehem, they found a town that was at capacity. The inn, such as it was, was full. People likely had arrived in the community to comply with the census. And, of course, there likely were a good number of family reunions going on across the town. Many super-spreader events were occurring here!

And so Mary and Joseph found no place to stay – at least no good place to stay. “There was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

And so here was the Messiah, the Savior of the world, being laid in a manger, out where the animals were kept, because the world had no place for him. The holy family was gathered around a feeding trough. What kind of life was this?

We know the story so well that we sometimes forget how this story – about the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ on earth – also is the story of the church and its members. We follow Jesus, and we find ourselves at times in a world that leaves no place for us. 

The world too often leaves no place for people who pursue justice and righteousness. It leaves no place for those who are humble in heart and for the meek. It leaves no place for those who first desire to be forgiven and to forgive. It leaves no place for those who would sacrifice themselves unconditionally. It leaves no place for those who set aside their privilege to become servants. 

As Jesus was, so are we. He told his disciples one time, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

Of course, we don’t like the word “hate.” That’s a strong word. Does the world really hate Jesus’ followers? The Spirit-led person can see that it does – that the world does not tolerate the things of God. The “world” crucified Jesus Christ on a hill outside Jerusalem. Once again, he was outside – in a place that left no place for him. We can be sure, Jesus said, the world would do the same to believers if given the opportunity.

The world has a capacity limit. Ah, we can understand this. Our COVID-19 restrictions say only 50 percent or 25 percent of capacity is allowed in some buildings. It’s too dangerous to pack more than that into a confined space. The person who shows up after capacity is reached is out of luck. He or she might hear, “I’m sorry. We are at capacity, according to the government’s public health order. There is no place for you. Go away.”

We try to understand this the best we can. Or we might try to argue. But in the end, the answer is the same. There is no place for us. We must find somewhere else to go.

The church ought to come to terms with the idea that this is its lot in life in this world. Closed doors are the expectation – not the exception.

But then we see something else here at the very end of the New Testament. A new city descends from heaven. This is not Bethlehem. And this is not the “Babylon” of the world. This new Jerusalem is different. 

This is a city of light. God’s very presence in this city sheds light throughout it. And there is no temple in this city. The old order of “religion” has come to an end. We will not need our church services and our prayers and our gatherings and liturgies to point us to God. This is because we will be with God and in God at every moment. There will be no more lines between sacred time and space and ordinary time and space. Everything will be holy.

And in this light from God and his city “will the nations walk.” Where are they walking? They are walking into the city – a place that apparently has no capacity limits because its gates are always open. “Its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there.” The nations and the kings of the earth will come to this new city – the home of the King of kings and the Lord of lords (19:16) – and they will bear gifts. Like the three wisemen of Jesus’ birth, they will bring all of their own glory into this place of God. They will give it to him.

We can picture a constant flow of people into this city. They just keep coming. Nothing prevents them from coming. No one says to them, “There is no place for you.”

This is the picture we are given of eternal life. That eternal life started in a stable in the town of Bethlehem, surrounded by doors that were shut and capacity limits that already had been exceeded. And eternal life reaches its fulfillment in the new Jerusalem. The gates will be open. We always are welcome to come in.

“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” 

We ought not to forget the Lamb. Here is the key to all of existence. That baby born in Bethlehem is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world on the cross (John 1:29, 36). He died for you and I. He was spotless and pure. And he died the death that we deserve. And we are made spotless when we put our faith in him. We are forgiven. We become the people of God.

And we walk by the light of the lamp of the Lamb. Jesus once said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). This light of Jesus, this light in the new Jerusalem, is life itself. It is everlasting life. To live in the new Jerusalem, to enter its gates, we must first receive the Lamb. We must receive Jesus (John 1:12).

This is the story that we come to celebrate during the Christmas season – the story of overcoming closed doors and capacity limits and walking in the light of life. 

Chris

Dear church,

Judgment Day is a fearsome thing – the day God will judge people and the content of their lives, “according to what they had done.” Those who are judged negatively end up in the “lake of fire.”

We could scoff at the notion of Judgment Day and say a loving God would not judge. But love is true, and things that are true necessarily set themselves aside from everything else – from the world of falsehood and deception that are the realm of the devil. Our greatest thrill is when the devil himself is thrown into the great pit “so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” 

Because love is true and because it separates itself from the falsehood of the devil, we know judgment is required. Our loving God searches out love. Jesus told that skeptical lawyer about the “great and first commandment,” to love God with all heart and all soul and all mind (Matthew 22:37-38). To love God is the best thing we ever could do. I suppose that means that to hate God is the worst thing we could do.

When Judgment Day comes, God will pull out the books. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. … And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

Everything here is done “by the book,” so to speak. That’s a good thing. There’s no room here for sentimentality or subjective emotional responses. God will look in my book, and he will look in your book, and he will judge us according to what’s in our books. Our books contain our life story, including the things we’ve done in our lives. 

This is not fake news. It is true. When we hear what is read out of our books, we will have to shake our heads in acknowledgement because we will know the things reported there are true. We did those things. It happened just as it was written. “I know your works” (Revelation 2:2, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). To object would be the most foolish and useless thing we could do. And I suppose in that moment, before the throne of God, we will know that. 

And so God will judge us objectively. It will be black and white. Simple as that. 

What is written in your book? If you were to see a catalogue of your actions – a list of things that you have done – what would you expect to see? What would draw your attention? Would anything surprise you? Would the sheer volume of some of your actions, repeated over and over, catch you off guard?

Yes, there is much to fear about Judgment Day.

But there is another book that will be opened on that day – “the book of life.” In this book, names are recorded. I imagine it to be page after page of names. Like a phone book. The names belong to those who ultimately will live.

The book of life has a long history for God’s people. They’ve always known about the book of life. The psalmist complained about his enemies, and he wrote, “Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous” (Psalm 69:27-28). The psalmist knew God had a book.

The prophet Daniel, exiled in Babylon, knew it, too. There would come a day of deliverance for God’s people: “But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:1-2). A deliverance would come to those whose names were in the book – and resurrection to everlasting life or everlasting contempt hung on whether a person’s name was in the book.

Jesus also alluded to the book of life as he talked with his disciples. They were so joyful when they could cast out demons. But Jesus said, “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Some names are written down in heaven, in the place where God dwells. 

The apostle Paul knew about the book of life. He wrote to the church in Philippi about two women who could not get along. But he seemed to place them in good company. “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:2-3). Perhaps perfect agreement with each other isn’t a criteria for ending up in the book of life!

And those who have their names written in the book of life have nothing to fear. Jesus said that. Earlier in Revelation, he said, “Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:4-5).

A little later in Revelation, we see just a little bit more about the book of life. And it tells us something very important for our understanding of this book – and how a person gets his or her name into the book. In Revelation 13, we see the coming of the antichrist and the widespread worship of the antichrist. But not everyone worshiped this figure. “And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 13:7-8).

This book of life is the Lamb’s book of life. This is the Lamb who was slain. Our names are written there not based on a collection of our deeds. God indeed will judge us for our deeds. That’s a very simple affair. It’s in black and white in our own books. 

But even with our misdeeds and our own salty “books,” there is even something more important to which we ought to look. Are our names in the Lamb’s book of life – the Lamb who was slain? This is Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins. Our names are written in his book as we recognize him as the Lamb, as the Savior, as the Son of God come to rescue the world. 

The Gospel of John says this: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

If we put this all together, we understand the appearance of our names in the book of life only happens if we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We trust Jesus – that he exists and that he did what the Bible said he did. He is God himself. He died on a cross for our sins. And he rose again. He takes away the sting of death. We operate in faith, not by sight. And we await for the opening of that book of life. 

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Everything comes down to that book! Or, more properly, everything comes down to whether we have come to Jesus. It is all about him. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in our lives and with our lives. If our names are not in the book of life, if we haven’t accepted the good news of Jesus Christ, we face an eternity of anguish. The lake of fire awaits. 

There’s really no other way to say it at this point. Either we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, or we perish.

For those of us who have accepted Christ, we ought to continue to remain in him – to not soil our “garments” and, as Jesus said, to “conquer” through our patient endurance of temptation and tribulation. We need to be wary of the way in which evil is at work in the world, trying to lure God’s people away from their first love. We need wisdom.

We also have an obligation to share the gospel. Many people have not yet accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. The stakes are very high. This is not a game. Judgment Day will come, and the books will be opened, and the book will be opened. The contents of those books will be read. Eternity resides in that moment.

God does judge. He is looking for those who return his love, for those who have faith in the Lamb, for those who accept the gift.

Chris 

Dear church,

A familiar Christmas text comes from the early part of Isaiah 9. Part of that text reads, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

As Christians, we recognize the child who was born was born in Bethlehem. This is one of the Old Testament prophecies of the birth of Jesus Christ. The government that is upon his shoulder belongs to the kingdom of God. This is the fulfillment of the kingdom of Israel under the leadership of King David. What David started, Jesus brings to completion. This is a kingdom and a government that brings justice for all. And it is a righteous kingdom, marked by the grace of God. Sin is cast out. And it is a kingdom of peace that will have no end. Violence has no place in this kingdom.

Jesus was given four names in this passage from Isaiah – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These form important descriptors of the wisdom, power, eternal nature, and essential gift of Jesus Christ. This is what “his name shall be called.”

This prophecy was fulfilled during the first coming of the Son of God. During his life on earth, Jesus counseled his people. He demonstrated his power over creation by calming the storm and walking on water. He rose from the dead and promised eternal life to anyone who would believe in him. And he made a way for peace with God through the forgiveness of our sins.

In Revelation 19, we see another prophecy, this one pointing to the second coming of the Son of God. In John’s vision, Jesus appeared on a white horse. And in John’s description, Jesus was given another four names. If you read carefully, you will see them.

Jesus will be called “Faithful and True.” Truth marks his very existence – in opposition to the deception the devil and the world use to confuse and tempt. The word that we often use to end our prayers is “Amen.” This word in English often can be translated as “so be it.” Or put another way, it could be “truly.” Earlier in the Book of Revelation, Jesus described himself as “the Amen.” (3:14). He is the embodiment of “so be it” or “truly.” What Jesus says and does is certain, real, and true. He is called “Faithful and True.”

Jesus also “has a name written that no one knows but himself.” As much as we know about Jesus, we don’t know everything. As smart as we think we are, as much Bible knowledge as we accumulate, as much theological skill as we can muster – we still don’t know everything there is to know about him. Jesus is beyond our reckoning. He “has a name written that no one knows but himself.”

Jesus also is called “The Word of God.” We know this. John’s Gospel already called Jesus the Word that was “with God” and “was God” (John 1:1). Jesus is the divine Word of God. God’s people have a story, and that story is brought to us in words. We need these words to know the story – about Abraham, about Moses, about David, about Elijah, and about the rest. We need these words to know about Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and angels. This isn’t just any story. This is a story about God’s never-ending love for his people and his never-ending love for the world. It’s a story of grace. It’s a story of good news. And this gospel story is given to us in words. And what we find out is these words – this Word – is not some abstract concept of Wisdom or Goodness. No, it’s a person. Jesus IS the story. Jesus is the Word. Every paragraph, every sentence, every word, every syllable of the story points to him. Jesus is called “The Word of God.”

And finally, Jesus’ name is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” He is one who conquers. In Revelation, we’ve seen the kings of the earth rallying to the great prostitute – “Babylon the great.” But these kings are not really kings. There is nothing inherently powerful about them. There’s nothing lasting about their rule. Their kingdoms are given to them, and their kingdoms will come to an end. Jesus rules over every kingdom. The apostle Paul said, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Chris is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

These are the names of Jesus Christ – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Faithful and True, The Word of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and one name that no one knows but Jesus himself.

So what do we make of all of this? What is the application for us today, especially in this time of COVID, anxiety, depression, and political unrest? What is the application for us today in this season of Christmas?

Pick one of those names for Jesus. Pick the one that you need today. All of these names are names for you to call him. But one of them may be for you today. It may give you the encouragement that you need as you move through your day. It may give you a thought to meditate on as you do your work or as you enter your prayers.

And one of these names may be one for us to spend time with as a church. We may need to call Jesus Christ – as a church – our “Wonderful Counselor” when we don’t know which way to turn. Or he may be, in this uncertain time, “Faithful and True.” Or, faced with social upheaval in our country, we may simply need him to speak to us as “Lord of lords.” Or we may simply, in our humbleness, need to dwell in the mystery of that unknown name.

Pick one of those names and consider Jesus in the light of that name – of his name. Spend time thinking about it and praying about it. I’m curious where God will take you.

Chris

Dear church,

Years ago when I worked as a police reporter for a newspaper, I heard a late night report on the police scanner of a house fire. The address took me far out into the country, and I could see the glow of the firetrucks in the distance as I approached.

When I pulled up to the scene, I watched the firefighters working to put out the blaze that could be seen emerging from the two-story farmhouse. But what I really found myself watching was the homeowner. He was hustling around, moving things out of the way, helping the firefighters haul around their water lines, giving them suggestions about how best to put out the fire.

The man was very busy trying to save his house. And then he stopped. There was nothing more to do. Somewhere in his mind, the realization came over him. His house was being destroyed. 

That reminded me of another house fire I viewed as a newspaper reporter – in the middle of the city, just a few blocks from my office. There, the homeowner arrived late, well after the fire was reported and the fire trucks had arrived. And as the man walked up the sidewalk to his home, from which black smoke was billowing, he collapsed to the ground in shock. The paramedics propped him up against a tree and gave him oxygen. 

I was reminded of these episodes while reading about the fall of Babylon – pictured as the prostitute in Chapter 17 – and the way in which the kings and merchants of the earth lamented the fall of the city. Babylon represents worldly political and religious power. It represents what Satan has to offer the nations of the world in order to pull them away from the true worship of God.

And as the city burned, the people who lived there mourned. The entire structure of sinful living and rebellion against God had been lit on fire. The residents couldn’t believe it, and they grieved. This was their home. This was all they knew. Where would they go now?

The fault of Babylon was the way in which it exploited people – and its pride. “I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.”

God called his people out of the city. Like the Israelites taking leave of the actual ancient city of Babylon in order to return to the Promised Land, we can picture God’s faithful ones hitting the road. Like the prophet Daniel, they remained committed to God even while exiled in this city of greed, pride, power, and lust.

This paints a picture for us of the world in which we live. We have another home, and this is not it.

Chris

Dear church,

We are in the Christmas season, and so we don’t typically spend much time in chapters like Revelation 17. It’s not really a Christmas text. No, we prefer to hang out in the early parts of the gospels of Matthew or Luke. Here’s an interesting exercise: Take some time to compare Luke 1-2 with Revelation 17. There probably aren’t two passages in Scripture more different than these. 

One passage fills us with warm thoughts about the baby Jesus. In Luke 1-2, we see a faithful woman. We see purity – virginity, even. We see humble submission to the will of God. We see a birthplace that had no worldly luxury – only swaddling cloths and a manger. We see unimpressive shepherds glorifying and praising God. We see angels singing “peace on earth.” We see people filled with the Holy Spirit and praising God.

There is much to fill our hearts in Luke 1-2.

Meanwhile, Revelation 17 completely unsettles our minds. We are not left with warm thoughts. We don’t see a faithful woman but a prostitute. Prostitutes embody the concept of faithlessness. This was no virgin. In this chapter, we also see impurity and sexual immorality, and a drunken orgy with the kings of the earth. Rather than humble submission, we see pomp and pride and a show of wealth – purple and scarlet, gold and jewels and pearls. Rather than shepherds, we see kings – kings who are hungry for sex and for royal power. And in the end, they are hungry for the very flesh of the prostitute. We also have angels and the Holy Spirit in this passage, but rather than singing “peace on earth,” they are showing us the very opposite. This is a picture of evil, and it is an evil that consumes itself.

There is much to make us uncomfortable about Revelation 17. Again, it is not a proto-typical Christmas text!

However, the very practice of comparing these two passages of Scripture offers us time for pause and a recognition of the world in which we live. The world into which Jesus was born, for all its calm and humble warmth, was the very world where the prostitute rides rampant. 

We don’t have to venture too much further into the Christmas story to find King Herod. In his fury, he killed all the male children of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). Herod wanted to kill Jesus. But Jesus escaped. We might be reminded of the dragon of Revelation 12 – the dragon who eventually gave rise to the best. The dragon was waiting beside a pregnant woman who was “clothed with the sun” and about to give birth to the “one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” The dragon wanted to devour the child. But the child escaped. 

Jesus was born into a world infected with evil.

Our tendency with passages like Revelation 17 is to try to crack the code. We want to decipher who the prostitute is. Who is Babylon? And we try to pinpoint the identities of the beast, the seven kings, and the ten kings. When we study this passage as code-breakers, we’ll find multiple ways to interpret the text. 

Some people think “Babylon” in this text, with its seven hills, is Rome. Others think Babylon is some other worldly power, or an embodiment of all the worldly powers like Rome, the Soviet Union, and even the United States. Some people think the prostitute is the apostate church – the church that has turned from being the bride of Christ and the people of God and has become adulterous. This would be the heretical church that has made its bed with the kings of the earth, with the greedy political powers that we see all around us. Some think the seven kings are Roman emperors. No one seems really to know who the ten kings are. And it remains a bit of a puzzle why the beast and the ten kings would turn on the prostitute to devour her. 

All of this is very interesting. Sort of. 

What is missing in all of this is the certainty we have when we read the chapters on the birth of baby Jesus. Revelation 17 isn’t designed to give us that kind of certainty. As we read, we “marvel,” just as John did.

What we know for sure is hideous evil is pressing against the world, trying to destroy the work of Christ. The world is happy to visit the prostitute. Selfish desire, sexual lust, financial gain, and power are sure draws on the human heart. In a sort of reverse Lord’s Supper, the scene ends with the kings and the beast eating the flesh of a prostitute. Evil turns on itself.

But Christ remains in control. “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called chosen and faithful.” 

Perhaps you recall what the angel told Mary back in Luke 1: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).

Our task as a church is never to forget the conquering and everlasting nature of the kingdom of Jesus. Surrounding us is a world filled with naked desire and selfishness that is competing with itself and devouring itself. But our place is not there. Our place is close to the manger, close to the Lamb – to be “those with him” who are “called and chosen and faithful.” We’re to be like lowly shepherds, not kings. After all, we have our own King.

Even at Christmas time – especially at Christmas time – we can be wary. We can see the world for what it is. And we can trust in our King.

Chris

Dear church,

The plagues of Chapter 16, emerging from bowls from temple in heaven, are the worst of the “sevens” in Revelation. Rather than afflicting just a portion of the earth or only a fraction of the people on it, these plagues tore at the entirety of God’s creation on earth.

I found it interesting that the people of God were just seen in Chapter 15 singing the song of Moses beside the sea – similar to what they did after their exodus from Egypt. In Revelation, the song preceded a collection of plagues that were poured out on earth. In Exodus, the song came after those plagues.  

The contents of the fifth bowl landed on the throne of the beast. We must like this. The antichrist’s kingdom was plunged into darkness!

And yet, the people of that kingdom “gnawed their tongues in anguish.” Those people cursed God, and they refused to repent of their sins.

A moment later, after the sixth bowl was poured out, strange spirits like frogs came out of the mouths of Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet. Frogs are a familiar plague (Exodus 8:1).

Back in Egypt, the result of the frog plague was this: “The land stank” (Exodus 8:14).

In reading Revelation 16, I was reminded what is in our mouths and what comes out of our mouths matters a great deal. The people of the land gnawed their tongues in their mouths. We’re given a picture of people chewing on the very thing they use to speak, to express themselves.

Satan and the forces of evil then released from their own mouths a trinity of unclean spirits. Perhaps the affliction was not a physical one but one that altered atmosphere in the world. The spirit of evil – which we see so often in our social media and in the communication we receive from the world – tends to stink. The voices of the world try to convince us to curse God.

We need to look around us and identify the way the atmosphere we inhabit is infected by evil. And we need to pay attention to our tongues.

Our mouths are not meant to do anything other than give glory to God – our Creator. When we don’t give him glory, when we continue to curse him, we live in rebellion. And, like the people in Revelation 16, we end up destroying ourselves. If we don’t use our tongues properly, we’ll end up destroying them. We ought to praise him.

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5-6, 11).

Chris