Vain Obedience ...

How can you obey a command you do not understand?  Your boss hands you a stack of papers 18 inches thick, the type font is small, they are single spaced and double-sided type, and they are written in a combination of Cyrillic, Kanji, and ancient Babylonian.  He says simply to you, do what this says and walks away.  You stare blankly at the papers, not even knowing where to begin.  The task is overwhelming.  But it is not just the magnitude of a challenge that can make it difficult.  Different scenario.  Your boss walks up to you and says … be ready for this afternoon’s meeting.  The command is simple.  The expectation at least superficially understood.  But then, what all might that simple command imply?  Is there some material you are supposed to memorize?  Are you supposed to be ready to present?  Are you just supposed to be ready to get there on time, maybe 15 minutes early?  While the command is very simple in language, duration, and seemingly in intent.  It could mean a hundred different things.  How could you possibly be “ready” for every scenario this might imply?  How could anyone?

To begin to know what to do, could start with a knowledge of your boss.  If your boss is a mystery to you, and does things nearly always in a random manner, you are up a creek.  But if your boss is fairly consistent, and has given you similar guidance in the past, with perhaps more context in those times.  Maybe you could extrapolate your history of life with your boss, to this particular event.  At least your odds of pleasing your boss go up, based on following the pattern your boss may have laid out up to now.  Even then, sometimes it is not just the “what” that we do, it is the “how” that we do it.  When my boss gives me a command it is “understood” by him (and should be by me), that whatever he asks me to do, he intends for me to accomplish it in an ethical and legal manner.  Meeting a sales quota by sniping customers from a team mate is unacceptable.  Goal achieved, but method of achievement negates the accomplishment.  It gets even worse if you resort to fraud, or theft, or some other nefarious means to attempt to meet the assigned objective.

So when God tells us to do something, do we find ourselves in the same boat as when the boss gives us a simple edict without nearly enough context to know what we are supposed to do?  Take the Sabbath as an example.  We are supposed to “remember it”.  Easy enough.  We are not likely to “forget” a day of the week.  But then the remembering was in the context of “to keep it Holy”.  Ut-oh.  Here is where we rapidly go downhill.  Humans are really bad at understanding anything about Holiness.  We are sort of the living embodiment of the opposite of Holiness.  So how do we keep something Holy when we do not understand almost anything about Holy in the first place?  More context is offered.  We are advised not to work on this day.  But not just us.  Not our servants either.  In fact, no one who is within our gates, will be required to work on this day.  This is great context.  It helps us get a better idea of what is being requested here.  But is that it?  Then comes the inevitable question, how exactly do you define “work”? 

Is work something I do for money, perhaps only what I do for money?  Then the husband puts his feet up, and the wife continues to “work” all throughout the day?  That does not seem like the ask.  So then the definition of work must extend past just activities I do for money.  How do I know?  Well, the example of manna that fell in the wilderness over 40 years to feed the Israelites gives us a good indication.  Manna was only good for a single day, until Friday when a double portion fell, and it did not spoil over Sabbath.  That meant on Sabbath no gathering, and no prep.  You could simply enjoy the food made the day before.  Presumably this means mom gets a break too.  Presumably this means the servants can take the day off.  Presumably God wants to relate to everyone on Sabbath, not just those of advantage.  And it would appear God defines work with a broader brush than just what I do for money.  And of course, God defined His own rest, as being a rest from the work of creation He had done the previous six days.  His creation looks more like art to me, though perhaps it is science, or perhaps just genius – but He rested from it and the universe kept spinning.

Enter the Pharisees and Sadducees, both had a keen interest in “keeping” the law.  Israel had suffered war, famine, and slavery for ignoring the law over their history.  Though a closer examination of God’s patience running out usually corresponded to Israel worshipping other gods that required them to throw babies (mostly male) into the fires, while preserving female babies to become temple prostitutes.  The ruining of young lives just seemed to be the straw that broke the back of God’s patience with the people who claim His name.  Consider that as you examine the state of how we treat young lives in our own country and churches.  So the modern church leadership in the days of Christ, had a very keen intent to keep the law so as never to see the wars and slavery they had experienced in the past.  They developed then, an extensive additional set of context around what it means to “keep” the Sabbath.  Their list of rules, eventually devolved into walking only a certain number of steps.  Food preparation must be done the day before, or you went hungry.  And yet despite all these precautions, Rome was still in power, and Jews were still slaves.  However since the Sanhedrin still existed, they reasoned, they had to be doing something right.

Then along comes Jesus.  Matthew begins chapter twelve of his gospel touching on the most important commandment, the primary one that sets the people of God apart from every other religion on planet earth.  Outside of circumcision, and kosher diets, what makes a Jew a Jew is the keeping of the Sabbath.  The Sanhedrin had become confident in “how” they did what they did.  They became confident that they were “obeying” the law, to the extent that the law required, and a good measure further just in case.  So does the modern Christian.  While not obsessed with the law, we are equally as certain, that we obey our Lord, to the extent that He has asked, and a little extra just in case.  But perhaps in our certainty of obedience is nothing more than vanity.

Matthew begins in verse 1 saying … “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. [verse 2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.”  A lot to unpack here.  First, Jesus and crew were walking through a corn field, this act by itself would negate the idea of how many steps one could take before it crossed the line into work which was precluded to do on the Sabbath.  Strike One.  Then, his disciples get hungry, likely from seeing and smelling all the ripe corn right in front of their faces.  It is kind of like sitting in front of the TV watching your favorite show, and after a few advertisements for pizza, you begin to crave pizza.  But no matter, the disciples begin to pick and shuck the corn in preparation of eating it.  This was food preparation, for which there were specific examples in earlier scripture of why this should be prohibited.  Also note, Jesus Himself, was not actually doing this, He elected to go hungry.  But for His disciples, Strike Two.  Then the disciples proceeded to eat the corn (apparently none of them offered ears to Jesus, their Master, clearly an oversight driven by bodily needs).  But legally, eating fruit of the poisoned preparation tree results in, you guessed it, Strike Three.

The Sanhedrin knew the law on this matter.  So the leadership brings this horrible infraction of the law to Jesus’ attention, giving Jesus no credit for refraining from it Himself.  The disciples (people who they did not appreciate) were breaking it.  The patriarchs of the faith however, were people the leadership venerated.  Long dead, Moses, Joshua, Samson, and David, could do no wrong.  They had become Jewish saints if there could ever be such a thing.  So Jesus chooses to use that in His response to them.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; [verse 4] How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?”

In our day we call this “what-about-ism”.  Jesus does not actually say that what the disciples did is OK against the letter of the law.  But He does make a comparison of people the Pharisees besmirch with the honorable can-do-no-wrong, compared-with-the-heart-of-God David and his crew.  The Jewish saint they venerate, and his men (who in actuality, were all incredibly efficient killers on the battlefield, none other of their skills preserved in Jewish scrolls), went into the Temple.  This was a huge no-no, only the priests are even allowed in there.  Then they ate the shewbread, which is an offering to God, that ONLY the priests were allowed to eat under specific conditions.  Another huge no-no.  Those infractions are also clearly a part of the known Jewish law, at the time of David, until this time.  And scripture records no prayer of David begging forgiveness for what he and his men did.  They just did it.  Net result.  How can the leadership there in attendance criticize the disciples of Jesus for doing something far less an infraction, than the historical leader David did (who they publicly venerate as some sort of saint)?  It would be hypocritical, or rather, it would point out the hypocrisy of valuing people in any sort of caste system, putting them on a level playing field with the very men they “knew” they were above.

Next Jesus really twists their thinking as He continues in verse 5 saying … “Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?”  This one is a true mindbender.  On Sabbath, priests (and in our day preachers) “work”.  They do the “work” of the Lord, but it is still “work”.  Back then, that “work” involved killing innocent lambs as a symbolism foretelling the killing of Jesus Himself.  It was and is shedding innocent blood, for the remission of sins.  Killing too, was prohibited in the law.  The shedding of blood in the Temple was highly controlled, and on Sabbath, would have been considered work.  They “profane” the Temple by continuing a practice driven by the evil in men’s hearts.  But the priests are held blameless.  Working to bring men to God is not considered “work” by the God on the end of that equation.  Even though we pay preachers and priests to do it, and even though “most” of their work is conducted on the very day we are commanded to rest.

Now Jesus has pointed out publicly that the priests who are so critical, have a profession where they work on the Sabbath with regularity despite the incongruence with the law.  The anger brews in the mind of the rebuked Pharisee, for they remain certain in their vain obedience, that correction even from the mouth of God is not met with acceptance, but with hatred.  Jesus continues in verse 6 saying … “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.”  Now Jesus has gone too far, now He has crossed a line He will never be able to uncross.  The Temple was “the” place where God Himself sat upon the Mercy seat.  It was His holy presence behind that curtain that made all of Israel fear and tremble daring not to peek behind it even for a second, lest the contrast between true Holiness and our state, cause us to die.  Only once a year did the High Priest, after much consecration and prayer, dare to go behind the curtain for a prescribed practice.  Even then, he wore bells on the hems of his garment and a rope around his ankle, so that if the bells went silent, the attendants could pull him out knowing he was dead, and being unable to retrieve his body any other way lest they themselves die in the process.

That was the definition of Holiness to a Jew, it is irony we have so casual a view of it.  And here stood Jesus, claiming to be One greater than the Temple (upon whose seat it was He who sat).  Jesus was now making a clear statement that the buildings dedicated to His service, are NOT as important as the God they purport to serve.  Jesus was saying He can be found outside of Temple walls.  Jesus was saying that being close to His people was and is the most important thing to Him, even when that is in the middle of a corn field on some random Sabbath.  Proximity to Jesus is not about buildings, it is about a desire to be close.  Here was the God they worshipped standing right in front of them, but they failed to see, all the while believing they were in perfect obedience to the law.  And their certainty resulted in the idea that God Himself did not understand or obey His own law.  Literally the definition of error, or hypocrisy, or vanity, all stemming from the certainty of human “wisdom”.

When met with correction, they responded in hatred, for vanity has no room for correction.  And are we even the slightest tittle different than they?  We create “standards” of Sabbath keeping in our minds, and then judge all others by them, while refusing to see the God who so longs to stand right in front of us.  Because we believe in the sanctity of the law of God, and in the continuing proscriptions of Sabbath keeping that started in the Garden of Eden, was given to Moses in the law, and is prophesied to continue in Heaven after this world has passed – we translate our “belief” into our obedience to keep this day.  Yet we know nothing of “how” to truly obey, we have only lists we construct of do’s and don’ts ignoring the God who could put us in harmony with His law.  We take our eyes off of God and put them on what we do against His request.  And irony of ironies, we are rather loose with His direct context of the cessation of work, either working ourselves “for the benefit of our families”, or causing others to serve us “because they were going to be at work anyway”.

But Jesus then cuts to the heart of the matter as He continues in verse 7 (no pun intended) saying … “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. [verse 8] For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”  The Sabbath is not about what, it is about Who.  The Sabbath is not even about how, it is about Who.  It was Jesus who “made” a block of time Holy.  Only His proximity to it could accomplish that, the same way His proximity to our earth on Mt. Sinai made a block of ground Holy, that Moses was asked to remove his shoes before he walked on it.  Without Jesus involved, the day is just time, and the earth is just earth.  It was about Jesus who “hallowed” it.  He set aside His time to be with us, in a special way, for an entire day, at the end of every week.  He asked us to put aside our other distractions in order to have time to be with Him.  He asked us to be unselfish and not keep others from having time to be with Him as well.  Being close to Jesus, putting away other priorities is what Sabbath is all about.  Hanging out with Dad.  Playtime with Dad.  That is what the Sabbath is all about.  And because the disciples with Him are doing just that, they were in fact guiltless.  It is up to Jesus to decide what is “keeping” the Sabbath with Him, it is not up to us.  Our ideas do not count, only His.

That is how the incongruent actions of priests back then and preachers in our day on Sabbath still make sense.  They are about bringing people to the Lord of the Sabbath.  That is why the disciples choosing to eat with Jesus on their way to demonstrate the gospel to people in need make sense.  They were already with the Lord of the Sabbath, escorting Him to people in such desperate need of hearing a word from Jesus, the Son of God.  It was more important for them to be with Jesus, than to be in the Temple on this day.  That is why we put away our amusements that take us away from Christ, why we cease working, but also cease thinking about working, it is all to have unrestricted playtime with the same Jesus.  You cannot contain that in a list of do’s and don’ts, no matter how long or how thorough you think it is.  You can only begin to see that in a set of principles.  Where I bring others to God, it is a good thing.  Where I do good unto them, it is a good thing.  Where I ask others to serve me, I cause them to lose time with God on my behalf.  It is mercy, I am to be showing.  It is mercy for others, love for others, that if it was my first motivation, would bring me in better harmony with the entirety of the law, not only the Sabbath, but not forgetting it either.

When Jesus saves us, from us, from our self-love and addiction of the same; He creates in us a love for others, that changes the nature of how we think about Sabbath.  The context changes.  The requirement does not, but the vanity begins to slip away.  A knowledge or belief that we are supposed to keep Sabbath is not the same thing as actually doing it.  Repeating the traditions of our forefathers; going to church, singing, praying and coming home again does not equal Sabbath observance as God defines it in a field of corn on a mission to actually spread His word to those who have never heard it.  The gospel does not only look inward, it looks outward where its mercy is so desperately needed.  

Only the unchanged heart is content to experience the praise of God, holding those good feelings inward, and sharing them only with those who also already understand them.  The changed heart is driven to the dirty, to the sick, to the hungry, to the least of these – because they have the greatest need.  Until we are led to discover what keeping anything Holy really means, we do not understand what was asked of us.  And we must be led to discover it, for Holiness does not originate in us.  Following God, leads us there.  Attempting to blaze the trail based on our accumulated wisdom leads to the path of the Pharisee, to the path of vain obedience based upon certainty and trust in “our wisdom”, that when confronted with what God thinks, responds in hatred and desire to kill God and anyone who truly follows His lead …

And the dispute over this was not over yet …

 

A Small Scroll, An Open Book ...

Near the end of the sounding of the sixth trumpet outlined in John’s book of Revelations of Jesus Christ is presented a new scene and description of events.  Indeed in what has been foretold of 3 great woes in the sounding of the last 3 trumpets; it is this scene that takes place BEFORE the second woe is completed.  Based on our earlier examination in the study of the series of the seven trumpets then, the timing for what John is going to reveal here must be near “the last days”.  Whether the sixth trumpet is to be interpreted in a political, or spiritual, or modernistic method; all interpretations point to a time period in the mid 1800’s that continues till Jesus returns, the central idea being it is a last message that goes out prior to the permanent establishment of kingdom of our Lord.  So as we examine what John reveals to us of Jesus Christ within chapter 10 of his book of Revelations, we find a sense of urgency for us as readers, for it appears this message is directed more to those who live on the earth in the last days before He returns.

John begins in verse one saying … “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:”  John here refers to an angel, a mighty angel coming down from heaven.  The description of this angel is reminiscent of Christ.  His face shining as the sun, his feet as pillars of fire, clothed with a cloud and a rainbow upon his head – all indicators and descriptions of Jesus as outlined in other passages.  However, John knows Jesus personally.  John has Jesus revealed to him in the form of the Lamb of God in an earlier vision.  He has seen Jesus glorified as the Son of God walking amidst the candlesticks and delivering messages of love and redemption to His churches in the earlier visions recorded in this book.  So given that John knows Jesus in His earthly form, and has seen Him in His divine form, it is possible that this is a different angel coming to our world, and not Jesus Himself.  Perhaps the angel descending is Gabriel who had replaced Lucifer when he abandoned his post as angelic leader.  Lucifer at one time was the third highest created being second only to the Godhead.  He was at one time chief servant of all, and lead servant of the most high.  With that proximity to God the Father, His countenance might well have an effect on those who are near Him.  When Moses returned from Mt. Sinai, his hair was white, and face carried a radiance that did not originate within him, but was reflected by him as he had been in the presence of our God.  So too might this angel having been so close to God, might be reflecting characteristics of the Most High in his assigned mission to our world.

John continues in verse 2 … “And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,”  The mighty angel carries to our world a little book, that is both open and unsealed.  Unlike the book John earlier described that was sealed seven times, this one is made open to begin with.  The destination of the angel is to put his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth.  This may indicate that the message contained in this open book will be one of world-wide consequence.  It is not intended only for a small group, but for all of our world, across every sea.  There are those who believe the open book is a representation of the Bible.  However the designation “little” might preclude this idea.  But perhaps a particular book within scripture, perhaps the previously sealed up book or prophecies of Daniel that are a part of scripture (i.e. small), but not the whole of it, might be the message that is here conveyed.

John continues in verse 3 … “And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. [verse 4] And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.”  This is most unfortunate.  When engaged in the study of our God, the more information we have, the more details we have, the more we want.  We can and will spend an eternity getting to know who our God truly is, and trying to grasp the enormity of His love.  Here, John alone is privileged to know the meaning of the messages contained in the seven thunders.  What might they have said?  What clarity might they have added to this vision?  What might the world, and our faith have benefited from the revealing of what now will become secrets to us?  The seven thunders were preceded by a loud cry (as when a lion roars).  There is no clear discernable message in the loud cry, other than perhaps like the trumpets to garner our attention.  Perhaps it is designed to wake us from our spiritual slumber to the reality of our position in the soon ending fabric of time.

John continues to relay what he witnesses in verse 5 … “And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, [verse 6] And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:”  First, it is worthy to note that we humans are forbidden to sware by anything in heaven or earth.  To do so, is to attempt to make a promise fueled by our own will, determination, and control.  Since we control nothing, we are to simply let our “yes” be yes, and our “no” be no.  This angel however, seems to want to call our attention to the source of his mission.  He points out in his oath, the nature of the God his declaration is coming from.  God, as his oath attests, is the God who “lives forever”.  God is immortal and the source of all life.  It is God who FIRST created heaven and the things that are there.  BEFORE we were created, before this world was transformed from a dark asteroid in the void of space that was without purpose into the blue green orb of abundant life that it is today; God created heaven and its inhabitants.  Angels predate mankind.  The other sentient life forms John describes as the four beasts predate mankind.  The city of heaven predates mankind.  Lucifer and the fallen angels predate mankind.  Creation is NOT isolated to us alone, but is instead a characteristic and manifestation of the love of God that has existed as long as God has.

Those who believe the big bang theory happened on day one of our creation are likely a bit misguided.  “Let there be light” might well have been about the positioning of our planet out of the void of deep space and into a solar system or galaxy where light would be present to the face of our world.  But as creation predates mankind, so too could a different declaration of the separation of light from darkness would have been the result of our God’s power many eons before our existence came to be.  And for those who would restrict the power of our God, who is to say, that the creation of “this” universe is the “only” universe He may have made?  Perhaps like the innumerable cells that make up our bodies, this universe is only one of many collections of galaxies that make up a greater vision of what existence means than what we are today able to discern. 

But as the oath of this mighty angel points out, creation did not end in the broader universe, or in heaven.  It continues in the creation of “this” world, and of “these seas”, of the life that exists in both of them.  It is interesting that the angel identifies the 2 traits of God that can quickly distinguish Him as God.  He is immortal and the source of all life, and He has demonstrated His unique ability to bring into existence the contents of His imagination and creativity.  The life He creates, becomes the object of His love.  He cares for His creations, loves them, and shares with them the joy of learning to love others.  It is these 2 characteristics that Satan is always attempting to get mankind to deny, in order that they quit believing in an all-powerful, all-loving God.  Satan attempts to deny that God created life, and that God is the author of this world in particular.  If evolution can supplant creation, then the “need” for a God disappears into the random abyss of meaninglessness, and the worship of self can be elevated and unrestrained.

After describing the nature of the God who this angel takes his oath by, he declares that there should be time no more.  If we were to ponder this text for a deeper meaning, we must ask ourselves, in the light of eternity and a God who made life to be infinite through His power, does “time” still have any relevance?  There may come a day, or a point in our existence, when measuring the linear passage of seconds on a clock, or rotations of planets around a sun that have no end, is not still something we spend any attention on any longer.  Will you really celebrate your 10 thousandth birthday with the same vigor as your 50 millionth birthday, or 50 billionth?  At what point do birthday celebrations lose their meaning when you retain the perfection of agelessness, when you cannot discern the difference between parent, child, grandparent, or 7-generations decedent?  The relevance of time may be changed when our minds truly understand what it means to see His gift of life in us on an eternal basis.

But more likely in this context, the angel is declaring that there should be time no more for a specific purpose.  Whatever the delay has been, whatever the period of time that was allocated for a particular purpose, that purpose has reached its fruition.  John then reveals the contents of the angel’s declaration, “time is no more” and in verse 7 the angel further states … “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”  This declaration appears to be one of great hope for us.  It identifies that in the days of the seventh angel, the angel who is intended to sound the seventh trumpet.  We will read later about the events that occur when the seventh trumpet is blown, but most all interpretations identify the seventh of any of these series as the permanent establishment of His kingdom.  This message however is targeted in the days of the seventh angel, and only as he “begins” to sound.  So prior to His second coming and return to take us home, something is about to occur.  “The mystery of God should be finished” as he had declared it to his servants the prophets. 

I believe the “mystery” of our God, is His ability to create, or more precisely in our case, to re-create in us what has been broken by our choice to embrace evil.  I believe it is a mystery to us, how we can be remade at all, because we do not perform any work at it, at all.  It is His work.  It is His love that sees us transformed by His power.  All we do is permit it.  But in so doing, we see ourselves transformed from the sin craving self-loving degenerates we are, into a harmony with His law, and His love for others we have never truly known before.  It is the work of our perfection He offers to us.  This is a work only He can perform.  This is a mystery to us, because we cannot comprehend how His love could have this effect in us.  We cannot comprehend why love would do this for us.  We cannot comprehend the extent to which we will be remade and how different we will think and want and do. 

The mystery of our God is His power to redeem and reconcile unto Himself, in the perfection of His love, you and I who today know only the pain of our lives of slavery to self.  This was the promise of our God to His servants the prophets who carried his messages of love to this world.  The prophets carried His attempts to see us redeemed unto Himself.  Every message, even those of the great consequences of our disobedience were designed to call us to repentance that we might accept His gift of our salvation, and see ourselves embrace perfection before it is too late.  This is a gift we should long to receive right here and right now, without any delay.  For it is His gift, that frees us and gives us a life worth living, both now and forever. To delay receiving that gift, is to deny ourselves what is truly in our own best interests, to deny ourselves the freedom to love, and the joy that comes in the loving.  It is not just the absence of sin that is our goal, but in its place is the immeasurable joy of relationships founded on unselfish love.  We have yet to imagine how good, “good” really is.  We struggle so much against our sins, we have not the imagination to know what it is like to be freed from them, and see what was intended in its true light.

John continues in verse 8 … “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.”  It is important to note, that the direction to go and take the book from the angel comes for the voice in heaven, presumably Jesus Christ.  The attainment of this book, the opening and discovery of this book, is being directed to occur from the voice in heaven.  John continues in verse 9 … “And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.”  At this point the conversation shifts from hearing the voice in heaven, to discussing with the angel what has been directed.  John asks for the book, and the angel tells him to “eat it up”.  In effect to open this small scroll (perhaps the prophecies of Daniel which until now have been sealed up and little understood), and “dive in” to it.  John is to study this book.  What follows is an analogy of what will occur as John follows the directions given to him.

The angel predicts that the book will be sweet as honey in John’s mouth.  Or in other words, the first response to the opening and understanding of the prophecies of Daniel will bring John great joy.  But this will be followed by bitterness in the stomach.  Upon digesting what was thought to bring great joy, follows greater disappointment.  It is not that Daniel was wrong, mistaken, or attempting to conceal bad news.  The problem which has occurred many times in history, and likely continues in our day, is that we may first misinterpret the meaning of prophetic scriptures and thus find ourselves disappointed.  The Pharisees were bitterly disappointed when the Messiah came with a mission of peace, instead of sword to drive out the Roman oppressors.  We modern Christians sometimes too become equally disappointed when we realize our own efforts to see us rid of sin, fail repeatedly.  We prefer the control of our own salvation, but come to the realization we have no control at all.  We are wholly dependent on Christ to be MADE free from sin, and are unable to make ourselves free of anything. 

Despite the prediction from the angel, which should be as clear as any revelation given to John … he continues writing in verse 10 … “And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”  What the angel had just predicted came to pass exactly as proscribed.  Knowledge of the outcome must also have been doubted or ignored, as nothing was done to change what was predicted.  The “loud cry” of the early 1800’s messages that was preached and taught around the world at nearly the same time, had a consistent message.  The interpretation of the Daniel prophecies led to the conclusion that the cleansing of the Sanctuary would be the return of Christ.  As study evolved, a specific date was selected upon which this event would occur.  Knowledge of the outcome did NOT prevent the “sweet as honey” in our mouths message from going out.  People ignored this analogy.  The bitterness of disappointment that was to follow was ignored or doubted or disregarded.  Christ had said that “no man knows the hour” except His Father in heaven.  Yet a worldwide message was taught naming exactly the day in which His return would occur.

The timing of the prophecies was correct, but the interpretation was not.  The same was true of the Messiah on His first appearing.  He came on schedule.  But He did not come as political conqueror, He came as spiritual conqueror.  He came to show us how to enter His kingdom, not the change the temporary governments of this world.  The interpretation of the cleansing of the temple occurred on schedule, but it did not result in the cleansing of this world.  It had a different context.  It had a different interpretation.  We were warned of our disappointment.  But we paid no heed.  We took the book, ate it, and found it sweet in our mouths.  But in our stomach, came the bitterness of our neglect of the warnings and prediction of the inevitable outcomes.  And still, to this day, various churches, groups, denominations, continue to try to predict the exact day of His return.  They live lives of anticipation, always looking forward, but failing to see a change in their day to day behavior.  And inevitably the council of Christ is ignored, “no man knows the hour”.  Despite calling ourselves Christians, we ignore our leader, and predict His return anyway.  You would think we would learn.  But attempts to lead, and teach scripture, sometimes see us get ahead of Christ, and like all those who came before, we fail.

People wanted to believe the 1844 message.  People wanted to think they knew how much time they had left.  But they did not.  We do not.  It is not for us to live as if a certain future date is when our hopes will be realized.  It is for us to see our hopes fulfilled TODAY.  We can experience the beauty of salvation right here and right now.  We can find the freedom of His re-creation of us right now.  We do not have to look forward to tomorrow or any other date certain.  We can see His redemption in us today.  We prefer the known to the unknown.  We prefer the certain to the things that require our faith.  We prefer control to dependence.  Interpretations of prophecies that give us the feeling of certainty, can take away our dependence on Christ to know “His truth”.  The problem is that we have not learned submission, we have learned to prefer taking control.  But it is our self-deception about the notion of control, that sees us remain bound in slavery to self.  To submit, to let go, is to be made free by His power.  This was the lesson to learn from what history has shown us of the 1844 “great disappointment”.

The angel then gives a message of hope to John at the conclusion of this vision as he continues in verse 11 … “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”  Perhaps the angel referred to the idea that “prophesy” itself, the study and interpretation of John’s revelations, would once again emerge as important in the last days.  I am sure John would have preferred a more literal interpretation that he might be resurrected to reveal to us the messages bound in those thunders he was told not to disclose as yet.  But in our day, is there any who would accept the idea that the apostle had risen from the dead?  Do we even think it possible?  As it is, we are skeptical by nature of all those who claim the “gift” of prophecy.  We doubt them, because we doubt ourselves, and our own lack of faith that could see the gift in us.  We judge the messenger before we listen to the message, almost of incapable of separating the two.  Yet all Biblical authors would pale in the spotlight of the misdeeds done throughout their lives.  To open ourselves to the ideas of prophecy in our day, even when it does not conflict with scripture but rather amplifies it, seems almost unfathomable.  Yet the angel foretells it.

Are we to repeat our mistakes in ignoring the predictions of sweet taste, and bitter stomachs?  The angel foretells prophecy being important again.  Are we to doubt this prediction as we have done so often before?  If we are to trust in our God, then we must trust in what He says.  It does not matter if it makes sense to us.  It does not matter if we can see the feasibility of it, or not.  It only matters that He does not lie, and has never been wrong.  To that end, we who live in the days of the beginning of the sounding of the seventh angel, are to see the mystery of God fulfilled in us.  When this occurs, to prophecy is only to reveal what has been revealed to us.  His gift is more than we can imagine.  But the second woe was not completed as yet …

 

Messages to the Church Revealed (Sardis) ...

The fifth church of the seven that comprised the Church of Christ in His messages of revelation was that of Sardis.  The city of Sardis historically was said to have originated as the capital of the Lydian empire in long ago times.  It was famous for developing the ability to separate gold from silver sands and mint coins of pure gold or pure silver rather than a mixture of both.  From a commerce perspective, it relied on producing fine woolen garments and knits.  During the time of John, the city was part of the Roman Empire and generally had a climate of religious tolerance.  Archeological expeditions have unearthed evidence of a substantial Jewish synagogue, pagan temples, and evidence of a Christian church all present at the same period of time.  It was to the church in this city, and to the people who would live in the time period most closely associated with church’s period in history, and to us, that John penned the Revelation of Christ that was needed to be heard.

He begins in chapter three and verse one … “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”  Jesus begins by calling to our attention to that characteristic of Himself that is most relevant to this audience … “He that hath the seven Spirits of God” … and “the seven stars”.  The number seven representing perfection or wholeness from the point of God has already been demonstrated in how many churches compose His true church.  It also refers to the perfection of the Holy Spirit.  It is Christ who works in concert with the Holy Spirit to accomplish our salvation.  It is the influence of the Holy Spirit that keeps us on the path of truth, and when we realize our need of leadership and humble ourselves, we are then able to discern the truths He would reveal to us.  The seven stars are the seven angels of these churches.  The church of Christ is not left to encounter the enemy without assistance from the courts of heaven.  We are not left to our own strength, for it is clear, we have none.  Our salvation is wrought by the power of Christ.  We are changed from within, as we submit ourselves to Him, and permit Him to remake the entirety of who we are.  These are truths reflected in the seven spirits and seven angels, characteristics that seem most relevant now.

Jesus then proceeds to once again detail his discreet knowledge of the goings on in this particular church.  He declares … “I know thy works”.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives always has an immediate result, a change in how we think, what we want, and therefore what we do.  When we have received Christ into our lives and through humility have submitted our own will to His, it results in a change of who we are.  Sin loses its false appeal.  Love to others becomes more important to us.  And what we do for others becomes a reflection of He who is remaking us to be.  But where other churches are exhorted in the earliest part of the revelation of Christ, this church is not so richly blessed.  The revelation of our true condition is set clear … “that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”.  The profession to follow Christ cannot be substantiated by our actions which reflect the changes He would make in us.  Instead we reveal the death of our spiritual lives, as we appear to have rejected His Holy Spirit and instead embraced the death of trusting to our own wisdom.  We have the name of Christ, but not the heart of Christ.

He continues in verse 2 … “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”  Immediately upon the revelation of our true spiritual condition, our great physician addresses our most critical need … stop the bleeding.  Before any other message is given, our great Doctor wishes for us to not lose any more to evil than has already been lost.  Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.  We must first be aware of the condition of death too many have already embraced.  We must be mindful and watchful to prevent further spread of the disease. 

Our works are the symptoms by which we can know the progression of our disease.  Our works are not perfect before God, because they do not come from a reformed heart, but rather from a guilty one, or an ambitious one.  We do “good deeds” like our Pharisee forefathers in order to be known well before men.  Or we do them because we fear without them we cannot be admitted into His kingdom to receive our eternal rewards.  In either case, they remain “good deeds” as others may benefit from them.  But in both cases, it is “we” who are missing the blessing, as it is “we” who do not experience the joy of serving others, for our hearts have never been transformed.  We see service to others as a hardship, an inconvenience, or a burden.  We temper our efforts for others, by attempting to have “balance” in our lives – some for them, some for me.  We perform what we feel obligated to do, but quickly seek credit for our actions either from God, or from our peers.  While we have works, they do not come from a heart that cannot help but to love others.  They come from a heart who is looking to preserve and promote itself.

Before all is lost in this church, our church, in ourselves; we must strengthen ourselves in His strength and not our own.  We must die to self, rather than have self cause Christ to die within us.  Jesus continues His message of revelation thru John in verse 3 saying … “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”  The message of redemption and reconciliation continues, as we are told to “remember” how we have received and heard.  We do not find our own salvation because we take action to do so, but because our God came to us in love and service meeting our needs before we knew them.  We received because we accepted what we heard.  We received because we accepted His gift of salvation to us, not because we could earn it in any way. 

We are told to hold fast to this idea.  We are told to repent of trusting to self.  We are told to watch and be aware of the corruption to trusting to self.  What is less clear, is whether the consequences of not watching is that we meet our final condition unexpectedly, or whether His reform in our lives is experienced unexpectedly.  No man knows the hour of His returning, so this last admonition is not about knowing the exact date of His return.  But for each of us, we all rarely know what hour will be our last on this earth.  While trusting to self, we may find our lives ended without ever having experienced the liberating freedom from sin and experience of salvation, because our earthly time ends before we permit Christ to perform this work in us.  If we have rejected Christ entirely because of it, we would be lost.  Because we do not know the hour of His return, or the hour in which he comes upon us, we should not live as if we can delay His gift until some later date.  Instead we should embrace the freedom and life He wishes to make for us today, before we die, physically or spiritually.

Jesus continues in verse 4 … “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.”  White is the symbolic color of purity, from a practical standpoint, it is difficult to keep a white garment clean.  Readers from a city that produced fine woolen garments would be well aware of that analogy.  And here the message of hope continues to be extended as “even in Sardis” there are a “few names” which have not gotten their clothing dirty.  So it would seem that despite its lack of persecution and general religious tolerance Sardis is not a great place from a spiritual condition point of view.  The words “even in” seem to imply that this is particularly not a great place to be, and combined with “a few names” implies that is rare to find undefiled garments in this place or time. 

The time period most often associated with this church is the 200-300 years of the protestant reformation.  While this is not an advocacy to have remained content within Catholicism, it may well be a warning to those who broke away doctrinally but reflected the same spirit of intolerance to any who disagreed with themselves.  “Puritans” were not known for a spirit of tolerance and love to those who did not concur with their own ideas.  Persecution even of Catholics was a phenomenon that spread to this country as those seeking religious freedom left Europe for American shores.  “Dissent” itself seemed to be an enemy in this time, whether because it broke with tradition, or refused to accept the entirety of the doctrines of the group who broke away from those traditions.  One would think that the period of reformation would have been one of great spiritual enlightenment.  For many a doctrinal truth was uncovered in that time, and the spread of the word of God was made widely available to the people through the invention of the printing press.  Yet, despite the increase of religious freedom, and the availability to read the word of God; men seem to trust to their own wisdom and strength for their salvation and in so doing, remain with defiled garments.  Doctrines do not save us, Christ does.  Doctrines do not make us pure, Christ does.  We can only understand doctrines rightly, when following in submission to Christ, trusting in our own wisdom absent Christ, is what the Pharisees did and it led to the death of Christ.  So it would be in our own lives if we follow their course.

But “even in Sardis” and although it is only “a few names”, there are those who have held true to the reality of our salvation founded in Christ, and in our full submission to Him.  As such, these were found to have had their clothing (the robes of righteousness given to us by Christ, not earned of our own) remain undefiled.  This clothing remained white and allows us to “walk with Christ”, to go where He goes, and do the works of love for others He does.  For our hearts are in tune with His own, we see the extreme value in those we encounter, for in each one of them we see His sacrifice to redeem them.  We, like Christ, do not focus on the sins we find in others, but in connecting them with a love that will see that sin removed once and for all.  Instead of trying to compel the conscience and thoughts and motives of others, we connect them with the source of true reform and change in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus will remove the sins we see in others, in His own time, in His own method, our function is only to love them throughout the process, as He loves us throughout our own.

It is not our perfection that makes us “worthy” to walk with Christ and share in His ministry.  It is instead our willingness and submission to Him that make us “worthy”, for we are made “worthy” by Christ, not by self.  Our robes of white, our robes of righteousness are “given” to us by Christ.  We are changed within, because He changes us.  It is this change, that sees our works becomes symptoms of what has been done in our lives.  We do not work “to” achieve salvation, we work “because” salvation has been re-created within us, freeing us from our former sins, and transforming us into the new creations He wishes us to be.  Our works are a reflection of our new way of thinking, our new way of loving and serving.  They are a testament to His so great love.  The robes never belonged to us, they were given to us by Christ.  We can only keep them undefiled while we remain in Christ.  When we trust to self instead of Christ, we become like the Pharisees of old, and like the great majority in Sardis whose works are not perfect in God, for they are dead in the embrace of self.

Jesus continues with a promise in verse 5 … “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”  What must be overcome, is self.  What must be overcome, is that despite the lack of persecution, and a climate of religious tolerance, a trusting to our own wisdom, and a lack of the true reform that comes from being remade by Christ.  The early protestant church was hardly more tolerant than its predecessor.  And both tended to trust in the doctrines of the word, or of tradition, than in the full submission to Jesus Christ.  In so doing our garments were defiled by self.  But as we submit, we overcome the self that stands in the way of our salvation and freedom.  What is given to us, is to be clothed in white raiment.  Our purity becomes the purity of Christ, as we are remade from the inside out in His image.  Our names are not blotted out of the book of life, but instead we are hailed in front of God the Father and His angelic throngs as true followers of Jesus Christ.  This is done despite our unworthiness, but is accomplished because of His worthiness, and the depths of the sacrifice Love was willing to make to see us redeemed.  This is a promise that we will be known in heaven, not for the strength of our works, but for our submission to Christ, and our joining in His mission of love to the world.

If anything the time of the reformation, and the religious tolerance in the city of Sardis, presented an even more dangerous condition for the people of Christ.  Because instead of trusting to Christ alone, men were led to trust in the wisdom of the doctrines and truths they discovered in the word, at the expense of remaining fully submitted to the will of Christ.  Persecution can drive us to our only hope, but religious freedom can often make us lax in seeking in humility the source of our salvation.  We, like our Pharisee forefathers, trust more in our unique interpretations of scriptures, than in the God who inspired them and knows the truth of them as no one else can.  Our doctrinal purity is not what keeps our garments undefiled, but our unconditional love of others from a heart only He can remake, shows us to be clothed with His righteousness and not our own.  The truths found in scripture are important, but can only be rightly understood in the context of and submission to Jesus Christ.  Without this humility, we draft our own ideas, and find ourselves well outside of the meaning He longs to impart.

Jesus concludes this message in like manner as the others in verse 6 … “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”  The message was for those who made up the church in Sardis in the day of John.  It was to those who lived in the times of church history that corresponded to the conditions most like that of Sardis and reformation.  And perhaps most importantly, it was to us, to each reader who would hear what the Spirit said to the churches.  Each of the seven messages to His church applies to us in some manner.  Each has a common theme.  Each has a common appeal to bring us to Him, to be reconciled, and re-created.  To the believer of today, the message of Sardis reminds us not to allow our complacency and ease to think and worship to replace our dependency on Christ for our salvation.  If we are to have perfect works, they must be the works of Christ remade and re-created within us, as only He can do, and only as we allow Him to do it.  Even so, perform this work in us.

And the messages were not over yet …