A Soundtrack for Revelation

 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:13-14

Guest Post by: Abigail McFarthing

If the person at the center of Revelation is Jesus, then the activity at the center is worship. Scenes of worship burst through the clouds of Revelation like sunset rays, illuminating and transforming even the ominous thunderheads of judgment and the hazy fog of "the end times" into things of beauty. What's more, this central activity of worship is something we get to be involved in. We may be waiting for many of the events of Revelation to be ultimately realized in the future, but the worshiping we'll be doing around God's throne has started now!

To help us meditate on the truths of Revelation and join in heaven's worship now, I've created a playlist (with some input from other worship leaders at City Church). Although worship is more than music, the worship of Revelation includes music. So I encourage you to use these songs to help you in your personal times of worship.

As I read Revelation and thought about these songs, several themes emerged which I hope can help guide our thinking as we worship:

• God is holy (He's completely pure, transcendent, and other than us). More than any other theme, this one shines through the songs on the playlist. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty" sing the four living creatures (4:8), and we echo their song: see Agnus Dei plus any of the songs with "holy" in the title.
• God is on the throne (He's the sovereign, reigning Lord of history). God's defining title in Revelation is "Him who sits on the throne" (5:13): "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits upon the throne" (7:10). What a comforting truth for our chaotic lives! Songs that highlight this idea are Behold Our God, We Will Run/He Is Here, Our God Reigns, and Salvation Belongs to Our God, among others.  
• Jesus is the Lamb (He's the atoning sacrifice for our sins). Thousands upon thousands of angels proclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain" (5:12). Again, this is a key image from Revelation that shows up in worship song after worship song, including See the Lamb of God, Wounded One, Revelation Song, and Overcome.
• Jesus is the Victorious Judge (He's the conquering ruler of the nations, to whom we'll give an account for our lives). This concept is a little more difficult for us to accept and rejoice in, but it's a major truth of Revelation. "Behold, I am coming soon," Jesus says, "bringing my recompense with me" (22:12). Jesus is not tame-- he's scary... yet he's good. Here are some songs that can help us internalize this aspect of Jesus (also known as "hardcore Jesus" songs... thank you, Val Tracy!*): See He Comes, Storm All Around You, Beautiful Rider, and The Eyes of the Lord.
• Our response. In light of these great truths about who God is and what he has done, the multitudes of angels and people (and even animals, it would seem) respond with exuberant praise and deep reverence. In the words of our very own Esther Brown: "He is, and so we worship." Here are some of the best "response songs" on the list: Jesus at the Center, Adoration, We Fall Down, and Our God Reigns.
• Heaven is going to be great! Just as Revelation paints a tantalizing picture of life in the New Heaven and the New Earth, I've added several songs (some of which aren't strictly worship songs) that engage our imaginations and whet our appetite for the worship of heaven: There Is a Day, Heaven Song, Endless Hallelujah, This Is Not the End, In Your City, I Will Rise, and Farther Along.

I encourage you to pick one or two of these themes to meditate on. You can use the Bible, journaling, and/or the songs I've highlighted as a jumping-off point to help you dig into, chew over, and rejoice in these truths about our glorious King.

*"By 'hardcore Jesus' I mean the Jesus that's coming on the fiery steed, and the Jesus who is the only one holy enough to open the seals, and the Jesus with the authority to Judge.  It's not that it's wrong to sing about the Jesus who loves us and forgives every mistake we make, and I'm glad we sing those songs early and often.  But for this series especially, and since we're trying to think of Jesus in a different way, I think it's good to worship the 'scary' Jesus who's coming to open a can of whoop-you-know-what alongside the loving and forgiving Jesus.

"I think there is something awe-inspiring and scary about the concept of 'Behold, the Lion of Judah!' and it's a slain lamb.  A sacrificial lamb is a bloody, violent image, and when I think of Jesus in that way it's weird and uncomfortable and pushes me out of my comfort zone.  But studying Revelation is about embracing the awkwardness of coming to face the Jesus you've built up in your mind and discovering that He's a lot more than you expected. Admitting that you don't quite understand and have zero control over the One who you love and who made you is discomfiting. It's not something that's easy to wrap your head around." - Val Tracy

Taking Back Our Rest

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14:12-13)

This Sunday we were introduced to the second of two beasts described in Revelation 13 (Revelation 13:11). Together with the Dragon, who is identified as Satan in Revelation 12:9, and the first beast, these three gruesome beings form what Poythress in his guide The Returning King calls a ‘counterfeit’ or ‘unholy’ Trinity. They seek to be like Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but they consistently fall short. Nevertheless, their power is deceptive and enticing. The first beast alone is enough to make the whole world marvel (Revelation 13:3-4).

Essentially, the second beast acts like the Holy Spirit- it speaks like the dragon and exercises all the authority of the first beast (Revelation 13:11-12). It seeks to make the whole earth worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed (sound familiar?), and it performs signs and wonders to deceive the dwellers of earth (Revelation 13:14). And just as the followers of God received the Father’s name on their foreheads, so too, the beast likes to mark his followers on the forehead or the right hand (Revelation13:16). Yet, in the end, we are told that those who have the beast's mark are destined for eternal torment (Revelation 14:11). This second beast, then, is little more than a propagandist, a false prophet, promoting the devil's lies, supporting him in his bid to take people captive and keep them from God.

It all sounds kind of abstract, doesn’t it?  Dragons and beasts, marks on people’s foreheads, eternal torment... Perhaps John’s vision would have made more sense to his contemporaries. The ancient Near East had long been familiar with myths of sea monster gods producing chaos, and in first-century Asia Minor, priests promoted the worship of the emperor of the day by performing signs or ‘counterfeit miracles’. Those who didn’t worship the emperor could be at put to death for their disloyalty. In this context, then, the message would be clear- pledging allegiance to the emperor might save you in the short term, but from an eternal perspective, only allegiance to God could save.

But we also know that Revelation’s message is universal- it describes the state of all humankind. History repeats itself. We might confine our understanding of these passages regarding the counterfeit trinity to those living in countries today where Christianity is forbidden, where oppressive governments require people’s full commitment to their laws and ideologies, and where allegiance to a heavenly king is viewed as a threat to the government’s power. Yes, these places do exist, and the beast's propaganda is often more obviously at work in these places. But I would argue that even in countries where we enjoy comparative religious freedom, the beast's work is just as pervasive. The hard part is to identify where in our own lives we are falling prey to the beast's propaganda. 

On Sunday, we heard how one characteristic of the beast's worshippers is that they will never rest; whereas God seeks to give his people rest (Revelation 14:13), the beast's followers will know none (Revelation 14:11). So looking for the things that do not bring God’s peace in our lives, where we never rest, seems like a good starting place for identifying where the beast is at work. For me, the most obvious place is perhaps in my relationship with media, which is supported by increasingly sophisticated technology. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not saying that technology is the work of the devil or that we should abandon all progress in this area, but as I began to reflect on the message I started to reexamine my use of things like smartphones, facebook, and the internet and how they steal my rest and leave me feeling exhausted. Let me explain.

In March 2011 I got my first smart phone- it was love at first sight. So many things I could now do wherever I was, whenever I wanted. Look at maps, search google, email, call, or text people, take photos, share my photos with over a 100 friends at the mere tap of a button, read the news, check the weather forecast, play games, find out when the next bus was due to arrive, and the list goes on. I MARVELLED at it. My smartphone addiction had begun. Without being careful I could spend every spare moment (and not just the moments I have spare) on my phone. I carry it around the house. I reach for it when I’m bored. But what I’ve let into my life is a constant bombardment from the world about its preferences, its priorities, and its opinions.

Facebook is just one of the apps I regularly use- every time I scroll through I get deluged by everything from articles like ‘what my favorite (insert something here be it color, store, food, Disney character) says about me’ to announcements of births, deaths and marriages. I learn everything from what my friends (and distant acquaintances) ate for breakfast to their sometimes informed, and sometimes not, political opinions. I read this stuff when I want to rest, but most often I feel anything but refreshed after reading it. It’s not only exhausting, it’s worse than that. A friend who was considering leaving facebook recently expressed my sentiments exactly. She described the majority of time spent on facebook as depressing, empty, and disconnecting, and speaking more widely of the internet she said it made her feel alienated, frazzled, and ill.

Now like I said, I’m not waging a war on facebook or smartphones, I’m just using it as an example of something I personally struggle with. It’s just one of the many false propaganda I listen to, the noise that fills my head, which often prevents me from enjoying God’s rest. For others it might be the TV- Americans spend an estimated 4 hours watching TV per day. Or perhaps for you it is something else, like food, money, or sex.

The reason these things are so hard to kick is that they are so deceptive. Like my smartphone, they promise so much – the solution to all of life’s questions, solutions to our problems that will finally enable us to rest easy. Satan has a lot of practice, and he knows what he’s doing. Ultimately, though, we can come to rely on them so much that they become addicting; they can consume us and become exhausting. No sooner have I used my phone to solve my latest burning quest I find another reason to reach for it.

As followers of Christ, we do well to remember that we are a desert people like those in Exodus and the woman described in Revelation 12: we have been liberated from slavery and the Dragon's clutches, and we have the Promised Land ahead of us. But in order to enter it, we must trust God to be our source of nourishment in the wilderness of this world, and we must resist the false calls of Satan’s propaganda.

1. What kind of things in your life, what activities and pursuits, currently keep you from enjoying God’s rest? In prayer, bring these things before God, asking Him to show you what you may need to lay down.
2. Spend some time reflecting on the following verses, considering what they tell you about how to find rest in God: Proverbs 3:21-26,Hebrews 4:1-11, Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 121
3. Of Revelation 12:6, Poythress writes, ‘the woman [representative of the church] flies to the desert- an image that speaks of the powerful care exercised by God on behalf of his people. His people receive powerful protection, even in very difficult circumstances.’ Ask God to be your nourishment and a place of protection for the persecuted church.

The Great Battle and the Opiate of the Masses

The past two weeks we have looked at different parts of the war between Satan and God. Revelation 12:1-17 specifically talks about how God thwarted Satan's plans to harm his son Jesus, how Satan rose up and the angels fought him, and how he was cast to the earth, bringing 1/3 of the angels with him. Then in Revelation 13:1-10 we saw representations of an "unholy trinity" being introduced. The first beast representing a counterfeit Jesus, looking like he was slain but still being alive.

This war has been going on for all of history. Revelation gives us a glimpse into the spiritual realm, where the span of time is condensed into the major acts of aggression and God's success against them. When seen through this perspective, the events of earth are by-products of the events of Heaven and the war Satan is waging against it.

One of the by-products we see is Satan attacking God's people (Revelation 13:7). Paul McFarthing discussed some of the ways Satan goes about it. You can listen again here. The most obvious way being open opposition to the church and its people. Any time there is a world view bent on destroying the blessings and generosity of God's people, you can point the source back to Satan's desire to overthrow God's kingdom and rule.

Another way he fights is less obvious and that is through the comfortable life. I call it here the "opiate of the masses" as a play on Marx's dislike of religion. This is a powerful opiate. We can easily be lulled into seeking success, making plans, investing money, and putting all our focus on this. This is the great god of our age: a comfortable and well planned retirement! Now, I've harped on about this in two of my posts and I can hear in my head some people thinking "You're not practicing what you preach!" and it's true! This is why I know you have the same problem. If you don't, then you trust God a lot more than I do and I need to learn from you! I'm not saying that you have to dump your 401k and become a hermit, I'm saying that we need to contemplate why we need a lot of money to live in this world. We need to meditate on what we're really putting our trust in for our future. For me, this is the most difficult, because I would love to say I trust God completely in this area, but one of my goals is to retire comfortably.

The final way he makes war on the saints is through an even more subtle path. If we aren't to trust in our money then are we to trust in our poverty? If we aren't to trust in the plans of men are we to trust in ourselves? I ask these questions because there are a myriad of ways that seem right and noble, but none of them are the way God has set up. All other ways are the ways Satan has set up. The bible plainly states "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6). This simple statement holds within it this startling implication: anything that isn't Jesus is a way that was set up long, long ago as a method to get God's people (and anyone else) to stray away.

We are easily duped because we are very simple. God knows just how simple we are and makes the right way very simple too.

Follow Jesus and you will win this ancient war, because we know how it all ends.

1. What small thing can you change today to follow Jesus more fully? Maybe ways you can simplify your life now so you don't need to retire with a large home? Meditate on how you can cut out what isn't honoring God, like do we need the latest smart-phone?
2. Do you feel particularly aware of any of these "ways" that Satan makes war on us? Meditate on Ephesians 6:10-18, considering how you can put on the full armor of God.
3. Pray that we all begin to trust more and more in Jesus.

He is Risen Indeed

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’” (Revelation 11:15)

 

This past Sunday was Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, and rightfully the most important holiday in Christian tradition. However, it’s not the most widely celebrated. That would be Christmas, because anybody and everybody tends to get behind the idea of having 'peace on earth' and exchanging gifts with loved ones. 

But Easter is more important, because Easter is the reason that Jesus was born into this world in the first place. Yes, he was a teacher, and taught us many good and wise things about how we are to relate to God, even modeling a perfect relationship with the Father. Yes, he was a healer, working many miracles in the lives of those who had given up hope of ever being whole again.

But, most important of all, Jesus came…to die.

He was arrested, beaten, and crucified, not because he did anything wrong, but because we did. All of the sins we have committed against each other, or will commit, the Father also keenly feels, because we are His children. Yet He laid the punishment for our sin upon His son, Jesus, rather than on us.  

The reason we celebrate Easter, though, is because that isn’t the end of the story. Days later, God raised Jesus from the dead. And so, as David pointed out on Sunday, every Easter we are forced to ask ourselves this question: “Will we believe in Jesus and devote ourselves to Him? Or refuse to believe and reject the Son of God?”

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on that first Easter morning (John 20:1-18), I wonder what she was feeling. She had devoted her life, her time, her energy, her money, her very heart, to this man, this Rabboni (or teacher), as she called him, witnessing his miracles, experiencing his presence changing her from the inside out. Imagine seeing the darkness falling as Jesus died, seeing the stone rolled over the tomb that held his broken, lifeless body, unable to give her friend and teacher a proper burial as she was forced by religious tradition to take a day of rest for the Lord. Do you think that during that Sabbath she felt like celebrating her God?

Now imagine how she must have felt walking in the darkness of the early morning to the tomb, seeing the stone rolled back, no sign of Jesus anywhere. To have even that moment of closure, of washing and perfuming his body, seemingly taken from her by thieves that had stolen him and hidden his body. To run, desperate, back to the disciples, only to have them look for a moment, then desert her to go home again, leaving her behind to weep for the loss of her Jesus.

And then...imagine how she felt when she looked again into the tomb, and beheld angels where Jesus had been! Turning around, still weeping from confusion and sadness, she saw a man she didn’t know, her vision clouded by her tears. And then…he said her name, and she finally realized- it’s Jesus! He is alive!

In the face of this miracle, is it then too that she also began to realize that He was Jesus Christ, “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth” (Revelation 1:5)?

When I think about this life, it seems to me that we are all waiting in the darkness around the tomb of the world. But, while Mary could not work out what had happened, we have a promise that Jesus is coming again. “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (Revelation 1:7). Indeed, the kingdom of this world is already becoming the kingdom of our Lord, wherever His Holy Spirit is present (Revelation 11:15).

So even though we are in the darkness, we can see the stone has been rolled back, and we know that soon we will be with the risen Lord. What will we ourselves feel in that moment, when we meet Jesus? When He comes again? When we see the “one like a son of man,” with eyes like “a flame of fire” and a voice “like the roar of many waters” (Revelation 1:13-15)? Will we weep with joy, our hearts bursting with the gladness of it, just as Mary did? Will we fall at His feet as though dead (Revelation 1:17)?

In the meantime, in this darkness, we must continue to put our hope in the heavenly realm, and build up our treasures there, for surely, this life will not last. We must preach the Gospel, live the Gospel, breathe and be the Resurrection people that God has called us to be. As David told us two weeks ago, the Gospel is both bitter and sweet, sweet for those who have accepted its truth, but bitter in that there are so many still who have not heard the truth and who desperately need to hear it (Revelation 10:8-11).

As a church, then, let us be witnesses to the people of this world and of the time we are in. Let us be the peace bearers and the truth bringers, the olive trees and the lampstands (Revelation 11:4), faithful witnesses walking with the power of the Spirit of God. Let us choose to love others, as He loved us, even to the point of death, knowing that, ultimately, even if we should die, our witness will one day be vindicated. Just as Mary’s was. Let us devote our time, our heart, our energy, our very lives, not to just a good teacher or to just a miraculous healer, but to the very Son of God, the one who knows us intimately and completely, and who loves us in a way that no one else can.

Oh, how He loves us.  

1. Mary knew it was Him by the way He said her name. Jesus said the sheep know their shepherd by His voice. When is the last time you heard God speak to you, in word or music or other means? If you feel so moved, try to take five minutes to sit silently, and ask Him to speak to you again or even for the first time.
2. The resurrection and the cross completed God’s act of salvation, but the final redemption of the world is still coming. Spend some time reflecting on your role as part of God’s “resurrection people”- who are the people at work, at school, at home, or elsewhere that you feel called to speak to about God? What is one step you can take to show them God’s love in the next week?
3. Pick a book or song from the following recommendations and just spend some time allowing  His Spirit to work through it to connect you to the heart of God.

• Recommended Reading: 
• John 20:1-18, Luke 15
• "Guess How Much I Love You?" by Sam McBratney
• "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown
• "King's Cross" by Timothy Keller
• Recommended Music:
• "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe
• "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band
• "Savior King" by Hillsong United
• "God Speaking" or "He Will Come" by Mandisa

Time, Times, and Half a Time

 "…but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will give authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sack cloth" (Revelation 11:2)

In Revelation 11, John is given a measuring rod with which to measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. It is revealed to him that the space left unmeasured outside the temple is given over to the nations who will trample the city for 42 months. For the same period of time- 1,260 days (this is 42 months where a month is considered to consist of 30 days)- two witnesses will prophesy clothed in sackcloth. This period of time appears elsewhere in Revelation, specifically in 12:6 and also in 12:14, where it is described as "a time, and times, and half a time" (this phrase can be understood to mean three and a half years, which is also 42 months or 1,260 days). 

This period of time then, seems to hold some significance, and it has led many to pose the searching question of when exactly this time is, or was, or will be. It is generally agreed that it can be connected to similar revelations in the book of Daniel (if you want to read them take a look at Daniel 7:25, 9:27; 12:7, 11-12 – I recommend reading the chapters around them for context). These in turn correspond to the prophecies in Jeremiah chapters 25 and 29. For those who are interested, I’ve outlined below in bullets how this might play out in history according to Poythress' guide to the book of Revelation. I will explore how that might be relevant to us after the bullets.

If you’re really not all that bothered, the most important thing to know is that the "1,260 days, 42 months, and time, times, and half time" all symbolically represent the time of the church between Jesus' resurrection and his second coming. 

• Jeremiah prophesied 70 years of exile after which the people were restored to the land.
• But that restoration was only temporary, so in Daniel 9:24, we find a second period of similar length is to happen after this, which is described as a period of 70 weeks until the people will find final restoration and final rest.
• In the very last of those 70 weeks, it is revealed to Daniel in 9:25-6 that an anointed one will come, who we now understand to be the Messiah, Jesus.
• In the middle of the last week, according to Daniel 9:27, the sanctuary is destroyed –we know that the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70.
• So the very last half a week referred to in Daniel is the period from AD 70, after Jesus’ life as told to us in the Gospels, to the second coming and His return. It’s the time we’re in now. It’s the time, times, and half a time referred to in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7…. And it’s also the 42 months, or 1,260 days referred to in Revelation.

Is your head hurting yet? Well, you’re in good company because mine is too! It’s probably not helped by the fact that the Scripture seems to play around with years and weeks and months sometimes as though they’re all interchangeable.

When we approach these numbers, we really need to keep in mind that they are intended to be figurative; we know that the time from the destruction of the temple to Christ’s second coming is not literally half a week or 42 months, as we’ve far exceeded that already. Rather than being inaccurate, we should realize that it’s consistent with the symbolism in the rest of Revelation to say that these time periods are symbolic also. 

If you listen to the message on this chapter, for instance, David talked about how the two witnesses who prophesy in Revelation 11 are unlikely to be specific people but are rather representative of the church and as such are examples for us to imitate- we are to be lampstands, shining light into the darkness of this world, just as they are. Similarly, in verse 8, we are told that the ‘great city’ referred to here is symbolically called Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem where Christ was crucified, and so is actually representative of oppressive kingdoms and powers that have sought to crush followers of Christ in the past.

So if the numbers are symbolic what might they be meant to symbolize? What are we meant to take away from this? Well, here are a few suggestions.

First, we’ve already mentioned on this blog and we’ve heard through the messages how the number 7 is used in Revelation and occurs repeatedly to represent ‘completeness’. By contrast, what is being described here is half of 7 years (3.5 years, 42 months, 1,260 days). That’s important because this period in history, which describes where the church is today, according to Revelation 11 is both one of incredible power (in the church’s witness) and spiritual protection (in the measuring off of the worshippers in the temple), but it is also one of violent persecution where at times it will feel as though Satan has won. The witnesses are made war on, conquered, and killed, and their bodies are left in the street that their deaths might be rejoiced over, signifying the greatest depths of shame possible.

But this period of oppression and suffering is not complete – it is cut short. God has the final say, and only His purposes are brought to completion. This is highlighted in verse 11 where after three and half days God Himself acts to brings back to life the slain witnesses in an echo of the three days Jesus lay buried in the tomb before his resurrection, a powerful reminder that we as his witnesses share in this resurrection power and can look forward to its completion. The beast may rage and ‘make war’ on God’s witnesses, but with one single breath, just as He did at creation, God will restore life that has wrongly been taken. As we celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection this Easter weekend, what a powerful image of hope this is for us!

Speaking of the three and half days that appears in verse 11, Poythress puts it like this,

“Not only in the Roman Empire, but nowadays, and in the final crisis, faithful witnesses sometimes seem to go down in defeat. Christians are all in prison or dead, and apparently the idolatrous state has triumphed. The anti-Christian tyrant is in control, whether Domitian or Diocletian or the Spanish Inquisition or North Korean communism or Saudi Arabia’s Islamic state. But note: three and half days are seven days cut in half, signifying that domination that aspires to completeness is cut off halfway through.”

Second, although the numbers don’t always make a lot of sense to us, perhaps they are there to remind us that God is working to a detailed and precise plan. This, after all, is the God who is familiar with the number of hairs on our head, who knows the exact number of grains of sand on every sea shore. In the measuring off of the inner part of the temple, He is a God who measures off a place of safety for his people with incomparable accuracy and care. Just as in those instances, so too in this one- I don’t need to know the figures, or the exact measurements, I just need to know that He knows.    

Finally, as I thought about these passages, I was struck by the connections that Revelation makes back to other Old Testament visions and prophecies. It is difficult to look at these verses in Revelation and find meaning in total isolation. It challenges us to delve into Scripture and engage with what we find there. Like the witnesses in Revelation 11, Daniel too is an example of someone who refused to hide his true beliefs, even when they rubbed with what society expected of him, and at times, this put him in grave danger. At the end of Daniel he is encouraged to persevere until the end: "And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." (Daniel 12:13). May we, like Daniel, also draw confidence to stand firm, resisting worldly pressure, that we may experience God’s promise of peace and homecoming in the fulfillment of His kingdom.

1. "In a sense, the impressions created on the reader are as important as an understanding of the details." (Sinclair B Ferguson on Daniel) Read through Revelation 11, and ask God what impressions He wants to make on you from this passage even though you may not understand every detail.
2. "How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?" (Psalm 137:4) Even though God’s message may be unpopular to share with those around us, how can we be faithful witnesses?
3. As we enjoy the privilege of celebrating this Easter in freedom, spend some time praying for those Christians around the world who are experiencing violent persecution for their beliefs because of an oppressive ruling government.

Satan's Strategy, God's Solution

15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign."

Revelation 11:15-17

This week in Revelation we saw the effects of a sinful world left on its own, allowed to reap the consequences of sin. A third of of the earth burned, trees burned, grass burned (Rev. 8:7). A third of the sea ruined (Rev. 8:8). A third of the fresh water ruined (Rev. 8:11). A third of the sun, moon and stars darkened (Rev 8:12). People suffering in agony as a result of internal poisons (Rev. 9:5). Finally, a third of mankind is lost (Rev 9:18). All of these plagues in the spiritual realm are seen as six trumpets blown by six separate angels. The final angel blows its trumpet and "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord".

It's a dramatic series of events, but how can we look at it practically for today?
 

We can understand these disasters, these trumpets, as the result of allowing ourselves and our world to fall prey to Satan's strategy, which is, namely:

• To lure people away from fellowship with God into fellowship with themselves. 
• To bring people into such a state of self-indulgence, self-analysis, self-satisfaction, and selfishness that they don't see the earth they came to steward burning around them. 
• To busy people so much with self-reflection, self-improvement, self-actualization, and self-aggrandizement that they start to begin to see their personal success as the world getting better! 

Even we as Christians can focus so much on ourselves and our self-sacrifice and selfless actions that we don't realize we're falling under the same deception, that it's all about us. But, the truth is...

It's not about us!

God makes this abundantly clear by ending it all! Nothing humanity can muster stops the destruction and judgment. We rage and rant but the earth still burns, the sun still blackens and the stars still fall. We are powerless before a mighty and powerful God who has "begun to reign"!

We try to make a world for ourselves by doing our own thing and pursuing our own goals, but, because of our sin, that's doomed to fail, and only destruction results. And so, God finally steps in to clear away the mess of a world we've made, and bring a new creation.

This story and this revelation is the story of God and His plan. He started it with the creation of everything. It is only appropriate that he would end it, on His own terms. 

Satan hates this fact and makes sure to blind humanity to the truth with a bombardment of self-focused messages. God's solution was to send a man, Jesus, who was immune to this strategy and is able to break humanity out of its inward spiral. Jesus' example reveals an antidote that is powerful and yet subtle. He lived a life in obedience to God's Spirit and taught twelve disciples to do the same. He then allowed his life to be taken in a completely selfless act.

To live like Jesus is to die to self. This is the only cure, the only inoculation to the messages streaming into our heads daily. You are not the focus of history. You are not the reason the world exists. You are not the purpose. God is. 

His love for us is why He made us. His love for us is why He brings healing and redemption to a broken, self-destructive humanity. And He will bring His kingdom down and take up His rightful reign to restore this world.

1. What are some ways you can get your focus off yourself and onto Jesus?
2. Are there any specific people that focusing on yourself has distracted you from? What's a small step you can take to shift that focus?
3. What do you think about the kingdom coming down to earth?

Unity in Suffering

 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9

God created humans to inhabit a unique realm of responsibility and perception. We are responsible for our physical bodies, our physical property and what they affect on a day to day basis. Yet at the same time we are aware of and can perceive the spiritual realm. That brings us a responsibility to eternal things as well. God thankfully came to earth as a human and modeled how to live successfully in these areas. His life and death, seen from a physical perspective, could be regarded as a failure. He taught, performed miracles, was captured and killed by the Roman state. The end. But seen from the spiritual realm his was a life of perfect obedience to God and the eternal world.  

Counter to everything that the physical world tells us, Jesus' and our suffering is ultimately a good thing. I say this because Jesus' life points us to a pattern of living that regards suffering as a means to an end. This is not to say that he sought out suffering or that we should, but that he lived life directed toward changing this world and that meant conflict with the ruler of this world, Satan. 

Our lives are to be lived this way as well. In conflict with and sometimes in exact opposition to our own pleasure. This world directs all its aims toward the ultimate goal, an early retirement and plenty of money to enjoy it. But who does this kind of living benefit? At best the immediate family of those who achieve such goals, at worst only the people who succeed. This kind of living is so focused inward that in some cases it kills off or estranges most people who get in the way. Just look at the lives of some billionaires, they get the money they want, but at the expense of many of their relationships.

But God wants us to live outward and living outward involves suffering. It involves giving, extensively of ourselves, sometimes to the point of death. Who does this benefit? At worst everyone we've ever met, at best, the whole world. 

Being a suffering servant unifies us with "every nation, tribe, people and language" (Rev 7:9). We go out, we live out, and we act out of love to whoever is in need and no one is left abandoned. Every people group on earth appreciates this kind of living because it is how God designed us to live; to emulate the persons of the Trinity, who live eternally in unified servant-hood to each other. 

1. What are some things you can change to live more in line with our God, who was willing to suffer?
2. Is it possible to have both? A life lived for others and yourself?
3. Is living life for eternity viable for every person?