The reading
Revelation 6:1-8; 7:9-17
6:1 Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I
heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder,
"Come!" I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a
crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the
second living creature call out, "Come!" And out came another horse,
bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that
people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the
third living creature call out, "Come!" I looked, and there was a
black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the
midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's
pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the olive
oil and the wine!" When he opened
the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out,
"Come!" I looked and there was
a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him;
they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine,
and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.
7:9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude
that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and
languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with
palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
"Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the
Lamb!" And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders
and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and
worshiped God, singing, "Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me,
saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?"
I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me,
"These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they
are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no
more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will
guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear
from their eyes."
The message
We are at the start of the challenging chapters of the book
of revelation (which make up most of the book). We have the first visions of
the horsemen of the apolypase, beings who will bring great destruction. In the
early chapters, we saw the first vision of God’s throne room, a heavenly court
built and centered around worship, praise and God. Last
week that throne room, with the countless angels, people and creatures,
celebrated that Jesus, the lamb who was slaughtered but is alive, was worthy of
opening the seals on the scroll containing God’s plan of Judgment and Salvation.
This week, we wonder why they were so happy.
With the opening of each seal, peace is taken away, death and
destruction are sent to the world, evil forces are given limited, temporary
power over God’s creation. There are 7
seals. The first 4 are seals of destruction. The last 3 are seals of
Judgment. (our reading only has the
opening of the first 4).
The first 4 seals release horsemen who have their nasty work
to do. Each one brings death and destruction. In order, there is conquest,
violence, economic insecurity, and death. The horsemen portray threats that are
real. Few people, religious or not, would doubt these things could happen. They were real for the original audience. The first horseman brings defeat in war. People knew their communities could be invaded
and their armies defeated, events that would lead to slavery, exile, genocide
or other horrors. The second horseman brings violence. At the time, there was
an unstable peace we call the Pax Romana, where the Roman Empire was so
powerful, no one would fight or resist them. That peace was fragile and no one
really knew what the consequences of its collapse would be. The third horseman,
the only one who speaks, brings extreme economic
inequality. His words A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three
quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine indicate
an extreme rise in the costs of basic food supplies (wheat and barley) that
sustained the poor, while the price of luxury goods like wine and olive oil,
remain the same. A condition like this
would be generated by a drought or famine (grapes and olives where deeply
rooted crops that were not as affected by environmental crisis). The 4th horseman brings death we
can do nothing to prevent or stop.
These visions are real possibilities today as well. People might doubt parts of the Bible, not
think Jesus did miracles or dismiss the good news of God’s salvation as wishful
thinking but it would be hard to find anyone who doubts these visions could
happen. Most nations are afraid of
losing a conflict, anxious about what war could do to their way of life, loved
ones and community, the loss of everything we value. We do not have the Pax
Romana but we have a decades old idea of mutually assured destruction, a
fragile peace based on the reality that a significant attack by one world power
against another will result in the complete destruction of both (and most of
their neighbors too). To imagine the
economic inequality and undeserved death brought by the 3rd and 4th
horseman, you just need to look at the news, they seem to be happen all the
time. As horrible as these things are to
read about in the Book of Revelation, we are close to making them happen (and
we don’t even need those horsemen to help, we can destroy life, kill others and
create inequality all by ourselves).
Perhaps that is why people are so obsessed with the visions
of destruction in Revelation. It’s a multi billion dollar industry, creating
movies, shows and one of the best-selling book series of all time (a collection
of delusional and creepy beliefs called the left behind series, books I throw
out when I see them in church libraries). We can point to events that appear to
be happening. There are churches and
pastors who convince their congregations they will be relaxing on clouds
drinking lemonade and watching God destroy all their enemies, like a big budget
blockbuster movie. There are people
building bunkers, stashing supplies and hoarding weapons to get ready for this
time. There are people who don’t care
about the environment because we will not need it much longer. We need to not let people do that stuff in
Jesus name. We can easily lose sight of the fact that revelation is not about
the end of the world, it is about God’s new creation and victory over evil. The visions of destruction stop between the 6th
and 7th seal. (the 7th seal releases a group of 7 angels
with trumpets, as each one blows the trumpet, things like stars falling out of
the sky, mountains of fire and great plagues kill huge numbers of people).
The break between seal 6 and 7 is a much
needed reminder that God is life, forgiveness and love. As the visions escalate and approach the 7th
seal, we would expect complete destruction, an unstoppable progression. Instead, the visions stop and our attention to
pointed towards great promises, God’s protection of the faithful and ultimately
salvation. Where we expect to hear
visions of complete destruction, we hear, They
will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any
scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their
shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The world does not end with total destruction, it ends with a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before
the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their
hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our
God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
We need to try as hard at that vision of every nation, from all tribes and peoples
and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, as we do
trying to make "A quart of wheat for
a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the
olive oil and the wine!"
happen.
We need to try as hard at creating a world where They will hunger no more, and thirst no
more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the
center of the throne will be their shepherd as we do to
take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; We
need to be obsessed with the time when people have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb not with the ordeal
We need to be singing, "Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
to our God forever and ever! Amen.", not sit quietly afraid of our
loving God. We need to be looking forward to the time when God will wipe away every tear from their eyes not the moment when
our creating God brings destruction.
Those days of death and evil will come and go, God’s promises will
remain forever.
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