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Revelation 7:9-17

January 21/22, 2012 • Portage First UMC

In July 2000, I found myself on a hot, sweltering day standing in the cool dampness of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This church stands over the traditional spots where Jesus was crucified and buried, and it’s a huge structure. When you enter, you first go up a flight of stairs to the traditional site of Mount Calvary, the place where the cross stood. Then you descend the steps to the rock where, again according to tradition, Jesus was laid after he was taken off the cross. And then you go around the corner into a huge area that marks the place where the tomb once stood. This church, as vast as it is and as important as it is, isn’t owned by any one denomination or tradition. In fact, it is owned or supervised by six different Christian traditions, and as you move through the building, you can hear worship taking place in all sorts of languages and many different styles. You hear singing, you smell incense, you see icons, you watch people praying and others reading. As I stood in that space on that hot July day, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was getting a taste of what heaven might be like. In the Revelation, John says he saw “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (7:9). It’s a powerful picture that causes to see the church as something more than “just us.” The church is truly a worldwide movement. When Jesus returns, his church will be made up not just of people like you and me, but of people from every tribe, nation, people and language. Every nation, joined together, worshipping God—the fulfillment of the angels’ hope of “peace on earth, goodwill toward all” (Luke 2:14).

But to get to that place, there are some dark images in this section of Revelation. We’re now in our third week exploring this strange and often misunderstood book, a book that’s not so much about a timeline for the end of the world as it is helping catch a vision of Jesus who is triumphant over the world. We’ve seen how John, in writing down this vision, has taken his time. Twenty percent of the book is written before we begin to get these glimpses of evil and its effect in the world (Peterson, Reversed Thunder, pg. 73). Last week, we talked about the Lamb of God who was found worthy to open the scroll, this scroll that was covered with writing on bot sides, symbolizing God’s purposes in history. At the beginning of chapter 6, then, the Lamb begins opening the seven seals that are holding the scroll closed—and that’s when strange, powerful and cataclysmic things begin happening. So this evening/morning, we’re going to walk quickly through those seals and see where they lead both John and us.

So the seals are really divided into two parts. There’s the first four, which let loose those strange beings we often hear referred to as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” and then there’s the last three, which are responses to the situation caused by the four horsemen. Now, let me say what I’ve said before—these seals, these events are not meant to be sequential signs to the end. You can’t take these seals and match them up to the newspaper. Rather, John is seeing is what history looks like, and especially he’s seeing what life is like for the seven churches he’s writing to. Remember, this Revelation was written in a specific time to specific people who were undergoing hardship because of their faith. It was written not to scare them but to encourage them. He’s writing to let them know that God knows and cares about their suffering and, more than that, that God’s going to do something about it. He’s writing to offer hope, not fear.

So the first seal is opened, and John sees “a white horse” whose rider has a bow and a crown. “And he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest” (6:2). There are divided opinions among scholars as to who or what this rider is, but it’s likely he represents all those kings and rulers who have set out to conquer other nations, who try to claim power over other nations or even their own. The white horse represents the forces of human conquest, our desire for power and control (Wright, Revelation for Everyone, pg. 61). And certainly we only have to turn on the evening news to know how that is seen in our own time. In John’s time, it was seen in the undying thirst of the Roman emperor to conquer more and more people and territory. We’ve known and seen that throughout history, but we also see it in families and in homes when one person is unwilling or unable to put the good of others ahead of his or her own desires and wants. We see control and power and even abuse because we want to conquer. There is a horseman loose in the world bent on conquering—and he often looks just like you and me.

That spirit of conquering, then, leads to the breaking of the second seal and the release of a fiery red horse. “Its rider,” John says, “was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword” (6:4). Commentators agree that this is the horse of war. He is the color of blood, and his actions spring from our pride and hunger for power (Peterson 77). And, again, we know this horse all too well; when hasn’t there been a war in history? When haven’t we fought over some piece of land or resource? The history of the human race is a history of war. Even in a land that seems peaceful, our desire for more and our competitive nature often brings war right into our businesses or our churches or even our homes. The red horse brings conflict.

The third seal brings a black horse. “Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand” (6:6). This is often the result of war—famine. Famine is “nature out of balance.” It happens when we have too much of what we don’t need and almost nothing of what we do need (Peterson 78). Famine results in hunger because during such times, as Revelation points out, things that poor people need shoot up in price and luxuries stay the same. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer (Wright 62). Famine is the result of economic imbalance, and while it’s easy to try to blame those who are poor for getting themselves into those circumstances, the truth is that while some do just “live off the system,” most economic systems work against those trying to get out of poverty. And for much of the history of the church, we’ve failed to notice. I’m thankful for people like Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, who often prayed, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God” (qtd. in Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel, pg. 9). I know hunger and poverty and issues like that weren’t on the radar of my church growing up. We assumed, I guess, that everyone had what they needed. But today I am proud to serve a church that takes such things seriously, a church who has worked hard to fight against hunger in our own community. It’s unbelievable to many of us that kids go home on the weekend hungry, or that the only food they get is lunch at school. And yet, that’s reality. That’s truth. Let our hearts be broken by the things that break God’s heart. The black horse of famine hits us in many different and sometimes unexpected ways.

The fourth horse is pale. “Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him” (6:8). I hope now you’re seeing the progression—conquest leads to war leads to famine leads to death. John’s observation that that this rider was given power over a fourth of the earth reminds us how broadly and swiftly these horsemen ride, and that they ride throughout history. This is not just the situation in John’s time, or in the time of the medieval church, or in our time, or in the end times. Jesus told his disciples, “Nations will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:7-8). These horsemen are the basic ills that plague our planet. They are the ways we hurt each other, no matter what period in history we want to point to. But why does God allow that? Couldn’t God stop all of it? Couldn’t he hold the horsemen back? Yes, of course, God could, but to do so would remove our free will, and that is one thing God will not do. Besides, when we see the true terror of what human beings do to one another, the grace and the salvation of Jesus looks even sweeter. These horsemen are allowed to do what they do so that “the saving message of the scroll can have its full effect” (Wright 62).

There are three more seals to open, however. The fifth seal shows the ugliness of religious persecution as John sees the souls of those who were killed for their faith. Sometimes, we think of that as something in the past, but in reality, more people are losing their lives for their faith today than in the first century. A report released last year by the International Bulletin of Missionary Research revealed that, in the first decade of the 21st century, 2000-2010, on average 270 Christians were killed because of their faith every day. That amounts to almost a million believers. If they were all in one country, we’d call it genocide. But it gets very little press. One million believers. In his vision, John sees them under the altar, crying out, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” (6:10). And they are told, “Just a little while longer.” Larger in scope is the sixth seal, which represents the evil of natural catastrophe—earthquake, unusual things in the heavens, mountains and islands shaken. The creation is in upheaval and those who are in power, who like to think they can control everything, run and hide. “Who can stand?” they ask.

So six seals, representing the full scope of evil in our world—conflict, war, famine, death, persecution, catastrophe. John sees it all and does not back away. Sometimes we want to turn a blind eye to the hurt and pain and brokenness in our world. Sometimes we do that unconsciously as we expect everyone to be “fine” when we come to worship, or we spread the lie that just coming to Jesus will make your life perfect. If Revelation is to be believed, coming to Jesus will make your life more dangerous. The persecution, in particular, is aimed at believers in Jesus. The church is at its best when it gets involved in the pain and brokenness of this world, and when we’ve been at our best we’ve started hospitals and care facilities. We’ve started educational institutions and benevolent funds. When the church is at its best, we refuse to let things be as they are. We look poverty in the face. We stare down racism. We challenge the idea that war is inevitable. And we refuse to be silent in the face of injustice. One of the biggest reasons, according to the Old Testament prophets, God became upset with Israel in ancient days is because they not only ignored injustice, they practiced it. They went to worship and then turned around and cheated each other. They took advantage of those in need. And so, for one example, the prophet Amos told them they shouldn’t anticipate the day of the Lord, the end of the world, because it wasn’t going to go well for them. In fact, Amos said, you shouldn’t even to bother to show up for worship. “Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them,” God told the people. “Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps!” And then, as if the people asked, “Well, what do you want?” God says, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:22-24). If you’re going to be righteous, if you’re going to be my people, you must be people who turn toward the world and work against injustice. That’s why John refuses to turn away from the evil of history, and the evil of his own world. We can’t shut our eyes to it. Instead, we run toward it, intent on overcoming evil with good (cf. Romans 12:21).

In the midst of all this evil (because there’s not really any other word for it), comes a beautiful picture at the beginning of chapter 7. An angel cries out, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God” (7:3). A “seal” in ancient times indicated ownership or control. Whoever placed the seal on the thing or the person owned it (Mulholland, “Revelation,” Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol. 18, pg. 479). And ownership implied protection. And so, in another one of those symbolic numbers, the whole people of God are protected from the world’s evil. They are sealed. They are marked as belonging to God. Now, again, we have to understand what protection means in this setting. It doesn’t meant nothing bad will happen to you. It doesn’t mean you won’t get sick or your child won’t rebel or your life will be sunshine and roses. What it means is that the servants of God are always given the very last promise Jesus left his disciples with: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). I’ve said it often: the best gift Jesus gives us is his presence, right at the center of our life. In fact, the worship time that breaks out in the passage we read tonight/today is in response to this sealing, to this promise of God’s protection and presence in the midst of horrible evil and devastation. This great multitude that is sealed is from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, and there are so many of them that we Methodists, who count everything, are frustrated. John says it’s a group so large, “no one could count.” How in the world are they going to fill out the year-end reports if they can’t count them? But they sing together, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (7:10). I can’t wait to hear that song!

John sees this multitude clothed in white robes, a color that represents cleansing (the early church gave each person who was newly baptized a white robe), and he is asked where these folks have come from. “Sir, you know,” John responds, and the elder tells him, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:13-14). Now here is one of those phrases that is well known in popular novel-ish Revelation theology: “the great tribulation.” Many see that as a time period near the end, usually seen as seven years, when the whole world suffers. But that’s not the context and that’s not what John says. John hears of people who are suffering throughout history, as we’ve said. The “great tribulation” is the period of time from when Jesus was crucified to whenever he returns—it’s not seven years, or even seventy. It’s the whole of time when wars, famine and all the rest seem to be winning. We live in the “great tribulation” right now, as have all who have come before us for the last two thousand years. A better translation of verse 14 would be that they “continue to come out of the great tribulation;” that’s what John actually says (Mulholland 480). He sees this incredible number of people, from all throughout history, who have endured because they have the Lamb at center of their life. To be counted among that group of faithful followers requires only two things: to be washed in the blood of the Lamb (which means we let Jesus do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to forgive us of our sins) and to allow God’s seal on our foreheads (to let him “own” us fully). Two things we do to put him at the center, which is the image we have in this chapter. That’s why I keep saying Revelation isn’t just about Jesus’ appearance at the end of time; it’s about his presence in every time. It’s about him walking with us through the famine and war and conflict and fear that is our lives.

I got an e-mail this week from a member of our church, Leigh Coffey, who knew I was preaching on this tonight/today, and I asked her permission to share her story. Many years ago, Leigh was a single mom, supporting 3 small children, living in a 2 bedroom apartment. Times were tough, and there were dark days when it seemed they wouldn’t make it. It was humbling to have to ask for help, for assistance with food, and with gifts for the children at Christmas, but Leigh knew she had to do it if they were going to make it. Jobs would come along, but they weren’t paying the bills fully, and the low number of hours she was getting was even endangering her state funding for daycare. One December, in the midst of that struggle a friend told her about the opportunity she might have to go back to school and still keep the state funding. Leigh had just enough time to enroll for two spring classes at IUN, which she did, and there she learned about scholarships, grants and student loans she could receive which meant she could go full time and obtain her degree in Geology. As a bonus, she met David, now her husband, while she was at school. At the end of that e-mail, Leigh wrote, “Whenever I go through tough times now, I remember the struggles I had raising the children. I remember how God used these experiences for me to grow and to become a better person. So I may be down for a bit, but I bounce right back because I have God’s strength to rely on, and I know that whatever I go through, it always works out for the best in the end.” That’s what having Jesus at the center of our lives does. No matter how difficult the road gets, he walks with us through it all.

Now, in case you think I don’t know how to count, I do remember that there is one more seal. It isn’t opened until the very beginning of chapter 8. John describes it this way: “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (8:1). And why does heaven get silent? Verses 3-5 give us a clue, as an angel comes to the altar with a golden bowl of incense mixed with the prayers of God’s people. Heaven gets silent so that the prayers of the saints—our prayers—can be heard (Peterson 85). And then there’s this beautiful picture—the prayers of the saints go up to God, and then the angel hurls them back toward the earth, “and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (8:5). I think that’s beautiful because God takes our prayers and then sends those prayers back into the world to make a difference—and the thunder, lightning and such are an indication that the prayers of the saints are turning the world upside down. In fact, this seal is last because the answer to all the evil that was revealed in the first six seals is for the saints of God to faithfully pray. So many times we feel powerless in the face of evil—whether it’s intentional evil or circumstantial evil. We feel powerless, when in fact we have the strongest power in the universe on our side. If Jesus walks with us through the evil in our world (and he does—the first six seals tell us that), then prayer becomes our most valuable weapon in the fight against evil, in our struggle to push back the evil we see. When we pray, God acts. Years ago, I remember hearing Dr. Maxie Dunnam ask the question, “What if there are some things God either can not or will not do until and unless God’s people pray?” Heaven is waiting on our prayers to push back the evil in our world.

Many of you know that. Many of you have experienced in your own lives the power of people praying for you. Part of the story of this church is the importance—the vital importance—that prayer has had in your life. There are literally hundreds of stories we could tell about how the prayers of this church have made a difference, but we only have time for one. Take a listen.

Video: Prudence Shutters

What if there are some things God either can not or will not do until and unless God’s people pray? Where would Cameron be had the people of this church, and many others, not prayed for him? Folks, the message of Revelation 6-8 is just this: there is evil in the world, and it can seem very dark at times. But God has people in every tribe, every nation, and every tongue who are faithful, who have put Jesus at the center of their lives. And those are the people who are called to pray, to fight against evil with their prayers. James put it this way: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Overwhelmed sometimes by the evil that surrounds you? Tempted to despair that evil will win? Revelation says that’s not going to happen, but this vision also calls on us to be faithful and persistent in our prayers. And when your mind wanders (like mine does), or you get distracted (like I do), don’t give up. Pray again. Pray often. When I was in college, there was this idea among some folks I hung out with that you should spend an hour praying every day. A whole hour. At minimum. Well, I can’t focus that long, but do you know what I learned? The Bible doesn’t say, “Pray an hour each day.” No, the Bible says, “Pray continually,” or in older translations, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). What I think that means is that we stay connected to God, we lift up prayers whenever we think of it, we use everyday circumstances to call us to prayer. Reading the newspaper and you see something that breaks your heart—pray. Drive by a car accident—pray. Sit down with a friend who is going through a hard time—pray. In everything, pray and push back the darkness of our world. That’s the call of Scripture. That’s the call of Revelation. Our prayers are heard and used to make a difference in this world. And so I would love nothing more than for this community to know Portage First, first and foremost, as the church that prays constantly what Jesus told us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). May it be so for us. Amen.