Sunday April 14th, 2013
Reverend Frances Savill
Richmond Presbyterian church
Revelation 5
Acts 9:1-20
Psalm 30
Things are not as they seem
The early Christian Church faced all kinds of struggles.
They faced persecution from other Jews.
One comes to mind from our reading; a zealous guy named Saul of Taursus.
Saul was coming to town to arrest Christians.
He had a letter giving him permission to arrest people of the Way (Jesus’ way), he was zealous
for his work.
Later, in the Christian story.
John of Patmos was banished to a prison island for his faith, the churches of Jesus were
dispersed and under fire.
They faced persecutions from outside, heresies from inside.
John, their Pastor, wrote to encourage and strengthen them to hang on.
Both passages have at least one common theme; things are not what they seem.
I’m sure it felt to the early church, both in the time of persecution under Saul and from the
Temple and Synagogue leaders, and in the day of John of Patmos, that they were in big trouble.
They must have wondered if the church would survive.
They were probably quite sure the church wouldn’t survive – they were a small movement, and
under so much pressure –how could they survive.
How could they have the courage?
How could God care for them, give them hope, courage and faith?
But things are not as they seem.
– Richard Bauckham reminds us that the first-century readers of Revelation were “constantly
confronted with powerful images of the Roman vision of the world.”
The imagery of the Revelation is intended to purge our imagination, “refurbishing it with
alternative visions of how the world is and will be.” (p.143)
“Heaven” is not some far-away, distant place, unrelated to earth.
For John heaven is another dimension of reality very close at hand – very close.
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Heaven is a dimension of reality that, although ordinarily invisible to the unaided eyes,
nevertheless intersects and pervades this dimension that we can see and hear and touch and
taste and smell.
The scroll that John sees, that was in the right hand of God (the one who is on the throne),
contains the completeness of God’s plan for the world.
The scroll contains God’s plan for rectifying what is wrong in the world and establishing his
gracious rule in the world.
It is a plan, which by necessity, involves judging all that is wrong and destroying all that opposes
God, justice and rule.
The scroll contains God’s plan for bringing the kingdom of Heaven to earth.
The scroll contains the meaning of history – the meaning of world history, the meaning of your
history and my history.
There is order behind the chaos.
God is accomplishing his plan – there is a scroll and all things will be accomplished according to
it.
The scroll is held firmly in the right hand of the Almighty. Things are not as they seem.
The shout needs to be sent out to the far reaches of the universe: Who is worthy to reveal
God’s plan of salvation and execute the plan on the stage of history? Who can understand the
secret and put it into effect?
We can create and assemble intricate electronic systems. We can write moving poetry, paint
beautiful pictures, and produce soul-stirring films.
We can conceive and have babies.
We can build bridges and television sets, we can build space ships and stealth bombers.
But none of us can discover and then implement the secret of history.
Having searched the whole universe, the strong angel found no one who had the power or
wisdom or moral excellence to break the seals and open the book.
And John wept and wept.
As does our world.
We hear the cries in a thousand different ways that things are not as should be – and all our
intelligence and discoveries, inventions, and innovations is not changing that.
Then comes the very heart of the Christian vision of reality.
Let this part of the vision sink deep into your imagination.
“‘Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he
can open the scroll and its seven seals.’
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Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb
standing as if it had been slaughtered,
The Lion of Judah has conquered – SEE – and John turned and SAW – not a great roaring Lion,
but a slain Lamb.
It is Jesus, the suffering servant, the crucified one, who is worthy.
This Lamb is one who was slain, but he is not a victim, for he has seven horns and seven eyes.
Horns are a symbol of power – seven is the number of completeness –
The Lamb has complete power and seven eyes, which symbolized complete wisdom.
Jesus is over all.
Jesus is on the throne.
Jesus, the crucified one, is bringing to be the fullness of God’s plan for all things.
And so we worship and praise, and sing.
Our world is not spinning out of control.
The church is not left to its own devices.
Whatever challenges we are facing, whatever this time is about for the church, in our families,
in our own lives, this is God’s time, and God’s scroll is being read.
God’s kingdom is being established on earth as in heaven.
Things are not as they seem.
In the midst of Saul breathing out threats against the church, he was struck blind.
And the voice that came to him said; “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
When someone or something threatens Jesus’ people, Jesus takes it personally.
He stands with us and says to Saul; “Why do you persecute me?”
The all wise and all powerful lamb is at the centre of the throne – and at the centre of His body;
the Church.
And when Jesus came to Saul – one of the great persecutors of the church, became one of the
greatest apostles of the church.
Who could have imagined that change?
The people of the Way in fear and trembling of Saul, found their greatest ally, defender of the
faith and encourager became Paul, because Jesus in on the throne.
I have seen it in the lives of people – enemies of the church – those who are farthest from
Christ, encounter the living Lord Jesus and they are transformed.
Believers are given courage to persevere – the church under persecution was able to do more
than survive, it thrived.
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The early church from this small movement, with just a handful of believers in Jerusalem, grew
and spread and became a force in the whole world.
In China when the communists expelled all the foreign priests, missionaries, evangelists, and
made Christianity illegal, it confiscated Bible’s and the church moved underground.
When the band was lifted, and Christian missionaries were again allowed into China, the world
expected that the Christian church in China would be nearly wiped out, that the underground
church would be weak and at the brink.
It found the opposite.
The church grew during the persecutions.
Jesus is on the throne, the slain Lamb, the one with complete wisdom and complete power is
with his church, is strengthening his people, is in our midst accomplishing his mission through
us.
And so we worship.
We lift up our voices with the myriads and myriads, the elders and living creatures, and all
creation, in praise of our great God.
Amen. Thanks be to God!
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