Revelation 6:1-8,
7:9-17
“Darkness Before Dawn”
27 August 2017 St.
Andrew’s Military Chapel
If you’ve lived in Singapore for
any length of time you have experienced at least one day, if not a consecutive
string of them, where the whole country seems to be conspiring against you.
Everything you do is met with the dreaded no can lah! Where you try to do
something at the bank and have to go back five times because each person you
talk with asks for yet another obscure document to prove who you are. Maybe
it’s the frustration at trying to extend a lease for less than a year because
the military doesn’t quite transfer people on Singapore’s timeline.
Continuous exposure to no can lah
is draining and perhaps quite detrimental to one’s health. As strangers in a
strange land there are ways to deal with these struggles. One option is to
stare dumbfounded at the individuals putting up the barricades to your
happiness. Another is to laugh just because there’s nothing to be done in such
a situation. Perhaps it has led you to raise your voice. An option that may
make one feel good momentarily but can draw much attention from those around
you, perhaps even a security guard or two.
Now, just for a moment, imagine if
those no can lah moments that we all occasionally experience are the definition
of our lives. Imagine the frustration, anger, tears, feelings of worthlessness
and self-doubt if the systems of society truly were conspiring against us,
thwarting our success at every turn. We have moments. There are many around the
world who live those moments continuously.
These verses are hope for them and
a caution for those of us who, for the most part, benefit from systems of
society. Again, we must remember Revelation was written as a pastoral letter
full of hope and inclusion to people in the first century living under the
Roman way of life. Because of their religion, Christians were considered
strangers in a strange land. Our way of worship, our beliefs, our sacraments,
while second nature and commonplace to us today, were all considered odd and
out of place in society back then.
Christianity didn’t start out full
of prestige and influence. At the start, there were some people of wealth and
influence in the church, but they were rare. Christianity was mostly people on
the fringes of society because, while Christ reached out to all his message
resonated the strongest with those society didn’t consider worth the time.
So, about 60 years after Christ’s
death we have John relating heavenly visions to a small community of faith that
needed good news and hope because Roman society was trucking along without
consideration for those it didn’t deem worthy. Rome, while touting Pax Romana
and other achievements, was still a society based on exclusion, conquest, and
power.
All of this context is important
because Revelation can seem so distant or fantastic to us that we fail to see
the picture John is painting, or we get so wrapped up in the imaginative way he
tells this story that we lose sight of the overarching narrative of God’s story
on earth. Because we are so removed from the context of this vision by time and
by our own place in society this all seems distant to us.
In these verses, John has shifted
from praise of God to a critique of Rome. He describes an empire gone wrong, in
contrast to the perfect, hopeful, and inclusive Kingdom of God. John addresses
political oppression with apocalyptic images that disorient us. This forces us
to engage the issues he critiques with imagination not with brute force logic.
But perhaps most importantly John
critiques empire from within an empire seeking to give hope to those the empire
is either leaving behind or deliberately crushing under the weight of its
power.
When the Lamb opens the first four
seals we are introduced to the four horsemen. If, like me you grew up in the
80’s your first image of the four horsemen may be that of Ric Flair and his
band of wrestlers. Though I suspect most of you think of the four horsemen of
the apocalypse and the death and destruction they will bring to the world at
some appointed time.
These horsemen represent not a
future death and destruction but rather a critique of the Roman empire at the
time and, frankly, of any empire gone wrong.
The white horse with a bow
represents an empire built on conquest and taking land and resources from other
societies, especially those perceived as weak or technologically inferior,
through military conquest. God’s Kingdom, is built on inviting people to a
peaceable kingdom through the personal acts of those already a part of God’s
family.
On the red horse is a rider that
takes peace from the earth to ensure that people kill each other. This is the
violence that was present in Rome. Just think of what happened in the coliseum.
People were pitted against each other and animals in graphic retellings of
Roman battles. Violence and death for all to see and cheer over. Those on the
margins of society were chosen to play the parts of the losing side where a
violent death was certain. God’s Kingdom rejects violence, especially violence
for the sake of entertainment.
A black horse appears next holding
not a sword, but scales. When empire has gone wrong, there is an unequal
distribution and availability of basic necessities. This isn’t income
inequality, there isn’t food for survival for many people. In around the year
70 Rome laid siege on Jerusalem and people had to ration their food. The empire
was failing those who needed its help the most for basic living, especially
when inflation takes hold and makes a daily wage worth far less.
Finally, the pale green horse of
death appears. A number of us here saw this horse face to face this week. It
swiftly rode in and reminded us that death isn’t a character in a fairy tale or
a Sci-Fi story. When any beautiful part of creation is destroyed it is against
God’s purposes. Unfortunately in our line of work, we experience more than our
fair share of sightings of the pale green horse.
Death is a threat to us all, but for those
under a government that has failed or is unjust, death as a result of war,
famine, etc. is a very real prospect. In fact, the destruction of creation is a
result of the first three horses and what they wield upon everyone.
Then we get the word of hope in
chapter 7. And this message of hope is the point of Revelation and what we
desperately need to hear again today.
Whereas Rome was seeking to protect
its own interests and people, God’s Kingdom invites all into the fold. There is
no limit to the number that can participate in this Kingdom, because it is not
empire gone wrong such as Rome. This doesn’t mean there won’t be struggles or
that the journey to that place will be free of suffering. Our redemption
doesn’t eliminate the threats, but rather lets us stand in the face of threats
because we are confident that God’s purposes and Gods’ Kingdom ultimately stand
for life. Our hope is in ending crucifixion. Both the literal death at the
hands of the state as well as the end of death because of second and third
order effects of the state.
We are saints not because we are
churchy people who follow the rules made by men, but rather we are saints
because we fight evil and injustice and stand up for those who are on the
margins of society. In a time of crisis, saints are willing to lay down their
lives for others. They run into dark compartments full of danger because that
is where they are needed. Saints are the ones that engage in a healthy critique
of empire, even our own, because we seek to infuse our society and culture with
the hope and inclusion of God’s Kingdom.
This is an idea of matchless grace.
Grace that only God can comprehend and provide. It even shocks the elders that
surround God’s throne. In verse 7:13 an elder asks John who are the saints and
from where did they come. John can’t believe he is being asked that question
and replies, “shouldn’t you be the one telling me that?” It is a magnitude of
grace so large that we can’t comprehend it ourselves. People we don’t expect
are part of God’s Kingdom. People from everywhere.
Knowing that regardless of our
situation and status in life, regardless of our place in the empire, regardless
of our ability to follow the churchy path we are welcome to stand up for God’s
Kingdom is a beautiful message of hope for us all. Because the threats on our
lives never go away, these words from the first century still inspire hope in
us all today. Empires come and go, but God’s Kingdom, where we’ll never hear
the phrase no can lah, ultimately triumphs and is always here for us.
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