I'm borrowing from lyrics by Rich Mullins for this post. The title of the entry comes from one of his songs titled "The Love of God." I couldn't come up with any words of my own that better describe the thread I see binding the three readings from the lectionary today.
The first is from Joel, and I think Chapter 2, verses 12-13 is one of the most amazing Words of Scripture I have ever read: "'Yet even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments.'"
The Israelites have ever been a people of deep tradition. That was one of Jesus' most scathing criticisms for the scholars of His day - they clung to their traditions, and not to the heart of the message; they followed the letter of the Law, and forgot it's soul. In this passage from Joel, God cuts through the visible trappings of obedience, and pierces straight to the reality of obedience. "Rend your heart and not your garments."
I read this as a reminder that all the Laws, provisions, traditions, and practices are designed to do one thing and one thing only – point us toward the heart of God. And His heart is “Return to Me! No matter where you are, where you’ve been, or how badly you think you’ve screwed up; return to me with all of your heart and nothing else really matters all that much.
Jesus reiterates this point in Luke 15 with his parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. He doesn’t talk about making sure to punish the sheep for not paying attention to the shepherd. He doesn’t discuss quizzing the sheep to make sure it remembers the rules once it is found. He talks about carrying the sheep home and throwing a party to celebrate its return. That is the heart of God. “Rejoice with me, for I have found [your name here] which I had lost!”
So Joel and Jesus talk about the heart of God. What, then, do we do with Revelation 19? Verses 17-18 says, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of might men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” What an awful, bloody, disgusting picture. How diametrically opposite to what we have read in the Hebrew Testament and in the Gospel. How can these two pictures be contained in the same volume? How can these two images reflect the heart of God?
What I am about to propose will offend and shock some of you. I apologize. I mean no disrespect. But remember, I have never claimed to speak for God, or even to be certain that I won’t change my own mind in the months and years to come. But I don’t think that this does reflect the heart of God. I remain steadfast in my earlier assertion. Revelation more accurately reflects John’s own emotions, because God speaks to us through our own experiences and meets us where we are. The message he is sending to John has to come first through John’s consciousness, so it has to look different than it would if it came through my consciousness. John wants to see a victorious warrior, sweeping in to save the day, much as he and his fellow disciples expected a Messiah who would come to conquer. And for John, that’s what it will feel like on the last day.
But I agree with Brian about the true message of Revelation - this is about God protecting His children, His family, His remnant on the earth. The real message here is this – you are not forgotten, you are not abandoned, I will not leave you without a hope and a salvation. I will come for you. I will bring you home. I will do whatever it takes to make you safe.
In John’s understanding, there must be bloodshed and retribution, and perhaps there will be. But the feeding on flesh in this picture is more about the time period in which John is writing, about the realities of persecution faced by Christians, than it is about the true essence of the message. Much as slavery has passed away in the time since John wrote, the appropriateness of war-like images has passed away. If the Revelation had come to an inspired writer today, I suspect it would have been much, much different.
The message, though… the divinely inspired Word of the LORD cannot and will not change. Joel, Jesus, and John agree on this point. God loves us. He will do whatever is necessary to show us that love. There are no lengths too great to reach us. There are no obstacles too high to divide us. There are no Laws, traditions, or customs too rigid to bind us. And once we are reunited in His love and His presence, there will be no celebration more epic.
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I don't know, Leslie.. Revelation was a vision.. just like the OT prophets received. To me, a vision would be like watching a movie. You see a picture on the screen of your mind. John reports his vision as being shown to him by an angel of God. I don't see reporting a vision as something being interpreted, more as a regurgitation of what John (Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah) saw/was shown. The prophets reported what they saw, they weren't necessarily interpreting their visions in scripture (this interpretation was what amazed people so much when Jesus would preach in the synagogue). So I don't know if I can get behind saying John was overly influenced in WHAT he saw.. i think he was God's servant and recorded what he was shown. Now, can we argue about whether the vision is literal or metaphorical? Maybe. Either way, it's going to be ugly. However, I think when you look back at the OT prophets' visions regarding Israel and the exile, the visions the prophets had ended up being literal: i.e., mothers eating their babies, starving in the streets, etc. It is equally horrifying and seemingly out of place (well, maybe for the NT but not the OT) but occurred. And this punishment meted out to the Israelites was a consequence of their not returning to God, for unrepentant hearts towards their sin as a nation. The prophets, and John as well, I would argue, took visions, and their reporting thereof, quite seriously. God routinely killed false prophets in very public and dramatic manners...
ReplyDeleteGod is about love in his providing salvation for those of us who confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and repent for our sins. To me, Revelation (as well as Daniel's and Isaiah's visions) is giving hope to the believers left in the days before Jesus' triumphant return. It is also about God's hate of and anger towards sin (and those who refuse to repent). Because God is Love (1 John), he MUST hate sin. We are born into sin, conceived in sin (a big, ugly, scary truth). We need a savior (Jesus) to save us from God's wrath (hell, God's active and eternal punishment). God in his great love for us provided a way to Him. But, as my mom constantly reminds me, we can't pick and choose which attributes of God's character we focus in on. If we start removing aspects of who God is, we are in danger of creating a God in our own image which is an abomination. God of the OT is God of the NT. He is rich in love, but he is still jealous and vengeful. However, God, in his grace and mercy, has made a way and promises that he will richly reward us if we are earnestly seeking Him.
And, considering the nature of Clayton's work.. I have to also argue that the age of war -like images has not passed away. Maybe for us as Americans.. but not for most of the world. And it's getting worse.. So maybe, for those in Africa and parts of Asia, the Middle East and countries in South America, those war-like images ring very true and are certainly relatable in ways foreign to Americans. Persecution is alive and well.. much in the way it was during John's day.. just not on the news for us to see on our big TVs or online.
Good on ya, Leslie, for challenging your readers to get in the word. ((hugs)) from freezing cold AK.