Reversed Thunder

Series: Reclaiming REVELATION

“More Than ConquerorsAuthentic Worship”
 Message @ Jericho Ridge– Sunday, Oct 29, 2017
Text: Revelation 8-9  // Series: Reclaiming Revelation

Good morning. We are continuing our fall series this morning in the book of Revelation.  Our title for this series is “Reclaiming Revelation: Strength for Today, Bright Hope for Tomorrow”.  This comes out of the conviction that Revelation has things to say to us NOW. Here. Today.  That it is not just a book of cryptic, mysterious images about what is going to happen in the future, but there is wisdom for living as a follower of Jesus in our world today that you and I can glean from this ancient apocalyptic work. 

 

I will say, however, that we are into the middle part of the book and that is where we have to work the hardest to make sense of some of this stuff.  And it’s not palatable, warm, fuzzy stuff.  The Apostle John is writing as a pastor to his 7 churches in Asia Minor in the first century and he is reminding them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, about the very real, very present dangers that they faced and how they needed to heed the fall to be faithful to Jesus under incredible pressures of ancient Roman rule.  This was a group of people who were being actively persecuted for their faith.  John himself was imprisoned for his refusal to participate in the cult of emperor worship.  So it’s important to keep that context in mind as well when we read Revelation.  It was written to encourage real people in real places towards real discipleship. 

 

Last week, we were in Revelation chapters 6&7 and we covered a lot of ground.  We touched on the four horsemen of the apocalypse, tribulation, the rapture, the reality of persecution and much more!  So don’t forget you can always catch up on teaching you miss via Google Play or iTunes podcasts or on our website. 

We saw in those chapters that each of the events of John’s vision was initiated by the breaking of a seal on a scroll.  And with each seal that is broken open, we see that things on earth are getting really, really, bad!  The reason for this is that there are both human & demonic forces that actively resist the way of Jesus, and when this happens, whether in John’s day or ours, we see

Seal 1: Greater conflicts & conquest – wars and rumours of wars

Seal 2: Greater violence – Person against person, but also institutional  

Seal 3: Greater injustice & hunger – systemic perpetuation of unjust conditions

Seal 4: Greater sickness & death – This is why prosperity preachers avoid Rev!  

Seal 5: Persecution –Those who follow Jesus are “sealed” (secure, not safe)

Seal 6: Self-Rule Gone Wrong – God turns people over to their own desires

 

John is driving at the core question: what is wrong with our world?  And the answer is that evil has entered our world and has corrupted and distorted that plans and purposes of God.  But the good news is that we see clearly at the end of chapter 7 that evil does not have the final word.  The last word spoken is a word of comfort and shelter that those who follow the way of the Lamb, their eternal destiny is secure.  And though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, they do not fear evil.  For the shepherd’s rod and staff comforts them.  For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life giving water and God will wipe away every tear form their eyes” (7:17).

 

So that took us to seal 6 of 7.  Turn with me in your Bibles or on your phones or your Jericho app to Revelation 8:1-5.  We’re going to look briefly at the 7th seal and then we’ll move into the next section which describes the 7 trumpets.    

 

What is happening here?  At the breaking of the seventh seal, at first it appears that nothing happens but silence in heaven.  The worship around the throne which has been going on from eternity past pauses.  Why?  But even in the silence there is action.  The prayers of God’s people that have ascended to the throne room of heaven are being collected.  The prayers of the martyrs in chapter 6 who are crying out “how long, O Lord until you act?” are being collected.  Your prayers, my prayers, the prayers of God’s people are given this powerful visual picture. That they are ascending to heaven like smoke from the fire on the altar.  Friends, I want us to pause for a moment and think about the significance of this picture… One of the most powerful truths of the Christian life is that the God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them actively listens to you.  God hears you.  Everything you say, every cry of your heart, every stammering attempt at prayer: all this is listened to.  All heaven quiets down.  The thundering throne songs are stilled while God listens. We pray because God listens.  And the prayers are not simply stored up and kept in some kind of repository, they are returned to earth with the incredible force like thunder, lightning & earthquakes!

 

Eugene Peterson draws the title of his excellent little book on Revelation from this section.  He calls it Reversed Thunder because Prayer: Reversed Thunder

“Out of the silence, action developed…  The prayers which had ascended, unremarked by the journalists of the day, returned with immense force – in [poet] George Herbert’s phrase, as ‘reversed thunder’. Prayer re-enters history with incalculable effects. Our earth is shaken daily by it!”                     

 

In 2017, we have two focus areas here at Jericho Ridge. One is growing in caring well for each other and the other is prayer.  The reason for this is that prayer is one of, if not the, most power force in the universe.  It is one of the most important and therefore one of the most practical things that a person can do.  When you and I pray, we are responding to an invitation to participate in God’s action in the world.  Peterson goes on to say that this picture in Revelation 8 reminds us that “God gathers our cries and our praises, our petitions and intercessions, and uses them.  The prayer that ascended to God now descend to earth.  God uses our prayers in His work”.  What an incredible privilege! 

 

And here’s where I wonder if we don’t actually take this privilege seriously enough.  We tend to treat prayer as a bit of an afterthought.  We try our best to pursue every angle, every strategy or initiative we can think of. And then when they don’t work out, we think “well, maybe I’ll pray about it!”  Prayer is often our last resort instead of our first response.   

 

I think that’s why Jesus gives us this powerful picture in Revelation 8.  God wants to remind us that PRAYER is the most powerful, practical, earth-shattering thing that anyone can do.  Prayer is our invitation to join with God in actively changing things in the world.  It is not mystical, inner escapism for those who are too weak to act on their own, it is a powerful invitation to join God’s work.

That’s the reason we have called for a prayer night this evening for Syria.  Because we believe that what we do tonight gathered in Tyler and Lindsey’s living room will have a profound impact on the course of people’s lives on the other side of the world.  We don’t gather because we don’t’ know what to do, we gather because we are shown that this is easctly what Christians are to do.  We don’t gather and thrown up our hands in defeat. We gather to join our prayres with those who are right now in plces like Damascus saying “how long, O Lord, must this continue?”  We cry out for You to act.  Prayer is the most powerful, practical, eather shattering action that you and I have the privilege of doing.  

 

There is so much more that could be said about it but you can go back and listen to our series on Kingdom prayer earlier this year.  Let’s keep moving through the rest of chapters 8 & 9.  I’ll read the text from the New Living translation.  I’m not going to put it up on the screens.  The Apostle John is a poet and as he goes thorugh the events and conditions brought about by the seven angels blowing their 7 trumpets he wants to evoke the use of our imaginations so if you would like to simply sit and listen with your eyes closed, feel free to do that as well.  Let’s these gripping images wash over you.  As you listen ask “what puzzles me?” “What troubles me?” “What makes sense to me” [READ 8&9].

What in the world is John trying to say here?  Some argue that he is trying to describe events that will occur on the earth after the second coming of Jesus.  Some argue that these events happen as part and parcel of Jesus’ return to the earth.  One of the questons to ask is “what has John been telling us thus far?” he’s been helping both us and his initial readers try to make sense of a world that is not as it should be.  For John’s churches, they were victims of incredible suffering and haredship.  And so the natural question they would be asking is “God, why aren’t you doing something about this?” If indeed you are holy and good and righteous and all-powerful, why is the world, messed up?  Why is my world messed up?  What is being pictured for us here in these 7 trumpters is nothing new or divergent from the rest of Scrtipture.  John is giving us disturbing and grotesque images of God’s jusgement poured out on sin and evil.  The seven seals which we read about last weekend unfold from the perspective of the church.  The seven trumpters, however, unfold from the perspective of the world.  And it is not a pretty picture.

 

But even God’s judgement is good news.  It’s a terrible reality but it is also an important one for us to keep in our minds.  One of the privilages that Meg and I and our church have is participating in a work with persons with albinism in Tanzania.  Albinism is a genetic condition where a person has no melanin in their skin, eyes or hair.  In Africa, due to the prevelance of belief in witchcraft, persons with albinism are hunted for the body parts.  So we’ve been to East Africa 4 times now and sat with hunderds of people and lsitend to their stories of injsutices that they have experienced.  Some of you have met some of the people, Miriam who was here with us last year or our young friend Adam Roberts.  And when you listen to Miriam talk about how her arm was hacked off with a machete by people who wanted to sell it for money, you cannot deny the gruesome reality of evil.  We here in the west like to pretend that we are all sophicticaed and that evil is a philosphicla or metaphysical concept. But I for one, do not want to live in a world where the guilty people who assaulted Miriam go unpunished.  There’s a cry in our spirits  for justice.  And this is what John is getting at here in these chapters.  What is being vividly imaginged for us is God’s judgement against evil and sin.          

 

This is why How is Judgement Good News?

“Judgement says God cares. Judgement says we and our choices matter to God. Judgement says God takes evil and sin seriously. Judgement says God is not indifferent to, nor tolerant of evil and sin. Judgement says God moves against evil and sin.”    – Darrell Johnson

 

This is the message of Revealtion chatpers 8-11. That God is not silent or refraining from judgemeitng.  But rather that judgement is being worked out on the stage of history.  It may not always be as situallyally specific as we would like.  It may not be on the timelines that we would like, but God is responding to the prayrs of His saints who cry out ‘Your kinigdom come, Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven”.  Part of that kingdom is a kingdom of justice.  And part of justice is jjudgement against evil and sin. 

 

The images that emerge as the 7 trumpters of judgement sound are graphic:

Trumpet 1: One-third of all vegetation is burned

Trumpet 2: One-third of the ships & seas perish  

Trumpet 3: One-third of the rivers are poisoned

Trumpet 4: One-third of the sun, moon & stars are darkened altering day and night

Again we see that these numbers or fractions are not to be taken with mathmateical literality.  They are symbols, not statistics.  Afterall, if thse things happened, life of earth would cause to function.  John’s point in trumpters 1-4

Point: Nature itself is no longer operating in its created and intended ways!

 Even the very physical world is in revolt and chaos.  It is not in a Genesis 1 reality where God pronounced everything He made as “good”.  This much disaster in plant life, the seas, rivers, celestial bodies – this is cataclysmic!

 

BUT, John also wants us to get a clear picture of God’s mercy in this.  How in the world is this a reminder of mercy?! You might ask.  Well, the language is very specific: That there are limits on this chaos and desctrctuion.  As God’s judgemtn is poured out, 1/3 is the symbol of mercy.  It is a reminder that God’s judgement is not total.  2/3rd is spared!  In His judgement of sin, God’s desire for people is articulated in 9:20 – He wants them to repent of their evildeeds and turn to Him.  And so one of the gifts that God sometimes allows is the gift of time for people to do this.  Even, as much as it grates on our sensibilities, very, very evil people. 

 

When I was a kid, I grew up playing a trumpet.  That is, until I got braces and it became very, very difficult.  And one of the things I liked about the trumpet is that it was loud.  You could really make a statement playing it.  Not like those wind instruments or the gentle flutes or raspy squaky clarinets. No!  The trumpet was serious business, in my thinking.  We actually find trumpets used a lot in the Bible.  Can you think of some examples where the trumpet shows up? A lot of times, the trumpet is used to sound the alarm.  To warn people.  To give them a signal that something is wrong.  That is exactly what John is getting at here in Revaltion.  These trumpets are warning signlas to people who practice evil deeds – those who steal, who pursue sexual activity outside of the boundaries of covenantal marriage, those who choose to take lives, those who do now acklenged God – that they are in the parthway of judgement unless they change their ways.    

 

John gets even more graphic with Trumpter 5 – where locusts come from the abyss.  This is likely a picture of Satan and his demonic forces who are at work in the world.  9:11 says “their king is the angel from the bottomless pit, the Destroyer.  Make no mistake, friends, Satan’s intention is to steal, kill and sestroy anyone or anything that declares their allegiance to God.  But even here, notice the mercy mixed with judgement.  They are presently at work in the world but there is a limit to their power.  They are given both a time limit (5 months) and also limits of what they can and cannot do.  The language of “given” is always used to Revatliaon to remind us that the power of evil is not absolutel.  Even in places like Tanzania and even in situations like Miriam’s, evil will not and cannot ultilatemly win.  It is on a leash.

 

But just like with the 7 seals, we see this sense of wilfull resistance on the part of some against God and His charater and His plans and purpose.  The call is for repentance and yet people still steel themselves in self-sufficiency against Jesus

Point: “Enmity with God is a ferocious assault on humankind… Only in repentance are we saved from the terrors of sin.”  

     

The sixth trumpet is blown and it unleashes another terrible army.  This one is numbers 200 million mounted troops.  They come from the east, and in John’s day, the eastern edge of the Roman empire was the Euphrates River, and there was a genuine fear of foreign invasion coming from that place to topple their empire.  And John sees this vision of an unleashed army that results in ravaging destrition.  The point again is the same: judgement is not pretty. 

 

The picture John wants us to imagine is a world not unlike our world.  A world where from every corner of the globe, people realize “something is not right”  Where God is whispering and sometimes shouting “You are ignoring me and my ways.  You are headed for distruction. Turn around. Repent!”  This is the point of the 7 trumpts – they are warning shots fired across the bow.  A call to wake up. 

 

And this is perhaps the most saddening and sickening part of the whole Bible: the tradgey that of those who are headed for destrion, not everyone repents.  According to Revealtion 9:10, there are two other responses that people pursue both in his day and in ours…  The first response is that things get so bad that they want to die.  They seek and pursue ddeath BUT look at 9:6 – people will seek death but not find it.  What is going on here?  Again, a picture of God’s mercy!  Deeath flees because God is seeking repentance!  Darrel Johnson puts it well in his commenatary when he says this: “death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person.  The worst thing is living unrepentance, missing out on a life with the living God.”  Even death is kept at bay giving more time for repentance.  What amazing grace and mercy! 

 

But there is another tragic response.  And this is perhaps the most horrifying thought of all.  That the trumpets sound and yet they do not create or bring about repentance.  They can do this, but it is not a gurantee.  God doesn’t force people to their knees to choose Him.  The trumpets tragically show us that Hardness of heart is always possible.  British scholar and pastor Michael Wilcock says it this way: “The trumpets show the wicked world being offered mercy. The offer is not accepted… but never let it be said that God has not done all in His power… in order to bring men and women to their senses” Michael Wilcock

Friends, this is our role and our calling here in this place, in this time.  Our core purpose is to disciple you so that you are an ambassador of God’s love everywhere you go this week.  And sometimes ambasoadors deliver hard news.  Sometimes ambassadors bring words of warning that continuing down a particular course of action has dire consequences.  You and I are trumpeters here in our city.  In your family.  You and I are called to intercession and to get on our knees and cry out to God and to plead for His mercy for those who do not yet know and follow Him.  To invite God ot break through.  God is not willing that any, any, should perish but that all should come ot life and repentance!  Let’s join him in that by making a fresh commitment to prayer.  

In a few moments, we are going to take some time of silence.  The spiritual practice of silence allows us to still the cacophy of noise, not only externally but also internally.  We live in a noisy world.  We are surrounded with urgent messages all the time from our phones to ads to people calling for our time and attention.  Silence allows us to listen to the One voice that truly matters.  And He may have an urgent message for you today.  It might be about an area of your heart and life that needs attention.  One of the challenges we face is that REPENTENCE (keeping a soft heart toward God) is one of the most difficult things for us to do.  So we are going to take some time to allow God to speak to us.  It won’t be a half hour like in the text, although that would be a great goal.  But it will be a few minutes of quiet attending to areas that need repentance.  To prevent hardness from growing in our hearts towards God or towards each other or toward issues in our world that we need to care about.  Use this time to ask Him “God, are there any part of my heart that are growing hard?”  Soften them in your mercy.  You may also want to use the time to pray for someone whom you know whose heart is not soft to the Lord.  Who is walking far from Him.  A child. Family member. Neighbour.  Plead for God’s mercy.  If you are here today and you have never taken that step of asking for God’s mercy.  If you are still in a place where you heart is hard towards God, friend, I plead with you, don’t miss another moment.  You and I are not guaranteed tomorrow.  It is not a safe or wise decision to say “I’ll live however the hell I want today and then tomorrow I’ll ask for forginvess”.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow. That is why the Bible repeatedly reminds us to call out to God while it is still called today.  Today si the day of salvation!  Today is your day of decision.  Tell God & someone else “today is my day!  I want to walk in repentance and faith and experience the freedom of life that Jesus offers to me!”    

Dustin and the team are coming now but we’re going to take around 3-4 minutes of just being still and silent before God. No background music or noise.  Just ambient hockey sounds.  The purpose of this time is to allow us to be mindful of the sounds and voices that we often don’t want to hear or that we block out by being busy or preoccupied.  Again, Eugene Peterson says it well:   

“Still we do everything we can to make light of judgement. We use every stratagem we can find to avoid dealing with the consequences of sin. But God will not let us off. He will not indulge our inattention… However practiced we become at tuning out sounds that we do not want to hear, including the sound of God’s displeasure at sin, God finds new ways to penetrate our defensive deafness.”

Let’s make a commitment to be among those who listen. Who heed.  Who pray in ways that shake heaven and earth because we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to His church and to us as His people.  You’ll know the time is over when Dustin and the team lead us in two songs of response.  When the music starts, the prayer team today (Meg, myself, Wally, Sylvia) will also make their way up out of their seats to the sides and back.  Let’s all prepare our hearts and be silent before the Lord. 

 

 

 

 

e see us.  Let’s stand together as we sing… 

 

Prayer is often our last resort instead of our first response. In this section of Revelation, the Apostle John gives us a vivid picture not only of the power of prayer but also the cost of resisting repentance and mercy offered to us by God

Speaker: Brad Sumner

October 29, 2017
Revelation 8:1-9:21

Brad Sumner

Lead Pastor

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