In the United Methodist Church
we affirm our common belief in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s usually done at the first of the year,
and includes the affirmation of prophetic faith in Jesus’ bodily return to set
everything right.We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ….He will come
again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no
end.[1]
Until that day Christ
commissions all believers to live in the here and now; we are expected to live
into God’s plan for building His kingdom.
The problem is that God’s enemy, Satan, always wants to go in the
opposite direction!
The Christian life is compared
often in Scripture to a warfare. And so
it is! Whenever I think of war movies, the 1940's black and white
ones are the pictures in my mind's eye.
There are always some constants:
n there is a guy who prays a lot
because there's an enemy.
n there is a couple who want to
get married before Johnny goes off to battle.
n and there is a time of
preparation for the battle.
These are scenes of worship, weddings,
and war.
John’s letter to the churches
is organized in the same manner. Let’s
join our hearts and heads together to study what it means to be the church
during today’s challenging times, and what the difficulties mean to our service
of the King.
1. Worship Scene
After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Praise
the Lord! Salvation and glory and
power belong to our God. His
judgments are true and just. He has
punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the murder of his servants.” And again their voices rang out: “Praise the Lord! The smoke from that city ascends forever and
ever!” Then the twenty-four
elders and the four living beings fell down and worshiped God, who was sitting
on the throne. They cried out, “Amen! Praise the Lord!” And from the throne came a voice that
said, “Praise our God, all his servants, all who fear him, from the least to
the greatest.” Then I heard
again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean
waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise
the Lord! For the Lord our God, the
Almighty, reigns. Revelation 19:1-6
Only here (in the New
Testament), does this phrase praise
to the Lord appear. Another
translation uses the word alleluia. At the end of this text
the crowd shouts the Almighty reigns. That descriptive word “almighty” carries the
meaning, He who controls all.
At another church I served, we
often sang as the call to worship, Our God Reigns.
How lovely on
the mountains are the feet of those
who bring good
news, good news,
Proclaiming
peace and liberty to everyone,
Our God reigns,
Our God reigns.
There was never a time when we
sang that song that the little hairs on the back of my neck didn't stand at
attention. It put the picture in my mind
of that great worship scene, where the praise of the multitudes of saved
sinners lifts the roof off planet earth.
Salvation, power, honor, and glory
are expressions of gratitude, reverence, and trust
in the God who is omnipotent and reigns.
By this point in Revelation, God
has judged the false church, and now defeats the Beast with his truth. His judgment was predicted:
Let sinners be consumed from
the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD! Psalms 104:35 (NRSV)
And His reign was predicted
through the line of David:
Your house and your kingdom shall be made
sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever. 2 Samuel 7:16 (NRSV)
Why do we worship in
anticipation of the reign of the Lord God, Almighty? It is the defining moment in human
existence. It is the fulfillment of the
promise that sin would not always be our lot.
It is the moment when God declares that enough is indeed enough! It is the second coming of our Lord.
Beyond the Worship Scene,
there is a...
2. Wedding Scene
A READY AND RIGHTEOUS BRIDE
Let us be glad and
rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For
the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared
herself. She has been given
the finest of pure white linen to wear.”
For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the
wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he
added, “These are true words that come from God.” Revelation 19:7 - 9
If the saved of the ages
anticipated the second coming of Christ; it is the marriage supper of the Lamb,
for which the church has waited. Paul's
passage which we read at weddings is really about the church, the bride of
Jesus:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make
her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so
as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or
anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.
Ephesians 5:25 - 27 (NRSV)
This tells us that Jesus is
expecting a righteous bride.
By contrast with the harlot of a false church in the Tribulation period,
the true church of Christ is faithful to Him.
It is something that ought to make us pause and check the things we do
daily. Our works do follow us to
glory.
But how can we be wrinkle-free? (I can't even get a no-iron shirt out of the
dryer without a major wrinkle or two -- How am I going to have my own life
without spot or blemish?) The answer is
in the imputed righteousness of Christ.
We can never be perfect -- but He is, and God forgives us for Christ's
sake! That's how the church will be
spotless -- Jesus puts us through the holy rinse and spin cycle!
The sight of all this made
John the apostle, lose his sense of propriety -- he fell at the feet of an
angel to worship him,
Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “No, don’t
worship me. I am a servant of God, just
like you and your brothers and sisters who testify about their faith in
Jesus. Worship only God. For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear
witness for Jesus.” Revelation 19:10
Only God should be
worshipped. He is the author and
finisher of our faith, and everything in scripture points to Jesus. That which we do in Jesus' name here on
earth, will become like a fine white linen garment of righteousness.
We will not wear them very
long, however. I believe, as in the case
of the Elders casting down their golden crowns at the feet of Jesus, we too
will gather around, and the garment of His righteousness in us will serve to
reflect the glory of the throne throughout the entire universe.
Nothing created -- including
the devil in the abyss, and the lost of all ages -- will be able to look in the
direction of the throne. It will be too
wonderful and painful a sight for them.
But for us --- glory, glory, glory!
A worship scene, a wedding
scene, and,
3. A War Scene
Then I saw heaven
opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he
judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were
like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one
understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in
blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of
heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white
horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down
the nations. He will rule them with an
iron rod. He will release the fierce
wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On
his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords. Revelation 19:11-16
This is indeed a war scene, but there is hardly anything
of war -- but there most definitely is A Warrior! The picture of the coming of the Lord should
make our mouths drop to the floor.
As the car got near, it began
to screech to a halt, and Henry noticed a State Trooper sitting behind the
wheel. He was afraid the Trooper would
arrest him. The window rolled down. Wher'ya goin' boys? he said. Jim explained, and he and his cousin were
invited to hop in. When he got in the
back seat there was another man in a suit.
The man stuck out his hand and said, Hello, Jimmy, I'm Frank G. Clement, governor of Tennessee. I am going up to the Hopewell Church to
speak, and I will be glad to give you and your friend a lift.
They took off and the
patrolman got them there in a flash.
When they pulled up there was a welcoming crowd. The whole county was there. Who was the first one out? Jimmy Henry!
He tipped his hand in the direction of Mr. Clement, and said: Thanks
for the ride, Governor -- and God bless you. Ol' Jimmy Henry was somebody![2]
The fact is Jimmy Henry was next
to somebody. He was still little 13-year-old
Jimmy. Governor Clement was the
somebody.
Who is somebody to you? The last
time Jesus came, He had a manger, and simple barnyard animals for
admirers. He told us plainly who he was,
You call me Teacher and
Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. John 13:13 (NRSV)
Yet, he was
still a nobody to us all: He came to what was his own, and his own
people did not accept him. John
1:11 (NRSV)
The Next Time
The next time Jesus comes, the
only animal in sight will be the white horse underneath him, a horse ridden by
a victorious, conquering King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
n The next time He will not be a gentle baby, with Mary singing lullabies in some feeding trough. He will be a mighty warrior with an avenging righteousness.
n The next time He will not wear a simple shepherd's robe. He will have a garment dipped in blood, with which he will cover, cleanse, and purge the entire earth.
n The next time He will not hold
a shepherd's staff. He will have a
conquering sword that will smash the world systems into oblivion.
n The next time He will not pass
out broken bread and grape juice. He will be
marching on the grapes of wrath, and squeezing every last drop of the
fierceness of a holy God who has been scorned.
n The next time no one will put the
King of Kings, and Lord of all Lords on a cross. This time He will hold
up the cross, and every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. Amen!
In the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Title and other images: Pixabay.com
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