Resisting Trump with Revelation
Revelation 1:4-8 (04)
Before we begin today it might help us get where we need to
be to by considering this paragraph of A
Declaration of Faith, a PCUSA piece and, imho, a very fine piece of
narrative theology. Reflect on the following for a few moments before picking
up our exposition of Revelation as a “Resistical” Worship service.
We are certain that Jesus lives. He
lives as God with us, touching
all of human life with the presence of God. He
lives as one of us with God. Because
he shares our humanity and
has bound us to himself in love, we
have an advocate in the innermost life of God. We declare that Jesus is Lord. His
resurrection is a decisive victory over
the powers that deform and destroy human life. His
lordship is hidden. The
world appears to be dominated by people and systems that
do not acknowledge his rule. But
his lordship is real. It
demands our loyalty and sets us free from the
fear of all lesser lords who threaten us. We
maintain that ultimate sovereignty now
belongs to Jesus Christ in every sphere of life. Jesus is Lord. He
has been Lord from the beginning. He
will be Lord at the end. Even
now he is Lord. (ch.4, par.5)
Call to Worship
The message John has been given
is for “seven churches in Asia.” Real churches, real people, real struggles,
real hopes, fears, and longings.” It’s worth reminding ourselves that the words
we read here are addressed to these people, their lives, those churches. They
must control our interpretation. The meaning we draw from John’s vision must
come through the meaning it had for them. Taking John’s words to refer
predictively to events is the far-off future end of the world cannot qualify as
a legitimate meaning, the more so if we make this the point of the book!
We are called to worship by John’s
rich triune/Christological acclamation of God. “Grace” and “peace” are the
gifts and benefits worshipers receive from this God.
-“grace” is the disposition God has toward us and the way he deals
with his creation and creatures.
-“peace” is the ground and goal of all God’s works.
Worship is enveloped by “peace”
and driven by “grace,” the two marks which characterize his people as we
participate in God’s work. The Empire also offers “grace” and “peace” of a
sort. The loyal and obedient receive the Emperor’s “gifts”; those not so loyal
or obedient, not so much. The “Pax Romana” (“Peace of Rome”) was imposed of all
within Rome’s purview, though often in a “We had to destroy the village to
pacify it” kind of way. These counterfeits of God’s own being and action place
the latter in high relief.
The Emperor’s benefaction had a
distinctly “America First” tone. An inscription from the 3rd century
BC bear this out:
“In the third year of the twelfth consulship of the Emperor Caesar
Augustus, son of a god, . . . the following oath was taken by the inhabitants
of Paphlagonia and the Roman businessmen dwelling among them: ‘I swear by
Jupiter, Earth, Sun, by all the gods and goddesses, and by Augustus himself,
that I will be loyal to Caesar Augustus and to his children and descendants all
my life in word, in deed, in thought, regarding as friends whomever they regard
so, . . . (so) that in defense of their interests I will spare neither body,
soul, life, nor children.”[1]
Tacitus describes the Pax Romana
this way: “Neither East nor West has glutted them . . . To plunder, butcher,
steal, these things they misname empire; they make a desolation and they call
it peace.”[2]
In contrast, bright contrast, the
Christian God, the world’s true Emperor, is rooted in covenant faithfulness to
his people, and through them, his world. The one “who is and who was
and who is to come” is committed to his creation in loyal love (the grace and
peace noted above), in undeserved goodness and power to bring it to the good
end he has planned for it. God identified himself this way to Moses as “I will
be who I will be.” And proved it to the world in Jesus Christ, crucified and
risen.
He is completely
present to his world in grace and peace through “the seven spirits who are
before his throne,” (v.5) who extends and completes God’s work to all
the world.
“and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by
his blood, and made us to be a kingdom,
priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and
ever. Amen.” We’ll pick up there with the exposition next time.
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Resistance to Trump in America in
our time depends on the God we commit ourselves to and are nurtured by in
worship. A God who gives good and gracious gifts to all, goes to all, and goes
to the grave for all in redeeming love is a God who can transform us into
people who truly reflect a humanity worthy of the name. A humanity that trumps
every counterfeit empire and emperor!
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