There’s a propensity to come to Revelation ready to “figure it all out”, conquer the text to know all the right answers. It’s how we navigate most of life, so why not also this book of Scripture? Maybe a more helpful approach is to let the text “conquer us.” Let it shape us over multiple readings and reflections to form us into the image of Jesus. But for many readers this is a challenge when engaging with Revelation in particular.

Revelation is written in the style of apocalypse (also the title, the Greek translation of Revelation), a literary style that was very popular 2000 years ago, but foreign to modern readers. And on top of that it’s to be communicated as a letter to seven ancient churches that would have been in modern day Turkey. That’s a world apart. But it’s part of the Christian scriptures, so what can we use to help us appropriately engage with this book that has a communication style a world away?

From the “How to Read the Bible Class” at CCCC we know that finding what the text meant to the original readers is a great first step to find its meaning to us today. Near the beginning, Revelation starts off with seven letters that all have a specific charge to each church. That charge is “to conquer”. Then the question becomes: what did those churches think when they heard they were to conquer? They certainly saw the Roman Empire conquer many peoples around them with military might. They had expectations of what political rulers were to do to when conquering rivals, both with power and economic leverage. And they saw what happened to those who didn’t assimilate to cultural norms, being ostracized or even persecuted.

We know the general perception of “conquer” to the ancient society at large (and it’s very similar still in our day), but John wants to “reveal” or apocalypse what this means to those who call Jesus the Christ, their King. (Christ is a royal term, the Greek translation of the Hebrew title “Messiah”).

In Chapter 1, king language is repeatedly used to describe Jesus, then Chapter 2 and 3 contain the specific communications to each of the seven churches with the charge “to conquer” (remember, all of Revelation is a letter too). Starting in Chapter 4 and moving through 5, John is invited to see a new perspective at what is happening, God is continually worshiped in the heavenly throne room, and knows that his creation needs renewal, so a scroll is introduced that anticipates the plan to deal with the corruption of creation and decree restorative justice.

John’s first reaction upon hearing this is weeping, he laments along with creation (1), that the scroll must be open by one who is worthy. At this point, an angel describes the worthy one, again using royal-messianic language, “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, who has conquered (2)”. After hearing all the royal language (and remember the empires way of conquering), he turns and sees….

A slain lamb (3).

Hardly what one thinks of when one thinks of anything related to conquer, a bloody lamb? But this is how John’s see the conquering Messianic King. To the churches that are charged with “conquering”, this is the image they are given to think through. Their imagination of what it means to conquer has to be reoriented and challenged by the apocalypse John’s gives them. New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham puts it this way:

“Key to John’s vision of the slaughtered Lamb is to recognize the contrast between what he hears and what he sees. He hears that ‘the Lion of the Trib of Judah, the Root of David, had conquered’. The two messianic titles evoke a strongly militaristic and nationalistic image of the Messiah of David as conqueror of the nations, destroying the enemies of God’s people. But his image is reinterpreted by what John sees: the Lamb whose sacrificial death has redeemed people from all nations. By juxtaposing the two contrasting images, John has forged a new symbol of conquest by sacrificial death. The messianic hopes evoked are not repudiated: Jesus really is the expected Messiah of David. But insofar as the latter was associated with military violence and narrow nationalism, it is reinterpreted by the image of the Lamb.”(4)

All of Revelation is a revealing (apocalypse) of God’s plan and promised renewal, but this is the apocalypse within the apocalypse. These first five chapters set the framework for reading the rest of the letter. It should orient our notion of what John describes in the rest of the letter, God verses evil, and how each corresponding entity conquers.  Jesus is our example of what it looks like to conquer, and John wants to bring that into focus. Both Jesus’ teachings and how he lived that out to rescue and restore the world should not get lost in the common notion of what conquering meant 2000 years ago or today.

So may we follow Jesus into the way he conquers. He conquers by seemingly looking like he has been conquered. He is our example today and for the ancient churches of Revelation. This is not something we can “figure out” after a single pass through reading Revelation, but something to live out in the community Jesus has invited us into and among our neighbors. It may look strange to those unfamiliar with Jesus and bring along difficulties of assimilation to our own society’s cultural norms.  But that’s what Jesus has invited us into, a lifetime of following him to the cross, willing to sacrifice oneself, while holding the tension that just as Jesus defeated death, so will those who call him King.

“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Revelation 21:7

(1) Also see Romans 8:22-23

(2) Emphasis mine

(3) Also see Exodus 12:1-14, Numbers 28:4 , Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29

(4) Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation, p. 74

According to recent studies the average iPhone user touches his or her phone 2,617 times a day. [1]

Research shows each user to be on his or her phone for an average of four hours and 25 minutes each day. [2]

With all of our digital consumption and our attention given to our smart phones, our actual attention span is dropping. According to an article from Time Magazine, our average attention span in the year 2,000 was 12 seconds. Since the digital revolution our attention span has decreased by four seconds, leaving us at an average of eight seconds — one second less than the attention span of a goldfish. [3]

So, can we just be honest?

We are distracted.

We are hurried.

We are tired.

And we’re only ramping up.

We run from appointment to appointment, meeting to meeting, the gym to the office to the little league practice field, to the fast food restaurant, and just when we finally start to slow down and give our minds a minute to settle, we turn on Netflix or scroll through social media until we finally fall asleep.

And it’s not just those in the workplace or with busy family schedules. I have heard students in our church say that silence frightens them. To slow down and be quiet is to invite anxiety, loneliness, and even depression.

You may relate. How many friends do you know who can sit in silence for 10 minutes? How many of you have to have something making noise in order to fall sleep like box fans, white-noise apps, or ceiling fans?

We can’t even bear stillness and silence in our subconscious.

Meanwhile, the Psalmist writes:

“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” – Psalm 46:10

There’s a glaring contradiction between the unhurried, undistracted life of presence Scripture calls us to live, and the life we actually live in 21^st century America.

But, for many of us, this is where the excuses start to flow.

The writers of the Bible had no idea what it would be like to live in today’s fast paced world.
Silence and stillness sound great, but you don’t know the kind of life I live, and the kind of pressures being put on me.

Things are different these days, “the times, they are a-changin’,” and if we don’t change with them we’ll fall behind.

If that’s you, I hear you. And I feel those same emotions. And, if you think for a minute that things today are frenetic and fast paced, and that being still and silent before the Lord is harder now than ever… you’d be right.

However, that doesn’t mean that stillness before God is a rhythm that is completely out of reach.

Here are some of the other sentiments in that same Psalm:

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. – Psalm 46:1-3

And again,

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. – Psalm 46:6-7

The Psalmist seems to describe a terrifying reality of war, natural disaster, political unrest, and near-apocalyptic global events, and a stillness, rest, and peace in the God who is present, in control, and still worthy of attention and affection amidst the chaos.

What am I getting at?

I’m saying that the invitation is not to ignore the busyness, hurry, worry, and turbulence of life, but to find moments of stillness and silence in the midst of them.

Small daily disciplines of silence can actually restructure the pathways in our brain to slow down and be still throughout the rest of our day.

So how do we do that?

As a church we use the acronym B.R.E.A.D. as a tool to prayerfully encounter God through the scriptures.

And this acronym begins with B – Be Still.

Silence and solitude are not an additive to a busy life in order to make it easier. They are a lifeline to cling to in order to flourish.

We know digital escapism isn’t the answer.

We’re learning that more work, events, or distractions aren’t the solution.

But maybe, just maybe, five minutes of “being still and knowing [he is] God,” in the morning could actually start to change the way we live the other 1,435 minutes of our day.

Maybe, just maybe, 10 minutes of breathing deep and being quiet before we look at our smart phones could actually change the pathways of our psychological condition.

Maybe, just maybe being still and silent for 15 minutes before the kids wake up and the chaos of the day begins could change the way we read the Bible, change the way we encounter God, and even change the way we live.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

¹ https://www.reviews.org/mobile/cell-phone-addiction/

2 https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

3 applewebdata:/…/79A85C33-E3D4-4E06-8AFB-D3B512DB645E

Waiting is hard, isn’t it?

I know it is for my kids when Christmas is coming!

The lists are made, they are so hopeful, so excited, and not so patient.

We’re rounding the corner towards the end of December, so it’s safe to say our Christmas trees are up, Christmas gifts have started to show up under those trees, and kids (and let’s be honest, some adults) are nearly exploding with anticipation, wondering what is in those packages. Kids poke them, lift them up to see how heavy they are, shake them a bit to see if they can get an idea of the type of object trapped inside, and some will see if they can get away with opening gifts in advance to ensure they are getting what they asked for.

Waiting is hard, isn’t it?

Prior to Jesus’ birth, Israel had hopes and expectations about promises made by God to them over their long history. Promises like land, a new king, and God living in their midst once again.

But in many ways, Israel never saw these promises completely fulfilled. Israel and Judah lost their land through being exiled by Assyria and Babylon. And although they were able to return to the land, they continued to be ruled by others. We even read in Ezekiel about God’s presence leaving the temple prior to its destruction by Babylon.

Before the birth of Jesus, Israel had not seen these promises come true, but still continued to wait and hope. Under the oppression of Rome, and after so long without hearing from God the waiting may have been so difficult it felt like a pipe dream.

But then, Jesus arrived: announced by angels at his birth, visited by Magi, proclaimed by John the Baptist preparing the people for his ministry. It was finally time!

In Jesus, we see the fulfillment of what Israel had been waiting for. Jesus was the new and better Moses, leading his people out of captivity to sin instead of captivity to Egypt, and into something far better than the Promised Land — the Kingdom of God.

Jesus, through his crucifixion on Earth, became the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And through his resurrection he made way for God to dwell among us again through the Holy Spirit.

And yet, we are still waiting. Even now, after the birth of Christ, his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the Spirit’s coming, sin still seems to reign. Death still steals those we love from us. And far too often, it looks as if the wicked will go unpunished. Like the promises given to Israel, we try to live with faithful hope. But we also have not seen the consummation of God’s plans for this world.

And waiting is hard.

So, in Advent we practice hope.

We hope for Jesus’ second coming, and with him true justice, for him to wipe away our tears, and for sin and death to be no more. We hope for God to be in this world fully and apparently. We hope for the new heavens and new earth that were promised.

We wait, but we wait in hope.

We wait, but we wait reflecting the love God has shown us, confident that the day is coming when we will see him again.

Frank Besednjak invested $86,000 in renovating his home, so he was a little concerned when he saw some cracks in the drywall. The contractors came by to fix it but then more cracks showed up.

With a little further inspection, he also found multiple cracks in his driveway. But he didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until he pulled up the carpet and discovered a deep crack running through most of his house.

Frank hired a structural engineer for expert advice and was hit with some shocking news: there was a 55-foot-wide sinkhole directly underneath his home.

On the surface, Frank’s house looked normal for the most part, but it was masking a disaster waiting to happen. Below the surface, it was all about to fall apart. Frank had a problem — his house was built on a foundation that was unpredictable and inevitably destructive.

So, I hope your house isn’t built over a sinkhole, but what about your life? What have you built everything you are on?

What’s your foundation?

Your bank account? Your accomplishments? Your health? Your kid’s success?

When we build our lives on anything like these things, we are just like Frank’s house. It might look okay on the surface, but there is trouble brewing beneath it.

The foundations are revealed in the storms of life. Sometimes those storms can even bring ultimately good things, but chaos, uncertainty, and stress have a way of drilling down to what all else is resting upon.

We see a clear picture of this in Mary’s (the mother of Jesus) life.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.” — Luke 1:26-33

The angel Gabriel tells Mary, you are going to give birth to a son; he will be the Son of the Most High and his kingdom will have no end.

This is big, this is exciting, but this is also terrifying for a young, unmarried woman. In fact, the text says that Mary was “greatly troubled” when she encountered the angel. But what does she do with her questions? We know how this story is going to all work out, but in this moment, she doesn’t know! Talk about chaos, uncertainty, and stress!

We know that 2,000 years later, 2 billion people around the globe are going to pause to celebrate the birth of her son, but she doesn’t know that yet!

“And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” — Luke 1:34-37

As a faithful Jew, I’m sure she was expecting the Messiah to come. But like this? Through her? Vulnerable, uncertain, and anxious, Mary still responds with faith:

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” — Luke 1:38a

Mary gave us a remarkable picture of faith as she embraced God’s surprising plan for her life, because she knew that he was trustworthy, faithful, and completely in control.

When our lives don’t go our way, it is completely normal to ask God about what is going on. We can’t blame Mary for being confused, because this was definitely not how she thought her life was going to go.

But her initial question was not an obstacle to her obedience, or a lack of faith.

Faith is about trusting God even when we don’t understand what he is doing, because we know who he is. Faith is not really about having all the answers, but rather, it’s about putting your trust in the one who does.

Mary’s response revealed that she had built her life on a stable foundation, which is important because her story didn’t necessarily get easier.

But despite the challenges that lay ahead, she continued to trust God’s timing, trust his plan, trust his heart for her, and trust that he was — and still is — completely in control. And even though she might have felt imperfect and insignificant, God used her to bring forth the Savior of the world.

Be honest today with God and with yourself about what you have trusted to be the foundation of your identity, happiness, and the whole of your life. Is it a sinkhole or a trustworthy foundation?

The story of Christmas reminds us that God is sovereign over the world, and over our lives.

So, this Christmas season, whether it is a time of joy and plenty, or a time of suffering and questions, build your life on the only trustworthy foundation — Jesus.