That s how the King James translated it. However, even the New King James recognizes that s incorrect. 4

Transcription

1 Revelation 4:11 Dear children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, and guests, a Christian will often wonder why God does the things He does. Why does He allow something like ISIL in our world? Why hurricanes and floods and fires? Why cancer and strokes and heart attacks and still born children? The Preacher of Ecclesiastes said: When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. (Eccl 8:16-17a). He will not find it out. That doesn t sound encouraging. It sounds like There s no answer to your question. And we know, we are limited in our ability to search out and discover. The prophet Isaiah rhetorically asked, and the Apostle Paul quoted him, Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? (Isaiah 40:13; Romans 11:34). We cannot know God s reasons. Still, the Preacher acknowledges the reality of the search. Man toils in seeking to find out the work that is done under the sun. And that toil does bear some fruit if one looks in the right place for an answer. Look in the right place. We should not search this world. We should not search our own minds and hearts and consciences. No, we should ask God why things are the way they are. And we should let God then tell us. We don t get the answers to all our questions. But God does respond in a way that encourages us to put faith in Him, to trust His judgment and His deeds, even if we don t understand what He is doing. God gave Jesus Christ a revelation which He, via an angel, was to pass on to His servant John so that the servants of God, the church of God, might see the things that would soon take place. In what we read the Apostle John observes a worship service in heaven. He sees a throne, the throne of God. In front of the throne is something that John describes like a sea of glass, of crystal. God can look through the floor of heaven at all that happens below. God sees everything that happens down here, on earth. Round about God are four creatures. They are God s bodyguard and elite forces, the highest angels. Then there are 24 elders. These men are seated on thrones: this means their task is to rule. John also sees a Lamb, which looks like it has been slain. That s the Lord Jesus Christ. And as John keeps taking it in, he saw all of creation. He sees an immense number of angels. 1 He sees all things that live and have a voice. We stopped reading at the end of chapter 5 but realize that the description of this worship service continues all the way through to Revelation 22. In chapters 4-5 we read of the praise offered to God. In chapter 6 and following we get what we might call the sermon: a display of God s salvation through Jesus the Christ, the proclamation of the Gospel. The worship service begins by focusing on God, on God and the course of time. In the beginning God created all things. Time began to tick, and events followed each other. In the course of time it became clear that the Lord GOD Almighty takes a central place in all things. Now God has a sealed scroll or book 2 in His hand. This bookwork contains the account of things that must yet happen. God s decision is to place this book in the hands of someone else. On behalf of God, someone else will have to unfold the events of world history that will bring about the eternal happiness of God s people. At first, no one is found both willing and able to open the scroll. Is creation doomed? John becomes distraught. But then he is comforted by the angel: there is a man who has gained the victory, the Lion of Judah, the Root of David. He is given the book. He is given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:19). From now on He will determine the course of history in God s Name. It brings the creatures, the elders, the angels and all of creation to sing the praises of God and His Lamb. All creation is focused on the glory of God, all of history is focused on the glory of God. God has entrusted the 1 In Greek the word myriad is what the word google is in English: the word for the highest number that has a name. Often a myriad is considered to be 10,000. (The number google is a 1 followed by 100 zeros). 2 In view of the fact that whatever it was was written front and back and that with the opening of each seal, something happens, it actually makes more sense that this was a book with various sections that were sealed, and not a scroll, which would have been totally sealed until all the seals were broken.

2 unfolding of history to the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our existence is not a haphazard course of events, a sequence of time in which things just happen as they do. No, the course of history is the execution of God s plan through the rule of Christ the King. In the middle of the two chapters we read we find our text: the song the elders sing. It s a song which declares how all things are to God and from God. Here we find the answer to the question why, why is the course of history as it is. It does not present us with the full kind of answer we might be looking for. But is provides us with an answer that calls us to faith: to place our trust in God and follow His lead. And it provides us with the answer we can give to others when they ask about our God and our faith in a world that seems to be falling apart. We listen to the Good News of God s peace with this theme: The course of all is in God s hand. We will consider (1) how it all began; (2) how it all went; and (3) how it all will be. 1) How it all began In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1). That s how the Bible starts. That s what we also hear in our text. You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created. The world which God made was perfect. The Bible is crystal clear about that. When at the end of the sixth day God studied everything that He had made, take note, it was very good (Gen 1:31). Most of what God had created was unique. Plants had their own seed. Animals were created after their own kind. The exception was man. Man was not created unique. Man was created in the image of God. One of the psalms sings: You have made [man] a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet. (Psalm 8:5-6). God s plan was that man would be His representative, a vice-regent on earth. Man was to rule creation the way God rules creation. That s the royal, the official aspect to the image of God. Another aspect to man being God s image is the relational, the personal aspect. God reveals Himself to be Yahweh: The One who is and who was and who is to come. He is the Ever-Present one, you can depend on Him. Loyalty is characteristic of God. Loyalty is to be a characteristic of man. This is the loyalty that is coloured by love. The love which exists among the persons of the Trinity. The love which God has for Creation. Love is a characteristic of God. Love is to be a characteristic of man. Love for one s own kind and love for creation. This is why the creation account of man closes with a wedding. For of all institutions marriage is the high point of love and loyalty. Man was created in the image of God. We should not misunderstand this to mean that man was so bound to God that he had no free will. No, God created man with a measure of independence, with a measure of responsibility. Man is not a puppet on strings controlled by God. A better comparison is God as the director of a movie and people as the actors. Actors are given a script, but they also have freedom to act out their role as they think best. There are awards not just for directors but also for actors. (Now, this comparison does need nuancing. A director cannot control an actor. God can. God can influence and even steer man s actions if it needs to happen.) But still, man was created as a being responsible for his own actions. This has an importance consequence. If God has given man the calling and ability to be His image, to rule all of creation in love and loyalty then God cannot be blamed for when things go wrong. That s true, even if God is Almighty and could have prevented something from happening or curtailed the consequences of a human deed. Glory to God for He creates all. The people who sang this, the 24 elders, who were they? They were seated on thrones. That means, they are rulers. For kings and princes sit on thrones, right boys and girls? What do they rule? What do they represent? Well, there s obviously symbolism here. The clue might be in the number 24. But scholars are divided as to what it means. I thought I knew, but this past week I did read something that made me doubt my own conviction. I always thought: 24, that s 2x12: so here we have the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles. The Lord Jesus Christ did say his 12 disciples were to be given thrones in Christ s kingdom to judge the 12 tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:29). But then John would be looking at himself. If we want to avoid that, we d have to say the 24 elders are symbolic individuals, not real individuals. That doesn t make sense, because everybody else in

3 the vision is real. I m not sure yet what to make of this. Some suggest a connection with the 24 orders of priests and the 24 orders of temple singers. That s a possibility, but then it s surprising to hear them referred to as elders and not priests. Some figure that 24 is a reference to the number of hours in a day and night, and thus represents continuity. That s possible. I m thus inclined to say: at this point in time it is not clear to us what the number 24 refers to. However, in view of them being elders in heaven with a special role during the worship of God, it makes most sense to consider them to be the rulers of God s people who supervise the worship of God. Just like elders do in our worship service, as the handshake makes clear. These 24 rulers praise God for who He is. He is the one who created all things. All things, also man, in the image of God, to rule, to reflect God s love and loyalty. And the purpose of all things would be to glorify God. The question is, the big question is, will it happen. We ve seen how it all began. 2) We consider next how it all went. At this point I need to make a technical remark regarding our text, more specifically the second part of it. We read there For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. You may have noticed that I ve avoided the word things in my theme and division. That s because the word things is actually not in the original of our text. The original simply has the word for all in the plural, in the neuter plural. The word things, though perfectly correct as a translation of the neuter, could throw us of a little as it suggests that in this text God is said to have created things, things as in anything that fits in the three dimensions. However, the word all in our text also includes time, what is sometimes called, the fourth dimension. That s borne out by the Greek tense of the verb for to create. If it referred to just things one would expect a perfect tense here: You have created all things. 3 Instead we have a tense in the Greek that doesn t exist in English. It s usually translated with either a simple past tense or a present tense. The flavour of that tense is one of the moment. It s a tense that fits well with the reality that God also creates time and events in time. This is important for it means that when the elders sing and by your will they existed and were created, this is a statement not just about creation back when time began, but also a statement about God s providence ever since that creation. It s not just about things, it s also about events. It is by God s will that all things and all events were existing and were created. 4 Why mention all this? Well, it means that our text is not just referencing the first week of our world but the whole course of history ever since that first week. Theologically put, it speaks of creation and providence. Up until John s present the course of history had been guided directly by God. John is about to see how that guidance of history will now be entrusted to the Lord Jesus Christ. That s why in the second place we consider how it all went once it had all begun. And as we do so we especially take note of the fact that all that happened took place by God s will. We re about to survey the history of the Old Testament, of the old covenant, to gain confidence with a view to the future. Soon after all things came into existence man rebelled against God. Man wanted to be independent of God. That s what the transgression of God s commandment made clear. There was a tree in the garden of which Adam and Eve were not to eat. But eat they did. And when God calls them to account it is clear how great the damage was. Adam shifts the blame to Eve. So much for love and loyalty. Eve shifts the blame to the snake. So much for ruling over creation. This event has gone down in history as the Fall or Plunge into Sin. It came into existence by the will of God. Why didn t God prevent this from happening? He could have, right? Yes, He could have. He is the Lord GOD Almighty. We learn, for example, from the life story of Job, that God can limit the damage Satan can do. We learn 3 That s how the King James translated it. However, even the New King James recognizes that s incorrect. 4 To avoid being too technical, I skipped commenting on the verb existed there s something interesting with that too. In were existing I m catching the continuative simple past active tense in which this verb is stated, in were created I m expressing a momentary past passive tense. The words were and created are, in Greek, not in the same tense. Existed is an imperfect ( were existing might be a more accurate translation, but that s rather awkward English), were created is an aorist (the flavour of which is came into being ).

4 the same from the life story of Jesus: the priests, the Pharisees, the people, the Romans, Judas Iscariot, they could only do what God permitted. God is able to prevent sin. No doubt about it. And hence the question: So why doesn t He? There s no comprehensive answer to that question. The most we can say is that God had His reason for having the Plunge into Sin happen. We could imagine a reason. For example, something that is white is at it s whitest against a black background. God s power and love and loyalty are best seen against a background of weakness and hatred and selfishness. It s an interesting thought. But it does make God look rather mean: He allowed bad so that He could look better. We have to acknowledge that at bottom we don t know why God allowed evil to enter His world. We know it did. We also know God cannot be charged as the Author of Sin for He created man with a free will. However, more needs to be said. For, when God allowed man to sin and allowed the devil to mislead man, God did not drop His Project Creation. He could have. God would have been perfectly just if He had left man in the mess he had plunged himself into (cf. CoD I.1). But God does not. On the contrary, God comes with a Great Rescue Plan. Project Creation will succeed: God will have His world characterised by love and loyalty in which humanity rules in His Name. The Great Rescue Plan. God s Plan of Salvation. It was a complex plan. It has proven to be a plan that required thousands of years to execute. It was a plan God willed and then made happen. All the events of history after creation, by God s will they existed and were created. Thousands of years. Why did it take so long? God s timing is God s mystery. We know from Scripture God times all events precisely. The Apostle Peter tells us that the prophets inquired regarding the time of the coming of Christ. But they never found out until the moment came. When, for example, Simeon held the Christ in his arms in the temple. The disciples wanted to know when Christ would establish the Kingdom. The Lord said: it s not for you to know the times or seasons. We want to know when Christ will return. We re told: it will happen very unexpectedly, for he comes like a thief in the night. Why did it take so long for the Christ to come the first time? Why does it take so long for Him to come the last time? We don t know. However, the course of history does tell us something. We can learn about God s will from the five periods of time we find described in the Old Testament. The first period runs from Creation to the Flood. It s a period in which God simply let man do his own thing. Man wanted to be independent of God, so man was granted such independence. The result: the world became a mess. In the end there was only one man, Noah, who still knew what love and loyalty were all about. To prevent the world from self-destructing God wiped earth s surface clean. The lesson of this first period: Man cannot be without God. The second period runs from Noah to Moses. God creates for Himself a people, a people that would symbolize true humanity. A humanity that would trust God. But rather than things getting better things get worse. Abraham, he reaches a peak of faith. Isaac s house is divided. Jacob s sons are a disaster. If God had not intervened as He did, Israel would have self-destructed. As it is, the period ends with God s people slaves in a foreign land. God s people did not know how to live good lives. The lesson of this second period: Man needs clear instructions from God. And so the third period begins with Moses and the law. Clear instructions. Just stick to the instructions. But Israel proves to be hopeless at this. Already in the desert. Again in the promised land. God sent judges, it doesn t help. The Book of Judges is the story of a downward spiral. The last judge is a womanizing lone-ranger. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. There was no king in Israel. Yes, that s the lesson of the third period: Man also needs clear leadership from God. The fourth period is the period of the kings and prophets. There were good kings: David, Asa, Hezekiah, Josiah. There were bad kings: Saul, Jeroboam, Ahab, Manasseh. The leadership proves bad and the people are destroyed.

5 God sends His people into exile. The lesson of the fourth period: leaders produced by humanity are too weak. Then there is a fifth period. It s the period of the Book. Beginning with Ezra, scribes teach the people to live close by the Bible. You d think they d get it right now. But faithfulness becomes formalism and breeds hypocrisy. When Jesus walked this earth He noted: You tithe your herbs but you re forgetting that the law is about love and mercy. The lesson of the fifth period: in his own power man cannot understand God s will. Those thousands of years: they were the time in which God gave man the chance to prove himself. They were the years, the decades, the centuries, the millennia, that could have produced one worthy to open the scroll by breaking the seals. But no one proved worthy. From the Plunge into Sin to the preaching of John the Baptist history was calling for God s personal intervention. God had to come in the flesh. God had to come as man: a man that would show love and loyalty, a man who would rule as God had intended man to rule. That was Christ. It took thousands of years. Why did God take so long to send the Christ first time? We don t really know. We do know we learned a lot about ourselves and about God during that period. One might say: we needed that. We had lessons to learn. And so we shouldn t be asking the question. No doubt God would have preferred to go faster. But He could not go faster. If He had, He would have lost us. We should remember that, also when we consider the events of our own time. When we think about persecution in North Korea, or by ISIL, as we struggle with cancer or broken relationships or the loss of a loved one. We need to take our responsibility, rather than wonder why God doesn t always help or act as we wish He would. We should admire the grace of God in that He did not abandon us but does save us. That, whether we live or die, we live with God. That this world is going to be fixed. Brothers and sisters, trust God s judgment, have faith in God s wisdom. 3. We come thus to our last consideration, how it all will be, what God is yet calling into existence and creating. Time marches on. The End draws closer but has not yet come. The perfect world we often refer to as the new creation is not yet reality. It might be thought: once Christ comes, it s all done. But no, God said it s not all done. What to many Old Testament prophets seemed like one event has proven to be more than one. Christ came. Christ went. Christ is to come again. In this phase of creation s history man plays a more prominent role. That becomes possible, because in Jesus Christ we have a perfect man. He knows God s will. He is the prime example of love and loyalty. He is, as we read in Hebrews (1:3): the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. Talk about being the image of God! Now that text in Hebrews continues: and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. This tells us what we also read in Revelation 5: that Christ and Christ alone is considered worthy to open the book of history, and guide history to the end of this era. We are part of this. As Revelation 20 makes clear, the saints rule with Christ. When Christ was seated at God s right hand, when He was granted all authority in heaven and on earth, then He drew in His people to rule along side Him. To that end, we become more and more like Him. Paul speaks of being recreated in the image of Christ by the Spirit of God. This means, brothers and sisters, that we play a significant role in the events of today and tomorrow. It means that we have a divine calling to be fully engaged for the Kingdom of God. We exist for God. He gives purpose to our lives. We are to love God and be loyal to Him, be loyal to God s cause. And thus we do well, when we wonder about the things that happen, about what God is doing, then we do well to first of all take a long and hard look at ourselves. How is your love and loyalty? With respect to others people in your life: family and friends, church, society? How is our love, as a church community, as a society? We can wonder about what God is doing, but that s not honest if we aren t doing our utmost for God. God works out His will through us. But even the faithful will wonder: why does it take Christ so long to return and to usher in the fullness of God s

6 Kingdom? That was the kind of question the first readers of Revelation were confronted with. They wondered about the coming of the Lord. Before responding to the concerns, the Christ introduced Himself (Revelation 1) and pointed out what the responsibility of the church is (Revelation 2-3). Look at yourself before you look to God! And then John is shown that worship service. There he learns a basic principle of existence: all glory belongs to God and all things and events, past, present, and thus future, exist by the will of God. Revelation 4-5 is saying: worship God and believe! Of course, we can think of reasons why Christ has not yet returned. There s a Gospel that needs to be proclaimed. We may think God is slow, but it s actually us. The apostle Peter wrote: The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2Peter 3:9). This tells us, God s delay is on account of His love and loyalty. He wants none to perish. Peter continues speaking of the Final Judgment and the renewal of all things. And then the comment is: Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening [yes, hastening, speeding it up!] the coming of the day of God. (2Peter 3:11-12a). If it is indeed so that Revelation speaks in first instance of the destruction of Jerusalem, then when this happened the followers of Christ would have understand: it s all in God s hands God did see how Jews were making life miserable for Christians: the floor before the throne is transparent, like glass! God s judgment came. And God, who created all things and all events by His will, He ll continue with executing His plan, a good plan, good for God s glory and good for God s people. The 24 elders praise God for being in total control, angels and all creation joined them, and so should we. We worship God together with the angels and the church of all ages and places! The course of all is in God s hand. Beloved, don t fear the future. As I once heard one of you say and it s become a favourite line of mine we may not know what the future holds but we know who holds the future. It s the Lord GOD Almighty, by whose will all things existed and were created. We re safe with Him. Even as we stand by a grave. The Revelation begins with praise and worship. As the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God takes the book and breaks the seals, he goes to work to bring about the Kingdom. It s the creation week back to front. Back then it was work followed by rest and worship. Now it is rest and worship that leads into work. Thus too, today we think worship God, thinking on what was done in the past. Creation, the history of redemption, the work of Christ, Him being given control of world history, the wrath of God poured out on a disobedient covenant people. We know what s been and it guarantees our future. As you enter into a new week, beloved, be mindful of your God. Trust Him and live for Him. He s got the whole world in His hands. Let s pray: Heavenly God, we are full of questions. Many things happen and we don t really see the sense of it. Thank You for reminding us that all happens for Your glory, that nothing is by chance but that all exists and is created by Your will. Merciful God, have us trust Your judgment and Your wisdom. Hold us fast in the trials of this life. Go with us, have us walk with You. Reassure us, so that we may find security in life, yes, joy in the comfort of belonging to our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us, forgive us when we fail You, and strengthen us by Your Spirit. We ask it for Your Name s sake. Amen.