Living with Renovation (Revelation 15:1-16:21)

 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC...

Living with Renovation (Revelation 15:1-16:21)

 

God is the Master Builder

What do you call it when a thief robs a house under renovation and leaves his handprint on wet cement? Concrete evidence!

 

An elephant walks into a bar.

The bar is now undergoing renovations

 

Renovations aren’t fun while they’re going on. They’re disruptive, noisy, messy and expensive. But when they’re done, it makes it all worth it. You can enjoy your newly renovated space. Early in our marriage, I tried to be that guy who does it himself. After a few botched attempts, and a few visits to the emergency room, I conceded. It’s not my gift.

 

I have worked on mission trips swinging a hammer and cutting with a saw, but I discovered I was way better at demolition than I was at construction. Because when doing renovations, you have to tear down what’s there to build what you envision. While building, you discover nothing fits, nothing is square, and nothing ever goes as planned. Renovation can be major frustration.

 

God is a master builder. God is the skilled worker. He challenged Job,

 

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you possess understanding.
⁵ Who set its measurements—if you know—
or who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its bases set,
or who laid its cornerstone— (Job 38:4-6)

 

Job questioned why God allowed great suffering to befall him, when he had lived a righteous life. God helped Job to embrace humility.

Job is not the master builder of the universe. He is only a creature.

 

Often in life, I forget I’m only a creature. I forget myself and think I can challenge God in heaven with questions and complaints. Wisdom teaches that the Bible’s view of God actually helps. Rather than twist myself into knots when things don’t go the way I want, I try to remember to surrender and allow God to do His work. My work is to wait and pray for God to point the way. God is faithful. His works are great. His plans are without flaw. What God builds fits, lines up. His plan is the ultimate design.

 

Yet we know the world is not as God wants it. His good creation is corrupted by human sin, greed, fear, hatred, selfishness, and reckless insensitivity. Revelation shows us that Satan is pulling our strings. Life on earth doesn’t fit, line up or go as God plans because of evil.

 

Will cataclysmic forces move the world to God? Will demolition bring about a renovated world?

 

We are often entertained by a good revenge story. We like seeing the bad guys get what’s going to them. Revelation 15-16 reads like revenge fantasy. It’s theater for the persecuted church. The worshippers of the beast get what they deserve.

 

What I find interesting, in this third and final round of plagues, is that it does not bring a good result from the people who bear the mark of the beast. They do not repent. Instead, they curse God. 

 

The only time the people give a positive response is when the Lord resurrects the two prophets (Witnesses) who were killed by the beast of the abyss. They watched in awe as the two witnesses ascend to heaven.

 

Then a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people were killed… and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:13)

 

In response the all the devastation, suffering and death, the people refused to repent of their wicked behavior and idolatry. They cursed God instead. But people of faith learn to persevere, remaining faithful to God and The Lamb through it all.

 

Home renovations require patient endurance. We must keep the goal of the renovation in mind. Picture it in your mind, that new kitchen, that new backyard grill pit, that new rec room in the finished basement. Renovation may be frustrating and uncomfortable, but when it’s done, you’re going to be glad.

 

As unpleasant as I find these visions of God’s wrath, I try to practice Job’s humility. I am not God. I am only worm, a lowly creature. But… I am a creature loved and redeemed by God. And God wants to save everyone. Always remember that God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. (2Pt 3:9) All these plagues, these expressions of divine wrath, do not seem to have the effect God desires.

 

John spends so much time on visions of wrath because He wants us to understand that God will do as He has promised in the prophets. The scriptures will be fulfilled. The Day of the Lord is coming. Who can stand on that day? Those who bear the mark of God and follow the way of Christ will be enabled to stand before God on the Day of Vengeance.

 

We may experience Revelation’s revenge fantasy as hope. Evil will not win, nor will evil go on forever. God will bring it to an end.

 

Let’s return to the idea of God as Master Builder. These destructive acts, described in the 7 bowls of wrath, are like renovations. God is dismantling the current sin-corrupted world, to make way for a new world completely free of sin and death.

 

 

 

In John’s vision he witnesses a sea of glass with fire. This symbolizes holiness. We are called to be holy as God is holy. Jews who keep the law of God are pursuing holiness. Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit are made holy by the grace of the Lord. We are made holy by Jesus’ sacrifice, and become complete by living under the influence of the Spirit. May the fire of God purify us continually that we may be fully His.

 

John saw the victorious faithful. They did not bend to the pressure of sinful society. For the Church in John’s day, it was about resisting government and societal pressure to worship pagan gods or Caesar. Today, we have different kinds of societal pressure. America is the land of the individual. Our individual pursuit of happiness has become a, in my opinion, a perverse form of narcissism. The call to holiness is alien to this world. Only those with the desire to please God at the forefront of their mind and behavior can understand the call to holiness, to conform to the image of God’s Son, and not the image of the beast. Romans 12:2 says, “ Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” We renew our minds in the word of God and the counsel of the Holy Spirit.

 

The victorious faithful sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb. You can find The Song of Moses in Exodus 15. It celebrates God’s victory over Pharoah, his charioteers, and the gods of Egypt. In the same spirit, the song of Moses and the Lamb is a new song about a new deliverance.

 

King over the nations!
⁴ Who will not fear you, O Lord,
and glorify your name, because you alone are holy?
All nations will come and worship before you
for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Rev 15:3-4)

 

The book is called Revelation. The plagues are revealed as righteous justice, with the goal to bring all nations and peoples in worship of the one true God.

 

 

Seven angels come out of the temple in heaven dressed like ministering priests. They are given bowls filled with the fullness of God’s wrath. They pour out their bowls one at a time, like the 7 trumpets and the 7 seals before. Much of what happens is similar to the previous plagues, a scriptural echo.

 

The sea turns to blood. That happened at the sounding of the second trumpet. Fresh water turned to blood at the pouring the 3rd bowl. At the 4^th trumpet, fresh water was poisoned. Darkness is suffered by the kingdom of the beast, which is Rome. Darkness was experienced in the 9^th plague of Egypt, the 6^th seal, the 4^th trumpet, and the 5^th bowl.

 

What sets the bowls of wrath apart from the previous plagues is that these plagues fall only upon those who bear the mark of the beast. They are invested in Rome, in its wealth, customs, and idolatrous practices. These plagues are meant to dismantle Rome, the beast, and its influence on the people. Fallen is Babylon.

 

The sun scorches the worshippers of the beast. (Global warming, anyone?) As they sizzle under the intense heat of the sun, they curse God. Sores cover their bodies, and they curse God.

 

In response, demon frogs emerge from the mouths of the dragon (Satan), the beast of the sea (Rome) and the false prophet (Caesar). These demon frogs lure the kings of the earth to cross a dried-up Euphrates River, the boundary between Europe and the East. They amass their forces at Armageddon. You all know what Armageddon means, right? It’s the end of the world so… Armageddon outta here! No, Armageddon means the hill of Megiddo or Har Megiddo.

 

Megiddo is a fortress city that overlooks the Jezreel valley. The Jezreel Valley is 80 miles north of Jerusalem, a vast agriculturally rich area with mountains and hills bordering it on the north, south, and west.

It was a major trade route through Israel to Egypt and Africa from Europe and the East. Those who controlled Megiddo were in a strategic position to control the trade routes.

 

The reason Armageddon has the popular meaning synonymous with the end of the world is because of ignorance and poor interpretation. Most don’t know Armageddon means Hill of Megiddo. The Jezreel Valley is where the forces allied with the beast will come to make war with Israel. It is the final battle between the God and evil. Interpreters, who read Revelation as a guidebook to the end of time, have suggested the great battle will be marked by nuclear devastation. Hollywood has helped to perpetuate poor theology and bad interpretation.

 

As the 7^th bowl is poured out God’s wrath is finished. The plagues are complete. There’s lighting, thunder, and earthquakes. Babylon (Rome) is torn into three parts. All the cities of the earth fall to rubble. Massive hailstones clobber the army amassed at in the Jezreel Valley. And the survivors railed at God.

 

Renovations are messy and frustrating. Jesus said to look and war and tragedy like earthquakes as labor pains giving way to the new creation. I’m suggestion another analogy. Wars, violence, hate, disease, greed, etc, are the cracks in the ceiling, the moldy drywall, the ruined carpets. Demolition is required. God is doing away with the old and corrupted and building us a new future, when God and all people will live together in peace and plenty forever.

 

How are we to live with renovation? Remain faithful. Keep on your Christ clothes. I leave you with the words of the apostle Paul:

 

clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and forgiving one another… Just as the Lord has forgiven you... ¹⁴ And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart …and be thankful. (Col 3:12-15)