They say that confession is good for the soul. If that is the case then I have a confession to make. I know absolutely nothing about cars. A totally unmanly thing to say to be sure but it is true nonetheless. Granted I do at least know how to change a tire and pump gas. I’ve had to do so on numerous occasions. But if I were to open the hood and be asked to explain the functions of the automobile entrails (which to me resembled more a spaghetti bowl of wires, whistles and thing-a-ma-bobs than anything that could possibly power a car) then I would be totally and utterly confused. A few weeks ago, my wife Vanessa was having some difficulties with her car. We decided it would be best (given my vast wisdom on the subject) to have her father take a look and see if he could tell what the problem was. He opened the hood and peered inside. I stood there hoping to gain even the slightest bit of knowledge with which to unravel this mystery known as “ THE AUTOMOBILE.” He glanced at the engine (I know what the engine is). He pulled at some cables and asked me to start the car. It hummed and purred like normal again. I got out to take a look. (I tried to look where he was looking, hoping to appear as though I had some clue as to what was going on. I didn’t).
As awkward as that experience was, nothing gives a shock to the system quite like stepping off a plane into a strange land. A few years ago I traveled with a group of fifty young people to Hanoi, Vietnam where we stayed for a month. Officially, we were there on a cultural exchange program, teaching English at the university. While we were there, we took time to see some of the many sights. One particular landmark haunts my mind. The Hilton. For those of you who are old enough I need not say more; you know exactly what I am talking about. For those of us who were mere twinklings in the eyes of our parents when the last troops came home, the Hilton was the POW camp located in downtown Hanoi. (It’s the same place featured recently in the news around election time where John McCain was held captive during the war). Recently on, I think the Discovery Channel, I saw a documentary on the Hilton. The narrator suggested that the key to the success of the prison was the isolation and breaking down of one’s resistance and morale. To accomplish this, the prisoners remained separated from each other and faced long extensive interrogations and arduous torture. To combat feelings of fatigue, despair, loneliness and isolation, the American soldiers developed a system of communication. With the ratta-tap-tappatappa-tap of a woodpecker, an alphabet was born. (To the guards it was background noise. They were so very clueless). Many former POWs interviewed affirmed that simple series of short taps as their emotional and mental salvation.1 (Ahhh the mystery of the human spirit in the midst of suffering driven by a need to connect).
The setting of the book of Revelation, most scholars would say, is towards the end of the first century during the reign of the emperor Domitian. Domitian, George Caird would suggest, was understood by some to be a second Nero. Domitian was one, Caird explained, who had an inferiority complex, which he tried to placate by demanding “that his subjects worship him as Lord and God.”
I have another confession to make in that I am an avid movie fan. My wife Vanessa can attest to that one. (If she were here I would get an “A-men” to be sure). She sometimes catches me in front of the TV when she says There are things to be done. Or if she is on the phone to her mother, I will pop in one of my favorites like “Star Wars” or “Private Ryan” and watch until she is done. Many of you have seen the movie “Gladiator” which won “Best Picture” at the Oscars recently. There was a scene which never made it to the final cut in which Christians were led “like lambs to the slaughter” as they were sent into the arena to the dietary delight of the lions. It was eventually decided to delete this scene as it did not serve to carry the plot and may have been seen as some to be offensive. Such was the world in which John envisioned when he wrote...
1. And I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven clothed in a cloud and a rainbow about his head and His face was as the sun and his feet as pillars of fire.
2. And having in his hand a little scroll, one already opened. And he placed his right foot upon the sea and his left upon the earth.
3. And he cried out in a loud voice as a lion bellows. And when he cried out, the seven thunders spoke their own sound.
4. And when the seven thunders spoke I was about to write and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal that which the seven thunders spoke and do not write these things.”
5. And the angel (the one I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth) raised his right hand unto heaven
6. and swore by the One living unto the ages of the age Who created heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it that there shall be no more delay.
7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he is about to sound the trumpet and bring to completion the Mystery of God as he proclaimed to the servants of the prophets.
8. And again the voice which I heard from heaven says to me, “Go take the scroll (the one already opened) which is in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”
9. And I went away toward the angel saying to him to give me the little scroll. And he says to me, “Take and devour it and it will embitter your stomach but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”
10. And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and devoured it and it was to my mouth as honey sweet and when I ate it, it made my stomach bitter.
11. And they tell me it is necessary for me to again prophesy to the peoples, and nations and languages and many kings.
As a young boy, I loved reading mysteries like Encyclopedia Brown and the Hardy Boys. I particularly liked reading Encyclopedia Brown because at the end of the story you are given the opportunity to see if you could solve the mystery before flipping to the back of the book to find the answer. One of Encyclopedia’s many escapades involved his arch nemesis, Bugs Meany, who claimed to possess an authentic painting of the Liberty Bell painted by his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather on July 4, 1776. Bugs was willing, he said, to part with the painting , for a modest sum. He allowed Encyclopedia to inspect the painting and was quick to point out the date and the famous crack in the bell. When I finished reading the story, I knew Bugs was lying about the painting (because he was always lying about something) though I wasn’t sure exactly how. So I had to flip to the back of the book to find my answer. Encyclopedia pointed out that the painting was indeed a fake. He showed Bugs that he had made certain to point out both the date and the authentic crack. In actuality, if the painting of the bell had been on July 4, 1776, it would have been before the bell was cracked. (I guess in addition to cars I was never really good at solving those mysteries).
So what exactly is this mystery of God? It’s not like those books I read as a child. I used to love the game “Clue.” “It was Colonel Mustard, in the Library, with a candlestick.” But, again, it’s not that kind of mystery, either.
Perhaps a glance at context will provide the missing clue. A couple of chapters prior to this passage, John recounts a meeting with another angel. This angel posed the question before the throng in heaven: “Who is worthy to open this scroll?” made in reference to the Great Scroll of chapter five. We find John weeping because there is “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth” who can open it. John weeps because the secret purpose of God, hitherto concealed in the scroll is not only unable to be revealed but until the scroll is opened remains unaccomplished. An elder approaches John and asks him to stop weeping because the Lion of the tribe of Judah has come to open the scroll. Here, Caird points out that the tendency of translations to place a paragraph break between verses five and six disrupts the flow and meaning of the text. You see, John hears that a lion has come and he looks and he sees a lamb.
Remember those see-and-speak toys toddlers play with? On the front are pictures of animals: cows, birds, cats, dogs, horses and frogs. You pull the string and around the arrow goes. It stops on the lion.....Baa -aaaaah. It stops on the lion and Baa-aaaahhh? THE MYSTERY OF GOD. “Behold a lion has come... and I saw a lamb.” The lion is the king of the jungle, a symbol of strength. Lambs are such silly creatures. The lion is a lamb? Huh?
God works in mysterious ways. Each of us who sit in this room can testify to this. His mystery is no more evident than in his salvific purposes for mankind. “I heard a lion and saw a lamb.” But wait. There is more. This lamb had to suffer. “A lamb bearing the marks of crucifixion.” What a strange way to save humanity. God himself had to suffer for us.
While he was praying in the garden, Christ struggled with his role in the plan of God. As blood poured down his face, he wrestled with his fate. In accepting the cup, he would face unbearable suffering. “Not my will but yours be done.”8 In accepting the cup, the Lamb opened the Great scroll.
But how does one explain the mystery of the second scroll? There are countless others who suffer as well. Are their deaths a part of the plan? The biblical record points to Stephen as the first martyr in Acts chapter 7. Church tradition records nearly all the original twelve apostles died a martyr’s death. A bit closer to our time, more people have died for the cause of Christ in the last century than all the other previous centuries combined:
Near the end of WWII, a Lutheran minister was hung by piano wire just days before the Allies arrived. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. There are countless stories of martyrdom in the middle east as well. I met a man of Filipino nationality who while serving a missionary in a house church in Saudi Arabia was arrested. He was held in prison for several years. On Christmas eve, the day before he was scheduled to be executed, he was released due to the efforts of his government. Websites such as “Voice of the Martyrs” recount many others.
I also know of some personally. It was upon my return from Vietnam while we were in debriefing that I heard... One of my friends I had met at training had gone with the team to Hong Kong. While they were there, they were aiding to smuggle Bibles into mainland China. Though the team members were not placed in harm’s way, the nationals they worked with were. One of the nationals through whom the team worked, while carrying bibles deep into China was apprehended by authorities and shot as a public service announcement. Another was captured and boiled alive in a vat of hot oil before a crowd of onlookers.
While John saw that the lamb had to open the larger scroll, he noted that the smaller one was already opened. God’s plan had already been set in motion and there “would be no more delay.” John saw on the horizon the suffering of the Church. He knew of the horrors of Nero’s regime and sought to comfort his brothers and sisters who no doubt also knew. The suffering of the church would no doubt be “a difficult pill to swallow.” The “cruciform life of the Church” bears its own scars. Throughout history, there are account after account and story after story of persons laying down their lives for the cause of Christ in the world.
“And on the night he was betrayed, he took the bread and when he had given thanks broke it...”
“THIS is my BODY. Take it and EAT.”
Hmmmm. Tastes like honey.
