We were just brought into the cosmic battle; the battle between heaven and earth, good and evil, light and dark. The archangel Michael fighting against the dragon, known as the devil and Satan. This is part of the larger struggle known as Armageddon (16:16). Armageddon would mean the city of Megiddo or possibly the mountain of Megiddo. But Megiddo is a real place – part of the great highway between Egypt and Damascus and one of the great battle grounds of the world. (The Revelation of John, Barclay, pg. 132). So as the cosmic battle takes shape John uses familiar battle images and makes them the location of a larger more divine struggle, a battle for salvation.
“The force is strong in my family.” Luke Skywalker spoke those words in a more familiar cosmic battle. The Star Wars saga follows Anakin, Luke and Rey, who I am guessing will soon be disclosed as a daughter, through a fight for good over evil. Darth Vader could certainly be cast as the devil, being only one of several dark lords in this long battle. In Star Wars we accept strange creatures, light sabers and the force as part of this foreign cosmic struggle, much like the early Christians would know apocalyptic literature as a means for telling a larger truth. Through these seven movies, we see seven again, the eternal struggle between light and dark is played out. Whether disabling a death star, liberating a friend from captivity, fighting demons inside oneself each is a tale of salvation, a time of making right what was wrong.
When John wrote this letter, what was wrong for Christians was the Rome Empire. Emperor Domitian ruled with oppression and fear making life for Christians very difficult. Many Christians were martyred, as we just heard, about with the white robes. All were oppressed having gone through a “great ordeal.” The beast described in Revelation is the power of Rome, not some personification of evil like we so often make out the “the devil” to be. Satan is the Hebrew word for “adversary” and devil word comes from the Greek translation of adversary which is “Diabolos.” So this dragon is the adversary of the people shown in mythic form.
The battle is over the authority of God and who reigns supreme, even though some try to make it about saved souls. Often we think of the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation (7:4). That number symbolizes completeness and represent 12,000 from each the 12 tribes of Israel. But this is not a hard number saying how many souls will go to heaven, rather a declaration of the reconstitution of Israel, and the promise that not one of the redeemed will be lost. When the battle is over Christ will shepherd the ever faithful home, will wipe away fear. The faithful of God welcomed into salvation is then expanded to a “great multitude.” Listen now to our second reading from Revelation, directly following and expanding the 144,000 and declaring salvation belongs to God! Read
What does salvation mean to you?
Does it mean you are going to heaven;
- you are right with God,
- saved from sin,
- the return of our Lord?
The Hebrew word for “salvation” means literally “to make wide” (Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris, pg. 20). So that 144,000 was just made wide to include the “great multitude from every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages.” And yet salvation is not universal. It comes from a relationship with Christ and the work God has done through Christ on the cross. Scripture declares, “Salvation belongs to our God… and to the Lamb!” Last week we established that Jesus is the Lamb worthy to be praised with a standing ovation and today we see salvation comes through the blood of the Lamb. We heard, the devil is conquered by the blood of the Lamb. Rome is defeated by the power of the faithful martyrs, and God’s power is seen rough this act. The power of Rome defeated implies willingness to die for their faith with Christ. So what does salvation mean for us today?
Marcus Borg in The Heart of Christianity writes about our understanding of salvation. We will be studying this book in Adult Education if you want to delve more deeply. He argues that salvation is so much more than saving us from sin when we break one of God’s rules, but that is the default mode of understanding. Unfortunately, today salvation is often tied to what kind of Christian you are, and who is going to heaven. Even though Revelation is a drama between heaven and earth, salvation in the bible is primarily a “this worldly phenomenon” something we know now, not simply a promise of what is to come. (Borg 174-5). Your salvation is not a reward, rather a relation with Christ and a way of making right what is wrong.
Let me ask you this. When you confessed your sins, did you list the things you did wrong asking for forgiveness, or did you seek out a way for God to make right what is wrong in your life? Christ dying on the cross washed clean your sins, but salvation is what puts things right.
- Forgiveness does not make the blind person see, salvation does.
- Forgiveness does not make the lame man walk, salvation does.
- The power of God through knowing Christ is salvation – is your salvation.
Exploring salvation, Borg notes three macro-stories of salvation history. As believers we are part of salvation history and we are tasked to see ourselves within this larger arch of history.
- The first is Exodus when God liberated the people from their captivity after feeling powerless and victimized. Think of a time you needed to be freed… freed from stinking thinking, a bad situation, your life off course.
- The second is Exile when the people were lost in a strange place (Babylon) feeling cut off. We know about being lost maybe not in another country but being lost in grief, loneliness, or simply adrift.
- The third is the Temple story of sin and impurity offering sacrifices to be made clean. Those are the things we often pray to God during our payer of confession.
Jesus becomes our salvation addressing these three larger themes:
- Jesus is the liberator, your liberation from where you feel trapped in your life.
Salvation is liberation.
- Jesus as “the Way” is a metaphorical home in the exile story. In his life, death and resurrection, he embodies the way to return to God. Salvation is homecoming.
- Jesus is the final sacrifice ending the temple offering once and for all.
Salvation is acceptance and forgiveness. (Borg 177).
Jesus as the liberator, the Way, and forgiveness means salvation becomes more real and we are made whole. Jesus is the light in your darkness. Jesus is bread for the hungers in your life. When you feel lost Jesus is the way. The great multitude knows this completely- to the seventh degree…. Because they cry out “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!” I was fascinated to discover that the name Jesus has its origin, its etymology, from the root words, “Yahweh is Salvation.” We often think that Jesus is just a form of Joshua, but the etymology of Jesus’ name is Yahweh is Salvation. So every time you hear Jesus’ name I want you to think, “Yahweh is my salvation!”
For us today Salvation means your broken life, heart, relationship, will be made well, made whole. Over and over Jesus said, your faith has made you well right after a healing. That is salvation.
Salvation is and always will be the work of God, but we must respond. St. Augustine wrote this about salvation, “God without us will not, as we without God cannot.” Think about that for a minute…. Without us, without our response God will not do it; and we, without God, cannot do it. (Borg, pg 179). This helps me understand a hard passage in Revelation about those who endured the great ordeal “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14). They responded, they participated with the washing. In the last chapter of Revelation, we hear, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the tree of life” (22:14). I have to admit I have had a hard time with the idea of Christ’s blood washing away sin or making me whole. Maybe it’s that blood often means injury or death. I don’t think of blood in a good way. Yet for the Jews blood means life. That is why they smeared blood on the doorposts at Passover. It is why they eat meat well done. Blood is a sacred life force. So I started to reframe my idea of blood. Blood is part of giving birth, the act of bringing new life into the world. So I see the blood of Christ with new eyes; as new life, a life force. Being washed in Christ’s blood means you and I have new life, new birth in the way of Christ. The white robes washed clean in the blood of Christ harkens back to baptismal robes of white. Baptism is the first step of participating in God’s salvation. Joining the church, the body of Christ, is another way of responding, participating in God’s plan for the salvation of the world. That is why we are so thrilled to have our new members join with us as we seek to work in and through salvation history. Pam, Ryan, Rachael, Kevin, Carol and Linda are adding their names to the book of life. We too seek to add our names to the book of life joining with God’s efforts, to bring about salvation of the world through Jesus Christ. All of scripture is the telling of Salvation History. Salvation history culminates with the cosmic battle in Revelations.
God need us to participate in salvation – to say yes to Jesus Christ, to say it is the true that Christ is the Lamb, who is victorious in this final battle.
When we know and believe God reigns supreme, Christ is victorious, we are strengthened in our participation because we know how the story, the battle ends.
Take the hand of new members and hand of old friends as we join with God in salvation history as we serve our community in the name of Jesus – Yahweh is my salvation. Amen
