IF YOU HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THE CURRENT SERMON SERIES, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS OF REVELATION: Revelation: 5-12
“Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one seated on the throne. It had writing on the front and the back, and it was sealed with seven seals. I saw a powerful angel, who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or look inside it…Then one of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has emerged victorious so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Last April, I sat in my backyard watching the solar eclipse. By the way, I heard that there is an online resource for anyone who suffered retinal damage watching the eclipse. I’m told it is a site for sore eyes. Thankfully, the protective glasses I wore worked.
Leading up to the stellar event many people across North America were bracing for the apocalypse. This isn’t the first time that cataclysmic predictions have occurred. In 2017, the constellations, Leo and Virgo, align prompting doomsday prophets to postulate that the end of the world was near.
What these Nostradamus want-to-bes forget is that not even Jesus knew the day or the time of his return. God’s plan is heaven’s best kept secret. Yet we human beings are a curious lot. We want to know what the future will hold.
The eternal scene that John described in the fifth chapter of Revelation boasts of several heavenly beings surrounding the throne of Jesus. Their collective voices clamor to know what the scroll in Jesus’ hand discloses. The plan is right in front of them. The problem is that the scroll is sealed.
But as each of the seven seals is broken the scroll revels not so much a prediction of the future. Rather it is mission plan for today. Revelation teaches us that God opposes evil and fights on behalf of goodness and justice and will one day defeat the forces of darkness.
Until such time, God has chosen to work through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as God battles against falsehood, injustice, and violence, so should we. Our cause is to oppose the powers and principalities that oppose God.
I have a friend named Rick. Rick and I are on opposite ends of the theological spectrum when it comes to understanding the plans God has for the future. Recently, I was sharing with Rick my concern about the escalating tensions in the Middle East and in Ukraine. My fear is that
someone may impulsively fire a weapon of mass destruction that will lead to a worldwide war, thereby destroying the planet as we now know it. Rick claimed that he has no problem with such an outcome because he believes that God has to first abolish this present world in order for Jesus to return to earth and create a new earth and a new heaven.
My beliefs run contrary to those of Rick’s. I believe that God’s intention is not to destroy this old world in order to reclaim a new world but to redeem and restore this present world to reflect the original glory it enjoyed during the early days of creation. God has never been in the business of throwing stuff away. God is the Great Recycler. God recreates that which has been demolished. God renews those things that have fallen into decay. God resurrects life from the clutches of death.
And frankly, I choose to be on God’s side. I wish to rebuild what God, through the power of the Spirit, is building. I choose to align my efforts to bring about the transformation of this old world. I choose to engage my time and resources toward bringing about God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
What about you?
Whose side are you on?
Which future will you choose?