First Presbyterian Church
What's a Presbyterian to Do With Revelation Part 8
Sermon for July 4,2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time: The 10 plagues on the Egyptians

A long time ago, the children of God were slaves in Egypt . The king of Egypt , called Pharaoh, made their lives hard. Moses was a leader of the children of God.

Moses went to Pharaoh and said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

And then,

1. The River Nile turned to blood.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

2. Frogs swarm into houses.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

3. Dust becomes gnats on animals and people.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

4. Flies swarm into houses.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

5. A disease kills all the livestock so all the Egyptian animals died.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

6. Sores called boils afflict humans and animals.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

7. Thunder came and hail cut up the crops

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

8. Grasshoppers ate all the crops and trees.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

9. Darkness fell for three days where Egyptians were.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “No.”

10. All the Egyptian firstborn died.

Moses said “Let my people go.” Pharaoh said “Get out of here!”

Finally, after those ten plagues, the children of God were free, and weren't slaves anymore! Let's pray.

Our scripture reading is found on page 250. American Christians have often appropriated texts from Revelation, looking for modern parallels to predict when the end of the world will come. That can scare people. In chapter 8, the last seal is broken; the four of the seven angels blow their trumpets and the plagues come. As Ted reads the Revelation text today, I'll read from other biblical texts, mostly from the old testament. I hope that hearing how Revelation draws on old testament imagery will make Revelation less scary for you. Perhaps we will even be able to hear the good news of the gospel in the book of Revelation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Revelation 8.

1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is at hand; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests. Zephaniah 1:7

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1

But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! Habakkuk 2:20

2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, so that you may be remembered before the LORD your God and be saved from your enemies. Numbers 10:9

God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Psalm 47:5

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven…. 1 Thessalonians 4:16

We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52

3 Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.

Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2

4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth;

He said “… fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” He went in as I looked on. Ezekiel 10:2

And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips…” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar …[and] touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Isaiah 6:5-7

and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The mountains quaked before the LORD…. Judges 5:5

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 1 Kings 19:11b,12

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence.

On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. Psalm 11:5-6

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea.

Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. Exodus 19:18-19

9 A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations-- therefore I will cut you down; my eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. One third of you shall die of pestilence or be consumed by famine among you; one third shall fall by the sword around you; and one third I will scatter to every wind and will unsheathe the sword after them. My anger shall spend itself, and I will vent my fury on them and satisfy myself; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken in my jealousy, when I spend my fury on them. Ezekiel 5:11-13

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! …You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven… I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit. Isaiah 14:12-15

Seek the LORD and live, or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire, and it will devour Bethel , with no one to quench it. Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood, and bring righteousness to the ground! Amos 5:6-7

11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.

… but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol. Proverbs 5:4-5

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! Lamentations 3:19

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.

Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying… "We will …practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat."…On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon , and darken the earth in broad daylight. Amos 8:4b, 5b, 6a, 9

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the insolence of tyrants. …Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place…. Isaiah 13:10-13

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle-vulture (1) crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!"

Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law. Hosea 8:1

This ends our reading of God's word.

Some of what John describes in Revelation is natural phenomena; earthquake, fire and hail, a mountain falling, water being fouled, the sky darkened are all features of a volcanic eruption. Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, and certainly John, who wrote Revelation after that time, would have known of it, even if he wasn't an eye-witness. But to say that Revelation 8 describes a volcano is like saying sound waves vibrating our eardrums describe the pleasure of a symphony; it doesn't help find meaning.

Part of the problem is that we're not used to reading apocalyptic writings; we don't know how to interpret them. Most of us don't read Revelation. It certainly doesn't seem like good devotional reading. But for my own integrity as a preacher, I have to study it.

I have met unchurched people who believe what any preacher says about Revelation. And some interpretations are farfetched and dangerous. I wanted something to say to them, and I didn't have much. When we don't know what's in a book of the Bible, we are easy marks for harmful interpretation.

Some Christians believe that America is the instrument of God's judgment on the world. They could easily say that Revelation 8:13 speaks of an eagle warning the earth. To these people, clearly John had America in mind; our national symbol is a bald eagle.

But the word for eagle in Greek and in Hebrew is the same word for vulture. John's verse referred to the vulture of warning in Hosea, not the eagle who bears us up.

Any apocalyptic message tells us the consequence of continued oppression and war is cataclysmic catastrophe. John wrote at a time when Rome was persecuting Christians, occupying Israel , and in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “Giving luxuries to the classes by taking necessities from the masses.” All those scary words of judgment in the old testament are for people in power who are spreading poverty and oppression. So as Christians, we have to look at the way we use our power and abilities. As followers of Christ, we try to use our power for good, not ill.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly is just finishing up in Richmond , Virginia today. At a General Assembly lunch last Monday, Maj. Barbara Sherer, of the U.S. Army spoke. She was deployed with the 3rd Infantry Division. She said “I had a soldier ask me to bless his vehicle before we headed out. I don't normally bless things, but I thought, ‘There's no harm,' so I did it. We all gathered around and blessed the vehicle. I said, ‘Lord, bless this vehicle. Bless its driver, keep him alert and awake and able to face difficult situations. And bring him safely home.'”

She said she saw the impact of this simple act on the faces of the troops, and decided to bless every vehicle. Even a fierce sandstorm could not deter her from putting on her stole and trekking to every one of the unit's more than 100 vehicles. She wasn't prepared for what happened during the second or third blessing.

“I saw the driver staring at me intently, even through the sandstorm, and saw the look on her face as she mouthed ‘Thank you.' Then I got it - It's not about some lovey, touchy thing. It was a reminder of God's presence for that individual.”

Sherer said she continued putting hands on vehicles to bless them, sometimes even under the hot mid-day sun that turned metal hoods into hot plates. Then one day, as she stood by her own Humvee, a soldier walked up, put a hand on the hood and closed his eyes for a few moments. He said he'd seen her pray for everyone else's vehicle and he wanted to pray for hers.

“In that moment, I knew I would never see a blessing in the same way again,” said Sherer. (2)

And so the blessing for me, of this scary book of Revelation, is that God is present, and that deliverance will come, even when John describes the plagues that come when each trumpet is blown. The plagues that recall the plagues on Egypt also recall God's deliverance of the Israelites to safety. Their story wasn't over, and they didn't all turn to God in the wilderness, but they were no longer slaves. These terrible plagues mean justice and deliverance from evil.

Today, on the Fourth of July, we sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The words were written by Julia Ward Howe, at the beginning of the civil war. Her words captured “the public enthusiasm for the war as an instrument for the nation's salvation from sin and corruption.” (3) I am always a little leery when one nation presumes it has God on its side, so I was happy to learn “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” became a rallying cry fo justice in other contexts. After the war, the composer spoke out for women's suffrage, world peace, and for immigrant and black suffrage as well.

It is always Christian to sing about justice. Christ did not preach and teach a love of country, but a love of God. It is not unChristian to love one's country and appreciate its benefits and its freedom. We just can't choose our country over God, nor mistake our country's agenda for Jesus' agenda. His agenda is faithfulness, justice, love, and peace.

Here is a quote I like from Thomas Jefferson. He was writing a document for the state of Virginia , called the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom. He says “Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,' so that it would read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;' the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo(sic) and Infidel of every denomination.” (4)

I was surprised that Jefferson , in 1786, thought of protecting Muslims, or Mohammedans, as he called them, and Hindus. I expect he would have included Buddhists if he had heard of them. One of the things I am most proud of about America is that it has religious freedom as one of its ideals. At a time when Christian leaders in other nations were still excommunicating, exiling, and murdering other Christians for being the wrong kind of Christians, our founders were thinking about being more than tolerant of even non-Christian faiths.

The benefit to me is that I have the freedom to preach without worrying that I am disagreeing with a state-paid bishop or patriarch. It means that those in charge of my church are freely chosen by the congregation. It means our elders and deacons can make their decisions based on the needs of the church and the call of God, rather than doing what's politically expedient for our city or county. And of course it means that leaders who belong to other churches are not interfering in our church's government.

Most of us understand that no one can be forced into a belief; no one can be coerced into accepting Christ. But Christians read chapter 8 in Revelation and see the terrible destruction that will come upon us if we do not turn to the Lord. And so they make it their business to make people turn to the Lord.

But all those warnings from the prophets and plagues on the people don't come because people refuse to rattle off the words “Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” They come because people don't follow the gospel of Christ: compassion, love, and justice.

The prophets reserved God's judgment on those who used unequal weights and measures, the better to rip off their customers and slaves, and for kings who considered themselves the equal to God.

So when should we be scared about Revelation? When we participate in oppressive systems, when we devote ourselves to ourselves, when we disregard the poor. When we believe what the world tells us about wealth and power, instead of what Jesus tells us about compassion and faith in God.

I expect by now some of you are wondering why John just couldn't say that straight out. I think it's because he was feeling pretty desperate about the Christian situation. He wanted to inspire Christians enduring relentless Roman oppression so they could withstand seductive Roman paganism. When the religion is the state, and every city building, each holiday, and store acknowledges the divinity of the emperor, it takes a powerful people to endure. And so John told them about the power of God, using images they knew from the Bible, so they would have the power to not just survive, but to witness to God's saving love in Jesus Christ. And because of their perseverance, and the work of the holy spirit, we have their words and stories today, to illuminate our lives and inspire us to follow Jesus ourselves.

(1) In Greek, the word for eagle is the same as the word for vulture. The NRSV doesn't reflect this.

(2)Borst, Nancy D., “A reminder of God's presence: Presbyterian chaplains tried to be a blessing to troops in Iraq ,” June 29, 2004 , Note #8334 from PCUSA NEWS.

(3) Clifford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, p. 70-71.

(4) Thomas Jefferson in his Autobiography , 1821; from Thomas Jefferson: Writings , New York : Library of America , 1984, p. 40.