Meditation for the Second Sunday before Lent
Collect
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit
reigns supreme over all things, now and for ever.
Revelation 4
After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the spirit,* and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! And the one seated there looks like jasper and cornelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,
‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’
Luke 8:22 – 25
One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A gale swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’
Sometimes, Scripture records God’s response to specific issues or events; sometimes, it offers a more general lesson. The Revelation of John has both.
It was written during times of the persecution of believers trying to survive in periods of tyranny, living with demands to give in to the idolatrous leadership of Roman Emperors – Nero and Domitian in particular, but many others who followed them
Nero was a populist, constantly trying to win the adulation on the lower classes. Contemporary accounts picture him as cruel, narcissistic, tyrannical, self-indulgent and debauched.
Domitian was equally cruel, intellectually challenged, mistrustful and vengeful.
Both were arrogant, adulterers, liars and persecutors of Christians, using them as scapegoats and positioning them as an identifiable disloyal group who could be blamed for everything – and people are happy so long as they have someone to blame, even if the accusations are plainly untrue.
From Chapter 4 onwards, Revelation – written at the time of such persecution – could be regarded as some sort of underground newspaper, using symbols, images and metaphors to criticise the Roman Emperors without actually naming names, offering prophecy that evil would be ultimately defeated and God’s Kingdom established for eternity. It shows His power to be immeasurably greater than that of any human dictator, and its message of victory over the Satan has remained relevant throughout the ages and still is in today’s turbulent world.
There is persecution, violence, injustice, bigotry and hatred; there are self-centred and populist leaders whose concern is not for peace but revenge and power, seeing themselves as the ‘Emperors’ of today and caring not one jot for the longer term damage they are doing. Difficult times will come in our Christian lives, when we stand up for His truth and seek justice for the widows, the orphans and mercy for the dispossessed
But our hope is steadfast, and victory is certain through the power of the Cross; the new Jerusalem will be a time of eternal peace and love. When we are downhearted, almost despairing, we read the last page of the Book of Books, and our strength is renewed.
Yes, there will be storms on the way. But in those storms, we will praise Him.
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