Message 16 - Revelation 8-9

(239 Words, 1.30 Seconds)

Beth El Shalom my wife and I want you to know that we never, ever cease to feel and know your love. This is one of the warmest and friendliest congregations. I have never received more encouragement then I do at this congregation. This Shabbat, it is my turn to give you some good news that I pray can be of some benefit to you from our text today before us.

For full disclosure I will preach a short sermon on a very long section of Scripture. If it is not enough when I am done, please email Gary Zimmerman at garyzim7@att.net and he will give you teacher’s version of what I will be giving you today as a preacher.

John Piper once said the difference between preaching and teaching can be likened to the Herald of the Emperor declaring, “Amnesty has been given to all the Emperors slaves.” That is good news that people can celebrate and act upon. Then people have questions. What does amnesty mean, when can I go, will I find work, etc. At that point, you need the Emperors court advisor who can explain all the details of the heralds proclamation. In other words, the difference between preaching and teaching is not shouting versus whispering, or illuminating versus bamboozling, or revealing versus informing. In a nutshell, it’s the difference between heralding and explaining. And today, I want to herald some good news to you.

(524 Words, 3 minutes, 30 seconds)

Most of you are aware that Revelation is full of wrath, plagues, and great evil. Some of you are aware that the series of Trumpet or Shofar judgments contain three of the worst Woe judgments in the Book of Revelation. There is the Woe judgment of the demonic locust that torment, the woe judgment of the 200 million demonic army released from the Euhprates, the third woe is the full judgment of God on human rebellion and comes in the form of 7 bowls of wrath being poured on planet earth. And these three woes, come after four Shofar blasts that usher in a global, ecological destruction on land, sea, and fresh water.

Most of us have been taught that in light of these soon to be horrors, we are to assist God in the proclamation of the Gospel right here, warn the world around us that it is stuck in a ditch, tell our closest neighbor to repent and believe the good news. And I believe that it is easy to arrive at this application because these dark chapters of Revelation are often taught as a kind of self-congratulatory tale of my right beliefs keeping me from these horrible evils. And trust me, that is true if you believe in a rapture or don’t believe in one. Everyone tells the tale of these chapters with a celebratory song like cadence. “All hail the power of Jesus Name!”

What if I were to tell you, this passage is supposed to wipe the smug look off of the faces of people you and I? “Christians, Messianics, whatever you call yourself.” People who know the answer to the question, “How now shall I be saved from the wrath to come?” Before it is even asked.

We have gotten so good at it we have a book series about it called Left Behind, we created mass hysteria around at and called that event Y2K, and we must own the fact that we created and entire industry around it called “prepping” which includes not only sheltered bunkers and foods, but digitial recordings of yourself stored in a cloud service that will let your loved ones know you were raptured. This whole time completing forgetting the fact that the entire revelation of John was written to “the seven churches in Asia Minor.” To those group of religious men and women, with their religious dress, religious books, religious answers and at least 5 out of 7 steeped, chest deep in the pleasing waters of lukewarm sin. People who had lots of answers, lots of data but somehow failed to understand that right belief, on its own, has never filled up a cup of cold water for someone; right belief, on its own, has never extended a hand to a person with a flat tire on the side of the road; right belief, on its own, has never stopped a controlling spouse; right belief, on its own, has never stayed the hand of sexual misconduct.

Right belief, on its own, makes you as heartless and spineless as you imagine a demon to be. “You believe that God is one; well and good. Demons believe the same—and tremble with fear. You bottomless pit of a person, do you really need evidence that faith without works is useless?” ()

James 2:19–20 TLV

You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder! But do you want to know, you empty person, that faith without works is dead?

(201 Words, 2 Minutes) I suppose if I have done my job well, then I will have to convince you that today’s passage really is good news and that if given the choice between a head full of right beliefs or hand-full of good works, you would hold out two hands and say “fill them up, please.”

Grab your copy of the Scriptures and say it with me like you mean it.

Ha-Foke-Bah

De-Cola-Bah

Ha-Foke-Bah

Mashiach Bah

Turn-it and turn-it, everything you need is in it.

Turn-it and turn-it, the Messiah is in it.

Let’s read together:

“By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads by which they inflict injuries. But the rest of mankind, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent and turn away from the works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. And they did not repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.” (, TLV)

Revelation 9:18–21 TLV

By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads by which they inflict injuries. But the rest of mankind, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent and turn away from the works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. And they did not repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.

Enough faith to process mass suffering but not enough for life change (873 Words, 6 minutes)

Revelation 9:18 TLV

By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths.

As a reader of the text of Revelation, John really has us where he wants us. What I mean, to start, the world as we understand it and use it fundamentally changes. When I say really bad, I mean like Stephen King Horror movie bad. The first three trumpets sound and there is an ecological and economic disaster that comes from the Cosmos throwing every increasing matter and poison matter called wormwood on the earth. It kills one third of vegetation, 1/3 the life of the sea waters and ships, 1/3 of life in the fresh waters. The fourth trumpet decreases sunlight by 1/3 from 12 hours to only 8 hours, 1/3 of the moon light (impacts ocean tides), 1/3 of stars (that is our navigation).

Secondly, people are not acting the way they are supposed to act. Or, maybe, things are just the way they have always been. In the film Grand Canyon, an immigration attorney breaks out of a traffic jam and attempts to bypass it. His route takes him along streets that seem progressively darker and more deserted. Then the predictable Bonfire of the Vanities nightmare: his expensive car stalls on one of those alarming streets whose teenage guardians favor expensive guns and sneakers. The attorney does manage to phone for a tow truck, but before it arrives, five young street toughs surround his disabled car and threaten him with considerable bodily harm. Then, just in time, the tow truck shows up and its driver — an earnest, genial man — begins to hook up to the disabled car. The toughs protest: the truck driver is interrupting their meal. So the driver takes the leader of the group aside and attempts a five-sentence introduction to metaphysics: “Man,” he says, “the world ain’t supposed to work like this. Maybe you don’t know that, but this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be able to do my job without askin’ you if I can. And that dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you rippin’ him off. Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is here.”

The tow truck driver is an heir of Rabbi Paul and Yeshua, and his summary of the human predicament belongs in every book of theology. For central to our faith is a concept of the way things are supposed to be. I see a car on the side of the road, I should stop to help the person. I see someone agonizing in pain, I should try to comfort them. I see a blind person trying to make their way down a crack edged sidewalk, I should run over to guide them. They ought to be as designed and intended by God, both in creation and in graceful restoration of creation. They are supposed to include peace that adorns and completes justice, mutual respect, and deliberate and widespread attention to the public good.

We humans have a rather special talent for notoriously suppressing the truth we dislike. Listen, John has us where he wants us, we should think these people are vile and reprehensible. They see death and suffering all around them but will not repent and turn away.

Revelation 9:20 TLV

But the rest of mankind, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent and turn away from the works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

Rev 9:

The TLV is spot on when they translate the one word metanoao with “repent and turn away” it is a living life in a new direction. These people refuse to live in a new direction.

John has got us doesn’t he? We point our finger at them and say “We know how you must be saved?” Yet, five out of the seven churches in revelation are nothing more than the religious equivalent of “the rest of mankind” not killed by these plagues. Yeshua, told some he would snuff out their lamp, throw others on a sick bed, strike others with the sword of his mouth, come like a thief at night, and spew others out. Why? Because they will not metanoao “repent and turn away” even though they can see the judgment of God all around them.

God has got us doesn’t He? We are tempted to think, we are not those vile people in the book of Revelation and we are not those vile and hypocritical believers in the first century.

Do you have enough faith to process mass suffering but not enough to do anything about it?

Yet, even after Hurricane Harvey we are still building “affordable housing” in flood plains and hoping to use humans as shields against water. How many will have to drowned while the rest of humanity lives. Most believers are silent because we don’t want affordable housing in our neighborhoods.

When Trump was campaigning to be President and he famously said to Billy at Access Hollywood that that he could grab women in their private parts because he had celebrity status the majority of evangelicals agreed with Trump when he said, “That comment does not reflect who I am” and dismissed it as locker room talk. Yet, I seem to remember evangelicals releasing hell bound fury over much egregious comments by other democratic candidates over abortion. So do we just stand up for babies but not the woman that baby comes from? How does that logic or moral fabric even work. How many women have to grabbed in the privates but the rest of humanity will live?

It is possible to have enough faith to process mass suffering but not enough for life change. - YES

It is even possible to have enough faith in a god but just not faith in the uncreated God, alone (1176 Words, 8 minutes)

Revelation 9:20 TLV

But the rest of mankind, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent and turn away from the works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

John knows, that idolatry is a special kind of perversion. John also knows something we take for granted, idolatry is not primarily about belief, it is an action. He calls it, the “works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

Rev 9:20

John knows, that idolatry is a special kind of perversion. John also knows something we take for granted, idolatry is not primarily about belief, it is an action. He calls it, the “works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

You will build your life, spend your resources and give your attention to what you ultimately desire. Tim Keller, a retired pastor from New York defined idolatry for a whole generation of us this way, “An Idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

Problem is not “Either/Or” but “Both/And.”

That is true and acknowledges one way people worship an idol. Namely, they voluntarily give it control over their heart and life. Yet, the word worship, at least here in Revelation and in the Scriptures, has another side that means to be celebrate how the idol acts. προσκυνέω (proskyneō) is both giving allegiance to an idol and agreeing with the methods, works, and values of that idol.

Revelation 9:20 TLV

But the rest of mankind, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent and turn away from the works of their hands—they would not stop worshiping demons and the idols of gold and silver and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

That is true and acknowledges one way people worship an idol. Namely, they voluntarily give it control over their heart and life. Yet, the word worship, at least here in Revelation and in the Scriptures, has another side that means to be celebrate how the idol acts. προσκυνέω (proskyneō) is both giving allegiance to an idol and agreeing with the methods, works, and values of that idol.

In Revelation, it is not that people are atheist. No, the opposite is true. They believe in many gods even some that are demons. Perhaps, they are worshiping the locust hoarde or the hoarse/serpent hoarde? It is very common for people to worship the thing they are scared of in some vain attempt to keep it away.

In reality, we simply believe we know what is good and what is bad and will do almost anything to bring about the best possible good and avoid the worst possible bad. For most people, this does not mean a wholesale abandonment of God it means bringing something else alongside of God to bring what is good and what is bad. Israel was famous for its idolatrous syncretism. And Yeshua warns in a disturbing way that you can cast out demons in his name, perform miralces in his name but yet he not know you.

But what makes idolatry a special kind of perversion is how on the one hand a person acknowledges this entity is a free entity that is controlling their lives but on the other hand they made that entity and so the idol is not controlling their life, they are controlling their own lives through the idols they have made.

In , the rest of humanity had made an idol out of just about everything. And two of the congregations, Pergamum and Thyatira, are directly accused of not just idolatry but holding to the deep teachings of Satan. The world and the congregations have employed idols to give them what they feel is the best possible good or to avoid the worst possible bad or evil.

But Revelation, tells a different kind of story about belief as the work of your hands. You see before a different kind of future can unfold a different kind of faith must be found. This is not easy. Here is how John describes it:

“He (Satan) was also permitted to make war against the kedoshim and overcome them, and he was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. All who dwell on the earth shall worship him—everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is meant for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed by the sword, by the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and faith of the kedoshim.” (, TLV)

Revelation 13:7–10 TLV

He was also permitted to make war against the kedoshim and overcome them, and he was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. All who dwell on the earth shall worship him—everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is meant for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed by the sword, by the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and faith of the kedoshim.

Idolatry only ends when you can go to captivity, go to sword, and and say with Yeshua, “Yet, your will be done.”

In my life I feel very fortunate. I have never gone to jail, never had any real serious sickness and the worst injury I have ever faced was a fractured arm. I have earned two degrees which was not near has hard as earning the hand of my lovely bride nor nothing compared to raising three children.

We have seen some ups and downs, living in Canada was not easy but the deepest scars we carry come from religious people. We expected to finish our ministry career at my former congregation where I served as senior Rabbi. We did not expect to face a public execution for calling my step-father, my father nor the betrayel by people who said just the day before they were my best friend and did so with hugs and kisses. We did not expect to have to start all over, for Lauren to go back to work, I did not expect to start a congregation again either from the broken pieces of this one event.

There it is, the reality of do I worship an idol alongside of Yeshua shows up when you get what you don’t expect.

By falling in love with a building before I ever met the people who worshiped in it, I participated in a popular misunderstanding of the word church. - Taylor, Barbara Brown. Leaving Church (p. 15).

Taylor, Barbara Brown. Leaving Church (p. 15).

Taylor, Barbara Brown. Leaving Church (p. 15). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

I saw that I had fallen in love with a piece of real-estate and a building. I had fallen in love with security and comfort. I had fallen in love with identity and prestige. And during my time there, Lauren will vouch for this, I would always say, “I am only a servant in this man’s house, not a son.” Idolatry is a special kind of perversion, you will build your life around it and tolerate too much.

When I said those words, I should have known the idolatry inside of me because idolatry always enslaves you, worship of the true God always frees you to be son, or daughter. And, I undertstand now, what John meant about the “perseverance of the kedoshim.” Its not that I am at all excusing injustice and evil but that I am willing to accept that bad circumstances (captivity, exile) can be just as much part of God’s will as good circumstances.

I am telling you this so that you will understand it is easier than you think to have faith in a god but not just faith alone in the uncreated God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So maybe the next time you find it easier to lie than tell the truth, search your heart. Who is really in control. When you consider the work of your hands, what kind of life are you building at home, online, in friendships. Really, who is in control

Enough faith to get what you want but not enough to give others what they need. (550 words, 4 minutes)

Revelation 9:21 TLV

And they did not repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.

Rev 9:

Again John says they did not “repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.” These are all acts of aggressive evil. Murder well it is murder but it probably needs to be said this is not defensive murder this is offensive: kill-or-be-killed, it is gross murder like Johnny Cash sang, “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.”

Again John says they did not “repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.” These are all acts of aggressive evil. Murder well it is murder but it probably needs to be said this is not defensive murder this is offensive: kill-or-be-killed, it is gross murder like Johnny Cash sang, “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.” Sorcery is not just fancy Latin phrases conjuring up spells with a wand; no, a lot of the 1st century sorcery involved heavy narcotic agents and hallucinogens that altered the mind and weakened the will. Sexually immorality has a wide range from a little side solo action with a screen to sex-trafficking or pimping of women or men so desperate that they would sell their bodies for a way of escape and stealing an aggressive act of either deception or force to take what does not belong to you.

Sorcery is not just fancy Latin phrases conjuring up spells with a wand; no, a lot of the 1st century sorcery involved heavy narcotic agents and hallucinogens that altered the mind and weakened the will.

Sexually immorality has a wide range from a little side solo action with a screen to sex-trafficking or pimping of women or men so desperate that they would sell their bodies for a way of escape and stealing an aggressive act of either deception or force to take what does not belong to you.

Like the tow truck driver said, “Things are not the way they should be.”

This is why idolatry is such a deep perversion. Because it can give you want you want but always at the expense of someone else or even yourself. They have a belief but it does not put a cup of cold water in a thirsty persons cup. It does not put a bandage on a would, or balm on a cut.

Revelation 9:21 TLV

And they did not repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.

Look at what John says again, “The rest of them did not repent and turn away from their from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.”

Just because you have belief or a god it does not follow that you are living a life of faith. If you were to ask the rest of them what do believe you should do if you see someone stuck in the ditch, or their front door unlocked, or their daughter lonely and broken at a bar. I think we would be appalled by the answer.

I would think we would be equally appalled if we were to ask the same of the first century congregation James addressed when he said:

“Where do quarrels and conflicts among you come from? Don’t they come from this, namely your passions that battle within your body parts? You crave and have not. You murder and you envy, yet you cannot get it. You fight and you wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives so you may spend it on your passions.” (, TLV)

James 4:1–3 TLV

Where do quarrels and conflicts among you come from? Don’t they come from this, namely your passions that battle within your body parts? You crave and have not. You murder and you envy, yet you cannot get it. You fight and you wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives so you may spend it on your passions.

This is just the messianic version of what we see from the idolaters in Revelation.

Revelation 9:21 TLV

And they did not repent and turn away from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.

“The rest of them did not repent and turn away from their from their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their stealing.”

See, I wonder if a life of practicing love, compassion and kindness leads to better faith. The kind of faith that Yeshua says you were not like the rest of them you fed me when I was hungry, you clothed me when I was naked, you filled my cup when I was thirsty, you called my name when others would not name it, you gave me eyes so I could run, you gave me hope when I felt alone.

It is not that belief does not matter. It does. Yet, right belief is always proven by its actions. Just because a person who has the right answer does not mean they have ever gotten behind the wheel and taken it out for a test drive.

Conclusion

I told you that this is good news. You are saying, it does not feel like good news. It is. It is the good news that you don’t have to be enslaved anymore. The good news that you don’t have to live a life of selfish pursuits and indulgences anymore. It is the good news that a single-selfless act of love can make all the difference in the world.

I was running with a friend of mine who is Muslim. We were discussing light hearted religious issues like circumcision, the practice of marrying cousins, religion and oppression, etc. Light stuff. I told my friend about how I went and had lunch at such and such Mosque. Shocked my friend said, “Oh No! Michael, you can’t go there. They will kill you.” And I said, “Yet, here I am alive! Amazing! Resurrection.” This person said, “I am telling you that place is dangerous you can’t go in there.” And I said but I did. Why? Why did you go? This person wanted to know.

Because I believe that a single act of kindness can end a history of againstness. Right answers are not worth the breath it takes to say them if they do not lead you to living a better life. Do you remember the parable of the sheep and goats. It was not theology quiz, it was an act of kindness evaluation. Neither the sheep or the goats knew who they were or were not serving but the sheep without knowing who practiced single acts of kindness: clothing the poor, feeding meal, giving some water, a friendly conversation with a prisoner, hope in darkness.

Another friend of mine who is a runner brought me to tears. I asked if he wanted to go for a run last weekend over Thanksgiving. He told me he could not. I pried, “Why not?” He said, “Well if you have to know I am a guide for a friend of mine who is blind. She wants to run the Turkey Trot Half-Marathon so I will be her eyes so she can run today and feel the thrill of race and the wind on her face. A single act of kindness can give eyes to the blind. Be the miracle you are praying for.

Listen this is not easy for a person like me to hear. I went to school for a very long time to learn all the right answers so I could be proud of knowing them and so I could help other people come to know all the right answers to. I learned Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, and Aramaic. I learned about the innerancy of Scripture, the dual nature of the Messiah, the atonement theories and the beautiful relationship of the Father, Son and the Spirit.

Professors would give syllabus and I would get not just the required reading but almost all the books on their list. I would get drunk from the fumes of yellow highlighters as I marked up page after page of great knowledge. I would read and read then like the water parting before Moses I would say “Eureka!! I discovered some truth.” I would bring Lauren to my office and explain to her all I had learned and she would smile like she does and lean in and say, “Yes, but have you taken out the trash yet.” I knew what she was saying to me. “Michael, nothing has changed because you no more. The trees are still shedding leaves. Trash cans still need emptying. Diapers need changing. Cups need filling, Hearts need mending.”

And honestly, my spiritual enlightenments made me worthless until I figured out what to do with them. Until I figured out that getting up one morning at 4am to make breakfast for a family going through cancer treatment was better than getting up to study for a test.

I know I told you that if I did my job it would be good news. I hope you see the good news and will be the good news. I also said you would see this passage is not just about them but about us and let me conclude with this last passage from (read from Bible).

Revelation 22:13–14 TLV

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. How fortunate are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the city.

““I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. How fortunate are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Yeshua, have sent My angel to testify these things to you for My communities. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” (, TLV)

Revelation 22:16 TLV

I, Yeshua, have sent My angel to testify these things to you for My communities. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

Revelation 22:13–16 TLV

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. How fortunate are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Yeshua, have sent My angel to testify these things to you for My communities. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

Pray