And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. – Revelation 11:3

Today's Scripture Reading (June 7, 2021): Revelation 11

In the opening chapters of the book of Genesis, we have some people who had unbelievable lifespans. Adam Lived for 930 years. His son Seth lived for 912 years. Only a few generations later, just before the Great Flood, Methuselah is listed as the one whose lifespan was the longest. Methuselah lived for almost a millennium; he lived until he was 969 years old.

We have no idea why the Bible lists this group of long-lived people, and every attempt to explain away the number of years these men lived has a hole in it somewhere. But one of the contrasts to the 900-year lifespans is found in the life of Enoch. Compared to the men who lived for more than 900 years, Enoch's life was cut short; Enoch only lived until his 365^th birthday. But there is another exception that sets Enoch apart. The Bible says that Enoch never died. Genesis finishes its story about the life of Enoch with this comment. "Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away" (Genesis 5:23-24). Enoch might have lived for only a short 365 years, but he also didn't die.

Thousands of years later, another man also didn't die. His name was Elijah, and he was walking with his apprentice, a man named Elisha, when Elijah's end came. The author of 2 Kings phrases it this way;

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two (2 Kings 2: 11-12).

Although neither of these two men met with death, the author of Hebrews makes this argument. "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him" (Hebrews 9:27-28). Death is the one thing that we all have to face. But the reality is that according to the Bible, neither Enoch nor Elijah died.

Revelation 11 introduces us to two of the most compelling characters in John's vision, the two witnesses. But like so much that is found in John's apocalypse, we know very little about these witnesses. We know that they are prophets who will proclaim a time of repentance and mourning for almost three and half years. We know that they will do so with power because no one will be able to silence them. But that is about it.

One unanswerable question about these witnesses is who they might be. And it could be that they will just be two strong Christians of that day, who are walking closely with God. But that hasn't stopped us from making our guesses as to their identity.

Some have argued that the two witnesses might be Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Having already appeared during Jesus's ministry, is there any reason to believe that they could not also be there at the end.

But another exciting proposal is that these witnesses might be Elijah and Enoch. The reason behind this suggestion that Elijah and Enoch might be the witnesses is that neither of the pair died. But they will get their chance to join the rest of us, who are destined once to die, at the end of the three and half years.

Or maybe it will be someone else. Like so much that we read in Revelation, we just don't know, with any authority, who the pair might be

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 12

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. – Revelation 10:1

 Today's Scripture Reading (June 6, 2021): Revelation 10

John Newton, long before he wrote his classic poem "Amazing Grace," which was initially entitled "Faith Reviews and Expectations," was a slave trader. And on one of his slave retrieving voyages, a trip that was supposed to take him from Africa to Liverpool, the trader met up with a devastating storm. The storm was so bad, and Newton was so scared that he did what many of us do in terrifying moments; he started to make deals with God. If God would just get him out of this mess, then Newton would change. In the end, God brought him out of his situation. His ship didn't make it to Liverpool, but he landed it safely in on the northern end of Ireland at "Lough Swilly, "which means "Lake of Shadows." And nothing could look more beautiful than the loch on this day.

Twenty-five years later, Newton remembered that day when Ireland appeared on his horizon as he sat down to write "Faith Reviews and Expectations," a poem that begins with the words "Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound." But it is only when we remember that Newton wrote "Amazing Grace" remembering that storm and its aftermath that we begin to understand the depth of the poem.

And that is especially true for the words;

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.

According to Newton, that moment of fear amid the storm was not about God's retribution or wrath but was a function of God's grace which had been extended to him, as was the moment that he saw "Lough Swilly" on the horizon. Both were examples of what Newton called the amazing grace of God. I am not sure that we see it that way.

John sees another mighty angel. Some experts see Jesus in John's description of this angel. His legs were fiery pillars, he was robed in clouds, his face shone like the sun, and above his head was a rainbow. The appearance of a rainbow above his head was a reminder of God's promise to Noah.

I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth (Genesis 9:11-13).

But maybe, more importantly, a rainbow is what happens when the sun (his face was like the sun) shines through the clouds (He was robed in a cloud). The rainbow is a reminder of God's presence, even in the midst of the storm.

John Newton's storm reminded him of God's grace. It was the rainbow that Newton needed. But Newton's life did not immediately change. It was another six years before Newton quit the slave trade and twenty-five years after his disastrous voyage from Africa to Ireland that he wrote his poem on grace. And he remembered that during the storm, God's presence still shone through, producing a rainbow that promised that God would never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 11

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer). – Revelation 9:11

Today's Scripture Reading (June 5, 2021): Revelation 9

In the late 1980s, I lived in a rural community. One year, we had a plague of biblical proportions: grasshoppers. I live in a part of the world that doesn't have true locusts, but we have grasshoppers.  I have lived with grasshoppers all my life. Growing up, every summer, they inhabited the fields in the city where we lived, and a few of them made into our yard. But this summer, in this rural community, was different. Grasshoppers were everywhere. People were opening up their refrigerators only to find grasshoppers inside. You couldn't take a step without having several of the insects jumping out from under your feet. Driving down the road, you crunched over them. The crops didn't stand a chance. One day, my wife and I went on a bike ride, one of our favorite activities. But, while we were on our ride, several of the insects flew down my shirt. I remember ditching my bike and stripping my shirt off on the side of the road in a desperate attempt to get the insects out of my clothing. It was a horrible summer.

John says he saw a "locusts came down on the earth" (Revelation 9:3). But these locusts were different. They didn't eat the grass, but instead, they tortured the people (Revelation 9:4). They wore gold crowns on their heads and had faces that resembled people (Revelation 9:7). They had hair like a woman and the teeth of a lion (Revelation 9:8). And these locusts had tails with stingers like a scorpion (Revelation 9:10). It must have been a terrifying sight. I am so glad that it wasn't these that flew down my shirt on that summer afternoon.

But if you think these were not locusts, you are right. And if there isn't already enough proof of that, these locusts had a king over them named, in Hebrew, Abaddon or, in Greek, Apollyon. Both names mean "Destroyer." The Book of Proverbs reminds us that "locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks" (Proverbs 30:27). John saw something, but it wasn't locusts, and it wasn't the grasshoppers of my nightmare summer in the 1980s. This was something different.

Some think that Abaddon is just another name for Satan. Others argue that it is one of his senior demons. Eighteenth-century theologian, Matthew Henry, believed that this was the Antichrist. But whatever your interpretation might be, what John witnessed was a nightmare worthy of the legions of nightmarish creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." But these monsters had one big difference. At least Tolkien's monsters were figments of his fertile imagination. What John witnessed was very real. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 10

 

The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. – Revelation 8:10-11

Today's Scripture Reading (June 4, 2021): Revelation 8

In "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," John Locke argues that "For a child knows as certainly before it can speak the difference between the ideas of sweet and bitter (i.e. that sweet is not bitter), as it knows afterwards (when it comes to speak) that wormwood and sugarplums are not the same thing." Wormwood is a bitter plant and one that cannot be mistaken for something sweet. According to Locke, this is something that even a child understands. And it is something that every parent who has tried to convince their children to eat one more spoonful of vegetables before they can have their dessert also understands. We understand the concept of bitterness, or even something that is not sweet, even if we can't put that concept into words. And Wormwood has come to represent that type of extreme bitterness.

John says that he sees a star fall to earth, and the star was called Wormwood. The star's name comes from what results because the star falls to earth; the star turned a third of the fresh water on the planet bitter. And as a result of the poisoning of the water, many people died.

As is true with so much of Revelation, several theories have developed about what Wormwood means. Methodist theologian Adam Clarke (1762-1832) sums up some of the historical interpretations of this bitter star.

"Some say the star means Attila and his Huns; others, Genseric with his Vandals falling on the city of Rome; others, Eleazer, the son of Annus, spurning the emperor's victims, and exciting the fury of the Zealots; others, Arius, infecting the pure Christian doctrine with his heresy, [and so on and so on]. It certainly cannot mean all these; and probably none of them. Let the reader judge."

To the contemporary ear, what John sees seems to be less about a human military threat like Atilla, or a theological corruption, like that of Arius, and more likely an ecological disaster like neither John nor Adam Clarke could imagine in their era. Maybe it is a meteorite that falls from the sky and poisons the water of the world. Or perhaps it is something that we do that brings disaster to us. The Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario), located on the United States/Canada border, has had a complicated history with pollution. These lakes by themselves contain 21% of the world's surface freshwater.

But whatever Wormwood might be, something happens to the world water supply, and many die because of the bitterness of the water. And John Locke is right; bitterness is something that we all understand, and protecting our water supply should be one of our priorities so that hopefully we aren't the cause of Wormwood and the poisoning of our water.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 9

Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. – Revelation 7:4

Today's Scripture Reading (June 3, 2021): Revelation 7

People inhabit the earth, but the number of inhabitants has vastly changed over the last few centuries. According to the United Nations, there were probably about 300 million people living on planet earth two thousand years ago. In the next thousand years, we only added about 10 million to that number. But then the population started to climb. Ninety million people were added to the people of the earth in the next 250 years. Then another 100 million people were added to the world's population over the next 250 years, a number severely lessened by the campaign of death due to the Black Plague in the 1400s.   

During the next 250 years, the world added another 291 million people, making the earth's population in 1750 somewhere around 791 million. By the beginning of the twentieth century, that population number more than doubled, reaching 1.65 billion people. I was born in 1960, and by that time, the world population had almost doubled again. I became one of more than 3 billion people that called this planet home. And the growth hasn't stopped. Today the World Population is closing in on 8 billion people, and we are currently adding a billion people about every ten years.

These are numbers that the writers of the Bible in the first century could not have imagined. The Roman historian Tacitus estimated that Jerusalem, at the time of the Jewish Wars in the middle of the first century C.E., was about 600,000 people. And that was the largest population center in the nation. The totality of the population of Israel in the first century was less than 2 million people, maybe significantly less. Today Israel's population is closing in on ten million, and most Jews live outside of Israel.

Over the centuries, the numbers have changed. And this is one of the reasons that dealing with numbers is tricky, especially when we are dealing with them in prophecy. John sees 144,000 saints from the tribes of Israel at the end of time. Considering that the church was in its infancy and the nation's population was significantly less than it is today, the 144,000 probably seemed like a lot to John, but it does not feel that way to us.

The interpretation of the meaning of Revelation's 144,000 has changed with the generation and tradition. The Jehovah's Witnesses believed that the number was literal and applied directly to them until their numbers reached higher than 144,000. Then the Jehovah's Witness's message changed, and the number became symbolic but was still applied directly to them. Some have argued that this is a description of the Christian Church, which currently has more than 2 billion members.

But neither of these options is likely. John seems to make it clear that these are descendants of Jacob, people who have a genetic link to Israel. This is not about 144,000 of the billions of Christians who have lived in the past 2000 years. Considering all of the Christian Jews who have lived over the past 2000 years, it is likely a symbolic number.

What the 144,000 do indicate is that Israel will hold a significant presence at the end of all things. Christianity is about all of the world and not just the Gentiles. When we think that it is just about us, we make a mistake, regardless of who it is that you feel makes up us. Israel's influence on the Christian Church has always been present, and it always will be present, to the very end of time.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 8

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. – Revelation 6:2

Today's Scripture Reading (June 2, 2021): Revelation 6

Shadowfax was the white horse that belongs to Gandolf in J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." The horse's great speed was instrumental in several of the Battles within the tale. The horse was a hero who belonged to another hero and an essential character in the trilogy.

But Shadowfax is not the first powerful, white horse. Mythology is filled with white horses who have become legendary heroes in their own right, often transcending the everyday world in which we live. They are fast, and sometimes, as is true for Pegasus from Greek mythology, they have wings. They are the bearers of kings and heroes. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus reports that white horses were held as sacred animals in the court of Xerxes the Great, who ruled during the 5^th Century B.C.E. And tradition says that white horses will carry the patron saints at the end of the world.

With all of the expectations, it would be easy to see Jesus as the rider on the white house, except that rest of the description doesn't quite fit. The rider seems to try to imitate Jesus, but he is not Jesus. And one of the reasons why we know this is that he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest, and it is not a conquest based on justice. The beginnings for the rider of the white horse seem to be filled with potential, but in the end, there is only division, war, and famine.

There is an interesting parallel to the mystery of the rider on the white horse, and, it is us, the Christian Church. Consider this. We started out because we heard the call of the Lamb, Jesus. He gave us authority, signified by a crown, and sent us out. But something happened. Everywhere that we went, we found reasons to be divided. Christian kings became conquerors bent on conquest in the name of Jesus, the one who sent us, but not necessarily with a tendency toward compassion and justice. It is the story of the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, who was convinced, in a vision, to paint the sign of Jesus on the shields of his army. Then he was told, "to go in this sign and conquer."

Other kings seemed to have done the same thing, conquering in the name of Jesus. As a result of their conflicts, they brought division, war, and famine to the earth. Let me be clear; I am not saying that the rider of the white horse is the church, just that we have already lived through this story, so, in the end, it is not hard to imagine a rider who will rise because of the call of Christ, and yet act against the teachings of Jesus. We know our history and our current reality of division within the Christian faith.

Christ will ride on a white horse. John sees Jesus on his white horse at the end of his vision. "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war" (Revelation 19:11). But he is not this white horse rider in Revelation 6. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 7

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" – Revelation 5:2

Today's Scripture Reading (June 1, 2021): Revelation 5

Bohemian-Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, writes that "every angel is terrifying" (Rainer Maria Rilke, "Duino Elegies"). I can't say that I disagree. I am not sure what it might be like to be suddenly confronted with a heavenly being. Angels are not us. As much as we like to believe that we become angels when we die and go to heaven, that isn't how it works. Angels are a separate category of created beings, and we are not transformed into angels at death any more than I believe that it is possible to die and then be transformed into a cow. Angels don't earn their wings; they are created with them. So, to be confronted by an angel would be a terrifying experience because an angel is so different from who we are. They are not cute little figurines that we place on our shelves. They are genuine, powerful beings who are alien to everything that we are.

The best known of the angels are Michael, who seems to serve as God's warrior, and Gabriel, who fills the role of a messenger during the Christmas incarnation story.  There are others. Raphael is thought to personify God's healing force, and, of course, Samael, whose name means the Venom of God, serves as the angel of death.

But we do not know the identity of the angel mentioned here in Revelation. John tells us only that it was a mighty angel that he heard ask the question. Some have guessed that this mighty angel might have been Gabriel, the same messenger that brought the news of the births of Jesus and John the Baptist, But Gabriel is just a guess. Another suggestion is the warrior Michael, who seems to be characterized by great strength. Or maybe it is one of the other archangels, a list of angelic beings that changes according to the different branches of the Christian faith. The non-canonical Jewish Book of Enoch, which some argue is nothing more than a work of fiction, argues that Metatron is the mightiest of angels, so maybe Metatron deserves mention on this list of possibilities.

I like the idea that this mighty angel might be Jophiel, the angel who was left responsible for guarding the Garden of Eden with his flaming sword and who punishes those who violate the will of God. But we really don't know the identity of the angel that John saw in his vision because he doesn't tell us.

But we do know the answer to the question that this mighty angel asks. There is no one, among the created beings, either angel or human, who is worthy of breaking the seal and opening the scroll. Metatron might be the mightiest and most terrifying of all of the angels, but even he could not open the scroll. That task had to be left to someone else.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 6