Has anyone ever said to you “can you do this or that thing” and you say “hold on a minute, I’m just doing this.” And does the person get exasperated because they need help now? We don’t like being told to hold on. I remember ringing one organisation and you had to listen to almost the entirety of Vivaldi’s four seasons before they spoke to you. You ring up the hospital and you don’t get to speak to a real person and sometimes the voice when you’ve clearly said which ward or department you want, says “sorry I didn’t understand that.”
There is another sort of holding on. Holding on to support so you can get through a difficulty. At school they made me attend Weak Swimmers Club. What a dreadful thing that was, it made you feel really good about yourself. Weak Swimmers Club! Anyway I’d be made to swim a length on my back from the deep end and the scary PE teacher because all PE teachers were scary in the 1970’s would hold a large pole above me as I splashed and struggled down the pool. He’d yell “hold on to it if you feel you need to.” But the water was what I was thinking of, not the pole. The support was there but I didn’t reach for it.
Some friends convinced me to go on the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Never again. I had to hold on for dear life as we turned upside down over the sea.
It seems to me having preached on Revelation for the last three Sundays and led Bible studies on it, that it is rather like a roller coaster. There are promises shared which leave us on a high, but then we are led into some very dark places, with the Antichrist and the Tribulation. John in his vision wants us to have enough to hold on when everything around us is uncertain. Remember Revelation’s context is the threat of persecution of the new Christian community by the mighty Roman Empire. How do you hold on when life is crumbling about you?
There’s that old dreadful story of the patient who ran into the doctors and said “I’ve only got 40 seconds to live” and the doctor says “hold on a minute, I’ll be with you.”
Did you hear this week about part of Poland called the Hel Peninsula. There’s a bus that goes to Hel. What’s it’s number? 666! Some religious conservatives claim the route is "spreading Satanism".
The Bible identifies 666 as the "number of the beast", and Hel is just one "l" short of the English word "hell". Following the complaints, bus company PKS Gdynia announced:
"We are turning the last 6 upside down!"Explaining the reason for the change, the bus company said the number 669 was "less controversial". For many people there is a road to hell. Do they have the resources to get off it onto a better road?
Let’s delve into Revelation chapter 11. How to hold on is here. The encouragement here isGod will protect his people against all satanic opposition, and they will proclaim the gospel until the kingdom comes. There isencouragement to keep proclaiming and living out the gospel message even as life becomes increasingly hostile. Revelation is meant to encourage you, embolden you, and motivate you.
The chapter begins with a new instruction to John. In verse one he’s given a measuring rod and specific instructions: “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.” The measuring of the temple is intended to send a message about the certainty of God’s plan.
Then there’s the emergence of two witnesses who will prophesy during the hard times ahead while clothed in the sackcloth of mourning and repentance. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that scholars differ on whether the two witnesses are figurative or actual people. One view sees these witnesses as representative of the church. They would argue that the two witnesses are merely symbolic for the church’s witness, and they connect it to the Old Testament principle of having two witnesses confirm the validity of testimony. That’s in Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 19. Others take this more literally to refer to two prophetic-like figures who emerge during this time and who speak boldly for the people of God in the tribulation.
The proclamation ministry of these witnesses reaches its conclusion in verse 7, after which they receive fierce opposition from “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit.” And they are killed.
According to verses 9-10 the world (“peoples and tribes and languages and nations”) rejoices over the death of these two witnesses because of the “torment” that they have been to those who dwell on the earth. It would seem that the witnesses have lost. But not so fast!
After three and a half days, the witnesses are raised to life. Some take this to be literally three-plus days; others connect it to three and a half years where it seems that the people of God have lost while under horrendous persecution.
According to verse 12, a loud voice from heaven calls to them: “Come up here!” And just like Jesus, they are taken from the earth as their enemies watched them. And in similar fashion at Jesus’ death, there was an earthquake.
This one results in seven thousand people being killed, many people are terrified, and they realise that they are on the wrong side of God’s glory.
Whether you think these two witnesses are literal people or whether they symbolise the church, or if you think the temple is a literal rebuilt temple in Jerusalem or you think the temple is a figurative picture of the church, God protects his people and his Word from defeat.
Remember these words of Jesus:
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you…but when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”
Faithful witness is rarely affirmed and loved by the world in which we live.
That shouldn’t give us a persecution complex or a martyr’s syndrome, but help us to live faithfully and confidently. God protects his witness in the world. The witness is called to hold on.
Martin Luther knew the fury of being opposed for the gospel. Can I remind you about one of the verses of “A Mighty Fortress is our God”?
And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him. Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!
Then, this. The last section in chapter 11 is a glorious celebration of where history is headed. Verses 14-15 indicate that it happens again through judgment as the second woe is past. The third is soon to come. It is the seventh trumpet, and the final trumpet is blown.
Remember that there were seven seals, so this represents the culmination of God’s plan. It’s as if we are taken to the mountain to see the conclusion of everything. Verse 15 tells us that there are loud voices in heaven who make a glorious announcement: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” You could think of this as the centreof the book of Revelation. It’s where the Revelation of Jesus Christ is heading. The chapter ends with another image of God’s glory. In verse 19 we see a temple that is open.
The ark of the covenant was visible, something that was never the case in the Old Testament.
Only one person saw the ark once a year. And with this image there’s powerful flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and hail.
It’s a glorious vision of the victory afforded to God’s people, and it’s meant to be deeply encouraging. So God’s people are called to hold on. And I’ve not time to dwell on our other reading from Revelation 14 but there is a word that even in death we hold on to see the glory of heaven. We quote it in funerals “I heard a voice from heaven say “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours.” My pastoral tutor in college David Dunn-Wilson taught us “always preach the Gospel at a funeral.” I’ve done four of them in the last ten days and there’s another coming soon. At one this week someone said to me “thank you for giving us hope.”
Isn’t that what people want today? Not just to hold on, but to travel well and find life in all its fullness.
So what’s the work of the Church? This Sunday is the 142nd Anniversary of our church at Allhallowgate. Are we called to help people hold on, be a witness and anticipate the Kingdom? Well, yes, yes and yes.
Let me end by pointing you to the Gospel for this Sunday. Jesus is travelling around cities and villages teaching, healing and proclaiming "the good news of the kingdom". When Jesus encounters crowds he feels compassion for them, for they were "like sheep without a shepherd". Jesus gives the twelve disciples "authority over unclean spirits" and the task of curing disease and sickness. The charge they are tasked with is a rippling out of the ministry of Jesus, an extension of that ministry. Jesus is not asking them to do anything he has not done and they have not witnessed.
Later, there are further instructions for the disciples – travel light, accept hospitality ,offer peace but where no welcome is received move on. Jesus offers a warning that they may meet hostility, so they should be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves".
They may be arrested and punished but they are assured that God, through the Holy Spirit, will provide them with the words they need at the appropriate moment. In other words they will not be alone and unsupported. It’s hard to be church today. The labourers are few!
But the task is the same. To show a different and more powerful way. To lead people to see the glory of God and meet Jesus. Last night I joked what the church at Allhallowgate might look like in another 142 years! My colleague Sarah asked her churches at their AGM where they might be in 3 years to which some said “ we might not be here” - at least I didn’t hear “ shut!” We have to have some hope and some vision else all is lost.
We go forward today holding on to Jesus, to each other, to our tradition and our story. We go forward to be witnesses of the power of God. We anticipate the Kingdom. We go out to share good news. In the end holding on now will lead to glory later. As someone shared in a quote with me this week: words of William Barclay:
"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory."
And today we will end like this getting through another Revelation migraine and discovering our purpose: “changed from glory into glory til in heaven we take our place, til we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.”
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Amen.
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