Revelation – Letter to a Friend (10)
“This in-between
time [between the first and final comings of Jesus] that John calls “the
tribulation” is a battle for “the soul of the world” that will “shock God’s
people out of their complacency.” (The Revelation of John, James L.
Resseguie, page 72).
“Christians are
part of a countercultural kingdom that opposes the ways of the dominant
culture represented by Babylon.” (italics mine). (Resseguie, page 73).
This can be a
difficult message for professing Christians in America to comprehend, indeed, we
can react strongly against it – for our core identity is not found in an
exclusive and monogamous relationship with Jesus Christ as His Bride, but
rather in a culture dominated by nationalism, economic success, pleasure, entertainment,
athletics, and personality (as opposed to character). Since we have been raised
in this environment, both within and without the “church,” how can we possibly
know anything different?
Some of us may
wonder at the atheism of certain philosophies and political systems, but we do
not question our own syncretistic idolatry. Is it better to believe in no god
or in a false god? Is an Imperial Cult better than no cult? Does it really make
any difference how our souls are poisoned? Babylon has many faces, as does the
Beast.
I’m not sure
about God’s People being “shocked out of complacency,” would that it was so. Those
“Christians” who profess a high view of Scripture seem to be leading the way
into the depths of Babylon, or else are passive observers – I suppose fearing
to speak a prophetic and timely “Word”. Strangely, when insightful words are spoken,
they tend to come from those who are not associated with the Evangelical
movement. (Has this movement become a Nehustan?)
“You
adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility
toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself
an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
It is natural to
want to be accepted, to be successful, to be affirmed by others, to avoid
conflict, to live in peace (at least for most of us). However, if our hearts
and souls and bodies belong to Jesus and to Jesus alone, then it is more
natural to desire to please Him, to be faithful to Him, to share Him –
regardless of the outcome. If we live for Jesus there will be conflict,
there will always be conflict – and the absence of conflict means the absence
of faithfulness to Jesus our Bridegroom. “All who desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).
On page 73 Resseguie
writes that “patient endurance” is the “essential virtue” we need in our
countercultural lives of faithfulness to Jesus Christ, calling it the “main
Christian virtue” while citing seven passages in Revelation to support this
thinking; 1:9; 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 14:12.
“It is not “dumb
passivity,” but active resistance to the battle lines drawn by the beast and
Babylon who require assimilation to their values, norms, and beliefs” (Resseguie,
page 73, italics mine).
“Patient endurance
is never a miraculous escape from the ordeal but faithful
perseverance through troubled times” (Resseguie, page 73, italics mine).
Active
resistance takes the form of obedience to Jesus. We offer ourselves to God as
living sacrifices, allowing Him to transform our souls – not conforming
ourselves to the world but to Christ and His Kingdom (Romans 12:1 – 2).
“Here is the
perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).
Friends, resisting
the world, Babylon, and the Beast means that in our obedience to Jesus Christ
we are conformed to Him, and Him alone. We are not to be transformed into the
image of a Conservative, Progressive, or anything in-between. We are not to be
conformed to Fox News, CNN, MSNBC or any other form of media or personality.
Nor are we to be conformed into the image of politicians, national or local “leaders,”
national or economic agendas (as they are normally expressed). If we are not
going against the grain of the movements swirling around us – red, blue, and
purple, then we are wearing their colors in some fashion. The only color we are
called to wear is the white linen of the righteousness of Jesus Christ – any other
color pollutes our souls and destroys our testimony to Jesus Christ.
The Son of Man
and His Body, the Church, has no political or national or economic or social
place to lay His Head on this earth (Matthew 8:20); this was true of Jesus Christ,
and it is true of us, His People…assuming we truly are His People.
The Scriptures
speak of perseverance and endurance, because this is what is required of us to
reject the mark of the Beast and follow Jesus.
“Many false
prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased,
most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will
be saved” (Matthew 24:11 – 14).
O dear friends, false
prophets are not limited to those who make no pretense to follow Jesus, they
are of little threat to professing Christians. False prophets include those who
outwardly use the name of Jesus, who carry Bibles, who use the language of the
Bible, who use the form of prayer to propagate their agendas of death,
destruction, and hatred. False prophets are popular with professing Christians
for they give them what they want, while blaming others for the world’s problems,
while sowing division and hatred and violence and pride and arrogance among
their followers.
And here is the
thing, many pastors who recognize false prophets within the professing church dare
not speak about them, dare not warn their people, for they know (or are pretty
sure) that their people will reject them while continuing to follow the false
prophets. I do not excuse these pastors, but I do feel sorry for them – very sorry.
I know the dilemma myself – it is heartbreaking to see people you are trying to
serve in Christ rejecting Him and following the airwaves and demagogues and attempting
to conform Jesus into the image of political leaders, a nation, and the Almighty
Dollar.
I once asked a congregation why we, American
Christians, don’t stop kidding ourselves and replace the Cross with a Dollar
Bill. They probably didn’t appreciate the question.
It is hard to
live among a church and in a society that has lost its mind, that embraces
moral, ethical, spiritual, national, and international lawlessness. It is hard
to see the spirit of the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3 – 12) embraced by
professing Christians and our nation. It is heartbreaking to see the disenfranchised,
the alien, the poor, the sick, the homeless, and so many others preyed upon by
those who manifest the characteristics of the beasts of Daniel and Revelation.
What can we say to the “bodies and souls of men” which are sold in the name of
commerce and riches and wealth and pleasure? If it doesn’t affect us, we don’t
care.
But of course it
affects us, either we weep for others, or we offer our souls on the altar of
the Beast and Babylon.
God tells us to
flee Babylon (Rev. 18:4 – 5) and yet we justify her sins, making her sins our
sins.
Either we will
be molded into the image of Jesus Christ through the Word of God, or we will
bear the image of the Beast and its mark. God’s Word, the Bible, as it is
written (not as the false prophets would have us read it!), is our refuge, our
defense and our offense – as we actively obey God’s Word in Christ, as we
follow the Lamb we resist the world, the
flesh, and the devil – we reject the Beast and Babylon.
There is never
any neutral ground, never; there has never been neutral ground in all the
history of mankind and there never will be. We are either living for Christ and
others, either loving Christ and others…or we are giving our souls and those of
our families, those of our children, to the fires of Satan.
The Lamb or the Beast?
At whose altar are you worshipping today?
