THURSDAY
Yesterday we ended in verse 5, where I intentionally left you with a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers in shows, so I apologize, but I did it for a reason. Note that John hears that “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” That is what he hears. Let’s read it through and note what he turns and sees.
Revelation 5:1-8
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
What John sees is not a ferocious lion waiting to pounce, but a slaughtered lamb! This is the opposite of an intimidating creature. These images are mutually interpretive. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David who conquered. But he didn’t conquer in the way one would think of conquering. He conquered by giving up his life as the slain lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is not to say that Jesus is powerless. He is both the Lion and the Lamb. In fact, his power is sourced not in his lion-ness, but in his lamb-ness. He conquered by giving up his life. The power of God is in submission and sacrifice! This is revealed in the horns and eyes on the lamb. They represent his infinite strength and comprehensive knowledge. This power of his is exercised on earth through the Holy Spirit. Notice as well that the lamb is standing. Although he was slain, now he stands. He is raised from the dead.
On this Preston Sprinkle writes in his book Exiles, “Revelation has a lot to say about politics. It also has a lot to say about war—but not the kind of war some people think of. It’s a subversive war where submission is power, weakness is strength, and Christian soldiers in God’s upside-down army follow the Lamb wherever he goes. It’s a nonviolent war against a violent empire, characterized by submitting to the empire while subverting its ways. Revelation is about subversion through submission as a political act of dissident worship. The shape of Christ’s war against the empire is rooted in Revelation 5, where he appears both as a powerful Lion and as a slaughtered Lamb.”
In applying this later, he writes, “This is one reason why I get nervous when Christians think the best way to conquer evil in the world is by working through Babylon and using Babylonian means of power. How can we trust military power to conquer supposed enemies overseas, or how can we invest in certain government leaders who are clearly using Rome-like power to address whatever evil they believe exists within their empire? Christian exiles who take Revelation seriously should be deeply suspicious of these tactics. The question is never, Should we confront evil? but rather, What are the most faithful means by which exiles should confront evil?”
In our country we’ve seen the end result of using Babylon’s means of confronting evil. This leads us to two assassination attempts on Donald Trump. It has lead us to us to forming a mob and storming the capital building. These are not the ways of the crucified lamb! These are the ways of Babylon.
Christians, as Preston Sprinkle says, must subvert the ways of Babylon by “submission as an act of dissident worship.” We must confront and conquer evil in the way of the crucified lamb. We give ourselves in love for others even if it leads to our death. In later chapters we will see some specific areas where Christians need to subvert Babylon in the ways of the Lamb.
The Civil Rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., although not perfect, is a great example of pursuing justice against political and social forces in lamb-like means, not in the ways of the beast. Their nonviolent protests and passive resistance to injustice was largely done in love for one another, their future generations and even for their white community members. Racism is bad for the souls of anyone and bringing it to the attention of the nation was a good thing to do in pursuit of a more just society. They practiced remaining calm when slandered, beaten and imprisoned, so they wouldn’t retaliate with violence in the moment. Although we certainly still experience racism in our culture today, the arc of history has bent towards justice, as MLK has said. So it is hard to even argue that this method is not effective.
Additional Content
A Recent Example
For my entire life the abortion issue has been a priority political issue for Christians, especially Evangelical Christians. I have always been, and still am, very much pro-life. For as long as I can remember the emphasis in the pro-life movement has been on overturning Roe v. Wade, the supreme court decision that legalized abortion in the US. That finally happened a couple of years ago in the Dobbs decision. The pro-life movement viewed this as a major victory, rightly so in my opinion. This sent the abortion decisions to the states and/or to congress as far as I understand it. However, since that decision came down, every time there has been a pro-life measure on the ballot in individual states, the pro-life option has lost. In this upcoming election, the pro-life position is viewed as a losing position as the Republican party platform has softened, and essentially jettisoned its pro-life position.
How do we interpret what has happened here?
It seems to me that the pro-life movement has put too much of an emphasis on changing the law (Babylon power) and too little emphasis on lion power through lamb-like sacrifice and love as a means to confront the evil of abortion. Let me explain.
It is good to change unjust laws. Therefore, the overturning of Roe was, I believe, a good thing and move in the right direction towards a more just society. Yet, this approach has its limits as we are seeing now. The appeal of this approach I think is in its efficiency and expediency. But it is limited in its effectiveness as we are seeing in the aftermath. People often say, “You can’t legislate morality.” This is not true in one sense, but true in another. In one sense we do this all the time—legislation that condemns murder or stealing is legislating morality. Everyone, regardless of your moral foundation comes to the public square with ideas of what makes for a just society. Christianity or any other religious view should not be excluded from this conversation. In the other sense, legislation and laws do not change the hearts of a person to make them moral. I think this is what is most often meant by that statement. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.”
Furthermore, it seems obvious now that the pro-life movement has not changed enough hearts and minds to create a stable pro-life legal environment in our governmental system where candidates are voted into positions of power. Again, the pro-life position has been losing regularly since the Dobbs decision. Hearts and minds are more readily changed through acts of love and self-sacrifice over time, of course coupled with intense, persistent prayer. In regards to this issue, love and self-sacrifice looks like a few things:
- Participation in adoption and foster care.
- Caring for mothers.
- Teaching forgiveness in the gospel.
Christians should be, and truly are, active in caring for children through adoption and foster care. We need to reveal to concerned expecting mothers that their child will be cared for in a loving home if they choose to carry the child to term and give the child up for adoption. I did a quick Google search and as of 2022 there are 369,000 children in the welfare system in the US. Another google search revealed that there are 350,000 and 400,000 churches in the US today. If these numbers are accurate, if one family in every church in the US adopted or fostered a child every child in the system would have a home! This is completely doable. In this area I’m so proud to be the pastor of LifeBridge. We have so many families who are passionate about adoption and foster care. We love to support organizations like Safe Families that help mobilize the church to do this. At one point a young woman approached a family in the church and said that her friend was pregnant and considering her options of having an abortion or carrying the child to term and giving the child up for adoption. The woman asked if any of the families at the church would consider adopting the child. A number of families at the church (families who were tired and exhausted already caring for their own children) immediately said they would adopt the child without even having to think about it. This is lamb-like love in action.
When an expecting mother is carrying a child, she is often overwhelmed by the resources and knowledge that she will need to care for a little human. Providing these resources can help alleviate her fears. Crisis pregnancy centers like Life Choices here in Burlington do a great job of helping to meet those needs. Safe Families does a great job of caring for mothers by giving them a reprieve so they can find a job or get back on their feet. All this is done with the hope of bringing their children back home. TLC gives shelter for women and children who need some time to get back on their feet. Love Inc provides food and needed resources like school supplies for moms and children in need. Our church supports these organizations so they can meet the needs of families in our community.
I read some stats the other day that broke my heart. A 2015 LifeWay study found that 70% of women who get an abortion identify as Christian. Of these, 23% are Evangelical and 26% attend church at least once a week. Two out of three women who’ve had an abortion say church members judge single women who are pregnant (65%) and are more likely to gossip about a woman considering abortion than help her understand her options (64%). “Their pastor’s teachings on forgiveness don’t seem to apply to terminated pregnancies,” and only 42 percent say, “Pastors teach God is willing to forgive past abortion.” Only 7% of women who had abortions said they directly spoke with someone in their church about their decision.*
This survey reveals that perhaps the culture in our churches of pursuing more the legal route of confronting the evil of abortion has had some unintended side effects that have actually hurt our cause. This is tragic. We need to clearly state that forgiveness is available in Christ for all sins—even the sin of abortion.
I once had a conversation with a young man who had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. To his shame they decided to go through with an abortion. He had carried this guilt and shame with him for years. I was the first person that he had confessed this to and I had the great privilege of sharing with him the good news of the gospel that when he confesses his sin God “is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) I watched as Christ in the gospel healed his wounded soul. He wept at the great grace and mercy of God applied to him. This is the message we need to convey. And we need to be careful that our emphasis on pursuing legal change, which is good, doesn’t obscure this message of the gospel.
In summary, pursuing more just laws in our society is a good thing. But we need healthy suspicion of Babylon’s means of confronting evil, as Sprinkle said in the quote above. We should pursue just laws while primarily giving ourselves in love and self-sacrifice for others.
*Found in Sprinkle, Preston M.. Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire (pp. 148-149). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.
Reflection
Form in your mind a healthy suspicion of Babylon’s means of confronting evil.
As followers of the Lion and the Lamb first, commit to the ways in which the Lamb confronted evil—surrender, sacrifice and love, even for our enemies.