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Reelation 1-3



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Contents


orrara 3

Preface 5

Apocalypse Now ,Reelation 1:1-6, 18

1o Dream and Stop Dreaming ,Reelation 1:9-20, 3

\aking to Soereignty ,Reelation 1:1-18, 59

\aking to Lcstasy ,Reelation 2:1-, 81

\aking to 1reasure ,Reelation 2:8-11, 101

\aking to \our Name ,Reelation 2:12-1, 119

\aking to Loe ,Reelation 2:18-29, 13

\aking the Dead ,Reelation 3:1-6, 155

\aking to laith ,Reelation 3:-13, 14

\aking lrom the Lil Lnchantment
,Reelation 3:14-22, 194
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.ocat,.e ^or is really a series o reised sermon
transcripts rom sermons that I preached at Lookout
Mountain Community Church in 2001 and 2002. 1hey hae
been edited and arranged into the orm o three books, by
my great assistant Stephanie 1rahant ,with a little help rom
me,. 1he whole series was also condensed into the book
tervit, ^or! and then published by Integrity Publishers in
2003.
I wanted to make .ocat,.e ^or aailable in this
orm, because a signiicant amount o material had to be
edited out o tervit, ^or in order to make it one book. \e
decided not to hide the act that the chapters in this book
are sermons, nor change any time-bound reerences in the
text. 1hat not only means less work or us, but I hope it also
means that you are able to sense more clearly that the
Apocalypse IS now. Jesus is constantly reealing
,apocalypse, limsel and certainly did while we were
preaching through the Reelation.
1he preace is my Laster sermon rom 2002. I
dressed up like a castaway ,1om lanks rom the moie
Ca.tara,, and preached a sermon in the irst person as John
the Reelator on the island o Patmos. I hope it`s not too
weird, but what the heck - I`m weird. Lach chapter ends
with a set o quotes and scripture erses. I include these in
the church bulletins each week, and hopeully they can be o
help to you here.
1he coer o this book is a painting by Marcia linds
named \orthy.` 1he painting hung in our sanctuary as we
preached through the Apocalypse. Marcia is not only a
magniicent artist, but a prayer minister in our church.
Indeed .ocat,.e ^or is truly a product o Lookout
Mountain Community Church. I`m the mouth, but the body
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is most impressie. I hae to be cautious in thanking people,
because there are too many to thank and because it`s truly
Jesus who does the gloriying in the end. Nonetheless, there
are some stories in this book that required GRLA1
COURAGL on the part o those who allowed me to share
them. \ou know who you are. So we ,I beliee that we`
includes Jesus, say thank you. \ou are a reelation o Jesus,
as well as lis Bride and Body.
Now as you read and study, May the lather o
glory gie you a spirit o wisdom and o reelation in the
knowledge o him, haing the eyes o your hearts
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which
he has called you, what are the riches o his glorious
inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable
greatness o his power in us who beliee, according to the
working o his great might, which he accomplished in Christ
when he raised him rom the dead and made him sit at his
right hand in the heaenly places, ar aboe ALL rule and
authority and power and dominion, and aboe eery name
that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to
come.` ,Lphesians 1,


-Peter, October 16, 2003
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. rora frov ]obv tbe .o.tte ove a.ter vvaa, vorvivg at
oo/ovt Movvtaiv Covvvvit, Cbvrcb . . .


Good morning. My name is John. My riends call me
Boanerges, which means Son o 1hunder.` I hae been
transported through space and time to share with you what
Laster means to me.
Some o you hae a hard time belieing that. \ou
don`t bare to beliee, but I will tell you this: \ou people take
space and time ra, too .eriov.t,. \ou, o all people, ought to
know better! \ou think you`re so smart because you
discoered` that space and time are relatie to light.
\ell, two thousand years ago I wrote, God is
light.` And I wrote that God is one other thing . . . more on
that later . . . but, you see, eerything is relatie to lim, the
Light.
1ime is just God`s way o keeping eerything rom
happening all at once. O course, or lim it does. lor lim
it`s always here and now, but or us God stretches out time
so long and space so deep that we can learn o lis wonder
and glory, and sing lis song o grace.
Space and time are like pages in a book. But you
argue about the pages and neer read the story! 1he angels
in leaen are commanded to speak little to you about space
and time, because it makes you do reerence to nothing and
pass by what`s truly great.
\ou take space and time ra, too .eriov.t, and laugh at
what`s real.
By the way, that`s your huge problem with the
reelation I receied. In scripture, it says more than once,
A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.`

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In the Reelation, an angel lies through saying, ley, olks
on earth! 1his is an eternal Gospel! Lternal!`
1here is the gospel according to Matthew, the gospel
according to Mark, the gospel according to Luke, the gospel
according to me-John. But there is at.o the gospel
according to ]e.v.-the Reelation! It`s entitled 1he
Reelation o Jesus,` and in chapter our, le said, ley!
Come up here!` So I did. And le showed me limsel.
In the other gospels, Jesus was incarnated ,in-
leshed`, in our space and time, speaking ovr language. But
in the Reelation, I was out-carnated, ovt o our space and
time, listening to Coa`. language . . . eternity.
In my book, the stars all rom the sky two or three
times. Christmas happens in chapter twele ater Jesus sits
on the throne. I write: 1he new Jerusalem i. coming
down.` Jesus i. coming on the clouds o leaen.` 1he
time i. at hand.`
\ou see, in the Reelation, eerything is starting to
happen at once! - Lternity. It`s not a chronology, it`s a
kairology. Chronos` is calendar time, kairos` is God
time . . . impact time . . . eternal time. God`s eternity-lis
kingdom-is inading this dead world vor. 1he time i. at
hand.` Don`t you know what is` is!
Just about 1900 years ago, I was cast away by the
Romans or preaching the Gospel. No phone, no light, no
motorcar, not a single luxury . . . as primitie as can be.
\ell, now I`m here to tell you what Laster means to
me. So sit right back and you`ll hear a tale, a tale o a ateul
trip, that started rom this Galilean port aboard this tiny
ship . . .`
Actually, the ship was a ishing boat that belonged to
my ather Zebedee. Me and my brother Jim were in business
along with Peter and Pete`s brother Andy. 1o make a long
story short, Jesus came along and took us ishing. It was
Jesus who gae me and Jim that nickname Boanerges: Sons
o 1hunder`-1hunder Boys.

I was a hothead. lad it been ,ovr time, I would hae
chewed tobacco and ridden bulls or that white horse
1hunder` that they ride around in your coliseum. I would
hae antasized about things like the \\l and Goldberg.
,Goldberg sounds Jewish! I like that.,
In our day, we didn`t hae Goldberg, so boys like me
antasized about guys like Llijah the Prophet calling ire
down on his enemies, preparing the way o the Lord. I
would picture mysel as John the Lnchanter throwing ire
on the earth: \ou hal-breed, no-good, Samaritan scum!
Make way or the Lord o the Jews!`
Our heroes were, like, the Son o Man in Daniel,
with eyes o blazing ire, legs o bronze, a oice like thunder,
riding in on the clouds . . . or the mythical Lion o the tribe
o Judah.
Me and James were always looking or a ight. I
suppose it was my temperament or the times in which we
were liing. My dad told stories about the rebellion beore I
was born, when Rome cruciied two thousand Jews outside
Jerusalem and let their bodies to rot in the sun and be eaten
by birds. I batea Romans . . . almost as much as I hated
Samaritans!
But i I`m honest, I`d say I was a hothead mostly
because I was scared. I was scared o being cast away . . . an
outcast . . . orgotten. \ou know, I was the .ecova ,ater my
brother Jim,, so I always thought I had to make a name or
mysel.
I liked the name 1hunder Boy. But later it conused
me . . . \hat did Jesus mean
\ou may be wondering, \hy would 1hunder Boy
ollow ]e.v., the gentle Lamb o God` 1his is ironic, but
Jesus was like walking thunder. le was a roaring lion. Jesus
was scared o vobody! Not Romans . . . Pharisees . . .
demons . . . death . . . storms . . . and le could thunder. \ou
should hae seen lim cleanse the temple.

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One day le took me and Pete and Jim up this
mountain. On top o the mountain, le was transigured.
Moses and Llijah appeared, and Peter was so stressed out he
started yapping. Suddenly a oice rom leaen thundered
down, Shut up! 1his is my beloed son! Listen to him!`
Jesus was a Son o 1hunder, and we got the
message: \hereer Jesus came rom, it was 100 thunder!
Jesus was walking thunder! \ou neer knew where it would
hit.
During my third year o hanging with Jesus, le set
lis ace toward Jerusalem. I thought, lere we go -
thunder showdown!`
As we traeled, one Samaritan town would not
receie lim. Jim and me came to Jesus and said, Lord, can
we call down ire rom leaen and ry their no-good,
Samaritan tails` 1hat`s when 1he 1hunder turned on me.
le looked at me, eyes blazing with ire, and said, \ou do
not know what kind o spirit you are o. 1he Son o Man
did not come to destroy men`s lies but to sae them.`
1hen it got worse. Mov got inoled. Me and Jim
made the mistake o complaining to Mom, and you know
how moms are. Beore we knew it, we were standing in
ront o Jesus, and Mom was demanding: Jesus, you listen
to me. \hen you come into your kingdom, I want my two
boys, Jim and John, sitting on your right and let.` 1hat ra.
what we wanted, but moms don`t hae any inesse.
1he rest o the guys heard mom, and they got ticked
o at us. I can understand. lor the 1hunder Boys,
eerything was a competition, een with my buddy Pete and
my brother Jim. I didn`t see it then, how dead my heart was,
but I see it now. 1heir successes were my ailures. I rejoiced
oer their ailures, because it made me eel like a success. I
was basically wishing my brother and best riend to lell all
the time.
\ou call it surial o the ittest.` I`e heard you
think that explains lie, as i you discoered some new
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theory. It`s not a new theory, it`s called hatred. It`s real. And
it`s not responsible or lie, it`s responsible or death.
Jesus said, le who hates his brother is a murderer.`
I was a murderer, murdering my best riends, and I was
alone. No one could get to me . . . my heart guarded by
thunder.
Like I was saying, the guys were urious with me and
Jim that day . . . but they were doing the same thing:
strutting, posturing, ighting or a name . . . Peter the Rock
against Johnny 1hunder Boy. It was like that all the time.
And then Jesus thundered, It will not be this way with you
guys. le who wants to be irst must be slae o all, just as
the Son o Man did not come to be sered but to gie his
lie as a ransom or many.`
1he Son o Man a .tare. Payment I was conused,
conicted, and more insecure than eer. I elt like inding a
Samaritan and beating the tar out o him! \hen we got to
Jerusalem, Jesus rode into town on a donkey. I had always
pictured a white warhorse! But vo . . . a donkey.
Now, you may be wondering, ley, Johnny
1hunder Boy - I thought you were the Apostle o Loe.
Didn`t you write this erse: Beloed, let us loe one
another: or loe is o God, and eery one that loeth is
born o God, and knoweth God. le that loeth not
knoweth not God, or God is loe`` ,I John 4:-8,. \es, I
wrote that. \ou see, something happened that week in
Jerusalem.
On 1hursday, Jesus sent me and Pete ,Rocky and
1hunder Boy, to make preparations or the Passoer, which
just happened to be that week. Jerusalem was packed with
pilgrims all remembering how God deliered us rom
bondage and death at the price o a spotless lamb.
Making preparations was much more than calling a
caterer. Me and Pete had to take a lamb to the temple, with
a ew hundred thousand other pilgrims, where twenty-our
diisions o priests waited with gold and siler bowls. A
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trumpet was sounded, and we each had to slay our lambs
and drain the blood into the bowls to be tossed at the eet
o the brazen altar. Blood, ire, and smoke eerywhere! And
screeching lambs.
Peter was a wuss, so I slayed the lamb. I still
remember that lamb and how it looked at me . . . blood
running down its neck while the choir in the temple sang the
lallel - Psalm 118. 1he stone that the builders rejected
has become the head o the corner.`
One hundred and ity thousand lambs slaughtered.
A literal rier o blood . . . awesome and horriying . . . \hat
a religion! One thing was absolutely clear: 1here must be
payment to liberate a soul rom bondage and death.
\ou know the story . . . how Jesus administered the
Passoer ater we had a ti about who would wash the eet,
how I laid my head on lis chest, how we literally crossed a
rier o lamb`s blood lowing down the Kidron Valley into
the Valley o Gehenna-our word or lell.` ,\ou know,
God is more than a theologian, le is the Artist, a terror-iic
artist., \e crossed a rier o blood to get to the Garden o
Gethsemane where I listened to Jesus pray.
\ou know how Jesus called Judas riend` een as
le was betrayed with a kiss, how I got Peter into the high
priest`s courtyard where Peter the Rock denied Jesus in ear,
and I, the 1hunder Boy, hid in the shadows and then led
into the night.
\ou know how they beat lim and logged lim,
how the crowd turned on lim, marching lim out to the
lill o the Skull where Roman centurions stripped lim and
pounded nails through lis lesh, liting lim up into the air
so eeryone could mock lim as le died.
I don`t know where the other guys were, but I
returned in the morning with some o the women, including
Jesus` mother Mary. \e stood and watched lim suer, and
I prayed, Oh, God, where the lell is your thunder now!
\here is your judgment now, God`
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\ell, this is the strange thing: learts were judged
that day, like a sword that split the crowd in two, and there
ra. thunder. 1he other gospels record how le cried,
lather, orgie them`, how le ministered to a thie dying
next to lim, how or three hours the sky grew dark, how
le cried, My God, my God, why hae you orsaken me`
le was an outcast. le became sin or us . . .
suered lell or us . . . paid the ransom or us. It`s all true,
yet I recorded none o those words in v, gospel. It wasn`t
those words that broke my heart and set me ree.
At one point, Jesus` mother Mary and I made it to
the ront o the crowd at the oot o the cross. I could tell
le did battle in regions unknown to me. Demons raged,
blood lowed, the crowd mocked and spit upon lim, and
the sky began to mourn.
1hen le .ar me. lis eyes locked on me and burned
with ire. le saw lis mother, and they burned with ire or
her too. 1hen, as i nothing else mattered in all the world,
orgetting limsel in lis passion or me and Mary, le said,
John, here`s your mother. Mom, here`s your son.`
I know that seems small, but it was bor it was said
and rbere it was said and rb, it was said. \ou see, le didn`t
want either o us to be alone. le loed me uriously,
relentlessly, and irreocably, een then. le didn`t bare to
loe me, lis nature was to loe me.
It`s what comes out in the cracks o lie that`s most
important.
langing between leaen and lell, le loed me,
and then I saw mysel or the irst time, the spirit I was o:
pride, hatred, and death. I was slaying the Lamb once again!
le cried, I thirst.` I wanted to die with lim. It elt
like le knew me, le drank me in, and I satiated lis thirst.
le lited lis head towards leaen and cried, It is
inished!`
And suddenly, in me it was. I didn`t know what it all
meant, but I knew then that I loed lim. I knew that I
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wanted lim at all costs. I loed lim.
I know this may seem strange, but lis death was the
most beautiul thing I hae eer seen. I now know why: It
was the heart o God reealed . . . it was loe, deeper than
coniction, deeper than passion, deeper than deinition.
God i. loe, and or lim all our words all short.
Loe limsel raaged my soul and split that crowd in two.
Somebody once said o a beautiul piece o artwork,
\e don`t judge beauty like that, it judges us.` My riend,
you do not judge the death o Christ, it judges you. I you
want to beliee, you will ind the eidence. I you don`t, you
won`t.
lis loe split that crowd: A Roman centurion
dropped to his knees, and I, Johnny 1hunder Boy, dropped
next to lim, one thie sang or joy, and one thie cursed in
absolute hatred, as the earth began to shake, some people
hated lim more than eer, and some people loed lim or
the ery irst time.
1hen I remembered what le had said only a ew
days beore. It was or this purpose that I came to this
time. lather, gloriy thy name.` 1hen a oice boomed rom
leaen, I hae gloriied it, and I will gloriy it again.` Jesus
turned to me and said, 1hat oice was or ,ov. Now is the
judgment o this world, now shall the ruler o this world be
cast out and I, when I am lited up rom the earth, will draw
all men to mysel.` le said this to show by what death he
was to die.

^or judgment,
^or ictory,
^or the adance o lis kingdom,
^or Laster,
^or Reelation!

On the third day, some women came rom lis tomb
with shocking news: 1he stone is rolled away!` Me and
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Pete ,1hunder Boy and Rocky, raced to the tomb. I beat
him . . . but I let him go in irst. ,\ou see, I was changing.,
\e saw that the tomb was empty, and I belieed.
Mary thought she was talking to a gardener, but it
was Jesus. 1wo guys near Lmmaus entertained a stranger,
and it was Jesus. \e were ishing down at the Sea o Galilee
and saw a guy on the shore, and I said, It`s Jesus!`
le appeared oer and oer again ater that third day.
But or ve, Laster began on lriday when le cried, It is
inished.` 1o the thie le said, 1his day |lriday| you will
be with me in Paradise.`
\e say, It`s lriday, but Sunday`s a-comin!` Maybe
Sunday is already here . . . when we beliee the loe o God.
Jesus een said, le who beliees in the Son has eternal
lie.` Born again! lirst resurrection! Laster een now!
And now I will tell you what Laster means to me.
I was on the island o Patmos because o the \ord
o God and the testimony o Jesus. On the Lord`s day I was
in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a oice like a trumpet. I
turned to see the oice, and I saw lim, the Son o Man . . .
eyes o ire . . . legs o bronze . . . a oice like the thunder . .
. and a sharp sword issuing rom lis mouth. I ell down as
i I was dead.
le touched me saying, I was dead, but now I`m
alie oreer.` It was Jesus, my riend. le out-carnated
me-took me to leaen and showed me the throne o
God. Somebody said, See the Lion!` I looked and saw a
Lamb. It was a Lamb I knew, a Lamb I had slain, still wet
with blood.
1he Lion is the Lamb, the Lamb is the Lion.
1hen I saw wonders upon wonders, and it all
reealed Jesus. I saw Jesus bringing lis \ord, I saw Jesus
singing the new song o the saints, I saw Jesus haresting
the earth.
John 4 says ,and I quote me,: Len now he
harests the crops or eternal lie.` I saw Cbri.tva.-the
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Baby hated by the Dragon-and I saw Laster! .ocat,.e
vor. 1he time i. at hand.` Look, he i. coming on the
clouds o leaen.`
Chapter nineteen erse eleen ,and I quote me,:

I saw heaen standing open and there
beore me was a white horse, whose rider is
called laithul and 1rue. \ith justice he
judges and makes war. lis eyes are like
blazing ire, and on his head are many
crowns. le has a name written on him that
no one knows but he himsel. le is dressed
in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is
the \ord o God.
1he armies o heaen were ollowing
him, riding on white horses and dressed in
ine linen, white and clean. Out o his mouth
comes a sharp sword with which to strike
down the nations. le will rule them with an
iron scepter.` le treads the winepress o the
ury o the wrath o God Almighty. On his
robe and on his thigh he has this name
written: KING Ol KINGS AND LORD
Ol LORDS.`

1he rider is Laster vor.
People say, \ou`re making too little o what God
will do in the end.` \rong! \e are all making too little o
what God has done and is doing vor. 1he \ord o God is
riding across this dark planet een now. All eyes will one day
see lim.
One day this world o space and time will be
destroyed by ire, and God will make a new heaen and a
new earth. I know that. I saw it. But right now the \ord is
alling like thunder. Right now the \ord o God rides the
white horse across this dark world.
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1he \ord o God is Jesus Christ and lim cruciied.
1he \ord o the cross is olly to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saed it i. the power o God. I am
saying that the loe o God in Christ Jesus our Lord is
thunder, and that thunder is more solid than this world.
\ou take space and time so seriously, and you ignore
God, or God is loe. \ou seek signs and wonders, policies
and laws, and goernments. \ou write books on Russia and
the Antichrist and ignore God right under your own nose.
I worry that i some o you had been there that
lriday when God exposed lis bleeding heart o loe on a
wooden cross, you would hae said, 1here`s no thunder
here. 1here`s no power here. Coa`. not here. Let`s go plan a
reial somewhere and maybe God will show up.`
^or is the judgment on this world,` said Jesus. Just
as lis cross judged the crowd that lriday, the \ord I
preach is judging you. \hat will you do with the loe o
God
^or is the Ruler o this world cast out,` said Jesus.
\hen he cried It is inished,` le paid or our sins, and le
disarmed principalities and powers.
^or I will draw all men to mysel,` said Jesus. 1he
Rider`s robe is dipped in lis own blood. \hen nothing else
in all creation could reach my dead heart, the blood o Jesus
on that cross conquered my heart o shame. 1hat`s power!
lor two thousand years, lis Church has been
growing like le said it would: a mustard seed, a pinch o
leaen. 1here is no greater power in history, but ask
yoursel: \here was the thunder

\as it Christian emperors Or martyrs hanging
on crosses with loe

\as it the Crusades \as it the Inquisition Or
was it more like a monk named lrancis

16
\as it legislation and goernments Books
identiying the Antichrist and when the world
will end Or was it more like an old nun holding
dying lepers in her arms on the streets o
Calcutta in the name o Jesus

\here were hearts won to Christ \here was the
Rider on the moe \here is the thunder - It`s in ,ov, my
riend, in the cracks o lie: when you kiss your children
goodnight, when you tell a lonely riend God loes you`,
when you orgie your brother or sister, when you stick with
your marriage, when you wash somebody`s eet, when you
care or your mom, when you loe naked, despicable thiees
hanging on crosses ,including yoursel,. !bev ,ov tore.
1he Rider is riding with great power, the thunder is
alling upon this dead earth, and Laster is breaking out all
around you.
I did call ire down upon that Samaritan town ,Acts
8,. 1he ire was the Spirit o God. It droe out demons and
illed those Samaritans with joy: the loe o God in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
I av a 1hunder Boy. I just didn`t know what thunder
was. In my gospel, I don`t reer to mysel as Boanerges ,Son
o 1hunder,. I simply call mysel the disciple whom Jesus
loed.` It means exactly the same thing.
I hope you are a son or daughter o 1hunder. I hope
you beliee. I so, you are anything bvt a castaway.
\hen I eel like I can`t do it, when I eel outcast and
orgotten, like a no-good, ridiculous Gilligan, I don`t need
an idol. I go down to the beach, I lie on the sand, I stare up
at the stars, and I remember that the Lamb on the throne
bleeds or me. Stars all, the Dragon trembles, the Rider
rides, and I av seated in the heaenlies with Christ.
Len i I am an outcast in this world, Jesus is an
outcast with me, or me with lim. \e`re together, and I am
seated on lis throne in aith. God is light, and all space and
1
time are relatie to lim. And the one other thing` that
God is - Coa i. tore. So with lim erer,tbivg is Laster.
Amen.
18
"#$%&'(#)* +$,
,Reelation 1:1-6,


Seeral years ago at our high school youth group in
Danille, I introduced a study on the letters to the seen
churches in the book o Reelation. I began talking about
how conusing these times are in which we lie, and
wouldn`t it be great to hae a chronology with all the details
o the uture
1hen I introduced the Reelation.
I told them I had been doing some amazing
research, and I began talking about the issue o the
harmonic conergence in the seen bowls o wrath. I
showed them two graphs which systematically plotted the
conergences in the hermeneutical systems o the
apocalyptic ision as it relates to the socio-political, geo-
synchratic issues o our day, which all point clearly to the
year in which the Antichrist would appear on the world
scene: 1991.
I then reealed to them the remarkable numeric
acuity so prealent in the last eleen chapters. On the
oerhead, we began to ill in the blanks o the name o the
Antichrist, all according to numeric acuitie construction.
Beore our ery eyes, the name took shape: a/.vor/
Mi;. ,Now, o course I just made all this stu up, but they
were totally buying it! - eyes wide open, staring at the
oerhead., I said, I just don`t know what this name
Saksuork Mij means.` 1hen I said, \hat i we turned the
oerhead oer, reersing polarity` And we did.
All at once, it became clear. 1he name was not
Saksuork Mij, it was Jim Krouskas! Jim Krouskas, our new
high school intern, who was sitting in the back row! 1he
sta all screamed, kids started looking at me like, ley . . .
19
you made up that harmonic numeric acuity stu, didn`t
you`
\e ran to the back o the room, grabbed Jim, and
dragged him up ront. \e ripped o his shirt, and sure
enough! le was wearing some Satanic, heay metal 1-shirt
under his other shirt. \e ripped seeral other bad rock and
roll 1-shirts o Jim until he was standing there bare-chested.
But Jim`s chest wasn`t really bare . . . it was coered
with thick, black, curly, Greek hair. lortunately, we just
happened to hae an electric razor handy. I yelled to Matt
Skinner, Let`s look or the mark!` ,I`d seen the moie 1be
Ovev.,
\e began shaing o chest hair, and sure enough,
right there on the right side o his chest was a huge, black
number 6. \e gasped and shaed more, reealing another
number 6, saying, Oh, Jim, we`re really disappointed.`
1hen we shaed the other side o Jim`s chest, reealing the
number . . . 5.
I looked and said, Oh man . . . Jim, it`s 665. I`m so
sorry. I miscalculated. I was o by one.`
Now, was I o by one or more than one Did I
miscalculate or misunderstand \hateer the case, I wasn`t
the irst to get it wrong . . .

Remember all the books a ew years ago about Saddam
lussein and the Lnd 1imes ,\ou could get them really
cheap right ater the Persian Gul \ar.,
Beore that it was Gorbacho.
I also remember that Ronald \ilson Reagan somehow
adds up to 666.
Beore that olks were coninced it was litler.
During the Reolutionary \ar, many Americans were
coninced that the Antichrist was King George the
1hird.
20
lor most o Protestant history, the Pope was thought to
be the Antichrist. ,It`s a iew you don`t hear much at
Promise Keepers reconciliation rallies, but olks like
John Calin, Ulrich Zwingli, John \esley, and Martin
Luther thought it was the Pope. So Luther, or instance,
expected the world to end within his century.,
1he church ather lippolytus taught the world would
end in 500 A.D.
People were going nuts around 1000 A.D., een more
than in 2000 A.D.
1he Jehoah`s \itnesses hae set dates o Lnd 1imes
eents or 184, 188, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925,
195, and 1984.
\hen I was in high school, 1be ate Creat Ptavet artb
was the rage. I hae another book on my shel by the
same author. It`s entitled 1be 10`.: Covvtaorv to
.rvageaaov. It`s ull o rightening statistics on the U. S.
S. R. and how they ulill Bible prophecy.
In 1988, Ldgar \hisenant sold oer 3 million copies o
Rea.ov. !b, tbe Ratvre Covta e iv 1. ,Nineteen
eighty-eight was one orty-year generation ater Israel
became a nation in 1948., But in late December 1988,
bookstores were oering substantial discounts.
In 1989, \hisenant came out with Rea.ov. Cbri.t
Covta Retvrv iv 1. ,People didn`t buy as many that
time around.,

1he cumulatie batting aerage o all these
chronologists throughout history is .000.
A ew years ago a ellow named Daid Koresh
taught a class on Reelation. le obiously did some
miscalculating, with tragic results. Did he miscalculate . . . or
misunderstand

21
An old riend really into Lnd 1imes prophecy called
me a while ago and said something like: 1he woman will
ride the beast tonight oer the skies o Jerusalem!` \ell, all
things are possible with God . . . except maybe or what le
says i.v`t possible.
In Matthew 24, Jesus says, O that day and hour no
one knows, not een the angels o heaen, nor the Son, but
the lather only.` Jesus does say we can know seasons, but
then le seems to say vor is the season, so atra,. be ready.
Keep your lamps burning, oolish irgins.`
\ell, why are we so concerned to get the day and
hour
My old riend sent me one o her prophecy
newsletters. It quoted Reelation about amines and
earthquakes, and then the rest o the newsletter had to do
with canning ruit, ood storage, and nutritional concerns
during the 1ribulation. Is that what Reelation is about, why
we`ll be blessed` i we read it \e`ll get the chronology so
we`ll be prepared or the last days with canned goods, secret
hideouts, and shotguns
I`ll tell you what: 1he last place I want to be when
Jesus comes back is sitting on a pile o ood in a secret
hideout holding a shotgun, while people stare to death in
the streets. Maybe some people stockpile ood to gie it
away. I don`t know. But is that why we should read the
Reelation
I`e read all o the eft ebiva series ,which has sold
a gazillion copies,. In those books, the great Bible scholar
1sion Ben Judah sits in a sae-house unlocking the
chronology o Reelation, then printing it on the internet, so
that the one billion 1ribulation saints can be prepared or
the coming woes and be encouraged by the countdown to
the glorious appearing, when Jesus will return on a white
horse, and all eyes will see lim.

22
I enjoy reading the books. But it paints a weird
picture, considering that in Reelation 16:15, Jesus says ery
clearly, Behold, I come like a thie! Blessed is he who stays
awake . . . .`
Vernard Lller asks: Is it plausible that an author
who includes such a statement at two points in his book
could be writing the ery same book or the purpose o
telling us when the day was to come: like, Jesus wants to
come like a thie, but here are the data you need to calculate
the time o lis coming``
1hat`s something to think about. But I`m telling you:
I don`t think I eer held the attention o the youth group
like I did when I told those teenagers I knew who the
Antichrist is and when the world would end!
1eenagers, like most adults, think their world will
neer end. I remember as a teenager being so ascinated
with the subject. I suppose that was or seeral reasons, but
i I`m really honest, there were especially two reasons:
Beore Jesus came back 1., I wanted to get a drier`s license,
and 2., I wanted to get married so I could experience marital
relations. Now I can say, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus,
come!`
\et I`m still the same . . . I want to plan my uture.
\hy \ell, who else will plan it And besides, it`s hard to
keep oil in your lamp twenty-our hours a day!
Jesus said, 1he Son o man is coming at an
unexpected hour.` 1hat`s rude! I only le would tell us, we
could set our lamps down eery once in a while! ,\hen you
least expect it, expect it.` 1hen you shouldn`t expect it,
because you`re expecting it, which means you should expect
it . . .,
I like to maintain control. So I need to know the
when, where, and to whom . . . the chronology. \ell, there
are our traditional iews about the chronology o the
Reelation:

23
1. Preterist. Preterists beliee that all o it already did
happen, or at least most o it up until chapter twenty-
one. Oh no! Are we let behind` Not according to the
Preterists. 1hey say all the imagery and eents described
in Reelation were easily understandable and applicable
to the people to whom John the Reelator was writing.
It was about them. Most o the critical Bible scholars
today hold to this iew.
2. listorist. listorists beliee that Reelation is an
elaborate map o all church history. 1hey`re the ones
who usually pegged the Pope as the Antichrist. It was a
really popular iew during the Reormation. Its
adherents were olks like \yclie, Knox, 1yndale,
Zwingli, Melanchthon, Calin, Luther, Isaac Newton,
John \esley, Jonathan Ldwards, George \hiteield,
Charles linney, Charles Spurgeon, Matthew lenry . . .
att the heayweights. lardly anybody ascribes to
listorism any more, because they kind o ran out o
time. ,1hey had this day in Reelation equals a year`
scheme., Not only that, but the Pope, or instance, has
become a pretty likeable guy.
3. luturist. luturists beliee that eerything in Reelation
ater the irst three chapters reers to eents that hae
not yet come. 1his is the most popular iew today
among eangelicals. It`s the iew o the eft ebiva series,
it`s the iew you`ll ind on the shel at \al-Mart, in the
^atiovat vqvirer, and in the !ee/t, !orta ^er.. I don`t
say that to be derogatory, but because it`s culturally the
most popular iew right now. And moies about
bloodthirsty popes with 666 stamped on their heads are
just not in ogue. Understandably, the Catholic Church
really adocated this luturist iew during the
Reormation. Most Protestants shunned it until about
150 years ago. 1here are dierent types o luturists. 1he
most popular today are the Dispensationalists, who
24
argue the Church won`t een be around or most o
Reelation, because we`ll be raptured . . . in which case
you won`t need canned ood and a shotgun! O course,
this iew, along with the listorist iew, implies that
most o the details o Reelation hae just about
absolutely nothing to do with the people to whom the
book was written.
4. Idealist or Spiritualist. Idealists or Spiritualists beliee
that John didn`t intend or beliee his message to regard
any historical eents. Instead it was a isionary
expression o timeless truths. 1his iew was popular
among the early church athers. Origen, or instance,
taught that the beast with seen heads represented eil
and the seen deadly sins.

All that is to say that the precise who, when, and
where o Reelation is pretty hard to nail down. But then
again, maybe not. Let`s read . . . 1he Reelation |the word
in Greek is apocolyptus`| o Jesus Christ . . . .`
Notice it doesn`t say the Reelation o the
Antichrist` or the Reelation o Lnd 1imes Chronology.`
1he Reelation o Jesus Christ can either mean it was abovt
Jesus or it came tbrovgb Jesus. It means both: lor this is the
plan or the ulness o time, to unite all things in him, things
in heaen and things on earth` ,Lphesians 1:10,.

RLVLLA1ION 1:1-3: 1be reretatiov of ]e.v.
Cbri.t, rbicb Coa gare biv to .bor to bi. .erravt.
rbat vv.t .oov ta/e tace; ava be vaae it /vorv
b, .evaivg bi. avget to bi. .erravt ]obv, rbo bore
ritve.. to tbe rora of Coa ava to tbe te.tivov, of
]e.v. Cbri.t, erev to att tbat be .ar. te..ea i. be
rbo reaa. atova tbe rora. of tbe robec,, ava
bte..ea are tbo.e rbo bear, ava rbo /ee rbat i.
rrittev tbereiv; for tbe tive i. vear.
25
Blessed are those who read, hear, and keep` ,not
just a ew Bible scholars,. In the early Church, most people
were probably illiterate, so they would gather to read and
hear the Reelation in one sitting. I hope you do that soon:
just sit down and read . . . just read. It was written to be read
as a whole in worship.
Blessed are those who hear and keep` . . . 1hat
could be us! te..ea. \hy lor the time is near.` Literally:
1he time is at hand.` At hand!
At hand` is a common, Bible expression. Do you know
what at hand` means in the original Greek It means at
hand.` \hen something is at your hand, it`s right there. \ou
can reach out and touch it, grab it, or lay hold o it. Jesus
came preaching, Repent, or the kingdom o heaen is at
hand. 1he time is at hand.` \hose hand I guess whoeer
reads and hears and takes to heart the prophecy. \ow! 1hey
read . . . we read . . . it must mean the time has been at bava
or 2000 years!
1. lor those early Christians in Lphesus, Smyrna,
Pergamum, 1hyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and
Laodicea-the seen churches to whom the letter o
Reelation was written in speciic-the time ra. at
hand. \ell, where was the Antichrist I don`t know,
but John tells us in II John that the Antichrist was
already in the world. Go read it ,or don`t you take
the Bible literally,.
2. But this also means that or Martin Luther and his
listorist riends who read Reelation, the time was
at hand. \ou ask, Are you saying the Pope was the
Antichrist` No . . . howeer, according to John, the
spirit o the Antichrist is in the world and has been,
and eery spirit that does not coness Christ is the
Antichrist` ,I John 4:2-3,. 1hat`s wild!

26
3. But this then also means that or eery belieer in
the uture who reads and hears, the time is at hand.
4. And it means or us that i we read and hear, the
time is at hand. I`m not simply being a Spiritualist. I
really mean it in space and time.
\ou ask, \ell, when is Jesus coming` I know le
is coming on a white horse at the end o the age, and all
eyes will see lim.` ,I wait and wait or that day., \et to be
entirely literal, taking Scripture at ace alue, le has come
again and again throughout Scripture and in Reelation.

le may come to the church in Lphesus and remoe
their lampstand ,2:5,.

le may come to Pergamum to war against the
Nicolaitans ,2:16,.

I Sardis won`t wake up, le may come on them like a
thie ,3:3,.

le said to suering Philadelphia, lold ast . . . I am
coming soon` ,3:11,. Now, did le really mean 1988
Maybe Philadelphia, Pennsylania low depressing!

And le said to those in Laodicea, I any one hears my
oice and opens the door, I will come in to him . . .
.` ,3:20,. le comes or each o us.

And Jesus told lis disciples, I will come again and will
take you to mysel . . . .` I think Jesus comes to get each
o lis beloed indiidually at death. Like le said to that
thie on the cross, 1oday you will be with me in
Paradise.`

2
1he time is at hand.` In Greek, kairos is at hand.` Guy
Chereau writes:

1ime is the key word here because in Biblical
Greek there are two words or time`: the
irst is chronos, Lnglish words like
chronometer and chronology are deried
rom its root. Chronos is clock time,
calendar time: 1 o`clock, 2 o`clock, 3 o`clock,
January, lebruary, March . . . all marching
right along. 1he second Greek word, kairos
is special time. 1hose who are mothers know
the dierence between chronos and kairos.
About nine months or so into a pregnancy-
chronos time-many soon-to-be mothers
shake their husband by the shoulder and
say . . . It`s time!` le opens a bleary eye,
looks at the clock, and says, It`s 3:1 in the
morning, go back to sleep!` She's on kairos
time, he`s talking chronos. So he gets shaken
again: I1`S 1IML!!!` And this time he gets
it. I1`S 1IML!!!!`

All reality is now pregnant with the time,` with
eternity`, all chronos is pregnant with kairos, all times are
pregnant with meaning, all reality is pregnant with the plot,
to those who read and hear in aith in Jesus.
Reelation isn`t just about some seen historical
churches in the Preterist past . . . or just some ten-nation
conederacy in the uture . . . or just some series o eents in
the Middle Ages inoling the Pope . . . or just some
spiritual ideals. I think it`s about att those things, but it`s
e.eciatt, about ,ov! 1he rbo is Jesus and you, the rbere is here,
the rbev is now.
1heir eyes got big in youth group ten years ago,
because they thought the Reelation was about tbev and
28
where they were, and that they had met the Antichrist, and
Jesus was coming soon.
\ell, your eyes should get big too . . . because the
Reelation is about you and where you are, and you bare met
the Antichrist, or at least the spirit o the Antichrist . . . and
Jesus i. coming soon. le is here. Lat lis body and drink
lis blood, and the Ancient Dragon rages with ury.
\hat I`m saying is, 1he time is at hand.` And it has
been at hand or 2000 years. I you say, I don`t get it,`
that`s ine. Beliee it in aith.
1ime is weird in the Bible. Not only is a day as a
thousand years and a thousand years as a day`, Bible time
doesn`t trael in a straight line sometimes. A lot o Old
1estament prophecies, or instance, seem to reer to
something in the time o the prophets ,like Isaiah,. But then
we ind they also reer to something in the time and lie o
Jesus . . . multiple ulillments.
1imes show up in dierent times, kairos in dierent
chronos, qualitatie time at dierent chronological times.
1he story o Jesus shows up again and again in Old
1estament chronology. In Reelation 13:8, John writes,
1he lamb was slain rom the oundation o the world.`
1hat`s Jesus . . . but le was slain in, like, 30 A.D. outside
Jerusalem! low can that be But it gets weirder . . .
Jesus says, Beore Abraham was, I am.` Not I
ra.,` but I av.` God tells Moses lis name is I am that I
am.`
In the next erse, Reelation 1:4, John calls the Lord
1he one who is and who was and who is to come.` And I
hae been cruciied with Christ,` and I am already seated
in the heaenlies` ,Lphesians 2:6,.
People like us who beliee the \ord o God know
that the distinction between past, present, and uture is a
stubbornly persistent illusion.
1ime is weird in Scripture, and time is weird in
physics. At Niels Bohr`s uneral, Albert Linstein said,
29
People like us who beliee in physics know the distinction
between past, present, and uture is a stubbornly persistent
illusion.`
Physics has demonstrated that time is relatie to the
speed o light, and that at the speed o light eerything is
perectly present . . . complete am-ness.` \as, is, and is to
come are all present. At the speed o light, there is no
chronology, just eternity.
In the beginning, God said, Let there be light.` le
is beyond time, but lis eternal kairos is pressing in on our
temporal chronos. lis light enlightens all men. le entered
our time in Jesus, the Light o the world, that we might hae
eternal lie. Lternal lie is knowing Jesus. And we can know
lim vor!
^or is not in our chronology. As soon as we see it,
it`s no longer vor. ,As soon as we say now,` the n` is past
by the time you say ow.`, ^or, the present moment, is
when we step out o time, relect on time, and ask, Does
my time hae meaning Does my chronos hae kairos-
loe, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness . . . eternal
meaning`
And Jesus, the Light o the world, gies us
meaning-logos.` Lternity presses in on our temporality.
Reelation reeals Jesus, the eternal truth that transorms all
time. God`s kairos in all our chronos.
So when you`re suring the \eb alone in your room,
and you`re tempted like they were in 1hyatira, tempted to
sexual immorality, you`ll see the truth: It`s not just biology.
\ou`ll see an Ancient larlot drunk with the blood o the
saints, who rides a beast with seen heads. So you call out to
the Lamb . . . and you may end up changing \eb sites.
\hen your lie is alling apart . . . poerty, suering,
and tears, like the church in Smyrna . . . the Preterist luturist
debate won`t help much. But read about the New Jerusalem
and streets o gold and the One on the throne who says, I
make all things new` . . . and that will help.
30
I they put a knie to your throat saying, Renounce
your aith or die,` like they did in Pergamum, theories o the
numeric acuity o the seen bowls won`t help. But hae aith
in the Rider on the white horse, who is called laithul and
1rue, and that will make a dierence.
Now, I`m not just talking psychology, I`m talking
physics, I`m talking about the reat world-eternal world-
inading this one.
1his week I receied seeral e-mails rom Brett
Ldwards in our church, who orwarded them rom his
Australian pastor riend Ian, who has gone to Manado,
Indonesia to work with Christian reugees rom the island o
Maluku. Last year Islamic extremists declared a jihad` ,holy
war, on the Christians on the island o Maluku. Since then
oer 10,000 men, women, and children hae been
slaughtered or their aith. lie hundred thousand hae led
their homes. Many hae been tortured and orce-
circumcised ,men and women,.
Ian writes in his e-mail rom last week o all the
suering, and then he writes the most amazing thing:

\e hae heard on seeral occasions rom
dierent sources the story o Jihad warriors
attempting to land their boats in order to
attack another Christian illage. 1here is a
mysterious igure dressed in white with a
beard, riding a white horse, who repels the
attackers. 1here is total conusion, and in the
conusion a number o Muslims are killed.
1his is without Christians iring a shot! 1he
Christians did not know this was happening
until they started being isited by the military
who were looking or an Australian ,can you
beliee that!, who was ighting or the
Christians. 1hey sent out inestigatie teams
to look or this Australian.` Christians
31
asked them to describe what he looked like
and then responded, 1hat`s not an
Australian, that is the Lord Jesus Christ.`
Isn`t that cool And I`e heard it rom
enough credible sources to beliee it is not
an urban myth.`

1he Rider on the white horse went riding last week.
And they recognized lim, or they`d read the prophecy and
belieed the time is at hand.` 1hen I saw heaen opened,
and behold, a white horse! le who sat upon it is called
laithul and 1rue, and in righteousness he judges and makes
war` ,Reelation 19:11,.
And i you say, Oh, that can`t happen until ater the
ten-nation conederacy!` - .to it. Stop trying to control the
uture. Let the uture-eternity-control you. 1he time is
at hand.`
In act, the end o your time is as close as your next
heartbeat. le`s coming back on the clouds o leaen at the
end o the age . . . or maybe you`ll get hit by a truck on your
way home. And behold, the kairos is at your chronos. 1he
time is at hand.
Blessed is the one who reads the words o this
prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to
heart what is written in it, because the time is near |at
hand|.`


RLVLLA1ION 1:4-6: ]obv, to tbe .erev cbvrcbe. iv
tbe rorivce of ..ia: Crace ava eace to ,ov frov
biv rbo i., ava rbo ra., ava rbo i. to cove, ava
frov tbe .erev .irit. before bi. tbrove,

ava frov
]e.v. Cbri.t, rbo i. tbe faitbfvt ritve.., tbe fir.tborv
frov tbe aeaa, ava tbe rvter of tbe /ivg. of tbe eartb.
1o biv rbo tore. v. ava ba. freea v. frov ovr .iv.
b, bi. btooa,

ava ba. vaae v. to be a /ivgaov ava
32
rie.t. to .erre bi. Coa ava atber-to biv be gtor,
ava orer for erer ava erer! .vev.
33
lurther Reading


lrom that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent:
or the kingdom o heaen is at hand.
-Matthew 4:1

And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings o the prophecy
o this book: or the time |kairos| is at hand.
-Reelation 22:10

But o that day and hour no one knows, not een the angels
o heaen, nor the Son, but the lather only. As were the
days o Noah, so will be the coming o the Son o man. lor
as in those days beore the lood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giing in marriage, until the day
when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the
lood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming
o the Son o man. 1hen two men will be in the ield, one is
taken and one is let. 1wo women will be grinding at the
mill, one is taken and one is let. \atch thereore, or you
do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know
this, that i the householder had known in what part o the
night the thie was coming, he would hae watched and
would not hae let his house be broken into. 1hereore you
also must be ready, or the Son o man is coming at an hour
you do not expect.
-Matthew 24:36-44

But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, you hae no
need to hae anything written to you. lor you yourseles
know well that the day o the Lord will come like a thie in
the night. \hen people say, 1here is peace and security,`
then sudden destruction will come upon them as traail
34
comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no
escape. But you are not in darkness, brethren, or that day to
surprise you like a thie.
-I 1hessalonians 5:1-4

As we hae just pointed out, the prophets had two oci in
their prophetic perspectie: the eents o the present and
the immediate uture, and the ultimate eschatological eent.
1hese two are held in a dynamic tension oten without
chronological distinction, or the main purpose o prophecy
is not to gie a program or chart o the uture, but to let the
light o the eschatological consummation all on the present
,II Pet. 1:19,. 1hus in Amos` prophecy the impending
historical judgment o Israel at the hands o Assyria was
called the Day o the Lord ,Amos 5:18, 2,, and the
eschatological salation o Israel will also occur in that day
,9:11,. Isaiah pictured the oerthrow o Babylon in
apocalyptic colors as though it were the end o the world
,Isa. 13:1-22,. Zephaniah described some ,to us, unknown
historical isitation as the Day o the Lord which would
consume the entire earth and its inhabitants ,1:2-18, as
though with ire ,1:18, 3:8,. Joel moed imperceptibly rom
historical plagues o locust and drought into the
eschatological judgments o the Day o the Lord.
-George Ladd, Reretatiov

1ime is nature`s way to keep eerything rom happening all
at once.
-Ldwin 1aylor

1here seems no plan because it is all plan: there seems no
center because it is all center. Blessed be le! \et this
seeming also is the end and inal cause or which le spreads

35
out 1ime so long and leaen so deep . . . .`
-C. S. Lewis, Peretavara

1he riddle o the present is the deepest o all the riddles o
time. Again, there is no answer except rom that which
comprises all time and lies beyond it-the eternal.
\heneer we say now` or today,` we stop the lux o
time or us. \e accept the present and do not care that it is
gone in the moment that we accept it. \e lie in it and it is
renewed or us in eery new present.` 1his is possible
because eery moment o time reaches into the eternal. It is
the eternal that stops the lux o time or us. It is the eternal
now` which proides or us a temporal now.` \e lie so
long as it is still today`-in the words o the letter to the
lebrews. Not eerybody, and nobody all the time, is aware
o this eternal now` in the temporal now.` But sometimes
it breaks powerully into our consciousness and gies us the
certainty o the eternal, o a dimension o time which cuts
into time and gies us our time.
-Paul 1illich, 1be tervat ^or

1he humans lie in time, but our Lnemy |God| destines
them to eternity. le thereore, I beliee, wants them to
attend chiely to two things, to eternity itsel and to that
point o time which they call the Present. lor the Present is
the point at which time touches eternity. O the present
moment, and o it only, humans hae an experience
analogous to the experience which our Lnemy |God| has o
reality as a whole, in it alone reedom and actuality are
oered them. le would thereore hae them continually
concerned either with eternity ,which means being
concerned with lim, or with the Present-either meditating
on their eternal union with, or separation rom, limsel, or
else obeying the present oice o conscience, bearing the
present cross, receiing the present grace, giing thanks or
36
the present pleasure.`
-C. S. Lewis, crertae etter.

Jesus said to them, 1ruly, truly, I say to you, beore
Abraham was, I am.`
-John 8:58
3
>$ ?9*&@ &0< A2$# ?9*&@/01
,Reelation 1:9-20,


RLVLLA1ION 1:9-20: , ]obv, ,ovr brotber, rbo
.bare ritb ,ov iv ]e.v. tbe tribvtatiov ava tbe
/ivgaov ava tbe atievt evavravce, ra. ov tbe
i.tava cattea Patvo. ov accovvt of tbe rora of Coa
ava tbe te.tivov, of ]e.v.. ra. iv tbe .irit ov tbe
ora`. aa,, ava beara bebiva ve a tova roice ti/e
a trvvet .a,ivg, !rite rbat ,ov .ee iv a boo/
ava .eva it to tbe .erev cbvrcbe., to be.v. ava to
v,rva ava to Pergavvv ava to 1b,atira ava to
arai. ava to Pbitaaetbia ava to aoaicea.
1bev tvrvea to .ee tbe roice tbat ra.
.ea/ivg to ve, ava ov tvrvivg .ar .erev gotaev
tav.tava., ava iv tbe via.t of tbe tav.tava. ove
ti/e a .ov of vav, ctotbea ritb a tovg robe ava ritb
a gotaev girate rovva bi. brea.t; bi. beaa ava bi.
bair rere rbite a. rbite root, rbite a. .vor; bi. e,e.
rere ti/e a ftave of fire, bi. feet rere ti/e bvrvi.bea
brove, refivea a. iv a fvrvace, ava bi. roice ra.
ti/e tbe .ovva of vav, rater.; iv bi. rigbt bava be
beta .erev .tar., frov bi. vovtb i..vea a .bar tro
eagea .rora, ava bi. face ra. ti/e tbe .vv .bivivg iv
fvtt .trevgtb.
!bev .ar biv, fett at bi. feet a. tbovgb
aeaa. vt be taia bi. rigbt bava vov ve .a,ivg,
ear vot, av tbe fir.t ava tbe ta.t, ava tbe tirivg
ove; aiea, ava bebota av atire for erervore, ava
bare tbe /e,. of Deatb ava aae.. ^or rrite
rbat ,ov .ee, rbat i. ava rbat i. to ta/e tace
bereafter. .. for tbe v,.ter, of tbe .erev .tar. rbicb
,ov .ar iv v, rigbt bava, ava tbe .erev gotaev
tav.tava., tbe .erev .tar. are tbe avget. of tbe .erev
38
cbvrcbe., ava tbe .erev tav.tava. are tbe .erev
cbvrcbe.. . . .


\ow! 1hat`s pretty incredible. Do you beliee it
\ou beliee it as a metaphor, right Because you don`t
actvatt, beliee Jesus had a sharp, two-edged sword coming
out o lis mouth! low could le talk
Do you actvatt, beliee le had seen stars in lis
hand Do you actvatt, beliee Lookout Mountain
Community Church is a tav.tava. \as Jesus actvatt, on
Patmos le is at the right hand o the lather on high . . . so
was le actually at Patmos or was it more like a areav.
Dreams are important. Psychologists say dreams are
critical. 1hey are metaphors that help us work through
realities. But dreams are not real . . . are they
In a recent Roc/, Movvtaiv ^er. article on people`s
belie in the paranormal, a Proessor Baker is quoted as
saying:

Modern Americans aren`t so dierent than
primitie humans who thought that when
lightning struck it was God throwing
thunderbolts. So many things about the
world and nature are absolutely mysterious
to them. 1he desire to ind supernatural
explanations or natural eents is still with
us, and will be until more people get good
basic scientiic educations.

Proessor Baker and Proessor Preston talk about
how important it is or olks who beliee in things like
UlO`s and crystals, and olks who are undamentalist
Christians, to get good, ba.ic, scientiic education. \hat i.
39
scientiic education 1he scientiic method eriies
hypotheses that can be tested and comprehended in a
controlled enironment. It studies this world o space and
time.
\hen I was a teenager, Mark Reinke, who is in my
small group now, would sometimes come to speak to our
youth group pastored by Gary Reddish. I remember he told
the youth group at some point that he had actually
conclusiely disproed the bodily resurrection o Jesus
Christ using the latest, cutting-edge, scientiic methodology.
\ou see, Mark Reinke had obtained seeral
laboratory mice rom Colorado State Uniersity . . .

le established a controlled enironment, which
simulated in great detail the ancient city o Jerusalem
circa 33 A.D.

le then took some o the laboratory mice and
swore them into the ancient oice o the Roman
Praetorian Guard. le named one o the mice
lerod, another Caiaphus, and another Pilate.

1hen he took another group o mice and actually
circumcised these mice . . . a ery delicate procedure.
le circumcised them according to the ancient rituals
o the 1orah.

le then dressed these mice in irst century
Palestinian garb.

le took twele o these mice and ed them a diet o
bread and wine.

40
Also simulating the gospel account in great detail or
the adancement o human understanding, he
cruciied one o these mice. 1his mouse had been
preiously designated as the Jesus Mouse.`

1hen he took the Jesus Mouse to a small, papier-
mach tomb and laid the body there.

Ater three days, Mark returned with great
anticipation. And the Jesus Mouse! . . . was still
dead.

1he Jesus Mouse was dead! I`m sorry to shatter your
aith, but there you hae it! I`m going to go watch ootball.
See ya!
\ait a minute. \ell . . . that`s .tvia.`
\es! It is stupid! But it`s no more stupid than any o
the scientiic arguments` that hae been adanced in the
twentieth century against miracle, reelation, and God. And
we hae swallowed them hook, line, and sinker.
Len Christians hae come to beliee that the only
things that are really real are things that can be demonstrated
with the scientiic method, that is, things that can be
comprehended and tested in a controlled enironment . . .
space- and time- tested.
Satan took Jesus to the top o the temple and said,
Let`s run a little test. Let`s test the hypothesis. 1hrow
yoursel down, and we will see i Scripture is true, i angels
will come and bear you up.` And Jesus said, 1hou shalt not
put the Lord your God to the test!`
1his last century argued that the only things you cav
beliee are things you put to the test. And Satan smiles, or
that means we cannot beliee in God. \e may know more
acts than any people in all the world . . . a million acts . . .
41
and none o them hae any meaning.
So our children kill themseles today at an
unprecedented rate. 1eenagers sing, 1ake me higher, take
me higher to a place where blind men see and I can see.`
1he adults say, Nice thought . . . beautiul metaphor . . .
sweet dream.` 1he Lord God thunders, Do vot put me to
the test.`
\hy I suppose it`s because it is insanely arrogant to
act as i God were a laboratory mouse. \et een more than
that, it`s prooundly stupid. lor i God rere to act like a
laboratory mouse and submit to our test, we wouldn`t
beliee it was Coa. \hat would we do Probably cruciy
lim. And i le rose rom the dead, we still wouldn`t
beliee, because it wasn`t a controlled enironment or a
repeatable eent.
Anything really good can`t be proed by science
anyway . . . like goodness itsel. \hat scientiic laboratory
has eer discoered gooave... Or justice Or truth Or
beauty Or loe lor that matter, the scientiic method
cannot een be proed by the scientiic method! Any real
scientist knows that.
1hat`s why I don`t think the Roc/, Movvtaiv ^er.
quoted real science. One o the men was a proessor o
psychology, the other was a proessor o Lnglish, not a
physicist or a natural scientist. 1hey don`t understand
science, and more than that, they haen`t been paying
attention. lor in this last century, scientists hae said some
incredible things . . .
1hey discoered the unierse had a beginning-a
Big Bang. It was quite a shock to learn that 15 billion years
ago, relatie to us, the unierse sprang into existence. But
now, i you were standing at the oivt o the Big Bang, it
would be more like almost seen days. \hy seen days
\ell, because time is relatie to the speed o light and
speciic graity. ,See Gerald Schroeder, 1be cievce of Coa.,
42
Len saying the point o the Big Bang` is a
misnomer because, speaking ontologically, before the Big
Bang there rere no points because points are places in space,
and there was no space, according to science. No space and
no time, so then rbat. It must hae been a rbo . . .
Science has also demonstrated that at the subatomic
leel, the quantum state o matter mysteriously depends not
on a rbat but a rbo-a person who perceies it.
It must really be hard to be a materialist these days
when science has shown that matter itsel is like a dream. It
was quite some time ago that Albert Linstein said, Reality
is an illusion albeit a ery persistent one.` le also said,
Imagination is more important than knowledge.` Do you
see what he is saying It`s as i dreams are somehow more
real than act! 1hat`s wild.
lae you eer had a dream that you were dreaming
I mean by that, hae you eer dreamt that you were
dreaming, but the dream in your dream is actually a person
in the waking world trying to wake you up low do you
know what in a dream is areav and what is reat.
\hen we are wakened rom a dream, the thing that
wakes us is a reality that won`t it in our dream. My dream
can all be explained by ve. I`m the .ort o my dreams, I`m
the cevter o my dreams, I`m the .ovrce o my dreams.
So, yes!-some o them are ery weird, but they all
hae their source in me, they all emanate rom me. It`s all
about ve. But when someone or something wakes me, my
mind can`t make that reality rom the outside waking world
fit into the interior reality o my own dream world.
I you wake someone too quickly rom a dream, you
can kill him, just with the shock. Did you notice that John
ell down as though dead until Jesus touched him and said,
lear not` 1he loing thing to do when waking someone
rom a dream is to wake him up slowly. \ou do that or
your kids. \ou whisper in their ear, Sweetheart . . . hey,
43
buddy . . . you`re haing a bad dream. \ake up. It`s a bad
dream.`
1o the dreamer, in his dream there is a gradual
realization that the whisper in his ear can`t be explained by
the dream. lor a while, it`s like the whisper is a part o the
dream-an incongruent part o the dream.
So this is my question: Are there things in your
world that can`t be explained by your world Paradoxes,
mysteries, things you can`t comprehend Maybe they are reat,
and this entire world is the dream. Maybe it`s somebody
whispering in your ear, Sweetheart, wake up, and I will gie
you light, and I will gie you lie.`
About those people who beliee God is actually
somehow behind thunder, Proessor Baker said, So many
things about the world and nature are absolutely mysterious
to them.` Maybe that`s because tbe, are waking up! . . . and
Proessor Baker is entirely enchanted by his own dream
world. No mystery . . . no meaning . . . no paradox . . . no
wonder . . . because he`s entirely asleep.
John records in his gospel ,and I think it`s the same
John who receied the reelation,, that during one point in
Jesus` ministry, a oice came out o the sky and said, I hae
gloriied it |his name| and I will gloriy it again.` Some
standing there said, It thundered.` Others said, 1hat was
vore than thunder!` \ho was dreaming and who was awake
\hat I am saying is, maybe Jesus really aia appear to
John. Maybe Jesus really aia hae a sharp, two-edged sword
coming out o his mouth. Maybe Lookout Mountain
Community Church really i. a lampstand. Maybe it`s not just
a metaphor. And the mystery, paradox, and wonder don`t
mean it`s te.. real than this world, but that it`s vore real than
this world.
low can we know things vore reat than this world
lor that matter, how can we eer know anything in tbi.
world Science can`t een explain itsel!
44
In 1884, a man named Ldwin Abbot published a
book called tattava: . Rovavce iv Mav, Divev.iov.. Some o
you may hae actually seen the moie, because the book was
made into a cartoon moie to show junior-highers in order
to explain concepts o geometry.
But Ldwin Abbot didn`t write the book in order to
explain geometry as much as he wrote the book to help
people beliee in God. I neer read the book, but I did see
the moie. 1he moie is about a land called llatland, an
entirely two-dimensional world. 1he beings o llatland can
only perceie two dimensions.
One o the persons in llatland has a reelation. lor
a ew moments, he is lited out o llatland and can see three
dimensions! \hen he goes back to llatland and tries to
explain what he saw, eerybody thinks he is dreaming. \hy
Because he says things like, It`s not a simple square, it`s a
cvbe! and 1hat`s not just a circte, it`s a .bere!
And Jesus said, \ou`re not just a church, you`re a
lampstand`-a paradox-a mystery. But we llatlanders say,
Nice metaphor. Nice dream, Jesus.`
I we were llatlanders, our world would look like
this |holding a poster board approximately 2` x 3`|. \e
would only be able to perceie two dimensions: squares,
circles, triangles, etc. Now let`s suppose that a three-
dimensional object entered our world and passed through it,
like this sphere |a basketball|.
I this sphere passed through our world, what would
we llatlanders see A circle! \hat would we call it A
miracle. \hy Because all at once a point appeared in our
world, then it grew into a circle, then it shrunk back to a
point, and then it was gone.
But now let`s suppose there are three-dimensional
objects intersecting and staying in llatland all the time . . .
spheres, cubes, cylinders . . . Do you see what that would
mean It would mean llatlanders would be surrounded by
45
viracte all the time. But they wouldn`t see it that way. 1hey
wouldn`t know it, except, o course, or the one who had the
reelation.
le would say things like this: 1hat`s not just a
.qvare! 1hat`s a cvbe! 1hey would answer, 1hat`s nuts.
\ou`re dreaming.` 1hey wouldn`t een comprehend it.

\e would say things like this: ley, that guy oer there
is reading the Bible.` But the guy with the reelation
would say, No! 1he Sword o the Liing God is
piercing his soul.`
\e would say, Look-some o those high schoolers
are talking to homeless people.` le would say, 1hey`re
encountering the liing God.`
\e would say, Look-a church.` le would say, It`s a
lampstand!`
\e would say, Look-that guy is giing a cup o cold
water to a little kid in Jesus` name. \hat a nice thought.`
le would say, Behold, Jesus the Christ is drinking lis
own loe.`
\e would say, ley look-a baby in a manger.` And he
would start singing with the angels.

\hy lis world would be ull o miracle and ull o
meaning. le couldn`t explain it all, but he could beliee it.
le couldn`t explain paradox, but he could beliee it.
lor example, i a cylinder intersects llatland, what
would llatlanders see A circle. Now, what would happen i
the cylinder intersected llatland sideways \hat would
llatlanders see A rectangle. \hat i. a cylinder It`s an
ininite number o circles and rectangles.
llatlanders would say, No way! Inconceiable!
Incomprehensible!` And the guy who had the reelation
46
would say, It`s true!` Paraao.

\ou`re a church . . . and you`re a lampstand.

\hat i I took three ingers and stuck them through
llatland . . . I spoke to llatland and said, Behold, all three
circles are one. 1hey are all me. 1hree yet one. I am trinity.`
llatlanders would say, !bat. But it would be true.
Do you know you were chosen beore the
oundation o the world, yet you came to Jesus ,maybe, at a
junior high camp Chosen in lim, yet chosen to choose.
1hat`s a paradox or me! I can`t comprehend that! But it`s
trve.
Now suppose time is one o the dimensions o
llatland. lor instance, here |pointing to the bottom o the 2`
x 3` board| might be 33 A.D. Up here |pointing to the top o
the board| might be 2001 A.D. I I took llatland and held it
just like this, a millimeter away rom my being, and I spoke
to llatland saying, Behold, llatland! 1he kingdom o Peter
is at hand! 1he time is near!` would that be true \es. And
where intersected llatland, I would be re.evt at all those
points in space and time.
Now let`s say I intersected llatland at erer, point in
space and time. Let`s say that llatland was a two-
dimensional plain inside o ve. 1hen what could I say to
llatlanders Behold, in me you lie and moe and hae
your being.` And they wouldn`t een know it . . . unless they
belieed.
In act, you could say I was a reatit, in llatland, that I
was present in llatland whereer people betierea . . . whereer
they .ar, not with their eyes, because their eyes can only see
two dimensions, but with their beart..
\hat would really be cool is i I could somehow
evter llatland as a two-dimensional being. I don`t hae that
4
capability. \ouldn`t it be cool i somebody did
\ell, what I want you to see now is that mystery,
meaning, paradox, viracte . . . would all seem like dreams in
llatland. \et those dreams would be vore reat than anybody
in llatland could een comprehend.
lere`s an interesting question: Do you eer
experience paradox in tbi. world o our dimensions low
about mystery and meaning Do you eer long or justice
\hat is justice 1hey`e neer ound that in a scientiic
laboratory! Or loe, or truth, or beauty!
1hose things cannot be isolated and tested in our
three- or our-dimensional world! And did you know that
now, in order or physicists to make their calculations work
or the Big Bang and the irst ew moments ater the Big
Bang, they postulate at least-at tea.t-nine dimensions o
space and time
\e are talking about physicists! And we are
Christians! \e`re the ones who beliee God made all those
things and is bigger and better, and beore and ater, and
smaller and larger, and outside and inside att o them!
Do you understand what I am saying Stop taking
this world so seriously. Stop taking these three or our
dimensions so seriously. Ironically, it`s many undamentalist
Christians who take space and time-this world-so
.eriov.t,. \hat do we do \e spend our time arguing about
exactly when the Great 1ribulation will be, and neer stop
to ask, \hat does it veav.`
\e worry about the science o how the moon could
turn blood red . . . so we can conince our non-Christian
riends. Or how the locusts in Reelation 9 could hae
human aces and little, gold crowns. Do you know that in
the eft ebiva series they actually ao. I like that book-I`m
just saying it has to mean more than that. I beliee the
locusts hae aces in some dimension at tea.t, but I think it
has to be more than a curiosity piece or irst century
48
Christians.
\hat was John getting at writing to Laodicea ley,
guys, guess what! In the year 2000, there are going to be
really weird bugs!` I bet it had some veavivg - like, Don`t
trust eery human ace you see, because een i it wears a
crown, it may be a locust rom the pit o lell.` I don`t
know . . . but maybe . . .
Someone asked Madeleine L`Lngle, Do you beliee
that Genesis is literally true` She said, iteratt, true! I
beliee it`s vore than literally true!`
I you beliee the Reelation is titeratt, trve, that`s
great! I think do, i I understand what you mean by that.
It`s more than a metaphor. But it`s also more than literally
true. It`s about ar more than space and time in this world,
and your lie had better be about ar more than space and
time in this world.
But now, not eery glass o water gien to a child is
an encounter with the Liing God and about more than
space and time. It must be gien in Jesus` name . . . in aith
and in loe. lor on that day many will say to lim, Did we
not do many, mighty wonders . . . miracles . . . works in your
name` And le will look at them and say, Depart rom
me. lor behold, I neer knew you.`
\ou may do all the two-dimensional works o a
Christian and look good to eerybody in llatland. But God
knows you neer knew lim. Maybe you just went around
drawing squares, acting like you were belieing in cubes. Not
eery square in llatland is really a cube. And there is more
to being a Christian than just being square.
\ou may own eery graph mapping the Reelation.
\ou may know eery detail. \ou may comprehend the
science o a blood red moon and still not know its meaning.
Jesus reeals its meaning. Jesus i. Meaning . . . Logos . . .
\ord . . . 1ruth.

49
\hat happens right here in chapter one Jesus
reeals the meaning o the stars. Did you get that John, I`ll
tell you what the stars are.` And right here in chapter 1,
Jesus reeals the meaning o the lampstands. John, I`ll tell
you what the lampstands are.` But you see, we are going to
hae to trust Jesus to reeal lis meaning or the rest o the
book as well.
Jesus is the uncreated Creator rom beyond and
beore space and time, who enters our our-dimensional
world and reeals meaning. le is the Lamb that opens the
scroll, le entered this world, limited limsel in our our
dimensions, in order to reeal truth. le purchased us with
lis blood, rom principalities and powers which kept us in
darkness and bondage, and le`s waking us up to lie in i.
world-the Kingdom o God.
In order to wake up, you must dream lis dreams.
\ou must dream lis dreams in order to stop dreaming. lis
dreams are more real than all this world. One day you`ll see
they arev`t dreams, they`re reality.
low can we know anything truly real Only through
reelation. low can we eer encounter anything truly real
Only through reelation. And that looks like . . . worship.
llatlanders say, \ou are dreaming there on Sunday
mornings.`
Did you notice that John was in the spirit on the
Lord`s day` 1he Lord`s day probably reers to Sunday.
\hen the church worshipped God, they would all gather
together on Sunday. le was in the spirit on the Lord`s day
rbev he receied the reelation.
Did you notice he was iv the spirit rbev he receied
the reelation Receirivg the reelation was not beivg in the
spirit. So what was being in the spirit I think it was
worship! Prayer, praise, wonder, song, worship . . . in God in
Christ.

50
\orship is the opposite o the scientiic method. It`s
not conquest, it`s submission.
In an experiment, a scientist tests things to
comprehend things. In worship, God tests us and
comprehends us. In worship, we surrender to God, and
God in lis grace reeals lis glory. Do you want to know
God 1hen worship lim, in spirit and in truth. Surrender to
the dreams le gies you.
Brennan Manning tells about John Shea, a priest
rom Chicago. Shea was thirteen years old and an altar boy
when he and a riend o his were assigned to sit in the
sanctuary or one-hal hour and meditate upon the
communion waer ,the host`,.
A hal hour is a long time or a thirteen-year-old
boy. le says that he sat there and looked around the room
or a while . . . he kept looking at his watch . . . then he
glanced up at the host on the table. Suddenly the host spoke
without speaking. It said, I`m more than a host, you know.`
le looked at his riend, the at kid with the big,
loppy ears. Lerybody made un o him in school. lis
riend spoke without speaking, I`m more than a at kid with
loppy ears, you know.`
1hat night when he let the church, he walked in the
dark and saw a widow standing on the street corner with a
cane. She glanced oer at him and spoke without speaking,
I`m more than a wrinkled old widow, you know.` le
glanced up at the sky, and the sky thundered, I`m more
than the sky, you know.`
Maybe God aoe. hurl thunderbolts, you know.
People hae sat in worship and seen isions and
heard words. A thing like that, to be honest with you, has
really only happened to me maybe once or twice. But the
one time it did happen, I really beliee God was reealing
this to me:

51
Peter, eerything in your world is more than
you know. 1hose lannel graphs in Sunday
School, Peter 1hose emotions you elt at
youth group as a kid 1he kisses you
receied as a child in my name Peter-they
were ve. Peter, ,ov are more than you know,
or I am waking you up rom the bad dream
o a allen world.

lae you eer elt loe in worship John wrote, le
who loes is born o God and knows God.` 1hat`s more
than you know.
lae you eer elt joy, peace, patience, kindness,
gentleness, goodness in worship In one dimension, they
may be chemicals in the blood responding to a good song.
But Paul tells us they`re ruit rom the Spirit o God.
lae you eer elt grateul in worship \ell, eery
good and perect git comes rom God.`
\ou don`t hae to hae experiences like John Shea
or een like John the Reelator. Just worship! And pay
attention to the dreams that come.
Besides, God has already gien you a dream-the
book o Reelation. It only seems like a dream because this
world is a dream. lor it reeals that this world is asleep
more than you know. And Coa is more than you know, and
,ov are more than you know.
I`m not much or poetry. ,I was a geology major.,
But I am going to end with my aorite poem:

1be, tett ve, ora, tbat rbev .eev to be iv .eecb ritb ,ov,
ivce bvt ove roice i. beara, it`. att a areav, ove tat/er aivg
tro.


52
ovetive. it i., ,et vot a. tbe, covceire it. Ratber,
ee/ iv v,.etf tbe tbivg. boea to .a,, bvt to!, v, rett. are
ar,.

1bev, .eeivg ve evt,, ,ov for.a/e tbe ti.tever`. rote ava
tbrovgb
M, avvb ti. breatbe ava ivto vtteravce ra/e tbe tbovgbt.
verer /ver.

.va tbv. ,ov veitber veea ret, vor cav; tbv., rbite re .eev
1ro tat/er., tbov are Ove forerer, ava vo areaver, bvt tb,
areav.

- C. S. Lewis

St. Paul wrote, It is no longer I who lie but Christ
who lies within me.` And we say, Nice metaphor.`
\rong. Absolute truth.
53
54
lurther Reading


God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in
spirit and truth.
-John 4:24

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
-James 4:8a

loweer aluable natural theology may be in pointing to the
diine and aording insight into his creation, it will only at
best be able by itsel to bring us to the Cosmic Architect or
Great Mathematician. 1he God and lather o our Lord
Jesus Christ is to be sought by other means. \orship and
prayer is the context in which theology has to be practised:
the academic departments o religious studies in our
uniersities are like schools o science unurnished with
laboratories.
-John Polkinghorne, Proessor o Mathematical Physics,
Cambridge, cievce ava Creatiov

In particle physics, or example, all workable theories or the
uniication o the our undamental orces o physics require
that a minimum o nine dimensions o space and time must
hae existed in the irst 10
-34
seconds ollowing the creation
eent. Since God controls all these dimensions, le must be
able to ully operate in them all. In act, who is to say that
le does not operate in spiritual dimensions completely
distinct rom space and time
-lugh Ross, 1be Creator ava tbe Co.vo.


55
I must boast, there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go
on to isions and reelations |apocalypses| o the Lord. I
know a man in Christ who ourteen years ago was caught up
to the third heaen-whether in the body or out o the
body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man
was caught up into Paradise-whether in the body or out o
the body I do not know, God knows-and he heard things
that cannot be told, which man may not utter.
-II Corinthians 12:1-4

lor we are not contending against lesh and blood, but
against the principalities, against the powers, against the
world rulers o this present darkness, against the spiritual
hosts o wickedness in the heaenly places.
-Lphesians 6:12

\ounger Coloradans and the less educated are the most
likely to beliee in the occult, extraterrestrials and mystical
powers. . . . 1he act that there is no scientiic proo o
those belies doesn`t seem to matter, said Robert Baker,
proessor emeritus o psychology at the Uniersity o
Kentucky. Modern Americans aren`t so dierent than
primitie humans who thought that when lightning struck it
was God throwing thunderbolts, Baker said. So many
things about the world and nature are absolutely mysterious
to them,` he said. 1he desire to ind supernatural
explanations or natural eents is still with us, and will be
until more people get good basic scientiic educations, Baker
said. . . . Michael Preston, an Lnglish proessor at the
Uniersity o Colorado, points to a strong desire today to
beliee in a greater power. It can be seen in presidential
candidates inoking God, in pilgrims making their way to
the UlO capital o Roswell, N.M., in young people buying
crystals and pyramids, or in worshipers illing undamentalist

56
Christian churches.
-Roc/, Movvtaiv ^er., August 21, 2000

1he testimony o the tone dea would not be allowed to
negate the reality o music and so it seems reasonable that
those who claim neer to hae had a sense o the diine
should not be gien equal weight with those ,the majority in
the history o mankind, who hae. Len in science we are
aware that our seeing o the world is always seeing-as, our
ision is reracted by those spectacles behind the eyes`
imposed by our theoretical preconceptions.
-John Polkinghorne, cievce ava Creatiov

I made up my mind long ago not to understand. I I try to
understand anything I shall be alse to acts and I hae
determined to stick to act.`
-Ian in 1be rotber. Karavaor by lyoder Dostoyesky

1ake irst the more obious case o materialism. As an
explanation o the world, materialism has a sort o insane
simplicity. It has just the quality o the madman's argument,
we hae at once the sense o it coering eerything and the
sense o it leaing eerything out. Contemplate some able
and sincere materialist, as, or instance, Mr. McCabe, and
you will hae exactly this unique sensation. le understands
eerything, and eerything does not seem worth
understanding.
-G. K. Chesterton, Ortboao,

Reason`s last step is the recognition that there are an ininite
number o things which are beyond it. It is merely eeble i it
does not go as ar as to realize that. I natural things are
beyond it, what are we to say about supernatural things
-Blaise Pascal, Pev.ee.
5
\e are talking about God. \hat wonder is it that you do
not understand I you do understand, than it is not God.
-St. Augustine

lor these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only
the third hour o the day, but this is what was spoken by the
prophet Joel: And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all lesh, and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see isions, and your old men shall dream dreams. . . .`
-Acts 2:15-1

1o sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there`s the rub. lor in
that sleep o death what dreams may come when we hae
shuled o this mortal coil . . . that dread o something
ater death, the undiscoered country rom whose bourn no
traeler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear
those ills we hae than ly to others that we know not o.
1hus conscience does make cowards o us all.
-Shakespeare, avtet

I lay and heard them: the wind and the water and the moon
sang a peaceul waiting or a redemption drawing nigh. I
dreamed cycles, I say, but, or aught I knew or can tell, they
were the solemn, aeonian march o a second, pregnant with
eternity. . . . In moments o doubt I cry, Could God
limsel create such loely things as I dreamed` \hence
then came thy dream` answers lope. Out o my dark sel,
into the light o my consciousness.` But whence irst into
thy dark sel` rejoins lope. My brain was its mother, and
the eer in my blood its ather.` Say rather,` suggests
lope, thy brain was the iolin whence it issued, and the
eer in thy blood the bow that drew it orth - But who
made the iolin And who guided the bow across its strings
Say rather, again - who set the song birds each on its bough
58
in the tree o lie, and startled each in its order rom its
perch \hence came the antasia And whence the lie that
danced thereto Didst tbov say, in the dark o thy own
unconscious sel, Let beauty be, let truth seem!` and
straightway beauty was, and the truth but seemed` Man
dreams and desires, God broods and wills and quickens.
\hen a man dreams his own dream, he is the sport o his
dream, when Another gies it him, that Other is able to
ulil it. . . . Now and then, when I look round on my books,
they seem to waer as i a wind rippled their solid mass, and
another world were about to break through. Sometimes
when I am abroad, a like thing takes place, the heaens and
the earth, the trees and the grass appear or a moment to
shake as i about to pass away, then, lo, they hae settled
again into the old amiliar ace! At times I seem to hear
whisperings around me, as i some that loed me were
talking o me, but when I would distinguish the words, they
cease, and all is ery still. I know not whether these things
rise in my brain, or enter it rom without. I do not seek
them, they come, and I let them go. Strange dim memories,
which will not abide identiication, oten, through misty
windows o the past, look out upon me in the broad
daylight, but I neer dream now. It may be, notwithstanding,
that, when most awake, I am only dreaming the more! But
when I wake at last into that lie which, as a mother her
child, carries this lie in its bosom, I shall know that I wake,
and shall doubt no more. I wait, asleep or awake, I wait.
Noalis says, Our lie is no dream, but it should and will
perhaps become one.`
-George MacDonald, ititb

1he \itch shook her head. I see,` she said, that we
should do no better with your tiov, as you call it, than we did
with your .vv. \ou hae seen lamps, and so you imagined a
bigger and better lamp and called it the .vv. \ou`e seen
cats, and now you want a bigger and better cat, and it`s to so
59
called a tiov. \ell, tis a pretty make-beliee, though, to say
truth, it would suit you all better i you were younger. And
look how you can put nothing into your make-beliee
without copying it rom the real world, this world o mine,
which is the only world. But een you children are too old
or such play. As or you, my lord Prince, that art a man ull
grown, ie upon you! Are you not ashamed o such toys
Come, all o you. Put away these childish tricks. I hae work
or you all in the real world. 1here is no Narnia, no
Oerworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan. And now, to bed all.
And let us begin a wiser lie tomorrow. But irst, to bed, to
sleep, deep sleep, sot pillows, sleep without oolish
dreams.`
-C. S. Lewis, 1be itrer Cbair

As a babe I leapt up on my mother's knee at the mere
mention o it |Battle o Armageddon|. No, the ision is
always solid and reliable. 1he ision is always a act. It is the
reality that is oten a raud.
-G. K. Chesterton, Ortboao,

Imagination is more important than knowledge. . . .
Common sense is the collection o prejudices acquired by
age eighteen. . . . Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a ery
persistent one.
-Albert Linstein

Postman says lat out, \e don't need more data. \e hae
more acts than we can possibly consume. \hat we are
dying o is lack o courage, lack o dreams, a ailure o nere
and no computer can gie us that.` Computers may be able
one day to speak, one day een to think. No computer will
eer be able to dream.
-\illiam l. \illimon
60
-&./01 2$ A$B*9*/102(
,Reelation 1:1-18,


In preparing or this message, I could not get a
conersation out o my mind. It`s one I had a while back
with a riend who I think is absolutely brilliant, who God
has used in my lie in tremendous ways. 1he conersation
happened at dinner, so I don`t know i he really meant what
he said, or i he was musing out loud.
At one point in the conersation, he said, ley,
Peter. \hat do you think o this recent election iasco` or
something like that. I said, lonestly, I think it`s maybe a
Coa ;o/e or something.` le shot back, A ;o/e. It`s erit.`
le might know, because he hangs out closer to
some o those olks. le hangs out with some ery powerul
people, people who St. John would call the rulers-the
kings-o the earth.` \e kept talking about politics, and I
said, Really my problem with the Democrats doesn`t hae
to do with taxes, the economy, etc. It has to do with
abortion. It`s a real problem or me.`
I realize it can be complicated . . . the past and how
that aects a pregnancy . . . rape, incest, the uture . . . is the
child wanted. My riend basically agreed with me on the
sanctity o human lie, but then he said, 1he problem is, no
matter what you do, it`s not going to change anything. \ou
see, the Republicans don`t really care about changing
anything. I /vor. 1hey`re not going to oerturn Roe s.
\ade.`
le inormed me o some surprising realities
inoling goernment and the kings o the earth. I think he
was making an argument that we need to be rather
pragmatic about where we can win. I inally said something
like this: I guess the bottom line or me is it`s not really
61
what the goernment does or doesn`t do but what I do and
whether it honors God.`
My riend leaned back and said, 1o be honest, I
think this may be where we see things dierently. I`m not
.vre that God is always in control. 1his idea o omnipotence
is a Greek idea - att orer. I beliee Jesus won at Calary, I
beliee le will win in the end, but I don`t think le`s always
in control.`
1hen he said, Go to Auschwitz and stand there like
I did, and tell me God`s in control. Such suering . . . under
lis soereignty`
\ou see what he means. God won the war at the
cross . . . is going to win in the end . . . but maybe le`s not
in control o eery little battle in your lie. le`d like to help,
but le can`t. 1hat means then that we hae to be pragmatic
about winning.
I said to him, It sounds like you`re saying God veea.
you.` le said, O course! \ou need the people you loe,
don`t you \ou veea them. God veea. me.`
\ou know, that is really an exhilarating thought . . .
le veea. me. And it`s absolutely horriying.
I always hae trouble sleeping ater Session meetings
,that`s what we call the Board meetings o our church,,
especially about a year ago when we went through a time
when our building program just was not coming together . .
. budgets, plans, procedures, people`s opinions . . . I didn`t
know what was right . . . I don`t know that any o the elders
knew what was right . . . we would hae these meetings . . . I
would get out at 1:00 in the morning totally stressed and
haunted by the idea God depends on us-needs us.` \ikes!
1ime and time again I ound mysel reading the
book o Reelation. I didn`t know what it all meant. I still
don`t. One thing, howeer, was absolutely clear: God is in
control . . . eery where, eery when, and eery how.
1hen I could go to sleep. Blessed are those who
62
read.


RLVLLA1ION 1:1: 1be reretatiov of ]e.v.
aocat,.e of ]e.v. . . .


Apocalypto` means to uneil.` 1he Bible ends
with a great uneiling-the Reelation. And the Bible begins
with a great eiling-katacalypto.` 1he Great Serpent ,the
Dragon, is conquered in the Reelation. But the Great
Serpent ,the Dragon, shows up in the Garden at the
beginning o scripture and tempts the man and the woman.
le seduces them with the dream o their own absolute
soereignty. 1he great Snake says to them, ley-eat the
ruit. Make yoursel like God.`
So they eat, they know shame, and God casts them
out o the Garden. God had told them, 1he day you eat the
ruit o the tree you die.` Adam and Le become the
walking dead, asleep in the illusion o their own soereignty.
1hey can no longer see God, and all lis glory is eiled.
Adam and Le are blind, dead, and enslaed to the
Dragon-the Great Serpent. 1he dream is a nightmare that
turns into lell . . . alone in the insane, sel-centered dream
o their own soereignty-lell.


RLVLLA1ION 1:1-6: 1be reretatiov of ]e.v.
Cbri.t, rbicb Coa gare biv to .bor bi. .erravt.
rbat vv.t .oov ta/e tace. e vaae it /vorv b,
.evaivg bi. avget to bi. .erravt ]obv, rbo te.tifie. to
erer,tbivg be .ar-tbat i., tbe rora of Coa ava tbe
te.tivov, of ]e.v. Cbri.t. te..ea i. tbe ove rbo
reaa. tbe rora. of tbi. robec,, ava bte..ea are
tbo.e rbo bear it ava ta/e to beart rbat i. rrittev
63
iv it, becav.e tbe tive i. vear. ]obv, to tbe .erev
cbvrcbe. iv tbe rorivce of ..ia . . . .


1he seen churches were seen small bands o baby
belieers in the proince o Asia who were beginning to ace
immense persecution at the hands o the kings o the earth.


Crace ava eace to ,ov frov biv rbo i., ava rbo
ra., ava rbo i. to cove, ava frov tbe .erev .irit.
before bi. tbrove, ava frov ]e.v. Cbri.t, rbo i. tbe
faitbfvt ritve.., tbe fir.tborv frov tbe aeaa, ava tbe
rvter of tbe /ivg. of tbe eartb.


Did you get that Jesus is the ruler o the kings o the earth.


1o biv rbo tore. v. ava ba. freea v. frov ovr .iv.
b, bi. btooa, ava ba. vaae v. to be a /ivgaov ava
rie.t. .ove rer.iov. .a, /ivg. ava rie.t. to
.erre bi. Coa ava atber-to biv be gtor, ava
orer for erer ava erer! .vev.


1o lim who reed us! 1he only people really ree in
the book o Reelation are those who hae been reed by
the blood o the Lamb: the Church. 1hey are kings and
priests.
Do you see how incredibly weird this picture is
Kings and priests . . . the Church 1hose seen little
churches It`s like a God joke on the kings o the earth. 1he
kings o the earth are not where the action is in the
64
Reelation.
1he action is with a baby, the Lamb that was slain,
who turns out to be born o a woman in Reelation 12, who
is clothed in the sun and wears twele stars on her head.
I beliee that woman is us-the people o God.
Israel, who contains the promise, gies birth to the child
who is caught up to heaen-Jesus. 1he Dragon hates the
child and pursues the woman into the wilderness. God
guards her-us, or the Dragon hates the brothers and
sisters o the child who was taken to leaen.
Jesus is born o us. le is ully human as well as ully
diine. le is born o us and saes us-lis mother, and lis
brothers, and lis sisters-the Church. le een said it:
\ho is my mother and who is my brother and who is my
sister All those who do the will o my lather in heaen
,Matthew 12:48-49,.
\ho is that Us! 1he Church.
So the action is with the Church. 1he action is with
some baby belieers in Asia Minor. 1hey, in act, are the real
kings and priests, while the kings o this world are only
pawns in the hands o Jesus the Christ in the serice o lis
lather and lis brothers and sisters. lor le is King o
Kings and Lord o Lords.


RLVLLA1ION 1:-8: oo/, be i. covivg ritb tbe
ctova. ava erer, e,e .batt .ee biv, erev tbo.e rbo
iercea biv; ava att tbe eote. of tbe eartb ritt
vovrv becav.e of biv. o .batt it be! .vev. av
tbe .tba ava tbe Ovega, .a,. tbe ora Coa,
rbo i., ava rbo ra., ava rbo i. to cove, tbe
.tvigbt,.


le sounds pretty much in control. In act, that word
65
Almighty`-Pantokrator` in Greek-can be translated
omnipotent`-att orerfvt. It`s not some abstract,
philosophical omnipotence, it means actual control oer
eerything. . . . Lord God who is, was, and is to come,
Almighty.` 1hat`s a reerence to the lebrew \ahweh
Sabaot`-absolute and unrialed power and control oer all
time, all space, all history.
God is in control eery time, eery place, and eery
how. le accomplishes all things according to the council o
lis will ,Lphesians 1:11,. le neer loses control. le only
.vrrevaer. control. Len then le only surrenders it to
limsel, the Son surrendering it to the lather. 1hen it`s
according to plan, and what appears to be lis greatest
loss-cruciied in shame on a lriday-we ind out is lis
greatest ictory come Sunday.
On that Sunday, we ind out about Laster, the grace
o God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the book o Reelation, there is neer any
question o God`s ictory . . . eery when, eery where, and
eery how.
1here is neer any question about God`s
absolute control.
1here is neer any question about the Dragon
and what the Dragon will do.
1here is neer any question about what the ea.t
will do.
1here is neer any question about what the
artot will do.
1here is neer any question about what the kings
o the earth will do, or whether or not there will
be amines and plagues and earthquakes and
natural disasters. 1hey ritt all happen according
to plan.
None o that is in question. 1he only question in the
66
book o Reelation is . . . ,ov. 1he only i` in the book o
the Reelation regards you-the Church. I know this is a
paradox o time and eternity. It`s a paradox o soereignty
and reedom, predestination and ree will, but the question
is this: \ill you conquer

In be.v., will they repent o dead works and
conquer
In Pergavvv, will they renounce idols and conquer
In 1b,atira, will they repent o immorality and
conquer
In Pbitaaetbia, will they hold ast and conquer
In aoaicea, will they humble themseles and
conquer

\ill tbe,, will ,ov, conquer

low are we going to ind the strength to conquer I
think that`s what the whole ision is about. It`s not as i
John wrote seen letters to these churches and then said,
Oh, by the way, I had this ision.` 1hey must read it, hear
it, and surrender to it. 1hat is, they must surrender their
soereignty to God`s soereignty. 1hey must surrender their
areav o soereignty to the reality o God`s soereignty in
Jesus the Christ.
\hen we do, we are hidden in lim, lost in Jesus,
ound in Jesus. \hen we do, we are the body o Christ. And
]e.v. atra,. covqver..
I know this may seem strange to some o you - it
seems strange to me - but I once encountered a ery
powerul demon in a riend who had been ritually abused in
a Satanic coen or years. 1he demon claimed to be Satan.
Demons lie by nature, but the power o Christ orces
truthul conessions rom them as in the Gospel. Just as this
6
demon was about to leae, and as I placed communion wine
on my riend`s orehead, I said, Jesus wins.` A deep and
extremely tortured oice came rom my riend`s lips. Jesus
always wins,` and then it let, by the power o Christ, at my
riend`s command.
Jesus always wins. Len when le bleeds le wins.
Len when le dies le wins.
An Lnglishman immigrated to the United States o
America and decided to become a citizen. le went back
home to London to spend some time on acation with his
amily, and his amily started giing him a hard time. \hat
did you hope to gain by becoming an American citizen` le
said, \ell, or one thing, I won the Reolutionary \ar.`
\ou see, that battle`s already oer! I you surrender
soereignty to Jesus, you always win . . . eery where, eery
when, and eery how.
1hanks be to God,` writes Paul, who in Christ
atra,. leads us in triumph` ,II Corinthians,. 1hen he wrote,
.tt things work together or the good o those who loe
God and are called according to lis purpose` ,Romans
8:28,. In Lphesians: May the eyes o your hearts be
enlightened that you may know . . . the immeasurable
greatness o lis power in us that beliee. God has put att
tbivg. under Jesus` eet. le has made lim head oer all
things.` \hy lor the Church . . . which is lis body, the
ullness o lim that ills all in all` ,Lphesians 1,.
All creation, the kings o the earth, the plagues, the
amines, the dragons, the suerings . . . become instruments
in the hands o Jesus, or loing you-lis Church.
Jesus is Lord oer time, Jesus is Lord oer space. All
time and space become instruments in lis hands or loing
you. le literally transorms past, present, and uture or the
loe o you. \hen you repent, een your past sins are
transormed into a means o uneiling or you the wonders
o lis mercy.
68
1hink o it . . . natural disasters . . . the kings o the
earth . . . amines . . . plagues . . . een dragons and demons .
. . space and time: no big challenge or Jesus. But le died
or you that you would surrender your dream o soereignty
to lim in loe.
Surrender happens vor-the present moment.
Lternity touches time vor. ^or is the day o salation,`
writes Paul. I surrender vor-the point at which eternity
touches time-and all time is transormed. low can le ao
that le`s the Lord o time.

My past . . . transormed,
My uture . . . sealed and secure.

It really doesn`t matter what the kings o the earth
do or don`t do. 1hey are only pawns in my Saior`s hand. It
matters what do . . . vor. 1hat walk in the obedience o
aith.
\hat I`m saying is, I`m not called to win, I`m not
called to conquer, I`m called to surrender . . . vor. \hen I
surrender, le gies me the ictory-the win. 1hanks be to
God who in Christ Jesus gies us the ictory` . . . eery
when, eery where, and eery how.
1his may be another way o saying it: As soon as I
think `v in control, as soon as I think Peter liett can
preach a really great sermon that could sae somebody, as
soon as I think I could enact legislation that would aect the
kings o the earth and change things, as soon as I think I
could bring the kingdom, I`m dreaming . . . the walking dead
enslaed to the Dragon and the Beast.
Now, Jesus may do all those things through me . . .
sae people . . . enact legislation . . . bring the kingdom . . .
but without lim I can do nothing. My calling is to
surrender soereignty to lim. In other words, my calling is
69
faitb . . . trv.t . . . eery moment.
Surrendering to God`s soereignty means dying to
the dream o my own soereignty. And that hurts.


RLVLLA1ION 1:9-1: , ]obv, ,ovr brotber ava
covaviov iv tbe .vfferivg ava /ivgaov or
.orereigvt, . . .


Did you get that phrase - John, your companion
in the suering and the soereignty.` My riend is right in
this: I don`t hae much authority to speak to Aushwitz
suriors. Neither does he, but John does, and he says
suering and soereignty.`


. . . ava atievt evavravce tbat are ovr. iv ]e.v.,
ra. ov tbe i.tava of Patvo. becav.e of tbe rora of
Coa ava tbe te.tivov, of ]e.v..


le was the last disciple let, the rest were martyred, and now
he is exiled.



Ov tbe ora`. Da, ra. iv tbe irit, ava beara
bebiva ve a tova roice ti/e a trvvet, rbicb .aia:
!rite ov a .crott rbat ,ov .ee ava .eva it to tbe
.erev cbvrcbe.: to be.v., v,rva, Pergavvv,
1b,atira, arai., Pbitaaetbia ava aoaicea.
tvrvea arovva to .ee tbe roice tbat ra.
.ea/ivg to ve. .va rbev tvrvea .ar .erev
gotaev tav.tava., ava avovg tbe tav.tava. ra.
.oveove ti/e a .ov of vav, are..ea iv a robe
0
reacbivg aorv to bi. feet ava ritb a gotaev .a.b
arovva bi. cbe.t. i. beaa ava bair rere rbite ti/e
root, a. rbite a. .vor, ava bi. e,e. rere ti/e
btaivg fire. i. feet rere ti/e brove gtorivg iv a
fvrvace, ava bi. roice ra. ti/e tbe .ovva of rv.bivg
rater.. v bi. rigbt bava be beta .erev .tar., ava ovt
of bi. vovtb cave a .bar aovbteeagea .rora. i.
face ra. ti/e tbe .vv .bivivg iv att it. brittiavce.
!bev .ar biv, fett at bi. feet a. tbovgb
aeaa.


In the last sermon, I reminded you that i you wake
a person too quickly rom a dream, you can kill them just
with shock. In our own dreams, our minds are soereign-
they are in control. 1he thing that wakes us is something
outside our soereignty and control.
1he children o Adam are dead in a dream o their
own control.
John .ar the oice. le .ar the \ord o God, in
whom and by whom all things were made, who is beore all
things, in whom all things hold together.` And John`s dream
o his own soereignty was utterly shattered. le ell at the
eet o reality as though dead. Lery particle in his body was
held together by the express will o this oice, eery
heartbeat was a git, eery breath-entirely dependent on
the continuous grace o the One beore him. And he could
see it.
\our next heartbeat exists solely because o the
express will o Jesus Christ our Lord by God lis lather . . .
because le wills it. Do you beliee that Not really. \ou
consent to it, but i you really belieed it, you`d be on the
loor. John woke to the soereignty o God and collapsed in
terror.
Many years ago when Susan and I were newly
1
married, we were liing in L.A. in a triplex in a dangerous
part o town. I came home unexpectedly rom a great
distance at an hour Susan did not expect . . . it was 3:00 in
the morning . . . she was sound asleep dreaming her dreams.
I had been driing all night. I had been through a crisis and
vi..ea her so ery much. I ravtea her. ,I ravt the people I
loe.,
I tried desperately not to startle her, or she thought
she was alone. But trying not to startle a person at 3:00 in
the morning is all the more entering like a thie in the night.
I remember thinking, I only I could enter her dreams and
whisper, loney, it`s me. I`m coming home. And I`m
coming like a thie in the night, but it`s ve and I`ll be waking
you soon.` But I couldn`t do that.
I wiggled the lock, the keys jiggled in my hand. And
I heard a oice o absolute terror rom the other room. Is
somebody there \ho is it! Oh my God who is it` In that
instant, I knew what she belieed: whoeer I was, I was in
absolute control, and so she expected me to rape her. Rape
is stolen soereignty.
In that instant, I so wished that I could hae entered
her dreams and told her, Sweetheart . . . I will neer rape
you. loweer, i you wish, my greatest desire is to make
loe to you. I am your husband. So, Awake, O sleeper. And
I will gie you lie.``

I don`t say that to be cute. I say it because it`s the
Gospel. 1he only i` in all the book o Reelation belongs
to the Bride o Christ. Don`t you see it le says, I will not
rape you, but I long to loe you. I you will only surrender, I
will impregnate you with lie.`

lis loe is lie.

2
\ell, I didn`t hae all that igured out at 3:00 in the
morning when she reaked out, but I do remember that ater
I calmed her down and she realized it was me, I receied a
pretty great loin` that night!
\ou see, this is a mystery. Jesus has been eiled, or
we hae sinned and dreamed our own soereignty. Jesus has
also been eiled according to God`s soereign plan, that
God might uneil to us lis glory . . .

1hat we might see the road that leads nowhere,
1hat we might glimpse oer the edge o the abyss,
1hat we might taste, or at least smell, the scent o
lell,
1hat we might dream the insane dream o our own
soereignty . . .

. . . and then ra/e v! and surrender to lis
soereignty in joy . . . to lis glory with a knowledge into
which the angels long to look, the knowledge o the grace o
God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
le consigned all men to disobedience,` writes Paul
in Romans 11, that he might hae mercy on all.` \ou see, I
beliee that in the Reelation we will ind out that we the
Church sing a song that nobody else knows! 1he avget. don`t
know it, the aevov. don`t know it, the beasts around the
throne don`t know it, but we know it. It`s the song o the
Lamb, the new song, and it inuriates the Ancient Dragon,
or it is the grace o God in Christ Jesus our Lord. By it the
Dragon is deeated. It`s why the Dragon hates all the
children o the woman in chapter twele. It`s why human
lie is so sacred, or we can know the glory o God in Christ
Jesus our Lord, and we can become essels or that ery
glory, which is Christ in us. In Christ, we conquer. le gire.
the ictory to us in grace.
3
It`s not that le veea. us, but le wants us, so
thoroughly and completely, that he died and rose. \e are
ravtea by God.
In this whole abortion debate, I think that`s the
number one thing we ignore-\hat does Coa want \hat is
Coa doing Does Coa hurt Does Coa ache Does Coa care
\hy would we orget lim It`s the dream o our own
soereignty.
Last week I ended with my aorite poem. 1his
week I want to end with my aorite story. It`s written by
\alter \angerin. As you listen, see i you can igure out
who is speaking and to whom he is speaking.

I loe a child. But she is araid o me.
I want to help this child, so terribly in need
o help. . . . She is retarded, i the truth be
told . . . slow in her mind, yet aware o her
inirmity and embarrassed by it. . . .
She is lonely all the day long. She sits
in a chair with her back to the door, her
knees tucked tight against her breasts, her
arms around these, her head down. . . . She`s
hiding. . . . She sings a sort o song to pass
the time, a childish melody, though she is a
woman in her body by its shape, a swelling at
her belly. She sings, Puss, puss.` I know the
truth, that she is singing o no cat at all, but
o her ace, sadly, calling it ugly. And I know
the truth that she is right. But I am mightily
persuasie mysel, and I could make it loely
by my loe alone. I loe the child. But she is
araid o me.
1hen how can I come to her, to eed
and to heal her by my loe Knock on the
door Lnter the common way No. She
holds her breath at a gentle tap, pretending
4
that she is not home . . . . And should I
break down the door Or should I show my
ace at the window Oh, what terrors I`d
cause then. 1hese hae happened beore.
She`s suered the rapings o kindless men,
and thereore she hangs her head . . . .
I am none o these, to be sure. But i
I came the way that they hae come, she
would not know me dierent. She would not
receie my loe |surrender to my loe|, but
might likely die o a ailed heart. I`e called
rom the hall. I`e sung her name through
cracks in the plaster. But I hae a bright
trumpet o a oice, and she coers her ears
and weeps. She thinks each word an
accusation.
I could, o course, ignore the doors
and walls and windows, simply appearing
beore her as I am. I hae that capability. But
she hasn`t the strength to see it and would
die. She is, you see, her own deepest hiding
place, and ear and death are the truest doors
against me.
1hen what is let low can I come
to my beloed \here`s the entrance that
will not righten nor kill her By what door
can loe arrie ater all, truly to nurture her,
to take the loneliness away, to make her
beautiul, as loely as my moon at night, my
sun come morning
I know what I will do. I`ll make the
woman hersel my door-and by her body
enter in her lie. Ah, I like that. I like that.
loweer could she be araid o her own
lesh, o something lowly underneath her
ribs I`ll be the baby waking in her womb.
5
lush: she`ll hae the time, this way, to know
my coming irst beore I come. lush: time
to get ready, to touch her tummy, touching
the promise alone, as it were. \hen she
hangs her head, she shall be looking at me,
thinking o me, loing me while I gather in
the deepest place o her being. It is an
excellent plan! lush.
And then, when I come, my oice
shall be so dear to her. It shall call the
tenderness out o her soul and loeliness
into her ace. And when I take milk at her
breast, she`ll sigh and sing another song, a
sweet Magniicat, or she shall eel important
then . . . !
1hen what o her loneliness Gone.
Gone in the bond between us, though I shall
not hae said a word yet. And or my sake
she shall wash her ace, or she shall hae a
reason then. And the sins that she suered,
the hurts at the hands o men, shall be
transigured by my being: I make good come
out o eil, I am the good come out o eil.
I am her Lord, who loes this woman.
And or a while I`ll let her mother
me. But then I`ll grow. And I will take my
trumpet oice again, which once would kill
her. And I`ll take her, too, into my arms.
And out o that little room, that ilthy
tenement, I`ll bear my mother, my child,
alie oreer. I loe a child. But she will not
ear me or long, now.
Look! Look, it is almost happening. I
am doing a new thing-and don`t you
perceie it I am coming among you, a baby.
6
And my name shall be Lmmanuel.
,lrom Ragvav: .va Otber Crie. of aitb)

lor those that hae ears to hear,` I beliee we are
that woman. \e, the people o God, are the woman in
Reelation 12. And Christ is born in v., and among us and
to us and through us, whispering, Surrender, my people.
Surrender to my loe.`
It`s not that we are needed but that we are wanted .o
vvcb Christ came to us in a baby, died or us on a cross, and
rose rom the dead.
And God has put all creation under lis control and
sent lis ery Spirit, borv into the hearts o lis people, een
the ery last and the ery least, drawing loe out o us,
drawing us into lis kingdom, that we would surrender and
hear lis whisper: Awake, O sleeper, rise rom the dead,
and I will gie you lie.`
John! John! It`s me-Jesus. I was born in
Bethlehem. And I met you that day you were ishing in
Galilee, remember John, it`s me-Jesus. \ou laid your head
on my chest at supper, you listened to my heartbeat, and I
whispered in your ear o this day, John.
John, I asked you to come pray with me, and you
were so sleepy. I was praying about this day, John, sleepy-
head John. \ou saw me die. John, am the liing one. hold
the keys o death and lell. I am in control, I always win, so
don`t ear, John. Get up.`
And one day I think you`ll eel a hand on your
shoulder, and you`ll hear the oice that created the worlds
and the galaxies say something like this: ley, it`s ve. It`s ve.
I was singing to you through your mom, remember \ou
met me in Dener, remember I was with you on the couch
those nights when you were so scared. I was there. So don`t
be araid, because I hold the keys o death and lell, and
now it`s time to get up. It`s time to lie.`

RLVLLA1ION 1:1-18: !bev .ar biv, fett at
bi. feet a. tbovgb aeaa. 1bev be tacea bi. rigbt
bava ov ve ava .aia: Do vot be afraia. av tbe
ir.t ava tbe a.t. av tbe irivg Ove. ra.
aeaa, ava bebota av atire for erer ava erer! .va
bota tbe /e,. of aeatb ava ett.




|Prayer|

Lord Jesus, we thank you that it`s yov, and that i
we`e surrendered our lies to you, it`s beev you, our
riend. \e know you, just not att o you. \e thank
you, Lord Jesus, that it`s you. I it`s anyove or
anytbivg, Lord Jesus, we thank you that it`s you who
holds the keys. \e thank you that it`s you who are in
control, because that means that our suerings are
not in ain, but you use them. And this lie is not in
ain, but you use it. 1his world is not in ain, but
you hae transormed it. On that day when you say,
Get up sleepy-head,` we will wake up and say, Oh!
I`m so glad it`s yov! 1hank you.`
Now, Lord Jesus, it`s Sanctity o luman Lie
Sunday, and I would imagine there are some here
who hae had an abortion. Some hae paid or an
abortion. . . .

I that`s you, it may be that you hae been running
rom the oice, or you think the oice only speaks words o
accusation, but I`m saying stop and surrender, you will see
that the words are words o loe. I you surrender, le takes
that, een that, no-e.eciatt, that, and turns it to lis glory.
8
lurther Reading


\e are most deeply asleep at the switch when we ancy we
control any switches at all.
-Annie Dillard

As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient
o days took his seat, his raiment was white as snow, and the
hair o his head like pure wool, his throne was iery lames,
its wheels were burning ire. A stream o ire issued and
came orth rom beore him, a thousand thousands sered
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood beore him,
the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I
looked then because o the sound o the great words which
the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was slain,
and its body destroyed and gien oer to be burned with
ire. As or the rest o the beasts, their dominion was taken
away, but their lies were prolonged or a season and a time.
I saw in the night isions, and behold, with the clouds o
heaen there came one like a son o man, and he came to
the Ancient o Days and was presented beore him. And to
him was gien dominion and glory and kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages should sere him, his
dominion is an eerlasting dominion, which shall not pass
away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
-Daniel :9-14

I will no longer talk much with you, or the ruler o this
world is coming. le has no power oer me, but I do as the
lather has commanded me, so that the world may know
that I loe the lather. Rise, let us go hence.
-John 14:30-31

9
Pilate thereore said to him, \ou will not speak to me Do
you not know that I hae power to release you, and power
to cruciy you` Jesus answered him, \ou would hae no
power oer me unless it had been gien you rom aboe,
thereore he who deliered me to you has the greater sin.`
-John 19:10-11

\e know that in eerything God works or good with those
who loe him, who are called according to his purpose. . . .
lor God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may
hae mercy upon all. O the depth o the riches and wisdom
and knowledge o God! low unsearchable are his
judgments and how inscrutable his ways! lor who has
known the mind o the Lord, or who has been his
counselor` Or who has gien a git to him that he might
be repaid` lor rom him and through him and to him are
all things. 1o him be glory or eer. Amen.
-Romans 8:28, 11:32-36

\ou must utterly beliee that the circumstances o your lie,
that is, eery minute o your lie, as well as the whole course
o your lie-anything, yes, erer,tbivg that happens-hae all
come to you by lis will and by lis permission. \ou must
utterly beliee that eerything that has happened to you is
rom God and is exactly what you need. . . . Abandonment
is being satisied with the present moment, no matter what
that moment contains. \ou are satisied because you know
that whateer that moment has, it contains-in that
instant-God`s eternal plan or you.
-Jeanne Guyon, erievcivg tbe Detb. of ]e.v.




80
1o the abandoned soul God is isible een in the proud
souls who oppose him. Lery creature, whether good or
eil, reeals God to him.
-Jean-Pierre De Caussade,
.bavaovvevt to Dirive Proriaevce

1he real question is not whether God is on our side, but
whether we are on God`s side.
-Abraham Lincoln

1here is a sort o deilish perersity in this organizing me
not to sin by means o the ery thing which ensures that I
shall. laith, on the other hand, consists in the awareness that
I am more than I know. Such aith cannot be contried. I it
were contriable, i it were something I could create in
mysel by ollowing some recipe or other, then it would not
be aith. It would be works-my organizing the sel I know.
1hat aith can be only the git o God emphasizes the
scandal o our human condition-the scandal o our
absolute dependence on him. I hae to depend completely
upon what ery largely I do not know and cannot control.
-l. A. \illiams

In that way you are seeing a picture that was inished when
your world was still hal-made. But do not think o these
things. My people |angels| hae a law neer to speak much
o sizes or numbers to you . . . \ou do not understand, and
it makes you do reerence to nothing and pass by what is
really great. Rather tell me what Maleldil |Jesus| has done in
1hulcandra |Larth|.
-C. S. Lewis, Ovt of tbe itevt Ptavet


81
1here is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that
is one o the deepest messages o the Incarnation.
-Madeleine L`Lngle, !at/ivg ov !ater

1o the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and
unbelieing nothing is pure, their ery minds and
consciences are corrupted.
-1itus 1:15

And the sins that she suered, the hurts at the hands o
men, shall be transigured by my being: I make good come
out o eil, I av the good come out o eil. I am her Lord,
who loes this woman.`
-\alter \angerin, Ragvav: .va Otber Crie. of aitb

And he who sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new.`
-Reelation 21:4a
82
-&./01 2$ C%)2&)(
,Reelation 2:1-,


In 198, I went on my irst date with my Susan
Coleman, who is now Susan liett. \e went to see the
moie Cto.e vcovvter. of tbe 1bira Kiva. It was sold out, so we
went next door and saw another moie that turned out to be
terrible. So ater that we went back and saw the late showing
o Cto.e vcovvter..
During the irst moie, I had managed to get my
arm around my date. I was so enamored with her that I
would not moe it. She said, Doesn`t your arm hurt` I
said, Oh, no, it`s ine.` By the second moie, my arm was
screaming in pain, but I wouldn`t moe it. linally, it was
utterly paralyzed . . . rom my neck all the way to my
ingertips . . . dead meat sitting on her shoulders. At last I
had to excuse mysel, reach around her head, pick up my
arm, set it on my lap, and slap it until it came to.
On our second date, I worked like crazy cleaning the
car and making plans. I prepared a picnic . . . I took her up
to the horse pasture in the mountains where we kept our
horse. But we couldn`t catch the horse. So we picnicked on
a rock under a pine tree, and we talked about death. My
riend Bobby had died that week in a car accident. \e
talked, and talked, and talked . . . I was stricken with her.
On our tbira date, I arranged a snow-shoeing trip. I
prepared a picnic or that trip as well. On the way, we
stopped at the top o Loeland Pass, parked the car, and
hiked to the top o a 13,000-oot mountain in our tennis
shoes in mid-winter. I remember looking at her and
thinking, \ow! \hat a woman!`
O course, I was being conned. I ound that my wie
would rather scrub a million toilets than climb a rozen
mountain in mid-winter. But, you see, it was a beavtifvt con.
83
She didn`t climb it because she loed rozen mountains, she
wanted to be with ve. She disciplined hersel or me.
\ell, ater that, we snow-shoed to my Uncle
Chuck`s cabin in the woods, and we had a picnic in the tree
house that I played in as a little boy. laing picnics in tree
houses doesn`t especially loat my boat, but I thought that
maybe it would loat hers. And it aia. It ror/ea. I was in tore.
\e call it puppy loe` . . . inatuation` . . . and we
middle-aged parents warn our children about it. Be carefvt!
It`s inatuation! Don`t get carried away. 1hese honeymoons
don`t last. One day you`ll see that, when you`re mature.
Once you`e paid a mortgage payment and lied with lie`s
responsibilities and raised a ew children and logged 10,000
hours in the oice, then you`ll understand that honeymoons
don`t last!`
On our ourth date, we went to a dance. In a James
Bond-like, romance-induced og, I droe my dad`s car oer
a median on South Broadway in Littleton, Colorado. I bent
the rame, it was baa. And she still liked me!
I was eeling pretty secure in our relationship, so on
the ith date, we just went to a moie. And on the sixth
date we went to a moie . . . on the seenth date we went to
a moie . . . eighth, ninth, tenth, eleenth, twelth,
thirteenth . . . went to a moie.
It was long about then that I said, \ou know,
maybe we ought to date other people too.`
An anonymous author wrote this:

1heir wedding picture mocked them rom
the table . . . .

Somewhere, between the oldest child`s irst
tooth and the youngest daughter`s
graduation, they lost each other.
84
1hroughout the years each slowly unraeled
that tangled ball o string called sel,
and as they tugged at stubborn knots,
each hid his searching rom the other.

Sometimes she cried at night and begged the
whispering darkness
to tell her who she was.
le lay beside her, snoring like a hibernating
bear, unaware o her winter.

Once, ater they had made loe,
he wanted to tell her how araid he was o
dying,
but, earul to show his naked soul,
he spoke instead o the beauty o her breasts.

She took a course on modern art,
trying to ind hersel in colors splashed upon
a canas,
complaining to the other women about men
who are insensitie.
le climbed into a tomb called 1he Oice,`
wrapped his mind in a shroud o paper
igures, and buried himsel in customers.

Slowly, the wall between them rose,
cemented by the mortar o indierence.
One day, reaching out to touch each other,
they ound a barrier they could not
penetrate,
85
and recoiling rom the coldness o the stone,
each retreated rom the stranger on the other
side.

lor when loe dies, it is not in a moment o
angry battle,
not when iery bodies lose their heat.
It lies panting, exhausted
expiring at the bottom o a wall it could not
scale.

No longer loers. At best, roommates.


RLVLLA1ION 2:1-: 1o tbe avget of tbe cbvrcb
iv be.v. rrite: 1be rora. of biv rbo bota. tbe
.erev .tar. iv bi. rigbt bava, rbo rat/. avovg tbe
.erev gotaev tav.tava..
/vor ,ovr ror/., ,ovr toit ava ,ovr
atievt evavravce, ava bor ,ov cavvot bear erit vev
bvt bare te.tea tbo.e rbo catt tbev.etre. ao.tte. bvt
are vot, ava fovva tbev to be fat.e; /vor ,ov are
evavrivg atievtt, ava bearivg v for v, vave`.
.a/e, ava ,ov bare vot grorv rear,. vt bare tbi.
agaiv.t ,ov, tbat ,ov bare abavaovea tbe tore ,ov
baa at fir.t. Revevber tbev frov rbat ,ov bare
fattev, reevt ava ao tbe ror/. ,ov aia at fir.t. f
vot, ritt cove to ,ov ava revore ,ovr tav.tava
frov it. tace, vvte.. ,ov reevt. Yet tbi. ,ov bare,
,ov bate tbe ror/. of tbe ^icotaitav., rbicb at.o
bate. e rbo ba. av ear, tet biv bear rbat tbe
irit .a,. to tbe cbvrcbe.. 1o biv rbo covqver.
ritt gravt to eat of tbe tree of tife, rbicb i. iv tbe
araai.e of Coa.`
86
\ou`e abandoned the loe you had at irst.` 1hat
must hae been a ery aivfvt letter or Jesus to write, or le
was being spurned by the one le loed.
In the last sermon, I shared with you how I came
home and woke my wie at an unexpected hour. I said I
wished I could hae entered her dreams and whispered to
her so she wouldn`t die in shock. Don`t be araid, honey. I
won`t rape you. But i you desire, i you wish, my greatest
longing is to make loe to you. I`m your bv.bava. Don`t be
araid. Awake, O sleepy one, and I will impregnate you with
lie.`
\hen I shared that story at church, I said, I`m not
joking about that! I`m not saying that lippantly! I really
mean it, because tbat is the Co.et.` 1hen I said a ew more
things and ended with this: I I remember correctly, that
night I got a pretty good loin`!` And I laughed.
1he next week I ound out that a lot o olks were
deeply oended.
Sometimes I oend people because I`m a callous,
insensitie, sel-centered bonehead misrepresenting God.
Sometimes I don`t explain a concept well. Sometimes, it`s
because I preach the Gospel.
A riend told me, People were oended because you
laughed. It made it cheap.` I certainly ao vot want to make it
cheap. But I tell you what: I ao laugh. I .eriov.t, laugh . . . not
in mockery, but in joy - serious, gut-wrenching delight, as
serious as a wedding banquet bound in a coenant o
blood-the blood o the Lamb. And serious laughter does
not come cheap.
\hen I laughed, I was making an extremely serious
point that I want you to get: One day, Bride o Christ, you
will awake to ecstasy, and the laughter will be that much
deeper and that much stronger because you hae been to the
edge o lell, in bondage to the Dragon that rapes your soul.

8
But now you are being awakened by the
Bridegroom, who is the loer o souls. le does not steal
your soereignty and rape your soul, le romances your soul
into the ecstasy o surrender. lis goal is ec.ta.,. Joy! Deeper
than this entire, allen world! Joy. And it is not cheap.

le endured the cross, despising the shame, or the
;o, that was set beore lim` ,lebrews 12:2,. And
what was that joy, Bride o Christ Yov!

1he Lord delights in you,` says Isaiah. As the
bridegroom rejoices oer the bride, so shall your
God rejoice oer you` ,Isaiah 62:5,. low does a
bridegroom take delight in his bride

1he Psalmist wrote, 1he sun declares the glory o
God. It comes orth like a bridegroom leaing his
chamber.` 1he bridegroom is radiant with delight.

John said, 1he riend o the bridegroom rejoices at
the bridegroom`s oice.` In that day the wedding
party-the marriage supper-didn`t really get going
until the riend o the bridegroom-the best man-
heard the oice o the bridegroom crying out rom
the bridal chamber, \e did it!` And that`s when the
rejoicing really began. 1he easting began, the
laughing began, the party began, the tife began . . .
and they celebrated or a week.

1he Great Bridegroom longs to take delight in lis
Bride. But le ritt vot take delight unless she surrenders
delight, because i. delight is ber delight. And ber delight is
i. delight. It`s a communion o delight. And that
communion o delight gies birth to lie, ruit, babies.
88
But Satan steals, and the Dragon rapes and gies
birth to death and ear.
So when I heard people were oended, I elt angry.
Not at all angry at those people, but ery angry at an
Ancient Dragon who lies to the Bride o Christ so she will
not surrender to delight, and she ritt vot bear lie, but ear,
shame, and death.
Seeral years ago I sat in a car with a ery good
riend who was planning to leae his wie. I was pleading
with him to stay. linally, he said, Peter, do you know that
on our wedding night she wouldn`t let me touch her She
wouldn`t let me make loe to her or three days, because
she wasn`t interested.`
No doubt my riend`s diorcing his wie was a great
sin. But my riend`s wie was also guilty o a great sin. Both
belieed the Dragon.
\e may be married to Christ, and Satan can`t
preent that now, howeer, with lies he can keep us rom
bearing ruit. Roommates bear no ruit. Only loers bear
ruit. God doesn`t want roommates, le pursues a loer.
1he Dragon tempts us to immorality ava he tempts
us to morality: that is, to shame . . . so we would eentually
just become roommates with hearts sealed o to the Great
Bridegroom, such that the .eea-the \ord o God!-Jesus
limsel!-could not be implanted in the ertile, open soil o
our hearts. Like we read last week, \e are our own deepest
hiding place, and ear and death are the surest doors against
the Loer o our souls.`
1he Dragon tempts us with immorality. le tempts
us to oer our hearts to idols that end up raping us to our
shame. 1hen we associate passionate, intimate communion,
with shame.
\e watch teleision and laugh at sexual innuendos.
\e talk openly about these things with riends. \e tell
sexual jokes in the parking lot ater church. But i the
89
preacher mentions sex in the sanctuary, we`re oended.
low strange. 1hat`s the one place we should not be
oended: in the sanctuary experiencing communion ,a
sacramental union o the physical and spiritual, all bound by
an unbreakable coenant.
Paul wrote to the Lphesians about thirty years
beore John: lor this reason a man will leae his ather and
his mother and be united to his wie, and the two will
become one lesh. 1his is a proound mystery, and I am
saying that it reers to Christ and the church.`
Maybe the Ancient Dragon is lying to us about far
vore than just .e! le is lying to us about Jesus. le lies
through immorality. le also lies to us through morality-sin
and law. Immorality is the door to morality-the law.
So Satan whispers something like this: Since your
heart was raped, neer surrender it again. Guard your naked
heart. Guard it . . . with morality . . . with law . . . keep it
prim and proper. Lerything in the proper place! Maintain
control oer the soereign, little kingdom o your heart. And
this i. what Jesus is or: to guard the border and keep your
little kingdom secure.`
In one o his stories, C. S. Lewis speaks to a rigid
bride through one o his characters, and this is what he says:

But your trouble has been what old poets
called Davvgter. \e call it Pride. \ou are
oended by the masculine itsel . . . the gold
lion, the bearded bull-which breaks
through hedges and scatters the little
kingdom o your primness . . . . 1he male
you could hae escaped, or it exists only on
the biological leel. But the masculine none
o us can escape. \hat is aboe and beyond
all things is so masculine that we are all
eminine in relation to it. . . .
90
!e are the Bride o Christ. \hy are you betrothed to
Christ So le will guard the border o your prim and proper
little kingdom, keeping you sae inside
Are you betrothed to lim or security-Lternal
ire insurance \hat a great proider!` Did you marry or
.ecvrit, Jesus may want to come and scatter the kingdom o
your primness and draw you into a wild, passionate romance
where you lose eerything and gain lim.
le did not hang on a cross and bear the pain o lell
so you would be regular in your deotions, go on one
missions project a year, and be a aithul tither. le suered,
died, and bore lell in order to win your heart . . . that you
would surrender your soereignty to lis soereignty, that
you would surrender to ecstasy. But Satan has made you ear
the deepest longing o your soul so you would spurn the
Lord`s adances and turn lim into a roommate and a
border guard.
Jesus writes to the Lphesians, Lphesus, I see your
works. I see your aithul endurance. I see your orthodoxy.
And you hate the work o the Nicolaitans. I hate their works
too.` ,1he Nicolaitans may hae been a group that taught
sexual immorality was just ine.,
I think Jesus is saying, 1hank you, Lphesus. 1hank
you or hating immorality. 1hank you or hating passion out
o bounds. But, my dear, you hae come to hate passion iv
bounds! \ou cook, you clean, you take care o the children,
and I`m absolutely coninced you`d neer gie your passion
to another. But what`s the oivt. \ou neer gie it to ve.`

\ou hae orsaken the loe you had at irst.`

\e can philosophize and theologize all we want
about what loe` means . . . agape,` storge,` phileo,`
eros` . . . but ,ov know what Jesus means.
91
|Singing| \ou`e lost that loin` eelin` . . .
oh that loin` eelin` . . . \ou`e lost that
loin` eelin` cause it`s gone . . . gone . . .
gone . . . wohhhh . . . ,bum bum . . . bum
bum . . . bum bum . . . bum,
Baby, baby . . . I get down on my knees or
you ,bum bum . . . bum bum . . . bum bum .
. . bum, i you would only loe me . . . like
you used to dooooo. Baby, baby, baby, so
bring it on back . . .`

\ou`e lost that loing eeling.` And we say, Lost
the loing feetivg. can`t control my eelings!` !rovg. I
you`re a Christian, that is basically psycho-bull-ony. low do
I know that Because the Liing Lord says, Repent.
Remember. And do those things you did at irst, Lphesus.`
People hae said, \ell, Peter, you know, you and
Susan seem to hae a pretty passionate relationship,` as i
that just kind o baev.. It is a git, but let me tell you: we`e
had to figbt or it beginning twenty-our years ago, ater our
thirteenth date, when I remember praying, Oh, God, I
think the problem is with me. Lery time I win a girl`s heart,
I get tired o her-lose passion or her. God, I don`t think I
understand loe. lelp me.`
\e`e had to discipline ourseles or passion: \hile
we were dating, it meant abstaining in hope o greater
passion when we were married. Once married, we had to
discipline ourseles een vore. lour little children . . . a wie
that gets no sleep . . . a job that can consume eery waking
moment . . . a culture that constantly inites me to be
unaithul . . . the middle-age spread on my gut and on my
wie`s whateer . . . and most o all, the rightened, little,
insecure, painul hearts that we each carry into the sanctuary
o our bedroom, where God calls us to celebrate the
sacrament o our marriage coenant. It`s been a ight or
92
passion. And it has cost me energy and mostly pride. I`e
had to get down on my knees and plead.
Can you imagine how Jesus-the \ord that was
with God and was God-elt writing to lis Bride in
Lphesus I think can . . .
Seeral years ago, nursing our last child, my wie
didn`t hae much energy or me. And I was desperate or
her aections . . . av, aection . . . a hug . . . a kiss . . . a
smile . . . She would say, \ell, I just grew up in a amily
that didn`t express itsel that much. I cook, I clean, I take
care o the children . . . tbat`. how I say I loe you.`
But I knew the truth. She was growing tired o the
ight-ighting or passion. And it ra. a ight or her,
because, unlike Jesus, I can be ery critical and sel-centered
and insensitie . . . not easy to loe.
\ell, during that time I would stay awake all night
sometimes, angry and rustrated, not knowing what to do
with my eelings. Sexual immorality-moies, the
Lntertainment Channel Network-was especially tevtivg! I
could demand sexuality, but I couldn`t demand delight. ler
delight is my delight, a communion o delight.
1o tell her how I elt was utterly humiliating. Susan,
een though you don`t long or me, I still long or you. I lie
awake all night, I watch you while you`re sleeping, just
wishing, hoping, and praying that you would wake up and
receie me.`
During that time, there were nights I remember
thinking to mysel, Peter, just gie up. Just gie up. Gie up
on being loers, and just settle on being roommates.` 1hat
temptation came rom lell.
By the grace o God, one night late I wrote my wie
a letter. I told her how I elt-how I ached or her. I bared
my soul.
God has written his sleeping Bride a letter. 1he
name o the letter is ]e.v.-the \ord o God. And look at
93
lim: beaten, bloody, humiliated, exposed . . . the heart o
the Liing God hanging on an old Roman cross or the loe
o you-lis Bride. Oh, when you see lim, le is easy to
loe.
Me-I`m hard to loe. But I did write to Susan and
say, 1his is my heart. Remember how you were when we
were dating \hen we were irst married Don`t say I grew
up in this kind o home so I`m not a hugger or kisser`! I
revevber the things you did at irst. Do those things.`
Now, I need to tell you: My wie edits all my sermon
material. My sermons are always ovr sermons, they come out
o ovr lie together. And it was my wie who reminded me o
that letter. She reminded me o that letter because tbat tetter
gae her hope. It was a new beginning or us.
Lphesus, Lphesus . . . Oh, Lphesus, remember
what we had Repent! And do those things that you did at
irst.`
And we say, \hat rere those things that they did at
irst in Lphesus` . . . because i we /ver em, we could do
em, and eerything would be okay: our kingdom in order,
prim and proper. Right \e would just establish a new
denomination: lirst Church o the 1hings 1hey Did lirst in
Lphesus. And we would be as dead as eer.
\e don`t know what they did at irst! \e`re not
inited into their bedroom. \hy Because we are inited
into ovr bedroom. Jesus has a unique relationship with eery
one o us. .va le has a unique relationship with each
church.
\e don`t know exactly what they did in Lphesus,
but whateer it was, they did it out o that irst loe. And
God doesn`t want us to be simply stuck in irst loe, such
that it neer matures. le`s always drawing us into the deeper
things o loe. But that doesn`t mean le wants us to to.e
that irst loe.
\hen you are seenty-ie, your passion or your
94
spouse should be stronger than eer. It may not be sexual,
but it should be more ivtivate than sexual. God`s goal is that
you`ll be ar more than roommates.
So Jesus says to Lphesus, Remember, repent, and
do the things you did at irst.` And the question is, what is
Jesus saying to ,ov.

Remember those hikes we used to take And ,ov
probably didn`t een think o them as your
deotional, but remember those hikes \ou
thought o ve the whole time! \ould you go
hiking again`

Remember how you used to stay up late and
aerovr my \ord \ou vevoriea it. Could you do
that again`

Remember how you gae \ou sered me at the
mission. Do that again.`

Remember how you sang songs to me. \ould
you sing me a song`

Peter, remember how you used to see me in
your kids eery time you looked at them \ou`e
orgotten to too/. 1ake another look . . . I`m still
there.`

In a ew weeks, le may call you to something else.
Did you notice that it was when Susan and I did exactly
what we did on our irst date, oer and oer and oer again,
that we got tired o each other I we went snow-shoeing
and ate picnics in tree houses or thirty years, we would .titt
get tired o each other!
95
1he point is, ror/ at your relationship. Do the things
that nurture your aections . . . your fir.t tore. 1hat`s what
Christian disciplines are about. Discipline yoursel or
aection.
\hen Susan and I turn into cold ish, I /vor there
are things I need to do, whether I feet like it or not. I need to
discipline mysel to call a babysitter . . . arrange a dinner . . .
buy some lowers . . . stop criticizing her . . . do some
dishes . . . make a date. 1hose things are disciplines.
\ou say, low do I get strength or those
disciplines Aren`t they just ver tar. and aeaa ror/..` No!
Not i you discipline yoursel in boe o that irst loe.
\e all hae dierent struggles, and this may be a silly
example . . . I don`t want you to get the wrong idea, but the
example works or me:
I am genetically engineered by God to weigh a lot. I
think I hae a base metabolic rate o two. At times I gain
weight, at times I lose weight. \hen I lose weight, people
come up to me and say, \ou look so great! low did you ao
that` I answer honestly: I planned a romantic, tropical
acation with my wie.` But I don`t think people beliee me.
\ou see, I`e tried just about eery diet in the world .
. . Atkins` Diet, the Slim last Diet, the Zone Diet, the
Coert Baily Diet . . . \ell, I hae ound the secret to losing
weight. Are you ready 1his is it: BL lUNGR\ A LO1.
1hat`s a discipline! low do you ind the strength to
be hungry a lot Plan a romantic, tropical acation. I know
we can`t att do that, but I cav. I can rom time to time plan a
romantic, tropical acation, and here`s what happens. I see
the pizza, I look at the pizza . . . I tore pizza . . . but then I
think o a beach, my wie, and things I won`t tell you, and I
put the pizza down in hope. No problem.
It`s to her credit, you see. \our discipline and
morality must be to lis credit. But please hear this: I don`t
date my wie in order to lose weight. She is vot a weight loss
96
program. And I should not loe Jesus in oraer to hae a
disciplined lie. le is not a sin loss program. le is the
Bridegroom.
I must discipline my lie in the hope o communion
with Jesus like I lose weight in the hope o communion with
my wie.
But i the reserations are cancelled and I lose hope .
. . watch out, Pizza lut. lere I come!
Do you see the strategy o Satan le whispers,
loney, the reserations are cancelled. Not only that, but
that deepest, most hungry longing o your soul or intimate,
passionate communion is erit. Discipline it into obliion.`
1hat`s not the oice o Jesus. le whispers, \ou
know that deepest longing o your soul or intimate,
passionate communion loney, I vaae it because I made ,ov
or ve. Lcstasy. Do you beliee that Reseration conirmed.
Now .ta, bvvgr, or me. 1he time is at hand.`
1he call o singleness is not a call to passionless-ness.
It`s a call to greater passion ocused on Jesus. \ould you
stay hungry or me` I you are called to singleness, I beliee
that one morning Jesus will wake you up to such a loing
that all eternity you will say, 1hank you, Jesus. I praise you
that you saed me just or ,ov.`
I you`re called to marriage, I beliee Jesus will one
day wake you up to such a loing that you`ll say, Jesus,
thank you that in marriage you prepared me or this. 1hank
you!`
So Satan whispers, Discipline yoursel in shame,`
while Jesus whispers, My beloed, discipline yoursel in
boe.`
Lphesus` means desired one.` Lphesus, my
desired one, do the things you did at irst. 1o him who
oercomes I will grant to eat o the tree o lie which is in
the paradise |that means pleasure garden`| o God. \ould
you dream o that day Beliee in that day \ou ritt
9
oercome.`
I John 5:4: 1his is the ictory that oercomes the
world, our aith.` laith is the assurance o things hoped
or` ,lebrews 11:1,. And hope does not disappoint
us` ,Romans 5:5,.
Reelation 19: 1hen I heard what seemed to be the
oice o a great multitude, like the sound o many waters
and like the sound o mighty thunderpeals, crying,
lallelujah! lor the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let
us rejoice and exult and gie him the glory, or the marriage
o the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made hersel
ready, it was granted her to be clothed with ine linen, bright
and pure`-or the ine linen is the righteous deeds o the
saints.`
etiere that! - 1hat Jesus .are. you, that le
ra.be. you, that le forgire. you, that le aiea or you,
cleansing you, that le gire. you a white, wedding
gown. So put it on in aith and hope, and le will
bear lie in you. le doesn`t want a roommate, le
waits or a loer, the communion o delight.
Jesus romanced you all the way to that cross
outside Jerusalem and een rom the depths o lell.
So, in the name o Jesus, do a little romancing
yoursel this week. Amen.
98
lurther Reading


I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall exult in my
God, or he has clothed me with the garments o salation,
he has coered me with the robe o righteousness, as a
bridegroom decks himsel with a garland, and as a bride
adorns hersel with her jewels. . . . \ou shall be a crown o
beauty in the hand o the LORD, and a royal diadem in the
hand o your God. \ou shall no more be termed lorsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you
shall be called My delight is in her, and your land Married,
or the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be
married. lor as a young man marries a irgin, so shall your
sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices oer the
bride, so shall your God rejoice oer you.
-Isaiah 61:11, 62:3-5

le who loes his wie loes himsel. lor no man eer hates
his own lesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does
the church, because we are members o his body. lor this
reason a man shall leae his ather and mother and be joined
to his wie, and the two shall become one lesh.` 1his
mystery is a proound one, and I am saying that it reers to
Christ and the church, howeer, let each one o you loe his
wie as himsel, and let the wie see that she respects her
husband.
-Lphesians 5:28b-33

1hen I heard what seemed to be the oice o a great
multitude, like the sound o many waters and like the sound
o mighty thunderpeals, crying, lallelujah! lor the Lord
our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and
gie him the glory, or the marriage o the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made hersel ready, it was granted her to
99
be clothed with ine linen, bright and pure` -or the ine
linen is the righteous deeds o the saints.
-Reelation 19:6-8

low i this inasion o her own being in marriage rom
which she had recoiled, oten in the ery teeth o instinct,
were not, as she has supposed, merely a relic o animal lie
or patriarchal barbarism, but rather the lowest, the irst, and
the easiest orm o some shocking contact with reality which
would hae to be repeated-but in eer larger and more
disturbing modes-on the highest leels o all \es,` said
the Director. 1here is no escape. I it were a irginal
rejection o the male, le |God| would allow it. Such souls
can bypass the male and go on to meet something ar more
masculine, higher up, to which they must make a yet deeper
surrender. But your trouble has been what old poets called
Davvgter. \e call it Pride. \ou are oended by the masculine
itsel: the loud, irruptie, possessie thing-the gold lion,
the bearded bull-which breaks through hedges and scatters
the little kingdom o your primness . . . . 1he male you could
hae escaped, or it exists only on the biological leel. But
the masculine none o us can escape. \hat is aboe and
beyond all things is so masculine that we are all eminine in
relation to it. \ou had better agree with your adersary
quickly.` \ou mean I shall hae to become a Christian`
said Jane. It looks like it,` said the Director. . . .

1hen, at one particular corner o the gooseberry
patch, the change came. . . . Something expectant, patient,
inexorable, met her with no eil or protection between. In
the closeness o that contact she perceied at once that the
Director`s words had been entirely misleading |good, but
misleading|. 1his demand which now pressed upon her was
not, een by analogy, like any other demand. It was the
origin o all right demands and contained them. . . . And as
it closed, without an instant`s pause, the oices o those who
100
hae not joy rose howling and chattering rom eery corner
o her being. 1ake care. Draw back. Keep your head. Don`t
commit yoursel,` they said. . . . But her deences had been
captured and these counter-attacks were unsuccessul.
-C. S. Lewis, 1bat iaeov. trevgtb

At one time or another, though, most o us orget the
launting, or try to, or it oten threatens to cripple us,
leaing us bent oer and unable to deal with the eeryday
things that lie requires to be done. \e all, to some extent,
take that shining something in us that elt magical and
passionate as children, that something that later swirled amid
the conusion o sexual passion and our longing or heart
intimacy-we take it and push it through the loneliness,
ache, and turmoil o lie-through arious stages o
disconnection and hardness to another abiding place: a kind
o resignation. 1here is something inside o us that says,
1his is the way it is. I had better learn to deal with it.` . . .
I we were to try to picture the one who anesthetizes her
heart to control lie`s Arrows as a wie, we would see a soul
occupied by a seemingly redemptie busyness-inolement
with her household and community that is productie and
worthwhile. \hen her husband comes home rom work,
she is satisied with a peck on the cheek and a ew pleasant
words about the day. She doesn`t mind loemaking i it`s not
too spontaneous but she rarely i eer pursues it. An eening
o teleision or a good book would do just as well. Like
Cinderella, she oten settles into the lesser role o maid and
housekeeper rather than risk rejection by wanting romance.
ler husband will eel guilty-een accused-or wanting
anything more with her. I he expresses his sadness oer
something lost in their loe aair, she chides him or his
melancholy spirit. . . . 1he desire God has placed within us is
wild in its longing to pursue the One who is unknown. Its
capacity and drie is so powerul that it can only be captured
momentarily in moments o deep soul communion or sexual
101
ecstasy. And when the moment has passed, we can only
hold it as an ache, a haunting o quicksiler that lashes a
remembrance o innocence known and lost and, i we hae
begun to pass into the lie o the Beloed, a hope o
ecstasies yet to come.
-Brent Curtis and John Lldredge, 1be acrea Rovavce
102
-&./01 2$ >9*&)D9*
,Reelation 2:8-11,

Seeral years ago John C. \hitaker, the ormer
United States Undersecretary o the Interior, lew into a
small town in Noa Scotia or a ishing trip. 1he population
swells to nine in the summer and stays steady at two during
the winter. One o those two was an eighty-ie-year-old
woman named Mildred, whom \hitaker had known since
he was twele.
On this particular day, Miss Mildred welcomed
\hitaker into her kitchen. 1hey talked or a while, and Miss
Mildred said, Johnny, I hate to admit I don`t know, but
where is \ashington`
\hen \hitaker realized she wasn`t kidding, he
explained to her, Mildred, \ashington D.C. is where the
President o the United States is. \ashington is where the
power is, where the wealth is.` 1hen she asked, low many
people lie there` \hitaker responded, About two
million.`
She said, lmmm . . . think o that! 1wo million
people liing so ar away rom eerything.`

\here i. eerything`
\hat i. eerything`
\hat i. wealth, power, riches


RLVLLA1ION 2:8: .va to tbe avget of tbe cbvrcb
iv v,rva rrite: 1be rora. of tbe fir.t ava tbe ta.t,
rbo aiea ava cave to tife.`

103
1o the angel o the church . . . .` It`s important to
note that each o the messages to the seen churches is
addressed to the angel o each church. Angel` means
messenger.` 1here has been a great debate about whether
these angelos` are human beings or whether they are what
we usually think o as angels.
I it is a human messenger, some hae speculated
that the human being would be the pastor or bishop o that
local church. In the case o Smyrna, we een know who that
is: a man named Polycarp, who John knew as a young man.
loweer, it appears rom John`s usage that he
almost certainly is reerring to a spirit angel charged with the
care o a particular church. So although this is a letter the
churches will read, it appears Jesus is communicating
through John to an angel with an assignment oer a church,
with a clear expectation the angel will get the message to the
church.
low would that happen \ell, I would imagine
through Bible studies, prayers, prophecies, and
circumstances . . . through the gits in each local body . . .
the gits o the Spirit. And maybe, just maybe, the seen
spirits o the seen churches are . . .

1he seen spirits o God
,seen being maniold ullness,,
1he seen spirits in ront o the throne,
1he seen eyes o the lamb that was slain, which are
1he seen spirits o God sent out into all the earth.

\hateer the case, we do know Jesus speaks to
churches and through lis Spirit applies lis \ord through
the gits in the members o each church. Lach letter has this
phrase addressed to the messenger-the angel: Let those
with ears to hear, hear what the spirit says to the churches.`
104
Now, how can you hear what the Spirit says to the
churches` i you are not a part o the church I don`t just
mean membership class, but bone, meat, sinew, joints . . .
painul, ulnerable, lie-giing, messy relationships.
I bet there is an angel assigned to Lookout Mountain
Community Church. It also wouldn`t surprise me i there is
an angel assigned to each small group within the church.
Maybe that angel is een one o the seen spirits o Jesus
sent out into all the world. \hateer the case, I beliee Jesus
speaks to me through this church and through my small
group . . .

1hrough Mark, the thinker skeptic
1hrough Dee Dee, the mystic
1hrough Alan, the loer
1hrough Jennier, the serant
1hrough Andrew, the eangelist
1hrough Ann, the healer
1hrough Susan, the wie

Jesus said, \ou will not see me again until you say,
Blessed is he who comes in the name o the Lord.`` \hen
my small group shows up in the name o the Lord, Jesus is
there whether I`m aware o it or not. 1he question is, Do I
hae eyes to see and ears to hear so that I might say,
Blessed are you, Andrew, who comes in the name o the
Lord`
1o the angel o the church in Smyrna . . . .` \e
know quite a bit about Smyrna rom the writings o
Polycarp, rom ancient history, and because it`s still there. It
was about thirty-ie miles north o Lphesus, a wealthy and
beautiul city with large, glorious bouleards. 1he most
amous o those bouleards was called the Golden Street.

105
loweer, it was ery dangerous or Christians to walk
on that street, or Smyrna was one o the most dangerous
places or a Christian to lie in all the Roman Lmpire.

In 26 A.D., Smyrna won the right to erect a
temple to the Lmperor o 1iberius. It was a
center or Caesar worship.

Smyrna was the center o a large Jewish
population that had a strong inluence on the
Roman authorities. Because Judaism was a
recognized and oicial religion, Jews were
exempt rom emperor worship. 1he early
Christians considered themseles Jews-heirs
o the promise.` loweer, i the Jews wanted
the Christians out o their synagogues or elt
threatened by their inluence, they only had to
turn them oer to the Romans saying, 1hey say
they are Jews, but they`re not.` 1hen the
Christians would be subject to the coniscation
o property, persecution, and death.


RLVLLA1ION 2:8-9: .va to tbe avget of tbe
cbvrcb of v,rva rrite: 1be rora. of tbe fir.t ava
tbe ta.t, rbo aiea ava cave to tife. /vor ,ovr
tribvtatiov ava ,ovr orert, ;bvt ,ov are ricb) ava
tbe .tavaer of tbo.e rbo .a, tbat tbe, are ]er. ava
are vot. 1be, are vot ]er. bvt are a .,vagogve of
atav.`


Jesus says, I know your tribulation and poerty, and
the slander you suer. But ,ov are rich.` It appears they had
great spiritual qualities in Smyrna, so we can expect God to
106
bless them. 1hey will be ricb. Because they had been aithul
in Philadelphia, Jesus tells them le will keep them rom the
hour o trial that is coming on the whole world.
Most American, eangelical Christians beliee that
God will delier us rom the hour o trial that is coming on
the whole world-the Great 1ribulation. 1hey beliee in the
Pre-1ribulation Rapture o the Church. 1hey beliee God
will rescue us rom that great trial.
I know the plans I hae or you,` declares the
Lord, plans to prosper you . . . ` ,Jeremiah 29:11,. God`s
plan i. prosperity. God ritt make lis aithul Church ricb.


RLVLLA1ION 2:10-11: v,rva, ao vot fear
rbat ,ov are abovt to .vffer. ebota, tbe aerit i.
abovt to tbror .ove of ,ov iv ri.ov, tbat ,ov va,
be te.tea, ava for tev aa,. ,ov ritt bare tribvtatiov.
e faitbfvt vvto aeatb, ava ritt gire ,ov tbe crorv
of tife. e rbo ba. av ear, tet biv bear rbat tbe
irit .a,. to tbe cbvrcbe.. e rbo covqver. .batt
vot be bvrt b, tbe .ecova aeatb.`


Be aithul unto death.` \ikes! Is that prosperity
Smyrna is the most aithul o all the churches, so
they get more tribulation and persecution . . . and some get
death. lopeully you did notice that Jesus didn`t say,
\ou`re poor and goivg to be rich`, le said, \ou are atreaa,
rich.`
Do you eer get the eeling while reading the Bible
that we really don`t know what riches are I we do, we`re
not so sure we want them! 1o him who has, more will be
gien.` Ouch. Sorry, Smyrna. But meet in Laodicea and we`ll
hae a slide show on the suerings in Smyrna . . . take a
collection, say a prayer . . . Oh, Lord, help those poor
people.` Poor eote.
10
\ho is poor \ho is rich

Soren Kierkegaard told about a most eil thie who
would break into jewelry stores and switch all the price tags.
,O course, he didn`t care about jewels, gold, and pearls. le
just hated the owner and all his customers., Because the
price tags were switched, young men gae cheap plastic to
their brides, poor olks wore diamonds and precious jewels
and didn`t een know it. O course, eentually the cheap
stu was exposed ,destroyed in a ire or worn out with
time,, and the aluable stu was lost through neglect.
Kierkegaard`s point is that maybe this entire world is
like that store where all the price tags hae been switched.
Maybe we`re born again` een as children, and we don`t
know what`s aluable and what`s not.
\hen my son Coleman was a toddler, he was
constantly getting disciplined or eating dirt. I can picture his
precious, little ace streaked with tears, dirt caked around his
lips, suering immensely because he got another spanking
or eating dirt. A house ull o great ood, and he was
outside eating dirt!
O course, it`s not his ault. le was born with a
propensity toward eating dirt. le inherited bad genes rom
his Aunt Lydia. In 1968, Lydia used to sit in ront o our
house in Littleton with some 1upperware, making cakes out
o the manure my dad purchased to ertilize our yard. A
house ull o great ood, and she was outside eating manure!
Maybe we`re like that: Born again, een as babies,
sticking anything in our mouths ,an inherited problem,, as i
somewhere in our amily tree someone got addicted to bad
ruit. An entire garden ull o great and wonderul ruit, and
someone had to go and eat that one problem ruit. Since
then, we`e been outside the garden eating dirt.
Maybe our lather wants us to come inside and stop
eating dirt. Maybe we don`t know what`s good . . . what`s
108
rich . . . where eerything really is. In Smyrna, Jesus said,
\ou are rich.` In Laodicea where they claim to be rich,
Jesus says, \ou are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and
naked.`
\hat are riches

Last week in Lphesus, Jesus mourned their poerty
o irst loe. ,1hey had lost that loing eeling.`, Scholars
debate whether that was aectionate loe toward Jesus or
aectionate loe toward each other.
It`s a silly debate, or the irst commandment is
Loe God,` and the second is like it: Loe your
neighbor.` God in Jesus in lis Spirit is iv your neighbor.
Last week we preached that we are to discipline ourseles in
the hope o that treasure.
So why were they rich in Smyrna

1ribulation and poerty expose need, which
orces the disciplines o relationship.
Relationship opens the door or loe and
communion ,great riches,.
1ribulation and poerty orce us to rely on
people.
People are like a ield o dirt that contains
treasure.
Storms wash away the dirt and expose the
treasure.

A irst-grader went on her irst day to a newly
integrated school at the height o the segregation storm. An
anxious mother met her at the door to inquire, low did
eerything go, honey`

109
Oh, Mother! \ou know what A little black girl sat
next to me!`
In ear and trepidation, the mother expected trauma
but tried to ask calmly, And what happened`
\e were both so scared that we held hands all
day.`

Buried treasure.

In one o Philip \ancey`s books, he tells about a poll
o senior citizens in London. 1hey were asked, \hat was
the happiest period o your lie` Sixty percent answered,
1he Blitz.` 1he Blitz was that period during \orld \ar II
when German bombers dumped tons o explosies on the
city o London eery night.
1hese people huddled together in bomb shelters in
small groups while Nazis destroyed all their earthly
possessions with ire rom the sky. In those bomb shelters,
they learned aith, they experienced hope, they knew the
pain and joy o loe.

1hey were rich.

1he tribulation and the poerty weren`t the riches.
1hey eo.ea the riches: aith, hope, and loe. Although this
world burns away,` writes the Apostle Paul, they will
remain.`

laith in Jesus,
lope in Jesus,
Loe that i. Jesus-
1reasure.

110
1he jewel exposed by the ire,
1he gold reined by the urnace,
1he treasure unearthed by the storm.

1reasure is in people, and it is exposed by suering.

Do you want to be rich Join a small group and
thank God or Nazi bombers. Jesus said, 1rials will come,
but woe to him by whom they come.`
In Smyrna, the Deil ritt throw them into prison.
!oe to the Deil and the Nazis, but gtor, to the Church. God
has the Deil on a leash. God uses him to uncoer lis
treasure in Job . . . in Joseph . . . in Smyrna. lis glory is
aith, hope, and loe through Christ in us.
Our aith is more precious than gold, which though
perishable is tested by ire,` writes Peter. 1he crucible is
or siler and the urnace or gold, and the Lord tries
hearts` ,Proerbs 1:3,.
1o the lukewarm, rich, and ery poor church in
Laodicea, Jesus says, Buy rom me gold, reined by ire,
that you may be rich, white garments and sale to anoint
your eyes.` low do they get gold in Laodicea 1he same
way they do in Smyrna: Inite lim in.
1o the church at Laodicea Jesus says, Behold, I
stand at the door and knock, i anyone hears my oice and
opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and
him with me.` In Laodicea, they had just as much treasure
as Smyrna, they just weren`t letting lim in. \hy 1hey
thought they had no need. 1hey were blind to the treasure
and dea to lis oice, so they would not say, Blessed is he
who comes in the name o the Lord.`

1hey couldn`t see lim.

111
I you want to be rich, join a small group ,or
something like it,. And thank God or the storms. Storms
wash away dirt. Maybe God is weaning us rom dirt.
At the end o the Reelation, there is the strangest
picture: An eternal city, which is also a bride. It gets really
weird in chapter twenty-one: 1he gates o the city will
neer be shut by day, and there shall be no night
there` ,Reelation 21:25,. 1he gates are atra,. oev.
1hen in Reelation 22:15, Jesus says, Outside are
the dogs and sorcerers and ornicators and murderers and
idolaters, and eery one who loes and practices alsehood`
- that is, eeryone who loes to eat airt.
Just think o it: Doors riae oev to riches beyond
belie, the richest ood and wine, the Great Banquet, but
they don`t go in. \hy Maybe they don`t ravt to. 1hey ti/e
eating dirt. Maybe the kingdom in something like an
acquired taste.
So now God in lis grace and mercy is weaning us
rom dirt, bad apples, gold watches, big houses, the riches o
this world . . . and trying to show us real treasure. \ou say,
\hat`s rrovg with dirt, apples, gold watches, and big
houses` Actually nothing! It`s just that we are addicted to
them.
1he ruit o the knowledge o good and eil wasn`t
bad, but we coretea it. Gold watches aren`t eil, it`s that we
loe them more than we loe hungry people. 1hings and
riches o this world aren`t eil in themseles, it`s that we v.e
people to loe tbivg. instead o using those tbivg. to loe
eote.

Use dirt to grow ood but eat the ood.
Use money to grow people and loe the people.
Dirt isn`t eil, ertilizer isn`t eil.
\e would all die without it, we just shouldn`t eat it!
112
My son Coleman is now six years old, so on
Christmas morning I woke him up early. ,lis eyes were
wide with anticipation., I took him downstairs and out back
behind our house, and I said, Coleman, this morning I`m
giing you what you`e always wanted! All the dirt in the
back yard belongs to you! Chow down!`
Actually I didn`t do that. \hy Because through my
discipline, Coleman has acquired a taste or prime rib, cherry
pie, rich ood, electric trains, pogo sticks, Nintendo games
under the tree.
\hat a liing lell i my son Coleman spent all
Christmas morning out back eating dirt while his amily
easted inside! I would lay aside my east, my kingdom, and
my house, and go sit in the dirt with him until he came
inside. 1hat would reatt, be Christmas.
Now it`s sae to gie Coleman dirt. le still ti/e. dirt,
he just no longer wants to eat it.
On your Laster morning, your leaenly lather will
say something like this to you: My church rom Smyrna,
remember that street in your town called the Golden Street
Do you remember how you longed to strut down that street
but had to ear your lie Look, my beloed! 1his street is
made o gold, and you own it!` But, you see, you won`t be
looking at the streets, you will hae acquired a taste or
Jesus-the Lamb who was slain. \ou`ll be dancing on those
streets but looking at lim! And le won`t be entirely
unamiliar to you, because you acquired a taste or lim bere .
. . in Smyrna.
A couple o weeks ago I went to isit John Lowell,
who is eighty-two, in the hospital. John has serious heart
problems, and he had just receied some ery bad medical
news.
I said, John, are you ready to meet Jesus` And
John bellowed, Oh yeah. le`ll heal me, or le`ll take me
home.` \e prayed, and I elt ricb. \hat aith! It`s ]e.v..
113
I went downstairs and saw Marcia. She had been on
death`s door the night beore. All she could talk about was
some isions and the book o the Reelation. I thought,
\hat hope!` It`s ]e.v.. 1reasure in an earthen essel.
Around that time, we got a call at the oice. Michael
Chowdry`s plane had crashed near Centennial Airport.
Michael was the owner o Atlas Air and was extremely
successul. lis wie Linda was one o our elders years ago.
\hen I saw Linda, I didn`t know rbat to expect. She had
just ound out she was widowed with two small children.
\hen she saw me, she gae me a big hug and said, Oh,
Peter, I`m just so thankul to God that le let me hae
Michael or twenty years.` And I had nothing to say. Such
aith, hope, loe! It`s Jesus. And I was rich because Linda
was rich. Maybe she`s neer been that rich.

Smyrna, you are rich!
Not just bare riches -
Smyrna, you are riches.

1here was a letter written around 160 A.D. by the
church in Smyrna to circulate among the churches in Asia
Minor. It is a letter o great joy and gratitude or all that
God had done recently in Smyrna. It recounts how twele
belieers had recently been martyred, eleen scourged and
deoured by beasts in the coliseum o Smyrna, and how it
was obious Christ was with them.
Paul wrote, All things are yours and you are Christ`s
and Christ is God`s.` \here is eerything - In Smyrna,
where Christ suers.
1he letter goes on to describe the death o the
twelth martyr, the eighty-six-year-old bishop o Smyrna, the
one who knew John as a young man, the one who no doubt

114
had read the Reelation aloud so many times in that small
church.
1hey decided to burn the eighty-six-year-old
Polycarp. Jews rom the synagogue gathered the wood or
the ire . . . tied him to a post . . . he prayed thanking God
that he was counted worthy to suer-to share-in the cup
o Christ ritb Christ.
\hen they lit the ire, witnesses say it encompassed
Polycarp like a sail in the wind, and it would not consume
him. linally, in desperation, the executioner thrust a spear in
Polycarp`s side. But while the ire raged around him,
witnesses said he appeared not as lesh that is burnt but as
bread that is baked, as gold and siler glowing in a urnace.`

\ou see . . . le was gold.
le was rich.
Smyrna is rich.

Jesus said, 1he kingdom is like a treasure buried in
a ield, and a man stumbles upon it and sells eerything or
the ield.` 1he people o God are that ield! And then le
said, 1he kingdom is like a pearl merchant |not a eart but a
eart vercbavt|, and when he inds the pearl o great price, he
gies up eerything.` le gies up his kingdom or the pearl.
I beliee Jesus is the pearl merchant, who gies up
lis kingdom or the pearl. 1he Church is lis pearl-lis
inheritance-lis riches.

A pearl is ormed in suering,
It is riches wrapped around a wound.
1he Church is aith, hope, and loe
\rapped around the wounded body o Christ.

115
Smyrna, you are rich.` Reelation 21:21: And the
twele gates were twele pearls, each o the gates made o a
single pearl, and the street o the city was pure gold,
transparent as glass.` And the city was adorned with twele
jewels. 1retre!


Bonus Church 1riia:

Question: \ho was the Bishop o Smyrna about one
hundred years ater Polycarp died

Answer: lis name was Nicholas. \e call him Saint
Nicholas.` Smyrna is rich! 1hey een hae Santa Claus!

116
11
1he Circulating Letter o the Church at Smyrna Concerning
the Martyrdom o the loly Polycarp

\e hae written to you, brethren, as to what relates
to the martyrs, and especially to the blessed Polycarp, who
put an end to the persecution, haing, as it were, set a seal
upon it by his martyrdom. lor almost all the eents that
happened preiously |to this one|, took place that the Lord
might show us rom aboe a martyrdom becoming the
Gospel. . . .
And truly, who can ail to admire their nobleness o
mind, and their patience, with that loe towards their Lord
which they displayed-who, when they were so torn with
scourges, that the rame o their bodies, een to the ery
inward eins and arteries, was laid open, still patiently
endured, while een those that stood by pitied and bewailed
them. But they reached such a pitch o magnanimity, that
not one o them let a sigh or a groan escape them, thus
proing to us all that those holy martyrs o Christ, at the
ery time when they suered such torments, were absent
rom the body, or rather, that the Lord then stood by them,
and communed with them. . . .
1hen, the proconsul urging him, and saying, Swear,
and I will set thee at liberty, reproach Christ`, Polycarp
declared, Lighty and six years hae I sered lim, and le
neer did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King
and my Saiour`
But again the proconsul said to him, I will cause
thee to be consumed by ire, seeing thou despisest the wild
beasts, i thou wilt not repent.` But Polycarp said, 1hou
threatenest me with ire which burneth or an hour, and
ater a little is extinguished, but art ignorant o the ire o the
coming judgment and o eternal punishment, resered or
the ungodly. But why tarriest thou Bring orth what thou
wilt.`
118
\hile he spoke these and many other like things, he
was illed with conidence and joy, and his countenance was
ull o grace, so that not merely did it not all as i troubled
by the things said to him, but, on the contrary, the
proconsul was astonished, and sent his herald to proclaim in
the midst o the stadium thrice, Polycarp has conessed
that he is a Christian.` 1his proclamation haing been made
by the herald, the whole multitude both o the heathen and
Jews, who dwelt at Smyrna, cried out with uncontrollable
ury, and in a loud oice, 1his is the teacher o Asia,

the
ather o the Christians, and the oerthrower o our gods, he
who has been teaching many not to sacriice, or to worship
the gods.`
1hen it seemed good to them to cry out with one
consent, that Polycarp should be burnt alie. lor thus it
behooed the ision which was reealed to him in regard to
his pillow to be ulilled, when, seeing it on ire as he was
praying, he turned about and said prophetically to the
aithul that were with him, I must be burnt alie.`
1his, then, was carried into eect with greater speed
than it was spoken, the multitudes immediately gathering
together wood and agots out o the shops and baths, the
Jews especially, according to custom, eagerly assisting them
in it. . . .
Immediately then they surrounded him with those
substances which had been prepared or the uneral pile. But
when they were about also to ix him with nails, he said,
Leae me as I am, or le that gieth me strength to endure
the ire, will also enable me, without your securing me by
nails, to remain without moing in the pile.`
1hey did not nail him then, but simply bound him.
And he, placing his hands behind him, and being bound like
a distinguished ram |taken| out o a great lock or sacriice,
and prepared to be an acceptable burnt-oering unto God,
looked up to heaen, and said, O Lord God Almighty, the
lather o thy beloed and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by
119
whom we hae receied the knowledge o 1hee, the God o
angels and powers, and o eery creature, and o the whole
race o the righteous who lie beore thee, I gie 1hee
thanks that 1hou hast counted me worthy o this day and
this hour, that I should hae a part in the number o 1hy
martyrs, in the cup o 1hy Christ, to the resurrection o
eternal lie, both o soul and body, through the incorruption
|imparted| by the loly Ghost. Among whom may I be
accepted this day beore 1hee as a at

and acceptable
sacriice, according as 1hou, the eer-truthul God, hast ore
-ordained, hast reealed beorehand to me, and now hast
ulilled. \hereore also I praise 1hee or all things, I bless
1hee, I gloriy 1hee, along with the eerlasting and heaenly
Jesus Christ, 1hy beloed Son, with whom, to 1hee, and the
loly Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages.
Amen.`
\hen he had pronounced this avev, and so inished
his prayer, those who were appointed or the purpose
kindled the ire. And as the lame blazed orth in great ury,

we, to whom it was gien to witness it, beheld a great
miracle, and hae been presered that we might report to
others what then took place. lor the ire, shaping itsel into
the orm o an arch, like the sail o a ship when illed with
the wind, encompassed as by a circle the body o the martyr.
And he appeared within not like lesh which is burnt, but as
bread that is baked, or as gold and siler glowing in a
urnace. Moreoer, we perceied such a sweet odour
|coming rom the pile|, as i rankincense or some such
precious spices had been smoking

there.
At length, when those wicked men perceied that his
body could not be consumed by the ire, they commanded
an executioner to go near and pierce him through with a
dagger. And on his doing this, there came orth . . . great
quantity o blood, so that the ire was extinguished, and all
the people wondered that there should be such a dierence
between the unbelieers and the elect, o whom this most
120
admirable Polycarp was one, haing in our own times been
an apostolic and prophetic teacher, and bishop o the
Catholic |Uniersal| Church which is in Smyrna. . . .
121
-&./01 2$ E$D9 +&@*
,Reelation 2:12-1,


Pastor Robert lulghum tells o the day he was let in
charge o about eighty children in the church ellowship hall.
le had to keep them under control, so he had them play a
game called Giant \izard Dwar, kind o an enacted ersion
o Rock Paper Scissors, where each child had to take the
name o giant, wizard, or dwar and then act out that name
with a surprise partner to see who won.
Kids were running eerywhere. le yelled out, \ou
hae to decide now which you are, giant, wizard, or dwar!`
As the children took their places, he saw a little girl standing
in ront o him. She looked up and asked in a small, ery
concerned oice, \here do the mermaids stand` lulgham
didn`t know what to say.
\here do the vervaia. stand` he repeated.
\es,` she said. \ou see, I am a mermaid.`
1here are no such things as mermaids,` lulgham
said.
Oh yes! I av one,` the little girl responded.
She knew she wasn`t a giant, wizard, or dwar, she
was a vervaia. And she was not about to leae the game and
go stand where a loser would stand. She knew her name.
She knew her identity. She took it as an a priori act that
mermaids it into the grand scheme o things and that Mr.
lulgham ,the king o the game, would know exactly where
that spot was.
I wonder how she knew she was a mermaid. And
wouldn`t you like to know your name like she knew hers
It used to be that i you asked my daughter Becky
her name, she would say, My name is Pretty Pretty
Princess.` She knew that was her name because her ather
122
called her by that name, and it it. She no longer goes by that
name. She`s older. She`s in elementary school, and there they
call her by other names.


RLVLLA1ION 2:12-13: .va to tbe avget of tbe
cbvrcb iv Pergavvv rrite: 1be rora. of biv rbo
ba. tbe .bar troeagea .rora.`


1hat`s Jesus, and in Reelation 19 the sword issues
rom lis mouth, and with it le will smite the nations. le
will judge-separate-name-the nations: sheep, goats,
giants, wizards, dwars . . . mermaids.


/vor rbere ,ov arett, rbere atav`. tbrove i. . .
. .`


Pergamum was the capital o the Roman
proince o Asia.


Yov bota fa.t v, vave ava ,ov aia vot aev, v,
faitb erev iv tbe aa,. of .vtia. v, ritve.., v,
faitbfvt ove, rbo ra. /ittea avovg ,ov, rbere atav
arett..`


Jesus calls Antipas my aithul witness.` \e don`t
know how Antipas died. 1here are some traditions, but
whateer the case, he must hae died because he would not
renounce the name o Jesus and worship the name o
Caesar. \hen he died, there were undoubtedly many
123
spectators, probably in the coliseum, chanting names at
Antipas. 1o control the mob, Rome gae out white stones
as tickets to the coliseum to get ree bread and watch people
die.
Jesus commends the church in Pergamum or
holding ast his name.` Names are really big in the Bible.
In scripture, eerything is created just with words and
names. In lebrew, dabar` is word,` but that word really
means thing.` A word is a thing and likewise a name is an
extension o a thing. God makes a place or lis name to
dwell on the earth.` lis name is a reelation o limsel, and
lis name has power.
By the time o Jesus, the Israelites would not een
say the name o God-that is, \ahweh`-just or ear o
taking it in ain.
\ell, now God has reealed limsel in Jesus-the
\ord, and through lim all things were made. God has
gien lim the name aboe eery name, that at the name o
Jesus eery knee should bow, in heaen and on earth and
under the earth.`
le`s also called the Second Adam. \hen God irst
makes Adam, the irst man, le has Adam name all the
animals, which was asking Adam to help in the creation o
their wholeness,` as Madeleine L`Lngle puts it. le names
the animals. \e call it science or taxonomy.
1hen when God makes the woman, Adam names
her woman` or Le.` 1hey hae children and name them.
In Scripture, people usually get their ormal names
rom a ather or a husband. I know that sounds paternalistic
and sexist, but the Bible seems kind o paternalistic and
sexist. ,So just consider that maybe it speaks a truth that i
we really understood we`d loe . . . like a blessed child loes
his name, like a beloed bride loes her new name. But as
orphans and widows we mourn.,

124
\ell, Adam is a namer o things beore the lall. le
is still a namer o things ater the lall, but his naming is
allen. le does it ery poorly, he makes orphans and
widows. So lots o brides don`t take their husband`s names,
and that`s understandable. Children renounce the name o
their ather.
In scripture, names work like mirrors that relect
back the essence o a thing. But more than that, they help
create a thing. No longer shall you be called Simon, but
Peter-Rock.` ,\ou are Rock, and one day three years rom
now you`ll act like one.,

Abraham: lather o Nations
Sarah: Mother o Nations
Israel: Stries with God

God is always giing new names.

Sometimes we get eil names: worthless, moron, no
good. Good or bad, names still cut, shape, create, and
perhaps desecrate. Good or bad, we name and get named
and try to make names or ourseles . . . because een a bad
name seems more desirable than no name at all. I think to
neer hear another call your name would be lell. Maybe
that i. lell: to be inally and ultimately orphaned or
widowed.
At the lall, humanity was cut o rom the lather
and cut o rom the Great Bridegroom. Now we`re
desperate or a name.` And een a bad name seems better
than no name.
Bobby lisher shared with all o us how one summer
as a kid he spent all his time hidden in a little ort by himsel.
le told me last week, \ou know, I got into all the drugs
and stu, but the unny thing was, I didn`t really care about
125
all those drugs. 1he reason I got into them was because I
wanted a riend . . . a crowd . . . a name.`
And een a bad name is better than no name, it
seems.
In Genesis 11, all those orphaned and widowed
rom the Garden get together and say, Let`s make a name
or ourseles and build a tower to leaen.` God comes
down and destroys their tower and their name.
Maybe you`e been building a tower called success,
or whateer, in order to make a name or yoursel. \ell,
don`t be surprised i God comes and knocks it down. Maybe
le still has another name or you.
Isaiah prophesied o the day that the towers o
Jerusalem would be torn down. It happened in 586 B.C. at
the hands o the Babylonians, and it happened in 0 A.D. at
the hands o the Romans. Jerusalem was an arrogant,
adulterous, and rigid bride.
Isaiah prophesied, Instead o perume there will be
rottenness . . . . \our men shall all by the sword . . . .
raaged, she shall sit upon the ground. And seen women
shall take hold o one man in that day, saying, \e will eat
our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be
called by your name, take away our reproach.``
God takes away their arrogant name, the name they
made or themseles, but so desperate are they or a name,
they`ll sleep with any man that comes along.
But in Isaiah 62:1-2, God says through Isaiah, lor
Jerusalem`s sake I will not rest . . . . 1he nations shall see
your indication and all the kings your glory, and you shall
be called by a new name, which the mouth o the Lord shall
gie you.`
Maybe God is stripping us o arrogant names and
eil names, names that don`t it, so that we can inally hear
lim call our real name. \et in that process we`re desperate
or any name, like the women o Jerusalem who would go to

126
bed with any man just to get a name-av, name, bow down
to av, god in order to hae a name-av, name.


RLVLLA1ION 2:13-14: Yov beta fa.t v,
vave . . . . vt Pergavvv bare a fer tbivg.
agaiv.t ,ov: ,ov bare .ove tbere rbo bota tbe
teacbivg of ataav, rbo tavgbt ata/ to vt a
.tvvbtivg btoc/ before tbe .ov. of .raet, tbat tbe,
vigbt eat fooa .acrificea to iaot. ava ractice
ivvoratit,.`


Balaam taught King Balak to entice the people o
Israel into intermarrying with Midianites and Moabites, and
into worshipping their gods, so that Israel would no longer
be a threat to Midian and Moab. 1hey wouldn`t attack
Moab, or part o their own name would be Moab.
\ell, in Pergamum it appears that some there taught
that a little sex outside your marriage coenant won`t hurt, a
little worship o Caesar or Zeus won`t hurt. In the
Reelation, it is hard to tell sometimes whether it`s talking
about sexual immorality or idolatry. 1hat`s because idolatry
i. adultery-going ater another bridegroom in search o a
name.
So some may be sleeping with pagan temple
prostitutes, some may be married to Caesar-the powers o
this world. 1hey are doing things to it in, be accepted, and
hae a name: giant, wizard, dwar . . . a reputation in
Pergamum.
Married to the ways o this world or a name,
whether that`s sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, or the Republican
or Democratic parties, or the stock market, or 1ogve
magazine, or lortune 500 . . . i that`s where you get your
name, you`re in trouble, trapped by old King Balak and a
12
Dragon.
1o name something is to exert power oer that
something. It is to judge, diide, quantiy, and bring under
control, categorize. 1he world and its Beast and Dragon
want to name you: Oh, he`s one o those conseratie,
undamentalist, eangelical, homophobic, early potty-
trained, religious types.`
\e use psychology, sociology, and anthropology to
name people:

1hose tribal, animistic, Bronze Age thinkers
1he Proletariat
1he Middle Class
1he Black Voter
1he Introert
1he Lxtroert
Giant
\izard
Dwar

Did you eer notice that when someone is a threat,
we loe to name them Oh, she`s a borderline
schizophrenic.` Since we named her, we don`t hae to listen
to her.
God told us to name animals ,biology,. But we had
better not get too cocky with anthropology, psychology, and
sociology: naming people, or God seems to really get
uptight about how we name people-judge people.
\ell, what names has this world gien you \hat
names has the crowd gien you Success lailure Rich
Poor Satan loes to name you, because names catch people,
control people, and shape people.

128
1his world and the Beast and the Ancient Dragon
loe to name us, and we`re susceptible to names: orphaned
and widowed. \e beliee those names, so desperate are we
or names.
\hen I was a child, I wasn`t a giant, wizard, or
dwar. I was named latso and Pussy. I used to ride the bus
home rom school and get teased mercilessly. It all started
when I was seen and kissed Leslie Brown in the tree in her
ront yard. ,1im \ren did too, but he turned on me., All the
kids in the bus would sing, 1wo little loers sittin` in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G. lirst comes loe, then comes marriage, then
comes baby in a baby carriage.` 1hey would choose me to
ight, and I neer wanted to ight. I didn`t know how, and I
was scared.
I was a minister`s kid, and one other thing: I didn`t
cuss. So they had another name or me, and I just hated it:
Mr. Decent. Decent was a bad thing to be in 1968 in the
second grade. So sometimes I would try to be a little
indecent to shake the name. I did a really rude thing to a
lonely girl ,in ront o the class, on a dare,. I got caught, and
my heart just broke or that girl. ,In act, I wrote her a letter
o apology last summer. I didn`t mail it, it was or God and
me.,
I really had trouble being indecent. So mostly I just
curled up inside, hidden, silently hating mysel, ashamed o
my name - Mr. Decent. I wouldn`t hae made it except I
could go home where I had a name and a good ather. I
don`t know how some o you made it. It must be the grace
o God your lather.
\ou know, otentimes when I`e preached,
aterwards I just hae the hardest time not hating mysel and
curling up in shame. Now please hear me: It really has ery
little to do with criticism or compliments. It`s that I know
I`m being named ,mostly ery good names,. But being
addicted to the names o the mob, I`m terriied. Just the
knowledge I`m being named by ickle people ,like 1im
129
\ren,, and my heart goes right back to that bus in 1968.
lear, shame, sel-hatred . . . and I don`t want to preach
anymore. I just want to go curl up under a broom tree and
whisper, Oh God-just kill me.`
See how that Dragon works Len good names get
twisted.

Good wine can lead to drunkenness,
Good ood can be receied as gluttony,
A good name can be idolatry.

Listen closely: 1he one we let name us is our idol.


RLVLLA1ION 2:15-16: o ,ov at.o bare .ove
rbo bota tbe teacbivg of tbe ^icota`itav.. Reevt
tbev. f vot, ritt cove to ,ov .oov ava rar agaiv.t
tbev ritb tbe .rora of v, vovtb.`


\e really don`t know who the Nicolaitans were,
howeer, it`s interesting to note that Nicolaitan` is two
Greek words: nicos` meaning superior` or conqueror,`
and laity` meaning people.` 1ogether it means Conqueror
o the People, or Superior to the People.
So some hae speculated that this group was the
beginning o the clergy laity split: that is, two classes o
Christians - the clergy judges and deines the laity: tells
them their name. Now, it`s clear that God calls people into
places o authority in lis Church but neer as despot or
judge o persons.
\hat I`m saying is, I can`t tell you your name. I can
help you ind your name ,as a brother,, but in the end I
don`t know your name . . . een though it would make my
job easier. lor, you see, sometimes I think my job is to keep
order in the ellowship hall: dragons, wizards, dwars all in a
130
row. And sometimes you want that to be my job, because
you want to know your name. 1ell me where to stand and
what to do and who exactly I am.`
1hat`s nice or a while, but still it`s idolatry.
\hen I was in college, I went to a Campus Crusade
retreat. I had been a Christian a long time, but because it
was my irst Crusade retreat, I had to get a rea fotaer. \ou see,
they had red olders, blue olders, and green olders. Red
was or new Christians, blue or medium Christians, green
or adanced Christians.
Because I was so ashamed, Dae Jones and I snuck
into the sta area and stole green olders . . . to proe our
maturity in Christ, that is, to make ourseles a name.
\ou see, it was wrong to reduce all our relationships
with Christ to red, blue, or green olders. Can you see Jesus
doing that But what was really wrong was that I coeted
the green older. I let them vave me Red or Green.
I`m still the same way. I just got back rom the
National Pastor`s Conerence, and I so wanted them to
name me Good Pastor. \ell, the conerence was great. But
I hae to tell you . . .

Ater the irst speaker, I thought, I should be like him
and pastor a small church.`
Ater another speaker, I thought, I should be writing
books.`
Ater another speaker, I thought, I need to work in the
inner city.`
Ater the last speaker, I thought, I I was really what
God wanted, a Good Pastor, I would be a \yclie
Bible 1ranslator in Papua, New Guinea!`

On the way home, I elt a bit conused and
condemned, wondering, \hat`s my name` I remember
thinking on the plane, I wonder i that`s how the olks in
church eel`
131
One week: \ou need to join a small group.`
One week: \ou need to gie ten percent.`
One week: \ou need to pray or two hours a night.`

1hey`re all good things, but you begin to eel like a
category or a project . . . dehumanized. \ou wonder, Does
anybody know me Do I hae to be a giant, wizard, or
dwar`
I was looking out the plane window and thought
about my small group. A ew months ago they prayed or
me. 1hey prayed or me about my shame ater I preach. In
prayer, we went back to where I thought those eelings came
rom: the bus. And they prayed that I could picture Jesus on
that bus and hae aith in lis presence.
I imagined lim there as best I could, and they
asked, \hat`s le doing \hat does le think` I said, I
don`t know, but I think he`s laughing, not at me but for me,
like all those names just don`t matter.`
I told my small group what they called me: Decent.
My riend Dee Dee said, I think Jesus is proud o you.
Decent isn`t so bad.`
And something in me broke. It had neer occurred
to me, honestly neer occurred to me, that Decent could be
a good name.
I realized then that Decent was a name or Jesus,
and I had been decent ,in my own, little, childish way,
because I really liked Jesus. Jesus was being decent in me.
Ovr name was Decent. My name wasn`t Coward or Pussy.
In act, it was Peter the Rock. And een then le was
shaping me into Rock. Our name is Rock.


RLVLLA1ION 2:1: e rbo ba. av ear, tet biv
bear rbat tbe irit .a,. to tbe cbvrcbe.. 1o biv
rbo covqver. ritt gire .ove of tbe biaaev vavva,
ava ritt gire biv a rbite .tove, ritb a ver vave
132
rrittev ov tbe .tove rbicb vo ove /vor. ecet biv
rbo receire. it.`


Scholars debate whether that new name is a name
or God or Jesus, or whether that new name is our
indiidual name. 1here is great eidence or both iews, and
I`m coninced both iews are correct. 1he new name will be
your name ava Jesus` name. Dare I een say it-Coa`. name
is the same name. \e are the children o God, and we are
the Bride o Christ. ,\e`re een lis body-lis city-lis
New Jerusalem.,
1he name faitbfvt ritve.. is only gien to two people
in all o scripture. Jesus calls Antipas o Pergamum my
aithul witness,` and in the last chapter, Jesus calls limsel
the aithul witness.` laithul witness is their name, and
they hae another name. All eternity Antipas will be trying
to tell you that name, and all eternity you will be trying to
tell Antipas another name: the one Jesus shares with you.
\ou, Antipas, and all the saints sing the same song,
the song o the Lamb. But you each hae dierent parts, to
make it a symphony.
I beliee that in this world Jesus is beginning to tell
you your name so you`ll recognize it on that great day when
you irst hear it. Now other people may be used by lim to
help name you. But they can neer inally name you. Do not
let them! 1hey do not know your name. It`s unique.
1hree weeks ago ater the serice, Prayer 1eam olks
wanted to pray or me. 1hey een named the dragon: ear
oer receiing names.
In that prayer, a Prayer 1eam member prayed,
Lord, thank you that Peter is your aorite person in all the
world,` and I thought, le`s right!` 1hen he prayed or
Aram and said, Lord, thank you that Aram is your aorite
person in all the world,` and I thought, le`s right!`

133
\ou say, 1hat can`t be right. 1here can`t be two
aorites!` !rovg. 1here can`t be two aorites in llatland
,not i you`re stuck in space and time,, but our God loes us
rom eternity, and le names us rom eternity.
Moms and dads een taste it, because it eels like
each o our children is our aorite, not because they are all
tiea-they are not the same-but because we share our
name with each o them.
Beliee the name your lather gies you in Christ
Jesus our Lord. low will you know it when you hear it
\ell, it will it on Jesus-the resurrected Jesus. \ou share it,
and i you belong to Christ, le`s been eerywhere you hae
been and in eery situation. le wants to tell you your name
rom each place. \ou say, I`e been to some awul, awul
places. I`e been to lell and back.` So has Jesus. \our story
is lis story and your name. le coers you in
righteousness-lis grace-lis name on you.
Listen or lis names gien in grace. Do not listen to
the Dragon and his Beast and this world. Don`t listen to the
mob in the coliseum in Pergamum chanting names.
One day you`ll get a white stone ,a ticket,, and you`ll
enter the coliseum o God with the great cloud o witnesses
and eat the bread o lie and the hidden manna. Jesus will
speak - Read the stone,` you`ll hear ,ovr vave or the irst
time, and you`ll know you`re home at your lather`s table-
your Bridegroom`s table-the King`s table.
Robert lulghum stood there a while not knowing
what to say to the mermaid in the church ellowship hall.
\ere do the mermaids stand` 1hen he writes:

Lery once in a while I say the right thing.
1he mermaid stands right here by the King
o the Sea,` says I. So we stood there hand
in hand reiewing the troops o wizards,
giants, and dwars. It is not true ,by the way,

134
that mermaids do not exist. I know at least
one personally. I hae held her hand.

Reelation 21: And I saw the new Jerusalem
coming down adorned as a bride or her husband. . . . And
he who sat on the throne said, I make all things new` and It
is done!` le who conquers shall hae this heritage, and I will
be his God and he will be my son.`
|1he New Jerusalem| had a great, high wall, with
twele gates |twele is our number|, and at the gates twele
angels, and on the gates the names o the twele tribes o
the sons o Israel were inscribed . . . . And the wall o the
city had twele oundations, and on them the twele names
o the twele apostles o the Lamb.`
I you hae aith in Jesus, you will conquer, and you
hae a name written in that city. It`s there right vor.
Child o God, maybe you heard names that ill you
with ear, shame, and sel-hatred, names spoken by the
Lnemy, and you cursed yoursel. Gie them to Jesus. le
will change the meaning o those names or gie new names.
Beliee that Jesus names you. Beliee it, or you`ll hop in the
sack with any demon that comes along.

135
lurther Reading


God asked Adam to name all the animals, which was asking
Adam to help in the creation o their wholeness. \hen we
name each other, we are sharing in the joy and priilege o
incarnation . . . .
Madeleine L'Lngle, !at/ivg ov !ater

So out o the ground the LORD God ormed eery beast o
the ield and eery bird o the air, and brought them to the
man to see what he would call them, and whateer the man
called eery liing creature, that was its name. 1he man gae
names to all cattle, and to the birds o the air, and to eery
beast o the ield, but or the man there was not ound a
helper it or him. . . . 1hen the man said, 1his at last is
bone o my bones and lesh o my lesh, she shall be called
\oman, because she was taken out o Man.`
-Genesis 2:19-20, 23

1hen they said, Come, let us build ourseles a city, and a
tower with its top in the heaens, and let us make a name
or ourseles, lest we be scattered abroad upon the ace o
the whole earth.` So the LORD scattered them abroad rom
there oer the ace o all the earth, and they let o building
the city. . . . 1hereore its name was called Ba'bel, because
there the LORD conused the language o all the earth, and
rom there the LORD scattered them abroad oer the ace
o all the earth.
-Genesis 11:4, 8-9

And seen women shall take hold o one man in that day,
saying, \e will eat our own bread and wear our own
clothes, only let us be called by your name, take away our
136
reproach.`
-Isaiah 4:1

lor Zion`s sake I will not keep silent, and or Jerusalem's
sake I will not rest, until her indication goes orth as
brightness, and her salation as a burning torch. 1he nations
shall see your indication, and all the kings your glory, and
you shall be called by a new name which the mouth o the
LORD will gie.
-Isaiah 62:1-2

\hen she had weaned Not pitied, she conceied and bore a
son. And the LORD said, Call his name Not my people,
or you are not my people and I am not your God.` \et the
number o the people o Israel shall be like the sand o the
sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in
the place where it was said to them, \ou are not my
people,` it shall be said to them, Sons o the liing God.`
-losea 1:8-10

1o him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his oice, and
he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
-John 10:3

1his signature on each soul may be a product o heredity
and enironment, but that only means that heredity and
enironment are among the instruments whereby God
creates a soul. I am considering not how, but why, le
makes each soul unique. I le had no use or all these
dierences, I do not see why le should hae created more
soul than one. Be sure that the ins and outs o your
indiiduality are no mystery to lim, and one day they will
no longer be a mystery to you. 1he mould in which a key is
made would be a strange thing, i you had neer seen a lock.
13
\our soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to
it a particular swelling in the ininite contours o the diine
substance, or a key to unlock one o the doors in the house
with many mansions. lor it is not humanity in the abstract
that is to be saed, but you-you, the indiidual reader,
John Stubbs or Janet Smith. Blessed and ortunate creature,
your eyes shall behold lim and not another`s. . . . 1o him
that oercometh I will gie a white stone, and in the stone a
new name written, which no man knoweth saing he that
receieth it.` \hat can be more a man`s own than this new
name which een in eternity remains a secret between God
and him And what shall we take this secrecy to mean
Surely, that each o the redeemed shall oreer know and
praise some one aspect o the diine beauty better than any
other creature can. \hy else were indiiduals created, but
that God, loing all ininitely, should loe each dierently
And this dierence, so ar rom impairing, loods with
meaning the loe o all blessed creatures or one another,
the communion o the saints. I all experienced God in the
same way and returned lim an identical worship, the song
o the Church triumphant would hae no symphony, it
would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments
played the same note. Aristotle has told us that a city is a
unity o unlikes, and St. Paul that a body is a unity o
dierent members. leaen is a city, and a Body, because the
blessed remain eternally dierent: a society, because each
has something to tell all the others-resh and eer resh
news o the My God` whom each inds in lim whom all
praise as Our God.`
-C. S. Lewis, 1be Probtev of Paiv

God loes each one o us as though there were no one else
to loe.
-St. Augustine

138
le who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple o
my God, neer shall he go out o it, and I will write on him
the name o my God, and the name o the city o my God,
the new Jerusalem which comes down rom my God out o
heaen, and my own new name.
-Reelation 3:12

It had a great, high wall, with twele gates, and at the gates
twele angels, and on the gates the names o the twele
tribes o the sons o Israel were inscribed, on the east three
gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and
on the west three gates. And the wall o the city had twele
oundations, and on them the twele names o the twele
apostles o the Lamb.
-Reelation 21:12-14

I know where you lie--where Satan has his throne. \et you
remain true to my name. \ou did not renounce your aith in
me, een in the days o Antipas, my aithul witness, who
was put to death in your city--where Satan lies.
-Reelation 2:13

. . . and rom Jesus Christ, who is the aithul witness, the
irstborn rom the dead, and the ruler o the kings o the
earth. 1o him who loes us and has reed us rom our sins
by his blood . . . .
-Reelation 1:5
139
-&./01 2$ F$B*
,Reelation 2:18-29,


I irst thought o asking my wie Susan on a date
while walking behind her on the stairs between the second
and third loors at leritage ligh School in 19. She was
wearing ery nicely itting, white, polyester pants. I
remember thinking, A goaae.. . . . Venus in white, polyester
pants.`
On our irst date, I pretty much just thought,
\ow . . . she`s gorgeov.!` I think she pretty much just
thought, \ow . . . he`s ti.tevivg to me! 1hat`s really nice.`
I loed dating Susan, not only because she was
pretty but also because she did all the talking. I was too
nerous to speak, but she would talk and talk, and I would
just hae to say, \ah . . . uhuh . . . sure . . .` I`m not sure
what she said, but it came out o that beavtifvt boa,.
\ou see, it was a symbiotic relationship . . . my
admiration o Susan`s tight, white pants, and her desire to
tell me eerything. \e didn`t realize it was the beginning o
the greatest lesson we`d eer learn.
\hether you are single or married, whether you are
male or emale, i you are a Christian, God is teaching you
the ery same message . . . a lesson built into the nature o
reality and you. In the beginning, God created man. God
created him in lis own image, male and emale he created
them.` 1ogether . . . lis image. And le said, I like it. It`s
good.`
Man is born rom woman, and woman is created
rom man out o his side. God brought them together in the
coenant o marriage, a communion in which two persons
become one lesh and in that communion bear ruit. 1hey
are covvavaea to bear ruit, but soon they steal ruit. 1hey
140
all and coer their nakedness.
1hey coer the part where they are incomplete
without the other, they coer the part that is like an internal
organ exposed. e coers the part that is to penetrate the
emale with lie, .be coers the part that is to inite the seed
o the male, which she is to receie in ecstasy as a git o
grace, in order that her body would nurture that seed and
bear lie.
1hey coer those parts where they are joined in
communion . . . those parts they tovg to join but now are
a.bavea to join . . . those parts that not only join body but
connect spirit and soul. And in the place o ecstasy, lie, and
joy, there is ear, shame, and pain. Instead o loe that
brings lie, there is lust that brings death.
So they coer tbo.e art. rom each other, and they
hide them.etre. rom the author o lie.
In Lphesians, Paul tells us that God made us this
way-male and emale-to be joined together as one lesh,
as a lesson, reerence, or exhibit o Christ and lis Church.
le designed us this way before the lall, as i le knew een
then that le would need a way to tell us, while we were in
exile, o lis loe and lie ava o our sin and lis redemption.
More than loe as a concept, le could say, I tovg
or you like a groom longs or his bride,` and \ou are only
complete in ve and with me iv you.` More than the words
salation by grace through aith,` le could say, \ou can
only bear lie-ruit, my Bride, when you surrender to my
penetrating loe and receie my joy in your place o shame.`
Sin hurts . . . not like some law that is broken, but
like . . .
\hen you ind your wie with another man . . .
\hen you long or your loer`s embrace and
he`s in another room gratiying himsel with
pornography, or she`s whispering intimate
141
secrets to another . . .
\hen you loe someone .o vvcb yet you are so
wounded by them you want to kill them in a rage
precisely because you so desperately long to be
loed by them. linally, torn, you choose to die
or them.

Like tbat.
Marriage is a coenant to picture the eternal
coenant. Sex is a sacrament o that coenant, like
communion is a sacrament o the new eternal coenant.
Sacrament` is a theologian`s word to describe the sign and
seal o a coenant,` a b,.icat act that is ar more than
physical. It`s spiritual. Sacrament is a coenant that bears
ruit . . . tife.
Little did we know in 198 that God was beginning
to teach us the deep things o lis loe. Little did we know
God was sucking us in. le does that, you know.
At the start o John`s gospel, Jesus turns water into
wine at a marriage east, and eerybody wants to ollow.
\ho wouldn`t 1hen in John 6, Jesus says, \ou must drink
my blood` ,not rive but btooa,. By John 19, Jesus hangs
naked on a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem. Almost
eeryone is gone, but John is there to watch as a Roman
soldier plunges a spear into the side o Jesus-the second
Adam. A rier o blood lows out, and the Church is born-
the Bride o Christ-the Second Le.
In a kindergarten Sunday School class, the teacher
was explaining how God ormed Le out o Adam`s rib.
Little 1ommy was mesmerized by the lesson. Later in the
week, his mother noticed him lying down holding his side.
She asked, 1ommy, what`s wrong` le said, I hae a pain
in my side. I think I`m going to hae a wie.`

142
I know it hurts, what Christ is showing you, but
don`t throw in the towel. 1here are no shortcuts that bypass
Calary.


RLVLLA1ION 2:18-25: .va to tbe avget of tbe cbvrcb iv
1b,atira rrite: 1be rora. of tbe ov of Coa, rbo ba. e,e.
ti/e a ftave of fire, ava rbo.e feet are ti/e bvrvi.bea brove.
/vor ,ovr ror/., ,ovr tore ava faitb ava .errice
ava atievt evavravce, ava tbat ,ovr tatter ror/. eceea tbe
fir.t. vt bare tbi. agaiv.t ,ov, tbat ,ov toterate tbe rovav
]eebet, rbo catt. ber.etf a robete.. ava i. teacbivg ava
begvitivg v, .erravt. to ractice ivvoratit, ava to eat fooa
.acrificea to iaot.. gare ber tive to reevt, bvt .be refv.e. to
reevt of ber ivvoratit,. ebota, ritt tbror ber ov a
.ic/bea, ava tbo.e rbo covvit aavtter, ritb ber ritt tbror
ivto great tribvtatiov, vvte.. tbe, reevt of ber aoivg.; ava
ritt .tri/e ber cbitarev aeaa. .va att tbe cbvrcbe. .batt /vor
tbat av be rbo .earcbe. viva ava beart, ava ritt gire to
eacb of ,ov a. ,ovr ror/. ae.erre. vt to tbe re.t of ,ov iv
1b,atira, rbo ao vot bota tbi. teacbivg, rbo bare vot tearvea
rbat .ove catt tbe aee tbivg. of atav, to ,ov .a,, ao vot
ta, vov ,ov av, otber bvraev; ovt, bota fa.t rbat ,ov bare,
vvtit cove.`


1hyatira was the smallest and least consequential o
all the seen cities to which the Reelation was written. It lay
at the juncture o two alleys along a critical trade route. I
think o 1hyatira like a truck stop. Do you remember, guys,
that as a kid it was in truck stops on acation where you irst
encountered porn and condom dispensers in the restrooms
1here was something about being out on the road hidden . .
. unseen.
Jesus has eyes like a lame o ire. le sees eerything
hidden. le knows 1hyatira. It`s the smallest town but gets
143
the longest letter. Jesus intimately cares about the secret
places and the priate parts.
le commends the church but then says, I hae this
against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel.` I you
remember, Jezebel was the pagan queen o wicked King
Ahab. She enticed Israel into the worship o Baal and
Asherah. Baal was the Canaanite ertility god, and Asherah
was his consort. 1he worship o Baal included easting and
ritual prostitution.
Lidently a woman in leadership in 1hyatira was
enticing olks into idolatry and porneuo,` translated
sexual immorality` or just immorality.` 1hyatira was a
Greek city with Greek gods.
In Corinth across the Aegean Sea, there was the
great temple to Aphrodite ,in Greek, or Venus ,in Latin,,
the goddess o loe. 1he temple contained 1000 cult
prostitutes. In 1hyatira, they would hae had similar
practices, een a mingling o Greek gods and Canaanite
gods ,Asherah and Venus,.
\e say, low could they eer be enticed into such
sins` lor a Greek, it wasn`t such a stretch, because in
health class at school they taught that sex was mostly just
sperm, egg, and biology ,you know . . . like we teach today,.
Nothing is more natural than sex.` 1he same could
be said about death.
So Paul writes to the church at Corinth saying: Do
you not know that your bodies are members o Christ Shall
I thereore take the members o Christ and make them
members o a prostitute It is written, 1he two shall
become one lesh,` but he who is united with the Lord
becomes one spirit with lim. Shun orvevo. Do you not
know that your body is the temple o the loly Spirit within
you`
\ou see the lie o Satan, don`t you \hat you do
with your body really doesn`t matter.` But then he uses your
144
body as a door or demonic spirits and all the lies o lell.
So ironically, in places like 1hyatira and Corinth,
they had cult prostitutes yet with the underlying belie that
your body doesn`t really matter ,kind o like Vegas or
lollywood,. It`s no wonder it was in Corinth where they
also abused the communion table, acting like it was only
bread and wine. So Paul writes, Anyone who eats and
drinks without discerning the body o Christ drinks
judgment on himsel.`
On our communion table is ood and .irit. It`s a
sacrament. My marriage bed is biology and .irit. It`s a
sacrament.
I`m not only one boa, with my wie, but i Paul is
right, I commune with my Lord who resides within her: one
.irit with Jesus. I had better discern i. body or I deile i.
temple.
I am concerned that many o you may not een hae
a category in your mind or the ecstasy that God plans in
marriage to a spouse or to lim. Lither willingly or
unwillingly your temple has been deiled without eer haing
been cleansed, so or you it`s only biology, and that is the
tragedy.
\ou not only coer your priate parts rom your
marriage partner, you hide your naked heart rom the loer
o your soul, our Lord Jesus. So religion or you is not a
communion o ;o,, it`s ear and shame.
Jezebel is seducing belieers in 1hyatira to
porneuo.` 1hat means sex outside marriage, sacrament
outside coenant. Porneuo is where we get our word
pornography.` And porne` in Greek is translated
harlot.`
In Reelation 1, an angel takes John and shows him
the Great Porne-Great larlot. She`s seduced the kings o
the earth and the nations o the world. 1he merchants o the
earth hae grown rich with the wealth o her wantonness.`
145
She is allen, and she is the abode o demons.
John hears a oice issuing rom heaen saying,
Come out o her, my people. Come out o her lest you take
part in her sins.`
1he woman rides the Beast, which seems to be the
entity or power behind the allen goernments and
economies o this world. 1he woman is drunk with the
blood o Christians, and she rides the Beast.
According to |.. ^er. ava !orta Reort, in 1996
alone we Americans spent more than eight billion dollars on
hard-core pornography. America is the world`s leading
producer o porn. 1oday on-line porn reenues are
estimated at two billion dollars a year. It`s also estimated that
twenty million Americans isit cyber-sex sites each month.
It`s no wonder it`s tough or you guys, because
you`re sinners liing in a allen world, and the larlot rides
the Beast. She knows your deepest hungers, and so does the
Beast. Our economy is built on seducing you. It`s not just
what we call porno, it`s an entire adertising industry.
Men, God made you to be the initiator in the image
o Jesus. le vaae you to be aroused by the sight o your
naked bride. 1he Dragon, the Beast, and the larlot /vor it,
so they lure you to other temples, especially when ,ovr
temple is requiring sacriice and grace.
But Jesus says that to worship at other temples, een
in your own mind, is adultery. It opens the door to the Lil
One, to his lies, to his demonic spirits, and to shame that
deadens your heart and makes you unable to experience
communion as God intended.
\ou long een more or communion, but you are
unable to experience it. 1he hunger is stronger than eer,
but you can`t eel it, or your heart is encased and deadened
by shame.
\ou go back or more and more and more and
receie less and less and less, and the Great larlot laughs
146
and drinks your blood while you pay her to ride the Beast.
\ou are deiling your temple, you`re probably deiling a
young woman`s temple, ava you`re deiling your wie`s
temple. \ou`re spitting on your heart and the heart o Jesus.
low can you expect your wie to receie your loe
when it`s not her that you`re loing in your mind \ou say,
It`s just another boa,.` ^o. It`s a temple. And it`s at your
wie`s body alone - no matter how broken or bloodied, old,
out o shape, or rigid, no matter how she emasculates you
and rejects you - that you`re to seek to worship the Liing
God with your sexuality.
\our seed-your sperma,` guys, belongs to her,
not to a magazine.
Now, you may hae noticed that I hae been
preaching to men. But I beliee men and women are equally
allen. Men are allen pursuers - corrupted masculinity.
\omen are allen receiers - corrupted emininity.
Jesus says to 1hyatira that Jezebel, a woman,
beguiled and seduced his serants. \e don`t know exactly
what that means, but apparently she teaches what Jesus calls
the deep things o Satan.` Probably that means she teaches
what she calls deep truths` . . . truths that others just
wouldn`t understand . . . mystical, prophetic, intimate
secrets . . . perhaps the idea that something is ound in
idolatry or ornication that the others aren`t ready or or
can`t see . . .
\hateer the case, it`s justiication or keeping their
communion o intimate secrets entirely in the dark.
1he senior pastor at my last church had multiple
aairs with upstanding church women. I didn`t understand
it. le was a middle-aged, slouching, balding guy. I saw what
be got: naked bodies. Now I see what tbe, got: intimate
secrets . . . a powerul man sharing intimate secrets.
le would say things like this: \ell, the rest o the
church doesn`t really understand grace like we do.` 1he
14
women said they were ictims. I don`t buy it any more.
1hose intimate secrets belonged in the sacrament o their
coenant in their bedroom at home.
1here is only one person in the world rom which I
seek to neer keep secrets: my bride.
I was talking to a riend this week who does a lot o
Christian marriage counseling. le said, It`s weird. \hen a
man gies up on a marriage and throws in the towel, he
turns to porn. \hen a rovav gies up on a marriage and
throws in the towel, she turns to go..i.`
Paul wrote, I you can`t control your burning
passions, get married.` I think he was talking mostly to guys.
In I 1imothy, he tells 1imothy to reuse to enroll young
widows.` le says they will want to marry. 1hen he says,
Besides that, they learn to be idlers, gadding about rom
house to house, and not only idlers but gossips and
busybodies, saying what they should not.` 1hat`s in the
Bible.
It appears that Paul actually saw marriage as a cure
or gossip in women in the same way he saw marriage as a
cure or burning lust in men . . . kind o like God was saying
this back in 198 to two, immature, high school kids:

ley, Peter and Susan. 1here`s a place or
that burning passion, young man. 1here`s a
place or that desire to tell someone
eerything, young woman. It`s marriage. I`m
sucking you in, and you will learn the deep
lessons o loe, and it will hurt. So I`m
binding you in a coenant. Don`t you go
looking or ulillment in any other naked
bodies. Don`t go seeking communion by
sharing intimate secrets with another.


148
\ou know, the larlot rides the Beast or women as
well as or men. It happens in a lot o ways, but isn`t the
nation`s number one selling periodical the ^atiovat vqvirer
\e get upset about pornography at the check-out stand, but
what about all those magazines that are deoted to nothing
other than exposing the intimate secrets o other people`s
coenants
Remember this: Jezebel was part o the church. I
hae been surprised at women emotionally and sometimes
physically communing with women, sharing all their intimate
secrets with other Christian women, and then being cota and
frigia to their husbands, saying, le just aoe.v`t get it. 1here
are deep, deep, wonderul truths o Jesus that I experience
and know through this other woman.`
I think Jesus may call that the deep things o
Satan.`
One woman said to me, My husband will just hae
to learn it rom Jesus irst.` \rong! Don`t you get it Jesus is
in ,ov, longing to teach him and draw it out o him. \omen,
make him masculine with your eminine. Men, make her
eminine with your masculine. lelp each other.

lusbands, share intimate secrets with your wie.
\ies, present your bodies to him as a git.

I`m not saying that i you`re the perect wie he`ll be a
perect husband. le may be rretcbea. And he may diorce
you. 1hen Jesus says, Now turn that passion toward me.
No man could eer ulill it. 1urn it to me.`
I`m not saying i you`re the perect husband she`ll be
the perect bride. She may be rretcbea. She may emasculate
you, degrade you, and reuse you. But then you may learn
the aeee.t lesson o loe: grace. \ou may then learn
orgieness as she nails you naked to a cross . . . ritb ]e.v..
149
Grace, orgieness, body broken, blood shed . . .
these, my riend, are the deep things o God. le was
cruciied or all to see.
Robertson McQuilkin was the president o
Columbia Bible College. Seeral years ago his wie was
diagnosed with Alzheimer`s disease. le resigned his post as
president in order to take care o his ailing wie.
le spends his time now changing Muriel`s diapers,
spoon-eeding Muriel her meals, and holding Muriel as she
sleeps. She hardly has the youthul body o a goddess, but
he still washes her naked body. She cannot speak to him
intimate secrets any more, yet their touch i. an intimate
secret.
A young man asked Robertson one day, Do you
eer miss being president` No,` he said. le enjoyed
loing Muriel.
But that night he couldn`t sleep. le prayed, God, I
like my assignment, but i a coach puts a man on the bench,
he must not want him in the game. \ou don`t hae to tell
me, but why don`t you want me in the game`
1he next day on their walk around the block, a
amiliar, old drunk stopped them and slurred, I like it.
1hat`s good . . . that`s really good . . . I like it.` 1hen he
headed o down the street mumbling to himsel oer and
oer, 1hat`s good . . . I like it.`
1hey inished their walk and sat down. McQuilkin
says he realized with a start, God, it`s you. It`s you
whispering to my spirit, I like it, it`s good.`` 1hen he writes
to God: I may be on the bench, but i you like it and say
it`s good, that`s all that counts.`
Robertson McQuilkin may be hesitant to say it about
himsel, but will say it: le`s not ov the bench, he`s at the
absolute center o the game with Jesus.
\omen, eery powerul man is becoming weak until
he dies. Men, eery beautiul woman is becoming less
150
beautiul until she dies. \et there is a deeper beauty and a
deeper power and a deeper loe.
Marriage is to be a picture o that deeper loe, a
lesson or all married or unmarried, in ulillment or longing .
. . a lesson or all to see. 1he lesson is this: Body broken and
blood shed.
le has loed us at our absolute worst. \ill you loe
lim at lis absolute worst Naked \eak Ugly On a
cross lis worst and yet lis best. Can you see it Nothing is
more beautiul, nothing is more powerul.
At lis communion table, le shares lis body and
reeals the deepest secrets. It`s here you ind the
communion you most desperately desire. It`s here you ind
the strength to be single or to be married to lis glory. It`s
here you ind complete orgieness. lis lie is born out o
your ery place o greatest shame. Crace.
1he sweet, wedding wine o Cana turns into the
blood o the coenant on Calary. But it turns back to wine
again at the Marriage Supper o the Lamb, and this wine is
better than the irst.

le always saes the best or last.

Good lriday turns into Laster, Muriel will soon look
like a goddess, ,ov will receie a new body. Jesus says to
1hyatira:


RLVLLA1ION 2:26-29: e rbo covqver. ava
rbo /ee. v, ror/. vvtit tbe eva, ritt gire biv
orer orer tbe vatiov. ava be .batt rvte tbev ritb a
roa of irov, a. rbev eartbev ot. are bro/ev iv
iece., erev a. v,.etf bare receirea orer frov v,
atber; ava ritt gire biv tbe vorvivg .tar. e
151
rbo ba. av ear, tet biv bear rbat tbe irit .a,. to
tbe cbvrcbe..`


My wie told me women tell secrets to get power.
\ell, men want sex to feet power. Pornography is eil,
destructie power. Gossip is eil, destructie power. 1hey
both are equally capable o destroying a church.
But to him who endures,` says Jesus, I gie power
oer nations.` \hat power - M, power` ,Psalm 2, . . . a
covvvviov o power. And le says, I will gie you the
morning star.`
In Reelation 22, Jesus says, I am the bright and
morning star.` I don`t know exactly what to make o this,
but to those Greeks in 1hyatira, the morning star had yet
avotber name: Venus.
Listen closely: Lery desire created in you by God
will be ulilled in glory. Be patient and endure. Rigbt vor
learn the deepest lesson: the loe o God who hangs on a
cross and gies birth to a new world, een through us, lis
Bride.

152
lurther Reading


And as i it had been a light thing or him to walk in the sins
o Jerobo'am the son o Nebat, he took or wie Jez'ebel the
daughter o Lthba'al king o the Sido'nians, and went and
sered Ba'al, and worshiped him. le erected an altar or
Ba'al in the house o Ba'al, which he built in Sama'ria. And
Ahab made an Ashe'rah. Ahab did more to prooke the
LORD, the God o Israel, to anger than all the kings o
Israel who were beore him.
-I Kings 16:31-33

low can you say, I am not deiled, I hae not gone ater
the Ba'als` Look at your way in the alley, know what you
hae done-a restie young camel interlacing her tracks, a
wild ass used to the wilderness, in her heat sniing the wind!
\ho can restrain her lust None who seek her need weary
themseles, in her month they will ind her.`
-Jeremiah 2:23-24

But I hae this against you, that you tolerate the woman
Jez'ebel, who calls hersel a prophetess and is teaching and
beguiling my serants to practice immorality and to eat ood
sacriiced to idols. . . .``
-Reelation 2:20

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom o God Do not be deceied, neither the immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual pererts, nor
thiees, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor reilers, nor
robbers will inherit the kingdom o God. And such were
some o you. But you were washed, you were sanctiied, you
were justiied in the name o the Lord Jesus Christ and in
153
the Spirit o our God. All things are lawul or me,` but not
all things are helpul. All things are lawul or me,` but I
will not be enslaed by anything. lood is meant or the
stomach and the stomach or ood`-and God will destroy
both one and the other. 1he body is not meant or
immorality, but or the Lord, and the Lord or the body.
And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his
power. Do you not know that your bodies are members o
Christ Shall I thereore take the members o Christ and
make them members o a prostitute Neer! Do you not
know that he who joins himsel to a prostitute becomes one
body with her lor, as it is written, 1he two shall become
one lesh.` But he who is united to the Lord becomes one
spirit with him. Shun immorality. Lery other sin which a
man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins
against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a
temple o the loly Spirit within you, which you hae rom
God \ou are not your own, you were bought with a price.
So gloriy God in your body.
-I Corinthians 6:9-20

\hoeer, thereore, eats the bread or drinks the cup o the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty o proaning the
body and blood o the Lord.
-I Corinthians 11:2

1hen one o the seen angels who had the seen bowls
came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment
o the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, with
whom the kings o the earth hae committed ornication,
and with the wine o whose ornication the dwellers on
earth hae become drunk.` And he carried me away in the
Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a
scarlet beast which was ull o blasphemous names, and it
had seen heads and ten horns. 1he woman was arrayed in
154
purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and
pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup ull o
abominations and the impurities o her ornication, and on
her orehead was written a name o mystery: Babylon the
great, mother o harlots and o earth's abominations.` And I
saw the woman, drunk with the blood o the saints and the
blood o the martyrs o Jesus. . . . Ater this I saw another
angel coming down rom heaen, haing great authority,
and the earth was made bright with his splendor. And he
called out with a mighty oice, lallen, allen is Babylon the
great! It has become a dwelling place o demons, a haunt o
eery oul spirit, a haunt o eery oul and hateul bird, or
all nations hae drunk the wine o her impure passion, and
the kings o the earth hae committed ornication with her,
and the merchants o the earth hae grown rich with the
wealth o her wantonness.` 1hen I heard another oice
rom heaen saying, Come out o her, my people, lest you
take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues . . . .`
-Reelation 1:1-6a, 18:1-4

As a young boy o 12 or 13, I encountered outside the
home . . . in the local grocery store and the local drug stores
the sot-core pornography. As young boys do, we explored
the backroads and side ways and by-ways o our
neighborhood, and oten times people would dump garbage
and whateer they were cleaning out o the house. lrom
time to time we`d come across pornographic books o a
harder nature . . . . And it happened in stages, gradually. It
doesn`t necessarily, not to me at least, happen oernight. My
experience with pornography that deals on a iolent leel
with sexuality is that once you become addicted to it-and I
look at this as a kind o addiction-I would keep looking or
more potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds o materials.
Until you reach the point where the pornography only goes
so ar. \ou reach that jumping-o point where you begin to
wonder i maybe actually doing it will gie you that which is
155
beyond just reading about it or looking at it.
-1ed Bundy a ew hours beore his execution

1o the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well or
them to remain single as I do. But i they cannot exercise
sel-control, they should marry. lor it is better to marry than
to be alame with passion.
-I Corinthians :8-9

Let a widow be enrolled i she is not less than sixty years o
age, haing been the wie o one husband, and she must be
well attested or her good deeds, as one who has brought up
children, shown hospitality, washed the eet o the saints,
relieed the alicted, and deoted hersel to doing good in
eery way. But reuse to enrol younger widows, or when
they grow wanton against Christ they desire to marry, and so
they incur condemnation or haing iolated their irst
pledge. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, gadding about
rom house to house, and not only idlers but gossips and
busybodies, saying what they should not. So I would hae
younger widows marry, bear children, rule their households,
and gie the enemy no occasion to reile us. lor some hae
already strayed ater Satan.
-I 1imothy 5:9-15

le ound that he could point to no single eature wherein
the dierence resided, yet it was impossible to ignore. One
could try-Ransom has tried a hundred times-to put it
into words. le has said that Malacandra was like rhythm
and Perelandra like melody. le has said that Malacandra
aected him like a quantitatie, Perelandra like an accentual,
metre. le thinks that the irst held in his hand something
like a spear, but the hands o the other were open, with the
palms towards him. But I don`t know that any o these
156
attempts has helped me much. At all eents what Ransom
saw at that moment was the real meaning o gender. . . .
Gender is a reality, and a more undamental reality than sex.
Sex is, in act, merely the adaptation to organic lie o a
undamental polarity which diides all created beings. . . .
Malacandra seemed to him to hae the look o one standing
armed, at the ramparts o his own remote archaic world, in
ceaseless igilance, his eyes eer roaming the earth-ward
horizon whence his danger came long ago. A sailor`s look,`
Ransom once said to me, you know . . . eyes that are
impregnated with distance.` But the eyes o Perelandra
opened, as it were, inward, as i they were the curtained
gateway to a world o waes and murmurings and wandering
airs, o lie that rocked in winds and splashed on mossy
stones and descended as the dew and arose sunward in thin-
spun delicacy o mist. On Mars the ery orests are o stone,
in Venus the lands swim. lor now he thought o them no
more as Malacandra and Perelandra. le called them by their
1ellurian names. \ith deep wonder he thought to himsel,
My eyes hae seen mars and Venus . . . .` Our mythology is
based on a solider reality than we dream: but it is also at an
almost ininite distance rom that base. And when they told
him this, Ransom at last understood why mythology was
what it was-gleams o celestial strength and beauty alling
on a jungle o ilth and imbecility.
-C. S. Lewis, Peretavara

And I will gie him the morning star.``
-Reelation 2:28

I Jesus hae sent my angel to you with this testimony or
the churches. I am the root and the ospring o Daid, the
bright morning star.`
-Reelation 22:16

15
-&./01 2G* ?*&<
,Reelation 3:1-6,


RLVLLA1ION 3:1: .va to tbe avget of tbe cbvrcb
iv arai. rrite: 1be rora. of biv rbo ba. tbe .erev
.irit. of Coa ava tbe .erev .tar.. /vor ,ovr
ror/.; ,ov bare tbe vave of beivg atire, ava ,ov are
aeaa.`


A dead church. lae you eer been to a dead
church
A couple o years ago Susan and I got to isit
\estminster Abbey in London. \e went to their Len Song
Serice . . . beavtifvt ceremony . . . impeccable music . . .
magniicent words . . . and astounding boredom.
\e sat in the chancel, or all to see, and tbree tive.
my wie Susan ell asleep, hitting the wood with a loud thud
that reerberated through the cathedral.
lae you eer been to an alie church Growing
Changing Vital Awake
\hen we lied in Danille, Caliornia, Susan verer
ell asleep in church, because Ron, the senior pastor, was a
dynamic preacher. le had published seeral books, and he
was in high demand nationwide. le had just written a book
on mentoring, and was his prime example . . . a Mini-Ron.
Ron had a vave or being alie, authentic, and
passionate. Otentimes he would break down weeping in a
sermon. People would say, \ow! 1he loly Spirit is
moing!` Books, growth, rieting sermons . . . \hat a name
and what a place! \et at that church, the place that impacted
me the most was out back, hidden, where ew could see. It
was the avv.ter.
Our house was behind the church, so eery day I
would walk past the dumpster on my way to the \outh
158
louse. \ou can learn a lot about people by hanging around
a dumpster. I ound a lot o cool stu in that dumpster.
One o our high school interns ound a >20 bill and a
perectly good electric razor.
I read an article about scientists who studied trash to
understand people.
1he dumpster smelled, but it was where the action
was: secret pastor meetings between serices, grooms and
groomsmen sneaking beer beore the wedding . . . 1hey
ound a baby by a dumpster this past week in Dener.
1he avv.ter is metaphorical in a way . . . smells like
death but can teach a lot about lie.
In the irst week o September 1991, I ran into Ron
by the dumpster. le used to sit back there in his car. le had
been gone on Sabbatical or three months, and this was his
irst day back. le had called an emergency special meeting.
I had heard some rumors, so I went to his window
and said, Ron, what`s v.` le said, Peter, I`m glad I
caught you beore the meeting. I`e decided to resign. I`m
too stressed and too busy . . . I want time to speak and
write.`
Beore I could catch mysel, I said, Oh good!` then
quickly, trying to recoer, I mean, good that it`s not
something baa.` le chuckled, and said, Oh you mean like a
airorce or something` Looking me in the eye he said, Oh
no. Nothing like that.`
le got out, and we walked together past the
dumpster up to the meeting where he shared the same story.
A ew days later, I was sitting in another meeting
with members o the Presbytery who inormed us that our
women were suing Ron or haing sexual liaisons with them
at some other church years ago.
Shortly ater that, we had another meeting with Ron.
le ret and promised there were no other women. I
journaled about how beautiul his repentance was.

159
A short time later, I was in another meeting and
ound out that the whole thing was a lie. 1here were seeral
women in ovr cbvrcb, right then, right there.
1hen I ound out the same thing had happened at
Bel Air Presbyterian, the church where I had worked beore
Danille. .votber pastor with an incredible name or being
alie . . .
It wasn`t too much later, while I was here at
Lookout, that my old riend 1im, with a siler tongue and
the name o being alie, wrote a note to his big, thriing
congregation and his young amily, went out to the garage,
and asphyxiated himsel. Deaa.
I`m just saying I`m not so sure we`re all that good at
telling whether something is dead or alie.

Maybe we conuse alie with lots o noise,
emotion, and zeal.
Maybe we conuse growth with something
getting bigger.
Maybe we conuse a great name with lie.
Maybe we are just not good at telling what`s alie
and what`s dead.

So we look and see lots o excited people, noise,
growth, and een miracles, mighty works and demons
leeing, and it all smells good. \e say, Man, look! 1hat
church is atire!`
But when we see just a ew people weeping, their
numbers shrinking, no miracles, some not een sure they
beliee - the place smells o demons. \e say, Man, that
guy in the middle on the cross . . . le`s aeaa . . . aeaa.`

Maybe we don`t know alie so well and dead so
well.


160
Sardis, you hae the name o being alie, but you`re
dead.` Other olks cattea them alie.` But sometimes just
being vavea alie` can kill you.
Ron told me later it was the pressure o ministry.
\ell, it wasn`t the pressure o any ministry Coa gae him, it
was the pressure o liing up to a name. It had become an
idol.
1he letter to the seen churches has a chiastic
lebrew construction. 1hat means the last three letters
mirror the irst three. Sardis is parallel to Pergamum. 1wo
weeks ago in Pergamum, we preached that een a gooa name
can kill you.
Gary told me about a huge conention he attended
years ago led by a amous pastor with a great name-you`d
know it-pastoring a church with a tremendous name or
being atire.
O course, Gary was not in the main room, as you
would expect, but running around in some hallway
somewhere when he ound a man lying on the loor, curled
up in the etal position, shaking and sobbing. Gary went up
to him and asked, Are you okay`
1he guy said, I`m not va/ivg it!` Gary said
something like, 1hat`s okay. \ou don`t hae to make.` 1he
guy said, \ou don`t understand! It`s not okay. My name is
__________________.` It was a amous name rom a
amous church - the man speaking to all those pastors on
successul ministry.`
I hae a riend who comes rom a ery well thought
o amily in eangelical Christianity. But liing up to his
amily name has been like a curse. le started out in
proessional ministry but would do things that made no
sense . . . not really barvfvt to anyone, just embarrassing to
himsel.
I would try to help him, I would try to understand.
\ou hae such incredible gits, such a calling and loe or
Jesus and loe or people, but then you go and do some
161
stupid thing. I don`t under.tava.`
I was isiting this riend years ago in another state
and went with him to one o his ather`s prayer support
meetings. lis dad is a great guy, but there is a whole
Christian culture around him.
At this prayer meeting, we broke into sharing
groups.` Lerybody wore ironed blue jeans with sweaters
oer their shoulders tied in a knot in ront, and they all said
things like this: Oh, bless you, brother. te.. you.` I hae
experienced rictor, this week.` Isn`t God good` Praise the
Lord! lallelujah!`
And the rbote tive they .vitea.
\e said a little prayer, and we walked out. \hen the
two o us were alone, my riend turned to me and said, So,
what did you think` Now, I`m not saying this to be cute or
ulgar, I`m saying it because I really veavt it. ,So please don`t
be oended., I said, 1o be honest with you, the entire time
I had an irresistible urge to fart.`
My riend stopped me, looked me in the eye, and
said, \ell, now you know. Now you understand what it is
to be me.`
I hae heard that pastors hae aairs sometimes just
to get out rom under the pressure o a gooa vave. I`m talking
about pastors because I am one. But the same is true with
business executies, goernment oicials, teachers,
salesmen, cops, actors, actresses, moms, dads . . . anybody
who has a public lie and wants to hae a gooa vbtic vave.
\ou hae built a name, and you`re working to lie
up to the name. But inside you`re dying, empty, tired, lonely,
desperate . . . \ou want someone-av,ove-to know you,
but you think, \hat i they reatt, /ver. \hat i the /ia.
knew`
\ou see, the Lil One is committing extortion,
saying to you, Pay, work, struggle, strie or your name,
because rbat if they ound out who you really are`

162
So you strie or your name, but deep inside you
long or the dumpster-the sewer-the bottle-the lesh-
the porn-the gossip. 1he power o sin is the law.` \et
Satan`s extortion is powerless without an addiction to a
good public name.
Soren Kierkegaard wrote, I someone in public
happens to pass gas loudly, people are so startled, it is as i it
were the oice o a spirit. So intoxicated are we when we are
in public.`
\ell, maybe it i. a spirit. Maybe it is tbe Spirit-the
Spirit o 1ruth saying, Be bove.t. Let them know your gut.
Lxpose what`s dead and rotten. And the truth will set you
ree.`
I know . . . that`s gross. But hae you eer seen a
barn It`s like a dumpster. 1hat`s where the Christ-child
chose to be born.


RLVLLA1ION 3:1-6: .va to tbe avget of tbe
cbvrcb iv arai. rrite: 1be rora. of biv rbo ba.
tbe .erev .irit. of Coa ava tbe .erev .tar.. /vor
,ovr ror/.; ,ov bare tbe vave of beivg atire, ava
,ov are aeaa. .ra/e, ava .trevgtbev rbat revaiv.
ava i. ov tbe oivt of aeatb, for bare vot fovva
,ovr ror/. erfect iv tbe .igbt of v, Coa. Revevber
tbev rbat ,ov receirea ava beara; /ee tbat, ava
reevt. f ,ov ritt vot ara/e, ritt cove ti/e a
tbief, ava ,ov ritt vot /vor at rbat bovr ritt
cove vov ,ov. Yet ,ov bare .titt a fer vave. iv
arai., eote rbo bare vot .oitea tbeir garvevt.;
ava tbe, .batt rat/ ritb ve iv rbite, for tbe, are
rortb,. e rbo covqver. .batt be ctaa tbv. iv rbite
garvevt., ava ritt vot btot bi. vave ovt of tbe
boo/ of tife; ritt covfe.. bi. vave before v, atber
ava before bi. avget.. e rbo ba. av ear, tet biv
bear rbat tbe irit .a,. to tbe cbvrcbe..`
163
|Shouting| \ake up! Strengthen what remains and
is on the point o death, or I hae not ound your works
perect in the sight o my God.` Jesus calls us to perection!
Are your works erfect. \e represent the Author o lie . . .
loe, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,
aithulness, and sel-control.
Do people look at you and say, \ow! 1hat`s lie!`
\hen was the last time you aavcea beore the Lord in joy
\hen was the last time you led someone to the Liing
Christ \hen was the last time someone stopped you on the
street and said, \hy are you so happy low can you be so
alie`
Look alie! . . . like Mother 1eresa, like Billy
Graham, like Ann Kiemel singing, God loes you, and I
loe you, and that`s the way it should be.`
Do you ravt the white garments Do you want your
name in the Book o Lie 1hen look alie! Lie! Lie! Lie!
Or am I just screaming at dead things
Now do you eel more alie Or do you eel more
dead, imprisoned to the vave o being alie A lot o yelling
outside, but inside more death.
1he more I scream Lie!` the more you are
reminded o how dead you are. And the more you are
reminded o how dead you are, the more sel-conscious you
get. And the more sel-conscious you get, the more dead
you get!
Jesus was ery clear: Lose your lie and you`ll ind
it.` 1hat means stop thinking about yoursel. I .aia, Stop
thinking about yoursel! Are you thinking about yoursel
right now 1he power o sin is the law. 1he law va/e. us
dead. On top o that, we are not een ery good at knowing
what dead i.! ,Dead doesn`t know dead.,
So i we`re dead, screaming at us won`t do any good.
lae you eer screamed at a dead cat Get up!` It doesn`t
do any good. More than that, how does a dead thing
conquer
164
Lach letter to the seen churches ends with this
phrase: 1o him who conquers I will gie . . . I will do . . .
such and such.` So I read and wonder:

\ill I conquer
\ill I reie that irst loe
\ill I be aithul unto death
\ill I renounce alse teaching
\ill I tolerate that Jezebel woman
\ill I wake up and lie
\ill God blot my name out o the Book o Lie
\ill I conquer

It could scare you to death! \e know aith is
exhibited in works. But this sounds like tar . . . works
righteousness. 1hat`s weird, considering this was written by
John.
\hen we preached through the gospel o John a
couple o years ago, time and time again I was struck by the
act that Jesus does erer,tbivg! le calls people, le chooses
people, le saes people, le sanctiies people, le lies lis
lie through people.
But here in these letters . . . repent, endure, don`t
tolerate, get liing!
Are we going to conquer \hat is Jesus saying to
us
1echnically, actually, le`s not talking to us. \e are
oerhearing lim communicate with someone else, the way
John oerheard Jesus talking to God the lather in the
Garden o Gethsemane.
Now John is writing down what Jesus is saying to
someone et.e. Lach letter is addressed to an angel and ends
with this phrase: le who has ears to hear, let him hear
what the spirit says to the churches` ,as i the angel is some
kind o counselor or adocate,.

165
Most o the pronouns in the letters are second
person .ivgvtar pronouns that get lost in translation. \hen
Jesus says, I hae not ound your works perect,` le is
talking to the angel. 1hat`s really weird . . .

1. In Scripture, angels are good or bad, but tbi.
angel gets rebuked or bad things and
commended or good. iarre. Not only that, but
the rest o the New 1estament teaches that we
don`t need some angel telling us stu or
representing us to God.

2. Some hae postulated the angel is a bishop or a
prophet or some person in the local church,
because angelos` means messenger.` But
bi.bo hardly its the Biblical usage. And it puts a
whole lot o pressure on these seen guys to
sae the churches.

3. Neither angel` nor man` works, so some see
it as just an unprecedented, bizarre, literary
deice. \et Jesus seems to make a ery big aeat o
these seen star messengers held tightly in lis
hand.

Seen messengers, yet one. Seen is the number o
God`s maniold ullness. In chapter ie, the lamb has seen
eyes, which are the seen spirits o God sent out into all the
earth.
Seen spirits, yet we know that it is ove Spirit-the
loly Spirit-the Spirit o Jesus. 1he seen angels are the
seen stars in Reelation 1:20. 1hen in our text we read,
1he words o him |Jesus| who ba. the seen spirits o God
ava the seen stars.`
Some commentators say that the and` is
epexegetical, meaning namely` or that is,` and that the
166
seen spirits o God are the seen stars, and the seen stars
are the seen angels.
Are these seen spirits the ery same seen spirits
which are the seen eyes o the lamb, which is the Spirit o
the Liing God, which would mean Jesus is writing to lis
own Spirit resident in each indiidual church
So of covr.e le knows their works. And of covr.e Jesus
says to lis spirit, Let him with ears to hear, hear what the
spirit says to the churches.`
1he irit is the Counselor. le is the Adocate.
Now, I may be entirely whacked on this thing,
because I couldn`t ind any commentator who said such a
thing. As I thought about it, I realized why. low could the
Spirit be dead low could the Spirit be accused o haing
tolerated Jezebel and haing lost lis irst loe low could
the Adocate-the Paracletos`-be accused o sin
1hen I thought o the Apostle Paul who wrote, In
Christ, God was reconciling the world to himsel, not
imputing their trespasses unto them.` le must hae been
imputing them somewhere else . . . lor our sake he made
him |Jesus| to be sin who knew no sin, that we might be the
righteousness o God.` Some might say, 1hat`s Paul, this is
John.`
In I John, John says, I anyone does sin we hae an
adocate with the lather, Jesus Christ the righteous.` John
also calls the loly Spirit Adocate`-Paracletos.` It
means one who pleads another`s case beore a judge.`
In the gospel o John, Jesus says, I`m sending
another adocate. \ou know him, or he dwells with you
and will be in you.` 1hen le tells the disciples, 1he
adocate will teach you all things. le will not speak on his
own authority, but whateer he hears he will speak.` ,le
gets direction.,
And he will declare to you the things that are to
come.` 1hat sounds amiliar. And he will take what is mine
and declare it to you.`
16
1he letter goes to the churches. A church is all those
indwelt by the Spirit o Jesus. 1be, are the ones who will
hear. So when Jesus says, \ou`re dead,` could le be
speaking to lis own Spirit in those le chose to be alie
lis Spirit can hear, \ou are dead. Now lie!`
Could it be that Jesus is so identiied with lis
Bride-lis own Body-lis Beloed, een in her wretched
garbage, that her sin is imputed to lim and lis
righteousness imputed to her
So le takes his own rebuke or us and answers lis
own call iv us. le not only .are. us, le also .avctifie. us -
that is, le does good works iv us.
So in these letters we hear our Lord speaking lis
directions to the Adocate-lis Spirit-calling, Lie . . .
lie . . . lie!` until it is no longer I that lies but Christ who
lies within me. And the lie which I now lie in the lesh I
lie by the aith in the Son o God who loed me and gae
himsel up or me.`
\e are like a patient on an operating table
oerhearing the Great Physician talk to limsel about our
surgery. I that is the case, what should we do ota .titt.
Surrender, especially whateer is sick or rotten. Don`t hide
the gangrene.
Surrender, trust, hold still, and see the salation o
your God.
Conquering, then, depends on surrendering
deadness and sickness to the Physician. \ill the Physician
conquer \ill the Adocate conquer \ill ]e.v. conquer`
\ell, that`s what the rest o the book is about!
Reelation 1: 1he Lamb shall conquer, or he is
Lord o lords and King o kings, and they that are with him
are called and chosen and aithul.` So will le conquer
Absolutely! \ill lis name be blotted rom the Book o Lie
,a name le shares with you, No way!
1he question then is, Am I with lim, surrendering
all to lim lor joined with him in a death like his I shall
168
surely be joined with him in a resurrection like his.`
1he saints conquer by the blood o the Lamb and
the word o their testimony.` 1hat \ord is Jesus. So een i
I`m wrong about the angel` thing, I`m right about how we
conquer. lor John wrote in I John 5:4, 1his is the ictory
that conquers the world-our aith.` Jesus said in John 15,
\ou can do nothing apart rom me.`
Oerhearing the seen letters makes us call out,
lelp! I can`t conquer!` 1hen the Lamb conquers.
In erse three o the letter to Sardis, Jesus says,
Remember what you receied and what you heard.`
Amazingly enough, we know what the Sardisians ,or the
Spirit een then enlightening them, receied and heard.
1hey heard Paul in Lphesus, a day`s journey away. \ou can
read about it in Acts 19. lor two years Paul taught in the
lall o 1yranus, and all the residents o Asia heard the
\ord o the Lord.
\e know what Paul said in Lphesus and to
Lphesus . . . things like this: \ou he made alie when you
were dead . . . or you hae been saed by grace through
aith, and this is not o yourseles lest any man should boast.
No, not by works . . . or you are i. workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus or good works, which God prepared
beorehand that you would walk in them.`
Later he says, Anything exposed to the light
becomes light. Awake, O sleeper, arise rom the dead, and
Christ will gie you light.`
1he key is surrender, complete surrender, exposing
things to the light. Sardis, stop trying to make a name or
yoursel. Sardis, stop trying to hide garbage. Sardis,
surrender the garbage, coness your sin one to another,`
and the Author o Lie will be born in your stable.
le will gie us lis name, le will clothe us in white
garments, which are the righteous deeds o the saints, le
will get all the glory, or le conquers. By the way, when you
get a good look at lim, you`ll orget about yoursel. And
169
that is lie.
Shortly ater the Ron deal, I went or a walk with an
old man one night. le was a pastor. lis last ten years had
been hard . . . a struggle with some diicult churches and
diicult people. le hadn`t published a book, his last church
was much smaller than Danille or Bel Air, he didn`t hae a
big name.
\et I`d hae to say that it was in him more than in
anyone else in my lie, that I had seen loe, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, aithulness, sel-
control. I don`t mean he was perect, but those things were
reat.
le took me or a walk, and we sat down by the
dumpster on the steps out behind the church. le said,
Peter, I want you to know I haen`t been ery on ire or
Jesus lately . . . not really alie like I should be |dead|. I want
to recommit my lie to Jesus |surrender|, and I`d like you to
pray or me.`
leeling pretty small and pretty dead mysel, I did. I
prayed or my dad with umbling words, or I should say the
Spirit in me called to the Spirit in him, Lie! Lie! Lie!`
le did, and le does. lor about orty years now the Spirit in
lim has been calling to the Spirit in me, Lie! Lie! Lie!`
\hateer good is in me is a product o the Spirit o Jesus
mostly working through my dad, because he is so alie he
reely admits being dead.
Sardis had a reputation or being alie, but they were
dead. Jesus had a reputation or being dead, but le is lie.
Lntrust eerything to lim.
I there is a place o darkness in your lie, and you
hae neer surrendered it, Scripture says, Coness your sins
one to another that you may be healed.` Satan commits
extortion against God, but he also commits extortion against
the Church, and you lie in ear. \hat i somebody ound
out about that`

10
I a belieer inds out because you coness it to
them, this is what the belieer is supposed to say ,and when
they say this, it`s the Spirit o God in them calling out to the
Spirit in you,: In the name o Jesus, you are orgien. \ou
are ree. Now beliee the white garment Jesus gies you.
Beliee the name le has or you, and sin no more.`
\ou don`t go dumpster-diing wearing a white
garment. 1hat`s not who you are any more. So in the name
o Jesus, surrender. Daily surrender. In the name o Jesus,
tire. Amen.

11
lurther Reading


Plastic lowers neer die.
-Anthony DeMello

I know your works, you hae the name o being alie, and
you are dead.
-Reelation 3:1b

1hen they said to him, \hat must we do, to be doing the
works o God` Jesus answered them, 1his is the work o
God, that you beliee in him whom he has sent. . . . 1ruly,
truly, I say to you, he who beliees has eternal lie.`
-John 6:28-29, 4

My sheep hear my oice, and I know them, and they ollow
me, and I gie them eternal lie, and they shall neer perish,
and no one shall snatch them out o my hand.
-John 10:2-28

I am the ine, you are the branches. le who abides in me,
and I in him, he it is that bears much ruit, or apart rom
me you can do nothing.
-John 15:5

Remember then what you receied and heard, keep that, and
repent.
-Reelation 3:3a

And he entered the synagogue and or three months spoke
boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom o God, but
12
when some were stubborn and disbelieed, speaking eil o
the \ay beore the congregation, he withdrew rom them,
taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the hall o
1yran'nus. 1his continued or two years, so that all the
residents o Asia heard the word o the Lord, both Jews and
Greeks.
-Acts 19:8-10

And you he made alie, when you were dead through the
trespasses and sins in which you once walked, ollowing the
course o this world, ollowing the prince o the power o
the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons o
disobedience. . . . lor by grace you hae been saed through
aith, and this is not your own doing, it is the git o God-
not because o works, lest any man should boast. lor we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus or good works,
which God prepared beorehand, that we should walk in
them. . . . 1ake no part in the unruitul works o darkness,
but instead expose them. lor it is a shame een to speak o
the things that they do in secret, but when anything is
exposed by the light it becomes isible, or anything that
becomes isible is light.
-Lphesians 2:1-2, 8-10 5:11-13

As or the mystery o the seen stars which you saw in my
right hand, and the seen golden lampstands, the seen stars
are the angels o the seen churches and the seen
lampstands are the seen churches. . . . And to the angel o
the church in Sardis write: 1he words o him who has the
seen spirits o God and the seen stars.`` . . . And between
the throne and the our liing creatures and among the
elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,
with seen horns and with seen eyes, which are the seen
spirits o God sent out into all the earth.
-Reelation 1:20, 3:1, 5:6
13
I you loe me, you will keep my commandments. And I will
pray the lather, and he will gie you another Counselor, to
be with you or eer, een the Spirit o truth, whom the
world cannot receie, because it neither sees him nor knows
him, you know him, or he dwells with you, and will be in
you. . . . 1hese things I hae spoken to you while I am still
with you. But the Counselor, the loly Spirit, whom the
lather will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all that I hae said to you.
-John 14:15-1, 25-26

I hae yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear
them now. \hen the Spirit o truth comes, he will guide you
into all the truth, or he will not speak on his own authority,
but whateer he hears he will speak, and he will declare to
you the things that are to come. le will gloriy me, or he
will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the
lather has is mine, thereore I said that he will take what is
mine and declare it to you.
-John 16:12-15

I write this to you about those who would deceie you, but
the anointing which you receied rom him abides in you,
and you hae no need that anyone should teach you, as his
anointing teaches you about eerything, and is true, and is
no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him.
-I John 2:26-2

All this is rom God, who through Christ reconciled us to
himsel and gae us the ministry o reconciliation, that is, in
Christ God was reconciling the world to himsel, not
counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us
the message o reconciliation. . . . lor our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
14
the righteousness o God.
-II Corinthians 5:18-21

le that oercometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment, and I will not blot out his name out o the book o
lie, but I will coness his name beore my lather, and
beore his angels.
-Reelation 3:5

And they oercame him by the blood o the Lamb, and by
the word o their testimony, and they loed not their lies
unto the death.
-Reelation 12:11

And it was gien unto him to make war with the saints, and
to oercome them: and power was gien him oer all
kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
-Reelation 13:

1hese shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
oercome them: or he is Lord o lords, and King o kings:
and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and
aithul.
-Reelation 1:14

1hese things I hae spoken unto you, that in me ye might
hae peace. In the world ye shall hae tribulation: but be o
good cheer, I hae oercome the world.
-John 16:33

Set your minds on things that are aboe, not on things that
are on earth. lor you hae died, and your lie is hid with
Christ in God. \hen Christ who is our lie appears, then
15
you also will appear with him in glory.
-Colossians 3:2-4

I hae been cruciied with Christ, it is no longer I who lie,
but Christ who lies in me, and the lie I now lie in the
lesh I lie by aith in the Son o God, who loed me and
gae himsel or me.
-Galatians 2:20
16
-&./01 2$ ;&/2G
,Reelation 3:-13,


1he ollowing was recorded by Sister Mary Rose
McGeady:

I`m waiting or my dad. lae . . .
hae any o you seen my dad`
1he tall and skinny scarecrow-kid
shited beore us on the streetcorner, ear
racing across his ace, dirt smeared all oer
his body.
lis speech was slowed and slurred.
lis eyes dull and empty. At irst I thought
drugs,` but then I realized it was something
else . . . the boy was mentally disabled.
le was . . . a little boy . . . in a 16-
year-old`s body.
I`m sorry, son, but I don`t know
your dad . . . \hat`s your name`
Lric`
li, Lric. \hat do you mean you`re
waiting or your dad`
le`s coming back. I hope. . . .`
Lric clinched his hands tightly into a
ist, and began to rock back and orth . . . .
Maybe we can help you. \here do
you lie, Lric`
I don`t know.`
Do you lie in New \ork City`
I don`t know.`
Do you lie in a city, with lots o
streets and buildings`
\eah. Lots o cars.`
\hen did your dad say he would be
1
back`
le just took me or a walk, and
then said, \ait here, I`ll be right back.` 1hat
was right ater he gae me breakast. But he
must be coming back . . . right`
low long hae you been here,
Lric`
I don`t know, but I`e been here or
awhile.`
lae you slept here`
\eah. I sleep in my pipe. I wish I
had my blanket, though, cause . . . it gets
really cold.`
\our pipe \here is that, Lric`
Lric pointed to the bridge that runs
along the lunts Point section o the Bronx,
and then led us to his home.` Sure enough,
hidden in the dirt and squalor o a dark
corner sat a large, old pipe.
Is this where you sleep, Lric` le
nodded . . . . Lric, how many times hae
you slept in the pipe One time 1wo times
Or more`
\eah. I sleep here a lot.`
Lric, what`s your last name`
Lric.`
No, your other name. Do you hae
another name Like, I`m Mary Rose, but my
last name is McGeady. Do you hae another
name`
Just Lric.`

lis name was Just Lric. \ou wonder how many
people there are in this world like Just Lric . . . people with
little power, who ind a closed door at eery turn . . . people
who eel shut out while the world passes them by . . . people
18
who hae a conused but belligerent hope that he`s coming
back. Somebody is coming back or me, because I belong
somewhere else.`
\hether we like it or not, to other street kids and
most o the world, Just Lric is rather ordinary.
In Arica, there are hundreds o millions o orphans
due to AIDS. 1hroughout the world, hundreds o millions
are desperately hungry. lundreds o millions would be
thankul or a good cement pipe. lundreds o millions . . .
and their struggle is vot extraordinary.
American PO\`s, the amilies o ictims o the
Oklahoma bombing, Columbine ligh School . . . now tbat is
extraordinary: huge publicity and incredible stories o
courage . . . like the recent story o the Andrea Gail, in the
moie 1be Perfect torv - tragic, but it`s a glorious picture o
man pitted against the raging sea.
In Scripture, the sea is the abode o demons and the
Dragon, as well as an instrument o God`s judgment. 1he
Andrea Gail`s heroic struggle against the perect storm at sea
is glorious. But what about all those simply lost at sea \hat
about all the Just Lrics whose stories are neer heard
Maybe you eel like Just Lric. In a metaphorical kind
o way, you eel like you hae little power. Doors are always
shutting in your ace. It eels like the world is passing you
by. \ou are a Christian and you proess, Jesus is coming
back,` but in your honest moments you hae your doubts.
So you sere on a church committee, you help out
on a church mission, but you wonder, Do I really matter
Do I count I eel like I hae such little power yet no great
stories about heroic suering either.`
lor most o your lie, it has elt like you are treading
water . . . entirely ordinary . . . maybe te.. than ordinary . . .
maybe not Lric, but to some degree we all eel like Just Lric.



19
RLVLLA1ION 3:-11: 1o tbe avget of tbe cbvrcb
iv Pbitaaetbia rrite . . . .


Last week I preached that my strong suspicion is
that that angel is the loly Spirit in communion with lis
church, communicating to lis church and liing out the call
o Christ withiv the church.


1be.e are tbe rora. of biv rbo i. bot, ava trve,
rbo bota. tbe /e, of Daria. !bat be oev. vo ove
cav .bvt, ava rbat be .bvt. vo ove cav oev.
/vor ,ovr aeea.. ee, bare tacea
before ,ov av oev aoor tbat vo ove cav .bvt. /vor
tbat ,ov bare tittte .trevgtb, ,et ,ov bare /et v,
rora ava bare vot aeviea v, vave. ritt va/e
tbo.e rbo are of tbe .,vagogve of atav, rbo ctaiv
to be ]er. tbovgb tbe, are vot, bvt are tiar.- ritt
va/e tbev cove ava fatt aorv at ,ovr feet ava
ac/vorteage tbat bare torea ,ov. ivce ,ov bare
/et v, covvava to evavre atievtt,, ritt at.o
/ee ,ov frov tbe bovr of triat tbat i. goivg to cove
vov tbe rbote rorta to te.t tbo.e rbo tire ov tbe
eartb. av covivg .oov; bota ov . . . .`


A great storm is coming ,the perect storm, to test
those who lie upon the earth. But Jesus is going to keep the
Philadelphians rom the storm. Some say that storm is
strictly a seen-year period sometime ater the year 2001. So
Jesus is saying, Guys, cheer up! \ou won`t be around or
the seen years o tribulation two thousand years rom now!
lang on, I`m coming soon . . . actually, sometime ater
2008. O course you`ll be dead, but i you rere alie, I`d
rapture you and take you out o this world!
180
Is tbat what le is saying I don`t think so. I think le
is saying, Persecution will intensiy in your lietime, and I
will keep you.`
In John 1, Jesus prays this to lis lather: I hae
gien them your word, and the world has hated them
because they are not o the world, een as I am not o the
world. I do not pray that you should take them out o the
world but that you should keep them rom the eil one.`
Maybe the storm will intensiy right beore Jesus
comes back. But i we would step out o our rich, powerul,
American mindset or a little while and take a good look at
this world, I think we would see that or vo.t Christians in
vo.t o the world, things are pretty stormy and hae been
stormy or quite some time.
I think that we might also see something else: Jesus
still walks in storms on the raging sea. Behold, le is still
coming soon.
Philadelphia lay twenty-three miles southeast o
Sardis and was an area plagued with earthquakes. It was a
rather young city established as an outpost o Greek culture,
a rontier town, kind o like Dener.
Jesus says, \ou hae little strength`-power . . . the
Greek word is dunamis,` where we get our word
dynamite` . . . not a lot o ireworks in Philadelphia . . .
ordinary or less than ordinary. But Jesus says, \ou are
aithul, so I will keep you rom the storm.`
Oer in Smyrna they are also aithul, they get
thrown into prison, and some get martyred. It was in
Smyrna we met Polycarp. Incredible suering, incredible
heroes o aith.
But here in Philadelphia - Keep treading water.`
Suering used to make me doubt God`s loe or me.
Now, haing spent a good chunk o time in scripture, my
tac/ o suering at times makes me doubt God`s loe. \hat
I mean is, I wonder things like: God, could you be pleased
with an ordinary guy who just goes through oraivar, kinds o
181
suering and still eels he`s barely hanging on at times`
It appears the Philadelphians were going through
ordinary kinds o suering. lolks rom the synagogue ,to
which many undoubtedly belonged, were ridiculing them
saying, God doesn`t loe you. \ou`re no longer part o the
people o God!` Rejected, ridiculed, and excluded by old
amily and riends, and through them the Lil One
whispered, Unloed . . . unworthy . . . rejected.`
Ordinary church, ordinary bride. I imagine she was
eeling kind o rumpy . . . housecoat, slippers . . . one more
day o doing the laundry . . . and does it matter
And Jesus says, \es. I know. But look! I place
beore you an open door.`
le also says le has the key o Daid. Isaiah 22:22
reers to the key o the bov.e o Daid and the one who
wields it open. le shall open, and none shall shut, and he
shall shut, and none shall open.` It`s the /e, to a kingdom!
1his key in Reelation 3 is not just to the bov.e o
Daid, it is the key of Daid. I think that`s interesting, or
Daid had little power. le was ordinary. le was a shepherd
boy smaller than all his brothers, yet God called biv.
As a rea/ boy Daid had incredible orer. le
conquered Goliath and spread the kingdom o Israel. le
conquered eil spirits in Saul and sent them running with his
music. le eentually became king, no longer small but
immense . . . Israel`s greate.t king. Ironically, it was then that
he seemed most weak . . . when he saw himsel as king.
\hen he saw himsel as strong, he sank.
Adultery, murder, betrayal by his own children . . .
when he was rea/, eerywhere he turned there were open
doors.
Jesus says, I place beore you, Philadelphia, an open
door.` People debate what that open door is. Many say it`s
the door o eangelism. In both Corinthian letters, Paul
reers to open doors o spreading the Gospel. It was Paul
who wrote, \e hae this treasure in earthen essels to
182
show that the transcendent power belongs to God.`
1hat is, Philadelphia, it`s your ery weakness that
allows you to show orth the kingdom to those who haen`t
heard.` 1hat makes some sense, especially to rich Americans
like us liing in a commercial society where eerybody is
trying to sell us something. \e are highly suspicious o
commercials. 1hey almost always lie.
Powerul people can aord to lie their lies like
commercials, always striking a pose, wearing the right
clothes, saying the right things - eery word careully
scripted. So we hae learned it is what comes out in the
unguarded moments o lie that is most conincing. It`s
there we ind truth.
A little boy watched a minister as he did some
carpentry out in his yard. le wouldn`t leae but watched
intently. Pleased with the thought o being admired, the
minister said, Son, are you looking or some pointers in
carpentry` 1he little boy said, No. I`m waiting to hear
what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a
hammer.` 1hat was a smart kid.
Jesus was a carpenter or thirty years in a little,
rontier town called Nazareth. le neer wrote a book, neer
held an oice, neer earned any credentials, and neer
traeled more than 200 miles rom his place o birth.
Sure, there were miracles, but he bia them rom
people - no dynamite unless they had aith irst.
So to the world it looked like a pretty ordinary lie.
But le said to a ew olks, Come walk with me a while.`
1hey watched lim do ordinary things in an extraordinary
way . . . hold children, talk to a woman by a well, sleep on a
boat in a storm.
le died between two ordinary thiees, cruciied like
hundreds o thousands o others in Rome. And yet in the
words o Phillips Brooks: I am ar within the mark when I
say that all the armies that eer marched, and all the naies
that eer were built, and all the parliaments that eer sat, and
183
all the kings that eer reigned, put together hae not
aected the lie o man upon this earth as powerully as that
one solitary lie.`
lis ordinary lie exposed extraordinary aith, hope,
and loe in a way that our powerul, scripted, and together
lies do not.
le chose weakness to expose the glory o God, and
on the cross le exposes the heart o God. It`s there le
draws all men to himsel` ,John 12:32,.
By ar and away most ,i not all, people come to
Christ because they .ar lim in some oraivar, person at some
vv.critea moment. Sure - they may come orward at the
Billy Graham Crusade, but it is because they saw aith, hope,
and loe in people like you-their neighbor.
Lie your ordinary lie in aith, and you wield
supreme power.
I hae a riend who was raised in a coen. ler story
is the most extraordinary I`e eer heard. And the power o
God iv her and for her is the most extraordinary I hae eer
seen.
Because o Jesus in and through her, it is not hard
or me to beliee in an Ancient Dragon rising rom the sea
and a larlot drunk with the blood o saints and riding a
Beast. Most o all, it is not hard or me to beliee there is a
Lamb that was slain, who conquers them all. .b.otvtet,
etraoraivar,.
But she came to Christ because Christ came to ber in
just an ordinary riend who said one day, \ould you like to
come to church with me` She went because this ordinary
gal just seemed nice.`
1his ordinary riend still has no idea o the
incredible power she unleashed, no idea that she walked on
water into the heart o a raging storm. Maybe tbat`. the
power o it: not knowing, unscripted, uncalculated aith -
aith shining through the cracks in an ordinary clay pot.

184
At the Judgment, the sheep say, Lord, when did we
see you hungry or thirsty, sick and in prison` 1hat is,
Jesus, we don`t remember you there . . . it was just an
ordinary day . . . I was just helping out at the nursing home .
. . tbat was Yov.`
\hen Peter walked on the water in that raging
storm, I don`t think he knew what he was doing. In other
words, he wasn`t sitting in the boat psyching himsel up or
great and mighty works! le just torea Jesus and betierea Jesus.
Jesus said Come,` and he did. It was when he noticed how
extraordinary his situation was, and how extraordinary be
was, that he sank.
Maybe you don`t know when you`re walking on
water. Maybe there is something good about that. 1he
moment you notice, it becomes about ,ov, and you sink. 1he
people watching you then sink, because tbe, think it`s about
you too.
Philadelphia, you hae little power. But beore you
I hae placed an open door.`
Maybe the open door is the door o people`s hearts
won to Christ. In the next paragraph, Jesus says this:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: i any man hear my
oice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with me.`
Maybe it`s eangelism - the door to people`s hearts.
But va,be it`s much bigger than that, because in chapter our
John writes, Ater this I looked, and \O\! |that`s the
Greek| a door was opened in leaen.`
Little Daid had power oer demons and power
oer giants, and little Daid had a key to the kingdom o
Israel, but he also had a key to something much bigger than
that: the heart o Coa. 1hat`s why God cbo.e him ,I Samuel
16,. le looked on his heart. laith, hope, and loe in
weakness, a man ater God`s own heart.
1his is hard or us Americans to beliee, but maybe
God isn`t in short supply o dynamite, miracles, and power.
185
Maybe le would die or a little aith, hope, and loe rom
lis children.
In October o 1991, two weather ronts oer New
Lngland combined with the remains o a hurricane coming
up the eastern seaboard. 1ogether they ormed what we`e
called the Perect Storm. 1o the north the Andrea Gail
battled with all her expertise, power, and might, to the south
a six-year-old little girl practiced her ordinary backstroke.
Gary told us about her a couple years ago. ler story
captured my heart, and Gary said I could share it again.
John was a young ather in Gary`s congregation in
\ayne, Pennsylania. One day in late October o 1991, he
took his six-year-old daughter Mary sailing o the Jersey
shore. le had not checked the weather report.
Six miles out John was shocked at how ast the
winds changed, and how quickly a storm came up. It was the
storm o the century. Soon the boat capsized, and they were
in the water. 1he lie preserers were still tied to the boat
while the boat was being swept out to sea.
lolding Mary, John realized there was no way he
could swim the six miles back to shore. le would hae to
swim alone. linally he said to Mary, Mary, you can loat on
your back as long as you want.` 1hey had practiced in the
pool back at home. lloat on your back, Mary. I`ll swim to
shore, and I will be back or you.`
1hree hours later the Coast Guard ound John.
1ogether they looked or Mary or an hour and a hal, in
twenty- to thirty-oot swells in the midst o that storm.
It was almost dark, and they were using the spotlight
when miraculously they ound Mary. She had been loating
or ie hours. \hen the guardsmen pulled her on board
they asked, Mary, how did you ao that` She said, \ell,
my daddy said I could loat on my back as long as I wanted
to and that he would come back or me. My daddy atra,.
does what he says.`

186
1he Andrea Gail ought with courage and power,
and she sank. 1here is glory in that. Mary just practiced her
back loat, and she didn`t een know she beat the storm o
the century. She just belieed what her daddy said: Keep
loating, Mary. \ou can loat as long as you want, and I`ll be
back.`
\ou could say aith in her daddy kept her rom the
great storm which came down on the whole east coast.
I know you`re small and weak, Philadelphia, but
keep on keeping my word. lold on, Philadelphia, and I will
be back. I`ll keep you rom the hour o trial. I`m coming
soon.`
And Jesus said to lis struggling disciples, \here I
am going you cannot ollow.` le was swimming into the
heart o the perect storm-lell itsel. But le said to them,
I will be back, and my Spirit will keep you. Patiently endure
in aith.`
Maybe ,ov are walking on water, and you don`t een
know it. \ou`re just hanging on one more day. Angels watch
in wonder rom the deck o the boat. 1hey say, Look! She`s
loating in the storm o the century!` Maybe you are walking
on water.
But that`s not my main point. My point is this: laith
like Mary`s-aith in weakness-raishes the lather`s heart.
Mary had the key to her ather`s heart, so she also had the
key to the United States Coast Guard.
\hat ather could not resist aith, hope, and loe
like Mary`s Certainly not Coa the lather, so it is Mar, who
has a key to the lather`s heart, Daria who has the key to
God`s heart, ]e.v. tbe Cbri.t ,the perect child, who trusted
lis lather rom the pit o lell, and le bore the perect
storm o God`s judgment in aith.
Now what is Christ`s is declared to Philadelphia, and
the Spirit says, Look! - a door.`
In chapter our erse one, we begin to look through
that door, and what do we see \e see the throne o God,
18
and on the throne is someone we know - a Lamb! . . .
weak and powerless, slain or us . . . bleeding.
John tells us Jesus is rom the bosom o the
lather`-the heart o God. And we see le is worthy to
open the scroll and to receie power and wealth and
wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing . . . or
eer and eer.`
lor le, the root o Daid, has conquered! le has
een conquered our aeaa beart. with lis own blood. le has
the key to our hearts. le opens the scroll, and history
happens: our riders, storms, conquest, warare, amine,
death, then martyrs, signs and wonders, the consummation
o this creation.
But right beore le opens the scroll and gies
meaning to all history, a scent rises rom the throne: incense.
It`s the prayers o lis saints. 1hey ascend to the heart o
God, like Mary muttering, le said le would be back.`
Prayers o the saints, not building projects, crusades,
mighty works, wonderul mission programs, sermons.
Pra,er., rising rom prisons, hospital beds, lonely apartments,
boring church serices, rumpy wies in housecoats, scared
little kids, a lonely boy like Lric in Brooklyn.
\ou see, there is an open door between the boring
little rontier town o Philadelphia and the heart o God
Almighty. So there is nothing more powerul in att created
reality, including kings, amines, earthquakes, dragons, or
storms.
1here is nothing more powerul than the rumpy
little church in Philadelphia. 1hey are gien the key to the
Creator`s heart as they do their back loat in the midst o the
raging storm. \hat ather could resist aith, hope, and loe
like that - like Daid`s . . . like Mary`s . . . like Lric`s, the kid
in the Bronx
\hen I told you about Lric, you stopped thinking
about yoursel. Lric`s aith, hope, and loe opened your
heart. 1hat`s the power o God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
188
In Jesus, God opened the door to your heart. Jesus
iv you has opened the door to Coa`. heart. Jesus tbrovgb you
opens the door to other people`s hearts. laith, hope, and
loe, displayed in weakness, and ]e.v. does it! 1o lim be all
glory, honor, and praise or eermore! Amen.
Lric`s earthly ather didn`t come back. le was an
eil ather. Yovr. may be eil. But God the lather is not. I
beliee le came to Lric in the orm o Sister Mary Rose
McGeady. And le is the One who created in Lric the
longing-aith, hope, and loe.
I imagine Lric is not Just Lric, but that his surname
is God, and he has a new name: Jesus. lis home is vot the
Bronx but the New Jerusalem. I beliee God will moe att
creatiov or Just Lric. And le will engineer a storm or Just
Mary. And the meek ritt inherit the earth.
Bride o Christ, no matter how rumpy, ordinary,
and dull you may eel, your aith exists in the great storm o
a allen world. \our aith is the power which raishes the
heart o God Almighty. Keep going.


RLVLLA1ION 3:11-13: av covivg .oov. ota
ov to rbat ,ov bare, .o tbat vo ove ritt ta/e ,ovr
crorv. iv rbo orercove. ritt va/e a ittar iv
tbe tevte of v, Coa. ^erer agaiv ritt be teare it.
ritt rrite ov biv tbe vave of v, Coa ava tbe vave
of tbe cit, of v, Coa, tbe ver ]erv.atev, rbicb i.
covivg aorv ovt of bearev frov v, Coa; ava ritt
at.o rrite ov biv v, ver vave. e rbo ba. av ear,
tet biv bear rbat tbe irit .a,. to tbe cbvrcbe..


Picture Mary out on the sea with no boats around.
It`s getting dark, she`s doing the back loat. And she`s
singing, Jesus loes me this I know, or the Bible tells me
so . . . .`
189
My riend, that`s you. And the angels in glory look
down in awe and say, 1hat`s the new song! 1hat`s the song
o aith being sung rom the depths o the dark planet.` It`s
the song that raishes the heart o the lather.
I picture my son Coleman out on that sea, and I
think, Oh, I would hae to aie or him . . . I couldn`t .tava
it.` 1hat`s it. 1hose are the nails that held the Son o God
against that wooden cross. 1hey aren`t made o iron, they
are made o lis loe or you.
My wie Susan read somewhere about a little girl
buried in an earthquake. 1hey searched or her or days until
they picked up a sound. It was that song: Jesus Loes Me.`
\hen they dug her out, she said, My mommy always said i
I`m araid I should just sing that song and God would hear
me.`
Len i she died, she`d lie. 1he lather can`t resist
that song sung in aith. It`s incense rising in the bleeding
heart o the Liing God.

190
lurther Reading


1o the angel o the church in Philadelphia write: 1hese are
the words o him who is holy and true, who holds the key o
Daid. \hat he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts
no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I hae placed
beore you an open door that no one can shut. I know that
you hae little strength, yet you hae kept my word and hae
not denied my name. . . .`
-Reelation 3:-8

So Jesus again said to them, 1ruly, truly, I say to you, I am
the door o the sheep. All who came beore me are thiees
and robbers, but the sheep did not heed them. I am the
door, i any one enters by me, he will be saed, and will go
in and out and ind pasture. . . .`
-John 10:-9

Ater this I looked, and lo, in heaen an open door! And the
irst oice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet,
said, Come up hither, and I will show you what must take
place ater this.`
-Reelation 4:1

Because eternity was closeted in time, he is my open door to
oreer.
-Luci Shaw

And I will place on his shoulder the key o the house o
Daid, he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut,
and none shall open.
-Isaiah 22:22
191
\hen they came, he looked on Lli'ab and thought, Surely
the LORD'S anointed is beore him.` But the LORD said to
Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height o
his stature, because I hae rejected him, or the LORD sees
not as man sees, man looks on the outward appearance, but
the LORD looks on the heart.`
-I Samuel 16:6-

\ho has belieed what we hae heard And to whom has
the arm o the LORD been reealed lor he grew up beore
him like a young plant, and like a root out o dry ground, he
had no orm or comeliness that we should look at him, and
no beauty that we should desire him. le was despised and
rejected by men, a man o sorrows, and acquainted with
grie, and as one rom whom men hide their aces he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
-Isaiah 53:1-3

Is not this the carpenter's son Is not his mother called
Mary And are not his brothers James and Joseph and
Simon and Judas`
-Matthew 13:55

lere is a man who was born in an obscure illage, the child
o a peasant woman. le grew up in another obscure illage.
le worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and then
or three years he was an itinerant preacher. le neer wrote
a book. le neer held an oice. le neer owned a home.
le neer set oot inside a big city. le neer traeled two
hundred miles rom the place where he was born. le had
no credentials but himsel. . . . \hile still a young man, the
tide o popular opinion turned against him. lis riends ran
away. One o them denied him le was turned oer to his
enemies. le went through the mockery o a trial. le was
192
nailed upon a cross between two thiees. lis executioners
gambled or the only piece o property he had on earth
while he was dying-and that was his coat. \hen he was
dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grae
through the pity o a riend. . . . I am ar within the mark
when I say that all the armies that eer marched, and all the
naies that eer were built, and all the parliaments that eer
sat, and all the kings that eer reigned, put together hae not
aected the lie o man upon this earth as powerully as that
one solitary lie.
-Phillips Brooks

And he went and took the scroll rom the right hand o him
who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the
scroll, the our liing creatures and the twenty-our elders
ell down beore the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with
golden bowls ull o incense, which are the prayers o the
saints, and they sang a new song, saying, \orthy art thou
to take the scroll and to open its seals, or thou wast slain
and by thy blood didst ransom men or God rom eery
tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made
them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign
on earth.` . . . saying with a loud oice, \orthy is the Lamb
who was slain, to receie power and wealth and wisdom and
might and honor and glory and blessing!` And I heard eery
creature in heaen and on earth and under the earth and in
the sea, and all therein, saying, 1o him who sits upon the
throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory
and might or eer and eer!`
-Reelation 5:-10, 12-13

lor consider your call, brethren, not many o you were wise
according to worldly standards, not many were powerul,
not many were o noble birth, but God chose what is
oolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is
193
weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is
low and despised in the world, een things that are not, to
bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being
might boast in the presence o God.
-I Corinthians 1:26-29

lirst o all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgiings be made or all men, or
kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable lie, godly and respectul in eery way.
1his is good, and it is acceptable in the sight o God our
Saior . . .
- I 1imothy 2:1-3

But we exhort you, brethren, to do so more and more, to
aspire to lie quietly, to mind your own aairs, and to work
with your hands, as we charged you, so that you may
command the respect o outsiders, and be dependent on
nobody.
-I 1hessalonians 4:10b-12

laith wears eeryday clothes and proes hersel in lie`s
ordinary situations.
-Bertha Munro

Do not orget that the alue and interest o lie is not so
much to do conspicuous things . . . as to do ordinary things
with the perception o their enormous alue.
-1eilhard de Chardin

\e should make a decision to do little things with great
loe. \hen 1herese o Lisieux-the Little llower-died
and was about to be canonized, eeryone was asking, \hat
194
reason is there or the loly lather to canonize her She
hasn't done anything extraordinary.` 1he loly lather
pointed out in writing the reason or his decision: I want to
canonize her because she did ordinary things with
extraordinary loe.`
-Mother 1heresa

Someone once said that the spiritual signiicance o
something is in inerse proportion to the publicity
surrounding it. A publicized eent, like a parade, is more
spectacular than it is signiicant. And that is true een i the
parade is a religious one.
-Ken Gire

1o gie my lie or Christ appears glorious. 1o pour mysel
out or others . . . to pay the ultimate price o martyrdom -
I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze o glory. \e
think giing our all to the Lord is like taking a >1,000 bill
and laying it on the table - lere's my lie, Lord. I'm giing
it all.` But the reality or most o us is that he sends us to
the bank and has us cash in the >1,000 or quarters. \e go
through lie putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there.
Listen to the neighbor kid's troubles instead o saying, Get
lost.` Go to a committee meeting. Gie a cup o water to a
shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giing our lie to
Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts o loe
25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a lash o
glory, it's harder to lie the Christian lie little by little oer
the long haul.
-lred Craddock





195
I hae gien them thy word, and the world has hated them
because they are not o the world, een as I am not o the
world. I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out o the
world, but that thou shouldst keep them rom the eil one.
-John 1:14-15
196
-&./01 ;9$@ 2G* CB/' C0%G&02@*02
,Reelation 3:14-22,


1his week 1ive magazine came proclaiming good
news on its coer, how science is oering new hope or
treating all our ears. 1he coer page in big, bold letters is
the Bible phrase: lLAR NO1.
In the margins o the article, they list hundreds o
phobias now known to science, phobias like ate/torobobia -
ear o chickens, aracbibvt,robobia - ear o peanut butter
sticking to the roo o the mouth, bovitobobia - ear o
sermons, obiaiobobia - ear o snakes. I quote:

lor Martin, 21, a dental student in London,
Ontario, his ear o snakes is so
oerwhelming that he stapled together pages
in a textbook to aoid lipping to a photo o
a snake. . . . It`s odd,` he says, because I`m
not in situations where I would eer see
snakes.` lis brain, howeer-or at least the
oldest parts o it-may hae been.

1he article goes on to talk about how all these ears
may hae been helpul at one point in our ancient past, but
not now, o course. 1hey`re .itt,. \e lie in the United States
o America! 1his is a vice tace.
So scientists hae therapies to help us see it`s just a
snake,` and powerul medication to squelch all these
irrational ears. lere are some more rom the same list:
.atavobobia - ear o Satan
ecatobobia - ear o sinning
baaebobia - ear o lell
ev.obobia - ear o God
.tavrobobia - ear o Jesus hanging on a cross
tbavatobobia - ear o death.
19
But they can medicate these ears away.
low about this one - evetobobia - ear o
omiting.


RLVLLA1ION 3:14-1: .va to tbe avget of tbe
cbvrcb of aoaicea rrite: 1be rora. of tbe .vev,
tbe faitbfvt ava trve ritve.., tbe begivvivg of Coa`.
creatiov.
/vor ,ovr ror/.: ,ov are veitber cota vor
bot. !ovta tbat ,ov rere cota or bot! o, becav.e
,ov are tv/erarv, ava veitber cota vor bot, ritt
.er ,ov ovt of v, vovtb. or ,ov .a,, av ricb,
bare ro.erea, ava veea votbivg; vot /vorivg tbat
,ov are rretcbea, itiabte, oor, btiva, ava va/ea.`


Ouch . . . Poor But Laodicea was a center o
commercial prosperity! Blind 1hey manuactured a world
amous eye sale! Naked 1hey were known or the black
woolen textiles!
1hey were so prosperous that when a deastating
earthquake struck the region in 60 A.D., they reused to
accept inancial assistance rom the Lmpire saying, \e
hae prospered and need nothing.`
1he only thing anyone could really complain about
in Laodicea was the water supply. Nearby Colosse was
known or cold, pure drinking water. lieropolos six miles to
the north was known or hot, therapeutic mineral springs.
Because Laodicea had no water supply o its own, an
aqueduct was built rom lieropolos to Laodicea. But by the
time the water got to Laodicea, it had become lukewarm and
distasteul.
Lach o the seen letters its each o the ancient
cities remarkably well. 1hey aren`t just metaphors or the
Church thousands o years later. So the Reelation has to be
198
releant to them as well as to us.
Just as the town iewed themseles, so did the
church: spiritually rich. 1he Laodiceans knew the Apostle
Paul! And the amous Lpaphras was a hometown boy! 1heir
aith was organized, categorized, certiied, ranchised, and
homogenized.
But Jesus says, \ou are wretched, pitiable, poor,
blind, and naked.` \ow! Laodicea kind o reminds me o
the United States o America.
I was thinking about these phobias . . . tbavatobobia,
or instance - ear o death. Pretty much eerybody aie.. \et
we call tbavatobobia a orm o insanity.
Maybe the thanatobes are most sane. Maybe the
people crouching under beds and hiding in closets are most
in touch with reality. Maybe we really ritt die one day.
Maybe great tribulations are always at hand. Maybe there is a
God, and le is mad ,ev.obobia,.
Maybe there really is sin ,ecatobobia,, Satan
,.atavobobia,, and a lell ,baaebobia,. Maybe obiaiobobia -
ear o snakes - is about more than just reptiles in our
ancient past but one lell o a Snake in our ancient past and
present reality.

Maybe the ivsane are the most sane.

1he only way we can really unction well as this
productie American society is to pretend that our ears are
irrational phobias. I we didn`t deny our ears, deny death,
and deny our consciences, we would be arat,ea with ear,
hiding in closets, and crouching under beds, ice cold with
terror.
\orse yet, we would all reak out and become iery
hot, religious zealots who don`t care about the economy,
Volos, or the stock market. lear could totally .crer v this
incredible economy o conspicuous consumption!

199
So i were in control o the economy, wanted to
control all the people in the economy, and was eil ,working
or some Ancient Snake, or instance,, I would try to get
people to igvore their greatest ears and dreams. Len better,
I`d attach my vercbavai.e to their greatest ears and dreams.
1hat way I could sell my merchandise and, better yet, keep
them enslaed in bondage to me.
I would come up with slogans like this: 1otro - It
can sae your soul, Diavova. last oreer, eri - because
you are what you wear. So then they would lie with this
ague dissatisaction, a conused hope, and an unexamined
ear . . . this idea that something`s wrong.

But I bet that next year`s 1otro will do the trick!`
I I only had a aiavova, I would be set!`
I I had a pair o eri., I would be somebody.`

Addicted, intoxicated, blinded . . . It would work like
magic.
\ell, that`s just a crazy thought. But when was the
last time you saw a commercial that said something like this
-

\e hae Volos, diamonds, and jeans to
sell, but we had a meeting and realized:
\e`re all going to die! \e don`t know how
to sae your soul or why we een exist! So
we were thinking . . . cars, rocks, and pants
don`t seem like much o a priority.

O course, we wouldn`t see a commercial like that . .
. because it`s the truth. \e do a good job with our illusions
here in America. \e can aord to.
\e een dress up dead people so they look nice. \e
spend thousands o dollars on embalming, nice suits, and
beautiul caskets, so that dead people look alie. Maybe we
200
ought to do it like they did in Romania when I was there.
1hey put the cor.e on a tabte in the ,ara. 1here were
dogs, lies, and weeping children, people were gathered
around looking at this dead body on the table. 1hen they
turned to me and said, Pastor, do you hae something to
say` I turned to my riend and said, e does.`
Gary told me about a ery nice uneral he did in
Cherry Creek. 1hey had gone out to the graeside . . . Gary
in his robes . . . beautiul liturgy . . . the deceased in an
expensie casket . . .
At the start o the ceremony, Gary somehow slipped
and ell into the grae! And he couldn`t get out. 1hey had to
come and pull him out o the grae. Lerybody kind o ro/e
v. It broke the spell or a moment.
Maybe the pastor ought to atra,. all in the grae -
the new liturgy.
Zig Zigler tells about a guy who worked the late shit
and always took a shortcut when he went home at midnight.
le always walked the same route through a cemetery. One
night he didn`t realize that during the day they had dug a
resh grae. And he ell in! le worked like crazy to get out,
but he just couldn`t. So he sat in the corner and decided to
wait until morning when someone could help him out.
le was hal asleep when a drunk stumbled along
and also ell into the grae. 1his intoxicated, old drunk was
trying to get out, so he touched the drunk on the leg and
said, lriend, you can`t get out o here.` But he aia. ,Maybe
he een stopped drinking and ro/e v.,
Just as the town o Laodicea rubbed o on the
church in Laodicea, maybe the United States o America is
rubbing o on v.. So we tend to think we`e got it all under
control. \e`re rich, we`e obtained prosperity, and we need
nothing . . . nice church.
And i we ao need something, we know exactly what
to do: ask the pastor, get a counselor, go down to the
Christian bookstore, go to a seminar, take a class on how
201
to lie the ictorious Christian lie` . . . how to conquer this
or that.` \e hae it all worked out like a science - een the
Reelation.
So we hae Very Nice Churches and Very Nice
People. Don`t worry, Jesus. \e`e got it all igured out. \e
don`t need any help. \e`e got you coered.`
\hen I think I hae my wie all igured out, I`m in
trouble. \hen I think I know exactly what I need to do to
make this marriage thing work ery nicely, I`m in trouble.
\ou know couples like that-ery nice couples. 1heir
marriage is so nice . . . they neer ight . . . then one day they
just split up. \hy 1hey don`t need each other, they don`t
care about each other.
1he thing I ear most in my wie is when she gets
lukewarm . . . when she gies up the ight and settles or the
status quo . . . a vice varriage. She smiles and acts nice, but I
can`t get her to look at me.
I she`s screaming at me, urious with me, she`s
looking at me. I she`s hot with passion or me, she`s
looking at me. But lukewarm . . . she won`t look at me. It`s
worse than hatred. Unconsciously she`s trying to conince
hersel I don`t matter and she doesn`t need me. Inariably I
hae to pick a ight and press the issue until she cracks. \e
each lose control, ight, then heal.

Apathy is blindness.

\ould that you were cold or hot,` says Jesus. At
least then you would look at me. Looking at me, abiding in
me, is lie. But lukewarm - you make me want to barf
|that`s Greek|.`
A ew months ago, a member o our church mailed
me a ision. lor weeks she kept seeing Jesus sitting on lis
throne, lis robe glowing with incredible light. 1hen she
would see lim enormous, standing on the earth in a ield
ripe or harest, lis eyes laming as le looked to lis
202
lather in leaen.
In the ision, she hears: Jesus is pouring his glory
upon the earth, and le is asking Lookout Mountain
Community Church to join lim.` She asks, \here i.
Lookout Mountain Community Church` 1hen she sees the
backs o this congregation. Some enter the glory o lis
robe, others stand like statues. \hy won`t they enter On
Noember 25, she saw this in worship:

Jesus is standing in the middle o the harest
ield. 1his time he draws me to his side,
turns me around and shows me the aces o
those who remain behind. I am shocked as I
stammer, 1be, are btiva! 1hey hae no
sight! 1hey hae no eyeballs at all. 1heir
eyeballs hae been gouged out. \here eyes
once existed are only caerns, holes o
darkness! On the erge o nausea, I cry out,
ora, ritt tbe, erer be abte to .ee. ora, gire tbev
.igbt! I hear, 1bo.e ritb e,e. ritt .ee!

Now, that could be bad pizza, hormonal imbalance,
or runaway lesh. But I know this person and trust this
person. Not only that, but I basically read the same thing in
scripture. So I imagine it`s true.
But this is the rustrating part: I can`t make blind
people see! No book can do that, no counselor can do that,
no program can do that, no seminar can do that.
\orse than that, the blind Laodiceans don`t een
know they`re blind. I may not een know where `v blind.
1he blind leading the blind. In act, I take it on aith that
we`re all at least a bit blind, or we are all at least a bit
lukewarm. And nobody can truly see Jesus in lis glory and
just stay lukewarm.
So we`re all at least a bit blind, a bit asleep, and a bit
intoxicated, maybe that`s because we kind o want to be.
203
Sometimes lukewarm is pretty comortable. Sometimes it`s
nice to be in the dark. vcbavtivg. But then we become blind
to een being blind. \hat do we do
All week I kept thinking about a scene in the
Cbrovicte. of ^arvia. Maybe you remember 1be itrer Cbair. At
one point the children and their riend Puddleglum ,who is a
Marshwiggle, ind themseles in the dark underground
kingdom o the eil witch, who is really the Great Serpent.
\hen the witch inds them, she doesn`t assault
them, as they expect, she enchants them. She appears loely,
she talks sweetly, she sings melodiously. 1hen Lewis writes,
1hey were being enchanted, and o course the more
enchanted you get the more certain you eel that you are not
enchanted at all.`
1hey tell the witch o the real world-the
Oerworld, the sun, and Aslan the Lion. She coos, Oh silly.
\ou made up the idea o a sun rom the idea o one o my
lamps. \ou made up this idea o Aslan, the Great Lion,
rom one o our housecats.`
So the children mumble, I suppose the other world
must be a dream.`
\es, it`s a dream,` coos the witch.
1heir hopes are a dream, their ears are obiously a
dream, because this woman is loely. She is making them
comortable . . . ire, music, ood, wine, sweet smells . . .
maybe Volos, diamonds, and jeans. Intoicativg.
She says: 1here is no Narnia, no Oerworld, no
sky, no sun, no Aslan. And now, to bed all. And let us begin
a wiser lie tomorrow. But irst, to bed, to sleep, deep sleep,
sot pillow, sleep without oolish dreams.`
And Jesus says: \ou`re lukewarm. \ou think you`re
rich and prosperous, but you`re wretched, pitiable, poor,
blind, and naked.`
low could that be. In Reelation 18, we see how it
could be. According to scripture, a Great larlot rides the
Beast under the authority o the Great Serpent, the
204
economies o the goernments o this world are under the
dominion o Satan.
In chapter eighteen erse three, we read: All the
nations hae drunk the maddening wine o her adulteries.
1he kings o the earth committed adultery with her and the
merchants o the earth grew rich rom her excessie
luxuries.` In erse twenty-three: By her magic spell all the
nations were led astray.`
rev the Cbvrcb is intoxicated, lukewarm, and dead.
So what are we to ao.
|Singing| Get all excited and tell eerybody that
Jesus Christ is Lord . . .` Get all excited and . . . get worked
up and print more 1-shirts. Do you remember that song we
used to sing It doesn`t work.
1his is what Puddleglum did, just as the
enchantment was almost complete. Lewis writes that
Puddleglum did a ery brae thing. In a daze, he walked to
the ire and plunged his bare oot into the coals. le knew it
would hurt, and it did, but immediately he knew exactly
what he thought. 1here is nothing like a good shock o
pain or dissoling certain kinds o magic.`
1he enchantment is broken or all, at the smell o
burnt Marshwiggle eet. 1heir eyes are opened, and the
witch becomes a serpent. 1hey escape to Narnia and to
Aslan, the Great Lion.
And Jesus says this: \ou say, I am rich, I hae
prospered, and I need nothing, not knowing that you are
wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.`


RLVLLA1ION 3:18-22: 1berefore covv.et ,ov
to bv, frov ve gota refivea b, fire, tbat ,ov va, be
ricb, ava rbite garvevt. to ctotbe ,ov ava to /ee
tbe .bave of ,ovr va/eave.. frov beivg .eev, ava
.atre to avoivt ,ovr e,e., tbat ,ov va, .ee. 1bo.e
rbo tore, rerore ava cba.tev; .o be eatov. ava
205
reevt. ebota, .tava at tbe aoor ava /voc/; if av,
ove bear. v, roice ava oev. tbe aoor, ritt cove iv
to biv ava eat ritb biv, ava be ritb ve. e rbo
covqver., ritt gravt biv to .it ritb ve ov v,
tbrove, a. v,.etf covqverea ava .at aorv ritb v,
atber ov bi. tbrove. e rbo ba. av ear, tet biv
bear rbat tbe irit .a,. to tbe cbvrcbe..`


Like Puddleglum plunged his oot into the ire, I
think Jesus says, Buy gold rom me, reined by ire.` \here
will they ind that gold in Laodicea low will they get it
\ell, remember that oer in Smyrna they thought
they were wretched, pitiable, and poor, and Jesus says,
\ou`re ricb, Smyrna!` 1here are ew illusions in Smyrna as
Polycarp burns at a stake in the Roman coliseum and
appears like gold there, together with Jesus!
Laodicea, maybe you could get some gold in
Smyrna . . . share in their suerings, and when you see their
suerings, you will realize this i. a allen, God-damned
world, and you need a saior. Not a book, not a class, not a
program, but a Saior to reach into the grae and pull you
out.
Maybe you`ll see what this world is, you`ll call out in
need, and le will coer you in lis righteousness, le will
anoint your eyes with sale. Jesus makes blind eyes see lim.
1hen you`ll beliee in iv . . . not Christianity.`
I Peter 1:: Our aith is more precious than gold
which is reined by ire.` Our aith in ]e.v.!
\here do we buy gold reined by ire Ask around.

I hae a riend in this church . . . ery successul in
business . . . really a prince to Laodiceans . . . he and
his wie adopt hurting children rom around the
world, and he goes to .frica to buy gold.` le`s
working to supply power to remote, impoerished
206
illages. le covta be content with his power and
wealth, but he has chosen to share in other
suerings and go places where he has to call out in
need, Jesus, help me! lelp me!`

1here is a woman in our church. She covta be the
Queen o Laodicea, i she wanted to be. But she
spends her weeks in downtown Dener ministering
to homeless people, single mothers, kids stranded in
poerty . . . She`s buying gold.` She doesn`t hae
to, but she goes there to meet Jesus.

I hae a longtime riend in our church. le and his
wie became a huge success. Laodicea ror/ea or
them. But they know that Laodicea is a lie. So they
bought a home or homeless people. It`s how they
buy gold.`

I could go on and on . . . Our mission program is set
up to help the wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked,
that is, it is set up to help v., not tbev. \eep with those who
weep, pray with those who hurt, buy gold reined by ire.
\here do you buy gold, Laodicea In the next
erse . . .
John sees a door in leaen, and the Reelation
opens up beore him-the throne o God Almighty. 1he
Lamb that was slain opens a scroll, our horsemen bringing
conquest, warare, amine, and pestilence.
1he rider o the pale horse is death, and there is a
Serpent and beasts and a Great larlot . . . it`s all to help us
see Jesus in all lis glory. It`s all sale or the blind eyes o
Laodicea.
Laodicea, how aare you say, I am rich, I hae
prospered, and I need nothing!` \ou are seduced by the
Great larlot riding the Beast under the dominion o Satan!
\ou veea ]e.v.. Laodicea, the horsemen are riding right vor:
20
conquest, warare, amine, pestilence, death, martyrs . . .
Don`t you read the paper Stop retreating into your
nice, comortable, American churches, hiding behind your
watertight Bible studies and your charts o the Lnd 1imes.
1he tive is at bava!`
Now, I must coness: 1he interpretation o the
Reelation that I ind vo.t unbiblical is the most popular
interpretation in America right now. It is peculiarly
American and peculiarly recent. It`s the bizarre idea that we
get ratvrea in the next erse, so the rest o the Reelation
really isn`t abovt us but about those let behind who hae to
go through the Great 1ribulation. It makes most o the
book irreteravt to us and us irreleant to a suering world. It
makes us oyeurs o suering.
I can see why it`s so popular in the United States o
America. I`m sure it would hae been popular in Laodicea
too. But the tribulation was their medicine . . . and ovr
medicine.
Jesus said, In this world you ritt hae tribulation,
but be o good cheer, or hae oercome the world.` It`s
in the tribulation that our eyes are opened and we see le ba.
oercome the world. \e hae cheer!
So stop hiding rom your ears . . . stop vavagivg
your ears, face your ears . . . een walk right ivto your ears
and realize all your control, management, and ability has
been an illusion all along! \ou need Jesus eery second.
Behold, le has been standing, knocking, all along.
And communion with you is what le has been wanting all
along. So le will press the issue.
Call on lim in need. Behold, it`s the ery place o
your greate.t fear that le reeals lis greate.t gtor,!
One day they are going to drop you in a grae . . .
tbavatobobia, ev.obobia, .atavobobia, baaebobia, ecatobobia,
.tavrobobia . . . 1hey`ll drop you in a grae, and you`ll eel a
touch on your thigh. A oice will say, lriend, let`s get out
o here! I beat this place!` And you`ll see lim.
208
\here do you buy gold reined by ire - Come and
sup with lim.
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, the night
beore le went to the cross and bore the sins o the world
and bore the curses-the wrath-o God Almighty, le
took the bread and le broke it. le said, 1his is my body
broken or you. Do tbi. in remembrance o me.`
In this same way ater supper, le took the cup o
the new coenant and said, 1his is the new coenant in my
blood shed or the orgieness o sins.`
\hat a rightening place! \hat a rich place!



1wo people lied in a perect garden. 1hey walked
with God and knew God. Lerything was beautiul. But a
Great Serpent enchanted them with something that was
good but something that was taken in the wrong way. And
they ell asleep.
But God loed them so much le would stop at
nothing to wake them. le cursed the world, subjected the
world to utility in hope, but they .titt wouldn`t wake up.
1hen le had a marelous idea, rom beore the
oundation o the world: A Second Adam who would come
and stick lis oot in the ire. 1hey would see lim, and le
would dwell in them. le would wake them up, and they
would loe lim een more than they did at irst, because
they would see lis glory and grace.
I you were thinking during this sermon, I just
don`t know i I hae the courage to plunge my oot into the
ire,` do you see it now \ou aov`t hae the courage. But e
does, and le did.
lis Spirit in you helps you to go to those places
where you are araid to go . . . ace those things you are
araid to ace . . . see what you were rightened to see-the
glory o God the lather in Christ Jesus our Lord.
209
e will do it. 1rust lim. Lery day come to lim
and say, Jesus, I veea you. I don`t een /vor the places
where I am blind, I don`t een /vor the ways that I am
asleep. \here I ao see it and where I know it, I struggle to
hae the strength to een do anything about it. I een doubt
that you exist. lelp me! lelp me, Jesus!`
1hat is music to lis ears. 1hat is what le has been
waiting to hear. lor long ago, we became enchanted, we
loed apples more than lie.
1rust lim een in the scariest places. Amen.
210
lurther Reading


I hae become comortably numb.
-Pink lloyd

No one is blinder than he who will not see.
-U2, Stranger in a Strange Land`

1he greatest danger to Christianity is, I contend, not
heresies, heterodoxies, not atheists, not proane secularism -
no, but the kind o orthodoxy which is cordial driel,
mediocrity sered up sweet. 1here is nothing that so
insidiously displaces the majestic as cordiality. Perpetually
polite, so small, so nice, tampering and meddling and
tampering some more - the result is that majesty is
completely derauded - o course, only a little bit. And right
here is the danger, or the ininite is more disposed to a
iolent attack than to becoming a little bit degraded - amid
smiling, Christian politeness. And yet this politeness is what
our Christianity amounts to. But the ery essence o
Christianity is utterly opposed to this mediocrity, in which it
does not so much die as dwindle away. 1oday`s orthodoxy
essentially has its abode in the cordial driel o amily lie.
1his is utterly dangerous or Christianity. Christianity does
not oppose debauchery and uncontrollable passions and the
like as much as it is opposes this lat mediocrity, this
nauseating atmosphere, this honey, ciil togetherness, where
admittedly great crimes, wild excesses, and powerul
aberrations cannot easily occur - but where God`s
unconditional demand has een greater diiculty in
accomplishing what it requires: the majestic obedience o
submission. . . . 1he adantages and beneits o earthly lie
are bound up in mediocrity. But genuine religion has an
211
inerse relationship to the inite. . . . Lither all o God and
all o you, or nothing at all!
-Soren Kierkegaard

She has become a home or demons and a haunt or eery
eil spirit, a haunt or eery unclean and detestable bird. lor
all the nations hae drunk the maddening wine o her
adulteries. 1he kings o the earth committed adultery with
her, and the merchants o the earth grew rich rom her
excessie luxuries.` . . . 1he light o a lamp will neer shine
in you again. 1he oice o bridegroom and bride will neer
be heard in you again. \our merchants were the world's
great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led
astray. In her was ound the blood o prophets and o the
saints, and o all who hae been killed on the earth.`
-Reelation 18:2b-3, 23-24

1he \itch shook her head. I see,` she said, that we
should do no better with your tiov, as you call it, than we did
with your .vv. \ou hae seen lamps, and so you imagined a
bigger and better lamp and called it the .vv. \ou`e seen
cats, and now you want a bigger and better cat, and it`s to so
called a tiov. \ell, tis a pretty make-beliee, though, to say
truth, it would suit you all better i you were younger. And
look how you can put nothing into your make-beliee
without copying it rom the real world, this world o mine,
which is the only world. . . . Come, all o you. Put away
these childish tricks. I hae work or you all in the real
world. 1here is no Narnia, no Oerworld, no sky, no sun,
no Aslan. And now, to bed all. And let us begin a wiser lie
tomorrow. But irst, to bed, to sleep, deep sleep, sot
pillows, sleep without oolish dreams.` 1he Prince and the
two children were standing with their heads hung down,
their cheeks lushed, their eyes hal closed, the strength all
gone rom them, the enchantment almost complete. But
212
Puddleglum, desperately gathering all his strength, walked
oer to the ire. 1hen he did a ery brae thing. le knew it
wouldn`t hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human,
or his eet ,which were bare, were webbed and hard and
cold-blooded like a duck`s. But he knew it would hurt him
badly enough, and so it did. \ith his bare oot he stamped
on the ire, grinding a large part o it into ashes on the lat
hearth. And three things happened at once. lirst, the sweet
heay smell grew ery much less. . . . Secondly, the \itch, in
a loud, terrible oice, utterly dierent rom all the sweet
tones she had been using up till now, called out, \hat are
you doing . . .` 1hirdly, the pain itsel made Puddleglum`s
head or a moment perectly clear and he knew exactly what
he really thought. 1here is nothing like a good shock o
pain or dissoling certain kinds o magic.
-C. S. Lewis, 1be itrer Cbair

1hereore I counsel you to buy rom me gold reined by
ire, that you may be rich . . . .`
-Reelation 3:18a

In this you rejoice, though now or a little while you may
hae to suer arious trials, so that the genuineness o your
aith, more precious than gold which though perishable is
tested by ire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at
the reelation o Jesus Christ. \ithout haing seen him you
loe him, though you do not now see him you beliee in
him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.
-I Peter 1:6-8

So they drew near to the illage to which they were going.
le appeared to be going urther, but they constrained him,
saying, Stay with us, or it is toward eening and the day is
now ar spent.` So he went in to stay with them. \hen he

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