Churches vs Empires

Thoughts on Revelation
CHURCHES vs EMPIRES

Revelation 1:12-20 describes the glorified Christ from numerous angles, but it makes full use of the prophets and Daniel 7:9 and the description of God. This divine and priestly figure is the conqueror of death and reigns over the kings of earth, but what is especially significant in light of the whole Book of Revelation is that He dwells in the church and holds the heart of the church in His hand.

Perhaps this irritates and pleases us most about the sovereign Lord. He identifies not with the powerful empires, the successful governments, the solid economies or the military might of the Roman legions but with seven little churches. There are times when we know very well what Peter felt in John 13 and Matthew 16. Messiahs do not wash feet and Lords do not get crucified. Nowadays we are moved at the thought of Him washing feet – “Ah, look, isn’t He so sweet and humble.” Nowadays we praise Him for being crucified. “Look, see how He loves us.” But we still have a hard time accepting that He identifies with little congregations, numerically weak and with no social or political clout whatever.

But in Revelation, when He finally speaks (chapters 2 and 3) He zeros in on seven little congregations in Asia. He dismisses the huge throne of Zeus as satanic; He disowns the vast worship of the Roman Empire and sets Himself against the powers that set themselves against the vulnerable assemblies. It does not seem to matter to Him that the world can make no sense of how He goes about things. So there they are, for all their weaknesses and for all the wrongs they need to correct, He still comes knocking on the heart’s door of each of those congregations.

And what do they stand for? What on earth do they reflect? What do we see as we watch them going about their lives with their ordinances, liturgy and shared central convictions? As crazy as it might appear both to non-believer and some depressed believers, these little churches bear witness on earth to the reality that chapters 4 and 5 proclaim. For those two chapters are one word: “You believe in God, believe also in me.” The invisible truth proclaimed in chapter 4 is this: the throne that rules the world is in heaven and not in Rome, London, Washington or any other center of earthly power. But what is perhaps more difficult to believe is that at the center of the throne that rules the world is a Lamb that has been slain and is alive and well (chapter 5). At the heart of that invisible realm the throne that rules creation is the Lamb that is making Himself visible in the seven churches of Asia.

Yes, but that is just the problem. Are we to keep on waiting before that Lord of life and death and the kings of the world – are we to wait forever before He makes a real difference in the world? Will He forever identify with the small and the weak? Is evil always to be on top and goodness always barely hanging on? Hardly. But the question was raised in 6:10 and given a cryptic answer in 6:11. The book as a whole proclaims the war between the gigantic Roman Empire with its satanic power and agenda and the vulnerable little flock to whom it has pleased God to give the kingdom. As Revelation pictures it, Rome’s clash with the church comes to its head in the battle of Armageddon (16 and 19) and when the smoke clears the seven little representative churches are a holy City with walls fifteen hundred miles high and wide. When the smoke has cleared the seven little representative churches are a bride dressed in her finery with her triumphant Husband by her side. The little churches again outlived, out-suffered and outlived the giant Empire.

Setting aside the imagery in which this truth is presented, the reality is that the might of the Emperors is long gone and the “seven” little churches are still going about their business, still called to go about their business of resisting the world in the name of the Lamb of God until 6:11 finds its complete fulfillment in the obliteration of all that is evil.

We are not to forget that modern giant empires are to get the message that what is true of Rome is true of them. 21^st century Christians are not to forget that their mission and assurance is proclaimed in the Book of Revelation – no peace or compromise with the world empires is possible.