One
Tribe
Revelation
7:9-17[1]
We who live in
the “United States of America” often find ourselves wondering these days how
“United” we really are. We see news reports of events happening in other parts
of the nation, and we shake our heads in disbelief and wonder how our fellow
citizens can be so different from each other. One author thinks the reason for
this is that we are actually eleven different nations, the origins of which can
to some extent be traced back in part to the original colonies.[2]
Each of these nations represents a group of people with a unique outlook,
lifestyle, and culture. From a different perspective, the Jefferson Institute
has mapped out every county in the US based on the kind of community it
represents.[3] They
found twelve basic community types based on a wide variety of economic,
cultural, educational, climate, and religious data. When you look at this kind
of information, it’s no wonder that we feel more like the “Divided States of
America!”
Unfortunately,
for most of us, the ways of thinking and living, making and spending money,
entertaining ourselves and raising our children, are so ingrained in us that we
may not even notice them. We notice when others are different from us. But it’s
incredibly easy to simply assume that “our way” is the right way, and those who
differ from us have gone astray somehow. So it is that even in the church, we
fight over ways of being Christian in this society, over our response to
changes in the culture around us, and over what really defines us as Christians
today. Unfortunately, most Christian denominations in the US are as divided as
the rest of the country.
As we’ve been
introduced to the Book of Revelation, we’ve seen how it focuses on what God is
doing in this world. And we’ve witnessed the worship of God and of the Lamb who
was slain by all creation. In our lesson for today, we get to look in on
another worship scene. But this one comes after some seriously troubling
visions. In the previous chapter, the Lamb begins to open the seals that
initiate God’s judgment. The first four seals unleash the fabled “Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse.” They in turn inflict conquest, warfare, famine, and death
upon the earth. The sixth of the seven seals on the scroll initiates cosmic
catastrophes: the sun is darkened, the moon turned to blood, the stars fall
from the heavens and the mountains topple. These are traditional images in the
Bible depicting the end of all things.[4]
After all of
that, we would expect to see the end of all things. That would be the logical
conclusion of what has transpired in chapter six. But instead of the witnessing
the end, we see another scene of worship.[5] In
this case, however, the focus is not on the object of worship, but rather on
those who are gathered around the throne, worshiping God and the Lamb. As
before, the group is described as a vast throng: it is a “great multitude that
no one could count,” and it is made up of those “from every nation, from all
tribes and peoples and languages.”[6] It seems to me that this vision of those who
worship around the throne of God is very similar to St. Paul’s vision that
“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, …, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil.
2:10-11).
I think it is
significant that although this multitude that cannot be counted who are
worshiping God and the Lamb around the throne are said to have come from
different nations, tribes, peoples, and languages, in this vision of worship
they are called the “servants of God” (Rev. 7:3).[7]
Despite any differences in their ethnic origins, their culture, their race,
they are all described as martyrs who have faithfully borne witness to Jesus
even to the point of death (Rev. 7:14). And there is no division or
disagreement or disunity among them. They are united in their ascription of
praise to God and to the Lamb: “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on
the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev. 7:10).
In Revelation, as
in the Gospel of John, the ultimate goal of God’s saving work among the human
family is that we would all become one tribe: the servants of God.[8] We
see this reflected in the description of those worshiping around the throne
earlier in Revelation: “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the
earth and in the sea, and all that is in them” (Rev. 5:13). While those who
worship God may come from all different races and people groups, from different
classes and walks of life, in God’s sight we are intended to make up one tribe:
the people of God. And it is significant that it is in worship that all the
ways humanity has of distinguishing one group from one another are essentially
erased. At the end of all things, there is only the vast multitude of humankind
united in their worship of God and the Lamb.
I don’t think
that all differences are a bad thing. In fact, I think diversity can make us
stronger if we don’t let it tear us apart. But the vision of worship around the
throne of God in our lesson from Revelation for today is much bigger than any
one people or nation. This vision assures us that regardless of the color of
our skin, regardless of our family origins, regardless of our language or
nationality, we will all one day unite around the throne of God. We will all
one day confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That is the
ultimate goal of God’s saving work in Jesus, the Lamb who was slain: to unite
the divided human family as one people who worship God, one clan who are the
servants of God, one tribe who are faithful in bearing witness to Jesus.
[1] ©2016
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 4/17/2016 at Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Reid Wilson, “Which
of the 11 American nations do you live in?” The Washington Post, November 8,
2013 accessed at https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/which-of-the-11-american-nations-do-you-live-in/
.
[3] Cf. The
Jefferson Institute’s website: http://www.patchworknation.org/regions-page.
[4] Cf.
Jürgen Roloff, A Continental Commentary:
The Revelation of John, 92, where he cites passages from Joel, Amos,
Isaiah, and Ezekiel. Cf. also David E. Aune, Revelation 6–16, 424: “the events accompanying the breaking of each seal
(with the exception of the fifth) belong to traditional Jewish and early
Christian conceptions of the tribulations that will introduce the end …, though
the scenario stops just short of the great day of wrath itself.”
[5] Cf. M.
Eugene Boring, Revelation, 127: “They
looked for the End and what came was the church, not as a substitute for the
act of God but itself a dimension of God’s saving activity.” Cf. also Richard
Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of
Revelation, 79-80, where he says, “the victory of the Lamb’s followers
through martyrdom” … “intervenes between the sixth and the seventh judgements
of the first series of seven judgements: the seal-openings.” At this point, it
would appear that “The judgment has been delayed only so that they can escape it
through martyrdom.” But Bauckham insists that thus far the real secret of God’s
purpose for the role of the church in the establishment of God’s kingdom on
earth has not been revealed.” That “secret” is that the repentance of humankind
is effected not by judgment but by the faithful witness of the church.
[6] In fact,
the chapter seems to describe two different groups, the 144,000 from the tribes
of Israel and the “great multitude.” However, as Bauckham, Theology of Revelation, 76, points out, in Revelation there is a
contrast between what John hears and what he sees. He says, “The 144,000 from
the twelve tribes of Israel (7:4-8) contrast with the innumerable multitude
from all nations (7:9). But the two images depict the same reality.” Cf. similarly, Craig R. Koester, Revelation, 419, 424; cf. also ibid.,
424: “God’s promise to preserve and restore the tribes of Israel is kept y redeeming people from every tribe and
nation through the death of Jesus.” Cf. also Roloff, Revelation of John, 98. On the other hand, Christopher C. Rowland,
“The Book of Revelation,” New
Interpreters Bible XII:620-21, where he asserts that the first group is a
Jewish remnant, while the second consists of those who are identified with
Christ. Cf. also Aune, Revelation 6–16,
440-60, where he argues extensively for the view that the 144,000 represent a
Jewish remnant.
[7] Cf. Koester,
Revelation, 416-17, where he points
out that the marking of slaves on the face was an act of punishment. He insist
that this does not fit the context here. Cf. also ibid., 211, where he summarizes the idea of Christians as “servants”
of God in Revelation. He says, “God’s people address him as Lord and Master and
are to obey (4:8, 11; 6:10; 12:17; 14:12), but the paradox is that God’s
servants are truly free, since Christ freed them from subjection to other
powers (1:5, cf. Rom 6:18-23; 1 Cor 9:19; Gal 5:13).”
[8] Cf.
Jürgen Moltmann, In the End—the Beginning:
The Life of Hope, 150, where he speaks of “the restoration of all things”
and “universal reconciliation” as “an expression of hope and of trust in God’s
goodness.” Cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 256,
where he extends this reconciliation and restoration beyond the human family to
include all God’s creatures.
