How many of you remember that image of Saddam Hussein being toppled from its central position in downtown Baghdad? I don’t expect there’s anyone in this country who didn’t see it. It played over and over for days. And it really looked liked victory, didn’t it? And of course who can forget that famous - or maybe now I should say infamous - shot of President Bush on the aircraft carrier under the sign ‘”Mission Accomplished” ? And here we are months later watching our soldiers
and allies and miscellaneous bystanders being blown up with everything from RPGs to what are euphemistically referred to as “improvised explosive devices.” It just goes to show you that half-way measures don’t work.
Last week we saw that martyrdom isn’t something that happened long ago in the past, that we read about in history books. The martyrs John wrote to 2000 years ago have been joined by thousands upon thousands more since those days; in fact, most accounts estimate that more Christians died for their faith in the last hundred years than in all the previous 1900.
But what did we see two weeks ago, in Revelation 19? Didn’t we see Jesus winning the battle? “The beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had ... deceived those who had ... worshiped its image. [Rev. 19:20] It sure looked like victory to me. But no.
Those two, the beast and the prophet, were functioning more as images or surrogates of Satan than as actual heads of state.
"The second beast was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed." [Rev 13:15]
Their destruction didn’t mean that the enemy had been defeated, even though everyone who showed up for the battle was killed. Saddam’s - I mean Satan’s - armies did not surrender, they accepted no terms, made no commitment to lay down their arms and make peace. It was only the image that was toppled. The big guy, the chief villain, went into hiding. OK, ok, the parallel isn’t perfect, because Satan was bound and tossed into prison, and Saddam is running from bolt-hole to bolt-hole. But the fact that he’s still alive is the point. As long as the enemy is still lurking in the background, he gives hope to the unregenerate that the days of looting and torture and other fun pastimes will soon return, and means that everyone else is still looking over their shoulders wondering if they’re really safe. Obviously neither Saddam in hiding nor Satan in prison can be as effective as when they could operate freely, out in the open, but that doesn’t mean their influence isn’t still felt.
But what we see now is the attempt to establish a new government. Jesus Christ himself is ruling. Taking their part in the governing council are the exiles and others who had refused to worship the beast. And everything should be just wonderful now, shouldn’t it? But it isn’t.
Well, I suspect that there are one or two people who might take exception to the implied parallel that the American occupation of Iraq has anything at all in common with the millennial reign of Jesus Christ... but at least we mean well. And it does illustrate some very important things about the human condition.
But before I go into all that, I do want to acknowledge that this chapter of Revelation is the cause of more and deeper and longer-lasting controversy than any other part of the book. Christianity has been divided between pre-millennialists, post-millennialists, and a-millennialists ever since it became clear Jesus wasn’t going to be coming back as soon as the early church had expected.
Post-millennialists believe that Christians help establish the thousand-year kingdom on earth prior to Jesus return. Its not as popular a view as it used to be, since the 19th century showed us in no uncertain terms that sin is as alive and well today as it has ever been, if not more so. Pre-millennialists believe that the millennium will be a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ on this earth after the Tribulation and the Rapture. And a-millennialists believe that the millennium is
symbolic for the present age. As you might suspect, I’m closer to a-millennialism than the other two isms. In 431 the Council of Ephesus - the same one which reaffirmed the Nicene Creed - condemned belief in a literal millennium as a superstition. And all my theological heroes - from Augustine to Calvin - were a-millennial. So I’m on pretty good ground and in pretty good company. However, since nothing God chooses to do will surprise me, I’m keeping my eyes and my options open.
The advantage to being a-millennial is that its lessons are more relevant to Christians trying to make sense of their world than the other two. The other advantage is that I don’t have to try to explain all of the details, for instance how to interpret the number 1000. Obviously Jesus has delayed more than a thousand years since his first appearance on earth. On the other hand, when I look around, I
don’t see much evidence that Satan has been bound. The key to understanding Revelation 20 - if it is symbolic for the present age - is the triple assurance that (1) we have already been raised with Christ, (2) we have a role to play here and now in Christ’s kingdom in the world, (3) we can be confident of being spared from the horror of a final judgment without Christ.
The binding of Satan, in this interpretive framework, simply affirms what we already know: the devil cannot act without God’s permission. His scope is limited. There is no reason to be afraid of whatever it is he might happen to get up to, including persecution.
But at the same time we aren’t to be complacent, or to relax our guard, because Satan still has adherents who strike without warning, even in places that we thought had been pacified.
Post-millennialists dominated the 19th century. It was under their influence, their optimism, their confidence that through the efforts of the church Christ kingdom could be built on earth that Christians abolished slavery - first in England and eventually here, that the great missionary movement sent the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth, that it seemed for a time that efforts to abolish drinking and slums and child labor could actually succeed. It was the appearance
of progress on a human level, as well as a technological and scientific level, that led so many people to buy into the idea of evolution ... the idea that things not only could, but would keep getting better and better fed into the disappearance of sin as a presupposition about human nature.
The obvious failure of those millennial hopes and dreams illustrate in a very powerful way the truth of this chapter’ s insistence that until the final judgement Satan will keep on coming back, even after what looks like a great victory.
Is there some lesson that you thought you’d learned - like not worrying about tomorrow, or letting God take control over your life, or counting to ten before letting your tongue loose, or - whatever your biggest struggle is - that you keep having to learn over and over? I think that’s the chief lesson of Satan’s return - just when we think Jesus has taken over, maybe right after one of those awesome mountaintop experiences, one of Beelzebub’s nasty little imps bites us on the ankle and we discover that we’re still not perfect, that there are parts of our
selves that are not yet fully under Christ’s control.
Another lesson of this chapter is that even when Christ rules, those who do not actively submit to his lordship remain susceptible to the devil’s deceptions, even if - or perhaps especially if - they have been in settings where they weren’t tested. What do I mean by that?
Well, how many people do you know who simply don’t believe in sin or evil or the devil? Who believe that all the problems in the world can be solved by changing structures or providing economic equality or passing a new law? These are people who believe that human beings are basically good at heart, and that they don’t need a Savior, and that if God were only doing his job right there would be paradise on earth. We live in an era which assumes that democracy - the rule of the people - will result in justice and equality. What they fail to recognize is that even though we live in an era that is closer to abolishing hunger and disease than at any other time in the history of the world, instead of seeing justice and peace sweeping over the earth, everywhere we turn there is self-indulgence, violence, greed and hatred. The ideas about human rights and compassion Westerners take for granted come from a thousand plus years of Christ's dominion, not from within ourselves. Rather than utopia, the key achievement of this century is
the ability to kill more people at once than our ancestors could possibly have imagined. And to cap it off, we get to watch it all taking place live.
The saints must remain vigilant even during the thousand years. It is never more necessary to beware of Satan and his dead-enders than when the neighborhood seems safe. Christians in America are soft targets, folks. And although a few Christians are currently involved in some dubious practices regarding “spiritual warfare”, over-emphasizing the demonic to their own detriment, that is actually safer than the more prevalent attitude in main-line Christianity that seems to believe that there is no such thing as an active spiritual force hostile to the cause of Christ.
You see, the minute Gog and Magog appear, the nations flock to their banner. They are symbolic of earthly power and wealth, and the response illustrates that for far too many the call of power will always be stronger than Christ's promise of peace and justice. It shows that no matter how much we long to show mercy, and give second chances, or even at a minimum simply co-exist, there will never be
peace until those who refuse to acknowledge Christ are judged and condemned and destroyed. Scholar C. H. Talbert says that “The millennium proves that humans cannot blame their sinfulness on their environment or circumstances.” [Talbert, C.H., Apocalypse, 95] Neither harsh judgments not perfect justice can bring to repentance those who will not repent. Neither the stick nor the carrot can change the hearts of man. Even where corporate sin is abolished, individual
depravity will remain, frustrating God’s corporate redemptive activity until the final end. In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis’ wonderful parable of life after death, most of the damned remain unrepentant, even when given a chance to shed the sin of self-obsession. The primary point seems to be that unregenerate humans prefer sin to God’s righteousness. Judgment may seem harsh, but it is necessary. Its all
very well catching the top 50 most wanted, but as long as Satan himself remains in the background, there will be new recruits, and as long as even one of Satan’s loyalists is out there laying mines for the faithful, there will be no peace. A pro-forma victory isn’t enough. The die-hards must be rooted out, they must be tried and judged and gotten rid of.
Some skeptics have charged Christians with copping out of facing the real problems and challenges of the world by emphasizing a hope that is merely “pie in the sky bye and bye”, that is, with putting up with present-day squalor in the foolish hope of a fairy-tale ending. Many on the left side of the great theological divide have the impression that its an either-or proposition - that you have to choose between social justice and the hope of heaven.
But that is not so. The struggle pictured in Revelation, whether it is for the end time or the in-between time, is also played out individually, on an internal, spiritual level. The Biblical hope of a redeemed future summons us to lives of holiness And service in the present, and that takes complete surrender and the installation of a new government.
“Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy.” [1 Pe 1:13-16]
The deeds we do in this life really do matter in an ultimate sense.
We do not have to choose between social justice and the hope of heaven. But we do have to choose. Because following Christ is an all- or-nothing proposition. We can neither declare victory and go home, nor wait on the sidelines waiting for the winner to finish mopping up before we declare our own allegiance. Jesus told the crowds who were following him all over Galilee looking for hope and healing that "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” [Lk 14:26-27] This shocked them. I suspect many of them wanted an easy answer, to be told that what was wrong in their lives was someone elses fault. They wanted
to be told that being a good person was enough.
There’s a story going around the internet about a man who dies and finds himself walking down a hot dusty road with his dog. The first place he stops to ask for water is really inviting, he is invited in but told to leave the dog behind. Although he is tempted, the man refuses, because the dog has been his faithful companion all his life, and he will not abandon him. The man finally receives hospitality for himself and his dog from a shabby-looking man sitting by a simple well, and of course that turns out to be heaven, because only someone who refuses to Abandon his faithful friend is fit to enter. This parable is very appealing to people who think that human virtues are sufficient - but Jesus does not leave us that option. Jesus knows that only if we put him first can we keep our feet on the right track. Yes, loyalty is a virtue. Yes, faithfulness to ones obligations is part of following Christ. But Jesus has to come first, or in the end everything will be lost. Christ is the one who holds your life and loves together, not you.
Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is a serious matter, not to be confused with joining a club or signing up for a free subscription. It involves doing what he tells us to, not what seems right in our own eyes. And once you've set foot on the road, you must be prepared to follow through, because doing it half-heartedly is worse than not doing it at all.
"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace." [Lk14:28-32]
Peace with God comes with following Christ, walking in his footsteps in the here and now, not just putting a sign in the front yard. That is the only way we can be sure to wind up with him when the end of the road finally does come.
