Some years ago, on a two-hour flight from Winnipeg to Calgary I ended up seated next to a young woman in her late twenties. As we made our way over the seemingly endless grain fields I asked the inevitable question:
So, what do you do for a living?
I'm a palm reader; a fortuneteller was her reply. Well, I've never sat this close to a palm reader - I've never talked to a palm reader. So, I'm really scrambling for something more to say. Finally, she broke the silence and said,
You're an optimist.
Oh really, how can you tell?
You've got wide fingernails.
Well, I said, I don't know about the wide fingernails but I am an optimist and it’s because my life is linked with God's. The Bible says that if God before us who can be against us. It declares that someday in spite of the sin and selfishness and injustice in our world
God will triumph.
In fact, someday, all the kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and He shall reign forever and ever. And since my life is linked with God's by faith this same Bible tells me that I am a co-heir with Christ and I shall share in his victory. I too will win. You're right I'm an optimist!
You understand I didn't speak quite this loudly on the plane but I felt this loudly.
You see friends, as I read this Holy Book especially the final chapters - The Book of Revelation. I get this sense of optimism; this sense of winning. The Book of Revelation is about the ultimate triumph of our God.
When we read the book of Revelation we realize that so much of what we see on TV and read online is fake news. It is the ultimate fake news. Evil will not triumph. Humankind is not scheduled for annihilation. War, racism, poverty and injustice are not going to win. In the End God wins. That is the truth. We live in a post-Christian culture. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the truth.
God has placed all things under his feet and appointed Jesus to be Head over everything. Handel was right to let this final book of the Bible inspire him.
The Lord God omnipotent reigns.
And of His Kingdom there shall be no end.
I. God wins over Injustice
It says in verse 9
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Patmos is a tiny island – about 16 kilometers long and 10 wide – a bare, rocky volcanic speak of dust off the coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea.
Bible scholars have debated what John was doing on Patmos. There are four main suggestions:
1. He was on a holiday.
2. He was preaching the Gospel to the natives
3. He was imprisoned there or
4. He was sent there by God to receive this vision.
I think we can safely scratch the holiday idea. We’re talking about a man in his 90’s. We’re talking about a poor preacher in his 90’s. I picked up a brochure on a Mediterranean Curse. One of them stopped at Patmos long enough for you to climb up to the cave of the Apocalypse. All this for only $2600. Mediterranean Curses have never been cheap so I think we can rule out the idea of John being on a Patmos holiday.
I think we can also scratch the idea that John was over there preaching the Gospel. The pattern of New Testament evangelism was to reach the big cities. Even as late as the fourth century when Constantine became a Christian the rural areas of the Empire were still pagan. It is not very likely that John would come to the obscure Island of Patmos to preach the Gospel.
We can also rule out the idea that God ordered John to Patmos so that He could give him this Revelation. If that had been the case John would have told us.
No, John was there because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He was there as a companion in the suffering. He was there because he had been exiled by the Roman authorities. He was there as part of an unjust, cruel, and bazaar persecution of the Church that was sweeping the Empire.
This was no Mediterranean holiday. This was no preaching mission. This was no prophecy conference. John was in great pain. Separated from his beloved friends and Ephesians; deprived of the simply necessities of life; an old man under constant threat of death.
Yet, it was on Patmos that God opened up Paradise. It was in this despicable situation that God revealed his glory. So often God reveals Himself to us in pain. Normally, we learn far more about life, about ourselves, about other people, about God when we are in pain. God is not defeated by injustice and cruelty. Look at the Cross. In the End God wins.
Life is not fair – things happen that should never happen. People get away with murder. Sometimes bad people get elected to high office. Most of you have read about January 1933.
The message of the book of Revelation is that in the end God wins over injustice. But that’s not all. This book also teaches that God wins over our fear of the future.
II. God Wins over Fear of the Future
Almighty God created us in a universe with three components He Himself does not possess. Mass, Space and Time. These three components fence us in like creatures in a zoo. We are bound by Mass, Space and Time.
Mass – we weight so much.
Space – we take up space –We cannot walk through walls. Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If we try it is called a car accident. We are bound by things like length, height and depth.
Time – the strange ticking of the clock – the rotation of the earth around the sun.
We divide time into three parts. The Past, The Present and the Future.
Of those three what we really want to know is the future. That's what really bugs us! That’s what keeps us awake at night. That's why people like my seatmate on the plane keep in business. We want to know the future. So, we have our palms read.
We read the horoscopes. We try the Ouija board.
We want to know about the future.
• Where will I be in ten years?
• If I marry Harry how will life turn out?
• What's going to happen if I take this job?
• How old will I be when I die?
• How will I die?
• What happens after I die?
This book purports to be in part a Revelation of the future.
It’s an unveiling of what is going to happen up the road. That's why this book is so important. It reveals the future. Now it doesn't give us every detail of our future but it gives us enough to lift us out of despair. It gives us what God felt was important. God could have given us a detailed outline of our life but He chose to give us what He felt was enough.
Everything we need to know about the future is in this book. God speaks: Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, but look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death. Follow me and you will eat of the tree of life and never die.
A few winters ago, I was in a department store in Red Deer trying to warm up; not to buy anything but to escape the frigid prairie winter. So, I was in this large store trying to warm up. Somehow, I ended up in women's cosmetics. As I was trying to find the quickest way out my eye spotted a brochure on the counter with these words:
• THE PAST FORGIVEN
• THE PRESENT IMPROVED
• THE FUTURE PERFECT
At first, I wondered if some overzealous charismatic had slipped a few Gospel tracks onto the cosmetic counter. However, upon further investigation I discovered that Estee Lauder had just introduced a new skin gel. It promised to forgive my past, improve my present and give me a perfect future.
I almost bought the stuff but then I remembered I already had all three of those things in Jesus Christ. My past is forgiven. The slate is clean. It is as if I had never sinned. The present is improving. God is making me more like Jesus every day. I wish he would speed it up a bit but it is happening. And He has promised to finish His good work in my life on time.
The Future is Perfect. God has promised me a life with Him where there "will be no more pain, no more sin, no more death, for the old order of things will pass away. And no injustice. Nothing impure will ever enter the city of God". It will be perfect forever. We will be like Jesus.
In the End, God wins. And when your life and my life are linked with God's we too shall win.
Take this word Oh God, and brand it into our hearts this morning. May we as Christians never, never think we are on the losing side because there fewer of us in our culture. Help us to see the big picture. The glorious picture. The triumph of our God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever more shall be, world without end. Amen.
