Introduction

In the first week of our series I focussed on Jesus identity as perfected prophet, priest and king and how he calls us to share in his ministry. Last week, we concentrated on the Jesus as the Lamb “standing as slain” who calls us to walk with him, whatever the cost, in his war against all the forces of evil. This week is about the kingly ministry of Jesus and our participation in his rule.

In one of the climactic visions of Revelation, Jesus is called, “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16), who “in righteousness he judges and makes war” (19:11). This helps us to understand that the purpose of kingship is to maximise righteousness. We do not often use the word “righteousness” today, except perhaps to refer to the “self righteous”, but in the Bible the terms righteous and just are essentially the same. It is impossible to avoid the question of righteousness, or justice.

Read the letters to the editor in a newspaper, have a chat with someone about politicians, tune in to talk back radio and listen to the discussions about boat people, aborigines, terrorism or penalties imposed on criminal offenders. Or, more seriously, attend a footie match and watch how the crowd responds to bad umpiring decisions. Convictions about justice penetrate to the very core of what it means to be human.

At a very young age children start to complain about the punishment they receive, or the manner in which a sibling is treated compared to them, crying, “It’s not fair.” I remember at my father’s funeral, who died after a lengthy illness, my own mother crying out in angry grief, “It’s not fair.” People hate to be taken advantage of, lied to, misunderstood, and thought badly of. Everyone hates hypocrisy and corruption in leadership, in the workplace, in politics, or especially in religion. Human beings apply these same standards, but with the bar raised to perfection, to God.

When the psalmist says, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Ps 14:1cf. 53:1; 73:11), he does not mean theoretical atheists existed in Israel. Rather, the world has always been full of what are called “practical atheists”. These folk believe that while God exist he is neither concerned for nor involved in ordinary human affairs. A corrupt (Rev 19:2) and pleasure seeking self-serving lifestyle (18:3) has become the norm for human behaviour because most of us deep inside believe that God is as corrupted by power as we are[1]. If this so called all powerful God really cared he would do something about the miserable state of the world.

“Is God a righteous king?” “Does God always do the right thing by the world, and by me?” This is the real question that confronts humanity. It is what most people and definitely most Australians do not believe[2]. The book of Revelation tackles this sort of practical atheism head on.

One King or Another

In the biblical order of things God raised up kings existed in Israel to establish justice upon the earth in order to reflect his own righteousness (1 Ki 10:9; Ps 72:1; Prov 16:12-13; 25:5; Isa 9:7; 32:1; Jer 22:15; Zech 9:9). Most kings failed badly, so that and the prophets began to speak of a perfect end times king who would give equal justice to the poor and oppressed (Ps 72; Isa 9:7; 11:3-4; Jer 23:5). Most of the world still seeks a righteous ruler[3].

At the time of the writing of Revelation the hope of the peoples of the earth was fixed on the all powerful reign of Caesar. Caesar however was not the king of which the prophets spoke. Revelation consistently speaks of the “kings of the earth” (1:5; 6:15; 17:2, 18; 18:3, 9; 19:19), as an entire anti-God system that actively opposes the kingdom of God and Christ. “And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings ….13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the Lamb…”” (17:12-14).

William Hendriksen[4], comments, “The ten kings are really all the mighty ones of this earth in every realm: art, education, commerce, industry, government, in so far as they serve the central authority [of the beast]. Self-aggrandizement in opposition to Christ is their goal.”[5] There is a battle raging in every dimension of culture between the Lamb of God and evil hosts, this is the war that determines whether a culture is demonised or open to God[6]. (My experience of other nations, especially Argentina, is that there is a spiritual atmosphere that rules a country that you can sense as soon as you get off the plane.) Behind every element of culture that opposes the truth that is in Christ, whether we call this postmodernism, liberalism, rationalism, communism, or pluralism, is the figure of the devil, cast down to the earth ““in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”” (Rev 12:12).

The Righteous King

As Western people we struggle to grasp that it is God’s acts in history[7], rather than some inner subjective experience, that reveals the divine justice. Apocalyptic language speaks of the acts of God on a vast scale. It uses gigantic figures to express the horrific state of a rebellious world under divine judgement. In Revelation nine, for example, God releases four wicked angels to kill, “a third of mankind” (9:15). Language like this is designed to “jolt genuine believers out of their spiritual anaesthesia and shock a remnant among the unbelieving masses to believe.” (Beale).

In the midst of these shocking acts of God, and incomprehensible to most human ears[8], we read how the saints in heaven “sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”” (Rev 15:3-4). From one end of the Bible to another, from the time of Pharaoh to the coming of the antichrist, the people of God are only saved by God’s kindness in a climate of conflict and persecution that brings severe judgements from heaven (Rom 11:22)[9].

Modern persons struggle to come to terms with a strain of biblical thought that seems simply like a lust for revenge[10]. In Revelation “the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 … cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”” (6:9-10), when the earth’s waters are turned to blood the holy angels cry, ““Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgements. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”” (16:5-6), at the destruction of the Babylonian world system a voice comes from heaven, “Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and fully repay her for her deeds” (18:6).

The visitations of judgement recorded in Revelation climax in the vision of Christ’s return, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.” (Rev 19:11-12) Coming with the fire of judgement[11] and robes dipped in the blood of his enemies[12] Jesus will “judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31)[13].

The joy in heaven at the site of such divine acts means that the holy witnesses of Revelation appreciate that if God does NOT punish sin he is unjust. It is the divine reputation that is at stake. If God does not visit the unrepentant with wrath upon their evil, which destroys themselves, others and the world (11:18), he is apathetic or simply pathetic[14]. It is the failure to believe in the active just judgement of God in the world that explains the anaemic spirituality of much contemporary Christianity and why we have so little impact!

This series is called, “The Lamb’s War”, and the centre point for grasping the goodness of God in all the judgements recorded of Revelation is to see all things through the lens of the life of the Lamb. The evidence that God deals justly with human beings is the “Lamb standing, as slain” (5:6), that is, crucified and resurrected. The innocent Lamb exposed himself to God’s full judgement upon our sin on the cross in order that the Father might raise Jesus from the dead and exalt him to heaven sharing with him all authority, including the right to judge the world (Matt 28:19; John 5:22; 13:3; 17:2; Phil 2:9-11). The only full and final evidence in the universe that God judges justly is the outcome of the life of Christ[15]. To have a vision of the Lamb of God on his Father’s throne in heaven is to understand that those who suffer faithfully for the sake of God’s kingdom will be raised from the dead and reign with Christ forever.

The church today in affluent nations lacks this heavenly vision because it refuses to accept that reigning with Christ is intimately tied to suffering with Christ (2 Tim 2:11-12). Jesus promises the compromised church in Laodicea, “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Rev 3:21). To conquer as Christ conquered means to conquer in the midst of great tribulation.

The Lamb Shakes the earth

If Jesus became the perfected king[16] through his suffering on the cross, we must suffer too. God destroyed our sin in Jesus by shaking him on the cross in order to raise him to newness of life. God shakes the earth[17] that in the end it too might be purged of all evil and share the glorious life of Christ.

Revelation is full of apocalyptic images of destruction, these include wars, diseases, famine and cosmic disasters, “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.” (16:17-19). These images are designed to alarm us, not into a childish fear, but into a mature faith that copes with anything, the faith that does not plunge into depression over the terrible things that happen in this world (1 John 5:4).

As a young man to a remarkably prophetic Bible teacher, a World War II veteran permanently maimed and in chronic pain, he quietly declared that Hitler was God’s judgement on unbelieving Europe. If his preaching was true, the same principle must apply to 9/11, Bali bombings, Global Financial Crises, earthquakes in Chile and many other traumas. In the framework of the book of Revelation, this is necessarily true.

Throughout the book the impact of the judgements of God seems to confirm humanity in its refusal to turn to God and live[18]. “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.” (16:9 cf.v.11, 21; 9:20-21). The final vision of the book suggests this stubborn unrepentant attitude is eternal, “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” (22:11)

Only in two places in Revelation does it seem that the wicked repent. The first of these is at the commencement of the book, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” (Rev 1:7). This is a quote from the Old testament prophet Zechariah, where, in context the wailing is the result of the LORD pouring out “a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy”(12:10). The other passage reads, “And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Rev 11:13). Somehow sinners can be persuaded of God’s righteous reign and turn to Christ even in the midst of dreadful tribulation. The key to how this happens is the army of the Lamb.

An Army of the Lamb

In the awesome scene of the climactic vision of Revelation 19, when Jesus descends from heaven to smite the nations as “King of kings and Lord of lords”[19], he is not alone, “the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses.” (v.14). “the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints” (v.8). Christians are part of an all conquering army, the army of the Lamb. Tragically, the notion of the church as an army has caused untold pain over centuries.

It all began in the fourth century, when in the midst of a civil war the Roman leader Constantine, not yet a professing Christian, looked up to the sun before a critical battle and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words “Εν Τουτω Νικα” (“by this, conquer!”). Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with a Christian symbol (the Chi-Ro), and thereafter they were victorious. Following this example, the armies of the Western “Christian” powers have, until recently, all claimed the presence of Christ with them[20]. Since the time that the emperors became “Christian” we have found it hard to accept that our societies are Babylonian, demonically infested and idolatrous. Blinded by “Christianity” as an organised religion supporting the state, and the status quo, the mass of Christians in the West have failed to understand the nature of the Lamb’s righteous war. The true nature of the thought world of Revelation has become alien to us.

In the seventh chapter of Revelation 14 however, we have a list of 144,000 people from the 12 tribes of Israel. In the fourteenth chapter of the book they are “singing a new song” and are identified as those “redeemed from the earth” who have “not defiled themselves with women”, and “they are blameless” (vv.3-5). The listing of tribes and the numbering of males makes it clear that we are dealing with a census list of soldiers enrolled for battle according to the Old Testament pattern[21]. Like soldiers in the field during, they were to avoid all ritual defilement that might come through sexual intercourse[22] and their blamelessness points to these holy warriors as perfect sacrifices[23]. The 144,000 symbolically represent all believers engaged in the Lamb’s holy war.

They are described as, ““the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (7:14). This is the tribulation (troubles) introduced at the beginning of the book, “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” (1:9). We are all in the midst of the great tribulation that precedes the return of Jesus, and our robes, which represent our righteous deeds, are made white in his blood. This means we can only conquer as the Lamb conquered, by struggle and sacrifice. In this way we are a true army of Christlike kings who “reign on the earth”[24] implanting the kingdom of God inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Living as Kings for Others

We are an army of kings implementing the total war God in Christ has declared on evil in all its forms – injustice, oppression, inequality, poverty, hunger, disease, starvation. Christians are those seeking to bring the righteousness of God revealed in the Lamb, “standing as slain”, to at every level of human existence: social, personal, institutional, and governmental. To reign now with Christ means to defeat the evil powers of sin, Satan and the world both in ourselves and in our communities. The action of the servants of the Lord against injustice is not constricted to political, ideological or humanitarian motives, but is a means through which God’s eternal righteousness is revealed to perishing men and women upon the earth[25].

There are many examples of the power of this principle, but one stands out for me. Students of ancient history have observed that the rate of growth of the early church accelerated immediately after a number of plagues that swept through the Roman Empire. Several epidemics, lasting up to 15 years, carried off up to one third of the empire’s population. In cities, mortality rates could be up to two thirds. The important thing to note is how the Christians responded to these disasters.

In the middle of the pestilence that afflicted the Empire in third century Cyprian, bishop of Carthage wrote of the impact of the dreadful plague, “that pestilence and plague which seems horrible and deadly, searches out the righteousness of each one, and examines the minds of the human race, to see whether they who are in health tend the sick; whether relatives affectionately love their kindred; whether masters show pity to their ailing slaves; whether physicians do not desert the beseeching patients”

Cyprians’ point is this, when the rich abandoned the cities for the shelter of their country estates, when the pagan priests deserted the temples in fear for their own lives, when the philosophers had no word of comfort, the Christians remained behind, many times at the cost of their own lives, to tend the poor or dying, whether pagan or Christian. In this way, they were “the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor 2:14) amongst the perishing, in this way they refused to avenge themselves on those who had persecuted them but by their acts of kindness shamed many into repentance. [26] Nevertheless, many did not turn to Christ and blaming the Christians for the plague and harassed the church even more fiercely, Cyprian himself was beheaded. In this way God’s judgment increased against the hard hearted (Rom 2:4-5).

This is the pattern of the Lamb’s war. When the church has understood its role as an army of justice it has always imparted to the world, through acts of costly mercy, a true sense of the righteousness of God in Christ. Sadly, the church of our day hardly believes in the power of suffering to convince others of the truth.

With strange and modern theologies that God will zap the church out of the world before the going gets tough (someone should tell the Christians in North Korea about this) it is no wonder that Revelation is all but unintelligible, or entertaining, or powerless, to the mass of us. We have probably never been taught that the army in which we have enlisted is sealed with the Lamb’s name on their forehead (7:3; 14:1), this symbol corresponds to the infamous mark of the beast (13:17; 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 204), it means we are marked for martyrdom but preserved from compromise.

The Impact of Such Kingship

I remember visiting one of the illegal house churches in China years ago, whose leader, intriguingly called Samuel Lamb, had been imprisoned for his faith for 20 years. This church paradoxically exemplified the reality that truly righteous church will always be a thankful church, for it BELIEVES that God is just whatever the circumstances may seem to say (Eph 5:20; Col 3:17; 1 Thess 5:18). These living saints know that suffering for the sake of the kingdom of Christ is the deepest sense of all joys, for they share richly in the resurrection joy of the Lamb and his Father in his triumphant conquest of all evil[27].

This deep joy is not restricted to those who shed their blood, it is the joy of the Spirit who delights in bringing the righteousness of the kingdom of God[28] into every sphere of human life – in the decisions of parents, bosses, board rooms, court rooms, class rooms, clinics, offices, factories……Our Jesus, the Lamb, “standing as slain” passionately longs to pour out his righteous heavenly reign[29] into every workplace and market place of this world. If we are not seeing his kingdom come and his will being done around us it is surely because we have missed another aspect of the book of Revelation.

The Eternal Kingship

In chapter 21 we have the one positive use of the expression “kings of the earth” in the book, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,… 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations.” (Rev 21:23-26). The identity of these kings is clarified in the final chapter. “They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Rev 22:5). Those who reign as kings forever are the servants of the Lamb, they are us! A genuine revelation of our eternal reign with Christ must abolish all petty squabbles amongst Christians[30] and banish our trivial pursuits of a pleasurable lifestyle.

Embracing this book’s vision of the final goodness of all things empowers us to understand that none of the trials, tribulations and traumas of this world, including our own, are accidental or purposeless, the history of this tiny planet will culminate in the eternal reign of Jesus over all things in heaven and earth (Eph 1:10). To the extent that we deeply believe this, to that extent we now reign as kings with Christ (Rom 5:17; Rev 5:9-10) imaging his righteous rule on the earth.

I must make a difficult but vital point. If you suffer from the sort of things that bring spiritual depression, a sense that God does not hear you, a feeling that you do not make any real difference in this evil world because you are essentially powerless, then you are suffering from what the Bible calls guilt[31]. The all encompassing vision of Revelation unveils to us that in the purposes of God revealed in the Lamb nothing that has ever happened to us is meaningless, Christ is triumphing and will triumph over every evil force, even over our unbelief. Such a cleansed conscience enjoys peace with God (Rom 5:1) whatever tribulations come to shake our world. [32]

Conclusion

This world of ours desperately needs a visible revelation of the righteousness of God. In certain African countries infant mortality rates are 50 times those in Australia[33], diabetes, often a lifestyle disease will afflict 380 million people worldwide by 2025[34], there are 15 million AIDS orphans, a minimum of 600,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked in the sex trade every year[35]. There are still 100,000 homeless in Australia. The epidemics of the ancient world may not afflict us, but all around us are those plagued with psychological and psychiatric disturbance, relationship failure and the general meaningless of life. The world desperately needs the righteous deeds of the saints in government, business, the media, health, law, education, and the arts and in family life.

A theologian once famously said, “what goes deepest to the conscience goes widest to the world.” (P.T.Forsyth). He meant, the more we have a revelation of God’s justice the wider we will take it to this world. The Lamb on the throne, standing as slain, has the key to the answer to the very prayer that he taught us to pray, ““Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:9-10).

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