Readings: Revelation 8:2, 6-13, 9:1-4, 13-16, 20, 11:15-19, Apocalypse Revealed #529 (see below)
See also on Youtube
Photo by Wim van 't Einde on Unsplash

Welcome, friends, to our continuing series on the book of Revelation. Today we jump around a bit in the text to trace the story of the Angels with the Seven Trumpets. This is now the third series of seven we have seen: seven churches, seven seals on the scroll, and now the seven trumpets. And lets be totally honest. This is a weird and disturbing revelation. We remind ourselves that it is not meant to seem real. Revelation is a spiritual experience, sharing the kind of logic and symbolism that we might see in dreams. Yet it has the potential to speak deeply to our emotions and our imagination.

Last week we saw the great multitude of every nation, tribe, people, and language, gathering to praise the Lamb, the risen Jesus Christ. A blessed, inspiring vision. Now though, we return to a contemplation on how we get to that vision, and what it is that keeps humanity from embodying that vision. The story of the seven trumpets is story of transformation through spiritual and personal challenge. It is a very appropriate text for the beginning of Lent, in fact, because spiritual and personal challenges are often the only way that we truly grow as people. Inside of such challenges, depending on their intensity, we may well hate them and resent them. They might feel unfair, terrifying to our ego, and we resist. They feel like so many kinds of destruction. But, if we are willing to let God lead us, to let harmful or maladaptive patterns within us be destroyed or released by these experiences, large and small, then we can more fully inhabit the life God wants to us have. This reality is one that the season of Lent understands. In Lent, we intentionally disrupt our everyday through some chosen practice, we intentionally create a little bit of challenge, and we pay attention to what it teaches us. 

So, let us begin our journey with the trumpets. In our text today, we hear that the first trumpet sends hail and fire down to the earth which burns up a third of the trees and green grass. Swedenborg writes that green living things like leaves and plants represent things that we put our faith in, and grass in particular, our external ideas and perspectives that we perhaps haven’t examined before.(1) They can be ones that have sprung up on their own within us due to various influences, or perhaps ones that we have purposefully cultivated. But the ones that no longer serve us, the ones that harm others intentionally or not, they need to be scorched, they need to be burned away. This practice of examination is an important starting point.

Next, the second trumpet sends a huge fiery mountain into the sea. A mountain represents affections, good things we love and bad things we love. In this case, the burning signifies not the good fire of mutual love but a kind of fire that destroys.(3) We are prompted to ask ourselves: What emotions burn inside of us that need to be cast aside? Resentment, shame, self-centering, or others? This is the point in which we take accountability for our emotional narratives and start to the do the work to heal the emotional habits that no longer serve mutual love.

Now, we go even deeper with the third trumpet, which sends down a star from the sky that makes the waters bitter. In the Swedenborgian worldview, water signifies truth, which our minds need just a much as our bodies need water. It is all well and good to say we need to let go of harmful perspectives and emotions, as the first and second trumpets declare. But sometimes, it is not as simple as all that. What happens when the water itself is bitter? What happens when the we must start to question truths that we had previously relied on? When we question the authorities, the elders, the institutions that might have provided these harmful perspectives, encouraged maladaptive patterns. We receive all kinds of bitter, poisonous information masquerading as truth from culture, from peers, from social media, from family, from religious institutions, and many other places. It is a difficult and sad process to untangle from these narratives, to recognize where they are preventing us from thriving. 

Which leads then to the fourth trumpet, depicting an even deeper questioning, and the darkness and emptiness that we encounter when we have to let go of patterns and perspectives we used to rely on. The sun, moon, and stars represent love, faith and truth. (4)Many times, this process will cause us to have to redefine how we love, what we believe and trust, what we know to be true, especially if the way we used to view those things was harming ourselves and others. It may feel like certain lights are going out, that the sky is darkened, and we don’t yet have anything to replace them. But as dark as that night sky may be, this is the moment when the story turns, this is the moment when something new can be born. It might not feel like it yet, as there are still trumpets to come, but this dark empty moment is about to become the compost for growing an entirely new way of being.

But there is still more work to do. The 5th trumpet brings one more star to earth, one that opens an abyss. This is where we face off with our deepest challenge: our need to be the smartest and the best, the need to be right. The need to be right is not actually the same thing as having some measure of clarity for ourselves. The need to be right —what Swedenborg calls the conceit of self-intelligence— is the need to be right over and against others. The need to be superior over others. This is a deep dark abyss that can never be filled, can never actually be satiated because it originates in fear rather than an actual desire to know truth. A fear that doesn’t feel safe without self-centering. It is fear we all share and it deserves some pity, for it is so very human. But when indulged, it is uniquely dangerous, and can lead to the worst of humanity’s atrocities. The smoke issued from this pit of self-centeredness obscures any truth of another person’s dignity, their human rights, their precious personhood.(5)

And so the 6th trumpet is the true moment of choice: will we let go of this self-centering, will we let go of ego? The sixth trumpet releases four angels who will kill a third of humankind. This symbolizes the death of our selfhood, the selfhood that wants to be central all the time, that resists this whole process because it cannot bear the reality of God’s love and the reality of God’s kingdom, that faith must be lived, that we exist for each other, that we are all a part of the beautiful multitude of mutual love from last week, part of the beloved community in the phrasing of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In this last pivotal moment, some will continue to resist. In verse 20 we are told that some of humankind “still did not repent of the work of their hands, they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.”

They continue worshiping idols that are not even alive, and that cannot possibly provide life. We could contrast these idols with the living God who provides life for everything. We could contrast these idols with actual human beings in front of us, who are living breathing beings. We are invited to question ourselves: What do we hold up in front of us that obscures our vision of the suffering of human beings right in front of us? Daily our newsfeed tell us of the suffering that our adminstration is purposefully perpetrating upon those in immigration detention centers, as just one example. The conditions are appalling and inhumane. What idols of ideology, what idols of power and control, what idols of tribalism and white supremacy, keep those policies in place, keep so many unable to see what is right in front of us all. This is the work of this last trumpet, to commit to consistently brushing those idols aside so that we might keep our eyes trained on God and our fellow human beings. Sometimes those idols distract us, sometimes for a moment, sometimes for a lifetime. The work remains to try to see them and then put them aside, so that we can repent of their pernicious and diverting influence.

If we do, we reach the seventh trumpet “the kingdom of our world has become the kingdom of our Lord.” This is the moment of integration. We have come through the challenge, the growth period that has rid us of the obstacles that prevent us from accepting and cherishing the reality of God’s kingdom. We hear that God’s temple in heaven is opened and we are able to see the ark of the covenant. This ark holds the ten commandments: simple promises to embody love for our God and each other.

We live this process again and again in our lives in large and small ways. Let us rejoice for every time we have managed to hear the herald of the seventh trumpet, to know the freedom and relief of having worked our way through some challenge that has led us to become a better person.

And let us also have compassion for the ways in which we are still at the first trumpet, needing to begin once again. For even at the end, with the open temple and the ark, there remains lightning and earthquakes, a sign that there is always more we can pay attention to. This is the work of Lent that we return to every year, this is the path we are seeking to walk with intention and courage. May God guide our journeys, and we always support each other in them. Amen.

(1) Secrets of Heaven #57, Apocalypse Revealed #936
(2) Apocalypse Revealed #401
(3) Ibid #403
(4) Ibid #413
(5) Ibid #422


Readings:

Revelation 8:2, 6-13, 9:1-4, 13-16, 20, 11:15-19
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,
9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water--
11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”


9:1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.
3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.
4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.


13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God.
14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.


20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.


11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

Apocalypse Revealed #529

Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. (11:19) This symbolizes the New Heaven, in which the Lord is worshiped in His Divine humanity, and where people live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, which constitute the two essential elements of the New Church that are the means of conjunction.

Readings: Revelation 7:1-4, 9-17, Heaven & Hell 56 (see below)
See also on Youtube 
Photo by Chris Linnett on Unsplash


Today we continue our journey with the Book of Revelation, a vision of the spirit that explores themes of faithful witness, suffering, human failing, and God’s vision for humanity. This morning we are considering chapter seven and John’s description of a great multitude praising the Lamb, who represents the risen Jesus Christ. This chapter is a little island of calm in between the story of the seven seals and the angels with the seven trumpets, which we will look at next week. The sever seals showed us where negative human tendencies like domination, violence, and judgment lead, and the trumpets will tell us something similar. But in between, we have the great multitude in white robes, from every nation, tribe, people, and language. A beautiful vision of shared purpose and inclusion.

For those looking to the bible for an excuse to exclude and despise, to build walls, to separate to expel to shun, to uphold a sense of superiority, and to try to say that God wants any of that - this passage of the great multitude lifts up the exact opposite. 

White supremacy, xenophobia, racism, nationalism all are dismantled in this one short verse, which is a powerful depiction of humanity coming together around a common cause. In this vision, all in the multitude are praising the Lamb, but we don’t have to understand that to mean we all have to believe in Jesus, but rather that we can all be bonded by the kind of sacrificial love that the lamb exemplifies, a love that truly cares about each other.

We note that this vision is not about assimilation but the joy of diversity. The text doesn’t say a multitude who used to be from every nation, tribe, people and language, they are from every nation, tribe, people, and language. Diversity is maintained. We will hear this again when we finally get to the vision of the New Jerusalem at the end of the Book of Revelation. The end game isn’t tolerating each other, the end game isn’t some majority giving some minority permission to be there. The end game is cherishing each other, as we are, in all our inherent uniqueness.

Now, I’m as surprised as anyone that I’m about to mention sports in my sermon two weeks running, but we have to talk about the Super Bowl Half-time show from this past Sunday. Bad Bunny provided the performance, and he is an American artist from Puerto Rico who sings primarily in Spanish, and who recently won the Grammy award for best album. As you might imagine, those dedicated to white supremacy and white nationalism were outraged by the notion of a performer singing in Spanish at the half time show, so outraged that they mounted their own alternative programming. Yet, Bad Bunny provided a joyful and meaningful show that alllowed Latin American communities to feel genuinely seen, and asked powerful and important questions about the harmful legacy of colonialism, while still also making a heartfelt statement about togetherness, solidarity, and inclusion. It ended with the statement that the only thing more powerful than hate is love.

And while some continued to complain, I also saw an overwhelming number of people connect with joy to the deeper meaning of the performance, even if they couldn’t understand the words themselves. They found delight and connection in the specific depiction of someone else’s culture and someone else’s language, and they did not feel threatened but rather, curious. That is a choice. We recall a quote from Swedenborg: 

The essence of love is that what is ours should belong to someone else. Feeling the joy of someone else as joy within ourselves — that is loving.(1)

Feeling the joy of someone else as joy in ourselves, that is loving. When we can connect with the fullness of someone else’s joy, without feeling like we need to own it or control it, that is loving. When we can connect with the fullness of someone else’s joy, a joy we may not fully even understand, without defensiveness or fear, that is loving. The reality is, with everyone, there will be things that connect us and things that set us apart, and that is a good thing. This is the best of both worlds. For people viewing this half-time show, we can know that we are connected by the universal statement that the only thing more powerful than hate is love, while also getting to experience the full gift and blessing of human diversity.

And this is exactly how Swedenborg talks about heaven, as we heard in our reading today. He tells us that true heavenly unity is a function of diversity. Sameness may seem like a unity on the surface, but what is there actually to Unite together from sameness? There is no uniting in sameness. It is simply sameness. The joy, the goal, the purpose of unity is that it incorporates things that are different. Which of course, takes work, so much painstaking and steadfast work. And crucially, it demands the divestment of power and privilege. Unity does not occur when those with power deign to simply allow the existance or the presence of those who are different. Unity occurs when all those who are different to each other are made to fully belong in a spirit of shared curiosity, worthiness, and love. Swedenborg writes:

…the whole society in heaven becomes a unity, and that all the societies of heaven together become a unity, and this from the Lord alone by means of love.(2)

And where there is love, there is also delight, as also heard in our reading: variety gives delight. If we are unable to feel delight when we encounter the diversity within humanity, it is worth considering what we are feeling instead. Fear of being left out, defensiveness about our own worthiness, an addiction to feeling superior to others, a need to control everything around us. As we continue in this list, it begins to sound remarkably similar to the four horsemen of last week, who road forth to conquer, kill, and judge, and they don’t lead anywhere good. Being fearful is human indeed, but it is also an expression of our divinely given freedom to choose not to be.

We can see in Bad Bunny’s half-time show a modern depiction of the themes found in our text for today. A shared vision for the common good, and the joy that occurs when people come together in service to that. In principle, if not always in practice, the United States was a country founded in the shared principles of freedom, equality, and self-determination, welcoming those who shared that view, rather than only those who shared the same culture, linage, or religion. And as as country, we have failed to uphold those principles in full many many times, and there are ways that we still fail. But our continued failure, does not erase the power of the original intent as something to continue to strive for, that disparate people can be drawn together by a mutual commitment to human freedom, dignity, and thriving.

When the mulitude looks to the Lamb, they are looking to the ways that Jesus embodied these principles, living a life for others, being willing to sacrifice for others, guiding people to become the fullest version of themselves in whatever context they inhabit. This is a goal worth working and striving for, even as we fail, even as we become discouraged, because we know that is the best way to be human together.

As we look at the multitude praising the Lamb and waiving those palm branches, they probably didn’t speak each other’s language. They were connecting with each other because of a shared commitment to the Lamb’s values, again not a unanimity of faith, but unanimity of the principle of love. The only thing more powerful than hate is love. Whenever people unite under that banner, it is an re-enactment of the multitude in our text.  

The final verses in our text today provide a powerful vision of what unity and common purpose actually looks like. We have to “come out of the great tribulation” to get there, we have to surmount great difficulties both personally and universally, to get there. But we read:

Never again will they hunger, never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be there shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

This is what we are working towards, for everyone. These verses are often read at funerals, to help us rejoice that those who have passed on will finally feel the reality and the fullness of these words. But they are not only words for the afterlife; they are words for now. They are a call to action, a call to create a world that fulfills these words for all, and a call to dismantle any structures that prevent that fulfilment, including both in our hearts and in the world around us. 

The only thing more powerful than hate is love. Let us live this, my friends, with our whole hearts. Amen.

1. Emmanuel Swedenborg, Divine Love & Wisdom #47
2. Emmanuel Swedenborg, Heaven & Hell #405

Readings:

Revelation 7:1-4, 9-17

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:
3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.


9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’


Heaven and Hell #56
 …Every unity has its existence from diversity, for a unity that is not the result of diversity is not anything; it has no form and therefore no quality. When, on the other hand, a unity comes into existence from various parts, and these various parts are in a perfect form in which each attaches itself in series, like a congenial friend to another, then the quality is perfect. So heaven is a unity resulting from the arrangements of various parts in the most perfect form, for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That this is the origin of all perfection is evident from all the beauty, pleasantness and delight that affect the senses as well as the mind. For these exist and flow from no other source than the concert and harmony of many concordant and harmonious parts, either co-existing in order or following in order, and not from a unity apart from plurality. From this comes the saying that variety gives delight, and it is known that it is the nature of the variety which determines the delight.

Readings: Revelation 5:1-7, 6:1-17, 8:1-5, Secrets of Heaven #2959 (see below)
See also on Youtube
Photo by Niko Manuelides on Unsplash


Welcome to our continuing series on the Book of Revelation. We recall that what we find in this book, a recounting of a powerful spiritual experience, will not tell us about what is going to happen in human history. It is not the story of the end of the world. It is a vision that speaks symbolically about forces that we observe in each human heart, about forces that we can see play out around us in the patterns of human behavior. It is a mirror, reflecting to us our greatest flaws but also our deepest hopes.

Today we trace the story of the Seven Seals and are introduced to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Since we left John last week, the seven letters were written to the seven congregations. Then, John travels further into the spirit, and sees a vision of a beautiful throne in heaven, with someone sitting on it, and elders and creatures singing praises to the one on the throne. 

Then, we catch up with our text for today, as John notices a sealed scroll in the hand of the one on the throne, that no one could open. We feel the depth of John’s faith and longing as he weeps and weeps that no one was worthy to open it. 

And yet, he is consoled, for the Lamb who was slain can open the scroll. Already we have some potent symbols to guide of explorations. The image of a throne has traditionally represented power and judgment, and I think we also get some sense of God’s omnipotence and transcendance. There are times when the vastness of God can feel somewhat remote, like a scroll that we cannot open or read. Who was it then, who could open the scroll? It is the Lamb, representing Jesus Christ, the one who came to be human with us, who was slain and resurrected. Why is it significant that it is the Lamb who is able to open the scroll? Our humanness might wish to say: Surely it is power and force that gets us what we want, that will mediate the awesomeness of the throne? No, it is in fact, sacrifice, as exemplified in the life of Jesus. This is what opens our understanding of God, and our relationship to God. Jesus lived a life for others, did not grasp for power or dominion, saw those on the margins and had compassion for them, called out corruption and hypocrisy, put his very life on the line for all of humanity. This kind of courageous love is what can open the life of the spirit to us.

Then, as the seals are opened, things get even weirder. Perhaps you have heard the phrase the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? This is where they are from. As the first seal is opened, John sees a white horse with a crowned rider, like a conquerer. As the second seal is opened, John sees a red horse and a rider who has the power to make people kill each other. As the third seal is opened, John sees a black horse with a rider who carries scales for measuring. As the fourth seal is opened, John sees pale horse with a rider named Death. As the fifth seal is opened, John sees souls who had been slain due to their testimony about God. As the sixth seal is opened, John witnesses an enormous earthquake. Finally, as the seventh seal is opened there silence in heaven for about half an hour. 

What is this scroll with its seven seals communicating to us? It is telling us about different ways of being human, different basic impulses and experiences that are part of the human condition. Perhaps we can see them in the world around us, perhaps we can see them in ourselves. 

They feel familiar though, don’t they, in a sad and foreboding kind of way. The first horse wishes to conquer, the second to kill, the third to judge, and the fourth represents where all those impulses will ultimately lead us, to a kind of death, the extinguishing of our spiritual life. These are deep and disturbing images; disturbing because perhaps we do to want to really see what human beings are capable of.

Yet, haven’t we already seen the four horsemen throughout history? Haven’t marginalized and oppressed communities been telling us about them this whole time? Are we not seeing a form of them in our news today? A president threatening to conquer the countries of our allies, a federal force killing with impunity, taking peace from our cities, a justice department whose measures are entirely off; judging without integrity or honesty, the full weight of prosecution or detention for the powerless where there is little to no infraction, a shrug of the shoulders about far worse for the powerful. And where is this all taking us? We can feel it in the pit of our stomach. It is taking us towards the death of our democracy, the death of decency, dignity, and the rule of law, the death of compassion, rationality, and principle. 

And so, in the fifth and sixth seals we see an image of our own horror and disorientation at what humanity can do, our aversion to the idea that any of this can be what God wants. Swedenborg speaks of an earthquake signifying a change in state of being(1), and other times speaks of the concept of vastation or devastation(2) as we heard in our reading - that sometimes our understandings and perspectives need to be stripped away before we can truly learn what God needs us to learn. The challenge is to say stay grounded and faithful in the midst of that process of reorientation and growth.

Yet, we find in the text that the symbolic kings of the earth, princes, generals, and all who cling to earthliness, or as we would call it love of self and the world, love of wealth, power, reputation, domination, control, in large and small ways, they hide from what they call the “wrath” of the Lamb. But the Lamb has done nothing but open the scroll. The Lamb has done nothing but reveal to us, to humanity, where our worse impulses are going to take us. The kings of the earth want nothing to do with that insight, with that transparency. They would rather the rocks fall on them. Perhaps this also rhymes with what we see in our newsfeed today. Perhaps we can also track it in ourselves? Are there things that we cling to: ego, rightness, material things, nostalgia, shame, apathy, that we are loathe to give up? That feel like we cannot give up? The “wrath” of the Lamb is God’s intention to help us let go, to bring us into experiences that shake us up, that convince us of the effectiveness of the Lamb’s way, that bring us to the silence and peace and spaciousness of the seventh seal. 

Now, those who know Swedenborg will recognize, that while he espouses a similar interpretation of horses two through four, as I have mentioned here, he sees the first horse, the white horse, differently. His interpretation of Revelation is through a religious lens, with particular application to people’s practice of religion. He sees the horses as approaches to scripture; the red horse reading scripture without love, the black horse reading scripture without wisdom, and the pale horse the result of both deficits - that we won’t live a life that cares at all about God or other people, and that means our spiritual death. To him, the white horse represents engaging with scripture in the right way, seeking deep principles of love and wisdom, and actually applying them to our lives in a way that helps us to become free of selfishness and more loving towards others, to actually live the life of the Lamb.

There is space enough for all these interpretations, for they layer upon each other quite effectively, like a painting, providing more and more clarity and detail with each layer. For, the purpose of a vision such as Revelation is to engage us, to make us think, to make us feel, to make us ask questions of ourselves and each other, and so to connect us more deeply with divine realities.

I began by saying this vision in Revelation reflects our deepest flaws and our deepest hopes. We would be forgiven if we feel we are seeing more flaws and darkness than hope in the seven seals today. And there will be plenty more darkness in the chapters to come. So I want to take a moment to speak of the hope, and that I find it in the number seven. Bear with me friends. We will see the number seven cycle through again and again in this book. Seven angels, seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven heads on the great red dragon, and many more. 

Humanity has always held the number seven as a important and auspicious number, often symbolizing perfecton, completeness, or wholeness, and Swedenborg agrees with that meaning (3). God is dedicated to our wholeness. More than even our happiness or our goodness, God wants us to be able to experience the fullness of what it means to be God’s creation, to grow and bloom in wisdom, love, and heavenly connection. Which means engaging in the wholeness of the process that takes us there, the insights that guide us there, the earthquakes that move us there, and the sadness and longing that means our hearts are still open to the journey. Trust the process might have recently become a basketball term, but it is also happens to be a wise spiritual one. God, the First and the Last, is with us all the way, and this is pictured in the number seven everywhere in this book. God will give us everything God has, and everything we need, to become whole in God’s love and God’s presence. It won’t always look pretty, and it won’t always feel good, but it is God’s steadfast committment to the process, and to us, that gives me hope. Amen.

1. Emmanuel Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven #3355
2. Emmanuel Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven #2959
3. Emmanuel Swedenborg, Apocalypse Revealed #10

Readings:

Revelation 5:1-7, 6:1-17, 8:1-5

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”
3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.
4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep!  See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.


6:1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”
2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”
4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”
11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?


8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.
4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.
5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Secrets of Heaven #2959

The definition [of devastation] is twofold. One kind occurs when the church is completely destroyed-that is, when there is no longer any charity or faith. At that point it is said to be devastated, or laid waste. The other occurs when people in the church are reduced to a condition of ignorance and also of tribulation in order that the evils and falsities in them can be detached from them and seemingly dispelled. People who emerge from this kind of devastation are the ones who are specifically said to be redeemed, because they then learn about the good urged and the truth taught by faith, and the Lord reforms and regenerates them…

Readings: Revelation 1:1-20, Apocalypse Revealed #43 (see below)
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Photo by Arnau Soler on Unsplash


Today we begin a seven week series on the book of Revelation. This book has captured the imagination of bible readers like no other. It is evocative, scary, hopeful, and remarkably strange. And for this reason, is perhaps not preached on very often. But, it holds a very special place in our tradition, for the ways that it metaphorically describes a vision of God’s presence and the beautiful future that God wants for all of humanity. 

The book of Revelation is often described as an “apocalypse” which is a particular genre of writing. Contrary to how we might understand the word apocalypse today, as having something to do with “the end of the world,” an apocalypse was an ancient style of writing that was pretty common in the time of the Old and New Testaments. The literal meaning of the word is “an unveiling.” The purpose of the apocalypse genre was to take a deeper look at reality, to sweep aside the curtain of the everyday and see divine action and divine presence differently. And in this way, the function of the apocalypse is much like the parable, in that both aim to make us feel uncertain and uncomfortable enough to ask useful questions of ourselves and our world. The main difference, I believe, is that a parable engages us intellectually, while the apocalypse engages us emotionally and imaginatively.

One thing that is important to say though, is that the book of Revelation is not a prediction of the future, it is not a literal projection of things or events that are to come. Many have interpreted it that way, mining the text for a secret code that will tell us what is going to happen in the future. This however, is a pretty superficial way of engaging the text, and even can be harmful. When reading the symbols and themes of this book in this way there is a temptation to try to make sure we are on the “right” or “winning” team by grasping for power or manipulating events, there is a temptation to judge or condemn others, to stoke fear, or to dismiss the importance of the real world because we think we “know” how it is all going to end. It is vital to avoid falling into the trap of viewing the book this way. 

What the book of Revelation *is* though, is someone’s spiritual experience, and the writer of this experience calls himself John. The bible is actually full of people’s spiritual experiences which is part of what makes it such a powerful, inspiring, and interesting collection of documents. Human beings are spiritual creatures, and something important happens when we are able to share our spiritual experiences with each other, whether through scripture or otherwise - we recognize both what we share and what is beyond us all. We recognize that we are all part of this human condition, and that there is something divine that holds us. We recognize that we are all searching in some way, and that we can take the journey towards transformation together. In the book of Revelation, we are invited to engage the text in a way that moves us forward towards that transformation, towards the beautiful image of the New Jerusalem that is found at the very end.

So, let’s jump in to the text.

We start with a prologue that tells us what we are about to read. Firstly, we can find it somewhat understandable if people do take this to be a literal prediction of the future, with phrases such as “what must soon take place” “this prophecy” and “because the time is near.” Yet we recognize that “prophecy” in the biblical context has never been about predicting the future, but rather about telling the truth, and in particular, speaking truth to power.

This spiritual experience that we call the book of Revelation is trying to tell us something true about divine reality, something true about where human fallability can lead us, and about how God continues to work for our redemption and transformation even so. These truths are urgent ones; they provide insight into our spiritual journeys and insight into the human condition. Where do human beings go wrong? What happens when we do? Where is God in all of that? These are not questions that we can or should put off, no matter how comfortable our own circumstances might be. Thus, the language of the book of Revelation is urgent and pressing, because that’s what kind of questions these are.

Next we are treated to a doxology that was likely used in early Christian circles, with connection to earlier apocalypses in the bible, such as in the book of Daniel. The spiritual experience of this person known as John is colored by his own context, his own spiritual tradition and formation. 

John eventually receives a commission: to write a message to seven real historical early Christian churches of his day. And then, he finally sees who the message is from: the risen Jesus Christ, standing in the middle of seven golden lampstands. 

Swedenborg writes that these seven golden lampstands represent the enlightenment that comes from engaging with spirituality in a new way, a path he would call “the new church.” This invitation to be a part of a new and revitalized way of being church is issued to all of us, for the seven lampstands mirror the seven real churches that John was writing to, an image of their potential for connection with the divine, an image of the way God’s light and love can power our earthly expression of spirituality in this life. 

And these seven letters that will make up Chapter Two, each of them is both personal and prophetic. They are honest appraisals to real communities. They say: here is what you are doing well, and here is what you need to work on. For example, for the church of Ephesus, they are praised for their perseverance but advised to try to reconnect with what inspired them in the first place, and so forth.

More important than the specifics is the form. In order to access the enlightenment of God’s seven lampstands, more than anything we need to engage in honesty. We need to be able to recognize where we are off the mark, where we need to re-evaluate, where we need to step up, where we need to step back.

And boy, that is hard work, this staying accountable without defensiveness, without avoidance, without blame. But it is necessary work, and it is why Jesus Christ appears as he does in John’s vision with a sharp double-edged sword coming out of his mouth, and a voice like that of rushing water. Both are images of the power of truth: a sword to cut away harmful, false, self-serving perspectives, and rushing water to wash these perspectives away. We cannot transform if don’t know what needs to change. We cannot transform if we are not willing to be accountable. Without either of these things, our spiritual journey, our human journey, is in jeopardy. We see this in our country right now, with an administration completely unwilling to be reflective or accountable, so convinced of their rightness that they think the rule of law does not apply to them. They have deluded themselves into thinking that *they* somehow wield Jesus Christ’s double-edged sword on behalf of God, and they are drunk on the power of it. But it is a sword of their own making. God would never ever condone the cruelty of their actions.

The double-edged sword is not for others, it is only ever for ourselves, and only for the purpose of helping us become more free and more loving. It is an awesome and somewhat frightening sight, this God with a double-edged sword coming out of his mouth but we recognize it is because God tells us the truth. And because of this, perhaps we might want to play full possom in the face of reality today, to fall down as dead like John in the face of the enormity of the call of how to be people of faith in trying circumstances. I know I do. Many days I feel paralysed and stuck, not knowing how to make a difference, not knowing how to do good. Then the old patterns come up - endless equivocation about the “best” thing to do, being afraid of what people will think, or whatever variation our own roadblocks might be. The temptation to choose apathy in the face of the challenge of our moment is real. But, as awful as it might feel, the tension is actually our guide. Engaging the tension, engaging the questions the tension brings, will makes us braver and more accountable, and it is that process that will always tell us the truth. 

In this complex post-truth world, it is harder than ever to know that is true and real. But this question can guide us: does something make myself, or this community, this institution, this country, braver and more accountable? Or does it lead us into greater comfort, greater distraction, greater avoidance? Because it is only the former that will lead us into loving and caring for our neighbor and our world more effectively. 

But even as we encounter this double-edged sword, this voice of rushing water, what else do we see in the text today? An image of Jesus Christ with eyes like blazing fire and a face shining with brillance. An image of Jesus Christ picking us up off the floor and saying do not fear. Our Lord God Jesus Christ saying “I am the first and the last, I am the living one.” This is the center of our faith, an image of the divine love that is available to each of us, a brilliant unquenchable fire. Do not fear, says the Lord, engaging the tension is painful but I’ve got you, from start to finish. I’ve shown you that death is not the end, whether it is the death of your bodies, or the death of your egos, your ideologies, your perspectives, your excuses. I am the living one, and I will show you how to live, if you will let me. 

This is the beginning, and the book of Revelation is a wild ride. I’m so glad you are taking it with me. There are not many books of the bible that make me cry, but this one does over and over again because of the way it gets right to the heart of things, right to our deepest fears and our deepest hopes. As we walk through the chapters to come, we will likely see much that resonates with our times, much that tells us the truth about how human beings have always been. And, we will also see a divine love that accompanies our challenges, that is guiding us, that is imploring us forward into the New Jerusalem that awaits, if only we are willing to partner with God in building it. Let’s walk together, my friends. Amen.



Readings:

Revelation 1:1-20
Prologue
1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Greetings and Doxology
4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,
5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

John’s Vision of Christ
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.
10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.
15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Apocalypse Revealed #43

And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands. This symbolizes a new church, which will have an enlightenment from the Lord from the Word.
The seven lampstands mean a new church because the Lord is in it and in the midst of it…The lampstands appeared golden, because gold symbolizes goodness, and every church is a church by virtue of the goodness that is formed through truths.