The Opening of the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12-17)

Sermon on the Opening of the Sixth Seal

Preached at St Andrew's, Redbourne

31st July 2022

Photo by J.Guffogg & J.Hannan (flickr.com)

Matthew 24:29-39

[Jesus said]

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,

    and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from the sky,

    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ [Isaiah 13:10; 34:4]

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

Revelation 6:12-17

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?”

Sermon

Are you sitting comfortably? Well you might not be at the end of this sermon!  But before we get into the subjects of hell-fire and damnation depicted in our window and the passage it's based, I want to highlight the Gospel reading we had from Matthew 24.  This is Jesus teaching about his second coming.  And the reason I wanted to have this as our first reading is because when the subjects of judgement and hell come up, an objection is often raised that these subjects aren't very Jesus-like: the argument goes that Jesus' major teaching is about love and that a God of love cannot be a God of judgement.

Our passage from Matthew 24 reminds us that Jesus was just as happy teaching about judgement as he was about love, and reading through the rest of the gospels it is arguable that he taught more often about judgement than he did about love.  And it is precisely because he is a God of love that he is also a God of judgement: it is because he loves his creation so much that he cannot bear anything that mars and disfigures it, and that he must punish whatever does.  And top of that list for judgement is humanity, through whom sin has come into the world and spoiled God's perfect creation.  But I'm getting ahead of myself; the important thing to remember for now is that the teaching in Revelation 6 is perfectly consistent with Jesus' own teaching, which in turn is consistent with the teaching in the Old Testament.

So let's now turn to think about our window.

The title is “The Opening of the Sixth Seal” which we can also deduce from the image at the bottom of the window of a lamb with a flag [Fig. 1].  There are seven ribbons hanging down beneath the lamb, the first five have nothing at the end, the seventh has a seal with a cross on it, and the sixth has a broken seal.  But before we can understand what's happening in the window, we need to think about what's happening in the book of Revelation up to this point.

 Figure 1: Photo by Steven Graham (www.in-glass.uk) from Facebook

John, the writer of the book, is having a vision from Jesus in which he is being shown “what is now and what will take place later” (Revelation 1:19).  As part of this he sees the throne room of heaven, which is recorded in Revelation 5.  On the throne he sees God who is holding a scroll with seven seals on it.  This scroll contains God's instructions and judgments and opening it would signal that these instructions are to be carried out.  The seven seals are for each of the seven instructions, with the number seven (like elsewhere in Revelation) symbolising perfection and completeness.  So we need to imagine a scroll with something like wax seals keeping it closed.

And here is where we need to be a bit careful about our language, because this reminds me of my favourite story of theological illiteracy.  You may remember the David Koresh cult in the early 1990s; one of my professors had an academic interest in end-of-the-world cults and spoke to former members for research.  He told the story that in 1993 the FBI laid siege to the Branch Davidians' headquarters at the Mount Carmel Centre in Waco, Texas.  As part of the negotiations during this siege, Koresh told the FBI that they had to stay there until the seven seals were opened, referring of course to Revelation.  However, on hearing this the FBI called in the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, because they thought that some seals were going to be slaughtered!

So just to be clear, today we are talking about wax seals not sea creatures!

But back to Revelation.  God is holding out the scroll with seven wax seals on it and John weeps because there is no-one worthy to open the seals, meaning there is no-one worthy to pass judgment.  Then one of the elders says “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” (Revelation 5:5).  So John looks up and sees a Lamb, who had been slain and he takes the scroll, resulting in the song of praise which we said in our opening canticle.

Revelation 6 describes the opening of each of the seals, ending the chapter with our second reading, and our theme: the opening of the sixth seal.  It starts with a dramatic description of the literally earth-shattering events so vividly depicted in the window: the blood-red moon and shattered rocks [Fig. 2];

Figure 2: Photo by Steven Graham (www.in-glass.uk) from Facebook

the darkness with the skies receding, revealing the light of God's presence [Fig. 3]. 

Figure 3: Photo by Steven Graham (www.in-glass.uk) from Facebook

And most dramatically, the reactions of the people, mostly knocked down or cowering. We see a king fallen, with his crown and sceptre rolling away, and a general, upside down with his sword out of reach, and treasures spilled on the floor [Fig. 4].

Figure 4: Photo by J.Guffogg & J.Hannan (flickr.com)

 

So what's going on?  We know from Jesus' words, from the Old Testament passages he's alluding to and from what's happening in the vision that this is a description of judgment, and that the day of judgment will be a day of mourning.  This is because on the Day of Judgement, as God says in Ezekiel “I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices” (Ezekiel 7:3).  That is why the people in Revelation 6 cry out for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from God and his judgment, because as it says in Psalm 130:3 “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”  When we are faced with the holiness of God, we realise our own sinfulness and our inability to live a good life compared with God's standard of goodness.  We realise that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that it doesn't matter if we're rich or poor, powerful or weak, kings or generals, none of our talents or achievements can make up for our sins.

When we realise our sins we also realise the consequences of our sins.  As Jesus said in the parable of the net: “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:47-50).  And we see this at the bottom right of the window, [Fig. 5] where those who have been judged are falling into the blazing furnace and barely recognisable as human.

 Figure 5: Photo by Steven Graham (www.in-glass.uk) from Facebook

So the question that faces us as we look upon this graphic description and portrayal of the Day of Judgement is the one the people in Revelation 6 and the Psalmist ask: in the face of God's all-knowing judgement, who can stand?

If we turn back to the window there is one figure standing [Fig. 6] almost in the centre of the picture: and he has broken chains hanging from his wrists.

 Figure 6: Photo by Steven Graham (www.in-glass.uk) from Facebook

He probably represents those whose chains of judgment have been broken, i.e. those who have been judged and have been forgiven.  This possibility of redemption could also be suggested by the zig-zag of light in the top right [Fig. 7] which might be lightning splitting the rocks or it could be a path back to the light of the presence of God.

 Figure 7: Photo by Steven Graham (www.in-glass.uk) from Facebook

So how can the chains of judgement be broken; how can we be forgiven; how can we stand in the face of God's judgment?

For the answer to that question we need to turn to Revelation 7, which is still part of the opening of the sixth seal.  In this chapter we hear about more seals (and again not of the sea variety!), and this time they are not sealing up scrolls, but are more like a stamp of ownership and they are on the heads of the servants of God (Revelation 7:3).  John is told that there are 144,000 of them which is symbolic of 12 times 12,000 representing the combining of the Old Covenant (the twelve tribes of Israel) and New Covenant (the Church represented by the twelve apostles).  The whole people of God.  But just as John was told about the Lion of Judah being able to open the scroll and when he looked he saw a Lamb, so he is told about 144,000 people and when he looks he sees “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” (Revelation 7:9).  We are told that “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

So the whiteness of their robes is not because they lived lives of total holiness and purity, because as we've just heard, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  But instead their robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  What does this mean?  Well, the background is the story of the Passover in Exodus 12.  God warned that he was going to send a final plague on Egypt, the death of the first-born, but that if the Israelites put the blood of a spotless lamb on their door-posts, the angel of judgment would pass over those houses.  Fast-forward to the New Testament, where Jesus is called the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) and whose death is seen as the sacrifice necessary for the punishment of sin.  And in Revelation 1:5 Jesus is described as the one who “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”  Therefore, those who connect themselves with Jesus' death are 'passed over' on the day of judgment.

How does this happen? On the day of Pentecost Peter quoted the prophet Joel talking about the day of judgement in language reflected in Revelation 6, and said that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21; Joel 2:32).  And calling on the name of the Lord meant repenting of sins and asking him for the forgiveness that is possible because he has died in our place.

The people facing the opening of the scroll of judgement ask: who can stand?  The answer is those whose sins have been forgiven by their repentance and trust in Jesus' atoning death.

We don't often talk about judgement.  Partly for the correct reason that we should not be pointing out other people's sins.  Jesus tells us “Do not judge, or you too will be judged...Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1,3).  But mainly because we don't like the idea that one day we will be judged, and we will be found guilty and deserving of eternal punishment.  We can and should warn people of the actions that God himself has told us are sinful, but we should do that in the knowledge that we too are sinful, and just as guilty as they are.

So what do we do when we look on an image such as this window, which depicts very clearly the consequences of the coming judgement?  Do we admire its artistry but dismiss its subject as being a relic of mediæval theology, designed to scare people into submission to church authorities?  Do we celebrate our more enlightened thinking and carry on living for the present with no thought for the future?  Do we hide behind our wealth, our intelligence, our achievements, our popularity, our good works and hope that God won't notice our sins?

Or do we listen to Jesus, who when describing his coming to judge the living and the dead said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35)?  He is the firm and steady Rock on whom we can build our lives; he is the Rock in which we can hide so that judgment will pass over us.

Jesus will come again and will judge the living and the dead, and as no-one knows the day or time it may even be today!  If the thought of facing the judgement throne of God today makes you uncomfortable in your seat, then good!  Come to Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, the Rock who was broken; repent and ask him to break the chains of judgment caused by your sin and wash you clean.

Harvest: a created illustration

OIKOS is a fantastic ecumenical initiative in Brigg, that run a Christian shop, a Food Bank, a Community Pantry and more!  I was asked to write some short 'thoughts to start your week' for October 2023 for their Facebook page. This is an expanded version of the thought for 8th October.

 

As you read through the Gospels you may notice how many times Jesus uses images from the natural world or agriculture: parables set in fields and vineyards; lilies and sparrows to teach us about God's provision for us; trees to warn us of coming judgement; and famously he calls himself the Good Shepherd. In some ways this is no surprise; Jesus lived and taught in an agricultural society so like any good teacher he would have used illustrations that his audience were familiar with, and you can imagine him standing in the countryside pointing to what's around him as he talks.

But perhaps there's more to it than that. This possibility arises when we consider that the Jesus who tells these stories and uses theses illustrations is the same Jesus who made that creation in the first place! This then raises the possibility that he designed and created them in order that he could then use them to teach us something when he came to earth. Therefore creation itself becomes a way in which God communicates to us.

We see this in Psalm 19:1 when Psalmist exclaims “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” And Paul also teaches us that “what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20). So the natural world isn't just a convenient illustration, but it is designed to be an illustration.

So what then might harvest teach us? We take for granted that harvest is part of the natural agricultural cycle of preparation, planting, tending and harvesting, but it is not a necessity that nature works in this way. God could have created a world where all foods were available all year round but instead he created one that involves this cycle. And perhaps he did that so that we have a part to play in the process - as the great harvest hymn reminds us: “We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.” In co-operating with God in the tending and production of food we exercise the likeness of God in which we were made. We are co-creators with him – not, of course, in the original creation but in the ongoing creation.

Harvest itself, as Jesus highlighted, primarily teaches us about a time of judgment (for example Matthew 13). The crop is gathered in and the wheat is sorted from the chaff, the good and the bad are separated with the good going to the owner's barn and the bad being destroyed. Jesus says that on the Day of Judgement the 'good' will be the people of the kingdom who have heard his word and obey it, who repent and turn to him as their Saviour and Lord.

Image contributed by Good News Productions Int. to www.freebibleimages.org

Black Friday or White Christmas?

My article for the December and January magazines:

Christmas is a time for traditions: the food, the music, the decorations (and complaining about how early they go up!), the parties, the church services and of course it wouldn't be Christmas without the cries of “It's all too commercialised!” We may lament that children are no longer content with Christmas presents consisting of shed-built wooden toys, an apple, an orange and some nuts, but I suspect that none of us would actually want it to be like that again. However it is true that in all the focus on the extravagance of presents or celebrations, the true reason for Christmas gets lost.

Nothing exemplifies this more than 'Black Friday'. Originally a term to describe the crowds of U.S. citizens starting their Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, it became an opportunity for retailers to offer big sales. This trend has recently (at least pre-pandemic) become more popular outside the U.S.A. and has been adopted by many retailers in this country. It's not just the consumerism of Black Friday that is a problem, but also the behaviour that it stirs up – there are often stories about injuries and even deaths caused by crowding and fighting over hugely discounted and desirable products. Fighting and injuries are also a feature of the other UK Black Friday – the nickname used by the emergency services for the Friday before Christmas due to its popularity as a night for Christmas parties. So, whether it's about presents or partying, for many people Christmas is defined by Black Friday.

Although Black Friday, in either use, is almost the opposite of the meaning of Christmas as a time of altruism and peace, it does show us why Christmas was necessary. Black Friday reminds us how as humans we can easily take something good, for example giving presents and celebrating with family and friends, and turn it into something bad. This is what the Christian faith calls 'Original Sin' – the innate tendency of humans to choose selfishness and our own interests over the interests of others, and to reject God's authority over us. Black Friday shows that Christmas is necessary because Christmas is defined not by Black Friday but by Good Friday.

The consequence of Original Sin is that we are unable, and ultimately unwilling, to do anything about our sinfulness and so we need a Saviour. This Saviour had to be human so that he could identify with us, suffer in our place and sympathize with us in our weakness. But he also had to be divine to pay off the infinite wrath of God incurred by our sin. In Psalm 51 King David acknowledged his sinfulness and asked God for forgiveness saying “wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (verse 7). Christmas is the day we remember that Jesus was fully human and fully divine, being born so that he could die in order to pay the punishment for our sins on Good Friday and then rise from the dead at Easter to give us a new start.

So is your Christmas defined by Black Friday or Good Friday? Is it all about materialism, excess and self-centredness or is it about an awareness of your sin, and the celebration of the birth of your Saviour who will wash you whiter than snow?

Advent Reflections 2020: Isaiah's Titles for Jesus - 3: Everlasting Father

For our Advent reflections this year we're going to look at the titles Jesus is given in Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

The previous two titles Isaiah gives to Jesus are fairly straightforward, but today's makes us stop and think. I suspect when we hear the verse in the midst of a fuller reading we mentally skip this title and think about the other three, and that is because we've just called Jesus the 'Everlasting Father'. We looked last week about Jesus as 'Mighty God' and how that reminds us that not only is Jesus divine but there is a plurality within the Godhead. We find it hard enough to get our heads around the doctrine of God as Trinity; Three-in-One and one-in-Three, but now we seem to be saying that God the Son is also the 'Everlasting Father'!

This title is used to emphasise two aspects of the Messiah: firstly that he is everlasting – that he has no beginning or end. His everlasting or eternal nature is also brought out in the surrounding verses that speak of there being no end to his reign. This is yet another indication of Jesus' divinity.

Secondly, the title tells us that his character is father-like. His government will not rule by fear and oppression but will be characterised by peace, justice and righteousness (verse 7). Isaiah 40:11 says “He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Jesus picks up on this language when he refers to himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10) and refers to his disciples as his 'children' (John 13:33). Jesus will be father-like because he is a compassionate provider and protector.

To call Jesus 'Everlasting Father' is not to confuse him with God the Father, but to remind us that he is one with the Father (John 10:30, 38) and he is the perfect image of God the Father, the exact representation of his being (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3) If we want to know what God is like we look at Jesus (John 14:9-10).

But Jesus is also a Father in a special way in that he is the author and pioneer of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10-13 and 12:2). As Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary on Isaiah 9:6 “[Jesus] was, from eternity, the Father of the great work of Redemption: his heart was upon it; it was the product of his wisdom, as the Counsellor; of his love, as the everlasting Father”.

Why?

Here's my article for the April magazines:

Once when I was talking about the crucifixion to some Key Stage 1 children one child asked “Did that really happen?” I said yes and then the child looked at a picture of Jesus on the cross with blood all over his body, and said “It must have really hurt.”

That child suddenly understood the reality of what happened to Jesus on the cross: a real human, with flesh and blood like us suffered an agonising death. We tend to sanitise the events of Good Friday; even though our churches are full of crosses most of them are smooth, and a lot of them are shiny – and few of them show the dying Jesus hanging on them. This latter point reminds us, of course, that Jesus didn't stay dead but rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, however it seems to me that all too often we rush past Jesus' death to get to his resurrection.

And even when Jesus is depicted on the cross we don't see the suffering: he is often already dead and looking peaceful; the blood is minimal and his nakedness is covered. But does all this matter? Crucifixion is a cruel and, literally, excruciating death but that doesn't mean we need to show it in all its harrowing reality. But what we do need to do is to remember that it was an horrific event, not just to witness but for Jesus himself. Because if we don't comprehend the appalling nature of Jesus' death, if we think of it as just something Jesus did as easily as eating and sleeping, then we might never ask the question 'why?'

“Why did Jesus willingly and intentionally go through such an agonising death?” is perhaps one of the most important questions we can ever ask. In the face of it a lot of our misconceptions about Jesus are shattered. If he was just a wise teacher, his death stopped him being able to teach more people in more places. If he was a revolutionary, he gave up without a fight. He didn't die to take someone's place in a hostage type situation, nor as a martyr for a philosophical, moral or religious principle. Humanly-speaking Jesus' death was pointless and unnecessary.

So why did Jesus willingly and intentionally go through such an agonising death? It can only be because it achieved his mission. Jesus said that he came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 - 'the lost' being sinners [Luke 15]), and that he would “give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 700 years beforehand, Isaiah had written about Jesus' death: “he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed! We—every one of us—have strayed away like sheep! We, who left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us!” (Isaiah 53:4-6 The Living Bible). No wonder we want to ignore the reality of the crucifixion – the agony Jesus suffered is a result of our sin, but amazingly it is also our salvation.

Image: Theyre Lee-Elliott "Crucified tree form - the agony".

 Image Copyright © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/reflecting-on-faith/the-methodist-modern-art-collection/

While mortals sleep: angels and us

Our Advent Evening Prayers have been looking at different features in the Christmas story, and our news sheets have had a more in-depth look at another feature: angels. For this final week we're looking at angels and us.

We started these reflections on angels by noting that angels are a common feature of some popular forms of non-religious spirituality, and that many people who don't believe in a God that relates to people on a personal level do believe in angels. In these cases, angels fulfil that need for spiritual beings that intervene in the world. And so there are many books and websites that will tell you how to contact your own personal angel and get them to do what you want them to do. At this point the line between angels and fairy godmothers gets a bit blurred!

These beliefs have developed out of the description of angels found in the Bible, but have been misinterpreted and misapplied in a way that is dangerous. As we looked at in the first week, the main rôle of angels is to be messengers from God, and so they do communicate with humans, but importantly they are sent by God and cannot be summoned by humans. Because they are sent by God, the message they bring cannot contradict what God has spoken to us in the words of the Bible. There can be no new information or revelation because Jesus is the full and final revelation from God and the testimony to him in the New Testament is complete. Therefore, if an angel says anything that goes against the Bible or adds to it, we can be sure that they are a servant of Satan masquerading as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

A common representation of angels in popular culture is of Guardian Angels. One website claims “Angels, especially guardian angels, are always buzzing around, looking for ways to make your earthly journey more interesting, dynamic and satisfying...Tell guardian angels exactly what you want assistance with: romance, finances, health, career. Then watch for their messages!” It also encourages people to 'bond' with their guardian angels by doing angel-related activities and collecting angel-themed objects. The Bible gives hints about this category of angels, but it doesn't say very much about what they do. When talking about the 'little ones' (believers) Jesus mentions "their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:10). And Hebrews 1:14 describes angels as “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” Some take these verses to indicate that each believer has an angel in heaven assigned to them. Even if that interpretation is correct, though, the verses tell us nothing about what these angels do. It certainly doesn’t confirm the speculation that they follow us around to protect us, and they do not indicate that non-Christians benefit from their ministry. Their are certainly examples of angels being sent to protect believers (for example Daniel in the lion's den, Daniel 6:22), but this doesn't mean that every believer has an assigned angel or angels to protect them. The only thing we can say for certain is that God can use angels as part of his protection and care for Christians, but he doesn't do this because he is unable to do these things himself. It is he who knows every hair on our head (Matthew 10:30) and if God is for us, nothing can be against us (Romans 8:31).  Angels are merely one way God exercises his power and care.

So how should we, as followers of Jesus, relate to angels?  Firstly we should recognise that angels and humans are two distinct types of being.  This means that we don't become angels when we die (see this blogpost) because, as we saw in the first of these reflections, although humans are created a little lower in status than the angels, through faith in Jesus we can inherit the higher status of children of God and rule over the angels.  To think of our dead relatives as angels may seem comforting, but it is a false comfort that ignores the reality of a choice that faces each and every one of us: accept Jesus and inherit eternal life, or reject him and face eternal separation from him.

Most importantly, though, we should give God thanks and praise for sending angels to bring us the message of salvation through Jesus, and to direct our worship towards him. We should also thank God for their rôle in assisting us, in ways we may never know until the end of time, in the spiritual warfare that is going on all around us.  We should never pray to them as praying to anyone except God is idolatry; just as angels reject our worship (Revelation 22:8-9), so they would also reject our prayers. Besides which, why would we want to pray to a lesser being when because of Jesus' death, we have access to God and Jesus himself prays for us (Hebrews 10:19-22, and 7:25)?

The existence of angels opens our eyes to the spiritual dimension of life and they model absolute, holy submission to God, unquestioning obedience, and faithful worship. But perhaps their greatest rôle is to remind us what makes us different to them: we have been offered salvation. Angels will only ever be servants of God: humans are offered this: “to all who did receive [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Will you receive Jesus this Christmastime?

The Cross: stupid or stupendous?

Here's my article for the April magazines:

The Stations of the Cross is an meditation on Jesus' journey from his trial to his burial, and some of the events involve him meeting various people including the women of Jerusalem, Simon of Cyrene and his mother, Mary. A production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Liverpool Empire that I saw many years ago, started with that journey and on the way Jesus met Judas, with a television news crew. Judas sang to Jesus “Why d'you choose such a backward time in such a strange land? / If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation. / Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.” The irony, intentional or not, being that even though he chose “such a backward time” he's still being worshipped and followed today.

Judas also expresses some common questions about Jesus' death: “Every time I look at you I don't understand / Why you let the things you did get so out of hand. / … Did you mean to die like that? Was that a mistake?” The answer to that question is found in Matthew 16:21, which records that “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

But knowing that Jesus willingly went to his death without a fight and without going down in a 'blaze of glory' just raises more questions – it seems to be a foolish and weak way to die. Paul tells us “This so-called “foolish” plan of God is far wiser than the wisest plan of the wisest man, and God in his weakness—Christ dying on the cross—is far stronger than any man” (1 Corinthians 1:25 The Living Bible). However, this can only be seen if you understand why Jesus died.

The wisdom of the world is that if you're good enough you will go to heaven, and that Jesus came to teach us to be better. If this is true, then his death was foolish and weak as it achieved nothing except depriving the world of more years of his teaching and example. However the problem is not that we're not good enough for heaven but that we can never be good enough for heaven. Isaiah spoke about Jesus, about 700 years before he was born saying “We—every one of us—have strayed away like sheep! We, who left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us!” (Isaiah 53:6 The Living Bible). Jesus took the punishment that we deserve for our sins and in doing so defeated death itself. His death may look foolish and weak, but he knew it was the only solution to our estrangement from God.

The cross silences all of our human pretensions. If we think we are clever enough or good enough for God the cross will seem to be weak and foolish. However when we recognise we can never save ourselves by our own efforts, the cross becomes powerful and wise, for through it God rescues the people he loves.

P.S. Details of this year's Stations of the Cross service can be found here: https://en-gb.facebook.com/events/407736576626486/

Picture credits:
Top image by congerdesign from pixabay.com
Explanation of pictures: “We all saw what Jesus did both in Israel and in the city of Jerusalem.  Jesus was put to death on a cross. But three days later, God raised him to life and let him be seen. Not everyone saw him. He was seen only by us, who ate and drank with him after he was raised from death.” (Acts 10:39-41)
Bottom image by Ben Steed from heartlight.org

Christmas songs: Merry Xmas everybody

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade.

No Christmas playlist is complete without this song, so it had to be included in these reflections, and as Noddy says



Before we look at the song itself, there should perhaps be a comment on the use of the word 'Xmas' in the title.  The use of 'Xmas' is sometimes decried as a secular way of taking 'Christ' out of 'Christmas', however its use (or versions of it) go back almost as far as the English language itself.  'X' is a common abbreviation for Christ, and comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christos and is usually rendered as the English letter “X”.  There is no doubt that there is a worrying increase in the amount of people who don't know that Christmas is to do with the birth of Jesus, but using 'Xmas' is not necessarily part of a campaign to secularise the festivities!

Holder wrote the lyrics to reflect a British family Christmas, but also to bring hope to a country that was suffering economically.  Looking forward to the arrival of Santa (if the fairies have managed to keep him sober!) or the arrival of family, and all the fun to be had excites in us the optimism of “Look to the future now, it's only just begun”.  No wonder people also love to sing “I wish it could be Christmas everyday” (which incidentally was beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 by Slade). Celebration and hope are two of the emotions often associated with Christmas and for good reason.

The beginning of Luke's gospel, in which the four songs of the first Christmas are found, is full of celebration and hope.  John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, says “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them...[and will] shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”  Children often find it hard to wait for Christmas, but the Jewish people had been waiting for Jesus for about 1000 years, since God's promise to King David of the everlasting reign of one of his descendants (2 Samuel 7), and for around 430 years since the last of the Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming of the Lord (Malachi 3-4). So Jesus' birth was the cause of great celebration as the longing for the coming Messiah was now at an end, which meant it was now the beginning of a better future.

Just as Slade looked for salvation from poor economic circumstances, the people of Israel looked for salvation from their political enemies, which at the time of Jesus' birth were their Roman occupiers.  But Jesus would bring salvation from the root cause of poverty, war and all humanity's ills – the darkness of sin and the shadow of death: he would “give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77).

However you're celebrating this Christmas, whatever hopes you have for the future, don't miss out on the chance to join in the real cause for celebration and the only hope that will not be disappointed.  As the angel said to the shepherds “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).  If you do you will have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Christmas Songs: 'I believe in Father Christmas'

A couple of years ago during Advent we had a series on the four songs of the first Christmas.  This year we're going to look at four popular Christmas songs.  This week it's “I believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake.

This is an odd song to be a Christmas favourite because is really an anti-Christmas song.  The singer recalls he was told the dream of Christmas and then remembers his disappointment and disillusionment when he finds that Christmas is not what he was promised.  And perhaps this is why this song is so popular, because it mirrors our own experiences of Christmas.  Everywhere we look we seem images of the perfect Christmas: perfectly white snow, perfectly cooked food, perfectly behaved family, perfectly chosen presents, but the reality is usually not quite so perfect!  The post-Christmas blues are not just caused by exhaustion and over-indulgence, but also by a sense of sadness that yet again Christmas didn't live up to the dream we'd been sold.

The song ends on a very chilling note: “the Christmas we get we deserve”.  In some ways this is obvious; if we want the world to be a better place we have to try our hardest to make it better.  But it also taps into a modern idea of 'karma', i.e. that if you do something bad then something bad will happen to you.  We sometimes see on social media a sort of glee as people look forward to karma getting revenge on someone who's harmed them.  But we know this isn't the way the world works.  We know that bad things happen to 'good' people and that good things happen to 'bad' people.  One biblical writer puts it this way: “it made me jealous to see proud and evil people and to watch them prosper...all goes well for them, and they live in peace. What good did it do me to keep my thoughts pure and refuse to do wrong? I am sick all day, and I am punished each morning” (Psalm 73:3,12-14 CEV).

Ironically, the modern concept of karma neither reflects reality nor does it correspond to the traditional understanding of karma.  In Hindu philosophy all karma is bad, it is like a debt that we all have.  Life is about doing good things to work off that debt and if we have worked off more karma than we accrue, when we die we are reincarnated as a better form of life. (Conversely if we increase our karma by doing bad we are reincarnated as a lower form of life).  The aim is to work off all our karma until we reach a state of nirvana, or non-existence.

It is the 'Israelite' of Lake's song that instead of being a fairy story is actually the answer to this problem, but first we need to recognise that actually all of us are 'bad' people.  Jesus said “No-one is good, except God alone” (Mark 10:18).  The Bible agrees that our badness or sin is like a debt, but it acknowledges that we cannot pay this debt off ourselves because we will always sin.  It also tells us that “We die only once, and then we are judged.  So Christ died only once to take away the sins of many people. But when he comes again, it will not be to take away sin. He will come to save everyone who is waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:27-28 CEV).  Sin and evil will be judged and punished when Jesus comes again, but those who ask God to forgive their sins and then seek to live his way will be saved.

And what is the biblical picture of salvation? “On this mountain the Lord All-Powerful will prepare for all nations a feast of the finest foods. Choice wines and the best meats will be served” (Isaiah 25:6 CEV).  “God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever” (Revelation 21:3-4 CEV).  Sounds like the perfect Christmas to me!

The hills are alive with the sound of praising

Here's my article for Broughton's July magazine:


It's one of the greatest cinematic opening sequences. The camera swoops down over the mountains and zooms in on a woman running across a meadow; the orchestra swells and as we focus in on her she begins to sing “The hills are alive with the sound of music”. I don't know if the beginning of Broughton Primary School's production of the Sound of Music will be quite as dramatic but I'm sure that the whole of the show will be brilliant as usual.

That uplifting opening song uses the image of the natural world being alive with the sound of music and of humanity joining in with that music. But this isn't just a poetic image of how the noises in the world could be heard as musical, rather it is actually a description, perhaps unknowingly, of a deep biblical truth. Isaiah 49:13 says “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!”, and 1 Chronicles 16:32-33 says “Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord”. Many other places in the Bible talk of creation singing and making music and the book of Psalms, Israel's hymn book, ends with this verse “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:6).

The Bible affirms that all creation has this musical quality, but unlike the song in the musical, this is not just a way of describing a joyous 'life force' that connects every part of the natural world. The musicality of creation, including humanity, has a purpose, and that purpose is to praise God. Revelation 4, echoing Isaiah 6, describes some of what goes on in heaven speaking about the angels constantly saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” (Traditionally the speech of angels is said to be the same as human song). So the constant music of creation joins in with the constant song of heaven to praise God.

We praise God for who he is, but we also praise him for what he does. 1 Chronicles 16 gives two of God's wonderful acts that particularly deserve praise. Verse 23 says “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day” and in verse 33 creation sings because he comes to judge the earth. So creation praises God because of his judgement and his salvation.

It may seem odd to praise God for his judgement, but deep down it's what we all crave. We see a world where to much is wrong and we long for it to be put right; we see evil seemingly unpunished in this word and long for there to be justice. However, the problem is that justice demands that all wrongdoing is punished. Jesus commands us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) but Romans 3:23 reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Psalm 130:3 asks “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” Only what is holy can enter the presence of the Holy God and we are all far from holy.

Therefore, we also rejoice in God's salvation. Romans 3 goes on to say “all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.” Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve so that through repentance and faith in him we can be forgiven. And as we turn to the Lord “the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12).

Luther, The Reformation and the rejection of superstition

Here's my magazine article for October:

On 31st October 1517, a German monk called Martin Luther nailed a piece of paper to a church door in Wittenburg. So began what has come to be called The Reformation. Luther's petition, although initially against dubious methods of fundraising by the Church, grew into a much wider protest against the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, which lead to the formation of the 'Protestant' churches, including the Church of England. For most people the 500th anniversary of this event will pass unnoticed and unmarked, unlike the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana or the 100th anniversary of Passchendaele. Yet the Reformation had a profound effect not just on the religious beliefs of millions of people but also on the the way the world is today.

It has been argued that without the Reformation, the technological and scientific advances of the Enlightenment would not have occurred. Ironically for some atheists the Reformation's rejection of some of the superstitious religious practices of the Mediaeval world has enabled the modern world to rejection all religion as superstitious. This is often the way that the relationship between religion and science is framed: superstitious religion vs rational science. The truth however is more complicated. Many aspects of Christianity in particular can be verified, and conversely some scientific theory is based more on ideology than fact. But also religion and science are actually on the same side when it comes to superstition.

The philosopher Roger Scruton has recently spoken about religion and science in contrast with the magical worldview of the Harry Potter books. Superstition and magic, Scrutton says, are rooted in the belief that we can control the universe, whereas religion and science acknowledge that we can't. A magical outlook arrogantly asserts that anything is possible if you know the right spell, whereas religion and science humbly admit that there are gaps in our knowledge and abilities. Scrutton argues that although this magical view is alright in fiction, it is a problem when it also becomes the outlook in real life. From a Christian perspective, the magical worldview is not only contrary to reality but also spiritually harmful.

31^st October is associated more these days with Halloween than Martin Luther, and I have written in previous years about the dangers of celebrating Halloween (here and here). Not only does it open people up to attack from malevolent spiritual forces but in normalising witchcraft and magic it perpetuates this magical outlook on life. In a world of magic, Scrutton explains, there is no need for God because we are god: we can control everything. Genesis 3 tells us that Satan tempted Adam and Eve not just to disobey God but to want to be God; that was the original sin and is the defect in all humanity.

Magic promotes the idea that evil can be overcome simply by knowing the right spell. Christianity teaches that evil can only be defeated by God himself: as a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer puts it: “we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves”. What Martin Luther reminded us was that God has defeated evil through Jesus' death and resurrection, all we have to do is receive that salvation as a free gift.

(For more on the Reformation, see the magazine from Church Society)