The Great Ordeal
Text: Revelation 7:9-17
This past Tuesday I was knocked out with a rather nasty 18-hour flu bug. It was a gift from my daughter. So instead of dealing with church business, I lay in bed for much of the morning, trying to encourage the room to stop spinning. I managed to pry myself out of bed around 11, answer a few work-related emails, and then I went downstairs to dine on a cup of chicken noodle soup and a few crackers. I then lay down on the couch, and put in a DVD to watch two of the middle episodes from the mini-series “Band of Brothers.” For those not familiar with it, “Band of Brothers” was a multiple-award mini-series that showed on the US HBO network in 2001, and was subsequently released to DVD. It follows Easy Company of the US 101st Airborne Division during the Second World War, from their training in the United States, through D-Day, right until the days following the surrender of Japan.
The Second World War was the greatest ordeal humanity has ever struggled through, and for many of you it is a living memory. It was the first image that came to mind when I was reading through the passage from Revelation. The words “the Great Ordeal” can evoke all kinds of images, and while John of Patmos could never have envisaged the Second World War for what it was, his words have a timelessness to them that can provide support and encouragement to anyone in the midst of crisis throughout history.
Again, this is where Revelation becomes a far more practical book than we realize. When we look to the Bible, what we get out of it depends on what we’re looking for. Depending on what we need, we could be looking for a practical guide on how to live our lives well. We could be looking for stories that we connect with, and find meaning that our life matters in some way. We could be looking for some words of encouragement in the middle of crisis… It could be for almost anything… Whatever our approach is, whatever it is we are looking for, the Bible helps us to see how our life story intersects with God’s story. Even in a weird book like Revelation.
Our Easter trip through Revelation is very much a rose-coloured glasses one. The readings that we encounter skip over some of the more bizarre, violent, and lurid imagery… stopping at these scenes of heavenly worship that intersperse the whole book. However, what we don’t realize is that these different scenes of heavenly worship represent the hope-filled conclusion of what appear to be terrible events… the awful ordeals that Christians were experiencing when John of Patmos wrote this book.
So in chapter 7, we return to the scene of heavenly worship, and we catch a glimpse of those gathered around the throne in worship of God. A “great multitude that no-one could count.” They stand before the throne and the lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands… Amidst these layered images, it recalls passages from Genesis, reminding us that we are all the children of God… the Palm Branches evoke the image of the Festival of Booths from Leviticus, one of the many celebrations of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Bondage into Freedom. The white robes evoke multiple images, which include Ecclesiastes’ call for the people to enjoy their celebrations. It’s a party… pure and simple.
But when John asks the identity of this multitude, he is told that they are “the ones who have come out of the “Great Ordeal;” ‘they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb” While it may sound a bit weird, it’s another reference to Leviticus (6:22) evoking the sacrifice of the “sin offering.” When a lamb of the sin-offering is sacrificed, anyone who is hit with the droplets of blood is made holy… they are considered “washed” and made clean.
They have come through the Great Ordeal, a great struggle, thanks to what God has done in Jesus Christ. It’s not that they survived on their own merits, but that God has ultimately rescued them. There is no struggle, no ordeal that is so great that God cannot overcome in Jesus Christ.
The words “Great Ordeal” evoke all kinds of images. Some translations use the word “Tribulation” –but it can also mean “struggle, pressure, anguish, or persecution.” For me, especially on my couch last Tuesday, was a remembering in my own naïve way of the ordeal of the Second World War. In part, because I studied it, but also realizing that in my own personal experience I have never lived in a time of struggle to that scale. I don’t know what it is like to live in a time where human life was both so expendable and yet precious at the same time… I don’t know what it is like to live in a time where I could be exterminated simply for the beliefs I hold. Even today, when I hear Christians in Canada claiming to be persecuted… I am sceptical… because being made fun of or looked at funny is something entirely different from losing your life. We trivialize those very real struggles that people have if we make the same claim.
Revelation’s “great ordeal” was specifically about the Roman persecution and fear of persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitan. At the same time because of the symbolic language that John of Patmos used, it has a timeless quality to it that can speak to any time of hardship ands struggle. Revelation’s message was one of hope, even in the midst of massive upheaval and change. The “Great Ordeal” could mean any period of hardship, tough times, survival or struggle. It’s why it perhaps fits the Second World War so well.
But then again, “Great Ordeals” don’t have to be that grand of a scale… in fact, many of us experience Great Ordeals of our own… trying times of personal struggle and tragedy… Some of them are out in front where everyone can see them, while others face deeper inner struggles. Cancer, depression, family turmoil, death of a loved one… Perhaps the message from Revelation is not about the size of the struggle, but that there is a reminder that there is no conflict, no struggle, no ordeal that is so great that it can overcome the what God has done in Jesus Christ.
Revelation was not about predicting an ordeal to come, but giving people the tools to face the ordeals that were already upon them. These were words of encouragement for people who are experiencing their own great ordeal. They may seem overwhelming and insurmountable at the time, even to the point of facing death… but as Easter reminds us that no ordeal is too great for God to handle.
Not only that, there are these incredible words of comfort that come at the end of this passage.
“For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Again, it evokes images out of Isaiah and the Psalms to remind those in the midst of struggle that the Lord is our shepherd… we have all that we need. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for God is with us to comfort us, guide us, and lead us even in the midst our own personal ordeals.
Happy Easter.
Amen.
This past Tuesday I was knocked out with a rather nasty 18-hour flu bug. It was a gift from my daughter. So instead of dealing with church business, I lay in bed for much of the morning, trying to encourage the room to stop spinning. I managed to pry myself out of bed around 11, answer a few work-related emails, and then I went downstairs to dine on a cup of chicken noodle soup and a few crackers. I then lay down on the couch, and put in a DVD to watch two of the middle episodes from the mini-series “Band of Brothers.” For those not familiar with it, “Band of Brothers” was a multiple-award mini-series that showed on the US HBO network in 2001, and was subsequently released to DVD. It follows Easy Company of the US 101st Airborne Division during the Second World War, from their training in the United States, through D-Day, right until the days following the surrender of Japan.
The Second World War was the greatest ordeal humanity has ever struggled through, and for many of you it is a living memory. It was the first image that came to mind when I was reading through the passage from Revelation. The words “the Great Ordeal” can evoke all kinds of images, and while John of Patmos could never have envisaged the Second World War for what it was, his words have a timelessness to them that can provide support and encouragement to anyone in the midst of crisis throughout history.
Again, this is where Revelation becomes a far more practical book than we realize. When we look to the Bible, what we get out of it depends on what we’re looking for. Depending on what we need, we could be looking for a practical guide on how to live our lives well. We could be looking for stories that we connect with, and find meaning that our life matters in some way. We could be looking for some words of encouragement in the middle of crisis… It could be for almost anything… Whatever our approach is, whatever it is we are looking for, the Bible helps us to see how our life story intersects with God’s story. Even in a weird book like Revelation.
Our Easter trip through Revelation is very much a rose-coloured glasses one. The readings that we encounter skip over some of the more bizarre, violent, and lurid imagery… stopping at these scenes of heavenly worship that intersperse the whole book. However, what we don’t realize is that these different scenes of heavenly worship represent the hope-filled conclusion of what appear to be terrible events… the awful ordeals that Christians were experiencing when John of Patmos wrote this book.
So in chapter 7, we return to the scene of heavenly worship, and we catch a glimpse of those gathered around the throne in worship of God. A “great multitude that no-one could count.” They stand before the throne and the lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands… Amidst these layered images, it recalls passages from Genesis, reminding us that we are all the children of God… the Palm Branches evoke the image of the Festival of Booths from Leviticus, one of the many celebrations of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Bondage into Freedom. The white robes evoke multiple images, which include Ecclesiastes’ call for the people to enjoy their celebrations. It’s a party… pure and simple.
But when John asks the identity of this multitude, he is told that they are “the ones who have come out of the “Great Ordeal;” ‘they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb” While it may sound a bit weird, it’s another reference to Leviticus (6:22) evoking the sacrifice of the “sin offering.” When a lamb of the sin-offering is sacrificed, anyone who is hit with the droplets of blood is made holy… they are considered “washed” and made clean.
They have come through the Great Ordeal, a great struggle, thanks to what God has done in Jesus Christ. It’s not that they survived on their own merits, but that God has ultimately rescued them. There is no struggle, no ordeal that is so great that God cannot overcome in Jesus Christ.
The words “Great Ordeal” evoke all kinds of images. Some translations use the word “Tribulation” –but it can also mean “struggle, pressure, anguish, or persecution.” For me, especially on my couch last Tuesday, was a remembering in my own naïve way of the ordeal of the Second World War. In part, because I studied it, but also realizing that in my own personal experience I have never lived in a time of struggle to that scale. I don’t know what it is like to live in a time where human life was both so expendable and yet precious at the same time… I don’t know what it is like to live in a time where I could be exterminated simply for the beliefs I hold. Even today, when I hear Christians in Canada claiming to be persecuted… I am sceptical… because being made fun of or looked at funny is something entirely different from losing your life. We trivialize those very real struggles that people have if we make the same claim.
Revelation’s “great ordeal” was specifically about the Roman persecution and fear of persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitan. At the same time because of the symbolic language that John of Patmos used, it has a timeless quality to it that can speak to any time of hardship ands struggle. Revelation’s message was one of hope, even in the midst of massive upheaval and change. The “Great Ordeal” could mean any period of hardship, tough times, survival or struggle. It’s why it perhaps fits the Second World War so well.
But then again, “Great Ordeals” don’t have to be that grand of a scale… in fact, many of us experience Great Ordeals of our own… trying times of personal struggle and tragedy… Some of them are out in front where everyone can see them, while others face deeper inner struggles. Cancer, depression, family turmoil, death of a loved one… Perhaps the message from Revelation is not about the size of the struggle, but that there is a reminder that there is no conflict, no struggle, no ordeal that is so great that it can overcome the what God has done in Jesus Christ.
Revelation was not about predicting an ordeal to come, but giving people the tools to face the ordeals that were already upon them. These were words of encouragement for people who are experiencing their own great ordeal. They may seem overwhelming and insurmountable at the time, even to the point of facing death… but as Easter reminds us that no ordeal is too great for God to handle.
Not only that, there are these incredible words of comfort that come at the end of this passage.
“For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Again, it evokes images out of Isaiah and the Psalms to remind those in the midst of struggle that the Lord is our shepherd… we have all that we need. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for God is with us to comfort us, guide us, and lead us even in the midst our own personal ordeals.
Happy Easter.
Amen.
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