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Revelation Week Five: Judgment, Part 1 (14-17) Judgment Is, to Say

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Revelation Week Five: Judgment, Part 1 (14-17) Judgment Is, to Say Revelation Week Five: Judgment, Part 1 (14-17) Judgment is, to say the least, a heavy subject, so we’ll split it up into two parts. Today, we’ll discuss the term a little more generally, and go into some the first few chapters of this section. This fourth section of Revelation takes up roughly chapters 14-20. There are four main parts to the Judgment as described: 1. The announcement of and preparation for Judgment (14:6-20) 2. Catastrophes and judgment of humans (15:5-16:21) 3. Judgment and destruction of the beasts/demonic powers (17-18) 4. Destruction of death itself/New Creation (19-20) The septenary that comes along with this section is that of the bowls. Seven bowls, poured out by seven angels, upon the earth. Each one contains a plague or catastrophe that represents the wrath and judgment of God. But why bowls? Remember that as we share a cup or chalice today at most Communion services, a bowl or cup would have been used in a similar fashion not only at early Church Eucharists, but at Jewish ceremonies too. Usually filled with wine, representative of the blood sacrifice (for the Israelites) or of the Blood of Christ (for Christians). Whatever is in that bowl is meant to bring life, healing, purification, and salvation—but remember also that those things can be frightening or painful if you’re not prepared! First, let’s look at Paul’s admonitions to the Corinthians when it comes to taking the Body and Blood of Christ: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. --1 Corinthians 11:23-32 Jacques Ellul says that in regard to the bowls and their symbolism: “…every sacred is at the same time bearer of blessing and of curse.” (40) We want to adore and worship God, and sometimes we even do— but if our lives, on the whole, are not in line with God’s will and desire for us, the blessing may sometimes seem painful. Let’s look also at the Exhortation before the Eucharist in the Book of Common Prayer: Beloved in the Lord: Our Savior Christ, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a sign and pledge of his love, for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of his death, and for a spiritual sharing in his risen life. For in these holy Mysteries we are made one with Christ, and Christ with us; we are made one body in him, and members one of another. Having in mind, therefore, his great love for us, and in obedience to his command, his Church renders to Almighty God our heavenly Father never-ending thanks for the creation of the world, for his continual providence over us, for his love for all mankind, and for the redemption of the world by our Savior Christ, who took upon himself our flesh, and humbled himself even to death on the cross, that he might make us the children of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, and exalt us to everlasting life. But if we are to share rightly in the celebration of those holy Mysteries, and be nourished by that spiritual Food, we must remember the dignity of that holy Sacrament. I therefore call upon you to consider how Saint Paul exhorts all persons to prepare themselves carefully before eating of that Bread and drinking of that Cup. For, as the benefit is great, if with penitent hearts and living faith we receive the holy Sacrament, so is the danger great, if we receive it improperly, not recognizing the Lord’s Body. Judge yourselves, therefore, lest you be judged by the Lord. Examine your lives and conduct by the rule of God’s commandments, that you may perceive wherein you have offended in what you have done or left undone, whether in thought, word, or deed. And acknowledge your sins before Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life, being ready to make restitution for all injuries and wrongs done by you to others; and also being ready to forgive those who have offended you, in order that you yourselves may be forgiven. And then, being reconciled with one another, come to the banquet of that most heavenly Food. And if, in your preparation, you need help and counsel, then go and open your grief to a discreet and understanding priest, and confess your sins, that you may receive the benefit of absolution, and spiritual counsel and advice; to the removal of scruple and doubt, the assurance of pardon, and the strengthening of your faith. To Christ our Lord who loves us, and washed us in his own blood, and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father, to him be glory in the Church evermore. Through him let us offer continually the sacrifice of praise, which is our bounden duty and service, and, with faith in him, come boldly before the throne of grace. The bowls and judgments that we’ll read about are a result of our struggling (or not) to remain in nominal or minimal relationship with God while chiefly giving ourselves over to the demands of the world (or powers, or Beasts, etc.). Everything that should be a blessing for us from God is misconstrued, misinterpreted, because it doesn’t always look the way we want it to look, or to be what we expect. Like the “little scroll” from last week, it may taste sweet at first, but become bitter—living into God’s blessings and desires for us require sacrifice, sometimes, of our own desires. But let’s keep in mind also the following: JUDGMENT =/= CONDEMNATION. In all that we’re about to study, what gets destroyed forever? The Beasts, the earthly City, the Dragon/Devil/Satan, and Death itself. Not humanity. Not at all, not ever. But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. --Romans 3:21-25a If you save one, you save all. If you condemn one, you condemn all. Because as far as “right” and “wrong” are concerned, we’re all a mixture of both. I am no more worth saving than you are, and vice versa—in the eyes of the God that created us and longs to redeem us and bring us home, that is. So judgment does not mean that humanity is doomed—but what does it mean? Is it going to happen at all? If so, is it going to happen sometime in the future? Is it always happening? As Episcopalians are so fond of saying … it’s a both-and. “… we are, from the fact of the Incarnation, plunged into a last combat, but at each moment of our life and of our history. We live the last judgment continually, and the last trial: we are upon the edge of the crater and contemplate under the fire and ashes the very boiling up of the Ultimate. For the more the powers are unchained, the more the judgment of God is, appears, total and rigorous.” (Ellul, 174) What all that means is that yes, the judgment and ending of this world as we know it is happening, has been happening, and will come to its fruition in the fullness of time. This is transhistorical, kairos, not happening on our assigned and linear schedules. At the same time, though, we as earthly creatures are in the constant process of struggling with blessing, curse, judgment, and redemption. We see in our earthly lives and histories these struggles, and they are not meaningless or insignificant. All that we experience goes into the process of purification and repentance to which we’re called. This is probably enough, for the time being about the concept of judgment in general! Let’s see what Revelation has, specifically, to say about the subject. We begin this section with two series of angels: six who announce and prepare for the Judgment, and seven for the seven bowls of the wrath of God (not a wrath that destroys, remember, but wrath that strips illusions from humanity and reveals us without all that we depend on apart from God—more on this later).
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