More Than We See
The Light Between the Oceans is a novel, soon to be a movie, by M. L. Stedman. It tells the story of Tom and Isabel Sherbourne. Shortly after World War 1, the young couple move to Janus Rock, 100 miles off the coast of Australia, to run the lighthouse, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. Tom and Isabel only receive visitors from the mainland once every three months and only visit the mainland once every few years.
Isabel endures three tragic miscarriages on Janus Rock. After the third, strangely, providentially, a small boat washes up on their tiny shore. It carries a man who has died, and an infant who is, miraculously, alive. Tom and Isabel, partially acting out of grief from their third miscarriage and partially out of what they truly believe is best for the infant, take the child as their own. They name her Lucy and raise her.
There, on Janus Rock, the only world that matters is the one they see–the three of them and their small little island and their brilliant light between the oceans. For two years they live an idyllic life–devoted husband and father, loving mother and wife, and miraculous daughter Lucy. For two lovely years, all that matters is that tiny little world of theirs. The only world they see.
But one day it’s time to board a boat and check in with family and friends and authorities back on the mainland. And suddenly, harshly, Tom and Isabel and Lucy learn that there’s much more to their lives than what they’ve been living out there on that island. Much more than what they’ve seen out there on Janus Rock. And as they step foot back on the mainland of Australia, they realize that forces and events that they could not see have been at work which will impact their little family.
This is a lesson which John seeks to teach us as we reach approximately halfway in Revelation. As we come to Revelation 12, we come to a story which is, in some ways, a summary of the book. It stands at the heart of the book and is intended to help us see more than what we may have seen before. Most of us have been living our lives out on Janus Rock. It’s time to board the boat for the mainland. It’s time to open our eyes. Because there’s a lot more to life than we’ve realized. There are forces and events at work that we’ve not seen in our sheltered lives. And it’s time to open our eyes.
Dragon Tales
1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. (Revelation 12:1-2 ESV)
Like so much of the imagery in Revelation, the imagery of the woman comes from the Old Testament. In Gen. 37 Jacob dreams of the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing before him–the sun and moon referring to his parents and the eleven stars referring to his brothers. The image of the woman thus represents Israel in general, and Mary, in particular. It is a reminder that Mary was not just an isolated woman. She was part of a much larger people–the people of Israel. And here she is giving birth. Through her, the entire people of God are giving birth to this child. And the child, of course, is the Messiah–Jesus.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red Dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the Dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. (Revelation 12:3-4 ESV)
We now see something astonishing. Alarming. A great red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns. Gen. 3:14-15 seems to be the primary background here:
14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15 ESV)
The Bible begins and ends with this serpent, this snake, this Dragon. The seven heads with seven diadems–crowns worn by a ruler–are likely a reference to his pretension to sovereignty over the earth. He does rule, but it is a temporary reign. The ten horns are drawn from Dan. 7 and are explained later in Rev. 17.
This Dragon, with his tail, sweeps a third of the stars from heaven. This is either simply a reference to him flexing his muscle, or it is a reference to his initial declaration of war against heaven. Either way, it is clear that his primary target is the child. He wants to devour the child.
Consider that. Because in the Gospels we do not see this. We don’t see any red Dragon trying to devour Jesus. Here’s what we see instead:
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” [1]Matthew 2:13-18 ESV
We don’t see any red Dragons. What we see is a ruthless tyrant named Herod sending soldiers to kill children in an attempt to kill young Jesus. But John says that behind that we see is something we don’t see–a red Dragon seeking to devour Jesus.
John will make a similar point in chapters 13-15. There he will symbolize the Roman empire as a great beast under the control of the Dragon. What John’s readers see Roman emperors, Roman cities and Roman soldiers. But behind what they can see is something they cannot see–a red Dragon.
5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:5-6 ESV)
In one sentence John has moved from the birth narrative of Jesus all the way to the ascension of Jesus. He has skipped the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Here, he pictures Jesus the child taken up to God and the crown. He is not only taken up to God, but to the throne of God. Jesus’ rule now begins.
The woman escapes into the wilderness. The wilderness is symbolic of the place where God takes care of his people. The Israelites fled into the wilderness from Egypt. Elijah fled into the wilderness. David fled into the wilderness. Jesus fled into the wilderness for solitude. Here it refers to the fact that God took care of the woman, that God takes care of Joseph and Mary, that God takes care of the church, as the devil seeks to pursue them.
The reference to a specific number of days occurs elsewhere in Revelation and comes from the book of Daniel. It seems to be symbolic of the fact that evil is always on a clock. God always has a deadline for evil. Evil will not be allowed to run rampant for long.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the Dragon. And the Dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great Dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev 12:7-12 ESV)
With the woman and the child now safe, the angels in heaven turn their attention on the Dragon and his angels. War breaks out. We don’t see it. All we see in the sky are clouds and sun and moon and stars. But in heaven there’s war. Michael and his mighty army taking on the Dragon and his mighty army.
The Dragon is called the devil and Satan. The word “Satan” means accuser and refers to his role as a prosecutor. We see him play that role at the beginning of the book of Job. That word stands for the way in which Satan goes to war against us, goes to war against the woman and her offspring.
The word “devil” means adversary. It refers to the way in which he opposes all of God’s plans and purposes. He is the adversary of God. And it stands for the way in which he is at war against God and against that child, the son of God.
And when the Dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the Dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the Dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (Rev 12:13-17 ESV)
The Dragon, unable to devour the child and to destroy the woman now turns his attention to her offspring. The Dragon declares war on us.
At War
And that is what the book of Revelation is all about. It is about a war that has been declared on us. A war that has been declared on the purposes of God on earth.
In a book called Reviving Old Scratch Richard Beck points out that we desperately need Revelation 12. Sadly, he writes, many Christians have adopted a disenchanted worldview–one in which neither God nor the devil play any significant role in the day to day events of the world. Beck’s argument might be summarized in this way: Because we no longer believe in a war against a Dragon we do not see, we engage in a war against those things that we do see. And that has several catastrophic results. I will mention one which Richard Beck writes about extensively. And I will mention another which John writes about in his book.
Prayer
I’ll start with John. Because we forget that our war is ultimately against a Dragon whom we do not see, we tend minimize the value of weapons that we do not see. If our battle is primarily against the things that we see, were going to use weapons and resources that we see. We’re gonna take up a battle against poverty and were going to use money and resources that we can put our hands on–like giving to Highland’s biannual Outreach Contribution or filling backpacks for our School Store. We’re going to take up a battle against disease and were going to use medicine and resources that we can put our hands on–like supporting Highland’s ministry to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital. But the flipside of this is that we may be likely to minimize the kinds of weapons or resources that are less visible.
Prayer might be a perfect example of this. A few weeks ago when there was particularly high tension in the city revolving around race relations, local media carried the news of area pastors coming together to pray about it. Online viewers commented about the gathering. I remember reading one person’s comment. And it went something like this:
“Praying?! Nothing significant was ever accomplished by people praying!”
I think I understand what person was trying to say. I think I understand they were trying to say that there was a need for dialogue and there was a need for action. But I also think the statement is indicative of a particularly short-sighted worldview. When the only battle that we engage it is a battle against what we see there is no need for resources like prayer.
But there is a fascinating text that we had to run right by in our series on Revelation. It occurs in Rev. 8.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (Rev. 8:1-5 ESV)
Prior to this, with the opening of the seals of the scroll, there has been a vast amount of divine activity upon the earth. But now there is a pause. There is silence in heaven. All is quiet. And God gives his full attention to the prayers of his people. All of heaven stops so that God may listen to the prayers of his people. And in response to the prayers of his people the silence is broken and there is lightning and thunder unleashed upon the earth – the symbol of divine activity happening on earth once again.
It’s just a brief text. It’s just a brief glimpse. But it is a powerful glimpse. This is a spiritual war. This is a war involving things that we do not see. And one of our greatest resources is the resource of prayer. Prayer brings heaven itself to a standstill. Prayer launches the lightning and thunder of God upon the earth. But prayer only make sense if there’s much more going on than what we see.
Tim Keller reminds us that prayer is like mining. Mining takes place underground. It’s something most of us do not see. But the results of mining are unmistakable. Mining produces beautiful diamonds and gold and other gems. But all the work is unseen by most of us.
The same is true with prayer. Prayer is unseen work. It’s hidden. But it’s results are unmistakable–rumblings, peals of thunder, lightning and earthquakes. And if our battle is only against that which is seen, prayer makes no sense at all, because often there is little to see happening because of prayer. But it is happening, just underneath the surface. Behind a veil. If this battle truly is against the Dragon we do not see then this weapon of prayer that we cannot see may be our greatest resource of all.
Love
I will paraphrase Richard Beck’s point in this way: Because we forget that our war is against a Dragon whom we do not see we tend to demonize people whom we do see. If there is no enemy you cannot see behind your enemy you can see then the only enemy is the enemy that you see. Spend one day on Facebook and you’ll understand what I’m saying. We love to demonize the enemies we see. For that matter, we love to demonize all kinds of people, enemies or not. Whether it’s Donald trump or Hillary Clinton. Whether it’s police officers or Black Lives Matter. Whether it’s the latest celebrity or the latest athlete. If the only thing happening in this world is what we see in this world and the only explanation for the evil in this world is the evil people in this world then we are free to turn those evil people into monsters.
But, Beck points out, here’s what that makes impossible – loving your enemies. In a world where there is nothing beyond what we see and where evil people are turned into monsters, it is impossible to love your enemy. And this is the highest calling of those who follow Jesus. This is the one thing that sets us apart.
But how can you love your enemy if your enemy is a monster? The only way that becomes possible is if there is actually an enemy you can’t see behind the enemy you do see. That doesn’t mean that people are not responsible for their actions of evil. That doesn’t mean we don’t seek justice against people who do evil. But it does mean that our ultimate war is not against those whom we see. Our ultimate war is against a Dragon we do not see. And this keeps us from demonizing people. This keeps us from turning people into monsters. This allows us to love our enemies.
As I mentioned earlier John goes on in chapters 13-15 to indicate that even the Roman empire itself, the source of all of the pain for the Christians he’s writing to, is only acting under the power of the Dragon. The Dragon is to blame for Rome’s cruel treatment.
Terry is a member of one of my short-term discipleship groups. Five years ago Terry’s 27-year-old son was killed when a drug addicted young man crashed his car into Terry’s son’s car. It took two years for the judicial system to finally send that young man to prison. A few months ago the young man’s prison sentence was brought up for review and Terry and his wife were asked to attend the review. Terry brought a note that he had written and he asked that it be delivered to the young man who had killed his son. In summary the note simply said “We forgive you.” The judge sent the young man back to prison. Terry is now making arrangements to visit the young man in prison. He wants to sit down face-to-face with him. Terry told me,“I want to express to him that God given value he has and to use that value to turn his life around.” And he wants to tell him face-to-face “I forgive you.”
Things like that only become possible when we realize that our war is not against people we see but against a Dragon we do not see. That doesn’t mean we don’t seek justice. But it does mean that justice against our enemies is no longer the end game. Instead love of our enemies is the end game.
Get Away Dragon
For 58 years Jacques Hamel served as a priest in France. He mostly served those close to home, never straying far from the place where he was born. Two weeks ago he was conducting mass at his church in northern France, just five miles from where he grew up. Suddenly two teenage jihadists took him and four others hostage. He was killed in the struggle. His funeral was attended by hundreds. Muslims and Jews attended Mass in his honor after the funeral. At his funeral, Hamel’s final words were shared. Before he was killed, as his murderers pushed him to the ground Hamel said, “Go away Satan.”[1] It was a striking line. The archbishop, who conducted the funeral, remarked that the line was not as much a comment on the murders as it was a comment on the powers behind them. Even in those final seconds, Hamel was able to remember that behind what he saw was a Dragon that he could not see.
Now What?
There’s much more going on that what is visible. In light of all of this, this week devote yourself to prayer and to love. Devote yourself to that great resource that we cannot see–prayer. And devote yourself to loving your enemies rather than demonizing them, remembering that our battle is not against those whom
References
| ↑1 | Matthew 2:13-18 ESV |
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