The Image Of God
Sermon
There's something exciting about secrets, especially to the young. I remember a few years ago when a well-known cereal company put a secret pen into their cereal packets. All the children near me went wild with excitement, and this bit of useless plastic with a hollow centre for storing secret notes became a "must-have" toy, surreptitiously passed from hand to hand around the classroom. And stories about spies and secret codes are perennially popular, hence the delight in James Bond type films and the great excitement over revelations by former members of MI5 and MI6.
A few years ago "The Bible Code" by Michael Drosnin was published. An Israeli mathematician claimed to have discovered a hidden code in the Bible, which appeared to reveal details of some events which took place thousands of years after the Bible was written.
Although the book was a good read and fairly plausible, it failed to convince many serious theologians. But my teenage daughter picked it up and devoured it with great relish, and it was passed around all her friends who thought it totally riveting and utterly convincing.
Another book about the Bible and secret codes, but this time completely different codes, is "Jesus the Man" by Barbara Thiering. In a subsequent book, "Jesus of the Apocalypse", Barbara Thiering examines the book of Revelation, which she claims is not a book of dreams and visions, but is actually an accurate and detailed history of the Christian movement from A.D. 1 to A.D. 114.
Again, Barbara Thiering's books were hugely popular with the general public and perhaps especially with the young, but on the whole, serious theologians remained unconvinced.
Nonetheless, it's clear that the book of Revelation is written a sort of code. At least, it's written in unfamiliar and symbolic language, and that makes it particularly difficult to understand. The visions in Revelation depend to a large extent on the Old Testament, especially on the books of Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel, and are couched in very similar language. All these books are known as Apocalyptic literature because they're concerned with disaster and the end of the world and Judgment Day. Apocalyptic literature was extremely popular for about 400 years from 200 B.C. to A.D. 200.
Clearly the symbolic descriptions aren't supposed to be taken literally. For instance, in Revelation chapter 5 Jesus is described as a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes - a very bizarre animal indeed! It helps to know that in Judaism the number seven signified perfection, that horns signified power and eyes signified knowledge. Then the description begins to make sense, because it begins to become a little clearer that the author is actually describing Jesus as a perfect being with perfect knowledge and perfect power.
Similarly, the vindictive language and the harshness and the cries for vengeance which are such a feature of Revelation are not expected to be taken literally. The extremes of language are used to evoke horror at the thought of rebellion against God, and to warn in graphic terms against denying God or selling out the faith.
Revelation was written at a time of vicious persecution of the early church by the Romans, probably during the reign of Domitian from A.D. 81-96, and it was designed to encourage and exhort those early Christians to stand firm in the faith, despite the threat of martyrdom. They were to patiently await the fulfillment of God's mighty promises, which would happen at the end of time when Jesus returned in triumph. And that return was thought at that time to be very near, just around the corner.
Today's reading from Revelation 4 describes a vision of heaven. The pearly gates hadn't yet appeared, for heaven was thought to be a walled city entered by a door. A glimpse of the interior could be seen through the door.
It's a spiritual vision, where the writer is transported into the court of heaven, which is very similar to an earthly court. God is at the centre sitting on a mighty throne. Sitting on lesser thrones around God are twenty-four elders, representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, in other words the cream of the Old Testament personnel, together with the cream of the New Testament personnel.
The rest of humanity, and indeed, all creation, is represented by four living creatures who worship at the throne. And these creatures too are significant. The lion, the calf, the human being and the eagle symbolise respectively what is noblest, strongest, wisest, and swiftest in creation. And since the second century, these four creatures have been used as symbols of the evangelists Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John, respectively.
So all creation is gathered around the throne of God, nothing is excluded. The throne is not only composed of every kind of jewel and gemstone, but is also somehow organic, for it emits flashes of lightening and rumblings and peals of thunder. And in front of the throne seven flaming torches are burning, representing seven spirits of God. Or in other words, flaming torches representing the perfection of God.
When describing the majesty and wonder and immensity of God, it's difficult to find either adequate words or an adequate scenario to even begin to do justice to God. Human words fail, and the highest and most impressive scenario is a royal court with all its splendour and majesty, so it's almost inevitable that an image of God's greatness should be seen in these terms.
But it's all quite a contrast with the image of Jesus projected in today's gospel reading. Jesus was asleep in the boat when a great storm blew up on the lake, but when the disciples woke him, terrified that they were going to drown, he simply stood up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and the storm subsided.
That too is the action a majestic God, for only a majestic God could possible have control over the weather, especially over extreme and life-threatening weather conditions. But this majestic God portrayed by Jesus has a very gentle, caring and loving side, who acts simply because he's so concerned for frightened human beings. The God portrayed in Revelation is more likely to strike terror into the heart of human beings than to act to protect them or to remove terror from them.
Many people, especially non-church people, suffer from an extreme view of God. God is often seen in Revelation terms as being terrifying, just waiting to zap errant human beings who scarcely dare breathe in case they put a foot wrong. No wonder people don't want to know this God, and go out of their way to keep as far removed from him as possible.
On the other hand, some Christians are guilty of portraying a God who is so weak and pathetically indulgent that he could barely be described by the word "God". "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild", has surely put off thousands of red-blooded children over the years.
God is much vaster than we are. We can never catch more than a glimpse of him. But we can make sure that glimpse is as accurate and rounded a picture of God as possible. We need the image of God conveyed to us through Jesus when he was on earth, the human face of God. But we ignore at our peril the majesty, dominion and might of God portrayed in Revelation.
If we're serious about connecting with God, about tuning in to him, about helping others to meet with him, then perhaps we should remember (as Revelation shows us so clearly) that we're made in God's image, not he in ours.
A few years ago "The Bible Code" by Michael Drosnin was published. An Israeli mathematician claimed to have discovered a hidden code in the Bible, which appeared to reveal details of some events which took place thousands of years after the Bible was written.
Although the book was a good read and fairly plausible, it failed to convince many serious theologians. But my teenage daughter picked it up and devoured it with great relish, and it was passed around all her friends who thought it totally riveting and utterly convincing.
Another book about the Bible and secret codes, but this time completely different codes, is "Jesus the Man" by Barbara Thiering. In a subsequent book, "Jesus of the Apocalypse", Barbara Thiering examines the book of Revelation, which she claims is not a book of dreams and visions, but is actually an accurate and detailed history of the Christian movement from A.D. 1 to A.D. 114.
Again, Barbara Thiering's books were hugely popular with the general public and perhaps especially with the young, but on the whole, serious theologians remained unconvinced.
Nonetheless, it's clear that the book of Revelation is written a sort of code. At least, it's written in unfamiliar and symbolic language, and that makes it particularly difficult to understand. The visions in Revelation depend to a large extent on the Old Testament, especially on the books of Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel, and are couched in very similar language. All these books are known as Apocalyptic literature because they're concerned with disaster and the end of the world and Judgment Day. Apocalyptic literature was extremely popular for about 400 years from 200 B.C. to A.D. 200.
Clearly the symbolic descriptions aren't supposed to be taken literally. For instance, in Revelation chapter 5 Jesus is described as a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes - a very bizarre animal indeed! It helps to know that in Judaism the number seven signified perfection, that horns signified power and eyes signified knowledge. Then the description begins to make sense, because it begins to become a little clearer that the author is actually describing Jesus as a perfect being with perfect knowledge and perfect power.
Similarly, the vindictive language and the harshness and the cries for vengeance which are such a feature of Revelation are not expected to be taken literally. The extremes of language are used to evoke horror at the thought of rebellion against God, and to warn in graphic terms against denying God or selling out the faith.
Revelation was written at a time of vicious persecution of the early church by the Romans, probably during the reign of Domitian from A.D. 81-96, and it was designed to encourage and exhort those early Christians to stand firm in the faith, despite the threat of martyrdom. They were to patiently await the fulfillment of God's mighty promises, which would happen at the end of time when Jesus returned in triumph. And that return was thought at that time to be very near, just around the corner.
Today's reading from Revelation 4 describes a vision of heaven. The pearly gates hadn't yet appeared, for heaven was thought to be a walled city entered by a door. A glimpse of the interior could be seen through the door.
It's a spiritual vision, where the writer is transported into the court of heaven, which is very similar to an earthly court. God is at the centre sitting on a mighty throne. Sitting on lesser thrones around God are twenty-four elders, representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, in other words the cream of the Old Testament personnel, together with the cream of the New Testament personnel.
The rest of humanity, and indeed, all creation, is represented by four living creatures who worship at the throne. And these creatures too are significant. The lion, the calf, the human being and the eagle symbolise respectively what is noblest, strongest, wisest, and swiftest in creation. And since the second century, these four creatures have been used as symbols of the evangelists Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John, respectively.
So all creation is gathered around the throne of God, nothing is excluded. The throne is not only composed of every kind of jewel and gemstone, but is also somehow organic, for it emits flashes of lightening and rumblings and peals of thunder. And in front of the throne seven flaming torches are burning, representing seven spirits of God. Or in other words, flaming torches representing the perfection of God.
When describing the majesty and wonder and immensity of God, it's difficult to find either adequate words or an adequate scenario to even begin to do justice to God. Human words fail, and the highest and most impressive scenario is a royal court with all its splendour and majesty, so it's almost inevitable that an image of God's greatness should be seen in these terms.
But it's all quite a contrast with the image of Jesus projected in today's gospel reading. Jesus was asleep in the boat when a great storm blew up on the lake, but when the disciples woke him, terrified that they were going to drown, he simply stood up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and the storm subsided.
That too is the action a majestic God, for only a majestic God could possible have control over the weather, especially over extreme and life-threatening weather conditions. But this majestic God portrayed by Jesus has a very gentle, caring and loving side, who acts simply because he's so concerned for frightened human beings. The God portrayed in Revelation is more likely to strike terror into the heart of human beings than to act to protect them or to remove terror from them.
Many people, especially non-church people, suffer from an extreme view of God. God is often seen in Revelation terms as being terrifying, just waiting to zap errant human beings who scarcely dare breathe in case they put a foot wrong. No wonder people don't want to know this God, and go out of their way to keep as far removed from him as possible.
On the other hand, some Christians are guilty of portraying a God who is so weak and pathetically indulgent that he could barely be described by the word "God". "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild", has surely put off thousands of red-blooded children over the years.
God is much vaster than we are. We can never catch more than a glimpse of him. But we can make sure that glimpse is as accurate and rounded a picture of God as possible. We need the image of God conveyed to us through Jesus when he was on earth, the human face of God. But we ignore at our peril the majesty, dominion and might of God portrayed in Revelation.
If we're serious about connecting with God, about tuning in to him, about helping others to meet with him, then perhaps we should remember (as Revelation shows us so clearly) that we're made in God's image, not he in ours.
