We reminded ourselves yesterday of the warfare version of the Nativity story from Revelation 12.

Eugene Peterson’s meditation on Revelation, Reversed Thunder, describes the scene in his usual eloquence beginning on page 119. Here are some excerpts:

The immediate consequence of the birth is not Christmas carols but a great war spread across the heavens.

He is referring to Revelation 12.7 – 12:

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!”

Peterson goes on:

This is not the nativity story we grew up with, but it is the nativity story all the same. Jesus’ birth excites more than wonder, it excites evil: Herod, Judas, Pilate. Ferocious wickedness is goaded into violence by this life. Can a swaddled infant survive the machines of terror?

…

It is St. John’s Spirit-appointed task to supplement the work of St. Matthew and St. Luke so that the nativity cannot be sentimentalized into coziness, nor domesticated into drabness, nor commercialized into worldliness…It is St. John’s genius to take Jesus in a manger, attended by shepherds and wise men and put him in the cosmos attacked by a dragon. The consequence to our faith is that we are fortified against intimidation. Our response to the nativity cannot be reduced to shutting the door against a wintry world, drinking hot chocolate and singing Christmas carols. Rather, we are ready to walk out the door with, as one Psalmist put it, high praises of God in our throats and two-edged swords in our hands. (Psalm 149.6)

If that doesn’t get your juices flowing, stay tuned. I want to share a song that says the same thing.

We’re reminding ourselves that Jesus’ coming to earth as a human being was an act of war. We wrote yesterday that the first forecast of this warfare goes all the way back to Genesis 3, where God tells the serpent (Satan):

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3.15, NKJV)

Jesus is the “seed of the woman,” and the “heel bruising” occurred at the cross where Satan won a “temporary” victory. The opening scene of Passion of the Christ ends with a powerful reminder of Genesis 3.15. (It’s a 4-minute video; take the time to watch it.)

But before the cross was the birth, “the Christmas story,” and here it is from a warfare perspective in Revelation 12. 

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. (Revelation 12.1 – 4, NKJV)

Remember King Herod and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus’ escape to Egypt?

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. (Revelation 12.13, 14, NKJV)

I discovered this “back story” a few years ago, and I’m always happy to see that others discovered it too! Mike Metzger writes eloquently about this aspect of Christmas every year, including why we don’t often hear this part of the story. I recommend his article, published on December 23, 2019. 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6.12, NKJV)

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3.8, NKJV)

Our daughter, Melody, and her family are living in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island, where she and her husband teach music in an international school. They’re blessed to attend a wonderful church, First Baptist, and with technology, we are able to tune in from time to time.

Their pastor, Steve Brady, kicked off his Advent series earlier this month with a sermon from Genesis 3…Genesis 3? Yep. That’s where the battle for the souls of humanity started and where the first promise of Jesus’ coming is given. Steve had a 7-point alliterative outline (he may have attributed it to someone else – I don’t remember) that’s too good not to share. Here’s how the story starts:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3.1 – 6, ESV)

Steve pointed out that the serpent made sure God’s word was…

• Disputed: “did God say?”
• Distorted: “neither shall we touch it” (God didn’t say not to touch it)
• Diminished: “God is holding back on you”
• Denied: “you won’t die”
• Defied: “so they ate the fruit”

Pastor Steve went on to say that they couldn’t hide their sin. They were…

• Discovered: hiding in the garden

Then we have the first Jesus verse in the Bible. God tells the serpent:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3.15, NKJV)

As Steve said, it’s the first promise of…

• Delivered: “just a hint…Jesus is the Seed of the woman”

I think we’ll stay on Genesis 3.15 one more day. See you tomorrow!

As we approach Christmas Day coming up this Sunday, we would do well to remember that it really wasn’t a “Silent Night,” as much as we enjoy that carol and others like it. Jesus’ birth was an invasion and the battle is ongoing.

I just noticed in my reading of the letters to the Seven Churches of Revelation (Revelation chapters 2 and 3) that there’s a comment element in each short letter: “the one who conquers,” ESV, or “to him who overcomes,” NKJV.

The one who conquers…

• Will eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God, 2.7
• Will not be hurt by the second death, 2.11
• Will receive some of the hidden manna, 2.17
• Will receive authority over the nations, 2.26
• Will be clothed in white garments and not have his name blotted out of the book of life 3.5
• Will be a pillar in the temple of my God, 3.12
• Will sit with me on my throne, 3.21

Conquering and overcoming imply there’s a battle.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the beginning of it.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3.8, ESV)

Everyone likes Christmas, the First Advent, and there’s something appealing about the baby in the manger. Indeed, there’s a message there about humility and poverty. Jesus came among, and related to, ordinary people.

But the Bible is clear that Jesus is no longer a baby in a manger; he’s no longer “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” John is clear about what Jesus looks like today:

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. (Revelation 1.10 – 17, ESV)

John, who knew him well, fainted dead away when he saw Jesus. Wouldn’t you?

• His voice was like a trumpet (that’s loud!)
• He was clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.  
• The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. 
• His eyes were like a flame of fire,
• His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace. 
• His voice was like the roar of many waters.
• In his right hand he held seven stars, 
• From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.
• His face was like the sun shining in full strength.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22.20, ESV)

It’s the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and the message of love could not be more important.

I just saw something in Revelation 2, letters to the seven churches, that I hadn’t seen before. It’s the first letter, to the church at Ephesus. Their credentials seem impeccable:

I know your works,

• your toil and
• your patient endurance, and
• how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but
• have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
• I know you are
  • enduring patiently and
  • bearing up for my name’s sake, and
  • you have not grown weary. (Revelation 2.2, 3, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

Great list! They worked hard, had patient endurance, and held straight theology, discerning the false from the true.

BUT,

I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2.4, ESV)

Love. For whom? For God? Maybe. For each other? Possibly. How about for their neighbors? It’s that last option that I’ve never heard mentioned. Jesus was clear:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22.37 – 39, ESV, emphasis mine)

I don’t think we do such a good job at loving our neighbors. I know there’s a lot of bad stuff in our culture right now, and some conservative Christians have done an excellent job communicating our disapproval of a lot of values and behaviors. But we have not done as good a job at loving the people with those values and behaviors. I don’t think we’ve accurately reflected God’s character:

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8, ESV)

…God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. (Romans 2.4, ESV)

It’s Advent, and why did Jesus come?

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Timothy 1.15, ESV)

It’s Advent, and how was Jesus perceived?

…you say, “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7.34, ESV)

Continuing our look at some of the last instructions in the Bible, some of which have to do with the Second Advent, I promised a look at Jude’s letter. It’s just one chapter and much of it has to do with false teachers and just plain lawlessness in the culture (see 2 Peter 2 and Jude, verses 1 – 16). There’s also that judgment-filled Second Advent, which we saw in 2 Thessalonians.

But he closes that section with this:

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 1.20 – 23, ESV)

My responsibility? 

• Build myself up in the faith
• Pray in the Holy Spirit
• Keep myself in the Love of God
• Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
• Have mercy on those who doubt
• Save others by snatching them out of the fire
• Show others mercy being careful…

There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in our society right now. Some of it appears to be right out of Romans 1, which closes this way:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Romans 1.28 – 31, ESV)

But Jude makes our response to these conditions clear: while we wait for Christ’s mercy, we are to show mercy – mentioned twice!

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3.17, 18, ESV)

I’m integrating Advent comments in with observations I’m making as I finish this year’s New Testament reading. After 2 Thessalonians, the schedule called for 2 Peter and Jude, wrapping up with Revelation.

1 and 2 Thessalonians have a lot to say about the Second Advent – a coming in judgment, which I wrote about beginning here. 2 Peter 3 continues that theme. I know many readers are in breathless anticipation of my take on end-time events, either because you want to know OR you want to see if my view agrees with yours!

Let’s not. Let’s use the Second Advent passages as they were intended: to encourage (1 Thessalonians 4.13 – 5.11) and to motivate to holy living:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. (2 Peter 3.10 – 14, ESV, emphasis mine)

The day of the Lord will come…therefore…

• Live in holiness and godliness
• Waiting for “and hastening” the coming (how?)
• Be diligent to be found by him
  • without spot or blemish
  • And at peace

The letter from Jude picks up on this theme as well…more tomorrow!

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the importance of subtraction and mentioned a church that proudly proclaimed, “We are trying to reach minorities! It’s one of our 14 priorities!” How can you keep adding to your priorities until you get up to 14?

As we proceed through Advent and think about the life of Jesus, we must remember that Jesus didn’t come to be “added in” to an already crowded life. He came to replace our priorities not add to them:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14.26, 27, ESV)

I wouldn’t have thought of this except an organization I respect has just told its staff, “We have highlighted about a dozen aspects of [our mission and values] for special attention…” I just don’t know how one can give special attention to a dozen things.

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way. (Philippians 3.13 – 15, ESV)

We wrote yesterday about the importance of work AND word, and here’s an extraordinary prayer in 2 Thessalonians that I hadn’t seen before:

Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, (2 Thessalonians 3.1, ESV)

Wow: “that the word of the Lord speed ahead and be honored.” What a thing to pray for! I checked some other translations: 

• KJV: “free course and be glorified”

• LSB: “spread rapidly and be glorified”

• NIV: “spread rapidly and be honored”

• MSG: “take off and race through the country to a groundswell  of response”

It complements what Paul wrote to the Colossians:

…the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth… (Colossians 1.5, 6, ESV, emphasis mine)

The sower sows the Word…But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4.14, 20, ESV)

It’s about the Word. Good things happen when it speeds ahead and is honored. Bad things happen when it doesn’t. We may look at that in the next day or two. In the meantime, am I honoring the Word and doing my part to spread it?