Revelation 11 - Thursday 12th December

Today’s chapter is Revelation 11

Tom writes:

The stuff about the trumpets and the woes and the witnesses and the woes interlaces back and forth like a bowl of spaghetti. If we try to follow all the progress of the trumpets and the woes we might feel a bit dizzy. But there is a massive truth in here that we can suck up and be nourished by. It is the vocation and the vindication of the witnesses. The identity of the witnesses is widely accepted to be the church. Their vocation speaks into our vocation; God wants witnesses. A witness does not just speak whatever they want to speak. No, a witness shows and tells what they have seen. And that is the task of the church. Show and tell what you have seen. It is the simplest thing, as long as you have seen something. So have you seen something? Have you really seen God? That is Phrase 1 of our witness. “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was” (v17) Witnesses worship. But there is a Phrase 2 “because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign” (v17) or “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah” (v15). Please note this; true witnesses are invited to declare not only that God is wonderful but also that he has already begun to reign. God has already acted in Jesus and his “unseen” power is already reforming this “seen” realm. Jesus has already begun to reign through his church.

As we’ve said before - this isn’t the most obvious thing you think when you look at the church. It looks a bit rubbish. It looks a bit beaten up, overpowered and killed. The church is something easy to mock. You could even send gifts to one another to celebrate its demise. But, just like the witnesses, in the end the church will be vindicated. The breath of God will fill the disempowered church, catching us up into the clouds, enabling us to live like we are walking in the heavenly counsel while others walk forward into awful judgement. God has already begun to reign through his church… and our stories and our gatherings must become witnesses of that truth. While it is great to read this book and to eat up this spaghetti, the real question is will we digest that truth? Will we become witnesses? Will we love all the body of Jesus Christ and celebrate how Jesus is reigning through them, even while others look on to mock and to gloat.

Question for reflection

How could you help the church live our vocation as witnesses?