Revelation 3:12
Companies and brand names compete for your loyalty by creating a culture of brand recognition and consumer atmosphere. You learn through billboards and commercials that certain kinds of people wear certain brands of clothing and eat at certain restaurants. And then, companies and their marketing firms hope, you will decide to look like and eat like those people in the attempt to have a piece of the lives they have. Plenty of people—especially young people—become loyal consumers of a certain brand in order to have the same cache the people they see in the commercials have.
To put someone’s or something’s name on you is a gesture of loyalty. There is even a level of character imitation when we take a name and put it on. Politicians pass out buttons and bumper stickers hoping you will be recognized as their supporters, even their followers. We often associate with names and movements because we want to become like them.
In Scripture, having a name written on you is not much different. It is a symbol of loyalty, of character development, and even a sign of protection. Maybe the most infamous example of people “taking on a name” is the mark of the beast in Revelation. Whatever the bewildering “666” turns out to be, it is ultimately a mark of intense loyalty and association. Those who take on the mark are making a final association—we will follow this person and this cause come hell or high water.
But that is not the only name written on people. When God promises relationship and salvation from the troubles of this world to the church in Philadelphia, he says this:
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. (3:12)
This name is so important to Christ, he repeats the idea three times. It turns out that God writing his name on his people is not just a mark of relationship and loyalty between them, it is a marker of protection. In chapters 7 and 14 those marked with his name are protected for life eternal with their God. And in a dramatic prophecy in Ezekiel 9, God’s wrath does not commence until his faithful worshipers are protected by having God’s name inscribed on their foreheads.
Look down at what you are wearing. Look around the room you are sitting in. Bring to mind the books you read and the shows you watch. What names have you chosen to associate with? What and whose character are you trying to emulate? Above any and every name is the name of Jesus Christ.
Bearing the name of Christ is the ultimate and eschatological association. Come what may, I will bear the name of my Savior and Redeemer. He will be to me the most important consideration in life and in death. His Word is my final rule of faith and action. His Empowering Presence is my daily food and water. His glory and call will be my guide.
Other names will compete for your attention, your money, your worldview, and for your life. This is why the promise is to the one who “conquers.” It takes effort – even warfare – to faithfully bear the name of Jesus Christ.
Showing posts with label Revelation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revelation. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, November 3, 2008
Willing Slaves of Christ
Revelation 1:1
The book of Revelation tends lay in a fog. We may only read it when we get worried about world events, or at the end of our yearly reading program, and it is almost always a frustrating book to try and figure out. It contains odd and difficult to understand visions, dreams, beasts and creatures. Much of what John sees and writes down is in a form foreign to us, and we don’t always know how to go about tackling the interpretation of the book.
This is an odd, though common, irony. From the very start of the book, it is intended to be a revelation of Jesus Christ. Though that word “revelation” is the Greek word for apocalypse, it means to have something unfolded and explained to us. And who or what is the target of that unfolding? It is Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation, for all its uniqueness, reveals Jesus Christ to us in ways the rest of the NT only hints at.
One of the keys to the revelatory nature of this book lies in an important concept John uses twice in his opening thoughts. God reveals the contents of this book to his servants in general, and reveals it specifically to his servant John (1:1). By the time John writes this book down (probably as late as 95 A.D.), the title of “servant” of Christ is loaded with meaning.
This word is a powerful indicator of a believer’s relationship with Jesus Christ. It means to be a “bond slave,” or someone who has willingly become the slave of another. For example, after Peter and John suffer persecution at the hands of the religious leaders of the day, they return to their church and pray. Part of what they say is in Acts 4:29:
“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”
The early church took this title of “willing slave” upon themselves: they were not given it, they took it. And as Paul writes to the various churches, he commonly calls himself the servant, or bondservant, of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1). John also calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ. And as such he faithfully writes down all he sees and hears and compiles the book of Revelation.
It is no small thing to say John faithfully wrote down this book. He was the subject of persecution, the people he wrote to were as well, and the things contained in the book are not all roses and rainbows. John was a servant of Christ even when it meant his own (severe) discomfort, and when he probably didn’t like what he was seeing and getting from God.
As such, he stands as an example of what it means for me to be a willing slave of Jesus Christ. It means he is the most important thing to my life and my decisions. It means God is always right and good even when present circumstances are not easy or comfortable. It means I can and should fulfill my calling no matter what that means for my position and place in life. Taking the label of servant means I act as though God is Lord, not me.
And what results? Well, for one thing, God wants to reveal his Son Jesus Christ to his servants through the pages of Revelation. To encounter this Christ through the lens of the trials and difficulty of this world requires a right relationship with him: being a willing servant to a sovereign God.
The book of Revelation tends lay in a fog. We may only read it when we get worried about world events, or at the end of our yearly reading program, and it is almost always a frustrating book to try and figure out. It contains odd and difficult to understand visions, dreams, beasts and creatures. Much of what John sees and writes down is in a form foreign to us, and we don’t always know how to go about tackling the interpretation of the book.
This is an odd, though common, irony. From the very start of the book, it is intended to be a revelation of Jesus Christ. Though that word “revelation” is the Greek word for apocalypse, it means to have something unfolded and explained to us. And who or what is the target of that unfolding? It is Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation, for all its uniqueness, reveals Jesus Christ to us in ways the rest of the NT only hints at.
One of the keys to the revelatory nature of this book lies in an important concept John uses twice in his opening thoughts. God reveals the contents of this book to his servants in general, and reveals it specifically to his servant John (1:1). By the time John writes this book down (probably as late as 95 A.D.), the title of “servant” of Christ is loaded with meaning.
This word is a powerful indicator of a believer’s relationship with Jesus Christ. It means to be a “bond slave,” or someone who has willingly become the slave of another. For example, after Peter and John suffer persecution at the hands of the religious leaders of the day, they return to their church and pray. Part of what they say is in Acts 4:29:
“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”
The early church took this title of “willing slave” upon themselves: they were not given it, they took it. And as Paul writes to the various churches, he commonly calls himself the servant, or bondservant, of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1). John also calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ. And as such he faithfully writes down all he sees and hears and compiles the book of Revelation.
It is no small thing to say John faithfully wrote down this book. He was the subject of persecution, the people he wrote to were as well, and the things contained in the book are not all roses and rainbows. John was a servant of Christ even when it meant his own (severe) discomfort, and when he probably didn’t like what he was seeing and getting from God.
As such, he stands as an example of what it means for me to be a willing slave of Jesus Christ. It means he is the most important thing to my life and my decisions. It means God is always right and good even when present circumstances are not easy or comfortable. It means I can and should fulfill my calling no matter what that means for my position and place in life. Taking the label of servant means I act as though God is Lord, not me.
And what results? Well, for one thing, God wants to reveal his Son Jesus Christ to his servants through the pages of Revelation. To encounter this Christ through the lens of the trials and difficulty of this world requires a right relationship with him: being a willing servant to a sovereign God.
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