Scripture
In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:12-14

Observation
Some think Revelation is a book about the future. It isn’t.

Others think Revelation is a book about mega disasters. It isn’t.

Most think Revelation is too confusing and should be left alone. They are missing out.

Revelation is a musical and it is filled with more singing than a Rogers and Hammerstein show. When events become grim, angels, elders and mega crowds burst into song.

All this singing would all seem heartless unless we fall in love with the purpose of the book of Revelation. Revelation is not about the future or disasters; revelation is about Jesus.

And there is more. Revelation is a book of instruction of how to worship Jesus in the blackest times of history. Anyone can sing in the sunshine, but Revelation is about singing in the rain. It requires me to pry my fingers that clutch the things produced by this world free enough to be lifted up toward heaven toward he who is coming.

Application
This last book asks me the question: will my song become softer or louder as the world falls apart? The cast of “Revelation: The Musical” seem so focused on God, heaven, and his longterm purposes. Even bad news inspires them to worship him more. What sets them apart from my generation, is that this world had no interest to them. Their hearts were so set on God’s plan of bringing Jesus back to planet earth, that if God had to take things apart to put Jesus in the right place then they would rejoice.

Revelation is an album for robust, hearty all-weather, all-terrain worshippers who have a determination to sing louder the darker life becomes. It is time for the church to turn up the volume. For the message of this book is that understanding end times is simple. The world will be the worst it has ever been while the church of Jesus Christ will become the best it has ever been. It is time to show our colors and join the song that will never end.

Prayer
Father, I find the news more than distressing; I’m becoming indifferent to it because it is always worst than the last time I read it. I find I’m embracing this book of Revelation more and being encouraged to let go of what doesn’t last and to grasp tightly to what is eternal. The song of heaven described in this book surrounds me. Help me to tune into the worship that has already begun and to singing with unseen friends, glory to the Lamb who was slain. Amen.

We had to climb through the night to reach the top of Mount Warning, Australia’s furthest point east where the sun first touches the continent. Here I am with my sons Levi and Jon.

Scripture
Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book. Revelation 22:7

Observation
Christians should read Revelation more and more. But most are afraid of what they consider a doomsday book. Revelation has become to some a boogeyman to supposedly spook them about the end of the world.

But Revelation is nothing of the sort. This is not a book about the future; rather it is a book about Jesus. In Revelation, and in this book alone, do we see Jesus as he really is. In fact the picture in this book is far clearer than any of the Gospels. The only description we are given of Jesus physical appearance comes from this text. In the these last pages of the Bible we see Jesus glorified as he is for all eternity.

That sense of Christ’s position, authority, power and honor irons out our thinking so wadded by our confused age. We know that no matter how dark days may appear not only will Jesus win but he is winning now. We also see through the money, position, power, threats, corruption, debauchery that fill every TV screen and every human relationship and see that evil must and will come to an end.

Life is not forever and one day with our without human permission Christ will return and upset everyone’s schedule. That day is closer now than yesterday. That alone is reason to read this book. But the events of the news should send us there. Israel is reborn. Europe is united. Iran is emerging as a world power. The United States now occupies Babylonia. Gog and Magog are flexing their muscles. Revelation seems very current to me.

But we should not read Revelation just to satisfy our curiosity. In some way the book confuses us as much as it helps us understand the future. Instead we should read the book for one reason: to be blessed with a better understanding of just who Jesus is. As diamonds are best viewed against the black velvet of the jeweler’s box so too Jesus is seem best when we contrast his current glory with every power of evil that opposes him.

Application
The principles of Revelation must become my life principles. It launches with urgent messages to the churches. Let me speak those. It calls us to worship in difficult times. Help me to do that. It separates us from everything that attracts us. Let me come apart. It calls me to unmask the powers of the Antichrist already at work. Help me to discern that. And best of all, it calls me to love Jesus more because I have seen him more clearly.

Prayer
Father, though I have not seen him, I love him and my heart is filled with inexpressible joy today as I receive the goal of my faith, the salvation of my soul. Even though there are so many good things to hold onto in this life, still I’m excited to say, “Come Lord Jesus.”

Leslie and I pose for a shot in one of the world’s great cities…Sydney, Australia.

Scripture

Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!

She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty. And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains.

O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.”

Come away from her, my people
Do not take part in her sins,
Or you will be punished with her. Revelation 18 selected verses

Observation

A city obliterated in one day.

A skyline reduced to smoke.

A mushroom cloud like a boulder thrown into the sea.

Are these snippets from a doomsday report on terrorism? No, they are summaries from the Bible. Tucked in the last pages of Revelation is a staggering prophecy about a city called “Babylon” that is destroyed in just one day and left in charred ashes. The merchants and rulers of the world mourn because they can no longer do trade with that great city.

Before 1945 this was unthinkable. Then came the atomic bomb.
Before 2001 it was unconceivable. Then came 9/11.
Today the thought of a nuclear terrorist strike on a US city is bouncing somewhere between probable and likely.

The chairman of the 9/11 Commission has stated he expects to see a nuclear attack on an American city in his lifetime. (60 Minutes, CBS News January 29, 2006).

Al-Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Gheith has stated al-Qaeda’s objective: “to kill 4 million Americans—2 million of them children—and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands.” (Graham T. Allison, Council on Foreign Relations, April 20, 2007.)

In the 2004 Presidential debate, George Bush agreed with Al Gore when he said, “I agree with my opponent that the biggest threat facing this country is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist network.” (Graham T. Allison, Council on Foreign Relations, April 20, 2007.)

One month after September 11 only a handful of US leaders knew that a 10 kiloton bomb stolen from Russia’s stockpile was in the hands of terrorists in New York City. No one was told lest total panic would ensue. (Time, February 2002).

But before the media started waking up to the potential, a strangely familiar scenario was first recorded in the Bible for believers. Why would God foreshadow the destruction of a major world city in one single day? For one reason: He wants us to consider and to know how we must live long before it happens.

Where is Babylon? Babylon was a city that only archaeologists know today. But the seeds of Babylon are growing in every skyline of any city in the world. The principles learned about establishing urban civilization were first trialed in Babylon and then exported to the world. So Babylon is more than a place it is a system. In the global economy Babylon is everywhere as world cities meld into a multinational sameness.

Why is God so angry with Babylon? Because that city has exported the sludge of immorality to the entire world. It has pursued extravagant luxury by stepping on many people in the process. That could be Hollywood, The Strip, the Boardwalk or Wall Street.

Application

How should Christians live in a world of terrorist threat not just against one person but an entire city? The answer is to live detached. John says,

Come away from her, my people
Do not take part in her sins,
Or you will be punished with her.

As we edge and lurch closer to the second coming Christians should distance themselves further and further from the social attitudes that obscure the glory of God like the lights of Vegas. We should own goods without being owned by them. We should treasure sexuality as a gift and not a right. We should keep tender instead of sporting an urban chic callous.

There is a message of hope in Revelation 18. A world city will not be destroyed until God says so. Such a profound act will not be meaningless it will bear a message from heaven. Should any of us see such terrible thing we will know that it bears a word from God himself. This future destruction is his timing and doing alone.

What lays in our lap today is our attitude about the attractions of Babylon. We should feel ourselves more detached from it as the days go by. Our lives must be simpler, humbler, and more tender to escape.

Prayer

Father, honestly I don’t want to think about this, but in reality it is irresponsible not to. Help me to live detached today so that I may not be tempted to look back. Amen.