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May 05, 2005
invoice of God
My son was quite disappointed the other day. We were listening to the New Testament on CD as we drove to school, and just as we arrived at our destination, the Book of the Revelation began. "Aw, man," he began in exasperation.
"Don't worry," I said. "When I pick you up tonight we'll start at the beginning of Revelation."
It is no wonder a boy of ten favors that book from all the books in the New Testament. He is not without a certain philosophical bent; his comment on C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain (also on CD) was "some parts of it were really interesting--I liked it." But children love stories. He loves the gospels as well, but for sheer visceral details and bizarre creatures on which young minds thrive, Revelation has no rival.
So I have listened to it twice in the last couple of days; once after I dropped him off at school that day, until I picked him up, and once again together with him.
Much of the cataclismic detail in Revelation is devoted to the fate of the whore Babylon. I've heard all sorts of theories: it's us, it's them, it's figurative, it's literal, it's historical, it's prophetic. But whatever Babylon actually is or will be, one cannot help but look at her attributes and wonder to what extent we fly her banner. There is, in chapter 18, a glimpse of her economy at the instant of its permanent interruption, dissected and exposed in the manifests of merchants' ships:
"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more- cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men." --Revelation 18:11-13
Because the list progresses from precious metals and gems down to foodstuffs, I have the impression that this list is also meant to indicate a descending order of market value, and thus Babylon's priorities. And languishing conspicuously at the bottom of the list are human beings, both body and soul.
I will not attempt, using armchair eschatology, to pin the harlot's tail on the donkey of our modern age. But as the old adage goes, if the shoe fits, wear it. And this shoe is oddly fitting: the struggle over the value of human life defines our era. If all the things in Revelation are yet another thousand years off, surely future historians will look back on our era with a mixture of righteous disdain and revulsion. For while our technologies will not impress them, the ends to which we applied them surely will. The modern era has been the age of superefficient extermination of man by men. From Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung and Pol Pot to the abortion industry, the mind recoils to account for their staggering millions of dead. Other ages have seen their plagues and disasters, but when have men ever valued other men so cheaply as in our age?
And over against this new world order is juxtaposed the economy of the Lamb who was slain:
And when he had taken [the scroll], the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." --Revelation 5:8,9
If Christ is God, and the Son of God, who sits at the right hand of the Father, could there be any commodity more precious in heaven or on earth than the blood of his veins? Surely, if anything else on Babylon's shopping list would have sufficed to purchase us, he could've afforded it without effort. Yet he expended his blood, his very life for us.
As for all those other cargoes, they take their place in heaven; the writer describes many of the building materials in detail. Apparently, in heaven's marketplace, the cost of gold makes it at least slightly preferable to asphalt. And if it is so in heaven, we must pray that it will be so here on earth also.
Posted by joel at May 5, 2005 12:19 AM
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» Busy Day.... from WITH ISSUE
So Chapter 8 will have to wait until tomorrow. In honor of today's Feast of the Ascension I offer you this excellent post from Chez Joel. [Read More]
Tracked on May 5, 2005 09:09 AM
Comments
Excellent - thanks!
Posted by: Chris Arsenault at May 5, 2005 07:02 AM
your son is very fortunate to have a father willing, able, disposed, and resolved to expose him to scripture so arduously - and revelation ... WOW! [note the use of upper case - my keyboard doesn't do that very often]
Posted by: uncle jim at May 5, 2005 07:23 AM
Great post. I will be thinking about it today in the Jewelry store!
Posted by: Janjan at May 5, 2005 08:49 AM
Judge George Greer, the "Starvin' Judge," received an award from his judicial peers recently. Could that have been the "Life is Cheap Award"? Wouldn't want to characterize him as the boy tart of the Whore of Babylon because I'm no eschatologist by any stretch of the imagination.
Posted by: l'homme du bardo at May 5, 2005 02:23 PM
I too am impressed with exposing your son to Revelations. I too was familiar with it at a young age. Many people perhaps think this would be too much for a young person to understand, but I would answer them with this quote: "Youth was not made for pleasure, but for heroism."
by Paul Claudel.
French poet, playwright, and diplomat, whose work shows the influence of Roman Catholic Mysteries, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante. Among Claudel's best known works are the confessional Five Great Odes (1910) and The Satin Slippers (1929). He was a prominent figure in the whole French Catholic Renaissance of the early part of the twentieth century.
When I have children I'll follow your example and play them the scriptures on CD--that's brilliant.
Posted by: Adriana at May 5, 2005 04:21 PM
Joel: I began my quiet-time today with a reading from the Isaiah 15-16 about the destruction of Moab. There was a clear reference to the Messiah and the Joy and Peace he would bring to the survivors of the nation that God had to punish...In other words, Judgement laced with Mercy. Then I began to wonder what the destruction of Moab had to do with the Messiah. Moab was destroyed, but Messiah did not come...that is until Christ came the first time, but He did not then bring in the millennial reign. I asked God about it, and felt immediately led to read Revelation 18 where I studied the shipping manifest. I was very interested in the individual items, and I asked God what they could mean, but I got nothing, so I kept on reading until I pretty much finished Revelation. However, I still did not have an answer.
Then I went directly to the web, not thinking anymore about it...going right to the Dawn Patrol on my favorites list...then to your blog...and WOW! Your insight is excellent, some of the best I've read and you have written it very well. I think you should submit this blog entry in it's entirety for publication to Christianity Today. They don't take unsolicited work, but maybe someone could contact them and suggest that they contact you from info. on your blog site.
I still don't know how Revelation 18 ties in with the destruction of Moab...maybe the mercy shown to Moab refers to God saving a remnant from the Earth.
Posted by: Ray Matthew at May 6, 2005 02:55 AM
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