Billy Hartman was one of my good buddies growing up. He lived on a big farm with horses, only a ten-minute walk from my home. One of the most profound memories I have of the Hartman farm and family was the time they installed the first bomb shelter I had ever seen. It was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Cold War seemed ready to lead us into the first all-out nuclear war. In that atmosphere of real fear, the bomb-shelter business thrived.
However, this was not the last time I experienced a bomb-shelter mentality. The second was spiritual, generated by the threat of the Antichrist. A lot more fear than faith was generated in my heart, and in many of my late-60s Christian counterparts, by prophecy mongers whose popularity was only exceeded by the growth of their seminars and book sales. The net effect of those who made their living by feeding our phobias was the retreat of Christians from the culture into little ecclesiastical bomb shelters.
Christian communes were planned. Food stuffs were stockpiled. Warnings were issued against owning anything with the number 666 on it. Guessing the identity of the Antichrist became a growing sport among those who were becoming less and less engaged with the world—the world into which we have been commissioned as witnesses and kingdom representatives until King Jesus returns. It really makes me both mad and sad as I look back over those days. This is just the opposite effect that the book of Revelation is meant to have.
In Revelation 11, we meet the two witnesses who are raised up and empowered by God for faithful and effective ministry during a persecution-filled period. As they continue their ministry among the nations, John records a fatal attack—but only after “they have finished their testimony.” Satan’s attack cannot alter that which our Father has purposed. The gospel is running through the nations. There will be men and women from every people group populating the new heaven and new earth. This is no mere possibility or probability, but a God-promised actuality. The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever!
The attack on the witnesses leads to their deaths and a brief period of gloating. But what seemed to be the death of the witnesses actually gives rise to their resurrection and glory. The beast’s victory is hollow! God’s enemies are startled, humbled, and overwhelmed when he vindicates his servants.
As the people of God, we are known, numbered, loved, and protected against all ultimate harm and loss. We are not to develop a bomb-shelter mentality even in the face of great opposition and persecution. Our calling has never been to retreat into little Christian cocoons of fear, self-protection, and survival. Although there will be times and places in which it seems the church has been silenced and defeated, the demise is only brief and apparent. The blood of the martyrs has always proven to be the seed of the church. The enemies of God may have a seasonal laugh, but the loudest and longest laugh comes from heaven:
The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”Psalm 2:4–6
Our calling is not to waste time trying to run from credit cards with 666 on them. We are, by our proclamation and by our presence, to preach and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ among the nations until he comes back. We, the church, are the two witnesses. We are empowered by God himself. He is the Lord of both miracles and persecutions, both gospel advancements and apparent gospel setbacks.
The missionary who may see one convert in ten years is neither a failure nor ineffective. God alone is the one who faithfully applies the saving benefits of Jesus Christ to the lost. The gospel goes forth both in blessing and judgment. It is up to the Lord of the harvest how this mystery is played out. Our calling is not to be “successful,” but faithful.
What are we afraid of? This is our Father’s world. No one will ultimately thwart his ways. No, we are not to be naïve about life in “Sodom and Egypt.” In fact, the coming chapters of Revelation have much to teach us about living wisely in the world. But we are given insight about real-world hardships so we can have confidence and hope as we seek to live out the radical implications of the gospel in the context of evil Babylon. Each of us needs to be far more taken up with the glory and grace of our sovereign God, and surrendered to his purposes in his world.
With the blowing of the seventh trumpet we are introduced to the end of the ages as we know them. This is the final day, the day of the Lord! This vision is the fulfillment of the great promise of a King whose increase and whose peace will know no end. This King Jesus will reign for ever and ever. Every time I sing this great passage set to music in Handel’s Messiah, I am simply overwrought. Every longing in my soul is ignited at the anticipation of this awesome and glorious day.
Excerpted from Revelation: Hope in the Darkness © 2020 by Scotty Smith. Used with permission of New Growth Press. May not be reproduced without prior written permission.
REVELATION: HOPE IN THE DARKNESS
When the difficulties of life suggest that evil and chaos reign, we need to see that God occupies the throne in heaven and rules this world. Revelation: Hope in the Darkness by Scotty Smith reminds us that in troubled times our hope is in our champion Savior who is with us and will one day make all things right.
