Savor The Impressions Of The Spirit's Apocalyptic Art

“Savor the Impressions of the Spirit’s Apocalyptic Art” St. Michael and All Angels Revelation 12:7-12 In his essay, “The Church and its Members,” Pastor Jon Hein referred to the book of Revelation as a Monet, something which Professor Richard Gurgel picked up on and referenced in a sermon on this very text. Revelation is a Monet! Now, I don’t know a tremendous amount of art history, but the work of Claude Monet is rather famous, especially the painting that he entitled, “Impression: Soleil Levant” or “Impression: The Sunrise.” As in most Impressionistic art, Monet’s work incorporated three elements – the background and the foreground, which are blended together rather seamlessly, and then the centerpiece, which is meant to dominate. In the background of the painting is the light of dawn, the first beams of light that signal that a new day has arrived, a rich tapestry of light blues, reds and oranges that are, then, almost seamlessly blended with the colors of the foreground, the dark blues, browns and grays of night. And there, in the midst of it all is the centerpiece of the entire picture – the dominant element of the painting – the sun! Impressionistic art is all about the centerpiece. How insulting it would be to the art and the artist if you or I were to look at an Impressionistic piece of art and then pick it apart piece by piece, assigning meaning to each individual brushstroke: “The clouds in the back look like to me like ghost ships and therefore the fisherman in the harbor are always having to look over their shoulders in fear of death, which one day will surely come – and the brushstrokes on the water are fish that give hope to the fisherman that they will have a successful day...” Not only is such an approach utterly ridiculous, but it robs the painting of its true beauty. Yet that is exactly how many people approach the apocalyptic art that is before us today! They rob the Spirit’s impressions of their true beauty by getting lost in details that are simply designed to complement the centerpiece. How sad it is, and rather insulting to the divine artist, God the Holy Spirit, when people allow their imaginations to go crazy in the book of Revelation, trying to figure out the meaning of each and every brushstroke that the Spirit paints, saying things the Spirit never intended, or coming up with things that contradict the clear revelation of Scripture elsewhere, all the while robbing Revelation of its Christo-centric message which is meant to comfort and encourage us in these last days. Today, as we commemorate the festival of St. Michael and All Angels, I pray that we will allow the artist, God the Holy Spirit to give us a tour of his art gallery in Revelation, specifically this portrait in chapter 12, so that he may leave HIS impression on us. With that prayer, we will meditate under this theme: Savor the Impressions of the Spirit’s Apocalyptic Art – in the background, there is angelic majesty, a broad brushstroke that is seamlessly blended with the foreground of demonic hostility – all which are governed and dominated by the glorious centerpiece, the Son, Jesus Christ, and his Messianic victory, which gives light and life to the entire picture. I.

The angelic background

Our text begins: “7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fougxht back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” 

What bright and bold brushstrokes the Spirit paints with! “War in heaven,” the Spirit says, a war in which there are two sides: On one side is Michael, the archangel, and with him are all the holy angels of God, a host, an army of mighty ones who always do the bidding of the Almighty. And on the other side is the dragon, who is clearly identified as Satan, the deceiver, the serpent, the one who leads the world astray, the one who accuses us before the Father, and all of his “angels”, or as they are called elsewhere in Scripture, the demons. Now, in order for us to receive the impression that the Spirit intends, we need to ask ourselves when this “war” is taking place. Some would suggest that this is the original fall of the angels from heaven, who rebelled with Satan trying to assume the authority to represent mankind before the Father, a seat of authority which only rightly belongs to the Christ of God. But as we step back a bit from this immediate portrait in the art gallery that is Revelation, and look at the previous portrait, we see a brief picture of Jesus’ life, his ministry, and his glorious ascension, and when we look to the portrait that follows our text, we see Satan furiously chasing after the New Testament church to attempt to do it what he did not do to the Son of the woman – bring it to complete destruction! That’s the frame of this picture! Now let’s look at what’s in front of us. This war is not the initial fall of the devil and the demons. It is a picture of ongoing hostility, a struggle that reveals the supporting role of the Michael and the holy angels in the ministry of the Church, and their superiority over the demons that just keep coming. We have such evidence in Scripture, during the life of Christ. In the wilderness, having been assaulted by the prince of darkness for 40 days, Jesus was attended to by the angels. When he was in Gethsemane, with those precious drops of sweat and blood dripping from his brow, Jesus was attended to by the angels. And now that the Son has ascended into the heavenly realms to assume his authority at the right hand of the Father, having accomplished all that was necessary for the salvation of mankind, the demons who assaulted HIM, the prince of darkness who tormented HIM, they have all turned their attention and their wrath to US – the Church. But take comfort, friends in this: the angels, who attended to Jesus as he was being assaulted and tormented during his time of humiliation, continue to support Christ’s work by attending to us in our need, in ways that, at least on this side of eternity, we will never fully know or truly and completely appreciate. Psalm 91 comforts us with these words: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” And from Hebrews 1:14, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” As you and I step back a bit from this wonderful glimpse of angelic superiority over the demons, we can be assured that the ones that are on the side of truth, who are allies with Christ and his bride, the Church, are more powerful than the ones who are on the opposing side, oppressing the Church. In other words, as Paul puts it in Romans chapter 8? “If God is for us, who can be against us?” What a beautiful impression! II.

The demonic foreground

Let’s go back to the portrait...jumping to verse 12, because this is the foreground, as it were, of the impression that the Spirit paints for us: “Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and all who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you. He is filled with fury because he knows his time is short.” Once again the Spirit is painting in bold colors – this time with colors that are more somber. Has the deceiver, Satan, the great adversary and his evil angels been cast out of heaven? – absolutely, and for that reason heaven can rejoice. But, “woe to the earth,” the Spirit says...like a mortally wounded soldier that knows that his death is near, the adversary will try to inflict damage before his time is up! Satan and his demons are conquered, be

sure of it, fellow believers in Christ, but please understand that Satan is still dangerous, and as his time nears its end, he is going to seek to devour as many prey as he can. There is no question that the fury that is described in verse 12, the anger of Satan is fueled by his hatred of God, who cast him out of his presence because of the great rebellion, but understand that his fury is focused on you – God’s children – for he knows that you are God’s treasured possession. Satan knows that you, as heirs of everlasting life, redeemed with precious blood and sanctified by the Spirit, have been promised a place of honor in heaven, where you will reign with Christ forever and ever. And for that reason, Satan hates you! He is furious with you. And it is his desire, before his time ends, to take you down with him! And if you think you can go toe to toe with him and win, think again! I’m sure we’d love to have that kind of power. But Ephesians 6:12 keeps us sober-minded, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Satan and his demons are more powerful than we are! We are flesh and blood. And in just one day, you and I have enough evidence in thought, word and deed to show that we are weaker than the tempter, for that is what Satan is – still the tempter – still the serpent of Eden, who successfully convinces us, as he did with Adam and Eve, that God is withholding the best of gifts from us, who still is crafty to convince us to buy into his elaborate schemes, who gets us to clap and yelp for his worthless trinkets the way a trained seal begs for its fish – all without considering any of the ramifications, either temporal or eternal. Dr. Siegbert Becker, in his work entitled, “Wizards That Peep,” gives some sound advice when it comes to Satan and the evil angels, advice that we would be well to take to heart, especially with this impression which the Spirit has painted right in front of our eyes. Let me summarize the advice this way: Don’t become enamored with Satan and the demons. Don’t be obsessed with them, and thus give them undue honor. On the other hand, don’t forget about them either, lest we let down our guard and expose ourselves to the vicious attacks of a rabid creature who knows that his death is near, because he wants nothing more than to bring about our destruction, and to make us an eternal casualty of the great war! III.

The Messianic centerpiece

I hope that you recall from earlier in the sermon one fact about Impressionism. It’s all about the centerpiece. The background and the foreground are blended together almost seamlessly, creating a virtual blur surrounding the centerpiece which is intended to stand out in absolute clarity. Let me go back and read for you the beautiful centerpiece of Messianic victory which sheds light upon and brings life to this entire portrait: “10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!” With broad, bright brushstrokes, here is where the Spirit explains the victory of Michael and the angels, and comforts us in the face of intense Satanic and demonic hostility: the war has been won! The accuser has been hurled down. Remember, that’s precisely what his name means – Satan, the great accuser, the prosecuting attorney who arrogantly approaches the bench of the great judge, lodging charge after charge against you and me, God’s children. What a deceiver! He pretends to be our friend! He pretends to be our ally! He craftily baits us into crimes against God’s name and holiness, and then turns right around and sells us out before the great judge. “Look

at what “your children” have done! Listen to what they’ve said! Look at how they live! You cannot possibly allow these filthy, disgusting perversions of creation to stand in your justice! They are guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Send them to Sheol! Send them to the place of forgotten souls, where those who have rejected you in life are in turn rejected by you in eternity. Send them to hell!” What a deceiver! What a sobering thought, yet one that is drowned out by the beautiful centerpiece of the Spirit’s impressionistic painting. “For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” All the accusations, true as they may be, the guilt that accompanies our crimes, with all of its terrible weight, the punishment for sin in all its severity, the eternal death sentence, all of it was laid on the Lamb, our substitute before God. He was killed – sent to hell instead of us. Thus, there aren’t any accusations left! Like a crazed lunatic who just won’t be quiet in the courtroom, the devil has been ordered out! His mouth has been ducktaped, and he has been disbarred forever, never again allowed to make accusations against us. And with the devil in absentia, disbarred forever, there isn’t any firepower left for him to condemn us. Instead in the courtroom, our defense attorney, Jesus, asks that the Judge accept his merits instead of ours, that the judge accept his sacrifice on the cross as satisfaction of justice for our sins, so that we can go free! How does Paul put it in Romans 8:1? “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” What comfort for the recipients of this letter! What comfort for the citizens of the Roman Empire who had seen and experienced growing hostility against Christ and his bride, the Church, many of whom were condemned to death by the Roman courts for testifying to their allegiance to Christ, and their faith in him for salvation. Yet, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so as to shrink from death!” For the recipients of this letter, in the foreground of their lives was the demonic and Satanic hostility which tried so desperately to snuff them out. And yet, even as the blood of the saints was poured out on crosses and swords and as their lifeblood soaked into the sands of the arena, still they could be confident that they were on the winning side, no matter what in store for them on earth. Because no matter what was in the foreground of their lives, in the center was Christ’s light and life – his gospel promises, his victory! The message is no different for us here in the 21st century. All around us we see evidence of Satanic hostility against Christ and his Church. Read the headlines! Watch the news! Listen to the radio – political radio! Just look every now and then at what’s happening the ecclesiastical world. Sadly, in congregations that bear the name “Lutheran,” there is now the encouragement for openly practicing homosexual offenders, of whom the Spirit says that they cannot inherit the kingdom of God, actually serving as shepherds. Unbelievers in Lutheran pulpits! If we look around us, it may appear that the adversary is winning – that all of this work that the Lord does through us is for naught because the devil’s influence is so prevalent, and it seems that there is no end in sight. Take heart, dear minister in Christ’s church. The victory has already been achieved. Satan has already been defeated, mortally wounded, judged! Yes, all kinds of thoughts come to our minds of our own failings, and our inadequacies and the ways that we personally have sinned against our Christ and his church and his sheep, who have been entrusted to us. But take heart! You have overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by your own testimony – for those who cling for dear life to the cross of Christ, by the power of the Spirit, are fellow victors in Christ. And even though we don’t see it yet, and even though we cannot audibly hear the voices of the angelic host sounding the victory chants, even now, as we are surrounded by the hostile enemy in this earthly battlefield, we can join our voices with saints and angels above: “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever.”

Alas, our time in the art gallery of Revelation has come to a close. What a blessing to be able to come back to it anytime you like. But as we close today, what impressions do you take away? Have we been sobered by the Satanic hostility of an enemy who hates us more than we can even know? Have we been encouraged by the presence of holy angels who serve God and in turn also serve us, the elect of God? And most of all, have we been brought to rejoicing by a Messianic victory that declares all accusations against us to be null and void? If so, then our time in this apocalyptic art gallery has been well spent, and the Spirit has, once again, made his impressions! Amen.