Xchange - Discussion Notes
Week 3 – The Victory of the Lamb

(Read Revelation Chapter 5)

The Work of Christ:

1: Messianic War

2: Messianic Sacrifice

3: Messianic Witness

In the fifth chapter of his letter, John outlines how the work of Christ that has been accomplished at the cross, resurrection and ascension, affects the way that the world works, and how Christians are to live in such a world. In order to do this, chapter five makes use of three themes which interweave throughout the whole of Revelation, namely the notion of a messianic war, of sacrifice, and of witness / testimony.

The scroll with seven seals, whose contents are not revealed until much later in the letter, obviously contains God's divine purpose for the world. But there is no one to unroll the scroll, that is, no one able to fulfil God's purposes. Enter the Lamb. In order to understand the accomplishment of the Lamb, it is important to back up a little and to reconsider the accomplishment of Christ in the Gospels.

In Jesus' day, there were many different sets of expectations concerning the role of God's Messiah. But common to them all was the belief that he would lead God's people to freedom, and victory against their pagan oppressors – in the first century, those oppressors taking the form of the Roman Empire. Many people therefore expected Jesus to be a great military leader, but the kingdom he ushered in did not come in by military force, nor did Jesus gain his victory by violent means. Rather, it was through his own self sacrifice that victory was achieved. On the face of it, it appeared that the pagan forces of chaos had triumphed because the Messiah had been crucified, but his resurrection vindicated Jesus and his message – and spelt out the true victory he had won. Jesus' enemy was not the Roman empire itself, but the satanic forces that lie behind every form of injustice and oppression. His was a victory that was more profound and all-embracing than was expected. It was a not a victory of violence, but a victory over violence. This is a crucial thread that runs throughout the Gospels, and one which is taken up in John's Revelation.

John addresses this issue by interweaving the three strands mentioned above:

1: Messianic War

Revelation is apocalyptic literature (see week 1) and in such literature, the language of battle tends to prevail. There is a battle to be fought against the pagan hordes, but John re-interprets the nature of the battle in just the same way that Jesus himself had reinterpreted the meaning of the kingdom – defying contemporary expectations, but fulfilling most fully the Biblical prophecies that gave rise to those expectations.

The churches scattered throughout Asia Minor knew of the great struggle against the Roman Empire – but Rome is not the ultimate enemy, but it is rather satan who is pulling the strings, making the empire as much a victim in need of salvation as an offender in need of judgement. So the battle is not to be fought in a straightforward militaristic way. The evil forces are revealed firstly in the economic, ideological and ethical systems of the current empire (personified by the whore) and secondly in the oppressive, violent, military might of the current empire (personified by the beast). The whore and the beast are the enemy – and that enemy is defeated not by military conquest, which would be futile anyway ("who is like the beast?"), but by means of self-sacrifice, following the pattern of Jesus. This is what it means to conquer, to overcome – a phrase that appears at the end of each of the seven letters to churches.

2: Messianic Sacrifice

The Lamb is the one who has won the decisive victory, and as such is enthroned and deemed worthy to open the scroll, and that victory was won by means of sacrifice. That is why the image of the sacrificial lamb is used by John. It is a rather pathetic figure, when considered alongside the glory and splendour of the Roman empire – pathetic in the sense that it is on the receiving end of other people's action, rather than being pro-active itself. The Lamb is sacrificed, but it is in this passive role that its decisive action takes place.

And yet, it is this pathetic figure, a sacrificed Lamb, that sits on the throne and received true glory from the whole of the created order. It is this sacrifice that has won the true victory, and so if the followers of the Messiah are called to continue his messianic role, then the means of their victory will equally be by means of sacrifice. In the context of the Asian Christian churches, this means the sacrifice that will inevitably ensue from resisting both the ideology and the violence of the Roman Empire. To maintain a faithful witness is the true means of conquering, as the letters to the churches make clear.

3: Messianic Witness

The New Testament uses a single word to describe witness / testimony / martyrdom. This word had not, in the first century, come to mean that one would necessarily die for maintaining a faithful witness. However, this did happen on occasion, and such occasions were clearly not uncommon in the churches to whom John is writing his letter. What was clear however, was that to remain a faithful witness to Christ would bring Christians into direct conflict with the ideology of the Roman Empire (the whore), which would therefore invite the wrath of the Roman Empire (the beast). Inevitably then, faithful witness would lead to sacrifice on the part of Christians.

Although this is not directly addressed in the fifth chapter of Revelation, it is a crucial point to bear in mind as one proceeds through the letter, especially by the time we arrive at chapter 7.

Summary:

If God's will is to be done 'on earth as it is in heaven', then it is because of the sacrifice of the Messiah. The followers of this Messiah therefore, will seek to maintain a true witness, which will demand that they engage in a Messianic Battle – one that brings them into conflict with the Empire of the day. This battle is not fought directly in terms of military might, but rather by maintaining a true witness – which sets the church up as an alternative way of embodying power, one that invites the wrath of the empire. Inevitably, this will lead to sacrifice on the part of Christians. This logic informs all that is to follow in the unfolding chapters of Revelation.

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