Listen to this sermon here: https://soundcloud.com/bloomsbury-1/apocalypse-now-7-heavens-perspective-on-the-environment
Did
you see the news this week?
The intergovernmental panel on
climate change report for the United Nations
has found that ecosystems around the
world
have never before been
under such threat,
and that the climate crisis is
damaging the ability of land to sustain humanity.
Some
of the world’s top scientists collaborated in the report,
and they warn that cascading risks
are becoming increasingly severe
as global temperatures
rise,
with droughts, soil erosion and
wildfires increasing,
crop yields decreasing,
and thawing permafrost near the
poles.
Meanwhile,
I had a long conversation with someone who directed me, approvingly,
to Piers Corbyn’s assertion that
‘man made climate change doesn’t exist’,
and that rather stories
of climate change
are the product of
journalists rather than scientists.
Who
are you gonna believe??
To play my hand early, I tend,
strongly, towards believing the scientists….
And
this sermon finds its origin in my own very personal engagement
with the topic of global warming
and its attendant environmental
devastation.
For
some time I found myself obsessed, even depressed,
as I sought to get my mind around
the emotions I was experiencing
whenever I contemplated this
troubling reality.
Sleepless
nights and panic attacks ensued,
and I had to ask why it should be
that I was responding with such
uncharacteristic intensity.
Initially
I wondered if it was as simple as being afraid of dying,
but concluded that this was not the
case
as no-one who rode a
high performance motorbike for many years
can ever be entirely
risk-averse.
Neither
was it a fear about the end of the world:
growing up in the shadow of the cold
war
adjusted me to that terror at an
early age.
In
time, I had a moment of what you might call ‘revelation’.
I realised that I had fallen in love
with Babylon
and that, like the
merchants and seafarers of Revelation 18.9-19,
I was grieving the loss of my
beloved empire.
Revelation 18:9-11,
15-19 the kings of the earth, who committed
fornication and lived in luxury with [Babylon], will weep and wail over her
when they see the smoke of her burning; 10
they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, "Alas, alas, the
great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has
come." 11 And the
merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo
anymore…
15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from
her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning
aloud, 16 "Alas, alas,
the great city, clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with
gold, with jewels, and with pearls! 17
For in one hour all this wealth has been laid waste!" And all shipmasters
and seafarers, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the
smoke of her burning, "What city was like the great city?" 19 And they threw dust on their
heads, as they wept and mourned, crying out, "Alas, alas, the great city,
where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in one hour she has
been laid waste."
Images of environmental judgment
The scenes of environmental destruction found in The Book
of Revelation
form part
of the broader picture
of the
author’s representation of divine judgment on evil.
The various images of judgment which he utilises
serve a
double purpose:
On the one hand, they demonstrate that evil in all its forms
will not be
allowed to continue into eternity (cf. 19.20; 20.10, 14),
while on the other hand they serve as warnings
intended to
provoke repentance
on the part
of the nations of the earth (cf. 9.20-21; 11.13; 16.9-11).
The images of final judgment offer John’s readers an
assurance that,
however
powerful the forces currently opposing their faithful witness,
these satanic systems will ultimately be called to account
for their
opposition to God’s in-breaking kingdom.
However, it is in the images of warning judgment
that John
depicts the desolation of the created order
along with
humanity itself.
Environmental damage and human suffering
are
presented as inseparable partners.
In the sequences of seals, trumpets and bowls,
John
depicts scenes of environmental devastation with increasing intensity.
The opening of the sixth seal triggers the shaking of the
entire cosmos,
with a
great earthquake,
the
darkening of sun and moon,
stars
falling to the earth, the sky being rolled away,
and every
mountain and island being displaced (Rev. 6.12-14).
The sounding of the trumpets leads to
the burning
away of a third of the earth, trees, and all green grass,
the death
of a third of all sea creatures,
the
poisoning of the earth’s waters,
and the
darkening of a third of the sun, moon and stars (Rev. 8.7-12).
The pouring out of the bowls, which we heard in our reading
this morning, triggers
the death
of every living thing in the sea,
the
poisoning of all waters,
burning
from an intensified sun,
and
a time of darkness (Rev. 16.2-12).
These visions of environmental destruction
are each
interspersed with scenes of judgment on humanity,
with the entire created order depicted
as
suffering the effects of humanity’s rejection of God.
John’s intent in constructing these images of warning
judgment,
encompassing
the entire creation in their scope,
was to provide his audience
with an
alternative perspective on their current earthly situation.
From the perspective of those
in the
seven cities of Asia Minor to whom John was
writing,
the unbridled expansion of the Graeco-Roman
cultural,
economic and military empire
could
appear a noble and beneficent project.
However, when viewed through John’s visionary lens,
the
imperial machine is seen as a corrupting whore
and
a violent beast (chapters 13, 17-18),
demeaning
or destroying all those who come into contact with it.[1]
The series’ of judgments on the earth
thus
represent John’s vision
of the
inevitable end-result of the human obsession with empire.
Whether it be the death of a third of humankind through war
(Rev. 9.15, 18),
or
environmental devastation on a global scale,
these are to be seen as the direct consequences
of human
imperial aspiration.
In his subversive portrayal of empire
as a
violent and destructive system,
John provides a powerful critique of all such systems
which seek
to centralise wealth and privilege
at the
expense of exploitation at the margins.
The call to repentance
Simply portraying the effects of empire
through images
of suffering and destruction
is however
not sufficient for John.
He also offers a theological commentary
on the
globally catastrophic results of empire,
lamenting that those who have experienced the judgments
still ‘did
not repent’ (Rev. 9.20, 21; 16.9, 11).
Within John’s scheme,
the
judgments are not personally targeted punishments
aimed
at those who have denied the lordship of Christ,
neither are
they God punishing the earth
for
its opposition to the kingdom
of Christ
Rather, they are presented as warnings to the nations
of the
effects of their ongoing investment in empire,
in the hope that the nations of the earth will ‘repent’
and turn
from their exploitative and destructive practices.
The tragedy of John’s presentation
is that the
nations remain unrepentant
in the face
of the warning judgments.
He portrays the imperial aspirations of the nations as so
all-pervasive
that, even
when faced with increasing levels
of
human and environmental catastrophe,
still they
remain committed to the exploitative practices of empire.
In this way, kings, merchants and seafarers
are heard
mourning the destruction of Babylon
because they have so invested themselves
in the
economic systems of empire
that they are unable to comprehend its ending
as anything
other than disaster (Rev. 18.9-19).
This is in contrast to the response which John expects
of those
who have entered with him into his visionary world
to gain
heaven’s perspective on empire.
They are invited to,
‘Rejoice
over her, O heaven, you saints and apostles and prophets!
For God has
given judgment for you against her’ (Rev. 18.20).
But if the nations fail to heed the warnings,
John offers
a bleak assessment of the future of the empire
in which
they are investing themselves.
It is portrayed as an ultimately self-destructive system,
which
begets violence, suffering and environmental catastrophe.
Against this background John offers his theological
assertion
that
systems of oppression and destruction
will
themselves ultimately face judgment,
something which he vividly depicts in the vision
of the
destruction of the great whore and the great city (Revelation 17-18).
Ian Boxall puts it well when he says:
‘Evil and
injustice bear within themselves the seeds of their own destruction,
and
ultimately the whole edifice will come tumbling down.’[2]
The extent of environmental judgment
One could be forgiven for thinking at this point that,
from an
environmental perspective, all is lost.
After all, if the nations remain unrepentant
in the face
of the increasingly severe
and
catastrophic results of their actions,
surely the
end result will be the breakdown
of
the entire created order?
However, John does not leave his audience
with a
scenario of ecological despair.
From John’s perspective, God has not yet written off
creation
as
irredeemably tainted by human sin
and
therefore destined for destruction.
The destruction of the destructive systems
might be
bad news for those who have invested heavily in them,
but it is
good news for the rest of creation.
The judgments against the environment which John describes
are not total,
and it is
ultimately Babylon
which is
destroyed rather than the earth.
In this way, the results of imperial ecological devastation
are seen to
be limited rather than limitless:
The four angels who have power to damage earth and sea
are
restrained from harming the sea and the trees (Rev. 7.3);
at the sounding of the trumpets
it is only
a third of the earth which is
destroyed (Rev. 8.7-12; 9.15-18);
and the locusts from the bottomless pit are told not to
damage the grass
or any
green growth or any tree (Rev. 9.4).
The warning judgments of environmental destruction which
John describes
are thus
severe, but restricted.
Rather than depicting a downward spiral resulting in the end
of the world,
John rather
presents the effects of imperial ecological violence
as
warnings to be heard alongside
his
repeated call for ‘repentance’ (cf. Rev. 2.5, 16, 21-22; 3.3, 19).
John’s scheme thus finds clear echoes
in the
contemporary prophetic call for imperial environmental ‘repentance’,
that ‘there is
still time to avoid
the worst impacts of climate change
if we act now’.[3]
The end of environmental exploitation
The hope which John presents is not restricted
to mere
divine limitation
of the
extent of environmental damage.
Rather, John points to divine judgment
on those
very systems which oppress and destroy creation.
Following the seventh trumpet,
the
twenty-four elders sing that the time has come,
‘for
destroying those who destroy the earth’ (Rev. 11.18).
The destruction of Babylon
the final
and fitting judgment on empire.
Those systems which have placed themselves
in
opposition to the peace and stability of creation
are, it
seems, not eternal.
John also presents a positive role for creation.
As a counterpart to his negative vision
of the
destruction of the ecologically destructive empire,
John recalls God’s promise to Noah
that he
will remain faithful to creation
in the description of the rainbow around the divine throne
(Rev. 4.3;
cf. Ezek. 1.28; Gen. 9.13-16).
The earth itself is seen playing an active part
in the
rescue of humanity from the attack of the satanic beast,
swallowing
the river sent from the mouth of the dragon (Rev. 12.15),
while the whole of creation participates
in the
offering of worship
to the one
seated on the divine throne (Rev. 5.13; cf. Phil. 2.10).
The four living creatures before the heavenly throne (Rev.
4.6ff)
depict the whole
created order
offering a
united song of worship before the throne.
In addition to the worship of humanity,
John also shows
us the worship of
all
the wild creatures symbolised by the lion,
all
the domesticated animals symbolised by the cow
and
all birds symbolised by the eagle.
Just as an aside here,
the
association of these four creatures with the authors of the four gospels
is something which occurs much later in the Christian
tradition,
and can’t
have been in John’s mind when he wrote Revelation,
not least
because at least two of the Gospels hadn’t been written yet!
Anyway, back to the four living creatures;
it is significant that only one of them has a human face
(Rev. 4.7),
indicating
that the worship offered by those on the earth
is
merely one facet of the totality of worship
offered to
God by the whole of creation.
Through all these various images,
which as
always in Revelation pile up upon each other, ,
with images of destruction interspersed with images of hope,
and images
of judgment sitting alongside images of mercy,
creation is seen as having a hopeful, rather than a
hopeless, future.
Rather than facing eventual destruction
at the
hands of human imperial exploitation,
creation is seen to have an active role
in drawing
all things towards unity with the creator.
We’re not so far here from the language of mother earth,
such as the
Greek myth of Gaia, the primal earth goddess.
which of course gave the name to the Gaia hypothesis,
which
suggests that all living things and the planet they live on
are
inextricably linked,
working
together for the greater good of all things.
In John’s thinking in Revelation,
he violence
which the environment endures at the hands of humanity
points
the way to a new future
beyond
slavery to the forces of empire.
Once released from the tyranny of the satanic powers which
oppress and destroy,
creation can
be freed to fulfil its function
as the
context for a renewed relationship between humanity and God.
A new heaven and a new earth
John’s image of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21.1-5;
cf. Isa. 65.17-25)
represents his vision of what it means for
humanity
to
‘repent’ of their obsession with empire,
learning to
live in a new relationship
with
both creation and creator.
The transition to the new heaven and new earth
is not one
which involves the total destruction
of
the existing created order
before
re-creation can occur.
Rather, the new creation is brought into being
as the
oppressive powers of the satanic empire are destroyed.
The picture which John draws of the new earth
is
therefore one which encompasses
redeemed
aspects of the present earth.
The vision of the new heaven and the new earth,
with the
new Jerusalem at their centre,
is
primarily a vision for the here-and-now of John’s audience.
It presents them with a challenge
that they
are to be those who give testimony
to
the in-breaking kingdom of God ,
those who
live as citizens of new Jerusalem
rather
than as citizens of Babylon
The renewal of the created order
is
therefore not something to be anticipated
at
some decisive point in the future,
as the
divine answer to the environmental destructions wrought by empire.
Rather, it is to be found in the present
as the
idolatrous claims of the satanic empire
are
exposed, opposed and rejected,
and as
humanity responds to the prophetic witness
to
the existence of an alternative
to
slavish devotion to the beast of empire.
The prophetic call
By this reading of the book of Revelation,
the hope
for creation-under-empire
lies in John’s prophetic challenge
to the
destructive ideology of empire.
It is only once the idolatrous claims of Babylon
that a new
relationship between humanity and creation becomes possible.
Within John’s scheme, it is when God is named as lord of
creation
that the
idolatrous powers of empire are challenged (Rev. 3.14; 10.6; 11.4; 14.7).
In this way, the many worship scenes of Revelation
acquire
distinctly political overtones,
as they challenge the dominant oppressive and destructive
powers in the world.
Worship in Revelation is therefore not about making God feel good about himself,
it is about reversing the effects of
the fall.
As God is
named lord of creation,
the idolatrous imperial aspirations
of humanity are challenged,
and the way
is cleared for humanity, God and creation
to recover that which was lost at Eden
The new
song which only the 144,000 can sing (Rev. 14.3)
therefore becomes a song of
prophetic challenge,
with those
who recognize the lordship of the one on the throne in heaven
challenging the nations of the earth
to join them
in resisting the seductive yet
destructive call of the satanic empire.
The sequences of warning judgments,
calling the
nations to repentance of their imperial idolatry,
pave the way for the ultimate judgment
on those
satanic systems which oppress and destroy.
Within John’s symbolic world, creation is finally and fully
freed from satanic oppression
as the
forces of empire are destroyed at the great battle of Armageddon.
The armies of the kings of the earth are defeated
by the
sword that comes from the mouth of the rider on the white horse,
with the word of God from the mouth of the messiah
victorious
over the satanic deceptions of the beast (19.21).
The imperial forces which destroy the created order,
oppress humanity,
and violently suppress opposition
are ironically seen to be themselves destroyed
by nothing
other than the ‘gospel’ itself.
Though John’s own antidote to imperial idolatry
involves an
acknowledgement of the lordship of the divine figure
on the heavenly throne
as a
precursor to the redemption of creation,
his work also makes a powerful environmental critique of
empire
available
to a wider humanity.
Although John was writing to those
within the
Christian congregations of first century Asia Minor,
nonetheless his prophetic call to the church,
to enact a
faithful witness
to a
non-exploitative view of humanity and the earth,
retains a clear challenge to the contemporary world.
John’s call to ‘come out’ of Babylon
coupled
with his presentation of empire as a destructive,
and
ultimately self-destructive, system
present a persistent challenge to those of us
who want to
combine an enjoyment of life-under-empire
with a
concern for environmental justice.
Bloomsbury is already committed to the task of working out
how to
exist as a more environmentally friendly community.
We are pleased to have been awarded the Bronze Echo Church
standard,
but there
is much more that we can still do.
And over the next couple of years,
I firmly
hope that we will continue to explore ways
of acting together
to bring about
a more peaceful approach
to the world that God has entrusted
to us.
Harnessing the strengths of empire
in the
search for solutions to pressing environmental concerns
may or may
not solve our imminent problems;
but in the long-term, those who dance with empire
still end
up embracing Babylon
x
[1]
Richard Bauckham, The Theology Of
The Book Of Revelation, New Testament Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993), 17-18, 35-36.
[2]
Ian Boxall, The Revelation of St
John, ed. Morna Hooker, Black's New Testament Commentaries (London:
Continuum, 2006), 249.
[3]
Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Report into climate change.
No comments:
Post a Comment