Our world surrounds us with despair and darkness, and we long for a place of hope. Dan ties this reality into Revelation 8 and 9, where the trumpet judgments bring destruction to the earth. He looks for and finds hope in the midst of the destruction, showing us how we can hold on to hope in the midst of chaos.
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Crescendo of Hope
• Dan Kent
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In this sermon, Dan Kent looks at the hope that is found in the trumpet judgments of chapters 8 and 9 of Revelation. This hope is hidden in two different layers beneath the tragic elements that come with these trumpets.
In the first layer, the trumpets echo the works of God found in the exodus from Egypt. John is pointing back to what God did in the past to help us see what God is doing in the present and in the future. For instance, in Exodus 9, there is the plague of the hail that falls, and in Revelation, it is hail, fire, and blood. In Exodus, there is a plague of locusts, and then in Revelation the locusts are like giant scorpions. While John is pointing back, the trumpet judgments raise the stakes to demonstrate that this battle is much more significant.
While some might think that the judgments are actions of God, these are actually the destructive works of the enemy. We can find hope in the midst of these not on the surface but underneath what is obvious. Paul spoke of this in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. There we read:
“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”
In the second layer, we can find hope in the two paths tradition. In one way, we can choose death and destruction. In the other way, we can enter into life and fullness. This tradition is found throughout the Scriptures (see Deuteronomy 30:19 and Jeremiah 21:8). On the surface, it is obvious that life is good and death is bad. However, we are so easily deceived because the way of death clothes itself as the way of life. We cannot simply examine the surface of the path because it is a way of lies. We need eyes to see what the two ways actually are so that we can rightly choose life. Doing this requires work! It is easy to walk the way of death, because this way flows our direction at every turn. But the way of life is something that we must pursue and fight to enter.
In order to see more, to see beneath the surface and really ascertain what God is doing, we must shine the light upon the darkness. We do not need to turn away from the darkness, avoiding the troubles as if they don’t exist. Reality remains reality. But we can shine the light of our testimony upon the darkness. We can let the light of God’s truth about our identity push back the darkness of the chaos that surrounds us. And we can speak the promises of God, holding onto their light when we feel squeezed by the enemy’s lies.
This is how we stand in hope in the midst of the chaos, when the pressures of life push out light, when we wonder where God is. He never leaves us, never forsakes us. We can hold on and let God’s light grow, and there hope will ascend.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Hope, Identity in Christ, Transformation
Sermon Series: Crescendo of Chaos
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The MuseCast: June 10
Focus Scripture:
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2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
