Sunday August 3, 2025 | Greg Boyd
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.” Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
This sermon addresses the mystery of God as it relates to how God will overcome evil at the end of time. When it looks like injustice, hate and war are winning the day, how God wins through love is truly mysterious. However, love will win in the end, even though we do not see how and we do not have the ability to ascertain God’s plans. We can trust that there is more to what God is doing than we can directly see at this point.
Greg Boyd expounds on four aspects of the nature of God’s mystery that are crucial to understanding this passage. The first is directly derived from this passage. In it we read about the seven thunders, which is a reference to the voice of God and a metaphor for God’s holiness and otherness. When John was preparing to write down his insights into the nature of these thunders, he was told not to do so. They were to be kept a secret. While we know the general plan that God will defeat evil and redeem all things, the specific way that the plan will play out is concealed. No one knows exactly how God will accomplish the rule of the kingdom of heaven. In fact, it is just the opposite. We do not have a clue how God is winning the war against evil, especially in light of the fact that it does not look like love, justice and peace are winning. Even so, we must not be discouraged. It might look like God’s ways are losing, but God has a plan that we cannot see.
The second aspect of God’s mystery is about the cross. The mystery of how God will accomplish his plan at the end of the age aligns with the mystery of how Christ defeated Satan through the crucifixion. Christ is the mystery of God (1 Corinthians 2:6-9). The cosmic rulers of this age could not understand God’s mystery of love and therefore thought that they could defeat God by killing Jesus. However, their ignorance actually was the means through which God expressed divine mystery. We do not know how this was done, as we do not have an overt explanation about the inner workings of how this love defeated evil. We only know that it is the reality of God’s way of working. (See Colossians 2:13-16.)
The third aspect of God’s mystery is that the plan of God involves the Church. In Ephesians 3:8-11, we read that the church is to show the manifold wisdom of God and demonstrate to the rulers and authorities the mystery of Christ’s victory. But when we look at the church today and throughout history, it appears that this strategy has been a complete failure. The church, as the Body of Christ, is only the true church when it displays the character of God manifest on the cross. The experience of most throughout history has been anything but that. How does this strategy lead to God’s victory? This is a mystery. We will not know how it works until it is fully manifest.
The fourth aspect of God’s mystery relates to God himself. What kind of God is it that holds the entire universe in his hand while also loving us so much that he becomes one of us to save us and include us in his redemption of all things? The greatest mystery of all is rooted in God’s character. It’s about how the ultimate being of all can give himself for each one of us.