God's Power ...

Wednesday, July 13, 2016. We talked about the role of Jesus as “the lamb” yesterday. Let us stay with this bible passage for a moment. We hear about the angels around the throne of God in this image from the book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. It is highly interesting …

God's Possibilities …

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5, 11-12)

We hear about many angels, about myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. A myriad usually stands for 10.000. That would be 10^4, and myriads of myriads would be 10^8. Currently, we have 7*10^9 people living on the earth. That would mean in this image that the number of angels around the throne of God is comparable to the total number of people living on the earth.

Clearly, from the way this the biblical text is written, we conclude that the numbers here are not to be taken as concrete numbers, but as an estimate of the mere size of the number. It is very large, beyond imagination. It is a reflection of the power of God. It is a reflection of the possibilities of God.

God's Purity …

In our text, this power of God is contrasted with the vulnerable lamb, who is slain. This lamb alone is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. It is a very strong text which we read here! It is a text which spans the whole range of God, from universal power with Galaxies over Galaxies, to the individual single lamb, the human, the child of God, the son of God. It is a text about God's saving power in Jesus.

As humans, we are usually confronted with our little life and our little power, with our struggle and our difficulties. But there is a great God, a wonderful God. There is a savior, Christ Jesus. There are myriads of angels, and they want to be with us. Our role is to repent, to open our heart, to be renewed by his purity, his truth, his love and mercy. It has all been prepared by Christ, the lamb.

As humans, we have learned to gain insight into this world. We learn about its laws, about science and technology. And we are given freedom to choose. But there is also his power, his presence, his spirit, his reality. He wants to be with us, when we open our heart and our mind in faith. He wants to reach our heart, every day! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts