Over the last few days I have been thinking about Pentecost. During the season of Easter, Revelation serves as the 2nd New Testament readings in the Revised Common Lectionary (1:4-8,5:11-14,7:9-17,21:1-6 and 21:10+22-22:5). While these readings during Easter have some obvious placement of the churches understanding of the promise of God, I have been thinking of Pentecost and Revelation.
I think a good way to really understand the ascension of Christ and his current place is found in Revelation 5:
Rev. 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.
Rev. 5:7 He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne.
Rev. 5:8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Rev. 5:9 And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Rev. 5:10 And you have caused them to become
a Kingdom of priests for our God.
And they will reign on the earth.” (NLT)
Often-this means explaining away the images of Christ as the perfect male, or draped in an American flag with gleaming white teeth and instead looking at Christ the way John saw Him, bearing the marks of His suffering while exercising His singular role as the agent of life upon the Earth. He is being worshiped as YHWH by the creatures of heaven, a very bold theological development for the 1st century church. This passage shows a very early development of the Triune nature of God, differentiating the roles of Father and Son-but ascribing supreme divine status to Christ. The blood of the sacrifice has purified a people being set apart for an eternal role of devotion to the Father.
So in Pentecost, our worship of the ascended Christ is focused on these truths. Explained using deep imagery, we now go past Easter worshiping the fullness of the relationship between the Triune God, while remembering (and rejoicing) the sacrifice on the cross.
I think a good way to really understand the ascension of Christ and his current place is found in Revelation 5:
Rev. 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.
Rev. 5:7 He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne.
Rev. 5:8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Rev. 5:9 And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Rev. 5:10 And you have caused them to become
a Kingdom of priests for our God.
And they will reign on the earth.” (NLT)
Often the ascension is something that never enters the average evangelical mind. We skip over it in favor of a view of a "conquering" Lord who exists in a future promise of 2nd coming.
The image in Revelation of a lamb standing as sacrificed is best translated as “of the killing by violence” (BDAG). This isn’t a sacrificial term, but one that denotes a death that comes at the lack of mercy from another. The marks of this death aren't bloody imprints on the hands, but the full brunt of a brutal Roman execution. The marks describe the horrific type of death. The sacrificial imagery comes from the “lamb”and the tie-ins to the passover feast and sacrifice.
To think that Christ, carrying the marks of his crucifixion ascended to the right hand of the Father is our image through Pentecost. During John’s vision, he saw Christ functioning in this place. The pascha (where we get our term passion; denoting the sacrificial passover meal) marks of our Lord are still on His body.Often-this means explaining away the images of Christ as the perfect male, or draped in an American flag with gleaming white teeth and instead looking at Christ the way John saw Him, bearing the marks of His suffering while exercising His singular role as the agent of life upon the Earth. He is being worshiped as YHWH by the creatures of heaven, a very bold theological development for the 1st century church. This passage shows a very early development of the Triune nature of God, differentiating the roles of Father and Son-but ascribing supreme divine status to Christ. The blood of the sacrifice has purified a people being set apart for an eternal role of devotion to the Father.
So in Pentecost, our worship of the ascended Christ is focused on these truths. Explained using deep imagery, we now go past Easter worshiping the fullness of the relationship between the Triune God, while remembering (and rejoicing) the sacrifice on the cross.
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