October 24th, 2020

There is not an Old Testament text for this Sunday but only a ‘First Reading’. This Sunday is Reformation Sunday, when we celebrate the Reformation on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther’s posting of his ninety-five theses on the Wittenberg church door. Although a lot of wonderful events happened afterwards, that event in 1517 points to the start of something memorable and good. And perhaps the Old Testament may be thought of in the same way.

The First Reading for Reformation Sunday is from the book of Revelation [14:6-7], and that book has certainly a lot of Old Testament connections. In fact, it is difficult to get away from the Old Testament within many of the New Testament books, but especially with that book. With the background knowledge of the Old Testament, the entire New Testament makes a lot more sense.

It is critical, though, to have an Old Testament understanding with a New Testament book like Revelation. One of the misunderstandings that happens with this week’s Revelation reading is that, since that particular angel is described as having the ‘eternal gospel’, when the message of that angel is comprised of three commands, some people wonder how that can be called the gospel or ‘good news’.

It is important to remember that the word ‘gospel’ is an Old Testament word, a word that is very much connected to angels who are basically messengers. This is not just any messenger though. The Old Testament word ‘gospel’ often comes up when dealing with a message for a king. Whatever the news, it is ultimately important because the king is involved.

These days, with the high level of civil unrest that is seen in many places, there is a great amount of disrespect for those in authority. It might be good to go over the three commands that appear in the Revelation text. The three commands are these: Fear him, give him glory, and worship him. There is a definite progression here, and these three commands may be seen in the light of a person who is coming before a king.

Fear is a good starting point. Luther knew that. And with fear comes the realization that this person whom you are approaching has the power to kill you. If the fear is too great, you would never go into his presence. But if the fear is too little, you would probably go before the king and get into BIG trouble.

Giving glory to a king means that, as you come into his presence, you would acknowledge his authority in some special way. That shows the respect that you have. Entering the presence of the king, someone who could kill you, is a significant thing. When you do that, you follow his rules and not your own. If he wants you to do something that seems silly to you, I would strongly suggest doing it.

The final command, to worship, is undoubtedly the most significant. It is a special verb in the Old Testament, with a unique way of being written out in Hebrew. That uniqueness seems to be a reminder of how important it is.

These three things are seen in many places in scripture. But I would like briefly to look at their presence within the book of Esther. That book really does not get a lot of visibility in the three-year or even the one-year series; it NEVER appears as a reading. But it IS a good explanation of the Feast of Purim (see especially 9:24-28), but even THAT does not mean it is spoken when the time comes for the reading of the Old Testament text.

There is a lot of fear in Esther since she has not been asked to be before the king for thirty days. Here is the lengthy verse which gives that information, as well as the important aspect of the king holding out a scepter to someone (and someone touching that scepter; see 5:2). That is giving glory to someone, to acknowledge their authority. It seems like a silly thing, but a scepter really is like a fancy club. You would not want to be beaten by it—or anything else that the king has.

These are the words of Esther (in a somewhat literal translation):

“All the servants of the king and the people of the provinces of the king, the ones knowing that any man and woman who comes to the king in the inner court, who was not called, there is one law: to kill, except the one to whom the king extends the scepter of gold, he may live. And I was not called to go to the king these thirty days (4:11).”

In this book there are a lot of verses that talk about the king’s body position and those of the other people around him. This is a unique situation where someone is falling down before someone else. Here are somewhat literal translations of what happened after Mordecai was humiliated after Haman was exalted (and this first verse appears right after the middle point between the two mentions of Purim in 3:7 and 9:24); you might notice how many times people are falling in these verses, but especially in this first one:

And Haman recounted to Zeresh, his wife, and to all his loved ones all that had happened to him, and his wise men and Zeresh, his wife, said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall before his face, is from the seed of the Jews, you will not be able to stand against him, more specifically, you will surely fall before his face (6:13).’

And the king returning from the garden of the palace to the house to the banquet of wine, and Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was…(7:8a).

And Esther did again, and she spoke before the face of the king, and she fell before the face of the king, at his feet…(8:3a).

Worship is sometimes done in a prostrate position, when a person is on his face on the ground before the face of a very important person. This may get us ready for the significance of the New Testament.
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This angel with an eternal gospel is getting us ready for a God who comes to us in the form of a servant—from the seed of the Jews—as the reference goes in Esther. Now THAT is good news!