Unto God be the glory,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Today, we celebrate what is surely the most problematic of the church’s festivals – at any rate for us enlightened moderns. Do any of us really believe in angels? Alas, I doubt my sermon will serve either to confirm or overcome our scepticism. Regardless…, after offering an introductory word about angels in general, I shall focus on this morning’s dramatic reading from the book of Revelation.
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Three angels are named in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. There are of course countless other angels – in the words of St John: …myriads upon myriads, and thousands upon thousands! (Rv 5.11)
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Angels are mighty beings. There’s a particularly vivid description in Revelation, chapter 10: …I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.
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Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded. (Rv 10.1-3)
In the words of one commentator: “…the image is one of total mastery…. [Angels are] an opening to another world, reminding us … there is more to the cosmos than what can be manipulated and controlled by human beings” (end quote). (Mangina Revelation [Brazos, 2010], 128f.)
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Angels are mighty beings. But, as both the Book of Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews make clear, they are creatures – not to be confused with the Creator – not, in other words, objects of worship, nor of mystification and superstition.
Twice in the Book of Revelation, St John is tempted to worship the angelic messenger, but is sternly rebuffed by the horrified creature: You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! (Rv 19.10)
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Though there are over 200 references to angels in Scripture, there are relatively few angelic appearances. In the Gospels they’re restricted almost entirely to the events surrounding Jesus’ birth and resurrection.
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With that…, let us turn our attention to this morning’s text, and St John’s startling vision of war in heaven. On the one side, the Archangel Michael and all the host of heaven – the armies of God. On the other, Satan and the demons. The scene is tailor-made for a Hollywood blockbuster! We can imagine Tolkeinesque battle scenes, dramatic displays of sword-play, and plenty of blood and gore. In actual fact, St John’s account is restrained, almost abruptly so. The battle is over almost before it begins.
You heard it, verse 7: The dragon – one of 5 different names given to Satan in these few verses – the dragon and his angels… were defeated, literally, lacked the power, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (Rev. 12.7f.).
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Well…, what are we to make of it? First, we need to remind ourselves of the kind of literature we’re reading. It’s a particular genre called ‘apocalyptic’ – exclusively Jewish, though taken up by the early church. The outstanding examples in the Bible are the 2nd ½ of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. But there are also briefer instances in some of the Prophets, and on the lips of Jesus in the Gospels. (e.g., Mk 13)
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The term, “apocalyptic” comes from the Greek, apokalypsis – literally ‘unveiling’. Apocalyptic visions draw the curtain back, as it were, on truths, realities, unavailable to normal investigation – the future, for example, or the spiritual realm: the unveiling usually accomplished by angels.
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Apocalyptic always emerges during times of intense persecution. Its purpose is to provide a God’s eye view to victims of oppression – those whose circumstances contradict the very existence, let alone the sovereign goodness and mercy, of God.
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What then of this morning’s particular vision of war in heaven? Doesn’t the very idea of war in heaven strike you as odd – even contradictory? How can there be war in heaven? And when was this war? And who are these mysterious protagonists?
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We’ll take the ‘when’ and ‘who’ questions, first. Talk of Satan’s losing his place in heaven suggests the story takes place in some primordial time, before the fall, perhaps even before time itself. In which case, “…[if] evil is ‘always already there’”, we must also say, and even more emphatically, “that God eternally refuses to make peace with [it]”. (Mangina, 148, 153)
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And yet evil is still very much in evidence! Eternally opposed and rejected by God, it nonetheless continues to ravage the earth – in the words of the angel in the last verse of our reading: …woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short! (Rv 12.12)
That being the case, the conflict between the Archangel and Satan, is not restricted to some primordial time. “It’s the conflict between Eve and the serpent, and between her offspring and its offspring, through the whole course of Israel’s history, until the day when [God’s] offspring should come”. (Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened [IVF, 1975], 121)
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Holding the two together – the conflict in its eternal dimension and the conflict in history – we must say that,
“…though Satan’s defeat occurs in some sense before the dawn of time, the reason for Satan’s fall lies in time”: (Mangina 153)
“[God’s offspring], the child, is born; and his triumphant progress” from Virgin’s womb to the empty tomb and beyond, “spells the dragon’s defeat”. (Wilcock, 121)
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That’s the force of the words of that loud voice from heaven that we heard in our reading: Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. (Rv 12.10f.)
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Now for my ‘how’ question – how can there be war in heaven at all? The question comes perilously close
to being a ‘Why’ question. I say ‘perilously’, because the Bible is not given to answering ‘Why’ questions:
- Why is there evil at all?
- Why doesn’t God cancel evil?
and so on.
The Bible doesn’t go in for explanations – it's not a work of philosophy or metaphysics. It’s more given to description and observation. We don’t find an explanation of the origin of evil, but a description of evil in action, and of how God relates to it, and deals with it.
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Today’s reading, and indeed the whole Book of Revelation, for that matter the whole Bible, insist there is a war going on: the Spirit of God in the People of God under constant assault by the determined and deceptive
power of evil. A war of intense conflict – and Scripture by no means underestimates its intensity. But…, a war
the outcome of which has already been decided –
- from eternity, - and by virtue of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ:
verse 7:
…the dragon and his angels… were defeated, and no place was found for them in heaven.
(Rv 12.7f.)
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But still…, my question remains, or at least, a certain discomfort with the language and imagery of war,
however biblical it may be. Prejudice, hatred, malice, anger, violence: we’re all too familiar with
the extent to which religion - can stoke the fires of these destructive impulses, - or, disguise them
beneath a veneer of respectability. And what about Scripture’s uncompromising portrayal
of the godly person as one who pursues – peace and reconciliation, mercy and kindness,
love and compassion: Blessed are the peacemakers…. Love your enemies and pray for those who despitefully use you…. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. (Mt 5.9, 44; James 1.20)
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All of that being said, I want to try to show you why these same Scriptures cannot dispense with the language and imagery of war – and to do so with the help of C. S. Lewis, specifically, the short preface to his book,
The Great Divorce. (Lewis, ‘Preface’, The Great Divorce [Macmillan, 1963]) The title has in mind
William Blake’s long poem, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. “If I have written of their Divorce”, Lewis explains, “this is not because I think myself a fit antagonist for so great a genius…”. Lewis’ book is not, in other words,
a diatribe against Blake’s poem. Rather, it’s Blake’s title that's so suggestive: “In some sense or other” (Lewis insists), “the attempt to make that marriage, [the marriage of heaven and hell] is perennial” (end quote).
We want to find some higher place where heaven and hell, good and evil, God and the devil, are no longer at odds, but married, reconciled, brought together in some all-encompassing synthesis, harmony. “The attempt”, Lewis argues (and I quote), “is based on the belief that reality never presents us with an absolutely unavoidable
‘either-or’; that, granted skill and patience and (above all) time enough, some way of embracing both alternatives can always be found; that mere development or adjustment or refinement will somehow turn evil into good without our being called on for a final and total rejection of anything we should like to retain. “This belief”, Lewis insists, “I take to be a disastrous error. “Evil can be undone, but it [will never] ‘develop’ into good.
“Time does not heal it” (end quote). [[To quote Lewis again: “If we insist on keeping Hell… we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell” (end quote).]]
Lewis reminds us of two classic metaphors for the way life is. The first is the circle – self-contained and continuous. It’s an attractive image, but ultimately misleading. In Lewis’ words, “We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre” (end quote).
Much better that we take up Jesus’ image of the forked road. Lewis again: “[We are living] in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork you must make a decision. I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road” (end quote).
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Of course, not all of life is black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. Those who insist on evaluating everything morally turn life into a grim and soul-destroying business! Much of life is morally neutral. And even where it's morally freighted, our prejudices, fears, and ignorance demand of us almost infinite resources of patience, a willingness to listen and learn, and to participate in respectful – if sometimes heated – difference and debate. But we do all that, precisely because we’re convinced - that heaven is heaven, and not hell, and hell is hell, and not heaven: - that there’s a real and discernible difference between – goodness and wickedness, justice and injustice, truth and lies, - and that we have a God-given responsibility within our limited spheres to be found on the side of the angels: to be engaged in the arduous task of resisting and unmasking all that threatens and perverts God’s good creation.
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Well, there’s my – or rather C.S. Lewis’ case for the biblical language and imagery of war, or as Lewis has it – the great divorce. It’s just necessary if we’re to hold on to the admittedly uncomfortable but biblical vision of the radical and irreconcilable conflict between heaven and hell – between the archangel, Michael, and the dragon, Satan.
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By way of brief and eccentric conclusion…: all of this is to say, with Hamlet to his friend, Horatio: “There are more things in heaven and earth…than are dreamt of iin your philosophy”. A lesson Horatio has learned by the end of the play as is evident in his words spoken over the dead body of his friend: “Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”.
(Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1.5. 165f.; 5.2. 397f.)
When our time comes, may flights of angels sing us to our rest in Christ. Amen.
