The Omnipotent Lamb

Who is in charge of this world?

Sunday marked the 5th full day we have been in Athens, Greece. We worship at the First Evangelical Church in Athens, right under the shadows of the Acropolis. The Acropolis means “edge of city” or height of city. And it is. It is an amazing cite in the center of Athens. The ancient engineers of the 5th century BC (430 years before Jesus) knew what they were doing in order to bring glory to the goddess Athena, the god of culture and the symbol of Athens. It is magnificent and glorious.

The Greek people, however, are in turmoil and under the shroud of uncertainty. Their glory is bound up in their past. Protests, strikes, and unemployment (16%) mar the reality of Greece’s future glory. The pastor spoke from Psalm 82. It was a reminder to the Grecian Christian community to not look to politics or the gods of promises for their glory but to God and His Son.

The first image we see in Psalm 82 is God. He is the one who assumes the global throne and He alone sits in session with his divine council, God in three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We might also presume He takes council with His elders as pictured in Revelation 4. In the midst of the gods, politics, kings, promises, and powers of the world, God rules! The gods of human power rule from darkness. They rule for their own glory, which result in inequity and power games. The poor are downtrodden and used as political human shields for their own advancements. Where is justice? God will have it in judgment. He rules and there will be equity.

Revelation 4 and 5 come to mind. Exploding out from the midst of this scene is the Lamb. Jesus alone is worthy to crack open the seals of the scroll of human history. And in His right hand He wields the globe. He rules by power and reconciliation. Justice will be established, now or later. Now by His blood alone can we be friends of God. Yet, that same gentle ruler, Jesus, the wounded King will return to establish beauty, glory, and shalom to our world of riots, wars, and unemployment.

As His body, united together for this hope, we gathered on Mars Hill after the service to bring beauty to the world through a cleaning project at the site of the ancient Aeropagus. It was here that Paul stood up and preached of the eternal God who is “a sei” the God of Himself – “I am who I am.” He is a knowable God, revealed now through His Son Jesus who rose from the dead. We stood under the shadows of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and Nike – the god of victory. We live in a Nike world, a world of human pride and resistance to God’s reign of mercy and goodness.

Yet as we stood there it started to rain, heavy. Thunder clapped. As I gazed up at the Temple Nike nearly 100 feet over us, this ancient symbol of the gods dedicated to human achievement, a lightning bolt tore threw the clouds and plunged down striking the ruins of Nike. Shards of that ancient limestone came tumbling down. And we were at once all reminded in that moment who was in charge of this earth. The Lamb of God.

Keep our team in your prayers. Today (Monday) we go back into that city to visit the Red Light District.