Lamb (Pentecost - Day 8)

(Based on Revelations 7:1-17)

Imagine the President of the United States is sitting in a chair inside of Texas Stadium. His seat is located in a centralized area for his aides, secretaries, and congress. Surrounding him are all his staff, including elder statesmen/women. Every person attending this event has been given an American flag to wave for when the President walks out to his chair. There is even a known chorus among the masses called the National Anthem that will be sung. These events are held once a year, and they are for the public execution of criminals. Criminals who have been charged with threatening the safety and comfort of the United States get hung, killed by firing squad, or electrocuted inside Texas stadium once a year. The whole idea is to purge any threats of the American way of life.

I know this sounds a bit fantasized for us, but for Rome around the time this letter was written, this was happening. Obviously, Texas stadium would have been the Colosseum and the president would have been the ruling caesar. The American flag would have been palm branches, and the song would have been played by water organ and curved harp.

We're told in the scriptures that Jesus was the perfect lamb, spotless lamb, and lamb that was slain. A lamb in Roman times represented a very gentle and defenseless creature. During the Gladiator games in the Colosseum, lambs wound not have been used. The demand was for blood thirsty animals like lions and tigers. There were several different types of shows that would go in, including animal hunts. This is where a gladiator would maneuver around different props inside the stadium to find the giraffe, elephant, rhino, or hippo hiding. The props would mimic the animal's natural setting. The only time docile, non-predatory creatures were used in the games was on animal hunts - where a human being hunted the animal.

In the vision that's painted by John in Revelation, God is sitting on a throne surrounded by angels, elders, and animals. There are 144,000 people - 12,000 from each tribe of Israel - standing before the throne. Behind them are all the nations, tribes, languages, and people waving palm branches and singing praises to God. Everyone is wearing a white robe. One of the elders speaks to John during the vision saying, "Do you know who all the people in the white robes are?"

The elder says they are all the ones who made it through the Tribulation, which is what preterists call the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Although the Colosseum couldn't hold more than about fifty thousand spectators, Paul is using metaphor to describe who it is that this lamb has been slain for. He says everyone - all nations, all languages, and all people. It was common during the games for the spectators to receive prizes or chances to receive gifts, just like drawings happen today at sporting events.

It was very common for the emperor at the time to call himself Lord or God, and Son of God. This is what makes Jesus so controversial and threatening to the empire at the time. He was a threat, a criminal, and deserved to be killed in public execution style. The picture or vision that John puts together is one that directly corrolates to how the Roman games in the Colosseum would have been played out. Except, he replaces the emperor with the "Most High God," and it's this God the people are worshiping. The lamb slain in the middle of the colosseum represents Jesus, the Lamb of God. The robes of the people have been washed clean in the blood of the lamb, and now they are surrounding the throne, not under manipulative power of the emperor, but under the unending love and compassion by the Great King.

It is there that John tells us this King will make his home. It's with the people, and there will be no more hunger, no more thirst, and no more scorching heat (possibly referring to drought in Rome or the Great Fire).

There about a million different ways to go with this passage, but I'd like to go the way of restoration. In this passage, there are things and people being restored. The kingship is restored. No longer is the king a deceiving, manipulating, controller of the people, but a compassionate provider and forgiver of the people. No longer is the stadium used as a platform for public killings, but a stage for mass washings and renewals. No longer are animals used to kill or be killed, but they accompany the High King by His throne. No longer are sections of the colosseum divided by social and power status, but everyone's status is defined by the lamb slain in the middle of the arena. Everyone has received status of "forgiven and washed clean."