A Revelation Invitation

(The “Worthy Is the Lamb” series begins here.)

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:11-12 ESV)

In his youth Jesus must have read and considered the implications of Psalm 112, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! … Wealth and riches are in his house …” (vv 1,3a ESV). How did this Psalm shape this young man’s expectations? Jesus was a man who, as the psalmist described, truly feared the Lord, devoting his whole life to his Father’s service. He also, as the psalmist described, greatly delighted in the Lord’s commandments being obedient to the Law in every way. Accordingly, such a man should possess wealth and riches. How did that work out for him?

None of us chose the time at which we were born. None of us chose the family who welcomed us into the world. None of us chose the nation in which we began life. Those circumstances determine to a large extent how much wealth and riches we possess in life. Jesus was the one person in human history who did choose the time, the place and the family into which he was born. So, he chose to be born to an unmarried, teenage girl who lived in poverty in a backwater community of a country occupied by an oppressive Roman Empire. His parents couldn’t even afford the lamb to redeem their son at his birth. Instead they offered two turtledoves (Luke 2:22-24), the sacrifice designated for the poor. The Son of God had made all of the wrong choices … if his goal was wealth and riches.

He didn’t have to live in poverty. He chose to. It is no surprise then that Jesus preached good news to the poor (Luke 4:16-19). He understood them. He knew how they suffered. Despite a life of poverty (or maybe because of it), he experienced a blessed life. Thus, he spoke with sincerity when he promised, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20 ESV).

When the Chosen One chose to fast for forty days, he certainly empathized with the starving of the world. And so he taught, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied” (Luke 6:21 ESV) having experienced the satisfaction of God’s blessing in his own life.

The Creator of heaven and earth showed no sense of entitlement as he lived by the truth of his teaching: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matthew 6:25ff ESV) He trusted his Father in heaven.

The Son of God lived as a homeless man saying, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58 ESV).

When our great high priest observed the poor widow contributing her pennies to the temple treasury, he praised her and the faith that she demonstrated (Mark 12:41-44). She had a perspective toward wealth like his own.

All the comforts and pleasures of life could have been his. He was deserving. His poverty did not shape his ministry so much as his fear of the Lord and his delight in God’s commandments shaped his view of poverty. And at the cross, Jesus was stripped bare of the only possessions he had, that is, the clothes on his back (John 19:23-24), only to receive all the riches of heaven when he ascended to his Father.

Now we join with the chorus of angels singing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive wealth.”

(Part 3 of the “Worthy Is the Lamb” series is here.)