心中两个王 Two Kings In My Heart

Speaker: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee
Date: 19th Mar 2023
Title: Two Kings In My Heart

One of the earliest children hymns that I learned in Jubilee is 心中两个王 【1】. The song describes two kings in my heart, one desiring to bring me to hell, and the other to heaven. The former is Satan, while the latter is the King of the heavens, Jesus Christ. The song concludes with believing in Jesus to go to heaven. I envisage an experience of Jesus and Satan tugging at me towards heaven and hell in an agonizing moment of moral and spiritual struggle.

I believe when John was given the three visions of judgment in Revelation 14, the seven churches were facing their heaven or hell moment. Such a moment is well illustrated by a famous story of the early church known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp. 【2】 Though it happened about 60-70 years after Revelation, I’m sure the seven churches were dealing with similar situations. Polycarp was a disciple of John the Apostle who later became of bishop of Smyrna, incidentally also one of the seven churches of Revelation. At age 86, retired but well respected by the Christian community, he was arrested by Roman officials and brought to the stadium. “The local proconsul, Statius Quadratus, threatened Polycarp: he'd be thrown to wild beasts.” 【3】All he had to do to escape death was to swear by the fortune of Caesar (which means professing that Caesar is divine), and to renounce his faith by cursing Christ. This was not an empty threat because earlier in the story, a Christian named Germanicus had just died in this way, and another named Quintus had survived because he got scared and became an apostate.

At that decisive moment, Polycarp declared his famous line: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?” Then Quadratus threatened to burn him at the stake instead, presumably a more painful way to die. Polycarp again replied, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little (while) is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why do you tarry? Bring forth what you will.” Polycarp was eventually burnt to death.

For the first three centuries, the intense persecution of Christians, like what we have just heard of Polycarp, meant that choosing to be a Christian was a life and death decision. And to those who think that in a matter of life and death, you would definitely choose life over death, Revelation 14 answers in three visions: There is life after death.

The first vision of Revelation 14 addresses the life after death of those who are faithful. To those who are willing to “4 follow the Lamb wherever he goes”, which means to be faithful till the very end just like Polycarp, they will be among the 144 thousand worshipping the Lamb upon the heavenly throne. The first vision is a reminder to struggling Christians of the seven churches that even if they face martyrdom, they will be vindicated by eternal life before Christ. Even though Germanicus was killed by wild beasts, and Polycarp by fire, they will live on in heaven after death. This is made clear in verse 13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” We sometimes declare this in wakes and funerals, but imagine the encouragement and comfort this declaration brings to the seven churches who are troubled by those who have sacrificed and died during the persecutions.

The reverse outcome of life after death for the unfaithful is reflected by the second vision of the three angels. The first angel’s declaration is a call to worship, but you can also think of it as a final warning of the coming judgment. The second angel then declares the downfall of Babylon, which in the tug of war of the two kings in your heart, you can interpret Babylon as the lure of Satan. Finally, the third and last angel then pronounces the eternal torment of those who have the mark of the beast. Just like the first vision is about rewarding the faithful, the second vision is about punishment for the unfaithful. So even though those like Quintus escaped death by denying Christ, they will not escape their second death in hell.

Allow me to recall the starting imagery of two kings in your heart tugging towards heaven or hell. Whether you see the reality of life after death as a promise to the faithful, or as a threat to the unfaithful, I think the main issue is the time interval between immediate gratification and the eventual consequence. Some may think this: Who cares what happens in the life after death as long as I get what I want right now, whether it is survival from the suffering of persecution or the hedonistic indulgences of the Roman culture. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, right? What I’m getting or sacrificing feels certain right now, compared to life after death which feels uncertain.

This issue is addressed by the third vision of the two harvests of a grain field and a vineyard. Using a reference to Joel 3:13 【4】the harvest vision was given the seven churches, because they experience “you reap what you sow” literally as part of their daily lives. The future may feel far off in time, but it comes for sure just like the changing of the seasons; from the spring for sowing, to the summer for watering and weeding, till the autumn for harvesting. Brothers and sisters, if you ever experience moments where you feel the two kings in your heart tugging at you towards heaven or hell, remember the harvest metaphor. The wait will not be long; God’s judgment is already on the way.

Revelation 14 is the final chapter of the drama that first started in Revelation 12, a struggle between the dragon representing forces of evil, and the woman representing the people of God. What should the people of God do in the fight between good and evil, while we are between life right now and life after death? Hence the seven churches were reminded in Revelation 13: 10 This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people. In a way, Revelation 14 is the happy ending the listeners can look forward to. The objectives are again repeated clearly in Revelation 14: 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. There is indeed life after death: no sacrifice would be in vain, and no betrayal would get away scot free.

We can see that endurance and faithfulness are the repeated application of both chapters 13 and 14. Though the two qualities overlap, endurance and faithfulness actually address different facets of steadfastness. Endurance implies withstanding hardship, whereas faithfulness implies resisting temptations to deviate. Therefore, when the threats to our faith are blatant like persecutions, we need to have endurance, but when they are subtle like secularism, we need faithfulness.

I wish to end with two reflections on the topic of endurance and faithfulness First let me talk about faithfulness. Revelation 14 used sexual purity as a metaphor for spiritual faithfulness. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. Unfortunately, this metaphor has led to a few negative consequences in church history. There are those who took it literally and they interpreted sexual relationships as defiling and virginity as a spiritual virtue to go to heaven. 【5】

What I do think is the point is that this sexual purity is purely a metaphor for spiritual purity. “The 144,000 are here pictured as the promised bride of Christ (cf. 21:9) who, as they await the day of marriage, have kept themselves pure from all defiling relationships with the pagan world system. They have resisted the seductions of the great harlot Rome with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication (17:2).” 【6】So to be clear, there is nothing wrong and defiling about sexual relationships, and heaven is not just for virgins. The purpose of the metaphor is simply purity in faithfulness to Christ, and not to the world. As Jesus warned in Matthew 7: 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. What then is faithfulness to Christ? To me, it means following the path of Jesus, such as humility, reaching out to the marginalized, and self-sacrifice. Last week, Elder Yook Cing shared three possible manifestations of the antichrists of our era, namely false doctrines, self-centeredness, and the virtual world. Eugene Peterson identified similar idolatry within the contemporary church, when we are lured into worshipping “consumerism, celebrity, charisma”, as represented by charismatic celebrity pastors with their populist prosperity gospel. [7] Faithfulness to Christ means staying pure to who Jesus is, and not our idolatrous versions of him.

Next, I want to focus on endurance for my second reflection. Some of us, myself included, may be troubled by the violent language used in the description of the judgment against the followers of the beast. Whether it is the burning sulfur or the giant pool of blood, the concept of a God who tortures, not just physically but also psychologically tormenting the wicked, is jarring when compared with a benevolent and compassionate God. Hence it is essential to remember that the violent language which itself is borrowed from Isaiah 63 and 66, is clearly rhetorical in nature. One commentator suggests to those of us who are horrified by the violent language, “John may be reflecting the accumulated hatred of the holy ones who are … persecuted and murdered. Bear in mind that John is not depicting literal events. This is not descriptive language intended to give the readers an actual description of what God’s punishment on the wicked will be like.” 【8】

I wonder if the violent language is perhaps essential for endurance. One of the key reasons we can endure is because we have an innate sense of ultimate justice. We endure because we know it would not be in vain, and God will make it fair and right in the end. If you speak to the victims of war, whether it is comfort women or people who have lost loved ones, I think we can empathize how they might seek justice upon the evildoers, and doubly so for the traitors. One example of this is the prayers of the Israelites tormented by the actual Babylonians in Psalm 137: 8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
Sounds scary right? I’m glad the Bible doesn’t shy away from voices of bitterness and pain from the victims that comes from the wickedness of the world.

But I wish to conclude with this thought: We are called not just to have endurance, but endurance with faithfulness; which means that we must always return to the example of Jesus. In this period of Lent, let us be reminded of how Jesus faced his persecutors even till his death on the Cross. He prayed for them in Luke 23: 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” If I were to sum it up, my conclusion is to leave vengeance to God. You can pray to God with all your bitterness and pain for the wicked, especially if it helps you with endurance, but we must return back to faithfulness to Jesus, who exemplified peace and reconciliation with his sacrifice on the Cross.

[1] https://youtu.be/XwO8c06PIqc
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrdom_of_Polycarp For full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0102.htm
[3]https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/martyrs/polycarp.html
[4]https://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/?sermon_id=417
[5] The reason for such an interpretation is because the belief in asceticism, “a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals”. I have addressed the pros and cons of asceticism in a previous sermon. See https://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/?sermon_id=955
[6] Mounce, R. H. (1998). The book of Revelation (Vol. 27). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Pg 267
[7]https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/97859.The_Jesus_Way
[8]Reddish, M. G. (2001). Revelation. Smyth & Helwys.

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