Revelation 11:18

By Pastor Josh Wamble

Recently, I was talking with a group of men that I meet with each week.  Many would consider these men to be down and out.  Many would look down on them because of their situation in life.  These are marginalized men.  I was sort of surprised when a couple of them started to tell me how much it meant to them that I took the time to learn their names.  They went on to tell me that many people they interact with, even people they interact with regularly, never even bother to ask them their names much less make the tiny effort of learning their names.  I felt heartbroken for them.  Such a small act can have such a big impact on someone!

During this conversation, I was reminded of Revelation 11:16-18 that says:

¹⁶And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.  ¹⁸The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

More specifically, I was reminded of the small phrase in verse 18, “both small and great.”  The way the Lord values people is so different than how people are often valued (or not valued) in our world.

People often find value (in others and ourselves) in wealth or power or “success” or appearances or age or sex.  The list goes on and on.  People often ‘value” others based on what they can do for them or what they can get out of them.

Sometimes, this way of thinking even makes its way into the church.  At times, even believers are influenced by this worldly way of thinking.  If we are not careful, we begin to think of success in ministry as big churches or influence and power in denominational structures or over the internet and social media.  If we don’t work against this way of thinking, it will influence the choices we make in electing church members to committees or other leadership positions.  This is not the way it should be in the Kingdom of Christ!

The Lord has a very different way of valuing people.  When God charged the prophet, Samuel, to anoint the next king of Israel, Samuel began looking for a man who was strong and impressive—a man who looked like a leader.  He was searching for someone who looked like Israel’s first king, Saul.  “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7)

In Revelation 16:18, one of the ways the four living creatures worshipped God was by thanking Him that He rewards those who fear His name—both the small and the great!  Let’s strive to be a people and a church who values people differently than the world.  Let’s strive to look on the heart the way the Lord does.  Let’s strive to value people based on their relation to the Lord and to us not on their outward appearances or their level of worldly “success” or their level of influence and power.

After all, let’s not forget what Paul says about us in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians:

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  ²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  ³⁰And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”