Prop 8 and Rev 19

Wednesday was an historic day in America, as the Supreme Court ruled that the state of California could not discriminate against those who wanted a same sex marriage. The court majority ruled that the DOMA, signed into law by Clinton in September 1996, was unconstitutional because it was written to define marriage as between one man and one woman, and therefore discriminated morally against homosexuals.

It's worth pausing, just for a second, to reflect on how quickly the world changes. Not just the truism that what is taboo, illegal even, in the first generation will be celebrated in the third, but that as recently as 1996, a Democrat government (!) led by Clinton (!) could legislate against same sex marriage. These are extraordinary days we live in.

The Church, as i see it, has a number of options. We can throw out the Bible and jump into the hand basket, because that eerie glow in the distance must be the dawn of a new day. That's obviously exactly the wrong thing to do. Or we can shout and scream and mourn the death of the god of American civil government, and lament the fact that the founding fathers would be turning in their graves, which is also far from the best course of action. We can point out the elephant in the room, the logical fallacy of allowing a man who wants to marry another man equality, but not a man who wants to marry several women. Or indeed an elephant. And the time will come for that. Bad laws take two or three generations to wreak their havoc. You're relegated at the end of the season, not on transfer deadline day.

Or we can do the best thing, the sensible thing. We can wonder to ourselves, why do they nations rage, humming along with Jesus as He walked out of the tomb. We can remember that since the Fall, men's feet have rushed to shed blood. We can remember that the Bible promises us these days, and that God always keeps His promises.

Those aren't the only promises in the Bible though. God promises Adam a serpent crusher. He promises Abraham a country. He promises Moses rescue. He promises David a son. He promises Jeremiah return. He promises us that He'll never leave us. The root, the ground, and the goal of all these promises is found in Revelation 19:11-21. In these verses we find Jesus, not cowed by the Supreme Court, not silence by secularism, riding a white horse. Jesus' robes are dipped in the blood of His enemies, and His victory is sure. He comes, and throws the beast and the false prophet in the lake of fire, he destroys those who follow the unholy trinity. Soon He'll bind the devil too. He doesn't looked perturbed, he doesn't look weak, he doesn't look like a legend or a fairy tale. He looks terrifying. He is. And victory belongs to Him.

No matter what happens between then and now, we have to remember this. Not because we want to destruction of sinners, we long for their God glorifying salvation. That they would see, as Christians do, the irresistible loveliness of Jesus, and come to Him. We need to remember that all God's promises are, quite literally Yes in Jesus, because all too often the Church feels like an overlooked seventh son, headed towards a giant just five stones and a sling shot.

And we all know how that turned out.