“Then I heard every creature
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and in the sea,
and all that is in them, singing,
‘To the one seated on the throne
and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might
forever and ever!’”
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
This short passage from Revelation
that Alex read today
is the end of a scene
that John the Revelator
has been ,painting
for two chapters.
As quickly as he is caught up in his vision
into the heavenly throne room
he points to the throne itself.
It’s not empty.
Eugene Boring says,
“The ultimate future
is not an item of information to be analyzed
but a person to be encountered.”
When John writes early in chapter four
and in the end of chapter five that we heard today
“The one who sits on the throne”
he’s talking about God,
of course.
Alongside that, though,
he’s telling the church throughout all time
that despite whatever chaos they’re living through
God is in control.
The throne is not empty,
and neither chaos nor fate
have the final says.
This is the throne of God
and the Lamb
Jesus the resurrected Christ.
These are not competing imagines
or two people competing
to sit on a throne at the same time.
The way we know God
is through Jesus:
God who was willing to give up of himself
to join us here in time and space
and God who was willing to undergo death
but whose love could not be defeated
in death.
This is the lamb
being called worthy
in today’s passage.
In the chaos we’re living in,
I’m glad that the throne
of all of creation
isn’t empty.
Tonight we have discernment dinners
where you will talk about
the future of this congregation.
We have an all congregation meeting
on June 1
where you will be asked
which of the previously presented four options
you’re most willing and committed
to working for.
Outside our walls,
chaos and uncertainty
seem to be something of the point.
Are the tariffs taking effect for real this time
or being delayed again?
Do the words of the constitution
concerning birthright citizenship
mean what they clearly say
or don’t they?
Will the plain language and centuries of tradition
concerning the government entering private property
for search and seizure
be respected,
or won’t it?
Protesters are being disappeared
and whisked away to Louisiana
because of their speech,
because of how they challenge imperialism,
and gangs can just appointed
as part of a government.
As the Secretary of Defense tweets one thing
and the justice department argues
from the other side of its mouth to judges
the chaos and uncertainty
seem almost to be the point.
I’m reminded of when I talked about
neokayfabe on Palm Sunday:
Nothing is true
except the parts you want to be.
John’s vision of the end of the world,
offers hope and comfort.
As John writes about the throne room,
he writes about ultimate reality.
“The ultimate future
is not an item of information to be analyzed
but a person to be encountered.”
What makes us skittish
about Revelation, I think,
is how much pop eschatology
and those predicting
the end of the world
have been so loud.
We have a hard time
reading the text
and might rather avoid it
because of how we think about it
in the zeitgeist.
But that surrenders a part of the Christian story
that is good news for the world.
When we think only about
the judgments that are foretold
we miss John’s ultimate goals:
asking the church who it will serve
until Jesus’ return
and making very clear
what victory looks like for God.
John looks, and he hears
the voice of many angels surrounding the throne
and the living creatures and the elders.
He looks and he hears them
singing with full voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered,
not worthy is a lion
about to destroy everything in its wake.
Eugene Boring clarifies,
“‘Conquering’ [for the Christ and for Christians],
means no more or less than dying.
It never in Revelation
designates any destructive judgment
on the enemies of Christ or Christians.
Jesus stood before the Roman court,
was faithful unto death,
and this was his victory and his reign…
For Christians, what it means to ‘win’
has been redefined by the cross of Jesus.”
That’s what brings us
to our four verses from Revelation today,
where the whole creation joins in singing
the worthiness of the Lamb.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and in the sea,
and all that is in them
sing praises
to Jesus the crucified and resurrected Christ.
The vision of Revelation
is one where God’s mighty love
has triumphed
and the image of winning
isn’t an AI image of yourself
on a throne for which you aren’t qualified.
The vision of Revelation is one
where the entirety of the cosmos
has known the love of the Lamb
and been restored to unity
through God’s almighty love.
No one and nothing
is left out of this vision
of reconciliation.
Yes, right now is pretty chaotic
and we don’t know
how much the chaos will increase
or maybe sometime lessen.
Outside our walls,
chaos and uncertainty
seem to be something of the point.
Yet even when we leave our walls,
the one who sits on the throne
and who has made themself fully known
in Jesus the slaughtered Lamb
is still on the throne.
Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death
and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life.
Wearied by the cares and occupations of this life
we have a throne of grace to look at
as past and future are collapsed
in the worship of God.
As we join our “Holy, holy, holy”
to the eternal chorus
we join the whole reconciled creation singing
Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!