Text: Revelation 5: 11-14
Last week as we gathered for worship, we focused on the basic message at the core of the Book of Revelation:
“Jesus is coming and he will sit on the throne… and the world and all its powers will not. Our work is to allow God to make us into a kingdom, to serve as priests, and give God praise.”
As John of Patmos receives this vision, this revelation, he also receives a word for seven churches.
The number “seven” we talked about last week can also mean completion, or totality, or all that is heaven and earth.
So in many ways, this is a message for all the churches.
There are some who started faithfully, but as they faced trials, they got tired and worn out.
Some who are going to be facing intense persecution.
Some who are torn apart by false teaching or who have a wishy-washy lukewarm faith.
Some who are on the brink of death and need to be resuscitated and others who are holding on even though they have nothing left.
And we are invited to see ourselves somewhere among this lot.
In the midst of the powers of the world that are competing for our attention are we serving God… or have we given in?
Are we as faithful and energized as we were at the start… or have we given up?
Are we sharing the love and message of God with the world… or have we embraced some other kind of message?
This opportunity to reflect and to hear a word of truth about our ministry is followed by a vision of what God ultimately desires for us.
And so chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation give us glimpse of heaven itself in all of its weird and wonderful splendor.
We are shown the throne of God and the scroll that will show us how everything will come to pass.
It is a vision of what Craig Koester calls “a rightly ordered universe in which God is at the center.” [1]
Four creatures, full of eyes and wings represent all of creation and the elders represent the community of the faithful.
But not just these representative figures… the text goes on to talk about all living creatures.
Magrey DeVega describes, “dogs, elephants, hyenas, praying mantises, muskrats, and turtles… all of them… also human beings… regular, ordinary, common Joes and Janes. Not just one or two, but a legion of them… what John is painting here is a picture of concentric circles… and it all centers on a focal point.”[2]
And all of them join their voices in worship…
They understand that God is at the center of the universe… and they are not.
They relinquish power and turn it into praise… or as the familiar hymn reminds us:
Holy, Holy, Holy, All the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
In our scripture for this morning, all of creation fixes its attention the throne and the one who sits on it.
All of creation erupts in praise.
God is the center, the source, the creative force of all life in this universe.
And that means that you are not.
That might be an obvious kind of statement, but how often do we act as if the world does revolve around us?
How often do we trample on the needs of others for our own comfort?
How often have we used and abused this creation, plundering its resources, rather than seeing it as a gift we are called to steward?
How often have we rallied around our own positions and policies – lifting them up as gospel truth?
How often has our nation declared itself a savior, the light of the world, the beacon of liberty?
How often have we claimed that our economic system is the only one that can truly bring happiness and wealth?
How often have I turned inward and focused on my own selfish desires rather than think about what I could do to bless my neighbor?
In the message to the seven churches, we are called to take account of our place in this world.
Are we serving ourselves? Or are we faithful to the kingdom of God?
Have we turned our gaze towards the powers of this world? Or are we focused on the one on the throne at the center of all creation?
This isn’t just about the ultimate end of the world as we know it… it is about the attitude and attention that we embody right here and right now.
There is only one who sits on the throne… and it isn’t you or me.
All throughout the season of Lent, we focused on the words of the Lord’s Prayer… the prayer that Jesus taught us.
We prayed for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.
We prayed for God’s will to be done.
And within these chapters of Revelation, not only do we see the throne, but we also catch a glimpse of God’s will.
There is a scroll, closed up with seven seals, that represents the message, the story, of how we are going to get from the world as we know it… full of disease, disaster, and death… to this reality.
An angel cries out – “who is worthy to open the scroll?”
I don’t know about you, but I have this image of the sword in the stone, or Thor’s hammer… everyone is waiting and anxious and worried that no one will come, that none will be worthy.
But the faithful elders remember the promises of God.
One of them leans over to John and whispers – “Don’t weep. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has emerged victorious so that he can open the scroll…” (5:5)
So… John looks!
And what John sees is not a powerful lion, not a victorious king… but a lamb.
A lamb that has been slaughtered.
A lamb with seven eyes and seven horns.
A lamb who takes his place with God on the throne.
Worthy is the lamb.
Eugene Boring calls this “one of the most mind-wrenching reversals of imagery in all of literature… the one who has conquered did so not through violence, but by sacrificing his own life. This is the power that enables him to take the scroll from God’s hand and execute its contents, the divine plan for bringing history to a worthy conclusion and establishing God’s justice.”[3]
The one who comes to save us, to unite us with heaven…
He does not come with violence or power, but with mercy and sacrifice and love, poured out for others.
Only the Lamb that was Slain can answer the prayer “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”
Now, I mentioned to you that we aren’t going to really dive into all of the difficult, weird, messy, complicated details of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls.
But in many ways, the echo the chorus of the new song that all of creation is singing in Revelation chapter 5:
Only Jesus is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals.
Jesus is worthy because he was slain and by his blood he bought us all.
By his love and sacrifice he ransomed us all, redeemed us all.
And he made us into a kingdom so that we might serve and worship God on earth.
What we find repeated in the message of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls is actually the story of how sacrificial love and mercy is what will transform the world.
It is not the four horsemen who unleash disaster and death…
It is not the plagues and locusts…
As the story of God’s people in the Old and New Testment show us – judgment and destruction do not lead people to repentance. They harden their hearts and continue to follow the powers of the world.
They are caught and tempted by the spiritual forces of evil and simply cannot escape.
God wins, empires fall, evil is defeated, not by the sword but by love.
Sacrificial love.
Jesus dies for his enemies.
And God’s army, the faithful ones, the witnesses, they are the ones who imitate the sacrificial love of the lamb and show God’s mercy to others.
They will know we are Christians by our love.
It is the power of God’s love that helps us withstand disaster and famine and overcome violence and war.
It is the power of God’s love that helps us hold on to hope in the face of threats and destruction and terrible news in the doctors office.
It is the power of God’s love that helps us focus on the Lamb, rather than the beastly forces of this world.
And it is the power of God’s love that will ultimately usher in the new creation – the new heaven and the new earth.
And the good news is, we don’t have to wait until the end of the world in order to live in the power of God’s love.
It is here, right now, all around us.
As Easter people, Jesus believe Jesus is coming and he will sit on the throne… and the world and all its powers will not.
Our work… right now… today as the church… is to allow God to make us into a kingdom, answer the call to serve, and to pour out love into this world.
May it be so. Amen.
[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/preaching-series-on-revelation-2/commentary-on-revelation-41-11
[2] A Precher’s Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series Vol 2, p. 199
[3] The New Interpreters Study Bible, p. 2221
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