The End Is Praise

The End is Praise May 10 (Revelation 4) Last Sunday we heard about a new beginning (2 Chronicles 34). The people had been living apart from God’s instruction and as a result the Temple, the physical centre and symbol of their relationship with God, was in ruins. Then as one king, King Josiah, turned his attention towards God and so also towards this place of worship he began to restore it and in the process someone found an old scroll speaking of God’s covenant, promises and instruction for the people. The appropriate response was to gather the people for worship. There was confession of guilt, proclamation of the word, offering taken up, commitment of obedience and the praising of God. This story offered us an example of the ordering of worship that God’s people on earth are continually engaged in. Our reading this morning is from the book of Revelation. Revelation is often considered to be a vision of the end of the world and indeed it follows in the biblical tradition of speaking of the end-times but Revelation should perhaps be more appropriately read as a vision of eternity, a vision of what is happening in the realm engaged with but beyond human history. We pray in the Lord’s Prayer for God’s will to be done on earth as it is heaven. Revelation is a vision of God’s will as it is done in heaven. The context of Revelation is an acknowledgement of the discord between the will of God on earth and in heaven. For believers in the New Testament Christ is resurrected, the Spirit descends at Pentecost, Gospel is being proclaimed, and yet evil continues around and within them. And in this context there are two emerging threats. One is the increasing persecution of Christians by Rome which did not yet appear to be programmatic on the part of Rome but seemed to be increasing. The other and perhaps related threat was that Christians would be increasingly assimilated into the practices and beliefs of the world powers around them. This book then, far from being a mysterious and enigmatic code, is really a practical account to encourage the emerging church in faithfulness to God. As the book begins, blessed is the one reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Revelation moves quickly to a vision of the seven churches in Asia Minor. The number seven is one of the figurative numbers in the Bible that represent wholeness and so these seven churches represent the church as a whole. This vision is of the whole church. Then it speaks of the seven stars which are the angels of the seven churches. This is important for understanding the message of Revelation because it is the angels that often connect heaven and earth. The church does not simply exist on the level of world events and history but already exists or is connected to the heavenly ordering of reality. The church is already a heavenly being, that is connected to God’s order. It is then in chapter four, our reading this morning, that John’s vision breaks open into this heavenly ordering of reality. And this is perhaps also where many readers begin to lose their grip on what is going on. The chapter begins with a beautiful phrase. After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. John is being privileged now with a vision of God’s will as it is heaven. It says that John is then ‘in the Spirit’ and before him was a throne. A throne is literally a seat of power and glory

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and authority. All that follows in this vision finds its place and ordering around the throne. The one who sits on the throne had the appearance of jasper and carnelian and surrounding the throne is an emerald-like rainbow. The image here is of shear and almost overwhelming beauty. There is light bursting through the rainbow, being refracted and dazzling in the gems. Like other visions of God in the Old Testament God is not directly depicted only the glory that surrounds God. This is beauty but John is not simply trying to paint a pretty picture. The gems described represent God’s covenant with Israel. In the Tabernacle and Temple the High Priest wore on his chest a gem representing each of the 12 twelve tribes of Israel. The rainbow of course represents God’s covenant with the world. And so the reader is to know at the beginning of this vision that even as judgments will occur as the book progresses we are to remember that surrounding God’s throne is God’s promise and hope for the world and the always present possibility of new creation. Around God’s throne are 24 more thrones with 24 elders representing the faithfulness in both the Old and New Testament with the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. We hear thunder and lightening coming from the throne but below it says that there is a sea as calm and clear as crystal. The sea in the Bible represents chaos and destruction. The sea is always a potential threat. But even with the thunder and lightening under the throne of God the sea is calm and still. Then we hear about strange creatures surrounding the throne. They were all winged living beings but one looked like an ox, another like a lion, one was flying like an eagle and one looked human. And what is more each one of these creatures was covered with eyes. There is some conflict about what these living beings represent. It seems most likely that these beings represent the four corners of the world and also all that lives and breathes within it. The eyes on these beings seem to represent God’s presence throughout the world. Wherever there is life God is watching and knowing and acting. This vision begins to culminate when it says that day and night these living beings never stop saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. And whenever the living beings do this the 24 elders lay down their crowns before the king and profess that the Lord God is worthy to be praised. I need to repeat that this vision was not intended as some whimsical notion of heaven. This vision was given to guide and assure the church that was facing increased persecution and temptation. As believers lived and worked in the world it was vital for them to remember their connection with the heavenly realm which is God’s ordering of reality. On earth God has granted a certain freedom around whose throne we would bow before but in heaven and at the end of history there will be no question and so we must ask whose throne is at the centre of our reality? Last Sunday Jan mentioned how malls can function as modern day cathedrals. What about sports arenas and stadiums as they resound with songs of praise and acts of worship. We create liturgies and structures around the cult of beauty and strength and wealth and intelligence. Our citizenship can take priority over our baptismal vows. Our salaries can feel more nourishing than the Lord’s Supper. Our church can too easily and uncritically adopt business models in its meetings and entertainment models in its children and youth ministries. And God help us in our daily lives because it is hard at times to see that perhaps our acts are not directed towards the throne of God.

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So consider this vision. Consider that all of reality whether we accept it or not is orientated around the throne of the one is beautiful, the one who is faithful, the one who is past, present, and future. The one who has overcome chaos. The one who reaches every place and every heart in all of creation. In short, consider the vision of the one who is holy. It is this vision that calls us to praise God in trial and in triumphant. There is nothing in creation beyond the will God. As the elders say at the end of the chapter, You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being Everything you encounter within and around you was created to praise God. Not in spite of this but because of this there is conflict in the world. These opening chapters prepare the people for conflict with those who have established themselves as powers and attempt to seat themselves in the throne of God. We are built for worship but we are not programmed only to turn towards God with in it. So in the midst of this conflict we praise God not because we have already experienced our deliverance from evil but because deliverance from evil is assured and already is being accomplished in the order of God’s Kingdom. John Howard Yoder has reflected extensively on this vision for our lives and for the church. This vision should mark our lives with infinite confidence in our ability to reject all violent and destructive powers in this world. We no longer need to look to coercive powers to achieve our goals. The goal and purpose of every Christian is already accomplished in the heavenly order and will be established on earth. This leads Yoder to state that the “key to the obedience of God’s people is not their effectiveness but their patience.” Contrary to popular myth we cannot achieve any goal that we want to through hard-work and dedication. Our goal, as Christians, is already achieved it is a question of whether or not we can see that for what it is, namely the path of Christ which moves from life to death to resurrection. And it should be stated that patience is not being passive. Patience is a posture of understanding the world in relationship to God. It is engaging the world not with our attempts at control but with ceaseless acknowledging in our minds and actions that our God reigns. It is living as an act of praise. We praise God not because suffering has ceased. We praise God because the resurrected Christ is greater than suffering. Christ has suffered and died. And though we may suffer and die we will live in the one who has overcome. So May we join together in order to bear with one another the patient endurance required for this age. May we join together in the courage of conviction that rejects all powers making claims to throne of God. May we join together knowing that our praise reaches the heavens where it says in chapter 5 that John saw and heard, The voices of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living beings and the elders. And in a loud voice they sang, Worthy is the lamb, who was slain, To receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength And honour and glory and praise.

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Then John heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb Be praise and honor and glory and power Forever and ever! And then the four living beings said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshipped. This is the end. We know the end. The end is praise. May it be so now as it is already then. Amen.

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