Christ the King! Revelation 1:4-8
I overhead a conversation not so long ago between two young women. They were probably 18 or 19 years old – at that stage where you have a lot more ahead of you than behind you. Usually, a time of starry-eyed dreaming and hopes for the future.
But the conversation had the tone of two old dears in a rest-home reminiscing over lost opportunities and a world gone wrong.
The conversation was about having children.
The gist of it was that both were fearful about having children in our world because of the state of it – particularly the climate crisis. They were resigned to the fact that there wasn’t much point in bringing children into the world because it was all about to come to some sort of apocalyptic end.
The world-weary cynicism coming from two bright young people took me by surprise.
It unsettled me, and it made me think about where we are at.
These young people aren’t alone in their fears. In 2020 the Guardian published an article quoting academic research that involved surveys of people between the ages of 27 and 45. One woman saying: “I feel like I can’t in good conscience bring a child into this world and force them to try and survive what may be apocalyptic conditions.”[1]
This story, this narrative is one that is quite prevalent today.
The grand telos of the creation ending in climate apocalypse. A world without hope or meaning, other than the outside chance that we might recycle more and pollute less and by some miracle things might work out.
As a quick aside – let me say I truly think we can be active in caring for creation and be better stewards of it without buying into this climate horror story. The story of Scripture compels us to care and be responsible.
But it has a very different ending.
There are many prophets of doom and gloom.
We have a media that constantly draw our attention to the most horrific and sensational stories from around the globe. Stories of injustice and war, stories of suffering and pain.
As well as this, currently we are facing a global pandemic.
Amongst all of this, its’ easy to feel that we are slipping into some kind of dystopia. It’s easy for fear to get hold of us in these times. It’s easy to lose hope.
In all of this I realize how much the stories we tell matter.
Every story has an end, a goal, a conclusion.
The Christian story is one that has a particularly hopeful end. It tells the story of a bright future and hope and healing for the world.
However, in times such as these it’s easy for us to lose sight of this vision. In fact, many people grow up without hearing this story at all. And so, as we gather today to hear the scriptures and reflect on them, what we are doing is reminding ourselves of the story at the very heart of our faith – the story that scripture tells of a God who creates, and who redeems, a God who refuses to leave us to our own devices, and gives us a hope and a future.
The conversation about having children struck me because at its heart it is a conversation about hope or lack thereof.
One of my favourite Christian ethicists, Stanley Hauerwas puts it well saying: “We have children as a witness that the future is not left up to us and that life, even in a threatening world, is worth living — and not because ‘Children are the hope of the future,” but because God is the hope of the future.”[2]
I love that line – “because God is the hope of the future.”
A secular worldview has every reason to despair in the face of the various challenges of 21st century life. There are various intractable problems before us that cause us to wring our hands or hang our heads in despair – that is the reality. And if all we have is an immanent framework – a world without God, then it is no surprise people don’t want to have kids!
And yet..
The Christian story is an alternative story which gives us hope because of a belief that God this world.
Today is “Christ the King Sunday” in our church calendar. This Sunday in our lectionary we celebrate that Jesus is King, that he is Lord of all. Today’s reading I want to focus on is from the book of Revelation.
Revelation is a book all about a God who is victorious over all the powers that bring destruction and death. It is a story of hope.
Setting and context (v4)
In chapter 1 we hear the introduction and greeting to the letter.
It is addressed to the seven churches that are in Asia. These seven churches are mentioned in the next section of Revelation. However, the number 7 was also used in a figurative sense commonly in Jewish thought. The number often refers to “fullness” or “completion” and many commentators read this as referring to the church universal.
So – this is a letter for the Church with a capital ‘C’ and it is addressed to particular Christians in particular places in Asia in the 2nd century.
The context of these churches is important.
From the opening chapters of Revelation we see various factors at play in these Christian communities.
It is clear that many were struggling to be faithful to Jesus in a culture that put pressure on them to worship other gods.
The world into which John is writing is a world of many gods and temples.
The churches are challenged early in the letter not to worship idols, to stay true to Jesus. Some too it seems had become comfortable and complacent about their faith. Others faced intense persecution.
The seven spirits before the throne, mentioned in chapter 1 also work with the language of “fullness” or “completion and this phrase is thought by many commentators to refer to the Holy Spirit – the source of power and strength for the church as the church lives out its calling to be a faithful witness to Jesus in difficult circumstances.
All of these Christians and churches lived in a world which challenged their allegiance and loyalty to Jesus. They lived in an empire called Rome which made big claims about the world which stood in contradiction to the Christian vision. This was nothing new biblically speaking. Before Rome there was Babylon, and before Babylon there was Egypt, and we have new empires today. In the midst of empire Christians are called to be faithful to Christ alone.
So, John calls these Christians not to despair but rather to lift their eyes above their circumstances – to look to Christ the King on the throne. The letter of Revelation begins with a reminder of who Jesus is, what he has done, and who the church are called to be.
God is referred to as the one who is, who was, and who is to come.
This makes the point to the earliest Christians and to us that we find ourselves in the midst of an unfolding story of God at work in history.
God has made promises in the past and has done mighty deeds, God is at work in the present, with his people, sustaining and redeeming, and God will be at work in the future, giving hope and fulfilling his good promises.
This phrase is used twice in this section and elsewhere in the book of Revelation.
It calls our attention to a God at work in history.
Christianity isn’t just theories or ideas about God, but our faith tells the story of a living God at work in the world in concreate and real ways.
Nowhere do we see this more clearly than when we look at Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
John moves from this big picture about who God is to how God has revealed himself supremely in Jesus.
He refers to Jesus as the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
In this threefold description we see the story of Jesus told in one sentence. We get a snapshot of who Jesus is and what he has done.
1) He is a faithful witness. In this we see reference to the life and death of Jesus. The term ‘witness’ is used elsewhere in connection with martyrs -Christians who died for their faith.
Jesus is referred to as the faithful witness – the one who gave his life away so that we might live.
Surely, this term gave great courage to these Christians facing suffering and persecution.
2) Secondly, Jesus is referred to as the firstborn from the dead. This imagery is used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to the resurrection. The idea is that Jesus has brought about a new creation by his resurrection – he is the pioneer, the firstborn.
3) Third, Jesus is referred to as the ruler of the kings on earth. He is above all other powers. In his ascension we see Jesus rise to sit at the right hand of the Father in glory. This title reminds us that Jesus is King, he is Lord.
So here we see a picture of who Jesus is and what he has done.
John continues saying “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Let us not skip over that first line – this one who is proclaimed as the king over all the earth, the all powerful one loves us. He loves us and because he loves us he has freed us from our sins by his blood.
At the very heart of this picture of Christ as king is a central image in the book of revelation. We hear it in chapter 5:
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:6-10)
The king on the throne is the lamb who was slain.
This points us to Jesus who on the cross gave his life – his blood ransomed us from sin.
The image in revelation 1 is of being set free from sin.
Here sin is viewed as a kind of cosmic power which enslaves humanity and holds us in captivity.
Paul uses similar imagery in Romans 7 where we hear him wrestling out loud about doing the very thing he hates, yet desiring to what is right.
Paul paints sin as this power which enslaves us to our selfish and destructive desires, leaving us broken and without hope.
In Revelation, John draws our attention to a similar image saying that we have been set free by the blood of Christ.
We might think of the story of Exodus when God set free the Israelites form slavery in Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb – if you are not familiar with that story – that is whole other sermon, but I encourage you to read Exodus and you will see the links.
The point is this – God has come to rescue the world by giving himself, by going to the cross.
This great rescue mission brings hope to our world. The Christian claim is that in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus God is redeeming and restoring all of creation.
The end of Revelation tells a story of a renewed heaven and earth. A place where there will be no more crying or pain. No dystopia here. Rather a hopeful future.
The next piece of John’s greeting flows into talking about the church as a kingdom of priest’s.
This story is about God but we also participate in it.
Our identity, who we are as Christians is grounded in who Jesus is and what he has done.
We are in Christ, sharing in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
This changes everything.
This means that the hope we have in Jesus isn’t just something we look forward to, it is something we share in now.
We live in the present in light of God’s good future for this world.
That means, in a world which often is full of despair we are to bring light – we are to be a people of peace, and love, and joy – beacons of hope that point to what God has in store for this world
The passage wraps up in verses 7 and 8 by making it clear that Jesus Christ will come again. That every eye will see him.
We are called to Behold! To see! To pay attention! To respond.
We hear “he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.”
There is a picture of judgement here in this passage.
As we say in our creed: “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
We are called to respond.
And we as the church must remember our job is to tell the story – to point to Jesus. We are not to judge. God will take care of that.
Rather, each of us are called to look to the one who gives us hope and trust in Him.
The final phrase of the greeting of Revelation comes back to the image of God at work – the one who is and who was and who is to come.
This makes all the difference in the world.
God – the beginning and the end, the almighty is at work in the world bringing hope. Without this transcendence, without this God, we are simply left to our own selves, left with our own problems in a world where we are scared even to have children.
But let us not despair. Let us hear afresh the hope of the gospel – God is at work in the world redeeming all things.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/27/climate-apocalypse-fears-stopping-people-having-children-study
[2] Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989), pp. 59-60.