Difference between revisions of "Sermon for August 22nd, 2021"

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Revelation 1:1-20

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

9 I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the spirit[h] on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19 Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Revelation: Seven Letters to Seven Churches, Part I

A long time ago in the dark ages, a certain wise man prophesied that the king’s favorite horse would soon die. Sure enough, the horse died, and the king was outraged. He was convinced that the prophet had somehow orchestrated the death of his horse in order to make his own prophecy come true. So he summoned the prophet, and said to him, "If you are so wise, prophet, then predict for me the day in which you will die!" Of course, the prophet realized it was a trap--if he gave a date in the distant future, the king would have him killed immediately in order to discredit his prophetic abilities. So he gazed out into the horizon for awhile, and then said, "I cannot see with certainty the day of my own death...but one thing I can see clearly: My death will occur two days before the death of the king!" And so his life was spared.

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the Bible, and it has often been viewed as a book of prophecies regarding the end of the world. In almost every generation since it was written, it has been the subject of great speculation, interpretation, and artistic representation. More recently, it has been the subject of fictional books and films graphically depicting all of its cataclysmic disasters with great certainty as to the times, places, and people who will be involved.

And of course, in a time of global pandemics, government lockdowns, civil unrest, rioting, and warfare in the Middle East...it's only natural for some people to ask the question, "Wait a minute? Is this what the Bible was talking about? Are we in the end times right now? Spoiler alert: People have been looking at the same kinds of things and asking that exact same question for the past 2,000 years.

So I thought it might be helpful for us to take another look at this mysterious and misunderstood book of the Bible--not just through the troubling lens of our own times, but also through the eyes of the people who first wrote and read it. What did it mean to them? And if it is not a prediction of impending doom, what hopeful message does it offer to people in all times and places?