The Sunday of Christ the King ---- 22 November 2015

Revelation 1:4b-8

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.

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come…

·        John the Seer (or John the Revelator, as he’s called in a great Black spiritual song) begins his address to the 7 Churches of Asia with these words. Remember now that these 7 churches are in the Roman province of Asia which we’d call western Turkey, and not the entire continent as we know it.

·        John writes to them because they are undergoing persecution in a number of ways. He goes on to write to each of the 7 churches individually, having a message for each, and before he does so, he writes to the churches as a whole. He gives a message of hope, not a hope for victory over the persecutors, but a hope for final freedom by the grace and power of God.

·        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. Whether this means that all people will be terrified or that all people will mourn their sins and repent is not clear, but I sort of hope for the second.

·        It wasn’t easy to be a Christian in the early days. There was ridicule and persecution, exile and pain. There was slander and poverty and suffering. Not every Christian or every congregation underwent this all the time, but they did face some hard times. It’s believed that the Book of Revelation was written during the reign of the Emperor Nero, a sovereign not known for his sanity and generosity to anyone, not simply Christians.

·        In this highly charged and greatly troubled atmosphere, John greets his fellow Christians with Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come who is and who was and who is to come… This guy seems out of touch with reality. Doesn’t he know what’s going on? John was supposed have had his vision while in exile on the island of Patmos, so he was under a sentence himself. You’d think he’d know what was going on!

·        He does know. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come… He greets them with a blessing, a blessing of grace and peace from the Almighty, or “Pantokrator”, a great Greek word meaning “ruler of all.” He may take the various churches to task for their failings and the bulk of the Book of Revelation may read like a crazy, fevered comic book or fantasy novel, but his real message is that despite pain, suffering, persecution, and fear, it is the Almighty who is in charge. It is the one who was and who is and who is to come who holds both the persecuted and the persecutor in the hollow of his hand.

·        This turns all earthly power and conceit on its head. The Crucified has put his heart and soul and life on the line for those without power. The one who received no mercy from imperial powers will ultimately conquer through mercy and grace. The strength and power and self-glorifying acts of the powerful will be revealed as smoke and shadow puppetry in the light of God.

·        We don’t know how the Christians of the 7 churches of Asia received this book. This book has been interpreted (and quite often mis-interpreted) throughout all of Christian history. Its ultimate goal was not to predict the future or give people a road-map of what is to come.

·        Wait… I take that back, or at least part of it. The Book of Revelation was written to let people know what was to come. John the Revelator insists that God is in charge and no matter what might happen to individuals, God remains in charge of all that is, including what is yet to come.

·        Our own day is a very troubled time. You can’t turn on the radio or television without being bombarded with words and images of terror, fear, suffering, exile, and war. The so-called “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” – Conquest, War, Famine, and Death – seem to be riding everywhere with no one to stop them. Things are uncertain and we don’t know where to look for strength.

·        Much has been said that stirs up fear and anger and much could be said that would be self-serving and easy on the ear. I would be very easy for me to say that, but that’s not why I’m here.

·        So I say to you what the Apostle who’s name I bear said to those early Christians in the face of their troubled world: 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, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. God remains in charge. God remains the Almighty, the Pantokrator. In Jesus Christ, who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, we have been made, through grace, a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father.

·        Don’t get me wrong; make no mistake, there is plenty to be concerned about and much work to be done, but the final end in in the secure hands of God… and where else would we want it to be. We are assured of his grace and peace.  So it is to be. Amen.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.