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.