“A New Community around the Lamb of God”
Rev. 5:11-14
This has been a tough week for our country.
In the
midst of the ongoing violence in
Even
as we were leaving the funeral for Bill Grier,
We
got news that a gunman in Virginia Tech
Killed
31 people and injured many others.
The
images on the television screen have been disturbing.
The
coverage and all the publicity about the killer
Have
been particularly disturbing to me,
And
have prompted the threat of
Copy cat crimes in other schools.
And today the pastor announces that he is going to
preach
A
sermon series on the Book of Revelation,
Which also has disturbing images and symbols
So
much that Martin Luther felt it shouldn’t
Have even been in the Bible.
And
yet this controversial book is exactly the scripture
that speaks to the presence and power and peace
of Christ during times of despair.
The
title of the book, Revelation, speaks to the
Revelation
of God in Christ to the whole church
During the most difficult of times.
The Book was written by John during the
persecution
Of the Christians under Emperor Domitian,
81-96 A.D.
It
was a time where people were being compelled
To
worship the emperor as God calling him
“our master and our God”
and those who didn’t were persecuted as they were
in Nero’s day by being torn apart by dogs,
hung on crosses or used as human torches.
It is important to know what was
happening at the time
That
this book was written to understand why the
Images
in Revelation are so graphic and disturbing.
The purpose of the Book for Revelation
is to say and show
That
this Jesus, Lamb of God, Resurrected Christ
Enters
into the midst of the most disturbing
And
difficult times of life,
To
reveal God’s love for us and
To
assure God’s victory
Over evil and death.
That
sounds like a good message for us today
Just
as it was a good and powerful message
For those early Christians.
At
it is for and through the
Whole
church for the
Whole people of God.
The Book of Revelation is sometimes
thought to create a
Very
exclusive club of peopell who are in and
People who
are out when in fact it is showing that
The
people of God are a distinct and diverse
Group
and God’s word speaks to all
Who
gather around the Lamb.
That’s’ why the Book of Revelation
starts with the
Letter to the seven churches.
The
number 7 is symbolic for completeness
As
the seven days of creation are
The whole of creation.
The
Book of Revelation is for the whole church and
Yet
it is specific and distinct for all of us who
Worship
the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
The
seven church are real church in
40
miles or a day’s walk apart and each representing
the diversity of churches in the world:
-
-
-
-
Thyatira- faithful but struggling with moral issues;
-
-
-
Laodicea- luke warm faith
Sometimes these chapters are used to
judge and critique churches
But
the real power of chapters 2 and 3 is to say that
Christ
and his word is in the midst of all these
People
of God in their strengths and especially
In the midst of their weakness and struggles.
An in today’s passage we see this new
community
gathered around the
throne of God.
It’s worth remembering who is
gathered:
Living
creatures and the elders.
A quick look
back at Chapter four reminds us that
There are 24 elders.
Twenty-four is symbolic of
the 12 tribes
of
the 12
apostles.
It
is a reminder that the whole word of God is
Old
and New Testament and the whole people
Of
God are the whole people of God are
Jews
and Christians gathered
around the throne
of God.
And John’s vision even evokes images
from Ezekiel 1
Of
the four living creatures-
head like a man, a
lion, an ox and an eagles.
The
number four symbolizes the whole of creation
And
I am of the school that thinks that the
Four
creatures symbolize the four Gospels-
Matthew-
the Lion;
Mark-
the Man;
Luke
– the Ox;
And John- the Eagle.
When we hear the lesson in Revelation 5
with these
images in our minds then we start to
unlock the
key to the vision which is
the
whole people of God around the throne
with
the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ,
in the very midst and the people
and the Gospels witness
and worship:
“Worthy
is the lamb that was slaughtered,
To
receive power and wealth
and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
Now this is a story to tell,
This
is a person to honor and glorify,
One
who gave his life for the world,
Who
was slaughtered as the Lamb of God
So
that the world might be saved from
The
senseless violence that was
In
the
And
the senseless violence in the world
That we see and experience even today.
We can’t begin to image what the first
century Christians
Must
have felt and gone through at the hands
Of
the emperors who thought they we so powerful
That they were worthy to be worshipped.
All
we know is that there is one God revealed in Jesus Christ
Who
is worthy of our worship and praise and glory
and honor.
As
we explore the Book of Revelation we are hearing
And
seeing in our minds eye and imagination
The
Revealing of God through Jesus Christ,
The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
the world,
The Lamb who
was slaughtered that we might be saved,
The Lamb who sits on the very throne of God. Amen