I have most often preached this sermon at funerals, memorials, or graveside services. It was enjoyable to explore the passage without a funeral context, but the funeral experience clearly influenced how I approached the text. It was good to share about the stole my predecessor wore, which his children gave to me at his death. He had a huge impact here at St. Andrew over his 25 yr. tenure, and I assume wore the stole often.
“Alpha and Omega” May 18, 2025; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Revelation 21:1-7
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home[a] of God is among mortals.
He will dwell[b] with them;
they will be his peoples,[c]
and God himself will be with them and be their God;[d]
4
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for[e] the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. 7 To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Introduction: In the tradition of Joseph, who had dreams that first got him in trouble with his brother and then led to the saving of Israel.
or in the tradition of Ezekiel, the prophet who had wild visions,
or like the disciple Peter who had a dream when he saw a sheet coming down from heaven with all sorts of unclean animals on it. A vision that transformed his understanding of whom God was calling.
John has a dream,
a revelation for the early church, a church which finds itself persecuted and powerless against the Roman authorities.
What to do with this revelation?
generations of Bible readers nd scholars have come up with lots of ways to approach the revelation of John.
for some, it is a description of things that must happen before the second coming, son revelation is a checklist in away. You look at what is happening in the world and find its corollary in Revelation, and you have a clue as to when the second coming will arrive. Has not worked so far, it maybe it will one day!
some see it as a description of what heaven will be like.
others see it as images shared with the persecuted church with symbols they would understand - A message of hope for those churches under duress.
New Testament scholar, Bruce Metzger, who falls into the latter category, notes that the Book of Revelation appeals to our imagination - he likens it to what we might today know as a PowerPoint presentation - series of images that reveal that vision John received in a dream to help us imagine what God is doing and where we might find our hope. (Bruce Metzer, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation)
A vision for the early church;
A vision for us.
Move 1: A vision of hope.
a. Revelation shares John’s vision of for a persecuted people and church.
1. They are suffering because they have chosen allegiance to God, rather than the Roman Empire.
2. As a small, minority group in the Roman emojre, they have little or now power.
3. But they have this hope,
or maybe they want to have this hope in the God of resurrection,
the God who can do any and all things,
the God they desperately need in their lives.
4. Maybe you know that feeling some days.
b. Like the prophet Isaiah, who spoke a word of hope to God’s people who had been exiled, John describes the hope for these persecuted churches.
1. the city that comes down from heaven, the new Jerusalem, is in contrast to the Roman Empire.
2. The earthly powers will not have the final word.
the churches hope is in the God who will have the final word.
the God who will create a new heaven and new earth.
3. Notice that the sea, the “sign of turbulence and separation” (Bruce Metzer, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation)
the sea, which described the waters of chaos that God tamed in the act of creation,
will be no more.
4. In other words, all the trials and tribulations they know in the moment will give way to the God who has ultimate control over all things.
c. the city comes down as a bride adorned for a husband.
1. Very few places are as a hopeful as a wedding.
2. In that moment,
that moment before the reality of sharing the same bathroom hits
in that moment before the challenges of balancing married life with work and other pressures
in that moment before the reality of life and all its challenges arise,
in that moment as the couple look into each others’ eyes and make vows,
in that moment the possibilities seem endless
the love overwhelms,
the world seems to stop in that moment of joy.
3. that is how John’s revelation characterizes the hope the people of God have.
4. They may know persecution in the moment, but they can imagine the day coming when persecution will be replaced with hope because God is not done with them or the world.
5. The boundless possibilities for what God can and will do are ever before them and forms their hope.
5. John’s revelation has all sorts of fascinating images, but at the core of the revelation is a vision of hope.
hope for those persecuted churches,
hope for us.
wherever you are, whatever you might be facing
Move 2: revelation offers A vision of the God who comes to us.
a. This is in contrast to those who see the second coming as a time when we will be swept away to another
1. You remember those bumper stickers that says, “When the rapture comes, this car will be empty?”
2. That is not the image Revelation offers us in this passage.
3. Instead, have the image of the God who joins with us.
4. three times in vs 3 in the Greek the phrase with them is used. (English translation we read only has two).
4. Brian Blount, New Testament scholar who focused on Revelation before becoming president of Union-Presbyterian Seminary, and a former guest at our Fall Festival of Faith, notes that the language in vs. 3 speaks to the God who had traveled with the Israelites in the wilderness.
5. In fact, the word “dwell” in verse 3 is literally, “tabernacle.”
God will tabernacle with us,
or “God will pitch God’s tent” with us.
6. Salvation is not found in any place, whether a geographic place on earth or even heaven.
1. Salvation is found only in God.
2. Salvation is found only in the God who comes to us.
c. The result of God coming to join with us?
1. God will wipe away our tears.
2. Mourning, crying, and pain will be no more.
3. God’s presence transforms the world.
3. A few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100 yard dash. As the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. Except one boy, who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled a couple of times and began to cry out loud. You can see The other eight, one by one hear the cry of the boy.
One by one, they all slow down and look back. Then they all turn around and go back. Every one of them. One girl with Down’s syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, “This will make it better.” Then all nine link arms and walked together to the finish line.
5. The God who comes to wipe away our tears.
4. The churches with whom John shares his revelation are reminded that The God who chose to come in flesh and join with humanity in Jesus Christ, will come again like a bride adorned for a her husband,
the God who will wipe way their tears,
the God who will be with them.
5. They can dare to have hope in their present circumstances because they trust and hope in the God who comes for them again and again.
Move 3: Revelation also offers a vision of the God who is Alpha and Omega
a. A to Z
1. Except in the Greek alphabet Omega is the last letter.
2. The Beginning to the end.
3.The God who was there to call to the world into existence.
the God who will be there when the end as we know it arrives and all things are made new.
is the God who is with the persecuted church
is the who is with us now.
b. stole - Steve Plunkett’s.
after his death, his kids offered Lisa and me some of his stoles.
I took his white stole with the alpha and omega on it.
I’m wearing it today.
I don’t know what occasions he wore it.
1. White, so it would be associated liturgically with Easter or holy moments like funerals.
2. I wear it most funerals these days because this passage from revelation is central to our Christian hope in the face of death.
3. The apostle Paul asks, “what can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?”
to which he answers nothing.
4. The vision of John shares this truth about God with the image of A to Z, beginning to end.
5. Our hope in the God who is ever before us, behind us, above us, below us. Echoes of Psalm 139 are heard.
6. The God who comes to us
Conclusion: I don’t know what your dreams of God might be, but they all begin with the God who comes for you.
