Revelation 22:1-7, 20-21
November 30
David A. Davis
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He was wrong. He was clearly wrong. John, here in the Apocalypse, to John, he was wrong. There, I said it. John the Revelator was wrong when it came to the “soon” part, the “quickly” part. Revelation 22:20 (KJV): He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” When it came to the Risen, Victorius, Triumphant Christ “coming soon”, John was wrong. As we gather here this morning near the end of the year of our Lord, 2025. It is rather obvious, isn’t it? Amid all of the sensory overload of what John was seeing and hearing, maybe he misheard. Because it becomes apparent to any observer, “quickly” has nothing to do with it when it comes to Jesus’ promised return.
Last week at the memorial service for Audrey Gates, during the homily, I said that any sense of time in the kingdom of heaven must be different. Whatever it is like, I said, I would like to imagine that Audrey’s husband Mosie, who died in December of 2019, has been within the gates of heaven waiting for her. Yes, God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and eternity and the concept of time as we experience it, don’t all go together. Maybe John wasn’t wrong about Jesus coming again quickly. Maybe we just call it a little “loosie goosie” when it comes to time. Quickly-ish.
When our son Ben was very young, there was a season when the words “tomorrow” and “yesterday” were not yet in his vocabulary. It was “next day” and “last day”. “Last day” could have been two, three days ago. “Next day” could be a week or so away. As in Christmas is coming “next day”. Of course, Ben famously said that as long as you still have cake, it’s still your birthday. Ben, something of a philosopher when it comes to time. Maybe we just leave the whole “quickly” thing to theologians and philosophers and quantum physicists. Let them hash it out.
“Are we there yet?” “Are we almost there?” Is there a parent anywhere, in any generation, who has not heard that inquiry coming from the back seat? Is there a parent anywhere, in any generation, who has not fudged a bit when it comes to the answer? “Sure, sweetie, we’re almost there! (with fingers crossed). As I gathered with the Gates family before the service, I stood next to the oldest grandchild, who was trying to encourage his young son, the youngest great-grandchild, when it came to the length of the service. “It won’t be that long, probably about an hour”, he said. Then he added, looking at me, “Right, Pastor Dave?” I looked down and said, “Maybe even 45 minutes”. I knew that wasn’t true. Five family members were speaking in addition to me. I basically lied to that great-grandson. I was wrong, and I knew I was wrong. I couldn’t help myself; the ever-present desire of a parent trying to comfort a child when it comes to time. Maybe the Risen, Victorious, Triumphant Christ was showing John some compassion, like a parent who knew “quickly” was a stretch? “Are we almost there, Jesus?”
Regardless, on the face of it, John was wrong. There, I said it. But I am neither the first nor the last to say it. New Testament Scholar Brian Blount said it at the end of his commentary on Revelation published in the New Testament Library series. “In quoting Christ here and elsewhere”, Dr. Blount writes, “and in making his own claims about the nearness of God’s judgment/salvation, John was wrong.” Brian doesn’t stop at the calendar: “Contemporary readers of John’s work are right to consider that his mistake on this critical matter does well imply that he was probably mistaken in other areas of his presentation. His negative presentation of women, his understanding of eternal suffering, and his depictions of God’s authorisation and even execution of extreme acts of violence come immediately to mind.” I have rarely come upon a more liberating sentence when it comes to understanding the authority of scripture.
Dr. Blount’s gift to the reader of Revelation, to the preacher, and to the church is a foundational understanding of how to approach apocalyptic biblical literature. In his introduction to that commentary, Professor Blount argues that the apocalyptic literature of scripture intends to convey a truth about God and the world, a truth that words themselves can simply not convey. That truth is so powerful, so overwhelming that the writers, in this case John, appeal to symbols and codes to bear a weight of meaning that language cannot. Thus, in the Book of Revelation, one reads these complex descriptions and strange puzzle-like narratives and all these weird symbols. “John seems to believe that a person must viscerally feel what cannot be linguistically conveyed,” Blount writes. Of course, what must be felt, is that in a world so full of chaos, suffering, death, and empire-like power run amuck, that the peaceable kingdom of God will ultimately prevail and that God has a future where there is a healing of the nations, and there be no more night and no need of lamp or sun for the people God, “for the Lord God will be their light.”
What must be felt is that God’s future is the world’s future, is our future. God’s glory. God’s light. God’s presence. God abundantly abounds. Dr. Blount suggests that the light as named by John in Revelation is God’s glory shrouding the city like a fog. God is completely on the loose among God’s people. A future where there is no more sun, no more night, only God’s glory, God’s presence. It is “God with us” on steroids. “God with us” with a bunch of exclamation points behind it. God with us to the nth degree. The Lord will be their light. It is EMMANUEL (with all caps). The Lord will be their light. It is where Advent and the Apocalypse meet. God is on the loose among us forever and ever and ever.
What if “quickly” is less about God’s urgency and more about ours? That’s the conclusion Brian Blount draws when it comes to apocalyptic biblical literature, the Book of Revelation, and John getting the time wrong. In a way that maybe only Brian Blount can, he concludes his 450-page scholarly commentary on Revelation by bursting into a sermon. “John’s future-oriented visions were intended to impel his hearers and readers into appropriate contemporary action. John appealed to the imminence of God’s intervention not to offer a timeline but to encourage a sense of urgency… In a world where many human and even satanic forces seem to be in control, God and the Lamb reign as Lord. No matter how powerful any country or force becomes, no matter how far the reach of its military, political, and economic empire, God and Lamb reign as Lord…Those who believe in that lordship- despite seeing pretensions to lordship in people and powers…must continue to witness, in word and in action, to the lordship of God and the Lamb. They must do so because the Christ who is Lord, the Christ who is faithful and true, has promised that he is coming….soon.” And you and I find ourselves echoing John the Revelator’s response, John’s prayer, John’s plea: “Amen, Come, Lord Jesus!”
It’s Advent again, and the world is still so full of chaos with suffering, death, and empire-like power run amok. Maybe I’m just getting old, but the world always seems to be in chaos at Advent. Here’s the point in my sermon where I would offer a litany of reality, or quote statistics, or cite some article. But you can do it as well as I can. And if it’s not the world’s chaos, there’s always enough of us here in the room whose lives are in turmoil at Advent. And so we sing, “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.” And we strike an Advent light. Because the truth of the promise is so powerful and so overwhelming that words can’t bear the weight of it. That this world, that you and I, that our future is God’s future. Lighting an Advent candle, it’s so much more than comfort food. It is a bold, defiant, persistent way of saying yes to God and spitting at the world’s darkness. The Advent light. “The Lord will be their light”. The Advent light burns with the affirmation that the kingdom of God shall burst forth in us and our life together, and through us and our life together, to the world. The Advent light and the confidence of God’s future. For every time you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death, until he comes again.