Beyond Babylon // Pastor Michele Arndt // October 27 2024

If ever there was a book where we are tempted to just flip to how the story ends, Revelation is it!  We have successfully made our way through plenty of challenging terrain in Revelation and have finally come to the edge of the end of John’s vision. My hunch is that if there is one part of the book that we are familiar with, it’s the closing chapters – the proverbial “happy ending.” We love the part where Satan is defeated once and for all and we find ourselves strolling streets of gold in a new heaven and new earth. We love the final feast with the church as the Bride and Jesus as the Bridegroom! What’s not to love about that? But Revelation holds out a challenge to the reader: unless we stomach the middle parts of the story, the almost fairytale ending can be treated with a hint of whimsy. Instead, Revelation asks us to make an honest assessment of the “ugly” parts of living in empire in Babylon. We must face parts that are less pleasant to reckon with, in order that we might more wholeheartedly embrace an ending in the kingdom of God that is eternally good!