Casting Crowns // Rev. Matt Kennedy // Sept 15 2024

Angels, dragons, beasts, elders, eagles, harlots, martyrs, gems, blood, fire, and brides: reading the final book of the Bible can feel like a fever dream. What doesn't help is how many readers across the centuries have fixated on its evocative images only to miss its deeper messages. Many read Revelation with an interest in predicting the future, but the Revelation of John is as much or more about the past and present as it is the future. Older versions of the Bible call the final book of the New Testament, "The Apocalypse of John." In our parlance, apocalypse has come to mean catastrophe but the original meaning of the word is "uncovering" or "revealing." We begin our new Fall sermon series this week in the fourth chapter of Revelation, where the prophet John gets a glimpse through the door of heaven and discovers that the heartbeat of the universe is the worship and adoration of the creator. All creatures: animal, human, and even the most powerful people on the planet are humbled before the throne of God. At its heart the book of Revelation tells us that all history is in God's hands, and it's our privilege as worshipping people to look behind this curtain and take hope that, "the one who loves us has freed us from our sins by his blood... to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father" (Revelation 1:5).