Coming With the Clouds

                                      Revelation 1: 4-8

        In the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, Daniel has a vision in a dream. Many think the vision has to do with the coming change in power; many also believe that it also prophesies about the end times, the times when Jesus, the Son of Man, will return. Daniel sees a night vision in which he says that “there came one like a son of man,” and he came with the clouds of heaven. He was given everlasting dominion and glory and an indestructible kingdom. And all people, nations and languages should serve him. This passage sums up the central theme of the book of Daniel, that God is sovereign over history and empires, that while all other kingdoms and governments will end, God’s kingdom will never pass away. Written in the sixth century, the words of Daniel ring as true today as they did in the time of the exile of God’s people.

          Jesus himself echoed Daniel’s vision in his statement to Caiaphas the high priest. He tells the high priest that “from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Caiaphas called such talk blasphemy. Pretending to be God.  But Jesus was no pretender.

          In today’s text, John the elder or John the apostle, we know not whom for sure, uses the phrase again. In his greeting to the seven churches in Asia, he sends grace and peace from God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. John refers to Jesus here in three ways:  faithful witness, firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings. John says Jesus loves us, that he freed us from our sins by his blood, that he made us—those who believe in him-- a kingdom where we will be priests of God.

And John goes on in his doxology ---doxology, by the way, is a short hymn of praises to God---John goes on to say that God’s glory and dominion will last forever, that Jesus is, guess what, coming with the clouds! John also says that everyone, believers and unbelievers, every tribe on earth, will answer to Jesus when he comes. From the words of Daniel to those of Jesus to the echo of John, we are promised that Jesus will come again and that he will come on the clouds of heaven.

          We have just ended the long march through Lent, through our sympathetic denial, up the road to Calvary to the cross. We have tried to remember and learn what it must been like…and much more importantly, why. Why did he do what he did? Who was it who allowed himself to be nailed to a cross, to take on our sin?

          In Revelation, John tells that Jesus was the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of kings. He was the rainmaker, the bringer of salvation. His death and resurrection are the central message of Revelation, indeed the central message of Scripture, that Jesus is our Savior, that he changed all the rules, that by his love, his sacrifice, his grace, we are forgiven. That’s who Jesus was!

          On Maundy Thursday, we partook as a family of God in the Last Supper. We remembered. We ate and drank, knowing the symbolism of the body and blood of Christ. This morning, we have taken part in the other sacramental event in the life of God’s people. We witnessed the baptism of a young woman and her infant child. We also bear witness to the joining of the church by her and her fiancé. Each event has its own special significance. In each, the members of the church covenanted to help, to accept, to join with these young adults and their child in corporate worship and fellowship.

          Why baptism? Why join the church in this twenty first century when everything seems relative and truth seems only a buoy marker in the water to keep us from the sandbars of life? Why bother?  Revelation tells us why. Because if you believe what old John is telling you in Revelation, if you believe what all those other evangelists in the gospels and letters of the New Testament are bearing witness to, then you realize. You realize that no matter how you got here, no matter how unworthy you might be, no matter how old or how young you are, this is it. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as the oath makers say.

Jesus is Who. Jesus is Why. Jesus is How. The day is coming, a promised day, when he will come with the clouds of heaven. Why do we still join the church? Because it is the family of God we are joining. Why do we baptize? Because it is a sign; a sign that we are part of that family. There is nothing more important. There is no life insurance policy ever created by man that can give the benefit of this simple belief: that he died, that he has risen, that he lives, that he will come again with the clouds of heaven for you and me!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”