A loving God must also judge the earth, or he is not a just God. Only God is worthy of doing such a thing, and especially the Son, who has walked among us. This should provide us with some comfort if we're worried: the very man who touched lepers and held children on his lap is responsible for our fate.

Quite a crowd! The purpose of being near God is worshipping God, and the tone of Heaven is doing just that. The people of the promise, the tribes of Judah, remain central even in the grand worship of Heaven. Don't worry, though. Even those outside the Jewish nation have a place.

There are some pretty scary images in this passage, but it's interesting that all of the scary stuff is still subject to the Lamb. Death and war are not above him, but only get the power they say he does. That lamb is the Savior we can trust, because he is more thank just an good teacher.

The imagery of the Lordship of Jesus is pretty stirring here. The unfolding events of Revelation are only possible in the hands of one who is worthy, and Jesus is worthy only because of who Jesus is. His sacrifice is central to who he is, and he is still the Lamb.

The throne room of God is quite a spectacle in John's vision, certainly something to look forward to seeing. For a church that was being persecuted and more to come, this would be key: their God was indeed on the throne, and nothing could unseat him.

John's churches show differing levels of commitment, and he is not afraid to challeng them to be better. Of course, this is not just so they will be nice people. The Kingdom of Jesus is something they are already part of, and sharing in the glory of that King means loving him and walking the way he walked.

John continues through the churches in his region, giving them a glimpse of the future and the Kingdom they serve. As Christianity becomes more distinct from Judaism, it becomes more important to resist the easy path of doing things the way that the worshipers of other gods do, which probably would have made it easier to mix with the religious landscape. This is not the path Christians are to walk. Its strangeness is central, and to water down that message is to miss it entirely.

John begins Revelation with a few comments to churches in his area, encouraging them to hold to the faith they had been given and not water it down as the Nicolatians were doing. This included avoiding food sacrificed to idols, which had been addressed in previous books of the New Testament. The Kingdom of Jesus was to look different than their neighbors, and their strangeness was not to be lost as times became difficult.

Revelation can be a pretty hairy book, but here's something that's pretty poignant in this first chapter: it includes a victorious Jesus and the Church. Those are two things that will be persistent throughout, because that's reallly the dynamic that was put in place with th Kingdom of Jesus. There is no plan B.

It almost seems that Paul's exile is a tool for drawing an audience. He again has the opportunity to share the connection between the old and new covenants, connected by Jesus, with a group of Jewish leaders outside the influence of those trying to silence him. This becomes an occasion for the story of God's fulfilled promises to be proclaimed to those who had been part of that covenant.